a KING day

happy martin luther king day. this year he has a special place in our home & hearts. beyond what great works he did for society, but for the great works he continues to inspire in our children.

across the street from us is the dr. martin luther king open elementary school. recently, we have started attending a "structured" playgroup on thursday afternoons there... ruby & i come too, but its really for lucas to learn about how to listen and follow along in a structured learning environment. (free play, activity*, handwashing & snack, and circle time where we sing songs and say our names) its great for me to be able to see how he might respond when we ship him off to preschool 3 mornings a week this september (!) and also enables me to help guide him in the transition to more structure.

he is intellectually ready, to start learning his abc's 123's, colors and shapes.. and indeed has already started! in both languages - he counts to 3, knows circles from squares, and the color red. he knows about the alphabet, and often points out letters to me in the street, and asks which ones they are. he also understands that they go together to make the words we use, but hasnt learned any specific letters yet.

so, back to my story, for the day's activity, he colored a picture of MLK for me. and has been really proud of what he made. he points to it taped on the pantry door and says, "luh-ca made it self! king!" (lucas made it by himself! a dr. king picture!)

ruby's walking

ruby started officially walking today. it all started the night before with a few steps here and there, but she is such a motivated little girl, she spent the better part of today getting up and down and off to the races!

of course, she's still falling quite a bit, and the crawling is still faster (read: warp speed) but she can now walk halfway across a room if she wants.

but this great achievement is shared today, we also have a brand new friend... its the sweeney's baby girl! but i will let them make the official announcements before i go on blabbing my big mouth.

cafe a la carte

i have never been a *heavy* coffee drinker, despite the fact that i love it strong. since being either pregnant or breastfeeding for more than 3 years now, i have limited my coffee-drinking to a half cup on weekend mornings, and sometimes not even that.

but now that ruby is only taking a bedtime & good-morning boobies, i can drink coffee almost whenever i want! so i have. oops. im having it pretty much every day sometimes twice a day, and i think i'm developing a little addiction here (:D). this morning i had a tiny headache before my first cup!~ .. ooof. (:P) i really hate having an *obligation* like this. but for now, i am reveling in the honeymoon of sorts of new found freedom.

december pix are already up, but im still working on getting the videos loaded.