Baby Bloomquist Blog

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Special post-shot treat

Bernie and Tilly both got flu shots and were both incredibly brave! We offered Bernie a treat, pretty much anything she wanted at an upscale bakery, but she ended up selecting a little carton of chocolate milk. So proud of her!

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Pumpkin patch 2016!

Bernie is such a big girl, and we're so proud of her! As she is fond of saying, she's "two-and-a-quarter, almost two-and-a-half." She'll be two and-a-half this week.

She started at a new school (pre-school!) at the end of August, and within about a week, she was potty-trained! She was already mostly potty-trained before starting school, but the teachers at the new school encouraged us to go diaper-free rather than switching back-and-forth depending on the situation as we had been doing, and that suggestion worked really well for her. She was the first one in the class to be potty-trained, and she inspired the other girls in the class (just 4 girls out of 14) to start learning as well! (She still wears a diaper when she sleeps, for now.)

Bernie has been developing so much, intellectually. She knows all the upper-case letters and some of the lower-case letters, and she knows at least 1 example word for each letter. She can read and spell her name, as well as Mommy, Daddy, and Tilly (sometimes). She also knows the first letter of about 10 family members' names. (We taught her this at home; they aren't doing letters at school yet.)

At school, she does a lot of drawing and painting, playing with clay, stamping, playing with trucks and trains, scooping (sand, dry pasta), and of course playing on the playground. One of her teachers plays the guitar, so there's music and dancing at "circle time." She loves the other kids in her class, and it's adorable to hear them greet each other enthusiastically in the morning. "Hi, Bernie!" a high-pitched voice usually shouts when we walk in.

Along with her class, she enjoys regular field trips to a beautiful garden and the public library. On a recent occasion, she went with her class -- and mom -- to a farm to pick out pumpkins for Halloween! Bernie loved the pumpkin patch and was very decisive in selecting her pumpkin, which can double as a comfy seat. Also pictured are some of Bernie's girlfriends from school.