Times they are a changing...

Today is North's class's last day in the infant room before they move onto the toddler room on Monday and a new group of 8 infants take over the infant space.
And Alan's last day at NuOrbit.
It seems we are all transitioning to new and exciting adventures.

Water fun!

A few of those 533...

So here are a few (20) of those 533 photos not featured in the presentation below. North's caregivers have captured some really great moments...I'm so glad they gave us a copy.

Touching feet with his buddy Tyson... There are LOTS of photos of North and Ty. Some very cute ones of North crawling up to Tyson so that he could grab his hand a jabber at him. I think they're pretty good buddies.

Sweet baby staring up at Samantha and Jen.

Smiling for the camera...

Playing in the mirror--there was a long period of time where being parked in front of the mirror was North's favorite spot in the room.

Going for a stroll in his dino hat with Jared, Harrison, and Sophie.

Flipping pages on the easel book.

Investigating the camera in the afternoon sun.

Swinging on the baby size (& height) tire swing.

Having Gabe read to him.

the 6 baby band: Daniel on the clackers, Jared on the bell, Henry on the triangle, Harrison on the tambourine, North on the maracas, and Kian on the drums--and it wasn't even music time! You should see them when the music lady brings instruments. Then it gets really wild.

Taking a couple of the cars out for a spin

Hanging out in a piece of tunnel

Making a fort and playing in it between the cribs

Playing with a wrench and dinosaurs- such a boy.

There have been many efforts at a group picture but these are some busy, uncooperative kids.

Above is: North, Sophie, Henry, Tyson, Daniel, and Jared.

Below is (all 8 in one photo!): Front row-North, Jared, Tyson, Daniel;
Back row-Henry, Kian, Sophie, and Harrison

And the other set of 8 below (Gabe & Kian are each 1/2 time and so trade off slots).

Front-North

2nd Row- Harrison, Henry, Daniel, Tyson

3rd Row-Jared, Sophie, Gabe

Developmental Profile

Each year, North's AMAZING care-givers meet individually with the parents of each of the children they care for and give a summary of developmental milestones that have been reached and have a really great discussion of how things are going.
As part of this process, they create a presentation illustrating some of the milestones that have been hit.
Here's a copy of some of the information they gave us on North:


They also gave us a copy of the FIVE-HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE photos they have snapped of North between the months of October and May--seriously 533 all featuring North while he's at daycare!
A post of some of those coming soon...

living the country life...

There is so much great about living in Bloomington.
Tonight we were able to attend a picnic at North's childcare center, which was a really lovely time, and THEN still had time to do other stuff in the evening since we didn't have an hour and a half to drive home.
Tonight we decided to spend the later bit of the evening taking a walk. Walks have proven to be one of our favorite things to do at our rental house. Our road is pretty remote--tons of trees and always some interesting little bit of nature to greet us. Also, the one and only neighbor we always see is a big brown horse that I think Ender is attempting to befriend. They've taken to running back and forth and back and forth next to one another along the fence of the horse's pasture which is pretty cute. Ender and the neighborhood dogs in Terre Haute would do this with one another. I'm not sure that she understands this isn't just another pup.
The horse is friendly and always walks up to greet us at his fence.
Meeting our neighbor, the horse.
North definately does NOT understand this is not another dog. Every day I say "horse" about a thousand times while we visit, and every day North just says "dag" "dag" "dag" while pointing at it.

And our other, less friendly neighbors that we see each day (they rarely wander up to greet us), the cows. North of course, is also insistent that these too are "dags".

And I realized that we hadn't posted pictures of the place yet--this is it--as we get home from our walk tonight.

On a walk earlier in the week, when we got to the bottom of our hill, we realized the street had flooded due to recent storms. This was a great joy to our dog.



And of course, now that we are living in the country, we felt the need to plant a tiny little garden. We bought some organic tomato, pepper, squash, and herbs from our wonderful local farmers market (and some hop starts which Alan bought from the home-brew store) and planted a small garden area.

So far so good on keeping all the plants alive. Despite Ender's efforts.


Other recent adventures have included a trip to Terre Haute to attend a show being hosted by a friend. North, who is used to music time at his childcare center. was confused that the audience was not also given instruments to play during performances but quickly got into the spirit of things.



Also, we've had a brief visit from Grandma, Grandpa, Nanny, and Papa (I forgot to snap any pictures).

Finally, we've spent lots of time in our favorite "room" of the new place, our screened in porch. I realized that we didn't have any pictures of it and so snapped a few tonight--in the dark it's impossible to see the view from it but this picture shows the great chandelier (and twinkle lights) that we have come to love. Also some of the flowers I was able to snip from our backyard today.

Bloomington!

So--we've moved! Most of our stuff at least. Some stuff is still at our house in Terre Haute so that we can stay there some weekends but most of our everyday things are now in our rental house in Bloomington.
We're all loving the new space and it's begun to feel like home. Pictures are on the walls, clothes are in the closets, toys are all over the house--definitely home.
The dog loves the bigger backyard and the surrounding trees. The cat loves the screened in back porch and the fabulous bird show that all these trees offer. Bridgett loves the 2 hours a day she saves each day NOT driving. Alan loves his slightly shorter commute, being near Bloomington, and having fewer neighbors (he's secretly a country boy at heart). And North loves the fact that it's 1 floor and he can go everywhere in it without us chasing him around making sure he doesn't crawl up some stairs or into a fireplace. Having less stuff here has meant having a more baby-proof home.
Here are some photos of the first couple of days here--before we were completely unpacked as North started settling in.


Enjoying the hardwood and tile floors throughout--there has been lots of scooting, sliding, squealing along these new, fun, carpet-free surfaces.

Having a conference with his animal friends in his new room.

Growing so fast--tip-toes to get to a bottle. North has just started transitioning to cow's milk and is doing great as we begin to wean him.

Bottle snatched from the dresser. He took it back to dad's lap for some snuggling and snacking.

North having a great time with Alan and Ender.

And the ultimate test--yes, our clean, happy baby tells us that kitchen sink baths are just as good here as in Terre Haute.