Mercer graduates from his Montessori school! (although he'll be going to "summer camp" there~)
We started taking Mercer to the school when he was just over 3 months old. He started out going 3 days a week 'til he was about 1 1/2 years old. Then, he moved to 5 days a week. When he was old enough to eat on his own, he moved up to the toddler room where he started learning rapidly. It was really amazing to watch him absorb colors, shapes, coloring and the like. When he was potty-trained, he moved up to the "primary" class of the Montessori program. The rate of learning was even more impressive! Counting, alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, more advanced projects beyond coloring. This past year, he has been in the most senior room where there's a mix of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and 1st grade. This has been an interesting experience for him, as he has been able to press on to "higher level" tasks when he is wanting to and when he is able. He's honed reading skills, has learned a lot of different countries, and has even been working on some addition and subtraction. 
Mercer can sound out words while reading and writing. He likes to count backwards and he seems to be fascinated with numbers. Every day -- for the past several weeks -- he asks us to do math problems with him "what's 7 + 7... what's 10 + 1... what's 32 + 32?" (but it goes on for 10 or 20 equations!)
Sometimes, he knows the answers to the smaller problems. When he doesn't know it, we try to get him to count up on his fingers to get the solution.
One of the things I'm most proud of, though, is that the teacher said he is observant and shows concern for others. Todd is most proud of something that maybe he hasn't learned in school -- how much he loves his little sister / what a good big brother he's become.
His school held a graduation ceremony. It was opened by members of a local school's ROTC group, a series of songs that the kids sang, and then a presentation of certificates to each child. The whole thing was followed by a pot-luck luncheon, however, we did not stay for this. We were trying to make it to Mercer's end-of-season baseball team party, but it had ended by the time we could make it over there. Instead, he got to pick what-ever he wanted to eat at lunch (pizza up at the square).
Here are some links to the songs that Todd video taped at the graduation ceremony:
- The World is a Rainbow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHzlvnnvCR8
- You Are My Sunshine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1nyAAsOOo
- Days of the week (in English): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4wCqM95FM
- Days of the week (in Spanish): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBc1OvVX7Sw
- Kookaburra Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OYJeTP4o4
And... on to baseball...
Mercer was on a team this spring called the Golden Lions. It doesn't seem that any of the other kids from Mercer's t-ball team last fall moved up to the "farm league" -- the youngest kids baseball team.
Out of the players, Mercer was definitely one of the youngest (5 - 7 year olds). It took him a little while, but by the end of the season, he was able to hit from the pitching machine. He still had to use a tee sometimes, but not always. He didn't has as much focus out on the field as the older boys, however. One of the first games, he and another boy were doing cartwheels.
You can see here, in this picture (look closely) that he was interacting with us parents in the stand instead of paying attention to the batter on the opposing team. Thankfully, this league still seemed a little laid back in terms of scores kept on the scoreboard and the like.
The father of one of the oldest players on the team coached for most of the season. Todd was the other main coach - filling in when this guy wasn't in town (which started out as very often). Mercer took home a game ball the 2nd to last game of the season because he got off a couple of hits.
One thing that we did not know that his little league does: there was a big opening season parade and ceremony. Mercer rode in the back of a pick-up truck with his teammates (and a couple of dads) throwing candy out to those who stood to watch. Mercer is at the back of the truck throwing
There was a steel drum band playing while all of the trucks arrived to the presentation area. Then, speeches were made and all of the teams were introduced.
The league made a really big deal of the ceremony which had to be a lot of fun for the kids!
Isabella has had a "graduation" of her own. She's graduated to sleeping on her stomach now -- she's too big for swaddling and can wriggle her way out of them anyways. Isabella has also graduated to eating solid food. She's been eating it about a month now (just had other stuff to blog about). She started with powered cereal, then onto bananas, avocado, peas, apples, and butternut squash. We're trying out one food at a time for 3-4 days straight like we did for Mercer to try to see if there are any allergies. So far, so good - although I don't think she's too fond of avocado.... yet. (Wait 'til she tries it with onion, tomato, lime, cilantro and garlic salt!)
