Little Larsons: All About the Kiddos

This post is all about the kids and catching up on their latest milestones and achievements over the past few months. We will start with Big Brother Avery. Wow- he has blossomed into this little man before our eyes this year. To see his hand in mine and how it is nearly half the size melts my heart. He can read a few sentences now and is so excited about continuing to learn more "sight" words to help him with his reading. He is also excelling in his Spanish and knows more than I do, which really isn't hard, but exciting all the same. He's teaching me along the way! They started offering piano lessons at daycare and he asked us to sign him up so of course we did. I think many people wish they learned to play the piano or some sort of musical instrument in their lifetime and if he is interested in learning piano, we couldn't be more excited about it. He's had 2 classes so far so for his birthday we are planning on getting him a keyboard so he can show us what he has learned and practice at home. The weather hasn't been the best, like everywhere else, so we don't know if his bike riding skills have advanced at all. Can't wait for Spring to get here so we can spend more time outdoors. But he keeps himself entertained inside by writing whatever he can- usually asking us to spell the word and he writes it. Then he proceeds to hang it up on the walls around the house with scotch tape. Who needs wallpaper with Avery around. He has made our walls quite colorful lately. Here's an example of his skeleton (in case you couldn't read his writing). He is also a regular now at Sunday school and loves to talk about God and Jesus. The teacher said he is quite the helper.

Kindergarten registration is at the end of March and I can hardly wait for school supply shopping. He is ready to learn and wants to learn so it's hard to not be excited as he enters this next phase of life. Now to princess Ella. She is just an amazingly good and sweet girl. She has learned to give close mouth kisses and although they are not as plentiful as the wide mouth kisses were, we love them so much. She especially enjoys showing affection to her brother and all her stuffed animals. The Minnie Mouse from Grandpa Schmiedecke has become her favorite and often carries her around by her leg!

It was last week that we noticed that she has started becoming very vocal and saying new words. What used to be just bye-bye is now night-night, bye, juice, baby and you know the word NO is among the 1st as well. She's sure to use that one much more than we would like but so far she reserves it for the cat! She's just doing great and becoming more independent everyday. Especially at feeding time- she can handle a spoon like noone else! Don't you try to feed her- she will throw a fit! We are introducing the potty too but it's a nice place to sit more than anything else. She is quite the little dancer and loves any kind of music. Pretty soon it will be dance and gymnastics lessons for her.