Observations

I've decided that Siena is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

And Chase is so good with her. He hates to see her crying. He usually says, "Siena hungry, mommy feed her!" But lately he's also been saying, "Siena no like that!" when she cries. So far, Siena doesn't like it when we: go running, watch Wonder Pets, play golf on the Wii, go out on the lanai, or eat dinner! If we're in the car and Siena's crying, Chase will gently rub her face. I wish it worked because it's so sweet, but sadly it doesn't. He's been getting better at waiting patiently for Siena to stop nursing so I can help him with something. And he's on and off with being okay with daddy helping him out instead. The other night I told him that daddy would get his pull-up and pajamas for him because mommy had to feed Siena. He looked back at me with the sweetest face and said, "mommy still loves you!" I'm so glad that he knows it! And I'm so glad that he's okay with daddy playing with him... he's definitely the preferred parent for going to the pool, playing hide and seek, or any kind of sports-related activity! I'm just good for the "business" side of life I guess... eating, sleeping, getting dressed, going potty, etc. I've gotten really good and wiping a toddler's bottom with one hand (while holding a baby in the other)!

This is my last full week at home with both kids since Chase will start preschool, 2 mornings a week, next Tuesday. I feel really excited for him because I know that he'll love it and will learn so much, but it's kind of sad too. Can't believe he's growing up so fast!! He's really anxious to start though: he wants to drive by his school all the time, he picks out clothes that he wants to wear to school, and he helped pick out his lunch box (orange with his name on it) and his backpack (Thomas)!

Siena continues to sleep well at night... usually 5 hours at a time now! She seems to be able to stretch out her feedings more during the day too. She's moves around so much when you lay her down... kicking her legs and moving her arms when she's on her back, and pushing up with her arms and lifting her head when she's on her belly! It's hard to just hold her anymore because she's always moving and pushing off of you! I love her chunky little arms and legs. I'm trying so hard to carve out some time to just sit and watch her and play with her instead of always multi-tasking. I remember so many days of just holding Chase, looking out the window or singing to him when he was this age... so I'm determined to do the same for her and I savor every opportunity that I get.

Here are some of Chase's favorites:

Color: red (he always asks for his red bowl, plate, cup, shirt, etc.)

Kids music CD: "Whole World" by Fred Penner. This came with a book we bought a while back, and it only has the one song on it... and we listen to it over and OVER again!

TV show: Dora the Explorer

Toy: this changes almost daily, but at the moment it's his Melissa and Doug jigsaw puzzle. He's gotten really good at putting it together, so I need to buy him some more SOON!

Fruit: watermelon!

Meals:

breakfast- Cheerios and Kashi Blueberry Clusters cereal mixed together and orange juice

lunch- PB&J sandwich and "green juice" (Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness)

dinner- spaghetti

Snack: Sharkies organic fruit snacks

Books: Curious George! We get a new "George" book every time we go to the library and then we read it pretty much every day until it's time to return the book 3 weeks later! I had the brilliant idea of telling Chase that next time we went to the library that we'd get "Curious George Goes to School", which I had seen there before. I thought it would be a great way to prepare him for school some more. Well apparently I wasn't the only one with this brilliant idea, because when we went to the library this morning, the book was checked out! Along with pretty much every other book about the first day of school! Go figure. Fortunately Chase was satisfied with "Curious George Goes to the Toy Store!"

And finally, I know I'm biased but I've decided that Chase is a genius. His memory is constantly impressing me! He likes to spell words in the bathtub with his foam letters that stick to the wall. Of course, we have to tell him how to spell things (he's not THAT advanced!), but what's crazy is that he always remembers what color the letters are! You can say any letter and he'll immediately yell out, "yellow!" or whatever color it is! We look at these letters every night during bath time and there's no way that I can remember what color they all are! How does he do it?? Like I said, genius.

Oh, I forgot one of Chase's other favorite things... but I'll leave that for a separate post, because it's more of an obsession and I have lots of pics to go with it!