Five Weeks Old

Our sweet Jack is five weeks old today! Here he is getting a quick kiss from Mommy just prior to his bath.

Our Snowy Day

We received over a foot of snow today and it continues to snow heavily outside. Daddy took Grace for a sled ride this afternoon while Jack & I watched the snowflakes fall from the warmth of our house. Prior to going on her sled ride Grace chose the perfect book to read called The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. In this book a little boy named Peter finds a stick and uses it to make a track in the snow. Grace followed Peter's lead today and made her own stick track in the snow too!

Special Moments Shared Between Grace & Jack

Grace & Jack shared some very special time together on Jack's play mat this morning.
Grace rings a bell for Jack to hear.

Jack loves listening to Grace read stories.

Grace gave Ella (her pink elephant) to Jack to hold. This was extremely sweet because Ella is Grace's most treasured and loved possession.

One, Two, Three....Un, Deux, Trois....Uno, Dos, Tres

While Grace brushes her teeth it has become part of her tooth brushing routine for me to count to thirty to make sure her teeth get sparkly clean! I thought I would mix things up a bit a few nights ago by counting to ten in French. Grace was intrigued with this change and asked me several times to, "Count more in French." I repeated the French number sequence several more times before the tooth brushing ended. The next evening while Grace brushed her teeth, much to my surprise, she clearly counted all the way to ten in French! I should not have been too surprised by this because Grace has an amazing ability to retain and recall new information. However, I wasn't expecting Grace to learn to count in French after only hearing the numbers a handful of times. Grace can also count to six in Spanish. I'll have to brush up on my French a bit and learn some Spanish. Grace is now very interested in learning new languages, especially French.

Keeping on the number theme, Grace made a sticker number card today. This was a simple activity where Grace helped me fold a paper accordion style. I then wrote numbers on each fold, all the way to ten. Grace chose stickers and placed the appropriate number of stickers under each number. Finally, Grace counted the stickers under each number. Grace chose to count the number of stickers in French, of course!

One of the many ways to tell you are the brother of a big sister...

Oh my, a hair clip! Grace wanted Baby Jack to wear a hair clip in his hair today too. I'm not sure what Jack will think about this when he gets a little older. At least it's a blue hair clip, right?!?!!

Our Good Morning!

The Leger family is early to rise! Our day typically begins at 5:30 or 6:00. Each morning Grace, Jack, and I read books together for nearly an hour in the rocking chair in our living room. Book time is the favorite part of my day with Grace and Jack. We are all warm and snugly in our pajamas and sharing our favorite books together. This morning, however, Jack decided to sleep in until 6:30! Here is a picture of Jack sleeping (as cute as can be!) on our couch as Grace and I read together. Once Daddy left for work, Jack woke up and the three of us read Audrey Wood & Ezra Jack Keats books together. This is the perfect way to begin each day.

Baby Jack Goes To New York City!

Every day Grace packs her pink suitcase bag that she received for Christmas from Memere & Pepere with items for our daily trip to New York City. Grace engages in an elaborate pretend play scenario all over our house where each room represents a different place or building in New York City. Grace, Jack, and I travel together by airplane, boat, taxi, and subway from one "site" to the next. This morning Grace asked to pack Baby Jack in her pink suitcase bag so in he went all the way to the Big Apple! Today we all took a boat ride to see the Statue of Liberty, took the subway to an art museum, and finally a taxi to Central Park to play on a playground and to visit Balto's statue (Balto is a famous sled dog who in 1925 transported medicine to children with diphtheria in Nome, Alaska). What an adventure we all had this morning!

So Much Fun With "Cloud Paint!"

