Therese On the Go

Here is a short video showing some of Therese's mobility. She is determined to get places!

Starting Up

Last week Greta started her first two official "classes" at the community center down the street. Here she is on Monday at her first pottery class, looking very serious!
Thinking about her life...she looks a lot like Matthew here. She was totally fine for me to leave her there for the hour on the first day. I had been prepping her for these classes for awhile now, and recently she kept saying "I'm going to my class today!", so I think she was excited it was finally time.
On Thursday she had her first Kids Pace class, which is kind of like a short preschool class once a week. She's all ready with her backpack full of a change of clothes, water bottle and a snack!

Eating snack at class...for the first class or so the teacher wants each child's parent or nanny to stay around. It was fun to see her interact with the other children and the teachers. She can be a real "go-getter"! For example, on Monday when the pottery teacher started passing out clay Greta kept saying "I want some! I want some!"---all the other children quietly waited (or so it seemed to me...)! And in her Kids Pace class as soon as the teacher got scissors out for the children to use on their art projects Greta got right out of her seat to go get a pair...all the others just sat in their chairs and waited. So....."assertive", "go-getter"? Or maybe she just needs to work on patience? :-) At any rate, she is very engaged and enjoys the idea of going to "class"!
On Friday Therese celebrated her 5 month birthday!!


Therese is a real go-getter too...I think she'll be crawling soon. She scoots and rolls around all over the place to go after what she wants. Therese is also very vocal, more so than I remember Greta being. She talks and yells quite a bit! As always, she's often full of smiles and giggles too. She is such a sweet little chubba bubba, as we like to call her :-)

What a Summer

This was the first time Therese sat in the high chair. She usually eats her cereal in the bouncy chair though, because Greta uses this high chair still.
Therese's first taste of apple--she loves it!
A couple Wednesdays ago we went to the PNE in Vancouver. It's a big fairground, and last Wednesday we could get in for super cheap because of the bank we use...so we went!
Greta really enjoyed looking at all of the animals.



In the "agradome" where all the animals were, there was also a special activity that little kids could do. Greta got an apron and went through a circuit pretending to be a farmer. She did everything from plant seeds to milk a cow to harvest honey from a honeycomb (well, she pretended to do those things...) She was really focused and interested in the tasks.

Milking the pretend cow...look at that concentration!






Whew! After all that work of being a farmer we used our treat coupons (yes, we even got treat coupons that day for banking where we do) to get some cotton candy--or cotton floss as they seem to call it here in Canada. This was Greta's first time eating such a sugary treat. When I took it away from her after letting her eat quite a bit (but barely making a dent in it!) she didn't protest a bit.


The fair had tons of rides and food and shows etc---an absolute sensory overload. We walked around and took in the sights. Greta was pretty interested in looking at the big rides, and left her mark at the fair by peeing along one of its sidewalks (she was so excited and overwhelmed, she just all of the sudden peed!) Here she is dancing at a concert we stopped off at for a bit.
The girls, so sweet!
Therese taking in the concert.

Dancing with Papa.

Totally conked out on the way home. She had a bit of a meltdown as we left the fair, but as soon as we got out of the area and were walking to our car, she quieted down and said something like "That's better". I suppose I'm glad we experienced it, but I don't think ANY of us need to go back there again!
Papa and his girls.


Therese is rolling around all over the place nowadays!
She rolled herself under the couch!
Greta likes to sit in Therese's bouncy chair. This is a "pick your battles" kind of thing. I could make a big deal about it and not let her use it, but really, I don't think she's going to break it and it's just not worth the argument anymore!
Greta is still excited about Therese EVERY MORNING when she comes out of her room! It is so so so sweet.
This photo was taken this morning before church.
Therese is starting to get on all fours and rock a bit! Yikes, she may be crawling soon!
I love to see this happy little Greta :-) She is becoming so helpful lately, and loves when we give her little jobs to do. Tonight she helped me get the potatoes ready for dinner, and recently she helped water the plants. The other day Matthew asked her to get his glasses for him and she looked SO honored to do such a task. She likes to announce: "I'm helping!" Lately she has also taken to calling me "Mom" instead of "Mama"...it's pretty cute; she is really growing up!