Our little guy has gotten so big in the last month! I feel like I say that every month now, but it’s true. Toddlers really do change and develop so much, so quickly at this age. I guess that’s one reason why I love this stage so much. We have one more month of these updates and then we will have a 1.5 year old! Crazy!!! Those big brown eyes are taking in every single thing all around and I love watching him grow! The last five months have flown by and I have loved it.

Always eating snacks or hungry!!!

• The constant jibber-jabber is so fun to listen to. He’s been trying to say things more than ever which makes me so excited. It always shocks me when he says something and I actually understand what he wants. Just the other night in the bath he picked up a startfish toy and said star (“tar”), both Peter and I were surprised! 
• He has started to sleep much harder now but the night weaning did NOT go well. It’s crazy how different he and Solomon are. Asher is definitely a momma’s boy, so I think any kind of weaning process will be much harder with him. I decided to just go with the flow since he’s still sleeping great and loves co-sleeping with us in the middle of the night. I'm in no rush!
• Loves swimming in the pool and splashing in the water. Summer is going to be so much fun this year with a HUGE bathtub to play in all the time. ;) 
• The biggest carnivore baby! Loves any kind of meat and prefers it over anything. Still loves most fruits also and eats 1-2 eggs every morning. 
• Running and walking fast now, but can still get tripped up and fall pretty easy. Learning how to catch himself and not getting too upset. 
• Still obsessed with his brother but also gets very annoyed and irritated with him so easily. We are working on hitting since that’s his go to response when he’s annoyed with anyone, especially Solomon. 
• Loving books and playing with legos, he can sit solo and play for a while now. It's is a huge blessing if I’m busy cleaning or doing something with Solomon. Sometimes if he is being super whiny or complaining about something, I'll tell him to go read a book and he perks up instantly, then goes to the bookshelf and looks at books for a while. It's super cute! 
• Going into childcare and church without a huge meltdown, he still cries and resists it, but he’s fine once I’m out of sight.
• Absolutely hates to have his diaper changed and get his PJs on before bed, like you would think I’m trying to kill him. It’s the worst part of my day for sure, which is usually why Peter usually does it. Once he’s dressed and ready for bed he’s back to his sweet and happy self. The temper is real!
• All four molars are out and the first canine tooth is cutting right now on the top left side! 
• Had his first timeout for making a huge mess with a squishy on the living room floor. He thought the timeout was hilarious and he actually liked it, even put himself in timeout again after I got him out. Haha, oh boy....
• Obsessed with my face and touching any small zit (which doesn't help keep zits away!) or ,y tiny mole on my cheek while nursing, which is incredibly annoying! It drives me nuts. I move his hands and tell him no constantly but he needs the constant touch with my face to fall asleep.
• Just weighed him and he was 28.6 lbs. He’s also wearing all 2T clothing. Asher and Solomon can definitely wear the same shorts right now, which is hilarious to me. 

Sweet, sweet boy!!! I love you so much!

homeschooling plans.

Homeschooling. Something I always dreamed of doing but wasn't sure if I would end up doing it. If you would have asked me last year, I would have said HECK NO, but something changed over the last year. Really, just at the end of 2018, the Lord was really pushing my heart to do it. Or just try it! Solomon's birthday is September 14th, which is a late birthday for school, so that means he would be the oldest in his class. I think that is a good thing and I started to search for some preschool programs for him, just 2-3 days a week, possibly starting in January. I even went and toured one place but I left with such a heaviness with the idea of sending him somewhere. I wasn't ready, and I really didn't think he was either. He has plenty of time to socialize and be away from my at church and at my bible study once a week, so I wasn't worried about that. I just felt like we were in a really good place to try homeschooling and see if it would be a good fit for us, since he wouldn't technically start 4K until 2020, because of his birthday. So, we started it in January and I was honestly shocked at how much we both loved it. Now, here we are, almost in June and I am getting so pumped about buying a curriculum for next school year. I've tried to implement "summer" but he won't have it. He still asks for "schoolwork" everyday. The biggest gift with the last several months is realizing how his brain works. It is so rewarding to work on a common goal together and see him thrive. I'm so thankful for the opportunity that we have to give this homeschooling adventure a try! 

Now that my rambling is over.... ha, there have been several people ask what we are doing and what we are using. We are working on a morning basket now that seems to be going very well, and then we have his "school work" during Asher's naptime. This schedule seems to work best for us right now and I love the one on one time that it gives me with Solomon. 

my Erin Condren Teacher Planner that I'm loving so far.....

It helps me stay organized with all the different tasks that I have to complete throughout a normal day. I split it up into Morning Basket, School Work, my Color Street work, daily to do, and then meals. Its the best place for my brain dump every evening before bed and helps me plan ahead with school work also. 

