Family visits are the BEST !!!

 School, is officially back in session. Dominic was very excited to start his 1st day at school and learn.  He did not walk but ran towards the doors with much excitement.  His teachers Ms. Angelia and Ms. Tatina are his teachers for the year and are so great with him.  Since the begining of school, they have learned so much.  They even had one project of who is in your family (see below) and Ellie was considered a person.  Some of the things Dominic's been working on in school are as follows:

• Counting up to 15
• Letters in his name
• Trying new foods at school and now he likes the following; broccoli, tomato soup, salsa and of course he has experimented with chunky apple sauce and home made meatballs.
• Colored days: to reinforce the students knowledge of colors (creative art, music and  movement, language arts etc.).  
• Themed months: September was "All about Me" where they talked about Family, The body and 5 Senses and emotions. They discovered individual likes and dislikes, personal traits, grasp the idea of family relationships and how the body works. Octobers all about "Fall Festival" which they will discuss leaves, fire safety, harvest, pumpkins and creepy crawlers.  They discussed colder weather and what clothing is appropriate, eye/hand coordination and body awareness, shapes/sizes/textures with pumpkins and leaves and baking. 

This September, we had a very special visit from my younger sister, Dominic's Aunt Kim.  She just graduated from Old Mis and now lives in New York.  We love that she is closer and we can spend more time together.  When Kim came to visit, it was filled with lots of playing with our cars, trucks, trains and much more.  Auntie Kim even spoiled him with a new construction truck set that includes cones, little people, and barricades.  He has been playing with them every day since she has left.  Dominic even incorporates his other race cars and police/ambulance and firetruck with the construction cars and makes a game out of it.  What a great imagination he has.

This year was also Dominic's second year with mommy and daddy raising money for Cancer and Tumor patients in need.  As a family, it was our first year supporting Dana-Farber, Jimmy Fund.  We walked 5 miles and we had a blast.  Since Kim was visiting, she joined us for the event and it was a special day.  The day was filled with smiles and tears for our family was  healthy/happy and together,

In October, we "officially" transitioned Dominic to his BIG BOY ROOM.  We first took his crib and transitioned to a toddler bed for about 8 weeks.  Then I made a painting for Dom with all the things he loves and renovated a dresser with cool knobs and a book shelf. 

Since we are getting ready for Baby Girl A, we need the crib and now Dominic has a twin bed. He is very excited and has been doing a wonderful job sleeping really well and enjoying have a HUG bed to himself.  

We love being back in NH for all the wonderful family events and time together.  This was our first year at Macs Apples, picking apples with the family and it was so much fun.  When I was pregnant with Dominic, Macs Apples is where we did maternity pictures. So it has a very special meaning for Mark and myself.  

                                               

Dominic was spoiled with Bampa giving him rides on his shoulders and running around with his cousins.  He picked apples, played hide and go seek, picked pumpkins with his cousin and it was so great to see how much they have grown these past few years.

We have been so lucky to have a warm fall.  Dominic and mommy have been taking advantage of our Thursdays together.  We like to hang out and play in the morning then head to Benson Park.  Benson Park is located in Hudson, NH and use to be a Zoo, and was opened to the public in 1926 with animals exhibits, a miniature train, games and exhibits. 

Dominic attended Landon's 7th birthday at Cowabongas.  It was his 1st time on the BIG and I mean BIG slide and played with all the big kids.  That day he was not our almost three year old, he was a five year old.

                                                           

At the end October, we had a wonderful visit from Grandma, Aunt Annie and Uncle Tom.  When Grandma came on the 23rd. It was a week full of pumpkin picking, visits to the playground, lots of reading and playing with our trucks/cars and trains.  One day, when we were finishing up at the pumpkin farm.  We passed the Londonderry Fire Station and they were having an open house. Dominic was in for a treat when he realized all the little kids got fireman hats, had a chance to climb in the fire engine, put out fires and wear a fireman suit.  He had a BLAST!!

                        

When Annie and Tom were visiting, they were lucky enough to join us for Fredricks 4th birthday.  His birthday took place at See Science Center and the special exhibit was Dinosaurs.  It was so neat to see the kids run around and they had a blast.  Dominic really enjoyed taking his cousin Alex all around the exhibit and showing him the dinosaurs. You could hear them making sounds like roaring dinosaurs and then giggling. On top of the kid action, his aunt and uncle were able to explore the exhibit with Dominic and had one on one time with the little guy.

Dominic even was treated from his Aunt and Uncle to a fishing set.  It came with 2 fishing rods and 10 fishes with are different colors and numbers and one of the fishing rods was green (his favorite color) and he was ecstatic.  The set is from a brand called Melissa and Doug.  The toys are great for kids to learn and grow.  

