Atley's Journal

Atley had bites of whole wheat bagel and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, a large serving of brown rice, a bite or two of stir fry vegetables, and ate half of her raspberries.  After lunch I told Atley; "Ok, go get your binky."  I was curious if she'd go to her crib or the nap mat.  She never even hesitated; right to the nap mat.  It's the new routine!  Boy that was a difficult transition!  Not! This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon.  This age group is so "monkey see, monkey do!"  One will start playing with a particular toy, they all want to play with the same toy.  I can't remember who was on the floor first, but obviously they ALL ended up on the floor!  And more or less all pointed in the same direction!  (This never lasts very long so I have to be quick with the camera!!) Here are the kids waving bye to Daddy Ryan.  You know what I like best about this picture?  Yes,...

Atley ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of chicken in chicken salad, ate olives, bite of tomato, bite of cucumbers, no peppers, ate some pita bread, and bite or two of pears. Ok everyone, it's a big day of sleep transition for Atley and she handled it wonderfully!!  You all know Atley - in a couple of days this will be her new routine and no problem!!  I've been making a point of showing her Hudson and Avilene everyday on their nap mats for a couple of weeks and preparing her for this transition.  She never tried to get up at all; just looked at me once and waved!  Ha!  So here's a picture after she went to sleep!  (Now you can relax Momma!  I'm sure it probably made you a bit apprehensive when I told you this morning what I was planning to do.  I should have given you a heads-up last week!)  Isn't this a cute picture - the big girl on her nap mat! We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this wee...

Atley ate several bites of malt-o-meal cereal and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate the meat from the baked beef kabobs; bites of zucchini, bites of mushrooms, no peppers, ate a large serving of brown rice, and a bite or two of pineapple. These first two pictures are from yesterday afternoon and I loved the interaction between Kenzie and Atley.  Kenzie loves to play with the little ones and be their teacher!  So yesterday I told her the new assignment was to teach Atley to say some words.  So when I took this picture Kenzie had said, "Atley, say Hello."  Atley immediately started waving at her.  So stinking funny!  Kenzie laughed and then said it again and the 2nd picture is the reaction you get from a shocked teacher when the student says something similar to "hello."  "She did it!!!"  Nice work Kenzie and Atley! Hudson had ALL the dress-up clothes and ALL the doll blankets in a pile.  Nora and Atley both tr...

Atley ate waffle and bites of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate "shepard's pie" with hamburger, green beans, potatoes, and carrots.  She ate whole grain tortilla and One cherry.  :)  Avi finished her cherries and pointed at the ones Atley left; "want Atley's!"  :) This first picture is from yesterday afternoon at snack time.  Love those blueberries!  Ha!  She and Nora looked like they'd been through some kind of battle by the time snack was over.  (By the way, I've been dealing with the after effects of blueberries today with all the kids!!  ha!!  Just thought you all needed to know that!) I guess the crying was for you Mommy when you were leaving!  As soon as you were out of sight Atley was fine and she had a normal morning.  They know how to tug on the right strings don't they!? After Nora arrived she went to the mattress to bounce at the blue balance beam.  Atley went right over to join her and t...

Atley ate french toast and most of her strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of salmon loaf, ate dinner roll, bites of squash, and a bite or two of tropical fruit.  This doesn't have anything to do with Atley, but I know everyone gets a kick out of Hudson's constant talking!  At breakfast he started chanting my name; "Gary Gary Gary..."  Hi Bubba.  "Hey Gary, can we talk to you?!?"  Yes, of course you can talk to me Bubba.  "Gary Gary Gary....uhhhh, what are you doing Gary!?!"  Just listening to you chatter Bubba!  :) In the first picture, Atley frequently finds these two mice in the stuffed animals on the mattress!  She likes them and finds the matching set everyday!  The 2nd picture represents what Atley did again this morning before anyone else arrived!  (She was probably here almost 30 minutes before anyone else arrived.)  I love this picture!  I like how she has surrounded herself with books! ...

Atley ate bites of toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, bites of whole wheat toast, no sweet potatoes, bites of beets, and bites of applesauce. First, here's a  correction  from yesterday's Blog for everyone.  I'm sure most of you assumed this, but I confirmed with Linnea's (our new Baby coming in November) Mom that the "n" sound is NOT an "m" sound!  Ha!  So it's pronounced; "La-nay-ah."  :)  It was obviously a typo! This first picture cracked me up!  Moments after she'd waved bye to Mommy Megan at the window Atley was sitting in front of the book rack reading LOUDLY and I got the camera to take a picture.  The camera was doing some "auto adjusting" and activated the flash, but it hadn't taken a picture.  As soon as Atley realized it flashed she turned around and gave the biggest cheesiest grin.  So THEN I took a picture.  :)  Little Cutie!! Lauralea i...

Atley ate whole grain chex cereal and bites of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of hamburger meat, bites of hamburger bun, no lettuce, tomato, or mushrooms, ate bites of avocado, and no oranges.  I've never talked much about what I consider a "serving size" for this age group.  As all my Families know I participate in a Federal Food Program (CACFP) and you can look online to see what they consider a serving size for different age groups.  I think their servings sizes are small (and I also think it's just a suggested minimum).  So my serving sizes are considerably more than what they have listed. Several of you have asked about the new Baby and when she starts so here's an update!!  Her Name is  spelled Linnea and is pronounced "la-may-ah."  Full name is Linnea Ann Goe-Midtlyng.  (Mommy's last name plus Daddy's last name.)  So far Hudson has called her "Ba-na-ah."  And then "La-ba-na-ah!"  Haha.   For pronu...

