Apple pick!

This weekend, the boys and I went to the "apple pick!"
(That's what Dean calls it, anyway.)

We went to the orchards at Larriland Farms, where you can "pick-your-own" all kinds of things. This late in the season, apples were pretty much it for fruit. But my sister also picked some spinach and some swiss chard.

The boys loved, loved, loved it!

 

Yummmmm!

This might be the best activity ever for Dean. Yank things off of trees. Drag around a bag of things that "belong" only to him. Snack on things. Yeah, this might just be Dean nirvana.

Cousins!!!

I'm making good on my effort to get into more pictures with them. See how happy they are that I'm in the photo. Look at those big smiles! Wait, they don't care at all. Not even a little. Maybe in 25 years they will.

We came home with our bounty and made applesauce with cinnamon and a little sugar, and they got to eat some for breakfast this morning. We're JUST like pioneers, making our own food and whatnot! :-)

And now we can cross that fun activity off the list of things to do before the boys turn 3! Snaps for synapses!

We also went to a community yard sale this weekend, where I bought 10 puzzles they'll never use for $1! And Lester took the boys to music class, while I stayed home and holed myself up in Clair's bedroom, cuddling with her in the rocking chair while she dozed off. I really needed that time with her. And she was so sweet and snuggly.

So all in all, a really good weekend!

I'm having a synapse breakdown

Today, Clair is 8-months-old. She's crawling, standing and even beginning to cruise. She is moving so fast, I can barely stand it.

But as she grows, and I compare her to the boys in terms of how much more she can do at this age than they could, I have also started thinking about how much less time she actually gets with us.

Ugh.

Particularly since she is almost always being edged out by her noisier, more demanding brothers, we almost never have time to just sit with her and read, read, read. Or sing and play individual baby games. Or just point out/narrate all the mundane stuff going on while we cook, eat, dress, and go about our days. Frankly, by the time we are wrapping up with C & D, we are SPENT. She gets a lot of love and hugs and a ridiculous overdose of kisses and tickles, but way less one-on-one chatter.

I was already slightly worried about this discrepancy. Then I read this article in the NYT.

These two lines in particular:

Children of professionals were, on average, exposed to approximately 1,500 more words hourly than children growing up in poverty. This resulted in a gap of more than 32 million words by the time the children reached the age of 4.

As the education theorist E. D. Hirsch recently wrote in a review of Paul Tough’s new book, “How Children Succeed,” there is strong evidence that increasing the general knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success. 

And now I am freaked the funk out!!

You know me, people. I am synapse-nuts as it is! Reading this just sends me over the EDGE! And yes, I know technically Clair isn't a child of poverty. And yes, I know she has almost 5 and a half more years before she reaches age 6 (so I have a little bit of time). But still!!

STILL!

How come you people with "second' children (I count her as the second, because the boys are twins) didn't tell me that the second one gets such short shrift? And what can you do about it when they're just babies? And does it even out over time??

Can people please tell me stories about their second-born kids and how they're well-rounded/sweet-natured geniuses?

(P.S. Happy 8-months, Clairzee! We love you so much! We really do!!)

Synapse checklist 2012

** BREAKING NEWS: WE DID NOT WIN THE MEGA-MILLIONS!! WE ARE STILL BROKE.**

OK, now back to my regularly scheduled post.

As the boys approach their second birthday -- entering their third year of life -- I have been thinking a lot about their synapses. Those of you who have been even cursory readers of this blog know that I have a bit of an obsession with creating synapses in my children's growing brains.
Yes, I know this makes no sense.

Anyway, since so much of their brain development will have occurred by the time they reach age 3, this 2nd birthday means they are two-thirds of the way there!! Ack!! The heat is on for me to expose them to more new things, so that they will have the synapses for those things, and thus more building blocks to create more synapses later on.

So what things do I want them to do/see/experience this year?

• Go to the beach. Build sand castles. Watch the tide come in and out.
• Pick some fruit at a real fruit orchard. Bring it home and help Mommy make something out of it.
• Fly a kite.
• Ride public transportation.
• Have a picnic.
• Dig for earthworms after a good rain.
• Go to the State Fair. Ride some kiddie rides. Eat funnel cake.
• Sleep in a sleeping bag.
• Go to the zoo. (We've done this a bunch, but I think they're old enough to really get it now.)
• Play with Play-Doh. (I've been too chicken to break out the Play-Doh for fear of ingested Play-Doh, and Play-Doh stuck all over every darn thing.)
• Finger-paint. (Ditto.)
• See a real rainbow in the sky.
• Go on a hayride. Help Mommy or Daddy carve a pumpkin.
• See a parade, complete with floats and marching bands.
• Ride on some kind of boat.
• Participate in at least one, maybe two organized activities (music class, soccer, swim lessons,etc.)
  

Of course I also want them to have learned/accomplished some very important things, like potty training, counting to 20, shapes, colors, ABCs, helping to dress themselves, etc. But for some reason, the fun, experiential stuff seems like more of a challenge.

What's missing from this list? What else should 2-year-olds see and do by the time they turn 3?