The time seems to fly by so quickly. We have been busy with all the holiday craziness. Thanksgiving was fantastic because my entire family was together. It was so nice to have them all under one roof and to watch them interact amongst themselves. We had family pictures taken, an assortment of families and grandchildren Thank you Kelly. I haven't forgotten you. Now here it is just less than two weeks until Christmas and I am no where near ready, still ordering gifts and last minute ideas for the many meals I will be preparing. Also, I have to get started on my Christmas cookies!
Leo, Gus and Nana took a nice long walk yesterday morning while their mommy had an appointment. It was overcast and breezy. Leo noticed a pine cone and inquired as to what it was doing there laying on the ground all by itself. I explained that they grow on pine trees and like fruit they bloom and eventually fall down to the ground. He took a long look at me and then said, "OK." I felt like an idiot, dah, and decided that we would take a couple home and make bird feeders out of them. Now, Leo liked that idea and so home we went. Gus goes with the flow as a rule so I knew he would be a happy participant. After a drink break, I got all the supplies needed to make the bird feeders and one at a time, we proceeded in putting them together. Now, Leo asked several questions and we had only minor issues with eating the peanut butter off the knife after smearing it on the pine cone. Yuk, germs! When Gus's turn came he pitched a fit, wanting to eat the peanut butter off the knife, pine cone and fingers. When the cone was placed into the bag with bird seed, he went ballistic! I quickly wrapped them up and placed in the refrigerator to set up. I explained to the boys, that daddy would hang them up on a tree limb at their house so that they could see the birds eat. Sure hope that daddy followed through with the task!
Today was the first of two zoo camps I have with Leo this fall. I was very excited to see how Leo would handle a structured setting, being that he loves to move about freely. I was very proud of how well Leo did today. We arrived to the zoo about 5 minutes early, which for me is a major miracle. Leo was a little taken back by how few people were at the zoo and wanted to start his regular routine by visiting his zoo animal friends. I had to explain that we would get to that part soon but first we had to go to a special class room to have a story read to us and see some special zoo animal friends first, and his response was, "sure". The instructor, Ms. Diane, lead us to the Meta Zoo building and asked the children, approximately ten youngsters to sit on their lily pads. Leo stood for a moment, watching carefully the other children to see what they were doing and then he followed their lead. A cute story about how different animals move about was read and Leo enjoyed it, wanting to see every picture. A few children went up closer to see the pictures, Leo turns to me with that wonderful look he has with those beautiful blue eyes and I said "sure".
After the story she showed lots of pictures of different animals, explaining how they move about on land and water. Leo, of course, knew ever animal and wanted a closer look at the pictures, so she ended up handing them to him and then he passed them around. She started a few at the other end of the room and Leo waited, pretty patiently for him, until it was his turn to look. Then the first animal that the children could actually touch came into the room. It was the one that slithers on the ground and in the water ... the snake! They have a two finger rule about touching the animals. I, of course had not explained this to Leo, since I didn't even know about this rule and Leo took a five finger grab at the snakes tail. After a brief correction he got the hang of the two finger touch.
Another rule, is after each animal we must wash our hands with special zoo cleanser to make sure that we don't pass on any unwanted germs! I love that rule! Next came the soft, furry, hopping, long ear bunny rabbit. Leo loved how soft the fur felt.
Finally came the small, round eyed screech owl. That was a "look only" animal and Leo was thrilled when it decided to flutter it wings right next to him.
Then the children all sat back in place and took part in a craft activity, painting their own snakes with a paint, I believe they called dab paint. It is in a small plastic container and the children just dab it on everywhere and they seem to enjoy it a lot. The clean up is a breeze. The time went by quickly and it was just enough for the children.
Then we all went to the giraffe exhibit and Leo took my hand and off we went for a tour of the zoo. I was lucky enough to pull off a little white lie, telling him that the bottom part of the zoo was closed. (We had just been to the zoo on Wednesday and took the entire tour, so I didn't feel to guilty) He bought it and we had our edited tour and were heading out, when Leo spotted the gift shop. "Nana, lets go in here." "Sure" I said.
Dear Sophia,
As I get ready to head back home, I think back on how fortunate I have been to be able to spend so much time with you and your parents. It isn't easy having a long time guest, but your parents have been so accommodating and giving of their time so that I could spend some real quality time with you. It has been a wonderful time for me, meeting you for the first time in the labor and delivery room and being able to hold you. There you were, a special little angel that lit up the world that morning. Your big eyes shining and your little mouth puckering up. I will be ever so grateful to your parents for this time and look forward to many, many more times visiting you in the future. I wish for you all the happiness, joy and love life will bring your way. See you soon.
Love and Kisses,
Nana
It is hard to believe that I have been in Baltimore for a little over two weeks already and so much has occurred. Sophia has come into ours lives, a true blessing for our family. She changes every day, filling out her cheeks, thighs and arms. She loves her feeding time which is typical Reinhart style! Here are a few new pictures for you to view.
