Happy Birthday Emilynn!

On Saturday, we drove down to Sarasota to celebrate Emilynn's First Birthday Party! It was held at a very nice park and James really enjoyed playing on the toddler playground. In fact, he enjoyed it SO much, that he wanted to stay there the entire duration of the party. The slide was a big hit and he wanted to go down it again, and again, and again.... you get the picture!

So, the birthday girl, Emilynn, decided to join James on the playground equipment. The two of them shared some sweet moments together, while sweating in the hot, August, Florida sun!

James: Now, how do I get down from this thing gracefully? There are some cool looking pieces of mulch and dirt down there that I intend on tasting!

Emilynn: Are all boys this clumsy? Hopefully this is just a phase that will pass soon! If he gets dirt on my pretty outfit, I will not be happy!

On Sunday, we went over to Mark and Amy's house for some burgers. The kids had a great time playing together. Little Ella was showing off her new Exersaucer skills. James was thinking that her toy looked vaguely familiar, so of course, he had to show her how to work everything properly. (it was the same type of exersaucer he had when he was a baby)

John, Ella's big brother, was nice enough to share so many of his toys with James. The Dollar Store keyboard was a BIG hit and it adapted so that both boys could play at the same time! Brilliant! It wasn't quite "music to our ears" and I don't see any piano prodigy's in our future, but it did buy us some time so we could finish our dinners!

Thanks for a great time, Mark and Amy!

In other news, James had a WONDERFUL first week of preschool at the JCC! He didn't cry ONCE when I dropped him off and seemed very happy there when I picked him up. His teachers are very knowledgeable and professional, but also very nurturing and compassionate with the children. Overall, he has adjusted wonderfully to how they do things in school. We are still working on a few things though, like not throwing his sippy cup down on the floor when he's done drinking (milk/water/juice goes flying everywhere!) And, he did throw a small temper tantrum on Thursday when it was time to clean up from finger painting and begin Circle Time. Apparently, James did not want to stop finger painting and let all of his teachers know about it! Yeah, can you tell he's used to getting his way at home?!?