Atley ate oatmeal and bites of dried cranberries for breakfast.  She ate bites of her lunch: tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, green beans, and applesauce. This first picture is leftover from yesterday afternoon.  (Yesterday it was warm enough to not wear a jacket; today it's raining and 20 degrees cooler!!)  So does anyone have a guess as to what or who Atley may be waving at!?!  Ok, that was easy right!?  She loves waving at any and all airplanes that pass over!! Here are some pictures from this morning's activities.  Nora and Atley were playing side-by-side with these pop-up toys.  There are four different buttons to push with four different Sesame Street songs. Because of the size differential between these two kids I frequently have to remind myself they are only four months apart in age!!  Developmentally they are much closer than their size would suggest! Hudson had been giving Nora a hug and Atley saw that and wanted a hug as w...

Atley ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger and sausage pizza, whole wheat crust, with tomato sauce, olives, peppers, and mushrooms, and she had a bite or two of pineapple. I took this first picture of Atley as soon as she heard Lauralea close the gate to the stairs.  "Hi Lauralea, Hi Lauralea!  Now come and give me five!!"  :)  Right after this we were listening to Atley sing a song we do; "A T L E Y, A T L E Y................and Atley is her name." In this next picture these two were at the window after Nora's Daddy drove by (and waved!!!  Ha!) and Atley started "bonking" her head on the window.  (Pretty gentle I might add!)  She wanted Nora to start "bonking" with her, but Nora was like; "Uhhh, no, you just keep on bonking and I'll just keep on laughing at you!!"  :) Atley and Avi were pulling up their shirts and I think it started when Nora was covering her fa...

Atley ate bites of whole wheat toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of pork roast, ate whole grain tortillas, no carrots or sweet potatoes, and ate half of fruit salad.  (She especially picked out the pieces of fruit that she likes best; like the blueberries!!  ha!) I took this first picture of Atley at Lunch time - primarily because I realized I only had one picture of her and I decided to show a picture of her eating!!  Ha!  She has been doing really well using her spoon.  In this picture she's obviously using her left hand, but at this age that really doesn't mean much!  They frequently switch back-n-forth. I had a physical therapy appointment early this morning and I was back by 8:00.  Atley was still the only child here when I returned and she gave me the sweetest snuggle!!  Awww!!  Thank you Atley! That was so precious.  Then she saw the neighbor kids heading to school and went to the ...

Atley had bites of toasted whole wheat english muffin and ate dried plums.  For lunch she ate a bite or two of chicken, ate brown rice, bite or two of stir fry vegetables, and half of her oranges. This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  It was so beautiful outside and we were all loving being out in the sunshine!!  I had the camera when an airplane passed over!  Atley never fails to wave at the airplanes or she'll just wave at the airplane 'sound' even if she doesn't find it!!  :)  (And that is what was going on when I took this picture!  I know it's up there somewhere!) This morning Nora and Atley were sitting and bouncing on the mattress when I took this next picture. They were both giggling and laughing and Lauralea was enjoying it too while listening from the kitchen.  Atley eventually got tired of this and wandered off and Nora was yelling at her to "Get back here and bounce some more!!  I didn't say you could leave yet!!"...

Atley had bites of breakfast: cheerios and banana.  She was using her spoon quite well at breakfast, except for one slight problem.  It was upside-down!  She didn't notice or care!!  Ha!  For lunch she ate bites of taco salad; bites of ground beef, ate olives, no tomatoes and no lettuce.  She ate bites of pits bread, ate avocado and no watermelon. We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and everyone stayed busy and engaged in play all morning.  These first two pictures go together.  Nora and Atley each had a shaker in their hands and were shaking them and watching each other.  "Dueling shakers."  "Ok I did that, can you match it!?"  :) Atley and Avi were rolling this toy back-n-forth to each other.  It was very cute and they were both really concentrating on the game!  We also read lots of books; most of the "new" books in this toy exchange.

Atley ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of baked salmon, dinner roll, corn, and ate mangoes. Atley had her usual good morning and was engaged in activities all morning.  I took these first two pictures before anyone else had arrived and she stayed busy with the big legos blocks and the little legos.  She really likes making towers with the smallest of the big blocks.  I also liked how she was using the step to reach the top of her tower.  Nice work Atley.  In the 2nd picture the kids like putting the legos flowers on their fingers.  The holes are small and a good fit for little fingers. Atley was really into giving "fist bumps" this morning.  She was holding her hand out to me to do a fist bump several times and then when Nora arrived that was the first greeting!  Fist bump!  Nora cooperated two or three times and when I took the first picture she was like; "Nope!  No more fist bumps!!"  ...

Atley ate whole wheat english muffin and half of her oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, half of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate peas, and bites of applesauce. I don't think I've included this in the Blogs yet, but Atley has been doing awesome helping clean up toys before we go outside in the afternoon.  Her inclination for routine fits this task perfectly!  We sing a song (same song every day of course) and as soon as that song starts she'll begin putting toys on the shelf.  So cute and super helpful!!  If she's just wandering then I'll assign her a job.  "Ok Atley, you can put the legos in the legos drawer."  :)  Nice job Atley! Ok, now hopefully we should have uninterrupted Blogs for a few weeks until Thanksgiving time!!  I took some pictures yesterday afternoon and I'm going to Post some today that I think are too cute.  The UPS delivery man was treated special by the greeting committee!  And he was enjoyin...