Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Andrew’s favorite book right now is “Where the Wild Things Are” and we read it every night before bed. His favorite part of the book comes right after the Wild Things make Max their king and he says, “Let the wild rumpus start!” This is followed by three pages of great illustrations but no text, so Douglas and I have taken to repeating “rumpus”, “rumpus”, “rumpus” over and over again (so now Andrew says it too) until we get to the next page with words. The first sentence on that page starts with, “Now stop!” So, I say … “Now …” and Andrew says “Stop!” which prompts Douglas to stop saying “rumpus” mid-word. Andrew just loves it!

Andrew is a lot like his mommy in that he loves his routine … we brush teeth, read books, sing songs, and then lights out. It can make for a disastrous evening if we skip a step in the routine. We typically read the same book or books for a month or longer every night until Andrew knows the book by heart and he can practically recite it. He seems to really enjoy the books that he knows very well, but there is a breaking point – there does come a point when he knows the book too well and he loses interest / refuses to sit still while we read and that means it is time to pick a new book. It is almost time for a new book … any suggestions?

Tyler is usually sitting on my lap while I read and Andrew sits next to me or climbs on Daddy or tries to jump on the bed, etc. Tyler’s favorite activity these days is grabbing at his toys on his play mat or on his swing. He just discovered that he can reach toys with his hands and that has provided loads of entertainment for him. He is cooing and smiling up a storm too. Knock on wood … he has been great in the car most days to and from school and he has been sleeping from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. or so in his bassinet. I visit him every day at lunch at school and he seems really happy and well taken care of by his teachers. As I watch them interact with the other children while I am visiting Tyler you can see that these ladies in the baby rooms really have a special quality and they just love all of the children. Today at lunch Tyler was really alert and we had the best staring contest, although he normally wins because I end up caving in and giving him kisses because he is so darn cute!

I am taking my second photography class tonight and I feel far more prepared than I did last week because I have learned SO much from the books that I have been reading. I now understand the relationship between aperture / f-stop, shutter speed and ISO, and I actually know how to set and change all of the functions on my camera. The tricky part is figuring out which setting to use when and I think that is really only going to come with practice. One of the big things in photography is lighting (or lack thereof) so I am excited that I have a class on lighting coming up – maybe that will help me understand what aperture and / or shutter speed I need to use in a given lighting situation. The other thing that I learned this week is that the tripod is your friend and it is a sure fire way to vastly improve your pictures. I will keep that in mind …

The other thing we have doing this week is watching the Shrek movies because we are planning to take Andrew to the drive-in this weekend to watch Shrek and possibly Pirates of the Caribbean. The drive-in is great because we don’t have to worry about the boys disturbing anyone and you get to see 2 newly released movies for $5 each! We are definitely looking forward to the long holiday weekend! I *really* need to take and post some photos soon!