Isabella is a much messier baby than Mercer was. She spits up more often, but she also likes to blow raspberries while eating. We take this as a sign that she's done because - quite frankly - we don't want to "wear" her food!
All-in-all she's doing really well at it. She's been watching us and observing for months while we eat. Glad she can finally join the party~
Isabella is also starting to sit up on her own (with help). We put her in the boppy chair and hold her a little bit so she doesn't flop over. Seem to remember we used to stuff towels in behind Mercer when he was first sitting in that same foamy chair.
She does like to use a food mesh net thing that Mercer never cared for. You put frozen food inside of it & they can gnaw on it 'til it's soft enough to press through the "net." (This photo captures both the gnawing and the sitting up with a little help.) So far, we've put frozen bananas to aid in the teething that she's doing.
We feel that she's really close now. The gums are getting a little bit whiter where the teeth are trying to push through. We'll see how much longer it takes. Who knows, maybe our next post will be about teeth?!
~til then, enjoy!
One of the things I'm most proud of, though, is that the teacher said he is observant and shows concern for others. Todd is most proud of something that maybe he hasn't learned in school -- how much he loves his little sister / what a good big brother he's become.
His school held a graduation ceremony. It was opened by members of a local school's ROTC group, a series of songs that the kids sang, and then a presentation of certificates to each child. The whole thing was followed by a pot-luck luncheon, however, we did not stay for this. We were trying to make it to Mercer's end-of-season baseball team party, but it had ended by the time we could make it over there. Instead, he got to pick what-ever he wanted to eat at lunch (pizza up at the square).
Here are some links to the songs that Todd video taped at the graduation ceremony:
- The World is a Rainbow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHzlvnnvCR8
- You Are My Sunshine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1nyAAsOOo
- Days of the week (in English): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4wCqM95FM
- Days of the week (in Spanish): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBc1OvVX7Sw
- Kookaburra Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OYJeTP4o4
And... on to baseball...
Mercer was on a team this spring called the Golden Lions. It doesn't seem that any of the other kids from Mercer's t-ball team last fall moved up to the "farm league" -- the youngest kids baseball team. 
The league made a really big deal of the ceremony which had to be a lot of fun for the kids!
Isabella has had a "graduation" of her own. She's graduated to sleeping on her stomach now -- she's too big for swaddling and can wriggle her way out of them anyways. Isabella has also graduated to eating solid food. She's been eating it about a month now (just had other stuff to blog about). She started with powered cereal, then onto bananas, avocado, peas, apples, and butternut squash. We're trying out one food at a time for 3-4 days straight like we did for Mercer to try to see if there are any allergies. So far, so good - although I don't think she's too fond of avocado.... yet. (Wait 'til she tries it with onion, tomato, lime, cilantro and garlic salt!)
Isabella is a much messier baby than Mercer was. She spits up more often, but she also likes to blow raspberries while eating. We take this as a sign that she's done because - quite frankly - we don't want to "wear" her food! All-in-all she's doing really well at it. She's been watching us and observing for months while we eat. Glad she can finally join the party~
Isabella is also starting to sit up on her own (with help). We put her in the boppy chair and hold her a little bit so she doesn't flop over. Seem to remember we used to stuff towels in behind Mercer when he was first sitting in that same foamy chair.
She does like to use a food mesh net thing that Mercer never cared for. You put frozen food inside of it & they can gnaw on it 'til it's soft enough to press through the "net." (This photo captures both the gnawing and the sitting up with a little help.) So far, we've put frozen bananas to aid in the teething that she's doing.
We feel that she's really close now. The gums are getting a little bit whiter where the teeth are trying to push through. We'll see how much longer it takes. Who knows, maybe our next post will be about teeth?! ~til then, enjoy!
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