Big changes coming

On August 31st, Stephen is going to preschool at Carlisle School just on Lovers Lane near our house. It is a Montessori school and they have uniforms...right now he just has to wear a blue shirt with the school name on it and blue shorts. He will go every day and we will let go our wonderful nanny Juana, who has been such a help to us in the last couple of months. We think it will be good for him, very good for him, but we are bracing for the transition period.

Wedding in Atlanta, toddler style

This weekend was a friend of mine, Betsy's, wedding in Atlanta. I went on Thursday of last week, while Sean took Stephen on Friday. We were all in the wedding. I was a bridesmaid, Sean the officiant, and Stephen "junior ring bearer". On Saturday, we tried to go to Stone Mountain, where I had never been, but we went to a barn type of place where they had activities for kids about 5 years old and it scared Stephen. So then we headed over to the free playground, where he had fun for a while. We went to lunch at Sean's friend's house over near Turner Field, which was nice, although Stephen bit Rybolt, who is only 2 months younger. Fortunately the parents were really cool, didn't freak out, and we are still friends. Stephen then took a 10 minute nap in the car on the way back to the hotel. :) During the ceremony, he didn't really like the heat and just melted. I ducked out after walking down the aisle and held him inside while Sean did the ceremony. As I walked back down the aisle, I handed him to Sean, where he was fine. At the reception, he was a ROCK STAR. He danced and danced and danced until 11pm. Then he fell asleep on Sean's shoulders and Sean and I got to dance with Stephen asleep on Sean, which was actually very nice. We stayed up until 12 and then walked back to the hotel. He proceeded to be pretty much a rock star on the plane the next day when Sean got upgraded and poor mom was in coach. We traded him back and forth; he liked the cookie from 1st class. We were too busy to make a lot of pictures, but hey, that's what the official photographer is for. She showed me some good shots she got of Stephen, so I'm looking forward to seeing those prints. Stephen had a fan club in my friends who were very impressed by his dancing. During a lot of the evening he was imitating a five year old boy who was breakdancing and having a lot of fun too. All in all a good trip, although tiring at times, but fun.

To the book store

The other day, I took Stephen for his first trip to the book store, and boy did he LOVE going. A whole store just for books. I told him we were looking for books we didn't have, and he did a good job of choosing some classics, like some Dr. Seuss books, while I reached up high and got, "Where the Sidewalk Ends", one of my FAVORITES (partly because his name was Shel I'll admit). He also reached up for a Grover stuffed animal, so we got it.

We're off to Atlanta for a friend's wedding this weekend with Stephen. We're looking forward to seeing Emory and seeing some old friends as well.

Sunday Night at the Park with Friends

Sunday night, Sean, Stephen and I met our friends, the Smaardyk/Bell's and the Gray's for swimming, park, and cook out. The kids had a lot of fun. We picked up some random kid whose parents were somewhere else in the park...

Eating at the Table

Stephen likes to eat at the table sometimes with his own plate. Tonight he had dinner of hot dog, chips, broccoli, a couple peanuts, and then a little later, watermelon which he loves. He has started to use his fork sometimes, but not always.

Tricycle

Sean got Stephen a tricycle. He's been a little frustrated because he doesn't exactly know how to do the pedals yet, but he really likes being on it...

I'm an aunt and other milestones

I'm so pleased to announce I'm an aunt to Violet Kirkpatrick Smith, born Saturday August 1, 2009 at 5:55am. I'm so proud of my sister for giving birth naturally and gracefully. I'm so excited to see her and take pictures of her being so beautiful.

Stephen has been just going through a growth spurt. He now says, "aqua", "no", "mil" for milk, and "pa da" for diaper. He is eating like a tree, wanting meat and protein. He's swimming underwater (voluntarily going under water, kicking, and moving forward for a bit), climbing the playground equipment with growing ease, and LOVING sports. all kinds of sports. It started with golf and has now grown to include baseball and soccer. We got this ABC book of baseball from Summer, his aunt, and he has grown to LOVE baseball. In fact, this morning he went to the playground that has a baseball diamond, and he went on the pitcher's mound and proceeded to "bat" from there, which means he uses his little wooden bat to bat a tennis ball like a golf ball. He does have his sports mixed up, but at least he has dedication.