Nineteen Months

Levi is 19 months old! He is such a chatty little fellow and has so much to say, but his favorite phrases are:  "Not like it" or "I want it", usually in the grammatical equivalent of Yoda speech.  "Pet Wendell, I want it".   At the moment Levi really likes pumpkins, Papa's tools, cooking ("mix mix, cook, cook"), yogurt, firetrucks, and boo boos. He has a few boo boos that are really quite healed but at each diaper change he likes to remark quite mournfully "boo boo hurts".  Such high drama for such a wee little man.  He does not like getting messy or touching things that are sticky.  He likes tea with milk and the book Apple, Pear, Bear best of all right now.  He had such fun harvesting the last of our vegetable garden (everything is a tomato by the way) and biting one bite out of each bean and pepper plant.  The best of all was picking the long awaited pumpkin! Levi does not like it when someone leaves him at home or if he has to stay inside and big girls get to go outside. He carries shoes around hopefully asking "outside?" He says yes in the cutest way  "des" and "otay" for ok. We love our little fellow and are trying our best to keep up with him! 

 

The expansion of learning

We are five weeks in to our new school year.  Emmeline is in seventh grade and Lena fifth grade this year. Phoebe has begun kindergarten. We began gently with a few field trips to the shore and to the zoo with many a hike and backyard tent village.  This year our learning seems to be overflowing and the girls are excited to be studying Beethoven and Shakespeare's Cymbeline. We are studying Phocian in our Plutarch study, Chemistry, and Albrecht Dürer for our artist this term. History is the Industrial Revolution into the World Wars and the girls are already asking so many good and hard questions.  Map drills, Latin, German and French at dinnertime, narrations, archery, ballet and choir, cello, violin and piano, nature studies, handicrafts, math, grammar, spelling and geography round out our subjects. But the real learning comes in the in between moments where we learn to engage our minds and hearts, to be still and listen, to watch and wait and pray.  I've seen this already as these little women grow - they are growing in mindful habits and discipline, in prayerful awareness of a broken world and a suffering Savior. Phoebe begins her official schooling with a Beatrix Potter curriculum that focuses on a story each week. These match a character trait and Scripture passage she will learn and it is sweet to watch another beginner hungrily put letters together to read words.  Phoebe is also so excited to learn piano and recorder and to watercolor like her big sisters.  This is all quite new to the little man in our house, who seeks to undo most of what we set out to work on by dumping pencils and baskets of books.  We try to invite him into our learning and he is learning oh so quickly, working on his colors, his ABCs, his french and matching pitches.  (At 18 months no less!) The parents too begin again, as we do each day, to learn to trust in Jesus, for each day.  We learn to trust for the big things, and look expectantly for joy in the fringes of each day, because our Savior cares about those moments too. 

 

Eighteen Months

 Levi is 18 months old.  So many changes have taken place in this last month and I want to remember them all.  Although Levi continues to love tractors, he has discovered that not all things with wheels are tractors and has been quite amazed by cement trucks, trash trucks, airplanes, bulldozers and trains.  He has discovered tools and loves to hammer like Papa. He continues in his attempts to dismantle things and put them back together, loves wearing socks and shoes ("ocks") and ("soos"). He will say the entire alphabet with help. He has become a climber, a runner and loves fencing (he pretends to sword fight). He calls Maggie (our cat) Baggie and it is the funniest thing in the world. His words are in complete sentences now,  "Baggie where are ooh".  He also loves his "pinkles" (pickles) He knows all of his body parts and thinks counting and colors are really fun. He loves tubby time and says "ahhh" when he gets in the warm water.  He does not like elevators or diaper changes, car seats or the word no. Sleep still eludes him but we know a bit more why and we're working on it! He can play independently chattering away to his cars and building magna-tile stacks. But he loves playing with Beebe and when he is sad he wants Mamie or Nayna. Levi is so tall for his age and has huge feet.  He is in 12-18 month clothing. He loves belly buttons and making his family laugh. He loves to say AMEN. He has discovered the word CAKE. We love our little guy and can't believe he has grown so much! 

High Summer

 August was for of capturing every last drop of summer. We had days at the lake, kayaking, dancing in fairy dresses, sprinklers and pool time with cousins, mud kitchen creations with the overflowing zucchini and apprenticing with the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival for a weekend.  We spent time with dear friends, worked on the wood pile, tried to tame chickens and harvested a lot of vegetables and herbs. Sewing camp and organ camp also happened in the span of two weeks, the library reading program finished up and we're all wondering what happened to summer! As we wait expectantly for books to arrive and prepare our school room we are excited for 7th and 5th grades and Kindergarten with a toddler along for the ride.