Dear Leo and Gus,
I wanted to introduce you to your cousin Sophia. She is a real doll baby. She has black hair, cute nose, little mouth and loves to nurse. She rarely cries except to let Aunt Daphne know that she is hungry. She is still trying to adjust to day time and night time but she is so cute. Leo, she likes it when Nana tells her about your love of animals. I really believe she smiles when I tell her about you, Gus, your lovely smile and sweet, sweet personality. Leoman, you would love to see and hold her. Both of you will soon be holding your own little sister, LMS and know the joy of having a sweet little girl in your lives, besides your mommy, of course! Nana is having a very nice time with Uncle Matthew, Aunt Daphne and Sophia, but a day doesn't go by that you aren't on my mind. I miss you both and I'll be home soon. Enjoy these pictures of Sophia and I'll post some more for you real soon. Love and Kisses Nana
As I was laying done to put Leo to sleep this evening, he was in the most talkative mood. As anyone who has spent any amount of time with him knows, he loves his farm and zoo animals. His Papa had read to him many times throughout the day a book about 'Baby Animals'. He pretty much knew most of these creatures and loved testing his Papa's knowledge. Then came my turn as we laid our capies down to attempt to fall asleep quickly. It wasn't going to happen any time soon. Leo recited the entire book of baby animals, the entire community of captive creatures in the zoo, any sea creatures he could recall and surpassed me in every category of God's creatures big and small. Just when I thought we had come to the end, as he was tapping his finger on his lips, he announces. " Nana, what about the raccoons"? Great. A high five followed. More tapping of the finger on the lips, "Nana, the porcupines, they have babies". Wonderful. Another high five. Then he ponders for awhile before announcing, "Nana, the termites"! Excuse me?? Termites. How does he know anything about termites. So I asked him what they look like. Without a pause he says. "Ants". Just when I think I have seen and heard everything this wonderful little encyclopedia of knowledge can dish out, at the tender age of 30 months, he politely but firmly reminds me that it's "just the beginning Nana"!!
Not to leave out our Mr. Gus. He, too, shows the early stages of following his big brothers foot steps but in a much softer manner. Gus will pick up a book and bring
it to me to read. We have been going over his first sight words. He
just sits on your lap, and let's you do all the work. He'll then wiggle his way down, toss the book aside and head for the firetruck or some other toy. Then he may or may not decided to have another book read to him. (Leo will stop what he is doing, and run over to see what book I am reading to Gus, especially if I name an animal. Then back to whatever he was doing.) When it came time to put Gus to sleep, he went with little resistance. His Mimi had told me that she has been just laying him down and off he goes. So I proceeded to attempt to do the same. It wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but, with just a little fussing, he soon went off to sleep. I really enjoy my time with these wonderful little ones.
Here are a few pictures from our trip to the zoo last weekend. Leo is already planning a return sometime this upcoming week!
Late May visit to Leo's animals!
Yes, I do believe that summer is quickly approaching. School will be ending soon for Leo and Gus's mom and my baby sitting daily duties will be coming to an end. I have such mixed feelings about the whole deal. I have enjoyed more than I can ever express to Mitchell and Sarah being able to spend so much quality time with these two adorable boys. Both Papa and myself have become quite accustomed to having our daily routine wrap around the boys schedule and we are going to have to go through a time of adjustment. I have loved watching them grow and blossom in front of our eyes. It is so much more enjoyable the second time around ... learning to crawl, talk, walk, etc. I am going to miss my daily routine with them. No more excuses of why I took a nap with Leo or Gus. Not having them around so much is going to be hard, very hard. On the flip side, I will have more time to commit to my sewing. Cindy (Mimi) and I have been trying to get our small baby clothing business (mylittlechubbycheeks.vox.com) concept off the ground and I hope that now that we both should have some more free time during the day that we will get moving! I have a fairly busy summer already and am looking forward to the births of two beautiful granddaughters in July and August. Going from no other woman in my family, with the exception of the lovely Daphne and Sarah, I get blessed with these little girls. I have purchased a higher quality sewing machine that also embroiders, so I will be sending a lot of hand made items their way. Also, Mimi and I just completed a Smocking class, enjoyed it tremendously and now watch out world here we come!! I have a few new photo's of the boys today on our last "field trip" to the Zoo for the school year. Hopefully we will be taking many trips through out the years! Also a picture to show you what smocking is for those who have no idea. I hope everyone has a great summer. Remember to use sunscreen!
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little white whale said:
I'm so proud of Leo! I know he loved this class! Thanks for taking him and being such a wonderful... read more
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megan said:
i just stumbled on your blog & i love it! thanks for the mama's day wishes, I hope yours was... read more
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M&D Reinhart said:
Sophia loved bonding with her Nana too. She says she already misses you. Thank you for everything you did for... read more
on It has been a wonderful time.
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