1st Grade and More

Emma's a big 1st grader now!! She loves her teacher, Miss Slota, and already knew two of the girls in their class as I am their Primary teacher at church! For her first day of school Ian made yummy wheat waffles with strawberries and yogurt, yum!

Here's your standard first-day-of-school-by-the-front-door pic:

And her super cool new backpack from Auntie "Kiss"...she LOVES it!
Going into her classroom - flanked on each side by the girls that go to our church:
I brought the camera when I went to pick her up from school...but she was not in a mood for pictures. When she came out I was all excited and happy and asking her all sorts of things about her first day. She hardly even answered my questions and when she did, they were in a glum voice with one-word answers. I think she was just tired because as soon as we got in the car, she and Mckenna broke out in an argument about something lame. So when we came home, fresh chocolate chip cookies came to the rescue, and she was able to tell me all about her wonderful first day of school, in her happy, normal self.

Now on to David...He's almost 18 months! He has changed so dramatically in the past month. His language and comprehension is so much better than it was a month ago. Last night I told him to go "get some jammies," and he marched right into his room, opened the drawer, pulled out some jammies and brought them to me! I was shocked...so I thought I'd test him and asked him to bring me a diaper too. It took a few times of saying it(he got a little distracted by his sisters) but he marched right in and did it again. He just understands so much of what we say. He's also been talking a ton. A lot of it sounds like baby jabber, but most of it has meaning. A few favorites are "ah-pane!"(airplane - and his favorite word. any time he sees something in the sky or hears a large noise, he'll shout it and point to the sky), "ahn-dink"(I want a drink), "ahside"(outside), "ahn-go"(I want to go), and "mo-peese"(more please). He pretty much puts "ahn" in front of anything he wants. Every time Ian comes home or is on the phone David yells, "Hi Dad!!" He says everything with such enthusiasm. And every time I say, "Hold on," he says "Okay." He LOVES books and will sit completely still if someone reads to him(except today at church when he was sooooo tired and LOUD). He also loves it when we sing to him. Within a few seconds from the beginning of the song, he'll turn and snuggle into my shoulder and I've sung to him many many nights since learning this nice little trick. He's discovered pretend play. Last week he climbed up on a chair next to me with a little bowl and spoon and said, "Nummy!" I was very confused as to where he'd found food. So I walked over and discovered a bowl full of rubbery snakes and a little flying disk. So silly:

Also, while Mckenna was taking a bath on Thursday morning and David fell in!

So, I can't do a family update without talking about sweet Mckenna. Last Sunday at dinner I was trying to get her attention and said, "heLLOOOO!" She said back, "heLLOOOO!" - complete with a perfect "L" sound! No more, "Hewo!" After a little more coaching we were able to get her to say lemons, like, love, lah-yee-pop(lollipop - we got one L sound in there), and licorice(which previously was yickafish). She still says "y's" for "l's" most often, but it was great(and a little sad) to get her to speak a little more clearly. She has been loving her dance class and I've just recently joined the YMCA to exercise - so she and David get to play in their childcare center. When I go to pick them up she heads straight to a little trampoline with a handle in the circuit training spot(I think that's what it's called...?) and giggles hysterically while I let her jump a few minutes. She starts preschool the first week in September and I am going to be so sad not to have her with me all day.

Sorry for the lack of posting, and the sudden onslaught of posting. We've just been SO insanely busy!