NEW TEACHERS

James and Cora have new teachers. James has been his Daddy's student, and his "Ampa's" student, and even his Mama's student (finally). And last week, while his Grambot was visiting, he became her student too.

It all started when one evening James put his hands up over his head, wiggled his fingers, and said "stars in the sky". We figured he must be learning "Twinkle Twinkle" at school. We knew that he understood what stars and the moon and sun are (he looks for them, points at them, and names them), but we'd never seen him do hand gestures before. So Grambot started singing to him. "Twinkle Twinkle" was followed by "Itsy Bitsy Spider", or "itty pider" as James calls it. He LOVED watching Grambot do those hand gestures and would make her repeat the song over and over and over again ("Moh? Moh?"). After a day of singing, he could make the spider climb up the water spout. The next day he figured out how to make the rain come down. We're still working on the sun coming out... Anyway, they had so much fun with those songs that Grambot decided to try "Wheels on the Bus". James likes to say "wuh-eeee-uls" and "wound wound". It's so absolutely adorable, and we have not been able to get good video of any of it yet. Don't worry, we'll keep trying. Today we learned that they are working on all 3 of these songs at daycare now, so he's likely to get more and more gestures and words down as the days pass. (It's funny to watch him watch us when we sing, because he moves his little lips as though he's singing along, even when no words are coming out - pretty cool to watch those connections being made right before our very eyes).

James wasn't the only kiddo who learned something new while the grands were visiting though. Just as she did last year, Great Grandma taught her baby how to "Come see Grandma". That's right, at only 5.5-months-old, Cora has learned to reach out to be held. And it's too sweet!

Thanks Mom and Grandma for teaching our babies some fun new tricks!