October Fun

The weather was absolutely beautiful this week. Mat and I were able to go to UoM Band practice twice. It was a lot of fun. The band was working on different songs from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The house is coming together finally. Mat's playroom is practically done and therefore I've been able to clear the toys out of storage in her closets.

Halloween is just around the corner. J and B want to be a family of gorillas with Oliver as the banana but mat isn't interested. She has her heart set on being a dog or a pink dragon. We'll see what she finally chooses.

Transitions

This week has definitely been a transition. Oliver came home from the hospital over the weekend. He's doing well. J and B wanted to spend some family time in the afternoons with Mat and her new brother so I only worked the school drop off and pick ups.

Thursday was my first full day back. It was long. The post-pardom doula spent a majority of the day helping me feel more comfortable with Oliver. She went over everything from diapers to sponge baths. Aside from some insomnia that night over anxiety of not providing Oliver with the best care possible, I was able to get some rest and prepare for another day.

Friday went well over all. Taking care of a newborn is much more repetitious and boring. With Matilda we were always doing something new every 20 minutes. The entertaining part is a breeze. Feed (that's B's job), change, and swaddle/sleep. Repeat.

I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things over the next few days. I'm hoping Mat transitions well. Tonight she was wanting to be the baby and was resistant to the idea of the attention not being on her. It's as much me as it is her. I was able to spend 30 minutes reading her stories while Oliver slept in my arm, but once we went downstairs to do an art project, it was more difficult for me to toggle the two. I'm trying to get a good blance of the two while J and B are around so much so that it's a breeze when they're busier (come Jan). I'm very optimistic.

 

Autumn Foliage

 

Matilda at the Produce Market today

 

 

Oliver Zachary Wolfers

 

Super jumping in her (almost finished) playroom/art studio

 

 

 

Oliver Zachary Wolfers

Here's a sneak preview of Matilda and her baby brother Oliver.

Pen Pal's

Although Matilda is making great strides in making friends here in Ann Arbor, she has taken great joy in maintaining her friendships back in Philadelphia. We've sent out one round of art projects/letters to her friends and have received two letters in return. Matilda loves hearing what her friends in Philly are up to and letting them know about her new adventures.

 

An art project always cheers her up!

 

 

She started with orange on her plate, then added red and blue. She was excited to discover that red and blue combined make purple! I was loving the stars she made, too bad she ended up painting over them.

Only Child

Well this was my last full week with Mat as an only child. We were able to fit in a bunch of adventures. It was a good week over all. Mat currently knows 5-6 of her 8 sight words that we have been working on. She's getting better with riding her bike. We haven't made any strides with lower case letters. I need to spend more time on those with her.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Thank you fall for satisfying one of Mat's favorite chores: sweeping

We were making a beet/pear salad. She opened the foil-wrapped beets and I peeled them.

Leg warmers

playing with the "other Matildas"

We were drawing a "street" for her to ride her bike on.

Attempting to ride her tricycle

Super cute but also super contaminated. I caught this photo by chance while filming a video of he talking to herself. We left the mirror area promptly.

Michigan Museum of Natural History

Today Mat and I went on an adventure to the campus natural history museum. This is my last week with just Mat. Her grandparents come on Sunday and then her brother arrives on Wednesday the 10th. I'm just trying to pack in as much undivided time with her between now and then.