Another Milestone

It feels like a big deal when your toddler learns how to pump. Another milestone to check off as my youngest gets older. I've been trying to teach him for awhile, to no avail. What finally did the trick was having him sit on Caleb's lap while Caleb was swinging. Then Austin got the "feel" of it.

During the 3-year-old year of preschool, all I hear during recess is, "Push me Ms. Haley! Higher!" over and over and over again. It gets monotonous. Now I have 2 out of the 7 kids that can pump themselves. :)

Also something that Austin feels so proud of himself for doing independently is riding on this pirate ship that actually swings pretty high at an indoor play place I've taken him to a few times. He has his arms up in this picture.

Ribbon Festival 2019

Caleb participated in a Suzuki piano ribbon festival again this year. He played two memorized Suzuki songs in front of an audience while a judge commented on things he did well and needed to improve on. He performed very well!

He played Minuet I and II by Bach, which aren't showy pieces, but very tricky technically. They are songs at the end of book 4. He will be having his book 4 party soon after he finishes the last song and fine tunes the songs in the book--likely January. 

He wore gloves to keep his fingers warm while he waited for his turn to play, then decided to put them on again after.

Bryson's 7th Birthday

To celebrate Bryson's birthday, I met him at school on Friday to eat a Chick Fil-A lunch. On Saturday, we celebrated with donuts for breakfast. Grandma and Grandpa met up with Bryson mid-day and gave him a few presents. Later in the afternoon, we picked up two of his best friends and went to an indoor trampoline park for a few hours. We came home for pizza and cupcakes. Papa also dropped off his trademark gift of $10 in quarters.

The next week during the school book fair, I met Bryson so he could pick out a few books for his birthday.

Bryson at 7 years old
Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: honey lime enchiladas
Favorite subject at school: P.E.
Favorite things to do: play games with his family
Best friends: Dax, Odette, Brenner

Bryson is excelling in 1st grade. He's turning into a great reader and hard worker at school. He and Austin can be the best of friends a lot of the time and disappear for over an hour playing nice together, but they also fight often. Bryson is still doing piano lessons and is about to finish the primer level. (He could be further if I sat down with him more consistently--that one is on me. I'm less and less motivated with each child it seems as it's another thing to stay on top of.) He really took to baseball and wants to continue. He is typically not a morning person, and we have to tiptoe around him on school mornings so that he doesn't blow up and yell, "Well, I'm not going to school today!" It happens less this year than last year. He loves riding his bike, and when he rides to school, I hear he is all business. He ignores any of my friends that pass him and say "hi," focused solely on getting to school, whereas Carter is all smiles and warm greetings for any of the adults he knows from church.