Nashville Glewwe Kids

Grant says I should confess. Poor Michael. Since he’s the second and has proven himself a tough little cookie and he seems a little more physically advanced than Megan was at this age, I subject him to more. Yesterday was a perfect example.
I took the kids outside to check out the creek for a few minutes before our afternoon trip to Publix. After seeing how much water had accumulated in the creek from the morning’s rain, Megan headed to her playground and negotiated a little playtime for herself. I watched her for a few minutes, then decided that Michael should play a bit too. Of course, Michael can’t walk, but he can slide, right?
I put Michael at the top of the taller of the two slides and held him as he slid down. He didn’t complain, so I put him down the slide a couple more times. Then I thought, “Why not just let him go on his own? It’s not that high up; what can go wrong?” So, I put Michael at the top of the slide and squatted at the bottom, allowing him to essentially fall down the slide into my arms. I put him up there several times, and though he looked at me like I was crazy, he went down the slide each time. I’ll work on it more this week so we can get a picture up for all to see!

Saturday was the first time for Sandra to go to Zoo Twos with Megan. I went the first two times due to Sandra’s dental surgery (see The Saga of the Teeth). I was less than thrilled with the program for the price we were paying, so I wanted Sandra to go to see for herself. As we approached the zoo, Sandra told me Megan when queried said that I would go with her. She is such a Daddy’s Girl (when she isn’t Nana’s Girl). I told Sandra I would drop Megan and her off at the entrance to avoid the issue altogether (you gotta go with the one you are with). Well, to read the good stuff, see Mama’s Blog on it. Sandra was a bit peeved with me. Megan had a great time. Michael and I enjoyed the zoo!

After a few tenative crawling steps last week, Michael decided it was time to go. In the space of five days, he went from near zero mobility to crawling the length of the house! A couple of notable bouts of crawling this weekend included chasing a partially deflated Harris Teeter balloon through the kitchen and chasing poor Roomba around Megan’s room. He was delighted by the robot vacuum and would chase it down to pounce on it before letting it continue on. I clearly see the fate of any hapless dog or cat that became our family pet. Of course, the animals would be faster than poor plodding Roomba. We will add some crawling video soon.

In other news, he is enjoying banging on an old cookie tin with a wooden mixing spoon as a “drum.” He delights in this. Last week at Music Class, they had a large drum 30 inches across and a couple of mallets. He took right to it when Christian would let him hold the mallet. Megan loved it as well.

Finally, he woke quite pleasantly this morning, chattering away in his crib, sitting up, moving around, and pawing at “The Birds.” (a soother) Megan woke pleasantly as well, got out of bed while I was getting Michael, and was quite surprised when she went to the master bedroom and Daddy was not there. I cuddled with both in the recliner for a while before Megan climbed down to play and asked me to put Michael down to play as well. He was reluctant at first, but then they started playing together, and he was having a great time with his sister.

Megan is a daddy’s girl. I don’t know when the final transformation took place, but I know it began when I weaned her. Now, when the four of us are together, she often says “Mama will get Michael and Daddy will get me.” Grant often laughs it off and calls me “Chopped Liver.”
Yesterday was a day like any other. As we pulled into the garage, though, we didn’t discuss who would get whom out of the car. Grant opened the door and started releasing Michael from his seat. As I went to help Megan out, she screamed “No! Daddy will get me!” I said, “Megan, that hurts my feelings. You know, I’m not really chopped liver.” She quickly replied, “You are! You are chopped liver, Mama!” Grant didn’t even try to suppress his laugh.

Megan has now entered a stage where she will query us for the meaning of a word we use if she doesn’t already have it in her vocabulary. The part that amazes me is how well she asks for the meaning. She tends to reproduce the word perfectly the first time (that is how we know we can’t swear in front of her), and she seems to accept the explanation and incorporate the new found word into her growing vocabulary.

Her brain is so much fun!

The Mimo/ Mima (depending on Megan’s mood at the moment) came over Friday afternoon to run some errands with us, and she visited a bit before going home to wait for the Poppa. While we were visiting, the kids were playing on the floor. The three adults in the room all happened to look down as Michael took two crawling steps to retrieve a toy. We all celebrated these “first steps,” though we were careful not to disturb Michael’s play.
Since then, he still only takes a few crawling steps at a time, but we know it won’t be long before we’re chasing him around, keeping him from all the dangerous places he cares to explore. Exciting stuff!

For the last week or so, Megan has been repeating a word/phrase that Sandra said sounded like “Dumbledore” from the Harry Potter novels. This morning Sandra called to say she thought it might be “Jungle Gym” since those words appear in one of Megan’s music class songs. When Megan said it a few times this afternoon, Sandra asked “Are you saying Jungle Gym?” Now, with Toddler Indignation in her voice, Megan replied “No!” and repeated it a couple of times. And said “From Yoga!”

 Sandra got a Yoga Kids video for Megan that they watch and do together during the day.

 Namaste is sung at the end.

Namaste is a Sanskrit word, and I’ve found a bunch of people saying what it means. Wikipedia says a literal translation is “I bow to you” and can be said at greeting or parting. Another page that I found interesting was Namaste Yoga. Of course, if you Google Namaste, you get buried in responses. You can also try http://www.namaste.org/namaste/

Well, riddle solved!

 On another yoga note, Megan is doing different poses constantly now. I don’t know what most of them are called, but I recognize “tree” and “downward facing dog.”

As we drove to the grocery store early this morning, we found ourselves without an iPod. Megan wanted music so we started singing “Wheels on the Bus” together. We went through the standard verses, and I then asked Megan who else was on the bus. She replied “Mima!” We sang “The Mima on the bus says…” and let her fill it in: “Go to Church, Go to Church, Go to Church”

 Wow did she hit the nail on the head!

I was expecting “Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God”, but I loved her response.

Michael is 9 1/2 months old, and is finally starting to sit up consistently. After Sandra’s surgery Friday (see her blog at http://sandra.glewwe.us/blog ), she was under orders to not pick up the kids. Sunday morning I went upstairs to get Michael and he was sitting up in his crib. This morning, I left him on his tummy with his sister in his room. I came back to find him sitting up and several feet over from where I left him. Crawling can’t be far behind!

Megan, Michael, and I met Sherry and Kathryn and Susan and Shona for a morning at Cheekwood, our local botanical garden. Each summer, Cheekwood hosts a wonderful outdoor exhibit which displays the talents of local artisans. This summer’s theme was “Once Upon a Garden.” As usual, it was wonderful fun, and we wanted to share the experience with our friends. The girls all had a great time running around together, including getting wet in the lawn sprinkler. Michael even got out of his stroller a little! Here are a couple of pics from the morning.