Max just completed his 1st half-day sports-skills camp at Westmont
College. Soooo crazy for me to be driving my big almost 5-year-old kid there every
day (since it was my college stomping grounds, and then I worked there before kids).
He really loved it – and they got to do everything from basketball, soccer and golf,
to hula hoops, juggling, archery and ‘rockets’ – his favorite! Though I’m not sure
if they just threw them, or had a launcher? He did so many activities sometimes it
was hard for him to describe them all to me. I left really early to pick him up yesterday,
so I could get pictures of him slip-n-sliding (that they do at the end of every day),
but the darn Fiesta traffic
into SB made it so I just barely picked him up on time. But – here’s a great pic that
they took at camp. And
also – here’s a movie we took of goofy-girl Lucy (yes, it’s really ‘Lucy’ now) in
the bathtub, after Bub the Hairstylist had done her hair. Last Thursday – we took
her to the doc and she has a sinus infection. So, (after a day and 1/2 of antibiotics)
she slept 7 hours straight through last night! Yipppeee!!!

Here’s our fam on 7/4 of this year – it’s been a little busy around here! Max is enjoying Sports Camp and Baby Lou (now we seem to be calling her ‘Lucy’, actually) is still an erratic night sleeper. Her walking is very solid and though still not really talking, her signing skills are very strong, and persistent! She can practically rub the skin off her chest as she repeats her ‘please’ which generally means ‘bottle of milk, please!’

Max told me the other day (when I informed him that it was rest time) that he didn’t want me to be his Mommy anymore. I said that was too bad, etc. After rest time (when he can be very sweet and affectionate), he said that I could be his Mommy again. And then “I forgive you, Mommy.” (though I don’t think I did anything wrong!) 🙂

Ugh! 2 nights in a row of multiple wake ups by screaming (teething?) baby. Luckily, Max is not affected at all, and he is happily going to the ‘Safety Town’ day camp in Santa Barbara.

Right now, Max wants to do everything that I do (except work, go figure). It is especially
funny when he wants to wear the type of clothes that I am wearing. If I am wearing
flip flops he will wear flip flops. If I have pants on, he will take off his shorts
to put on long pants.

He has a new pair of pants from YaYa that he really loves (they have lots of pockets
and zippers). Unfortunately, they are a little big in the waist, still. So Toby bought
him a nifty belt with a military theme. He is jazzed. I had to punch an extra hole
in the belt so that it would have some effect. He is spends a lot of time now making
sure his shirt is tucked in so everyone can see his belt. Luckily, he has a pair of
shorts that have belt loops so he has 2 clothing items he can use his new belt on.

This morning, Max woke up early, and since I was going for a short run (~1.5 miles)
I invited him to join me on his bike. I thought he would be faster on his bike, and
I found myself running in place at most of the street crossings while he pedaled to
keep up. He wasn’t going as fast as he could (he wasn’t even sweating or breathing
hard at the end), so we might have a more consistent speed if I can get him to pedal
faster.

It seems Lucy has returned to sleeping through the night. Even though, she has had
a fever for 3 days now, she is sleeping until 6-ish and then I can put her binky back
in and she will go back to sleep until 7-ish. Whew! Her multiple night wake ups were
making our house a bit cranky (except Max who would sleep right through her screaming
just a few feet from his ears).

After 1 week of walking, Lucy (aka Lou, aka Weezy) is getting tired of falling down.
If you watched the previously posted videos, you saw that she was so excited about
just being able to walk, that even stumbling, falling down was fun.

Now, however, she is over the ‘falling down’ part of walking. It seems to frustrate
her a great deal that she cannot keep up with her brother. But she keeps trying. She
can stop, start and change direction without needing any supporting appliance or pant
leg.

In other news, Lucy has taken the first few, tentative sucks from a sippy cup. We
have been trying (off and on) for months to get her to use one of these. She would
put it in her mouth and then spit it out with a frown. Over the weekend, I put apple
juice in the sippy (something she has never had) in the hopes of providing incentive
for the sippy cup. It sort of works. Now she will take 2 or three very small sucks
before frowning. I know she is getting the juice, I can see it running down her chin.
Maybe she doesn’t like apple juice.

Max did very well in his swimming lessons, and is attending VBS in the mornings this
week. We parents get to have a show at the end of the week!