Kindergarten Graduate!

We went to Gabby’s kindergarten graduation today. It was very informal and super cute. Each child wore a graduation cap that they made, and they each received a little diploma from Ms. T. They performed a song for us, and there was also a special DVD show that we watched. Each of the kids had colored a picture of something they weren’t able to do before they entered kindergarten, and then a picture of them being able to do it after being in kindergarten. They each did their own voiceover explaining their pictures and what it was they couldn’t do before, but could now do after. Gabby said “I couldn’t read before kindergarten, but now I am really good at reading and can even read books to my brother and sister!” Gabby could read ver little before entering kindergarten - just very basic words. And, it was a challenge for her… so she didn’t really enjoy trying to read and would get frustrated easily. Now, she loves it! She reads often and really does read books to Giuliana and Rocco quite frequently. It’s so fun to see her doing this!

It was so fun to hear what all the kids said while watching the DVD show. Some kids said how they couldn’t do the monkey bars, or how they couldn’t eat lunch by themselves, or how they didn’t know the alphabet… and then, now, how they are *awesome* at the monkey bars, or how they know how to eat lunch with friends, and how they now know the alphabet. Super-duper cute!

I have to give HUGE props to Gabby’s teacher. Seriously one of the greatest teachers out there! Some of the kids in Gabby’s class didn’t know the entire alphabet, or couldn’t even recognize all the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of the school year. And now, every single one of those kids is testing out at reading first grade level or above. Gabby actually tests out at reading above first grade level and we are SO proud of her. Ms. T really pushed the kids AND the parents. Gabby had almost 45 mins of homework several days a week, which was definitely a challenge for all of us. But, it truly paid off!

Gabby LOVED kindergarten so much that she would often tell us she wished it was a school day on the weekends. I think that had a LOT to do with Ms. T. I seriously LOVE great teachers! And, I’m so happy that Gabby was able to enjoy such an amazing kindergarten experience.

 Watch out first grade… here we come!

 (Rocco is clearly VERY excited for his sister... nice face, buddy!)

Best Daddy on the Planet!

We have the best daddy on the planet! He loves us so much and always wants to play with us. Sometimes mommy has to remind HIM to be quiet (just like she reminds us!) while we're all wrestling around so HE doesn't wake up the baby. Our daddy helps make dinners for us, he helps clean up after all of our messes, he takes us to gymnastics, swimming and soccer classes all the time to help mommy out. And, he helps give us baths and put us to bed.

One of our favorite things to do with daddy is snuggle on the sofa and watch cartoons in the morning. We also loves that he'll sometimes let us eat chips for breakfast... and if we ask him nicely, he'll even take us to McDonald's every once in a while even though mommy is not a fan of those fast food restaurants.

 We tried really hard to take a nice picture with daddy on Father's Day while we were out to eat at a great local restaurant. But, well... it's just so hard for all of us to smile and look at the camera at the same time, so this is the best we could do!

WE LOVE YOU DADDY - YOU'RE THE BEST! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Marco is 1 Month Old

GROWTH STATS

Height: 23.6 inches (98%ile)

Weight: 11lbs 12oz (95%ile)
Head:  15.5 (75%ile)

I’m already so in love with this little man! He’s so cute!

Marco thinks he’s a first born, only child. He pretty much demands that he’s either being held constantly or he’s on the boob eating. I tend to call him my barnacle baby because he’s constantly attached to me like a little barnacle. He eats a LOT during the day. I feed him on demand, because I can… and it’s almost hourly. That keeps me pretty busy in addition to everything else going on. But, it seems to pay off at night because he’s been the best sleeper of all the kids so far at this age. Generally speaking, he’s a great baby! His difficult days seem to involve tummy problems (as is the case with most babies). Indian food, broccoli and salad seem to make this little man’s tummy unhappy! Obviously – he’s not eating those things yet… rather, he’s unhappy the day after I eat them.

