Another blissful day

What makes a blissful day for me these days? Being able to stay home all morning! It happens so rarely that I truly treasure these days. I know if I had to stay home every morning it would be monotonous, but I would love to have the choice of whether we go out or stay home more frequently.

Natalie had no therapy this morning, so I did therapy with her earlier than normal. The past few weeks she's taken to pulling herself up on the couch and short tables. She enjoys playing while standing, and we encourage it. She is also cruising to the left. She doesn't cruise to the right, so this is a weakness we'll be working on...her PT has noticed that she is stronger on the right side, which somehow makes it easier to do things to the left (using right side muscles).

Her baby doll is her favorite toy and best incentive to crawl or climb up anywhere. She loves giving it kisses and sharing her pacy with it (on the rare occasion that she has both a pacy and a doll at the same time...usually the pacy is just for the crib, and the doll is just for playing on the floor).

We're also working on her with a push toy...unfortunately the push toys currently available in stores aren't stable enough for her, so we're looking on Ebay for an old version that will work better. Ironically, it is the exact one that Lukas used before he learned to walk...too bad the person who loaned it to me passed it on to another person!

After therapy with me, she got to take a morning nap at a time and for a duration that was good for her, not based on our schedule. While she was doing therapy, Lukas played with Play-Doh and Hungry Hippos. Then while she slept, we worked on reading, which we hadn't worked on in MONTHS. Just a few months older, and he's already tolerating it better than he did before (although we also haven't done it in a long while, so he still may become bored with it in a week or two). I need to keep it up with him, because I really think he's ready.

After Natalie woke up, we did another of Lukas' favorite activities: vacuuming! He kept on asking when he could "use the tubes" which means use the attachments. I said, "after I vacuum the whole house, we'll go back and use the attachments", but he didn't have a concept of that, so I said, "after I vacuum the green room" which would be the last room to vacuum in the house. Here he is, reveling in being able to use the attachments to get the corners in the kitchen.

Then for lunch, I told the kids that we would have a special guest. Lukas couldn't contain himself, asking who it was! It was Tom! He came home for lunch today and had fun playing with Lukas and Natalie for a few minutes before going back to work.

True bliss for Cindy, Lukas and Natalie this morning!