This morning I tried out something new with Laura. We worked on some letter sounds (s, a, and t). My friend Mandy gave me a great book to use that has actions for each letter sound. So we did those, and then I wrote out the word sat and showed her how to sound it out. I am hoping to show her that each letter has a sound and when put together they make words. After doing that for a few minutes, I started on days of the week. I sang a song that has all seven days and then said that today is Wednesday and tomorrow is Thursday. I don’t know if she really got it, but it is only day one. I am hoping to sit with her each day and do letter sounds and work on days of the week. Eventually we might get to months. I just don’t want her to go to school and have no clue about this stuff. I think it is important that we work on it at home.
Laura has also started stringing more words together. The other night she said, “Daddy cut Laura’s chick-chick-chick.” We call chicken nuggest chick-chick-chick. I was impressed. I have noticed that she is starting to do more 4-5 word sentences too. She still does a lot of 3, but they are slowing growing. I’m pleased with her progess. Most people that meet her are impressed with her verbal skills. I sometimes worry about her being behind on physical development, but I figure it will all even out. I’m hoping that once the weather gets nicer this spring we can be outside a lot more. Warren won’t be quite the freeze baby that he is (I hope!). I can also take more walks with them. Maybe I’ll try them out in the bike trailer that can turn into a stroller. It might work better than the double stroller if I want to go faster.
Warren is doing well. I tried out a trick last night my mom told me. Warren has been waking up in the middle of the night due to wet diapers. We have him in the overnights, but he is still bothered by the wet. Since he is up to be changed, he also wants to eat. Mom had suggested putting a layer of vasaline on him at night to create a barrier. I tried it last night and it worked! Robert said he had to get up to give him his nuk once, but other than that, he slept until 5 this morning. For Warren, that is great. He was doing this before Thanksgiving, but ever since then his sleep has gone downhill. I would love it if he would sleep past 5, but it isn’t horrible either. I know that he will eventually sleep as well as Laura does. It just takes time.
The Iowa Christmases were good. I wish we could have spent more time at the Neppl Christmas. We got there, ate, and then left soon after. I had two tired kids, and another drive in front of us. I wanted to take advantage of the tired kids. Warren did ok for the drive. He still cried a bit, even though we gave him benadryl. He screamed the last 30 minutes to Irwin. :( The Jensen Christmas was good. Saturday night we had pizza and soup once we got to Grandma’s. We had thought we left Laura’s booster seat at home so she just sat on a thick book (turns out it was in the car the whole time when we found it Monday morning packing the car back up). When we went to get the kids ready for bed, it was discovered that we forgot to pack pajamas for them. They just wore one of the extra outfits that was packed. No big deal. At least it wasn’t the entire clothes bag this time! Sunday morning we got the kids ready to go to church. Both kids did great! Laura had a hymnal out and was singing along with us. We were able to get Laura lunch and a nap before everyone showed up for Christmas. I was thrilled about that! She was actually still sleeping when people showed up, but she was able to get at least 2 hours of sleep. The family gathering was great. It is amazing the difference between Jack and Laura. Monday morning we got up around 6, started packing, ate breakfast, and were on the road by 8:30. I was pleased by that. We switched Warren into the Britax car seat for the road trip hoping that maybe it would be more comfortable and he would ride better in it. The disadvantage is that there is no sun shade built in like there was with his infant carrier. We ended up hanging a blanket to block the sun. That was the BEST move we made all weekend long. The little boy just slept. We stopped for gas twice on the way home, and only one time for the kids (lunch). We ended up hitting the Twin Cities at 2:30 (at least an hour before we thought we would). We were home around 3:30. I was in complete shock. I was fully expecting the trip to take us 10-12 hours the way Warren had been riding. I guess he just didn’t like seeing things zipping past the window. We’ll definitely put the blanket up for future car trips (family Christmas in 2 weeks). Laura rode great too. She usually does, but she looks so bored back there. I found a protable DVD player on Craigslist and bought it on Friday (day before we left). Laura thought she was in heaven watching Dora in the car. It definitely made her trip better too.
During the Jensen Christmas, I was talking with my cousin Sarah. She is currently in med. school and will be starting residency next year. I told her I don’t know how she can do what she does. She is in school and full time mother. She then said she doesn’t know how I can stay home with my kids. Guess it is just different personalities. There are days that I question staying home, but I know that I will never regret it. I love watching my kids grow and develop each day.
Other good news from the past weekend… John is home! He landed at Volk field on Friday. He was released to family last night. I am sure that he is loving time with Tamara and Jonah again. We will see him next weekend for Christmas. I am so excited. 
So that has been my life lately. Laura gets the second part of the H1N1 flu shot tomorrow morning. Since we’ll be in River Falls for that, I figure we’ll do some campus visits too. I haven’t been there for a while. I would like to stop and see Robbie and Shirley. I know some of Robert’s co-workers would like to see the kids too.
Well, time to get lunch started for Laura. Not sure what she is eating yet, but need to figure it out and get it going. I may try having her eat some of the leftovers we have in the fridge. So I am off. I’ll update again soon. 