Gimme glue, mommy!

Over the last month Anna has become obsessed with her scissors.  Each day she has spent at least 15 minutes a day cutting - magazines, notebook paper, coloring books, wrapping paper, paper towels...if it's made of paper (ONLY PAPER! :)) in our house, she has probably cut it.  This activity started shortly after school let out and Anna informed me her teachers told her that she should practice using scissors this summer. 

Well, she has followed their instructions diligently (why won't she follow mine with as much zeal?!?).  In fact she has done so much cutting to require a paper bag to hold all of the snippets.  It's emblazoned with "Anna's Bag o' Cut Stuff".  Her skills have improved with the practice — she's gone from clipping haphazard shapes and sizes to cutting actual pictures out of magazines.  This week she got it in her head that she wanted to put the clippings on paper to create art (when I told her that was called a collage she looked at me like I had 2 heads).  I had to dash her collage dream the first time she suggested it because I surprisingly couldn't find one tube or stick of glue in the house.  Apparently afraid I would forget she wanted glue, Anna felt the need to remind me every chance she got...

"Mommy, I need glue."

"Mommy, did you get my glue yet?"
"Mommy, where is the glue??"
"I have a good idea, mommy!  You can go to the store now and get me some glue!"

Well, I fulfilled her request and she immediately set to work sticking her precious cuttings to paper.  Anna is a crafter and loves projects - so far, the $1.79 I spent on Elmer's White School Glue has paid us back in over an hour of quiet, diligent gluing activity.  Here is one of the many collages she has made in the last two days.  The pictures are a funny mix from Parents, High Five (Highlights for little kids) and Entertainment Weekly magazines.  So, if you look closely, you'll see cute babies, cartoon bugs, and Bella Swan (for you Twilight fans out there)...

Gettin' Comfy

James is staking a claim to this seat for future Red Sox/Pats games...

Sucker!

When he turned three months, James started sleeping through the night all on his own.  This was a very different experience for us compared to Anna.  She was not a difficult baby by any means, but she definitely took some coaxing and encouragement (i.e., crying it out) to start sleeping through the night.  Anna was a paci baby which worked great in the long run, but there were a few agonizing months where she did not have the ability to pick up the paci and put it in her mouth.  So, she would fall asleep with the paci, wake up when it fell out and scream until we put it back in.  Once she had the coordination to pick it up and navigate it to her mouth, all was fantastic (and to encourage this we scattered about 10 pacis in her crib).  James on the other hand quickly mastered thumb-sucking.  I'm very happy for the moment because he is a pro self-soother.  However, I'm somewhat nervous about what the future holds if we have to break him of the habit.  Taking away the paci was easy...a thumb, not so much.  I am envisioning all kinds of weird dental devices, hot sauce and stinky nail polishes - hopefully we don't have to go there.  For now though, I'll focus on the adorableness of a baby sucking his thumb.

Princess Dance Camp

As her first summer as a "big kid", Anna is signed up to attend a few summer "camps".  The term camp makes me chuckle - when I was little (gee, I sound old!), camp meant traveling away from home and participating in activities like archery and canoeing.  For 3-year-old Anna, it means frolicking at a dance school for a week of "Princess Dance Camp".  She was a little trepidatious on day one because she wasn't familiar with the location or teachers, but she did have a familiar face in her pal Audrey from school.  And, after the first morning she was excited to go back each day, mainly because she got to wear her dress up clothes...I still have not been able to wrench any dance routines out of her to gauge what one learns in princess dance camp but I know she had fun nonetheless.  Here are a few shots from the week.

Goofy Kids

Some silly pics of the goofers...I think they like each other (for now!).

James: Live & In-Person!

Thought I'd share some videos of James. The first shows off his sweet smile some coos.  The second was shot during one of his favorite activities - bath time!  If you are not Gramma or Grammy, you may find these videos a tad boring ;)...

James at Three Months

Well, time keeps whizzing by and unbelievably James is three months old!  To mark his three month birthday James has started sleeping through the night! He has logged 11-12 hours the last three nights and, while I’m sure he feels great each morning, I am the biggest benefactor.  I forgot how heavenly eight hours of sleep could be!  Next up, we’re going to focus on nailing down his daytime sleep schedule.

At three months, James is a very happy, agreeable baby who doles out heart-melting smiles and giggles at will.  He is becoming much more aware of the activity around him and likes to sit and watch the whirlwind that is Anna swirl around him.  He has started “talking” to the toys on his playmat and it’s fun to watch him really concentrate and try to hit and kick the toys with his hands and feet.

Speaking of hands, James has mastered sucking his thumb – a talent I have mixed feelings about.  I think this is what is helping him sleep through the night (yay!), but unlike a paci, we can’t take his thumb away when he’s two (boo!).  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what develops…

We don’t have a three month check-up at the doctor so I don’t have official height/weight information, but the boy continues to grow.  I can’t wait to find out the stats at his four month visit.

Happy three month birthday, James!  We love you, little (big) guy!