During the week with Grandma. We were very busy with our activities.  On Thursday, we took a trip to BoBos which is an indoor kids center.  We were testing it out to see if this is where Dominic would like to have his 3rd birthday party this year.  Since this year, it will be his first birthday with all his schoolmates and family we need to have a big enough place to accommodate. Especially since we will have up to 15 little ones running around and being crazy.  

         

Later that afternoon, we had some one on one time with Grandma.  We read a TON of books about trucks, did some crafts that Grandma could take home to MD, and went biking When we went biking we took Grandma to the park down the street from our house with Ellie.  This trip, in general, has become a weekly activity for mommy and Dom.  And since he is really enjoying riding his bike, we need to continue practicing for a "big boy" bike in the spring.

This year for Halloween, Dominic was  ninja Warrior from Ninjago, the lego show he watches.  Since this was his 1st year at school. They had a parade with all the kiddos and they were so cute.  Each one was very creative with their outfit.  

When I went to pick him up from school earlier in the week. They had a list of each child and what they were going to be for Halloween.  His teacher pointed out that Joey (his best friend) was going to be a "Ninja Fireman" on behalf of his best friend. The cutest things these kiddos say these days.

This year, Dominic, really enjoyed going to as many houses as he could and saying "Trick-er-Treat". We were out for over 30 minutes and even went to some spooky houses, which mommy and daddy were very proud of him.  We were hoping he would be getting over his small fear of  spooky decorations and become more comfortable.

     

Summer comes to an end

New School for Dominic

This week, Dominic started at a new school, World Academy. It will be very exciting for he has so many new adventures to look forward to with the new school. However, Humpty Dumpty (his previous school), was his first school and it was hard to leave.  All the teachers were so wonderful and they really loved him.  

Dominic started at Humpty Dumpty when he was about 10 months old.  While he was there, he started out in the infant room and then graduated to the toddler room.  Watching him grow up there and become a big boy was so much fun.  He learned so much and had so much fun with all the activities they did.  In the toddler room this year is where they started "Zoo-phonics". "Zoo-phonics" is a method developed to make children strong readers and spellers using a phone (hearing), oral (speaking), visual (seeing), kinesthetic (moving), and tactile advanced phonemic concepts through an easily understood, concrete method of presentation.  Zoo-phonics uses animal drawn in the shapes of letters for ease in memory.  A related body movement is given for each letter.  This concrete approach cements the sounds to the shapes of the letters. Lowercase letters and their sounds are taught first, capital letters and letter names are taught later.  When Dominc left, which was the end of the school year (June 12th), we were given a binder which was his completion of the Zoo phonics program.  This also included pictures with him and his friends completing the program through the year. There was also a good-bye letter from all the teachers with a note on how much there going to miss "Dom".  

June 15th was the first full week at World Academy and Dominc had a great report.  His classroom is called "Owls" and consists of Nishi, Patrick, Gavin, Ainsley, Shaikha, Atharv, Joey, Owen, Corinne and Elina and his teachers are Tatiana and Alyson. At this school, it is a similar daily program to Humpty Dumpty where they have story time, circle time, activity, music & movement followed by an activity.    They also promote potty training every time there is a diaper change and Dominic has been going at least 2-3 times per day.  

The first day I dropped Dominic off, he was very comfortable and started to play with his new classmates.  Every day since then, he has been good about saying his goodbyes but still tends to be shy. When I pick him up from school is the best because he shouts out  "MOMMY" and starts sprinting to me yelling what hes done today.

This week, I surprised Dominic and picked him up early only to find him with his friends being pirates and playing in the water.  Dominic and his friend Joey were jumping over the sprinkler and having a lot of fun in the water.  Dominic slipped several times because he was running so fast but got right back up and laughed.  

   

Some things Dominic conquered this week were pretty cool;

• Climbed the caterpillar at Benson Park
• Getting much better with putting his long socks on
• Walking on the balance been all by himself
• Conquered taking the soccer ball from daddy with his feet, not is hands
• Ate mommies lasagna and new cheese pasta dish
• When I ask why he likes something his new word is "because" but not in a mean way

"The Caterpillar"

"The Snake"

Two weeks ago, mommy and Dom took an other trip to the beach where we had a blast and meet some new friends.  He did so wonderful with playing in the ocean, getting messy with the snails we found and played A LOT in the sand.  We dug many holes and filled them with ocean water for the seagulls to come back and play.  This is how we started to make our friends who then helped us with this project. This led to a whole day of play and getting sandy.  It is always hard to leave the beach but after every trip I am so proud of my little guy.  Its not easy carrying all the beach stuff and having a crazy two and half year old on your hip.

Till next time and our next adventure and update on Doms new school and all the awesome things hes learning.