Genius Children

Well Amelia and I finally got our seeds started for our little garden. We don't want to dig up much of our yard, so the garden will be around the perimeter mostly. Amelia is very excited about it and checks the sprouts hourly:) Amelia is a very driven girl. She has recently taken it upon herself to teach Sam how to talk. Why just tonight on the drive home from the store she began a lesson... it went something like this...."Sam, say Old MacDonald...say it....Old.. Mac...Donald...Good boy Samboy (that's what she calls him)..." She cracks me up, she really loves her brother...often the way I used to show love to my brothers...they have the scars to prove it - don't ya boys;)

Our "Parents as Teachers" educator came over yesterday. If you don't know about this organization, they pair experienced parents with new parents and educate you about developmental milestones to look for or work toward with your children, inexpensive homemade toys for your child's age, and they also screen/test the children - in an informal way - to see how they're doing. I LOVE our visits. Mostly because my children are brilliant and it's wonderful to share my pride and wonderment with our educator Kristie:) Anyway, Amelia was doing genius work with the blocks our educator brought for Amelia to play with. I believe her comment was....I have never seen a child this young use so many blocks and explain her creation in such a detailed way....can you say prodigy:) - see the picture below I'm sure you'll be as impressed. Amelia is really a clever girl, she's coming our of her 2-year-old-ness and really getting to be super sweet and a lot of fun. She's curious and wants to learn, discover and create every day. I love being her momma. Jared and I like to do an impression of her that goes like this "You make me laugh all the time" - in a 2 year old's voice it sounds cuter, but she tells us that every day. Sam is getting more and more active every day. The other day he pulled himself right into the bathtub, with a big thud and bump on his head to prove it. He's very strong, he pulls himself up on everything and is super curious. But mostly he's happy, always giggling and smiling and exploring. I love this age with him. Our educator was impressed with Sam because by the age of 14 months they should understand at least 10 words, and he already understands and responds to at least 7 that we counted...I'm tellin ya ...these little smarties:)

As for my marathon update here goes - I'm doing a 1/2 marathon, and by "doing" I mean walking....I know that wows so many people, unlike my loving brother who remains unimpressed, not everyone can walk 13.1 miles ya know, including me, so it's taking some work, some "training" if you will. The training is 4-5 miles daily and a big walk on Saturdays. This Saturday my walking partner and I (shout out to Heidi:) will be walking 11 miles...oh boy! Hopefully my feet full of blisters and pain will be healed by then. (If you have any helpful tips on blistering feet, let me know)

Well that wraps up another happy day from beautiful Garden City.