Ponies, School, Binkies, and Legos

We celebrated Rand's first full week of school with a trip to Yogurtland. He doesn't have much to say about it -- we usually ask what his favorite part of the day was ("playing on the playground!") but don't drill him too much. He is enjoying it and hasn't wanted to leave the last couple of days. I think it is hard for him to articulate what he does there since the Montessori method doesn't tell him, "Now we're going to learn math!" -- they just work on it gradually.

Ella did not like leaving Rand the first few days, but she seems to be understanding the routine as well. She has switched from calling me "Mommy" to "Mama," which is sweet. Her most common phrase is, "Mama, I'm stuck!" She is constantly crawling over and under things and getting (slightly) stuck.

She likes to go to bed with two pink binkies and has started telling us when she is ready to go to bed (yippee!). They both love to read and Rand has discovered Legos. Ella will do almost anything Rand says....the other day we were eating corn-on-the-cob for dinner and Rand told Ella to hold up the corn to her ear like a phone. So she did. And then he told her to say hello. So she did.

Special Olympics has started up again, so I brought them with me to riding lessons last week. Rand asked if he could ride one of the ponies, and so we got out Ginger. They both had SO MUCH FUN riding her -- Ella was so cute and serious about keeping her helmet on (I told her no helmet meant she had to get off) and they both took turns and would've ridden all night if I had let them. I am keeping my eye out for a pony that would like a nice retirement home in our backyard.

First Day of School

We have been counting down for weeks....and the day has finally arrived! Rand was so excited about starting at Palm Valley Montessori. We went inside and the teacher showed him where his cubby was. He went to put his lunchbox in the fridge, waved at me, and that was it! We are very proud of our big boy.

Holding the gate open -- all ready to go!

Pwetty Dwesses

Grandpa and Grandma sent Ella two dresses and a couple of other outfits for her birthday -- she was so excited when she opened the bag and saw "pwetty dwesses!!"

More kites!

Warning: it is hard to fly a kite and hold a camera at the same time.

Rain!

We had a huge rainstorm on Saturday -- I think it rained over an inch in a hour in a lot of places. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the rain, and there were huge puddles everywhere. We found a couple of frogs, and enjoyed a break from the heat!

Monsoons = Perfect Kite-Flying Weather

Monsoons bring lots of wind, and Rand had the great idea of going outside and flying his kite. We had so much fun -- the kids loved it when I flew it low and they would try to catch the ribbons as it swooped by.

The Joys of Having an Older Brother

Some phrases that I never expected to hear from my two-year-old daughter:

"Where's Darth Vader?"
"Watch out, there's bad guys!"
"Me first!"
"Oh no, it's Darth Maul!"
"Aaaaaaah! A bomb!"

Bonus: she can shoot a pop gun and make light saber sound effects, too!