Grace loves to play with shaving cream, which she calls "cloud paint." This morning Grace enjoyed sitting on our kitchen floor and taking a variety of stencils and pushing them into a tray filled with shaving cream to see their designs. Grace also practiced drawing lines, shapes, and letters with her fingers. Grace later mixed a variety of paint colors into the shaving cream to further add to the fun!Once Grace added paint to the tray of shaving cream she swirled it together using her hands. Grace then put a piece of paper on top of the shaving cream to create marbled paper prints!Here is one of Grace's shaving cream paper prints. Each one of her prints turned out beautifully. Grace then had the absolute best time playing with her cloud paint. It became a total sensory experience for Grace as she covered her hands and feet. I loved hearing Grace giggle as she squeezed the cloud paint in between her fingers and toes!We had just as much fun cleaning up the cloud paint at the sink once Grace was finished. Jack woke up from his nap as we were cleaning up and he enjoyed smelling the cloud paint, feeling it on his fingers, and looking at Grace's cloud paint paper prints. We had so much fun!

Four Weeks Old!

The past four weeks with our beautiful baby boy have passed by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that we brought Jack home from the hospital. Jack is a very easygoing, gentle, and an extremely sweet baby. He is already on a predictable schedule with his feedings, naps, and awake times! Jack is an excellent sleeper and likes taking naps in my sling during the day. Jack also really enjoys his nightly bath before bedtime. This is one of his very favorite things. Jack also loves massage time after his bath. Other favorite things include: music, singing, dancing, sound play, reaching for toys on his play mat, his crib, mirrors, bouncing on a ball with Mommy or Daddy, rides in the car, his big sister Grace, and listening to nursery rhymes. We are amazed by how much Jack has grown over the past few weeks. Jack now fits perfectly into size three month clothing and is starting to wear size six months! Jack is a strong boy who enjoys kicking and moving his body forward with his legs. Jack is also holding up his head for a few minutes when positioned over our shoulders. Having Jack has completed our family and we couldn't be any happier ~ and it's all because of our two beautiful children!

A New Paperwhite Bulb!

Grace's paperwhite bulb flowered around Christmastime. Today, Grace measured how tall her paperwhite bulb grew to be and we discovered it was eighteen inches tall! Once of Grace's favorite things to do is to measure items with her measuring tape so this was a fun activity for her. Grace planted a new paperwhite bulb today and we are both very excited to watch another bulb grow taller and anticipate when it will flower. It will be interesting for Grace to compare and contrast the growing cycles of the two paperwhite bulbs. Prior to planting the new bulb, Grace enjoyed studying and touching the roots and flowers of her first paperwhite bulb.

Pajama Time!

Going Short!

Grace had her haircut this afternoon. After talking it over with Grace, we decided it would be fun for her to have a new hairstyle. So, Grace went to Snip Its today and was SO excited to have her hair cut short!!! Here is our adorable Grace with her cute short hair receiving a prize after her haircut. We all love Grace's new style because it shows off her bright blue eyes and beautiful face.

Our Fun Filled Saturday Morning

Jack started off his morning having lots of fun on his play mat. We received this farm animal toy from a friend and Jack loves it! Jack especially enjoys reaching for the cow and pushing it to hear music. While Jack was playing, Grace was getting ready to go to her swimming lesson. We switched Grace's lessons to Saturday mornings so the four of us could all go together!
Grace enjoyed swimming in the pool with Daddy while Jack and I cheered them on from the pool side. This was Grace's first time swimming with Daddy.

Jack loves being warm so he took advantage of 90 degree temperature in the pool area by taking a little nap! Grace can be seen in the background swimming with her barbell.

BIG Sister

We had a wonderful day today. Grace, Jack, and I went to music group together this morning. This was Jack's very first music group and it was so nice for me to introduce him to everyone! I was so proud of Grace and Jack today at group. Grace was so sweet to Jack ~ she explained everything that was going on to him. During instrument time, Grace went over to the instrument bin and carefully chose the tiniest maracas for Jack to play. Grace then went over to Jack and gently placed them in his hands. Grace made sure all of Jack's needs (and mine) were met before hers. Each time Jack made a noise in group Grace exclaimed to everyone, "Baby Jack is singing!" When we arrived home from music group Grace sat in the rocking chair and read books to Jack. I can't express enough what an amazing big sister Grace is and what a sweet baby Jack is.

