The summer is off to a good start. We had a playdate with my friends from college; Katie, Renee', Alicia and Erin, and their daughters; Caroline, Reid, Blake and Ellen. Mark had fun with all the girls! I want to post more pictures from our get together soon as I get the rest of the photos. We had so much fun and Katie had the cutest outfits made for the kids!

We have also stayed busy with our usual playdates and activities. Mark cut his first tooth and has also discovered his toes. He likes to pull them to his mouth. The tooth broke through a week ago but is just now barely noticeable with a camera - it's really hard to capture on the iPhone camera, but I tried. I also posted a video of Mark laughing yesterday. Of course the laughs are for Emily!

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Mark is 5 months old today. I can't believe how quickly the time as flown by. Mark is still so sweet and agreeable and is now becoming a lot more active too. He loves playing with toys and has started crying when Emily takes them away or tries to play with the same toy at the same time. I will have to start breaking up fights any day now. Mark really likes being upright and has also started reaching out and pulling his knees under when he is on his belly and trying to get to a toy. He loves watching Emily play and prefers that over almost anything else. He is still eating one tablespoon of rice cereal a day and I think we will try to do it twice a day this coming month before starting other solids at 6 months.

Mark really enjoys sitting in his high chair during Emily's meal times and his new favorite game is dropping a toy off the chair for me to pick up. Emily then laughs and informs me "he dropped it again. Get it", then I get it, then Mark smiles. The American Academy of Pediatrics lists the game of dropping and retrieving as important for learning cause and effect as well as 'object permanence' (understanding the object still exists even when it is out of sight). So I try not to get too frustrated, although Emily has already learned these lessons and is just laughing at me because I'm doing what she told me to do.

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Decided it was time to start using the highchair and saucer. Mark is growing up so fast. He looks very pleased with himself! I think he really likes having a seat at the table. And the saucer adds a little buffer between Mark and Emily so that is an added bonus.

(Sorry if you are signed up on the blog and your inbox is flooding with pictures of my kids. This is my 'baby book' and I want to keep up with Mark like I did with Emily - and he just keeps changing!)

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Today was the last day of preschool. It has been a great year for Emily at Tallowood. We started on September 10th of last year and a lot has changed in that short period of time. Emily was 16&1/2 months when we started and I was almost 6 months pregnant with Mark. Emily loved her class, teachers and friends and has learned so much over the course of the year. Emily will go to school at Christ Memorial Lutheran next year so the end of Tallowood feels like the end of an era. What a special year it has been! Here are some pictures of then and now.

First day of school.

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Ben and I have been trying to make Mark laugh for a while now. Ben is really good at getting chuckles out of Mark but no real spontaneous belly laughs until today. One of those laughs that takes you by surprise! Emily was playing outside after the rain and Mark was in his seat watching. He was trying really hard to get out of the seat and would have tumbled out if I didn't have the straps on. So I picked him up so he could get a better look. Emily started "washing her hands and face" in the water pouring out of the gutters and I told her to stop putting it on her face. Of course that just made it even more fun so she started splashing the water around while I kept trying to stop her. Mark was watching closely and let out the biggest, longest belly laugh. It was great! I had my phone in my pocket and tried to re-create and capture the moment. It's not as good as the initial laugh but you can still hear him laughing. Looks like I might have two little rascals on my hands!

I know I've already posted today but these pics are just too sweet. I will want to pull these up years from now!

Emily wanted to hold Mark this morning. But I think Emily will need to be sitting in Mark's lap pretty soon!

Mark has started sitting up on his own. It's the "tripod"!

Happy Mother's day to all! Especially Grandma and Mimi. I have no idea what I would do without you both. A special Happy Mother's Day to Great-grandma Karcher, Great-grandma Lesem and Amma for decades of putting up with all of us kids! Emily and Mark are very blessed to have such wonderful grandmothers! Here are some pictures of our morning.

It was great! She was a little hesitant at first but was very good at following the instructions and trying out whatever the teacher asked her to do. At the end she said she wanted to do it again. It was also great for me to see what I need to being doing with her at the pool. Here are some pics.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing with the new mat I got for Mark today. Of course Emily had to play with it too! The last pic is how I found Emily after putting Mark down for a nap. She used a napkin and Mella's water bowl and told me she was "washing the windows".