"So, are you ever going to write another blog post?"

Walter has been asking me for weeks when I am going to write another blog post. It's funny because he didn't even want me to start a blog in the first place, and since I'm a good wife who listens...I started a blog. I took his opinion under consideration. That's really all one can expect. Now he checks daily for a new post and comes home from work and asks when I'm going to post something new. 

This is simply a list of highlights and some pictures from the last month of our own Long Winter like Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her sixth book. Isabella and I have listened to over twenty-seven hours of Little House on the Prairie audio since January 3rd (we skipped Farmer Boy). We've both enjoyed every minute of it and we've had some really good discussions about the books and new vocabulary. 

*Isaac's speech is on fire. It's really incredible that a year ago he said about ten understandable words and still mainly used sign language, and now he is forming sentences. Last night he tried to convince me that he should stay home alone and wait for Walter, while I took Isabella to ballet: "Ma, me stay me house. No go you guys. Me wait daddy come me house."  

*Isabella is learning how to cook. I don't really know how this started, because generally I like to cook without people talking to me and crowding my space, but then I realized that I don't want her to be helpless in the kitchen so I gave in to her participation. She's actually become quite handy. She can crack eggs, make homemade tomato sauce with some instruction, cook oatmeal for breakfast, and a few other things. 

*Isabella's favorite subject is spelling. I usually get so frustrated with her because she constantly asks when Isaac is going down for a nap which in turn makes Isaac scream because he is in denial that naps are vital to our well-being, so yesterday she spelled out the complete sentence: "When-will-it-be-nap-time question mark". She got an A for spelling since she spelled every word correctly. 

*Isaac can now say his name and no longer calls himself, "Ike". 

*We learned how to blend with oil pastels.

This is how she looks when she catches me taking her picture...

This is what I usually lead you to believe it looks like when I take her picture...

*As it turns out, Isaac loves unloading the silverware from the dishwasher.

*Isabella has exceeding my reading expectations for this year. It is so fun to see her read for pleasure and also for her own education on whatever topic she is interested in. We always have library books strewn about the house.

*Isaac keeps himself entertained pretty well during our lessons. Sometimes he even tries to participate during recitations.

Spelling dictation...

Building two syllable words as part of the All About Spelling (level 2) program...

*Isabella and I rearranged the living-room. The change lasted for less than twenty-four hours because Walter couldn't handle the new look.

*Isaac crosses his arms and looks the other direction when we tell him something he doesn't want to hear. I laugh every time.

Trying to change up a spelling and dictation lesson with dry erase boards...

*I've been knitting a scarf instead of reading or writing. And our big family news is that Walter will begin a new job on March 10th.

My next post will be a product review of Real Food Blends, so please check back for that and learn about what one mom is doing to revolutionize packaged food for tubies.

Update

I don't think I've ever abandoned my blog for three weeks, but such is life. Life has been busy and I haven't been getting enough sleep, thanks to my charming three year old who does not believe sleep is important, but I am constantly reminding myself that our daily (and nightly) life is so much better than it ever has been, so I can survive this as well. 

I am going to offer a quick update and a bunch of pictures before resuming a (somewhat) regular blogging schedule. I know my Grandma and my siblings will be very grateful.  

Isaac continues to love preschool and expresses renewed excitement every Tuesday and Thursday morning when we announce that it is a school day. He is achieving new goals in therapy and is currently working on: self-regulation (major success in this area), walking up and down stairs with help (he still breaks out in a sweat and needs quite a bit of trunk support when it comes to walking down steps, but he is doing very well going up steps), touching food, speech and oral motor skills, counting, colors and self-helping skills (bathing, dressing, etc.--we are a long way off from independence). I could list many more things that his wonderfully talented therapists are working on, but those are the highlights. 

Isabella is doing incredibly well in first grade (here at home, of course). This year is so much better than last year, and also more fun for me because she is reading and writing and doing amazing things in math. She loves to explore and has recently created her own field journal where unprompted, she gathered her materials and raced outside to observe, document, tape, glue, and draw her discoveries. This time last year, she was still learning to count to one hundred and could only read one to three words, so exciting things are happening. One of these days I will get around to detailing our approach to homeschooling and also the books/resources we use in our day to day schooling. We do have our challenges. I believe it was last Monday when she announced she was quitting school forever. In these cases I tell her she can either get her school work done or take a nap. Since a nap is basically a death sentence she always chooses to complete her school work. If she ever chooses to take a nap I'll now something is seriously wrong with her. 

Isabella reads to Isaac for at least twenty minutes every day. They snuggle in bed together and at the end of each book Isaac shouts, "read book, read book!"

Some Fall Fest Fun:

I still can't believe it was just a year ago that Isaac could barely stand being outside for more than five minutes. He and Isabella happily play outside together for an hour at a time and it is so fun listening to the things they come up and how she readily involves him in her play. 

My father-in-law decided this tree needed to go. I don't always understand his reasoning for chopping down trees, but Isabella had a blast playing in it and in this picture she is pretending to be a sloth. 

I've decided that a little bit of time painting can make everyone happy. On this particular day I was struggling to keep them both occupied so I pulled out the watercolors and turned Isabella's painting time into a history project (we are studying Egypt). Win-win situation. I always ask Isaac to tell me what he made with his painting and this one is a "Firetruck" or in his words, "Woo-Woo". 

My friends are probably tired of hearing talk about how amazing the program All About Reading is, but seriously, it's amazing. This activity is all about practicing the hard and soft sounds of 'c'. 

 Annual Apple Picking. Bonus: This was the first year Isaac didn't spend most of the time crying! 

Field Journal: 

"a tree has lots uv bugs and bark."

Isaac really only cared about getting his turn with the magnifying glass. I know we have a bigger one around here somewhere. 

As you can see, Isaac's reading skills are so advanced he doesn't even need to look at the words. 

That's all for now.

--Sierra