Our morning basket is something we do almost everyday, even on weekends sometimes. This little basket sits beside the couch most of the time, but I love that we can carry it around the house with us, as we use it. Comfy on the couch, at the kitchen table while we eat breakfast, the school table, or even upstairs in Solomon's room. The following are all the things that we keep in the basket on a daily basis... 

We normally start with our daily devotion book. This Book is so simple and sweet, and it's the perfect way to start our day and I love how the prayer at the end is a little rhyme each day. Asher usually likes to listen to this part also and look at the pictures. 

Solomon also works on writing his name each morning. He's now doing Solomon and Eliya without any tracing, but I'm still writing Peter for him since we just added that to his practice this month. After the devotion, and the name practice, then we do his morning journal. Sometimes I tell him what to draw, but there are times when he asks to draw a specific thing. Like this morning, he wanted to draw a picture of God and Adam together. 

We have several bible verses that we have learned together also, which I love!! Whenever we add a new one, I write it out on cardstock and Solomon paints it. I'm going to laminate these also and make a little book for him to keep. We go over all the bible verses in the morning and throughout the day.

We are working through these two books right now with our morning basket, normally alternating the two and going in order from beginning to end. I've been trying to stay on the same stories also, since the Usborne Illustrated Children's Bible Stories is more in depth and the Jesus Calling Storybook is a faster read. They are both so sweetly written and I love the questions that I get to answer after we finish a story. 

The afternoon work is in these two books right now. I bought this Get Ready for School with this summer in mind before we start our new fall curriculum in September and we are LOVING it right now. All the sections in the notebook are fun and it makes it easy to jump around in different subjects each day. Starting this week, I'm going to a Tuesday-Thursday schedule (since I totally forgot Monday was Memorial Day in my planner above!) so we are going to focus on specific things each day. Tuesday will be alphabet, Wednesday will be math, and then Thursday will be shapes. I'll add in random things from tracing, manners, and basic knowledge from the other sections each day also.

This other book is something I found from the dollar store and I love how this is set up with one page a day. I pull this out on days when we need something a little extra and he still wants to do some school work. 

Lastly, I wanted to try a chapter read aloud for the first time with Solomon and I was shocked at how well it went. The chapters are short and there are a couple of photos to show and talk about as well. We are doing one chapter every other day right now, usually after we are finished with his school work in the afternoon before Asher wakes up. I'm so excited about all the possibilities of chapter books in the months ahead!! 

So for now, that is what we do. I love that there is complete flexibility with homeschooling and we can let Solomon lead the way during the summer days leading up to his 4K year. I'm also thankful that he won't technically be in a true 4K year until 2020, so we can take it slow and steady! Let me know if you have any questions or any recommendations!! We are definitely learning together as we go, but we love it! 

Asher // sixteen months.

Our baby boy seems bigger every day now! He is trying to communicate and watching and learning constantly. It's so fun to see more of his personality coming out, even if some of it is a full on temper! He is walking 100% of the time now and trying his best to keep up with his brother. Their relationship has evolved a lot now that Asher is playing and running around more. It's so sweet to see. I'd honestly love it if God gave us five boys, they are so fun! I've always wanted to be a boy mom, and now that dream is coming alive even more with Asher becoming more of a toddler. 

full on personality, and flipping 180 all day long! Definitely keeps things interesting.

• still obsessed with books and will sit and flip through them for 20 minutes sometimes. It's the sweetest thing to watch his face take in all the details. However, he is still not interested in me reading books.
• did really well while traveling to TX and only lost his mind after several hours of sitting in a car seat. I was honestly proud of him... it was a lot of traveling and he loved most of it. He also did very well going to sleep with my mom while we were away at the wedding festivities, but still refuses to go to sleep for anyone other than me here at home. 
• loves giving kisses and hugs, its so sweet and I ask him for kisses all day now. 
• Mickey Mouse is his favorite thing right now, and he screams anytime we see a picture or toy of Mickey while we are out and about. 
• loves to dance and play music all day long! 
• wearing all 24M or 2T clothes now, which is funny because that's what Solomon work last year. 
• all his molars are in now and we are dreadfully waiting for those canine teeth to come in. I'm hoping to night wean him before that starts in the next week or two. 
• sleeping is so all over the place right now, but when my mom would get him to sleep in TX he wouldn't wake up till almost 2AM, but if I nurse him to sleep he is awake by 11 or 12, so I'm hoping the night weaning will help with that also. 
• he will eat almost anything but he can be picky about textures. He doesn't like hummus or mashed potatoes at all, but he's obsessed with any kind of meat. He's definitely a carnivore!