Later this afternoon Grace checked on Jack as he watched the mobile in his crib, however, once Jack knew Grace was there he was much more interested in watching his big sister!

Sleeping Like A Baby!

Lions & Tigers & Bears....Oh My Jack!

"Gracie Girl Is Going To New York City"

Grace got all dressed up today in a blue sparkly tutu, a yellow flower lei, and her birthday crown. She then grabbed her phone and started walking toward our door while saying, "Bye-bye Mommy. Gracie girl is going to New York City!"

Three Weeks Old!

Jack is as sweet as can be as he turned three weeks old today. Some of Jack's new favorite things are taking warm baths, massage time, Glow Worm, listening to nursery rhymes, his swing, kisses on his cheeks (Mommy's favorite!), and his musical mirror. Jack is doing a great job purposefully reaching for suspended toys on his play mat and he loves pushing his feet against objects in order to move his body.

Jack enjoyed some tummy time today on his boppy pillow. Jack worked hard to lift his head in order to look at his musical mirror.

Grace's Goodnight Moon Project

Grace was such a hard worker this morning as she worked on the first part of her Goodnight Moon book folder project. I cut out pictures that are all within the Goodnight Moon book and Grace sorted them into two categories: one category being items that you say goodnight to in the book and the other category being items that are pictured within the book but that are not said goodnight to. Grace then put the goodnight pictures inside a little pocket in her folder. There are many other activities and projects related to Goodnight Moon that Grace will add to her folder over the next few weeks. This is an ongoing project that I'm sure Grace will really enjoy. By the way, did you know that there is a giraffe in Goodnight Moon??

Cat & Mouse

Twenty-Five Months Old

Where does the time go? Our Gracie girl is growing up so quickly. Each day Grace continues to amaze us. Everything about Grace, from her outgoing personality to her deep love of learning, inspires me to be the best mother that I can be each to her each and every day. Here is the latest update about our Amazing Grace:

• Grace continues to love calendar time. She is able to set up the calendar by herself every morning and tell me the day of the week, month, number of the month, year, season, and weather.
• Grace can locate and name 24 states on the map of the United States and 25 countries on the World map.
• Grace is sounding out sounds in words and can read beginning words in her books (e.g., cat, dog, pat, hot, hat, etc.). Grace also attempts to sound out more challenging multisyllabic words with great accuracy. Grace can also name at least five words if you give her an intial sound (e.g., "Tell me all the words you know that begin with the "d" sound).
• Grace knows all of the authors of her books.
• Grace can identify the location and name the title, author's name, front cover, and back cover of her books.
• Grace enjoys listening to longer stories and she is able to retell stories once the book is finished.
• Grace continues to recite numerous nursery rhymes from beginning to end. She can recite the entire book of Little Mother Goose.
• Grace enjoys "project time" each day where an art, language, literacy, and/or science activity is targeted.
• Grace has become very independent and enjoys doing things by herself like feeding, preparing food, dressing, bathing, etc.
• Grace's language skills are amazing as is her memory of events, people, and facts. Grace talks about events that have occurred months ago and is able to tell us exact details about what happened. Grace does not forget anything! You can easily carry on long conversations with Grace.
• Grace is now beginning to swim independently using a barbell at her swimming lessons.
• Grace loves to sing and enjoys singing songs from beginning to end to anyone who will listen!
• Grace is the absolute best big sister to Jack. I am so proud of the way Grace has accepted Jack into our family. Grace is such a big helper to me and is extremely sweet and gentle toward Jack.
• Favorite things: learning, Ella, helping Mommy take care of Baby Jack, pretend play (kitchen/food play, doll play, pretending to take naps), sitting in her chair to read books, washing hands, people, olives, art activities, our cat, lotions, snow, playing board games, grocery shopping at Whole Foods, puzzles, swimming, music group, her Yoga Baby books, and phones.

Morning Nap

Jack & Monkey enjoyed a morning nap in the swing together! This was Jack's first time in his swing.

Happy New Year

We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to in 2009 with our two beautiful children.

Jack's First Visit To LL Bean!