Finley's a Tiny Tumbler

Finley had his first gymnastics class this week and he did great! He was so excited that as soon as we walked into the gym to check in, he sat down on the floor and ripped off his jacket, hat, shoes and socks.

He had said he wasn't sure he wanted to go in alone (without me) to the class, but once the other kids lined up with the teacher--Finley didn't look back!

Here they are warming up with the parachute. Finley's on the far side holding onto a green section, of course.

 Then, they moved onto the obstacle course and had to listen to all the directions first.  Finley is always an attentive listener, though he did stand up to wave to me a few times (at which point I sat down for a while so he couldn't see me!).

Dagny fell asleep for a while and I was "free" for a while...it was an odd feeling!

 After the obstacle course, the kids got to bounce all the way down the long trampoline and then wait at the end for everyone to catch up before jumping into the foam pit.

Finley forgot to crawl through the barrel at first, so the lucky kid got to jump back into the pit (I suspect this was his secret plan all along!!).  They finished up with some bends and more trampolining on the small trampolines and Finley did so well for his first time.  The teacher commented how impressed she was that Finley kept raising his hand to go first--he wasn't shy or nervous at all! A new weekly activity to add to our routine and I'm thrilled about it :)

Dagny Then and Now

Today Dagny turned 7 months old.  Awesome.  But I found a couple photos from back closer to her 6 month birthday and wanted to post them since it is amazing how different she looks just one month later (at least in my opinion!)

Here she is enjoying/eating a new toy she got from a friend of mine back in early January.

 

And here she is in the tub this morning.

 And finally, here's a lovely sibling photo from our bed one morning last week.

A funny story related to the above photo: We are looking into booking a hotel room or possibly rooms for us when we fly to Missouri at the end of the summer for a family wedding.  Finley overheard me talking to the hotel staff on the phone about how many beds were in a room and after I hung up, Finley made a suggestion.  He'd obviously been listening intently about one room having two beds and he said, "You and Daddy can share one bed and me and Dagny can share the other one."  I said that was a sweet idea but that Dagny will still be too little for a big bed because she might roll off; he quickly retorted, "Don't worry, I can put my arm around her and hold her when we sleep."  This kid loves his baby sister and is always safety conscious.  Love it.

Costco Cart Compadres

We made a pilgrimage to Costco after school today and it occurred to me that it was high time for Ms. Dagny to have her first shopping cart ride.  Finley happily climbed in, too, and it was pretty funny to watch them check each other out.

When we started rolling inside, Finley immediately put his arm around her to "hold her" which just made me melt.  Once inside, I tried for a good five minutes to get them both to smile and look at the camera.  Then, I tried for them to both just look at the camera. Mixed results, but cute photos!

Here's the prized shot as Finley hugs his baby sister.

Dagny loved being in the cart, she squeaked and squealed the entire time while kicking her legs all around.

I feel bad that I have deprived her of this joy up until now, she was probably ready a month ago!

40 years and Counting

We had a great weekend down in NY this past weekend as we helped GG and Grandpa celebrate their 40th anniversary.  We arrived in time on Friday night for a delicious Shabbat dinner with GG, Grandpa, Ellie and Donny.  Finley ate a tiny amount of potatoes, a bunch of challah, and then played with the Fisher-Price garage Grandpa had found up in the attic.  He dragged in into the dining room and entertained himself while we finished eating.  Seeing the garage was a trip down memory lane for all of us!

The next morning, we headed off to temple to see GG and Grandpa say an aliyah and both kids were great! Dagny chilled in her carseat and even slept a little while Finley happily stood up, sat down, and snacked quietly.  Everyone commented to us how well behaved they were and frankly, we were impressed just the same! Then, we all headed home so both kids could have lunch and then nap.  Anytime they both sleep at the same time is pure heaven and we got two hours of dual sleep that day.

