Last Storytime

This kept Bret busy while Serena & I ate breakfast this morning.  Serena very excitedly told me, "Bet working!!!!!!"

Today was our last storytime at the library until February.  :(  We have enjoyed it so much!!!  We will truly miss it!  Today we read a couple books about shapes and then the kids got to glue shapes onto a paper.  It was Serena's first experience with a glue stick (we haven't really done any sort of crafts at home...we were too busy this summer playing outside!) and she caught on quickly and had a lot of fun!  She was pretty proud showing her artwork to Daddy when we got home tonight.  She surprised me by how many shapes she knew when he quizzed her.  We haven't worked on shapes either.  I've really been slacking off on these things, but I figure I'll have plenty of time once the winter months shut us in.  Besides, then she'll be old enough she'll probably catch on to things like shapes, colors, and counting much more easily anyway.  We had a very pleasant time running our errands.  I am always thankful when we complete another successful shopping day!  By 'successful' I mean no vehicle problems (i.e., flat tires!!!), no child problems (meltdowns, etc.), and no crying spells in the truck.  A half-hour drive is pretty long for little people.  Serena does well entertaining herself, but Bret used to just cry and cry.  He's been doing so much better now, though!  I think it helps that he and Serena are interacting more and more.  When he starts to get sad, I love watching Serena in my rear view mirror.  She leans over to him and raises her eyebrows and talks to him in a high-pitched voice and a little smile...it is such a grown-up gesture, I know she is mimicking what she's seen other people do to try to get a smile from Bret when he's sad!  It is SO cute, I just wish there was a way to get it on video!  Serena is very much into recognizing and labeling emotions these days.  In Aldi today, there was a boy (probably 3 years old) who had gotten hurt (we had just come in, so didn't see what had happened).  His mommy was giving him a hug while he cried.  Serena watched ever-so-carefully.  Then she turned to me and said (with her squinty-eyed look), "Boy sad?"  A little later, "Boy Mommy uck?" (she tends to switch words around, so this means the mommy hugged the boy), quickly followed by, "Boy appy?"  Also, today I tried Bret out riding in the seat of the cart and he did really well and seemed to enjoy it immensely!

Whenever I get excited about Bret doing something, Serena comes and does it too!  Today, Bret figured out how to get down from a standing position.  Yay!  No more crying because he's 'stuck' standing!!!  ;)  Whenever he plopped down, Serena would say, "Bet jump!"  Hahaha!

Happy boy!  I loved this outfit on him!

She looks so little!

Our little acrobat!  She loves jumping and climbing, and has an incredible sense of balance!