Week 4

This week was pretty low-key, as I had a cold all week that kept me from having much energy. Our theme right now is all things fall, so we've been reading books about leaves, apples, pumpkins, etc.

Making leaf rubbings was kind of a dud art project, but it did get Henry looking at the veins of the leaves. Cutting open crab apples and pine cones was a much bigger hit...



... and making apple pie was even better!



Henry spends an hour each day having "rest time" in his room, when he gets to bring one toy to his room and play quietly for an hour. (Since he has mostly stopped napping, it helps us both to have a bit of a break in the middle of the day.)



It seems like having this focused time has made his pretending more sophisticated, which has been very fun for Greg and I to observe. This week, he started using his little people to act out fairy tales. We did The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks, as well as a book about some mice that get caught in a glass jar.



The real highlight of the week was the weekend, when Dad and Jane came to visit. We went downtown to Artprize on Friday afternoon and saw several of the highlights of the competition. (Although apparently we didn't take any pictures of the actual art.)



While we were downtown, we of course had to stop for a carousel ride at the public museum.



Last, Henry began his music class this week. I had heard rave reviews of this music class from a friend but was still surprised by how excellently it was taught and by how much fun we had. The class is a mix of singing, dancing, and playing with simple instruments, and the instructor had Henry completely engaged before the end of the first song. The class is for kids up to age 4, so Henry's one of the bigger kids in the class. I think it will be good for him to be one of the "big kids" since he often is the little kid tagging along in our neighborhood.

As part of the class fee, we received a CD of the songs we'll be singing. When I popped it into the CD player on the way home, Henry said, "Mom, this is the best DVD (CD) ever." When I asked why, he replied, "Because it has the songs from my music class." Pretty good endorsement!

Elizabeth is holding up her head more and more, and devouring her fingers. Thankfully, being able to suck on her fists seems to help her soothe herself, and she's been continuing to sleep through the night. (Hallelujah!)