By six o'clock, the house was full of family and friends.  Cousins Julie, Matt, Maggie and Harrison came over along with Uncle Carl who kindly drove my sister and her boyfriend, Ben, out from the city.  Caitlin had generously agreed to babysit all the kids while the "grown ups" went out to a special anniversary dinner.  Ben was a good sport to come and even brought his guitar along with him, a sure way into Finley's heart!  They all had pizza and Finley couldn't wait any longer, so he asked Caitlin and Ben to get the guitar and start jamming. Caitlin played a few chords before letting Ben take over.

Finley was thrilled to say the least. 

 I put Dagny down to bed and when I came down Finley was in search of an instrument to join "the band" and thankfully, we had his harmonica in our bag since he had taken to show and tell that morning at school.  Now they could rock!

 I had to work hard to get Finley's attention to say goodnight and goodbye, which was a pleasure compared to what I had prepared myself for.  According to Caitlin, all went smoothly putting Finley to bed and he even let Ben read him a couple of books!  He didn't fall asleep right away and asked when we were coming home, but with a little Aunt Caitlin reassurance, he drifted off successfully.  Meanwhile, our dinner out was DELICIOUS and amazingly filling.  Some nice toasts were given to the happy couple and Dan and I thoroughly enjoyed being out in the world together after 8pm :)

Maggie and Harrison gave Finley an excellent gift, a duplo fire station, that he played with all Sunday morning.

Dagny enjoyed breakfast (like she enjoys EVERY meal these days).

 Then, we headed off to the Westchester Toy and Train show.  Finley loved seeing all the model trains and was very careful to look but not touch all the neat, antique items.  We saw some great stuff and met some interesting characters who were buying and selling all the stuff.

Despite being in a convention center (where Dan's high school graduation took place!) full of toys, trucks, and trains--we managed to only spend $1.75 as Finley chose a little toy Delta airplane and a matching Delta food delivery truck.  What a frugal dude who enjoyed reminiscing about when we took a Delta plane home from Florida in the fall.

We spent some time with GG and Granddad and had lunch before piling back into the car.  A lovely weekend had by all!

Club Car Cafe

Our weekend plans were a bit up in the air since my parents were unable to come up here this weekend as planned, so we regrouped and ended up making a wonderful discovery in West Concord (just one town over, maybe 10 minutes from home).  

We figured breakfast with a train view would make everyone happy and we were right!  Just as we walked up to the former train station-now restaurant, a purple commuter line train rolled in.

Finley was thrilled and I was impressed at our amazing timing!

Once inside, the train fun continued.  Some of the original station benches were still in use, lots of black and white historic photos lined the walls and a train rolled around on some tracks up above.

We ordered breakfast and had fun looking around while we awaited our food.

Breakfast was simple and yummy and after checking the schedule, we knew one more train was coming through so we lingered a bit longer to see it.  Finley and Dan had fun watching it arrive and depart outside while Dagny and I kept warm inside.  It was an excellent way to kick off our long weekend and when Grammy and Granddad do come up for their next visit, we will take them here so Finley and Granddad can be in train heaven!

Finley's First F

Finley, like most boys, doesn't prefer to draw, color, or write over all his other interests but will occasionally sit down at his little table to create something.  We've been encouraging him to draw things himself instead of asking us to do it but can be a tall order depending on what he wants drawn.  A couple weeks ago he drew a crescent moon all by himself and was SO proud, it was awesome.  We cut it out and taped it on one of his block structures, he loved it.  Baby steps :) Then, last night before we left for temple, all on his own, Finley took out his Magnadoodle (Thanks, Aunt Caitlin) and made a beautiful capital F!!

He was so modest about it, but I nearly flipped!!  I told him how proud I was and he willingly posed for some photos with his masterpiece.

What will the little guy accomplish next???

Dagny Rocks at Tummy Time

Dagny's been getting more mobile on her tummy.  Not close to crawling really, but getting some surprisingly movement.  She can unintentionally scoot backwards, reach and twist from side to side, and occasionally shove herself forward when her toes are on the floor (this last one is according to her school teachers).

Here's a video that I took before putting the little girl to bed tonight - at first she was totally distracted by her own shadow - but the third video I took reflected more of her current activity and verbal level. Maybe she's closer to crawling than we think...

Love how she has enough baby hair that it hangs over her ears! She might need a trim before her first birthday :)