The kids have really been enjoying the unseasonable warm weather lately. It is hard to believe it is the first of May and we are having 80 degree days. We've been spending lots of time outside and our house has become the hub for neighborhood action. Henry is having fun wrestling with the older boys and Josie is spending a lot of time outside with play dough and the younger neighborhood girls. Henry seems to be looking more and more like a little boy. He recently graduated to the bigger kids classroom at church for Sunday school and Parent's Day Out, which he is really enjoying. There are lots of bigger kids to play with and they get to go outside on the playground. This week he started saying two new words; Gus and outside, both of which are important words in our family:) He saw Gus last weekend at the PSU spring football game and from a distance thought Gus was very interesting. I'll be interested to see how he reacts in the fall if we see him close up.
Josie continues to do well in school, although seems to be catching any and every bug. We predicted this would happen since she has been around many kids, but I hate to see her feeling sick so much. She is gaining new signs on a daily basis. This week's new sign is "don't want". I told her this morning it was time to brush her teeth and fix her hair and she told me "don't want":) It is good to see her expressing her opinion, but I had to explain that just because she tells me that doesn't mean we aren't going to do it. She is also getting into sign names, especially those of the teachers and kids at school. In sign language you are often given a sign name which is a shortened version of your full name. This way you don't have to finger spell your whole name all the time. For example, Henry's sign name is an "h" on top of your head, since he likes hats. Right now, her favorite activity is to sign all of the names and we write them down. Then she is going back and recognizing them in written form. It is basically the first steps of reading and really cool to see her so interested in it.
I included the video below so you could see Josie signing some of her teachers' and classmates' names. At the end, I tried to get her and Henry to wave goodbye. This wasn't such a good idea since they thought that meant mom was leaving:)