FUN FACTS:

·         At one month, he looks a lot like Rocco did at this age.
·         He’s pretty much lost all the hair on top of his head.
·         He HATED his first bath. LOVED his second bath… until the end of it, then he screamed his head off and just wanted out.
·         His siblings LOVE him so much. They show him toys, they constantly ask to hold him.
·         Giuliana still often calls him *baby brother*.
·         Rocco can’t wait for him to start playing together with him and all the transformers, cars, and super hero toys.
·         Gabby is fantastic at soothing him with a loud *shhhhhhhh* while she holds him. Actually, Gabby is being a great helper with all of her siblings!
·         Rocco often asks to feed him.
·         Marco took a bottle for Dan 4 times… and now of course, he won’t take it at all because we just weren’t doing it consistently.
·         He HATES the car seat, just like his siblings all did.
·         His cry sounds like someone is hurting him. It’s loud and makes you want to soothe him immediately! (smart kid!)
·         He has his first little cold… just a stuffy nose.
·         He goes on walks with me in the Baby B.jorn several times a week. And, he slept in the stroller for one walk also, alongside Giuliana.
·         He’s been out for dinner with us as a family 4 times.
·         Giuliana often asks to be held when she sees me holding Marco. This breaks my heart and I can tell there is a bit of jealousy when this happens. She just started doing this in the last two weeks. Sometimes I can hold them both… and sometimes she’s ok with sitting next to me while I hold Marco.

SLEEP

He takes numerous naps throughout the day. Mostly short little half hour naps still. But, he does seem to have one longer nap in the late afternoon that can last anywhere from one hour to 3 hours (3 hours is rare!). He’ll usually go down for the night sometime between 7:30pm – 10:30pm, depending on when he woke up from his last nap. We’ll put him down in the crib. And, he’ll usually wake up once between midnight and 2:30am to eat, and then again between 4 and 6am. When he wakes up to eat in the night, I bring him into bed and just nurse him there. I didn’t do this with any of the other kids at this age. But, I’ve decided to do it with Marco because it allows me to get more sleep. And, it seems to really work well for him too. When I’m laying next to him, he’ll sleep in as late at 9 or 10am (only after another feeding around 8am). So, he’s a great little sleeper.

FOOD

Breastmilk. He did take about 1oz of formula for Dan on 4 different occasions… but now, he won’t let the bottle enter his mouth. We weren’t consistent with it, and I really don’t feel like pumping (I’ve had enough of that in my life after having had twins, thank you!). And well… because I don’t have to worry about going into an office because I work from home, it’s perfectly fine… my breasts are always at his service, I guess.

NEW TRICKS

Marco’s new tricks include smiling, baby babble, and recognition of mommy. I can get him to smile sometimes by talking to him with a certain voice, or gently touching his tummy and talking to him with a soothing voice. When I put him down on the play mat and sit by him, I’ll make the toys that are hanging above his head move and make noise. He must find this interesting because he’ll talk away to the toys and squeal with delight. Obviously, he’ll only do this when he’s in a good mood – but it’s pretty cute. And, he definitely recognizes his mommy now. He just loves having me hold him constantly. He stares at me contently, with a sort of knowing look. It’s funny how they go from just staring at you and wondering who/what you are… to staring at you, knowing that it’s their mommy. And, it’s both cool and crazy that a mom can decipher the difference between those baby stares… but you can see it in their eyes. Suddenly, they just KNOW when they’re looking at their mommy. Can’t really explain it… but any mom would know what I’m talking about, I guess.

Snails on the loose!

What would the world do without little boys!?

Rocco caught a bunch of snails outside. He put them in a bucket. He then came inside and brought the bucket into the house with him (without me knowing about this lovely bucket of snails) and set it on the kitchen counter.

Well… about an hour after he came inside, he came running over to me with his empty bucket, and the conversation went like this:

Rocco: “Mom! All my snails are missing!”

Me: “What do you mean? Where were the snails?”

Rocco: “They were in this bucket?”

Me: “Well, just go find some more… snails will crawl out of a bucket, buddy.”

Rocco: “No! Mom! They were in this bucket INSIDE! I put it on the counter!”

Me: [eyeroll…and nursing Marco thinking about an impending snail hunt IN my house] “Rocco, please tell me you’re kidding… did you seriously bring snails in the HOUSE?!”

Rocco: [running over to kitchen counter where he had set his snails] “No – I brought them INSIDE, mom! And, I put the bucket right here and now they’re gone! WAIT… mom LOOK!! My snails are all over the bananas!! Look mom, LOOOOOK!!! That’s SO COOL!!” [laughing so hard]

So… if you should ever have a little boy bring a bucket of snails into your home, I hope he rests the bucket near a fruit bowl as my little guy did. Sure enough, the snails were all found (let’s hope ALL the snails!) on the bananas! Rocco thought this was super cool.

I on the other hand was very relieved we didn’t have to perform a major snail hunt and cleanup. Thank goodness snails are slow little creatures!

Here's Rocco with one of the little snails.