November 2011

Dear girls,

Your grandparents are here! You were both so excited to see them...even more excited than your mother and I, I think. This has been a month chocked full of new things for both of you, so let's get started.

Emily, you have started learning how to play games on mobile devices. I never thought that a couple of years would make the difference in how you learned to use a computer, but it's amazing. Rachel, you learned how to use a computer by manipulating a mouse, and Emily, you've learned by touching a screen. Every computing device you come in contact with, the first thing you do is try to touch the screen.

That's probably because we have more touch screen devices in the house than anything else. Between our two phones, an iPod touch, and an iPad, you have plenty of things to learn on. And you're learning very quickly. You started by insisting that you turn off the iPod in the morning, so I showed you how to touch the pause button on the screen - the lines, or "yines" as you say it, so every morning when you wake up you ask me to get you out of bed so you can turn it off. You've also started asking for certain games by name - "Ahnie Bord (Angry Birds)? Oopah why (Super Why)?" I can't even begin to imagine when computing is going to look like 5 years from now, and how you'll both adapt to it.

You've been talking up a storm lately, strining together 4, 5, even 6 words to make sentences that we are getting better and better at understanding. You're also starting to use your manners saying, please, thank you, and excuse me (the latter was the hardest to get you to start doing), usually on your own, but sometimes we still have to gently remind you.

Rachel, we discovered this month that you really like math, and you're really good at it! You flew right through the easy addition and started right into double digit addition, multiple number addition, and subtraction. Just last week, we started talking about multiplication. You've been brining us your writing board and asking us to write math problems for you so much that we decided to buy you some math workbooks, and we even got you the first grade level ones! I hope that this love of math continues throughout your life, because it can really take you places if you do well with it.

You also started riding the bus to school this past week. It always amazes me how independent you are. You had been begging us for a long time to ride the bus, and now that your grandparents are here, we have someone that can meet you at the bus stop in the afternoon. We decided to give it a trial run coming home one day this week, but you liked it so much that you asked if you could ride the bus to school the next day. So the last half of this week, you rode the bus to school. That actually works out pretty well for mommy since she doesn't have to take you and because the ride to school is easy. There is only one place to get off. We'll see about you riding the bus home every once in a while in the coming weeks.

You both are really enjoying having Nana and "Wompa," as Emily calls him, around. Emily, you're finally old enough to really remember and have fun with them both. You were starting to come into that a little bit last year, but this year, you're really making memories. You and Rachel helped Nana make pies for Thanksgiving dinner, and you've been playing Wii almost every time you go over to visit.

We're really looking forward to Christmas and watching you both open your presents. We haven't gotten a tree up yet, but Emily, you're already fascinated with all of the lights that are up in the neighborhood. Rachel, you've already started on your list of what you want for Christmas, too. One of the first things on your list - an iPod. I don't know if Santa will be able to bring you one of those, but we'll see.

We love you both very much, and as always, we can't wait to see what the next month brings for the two of you.

Love,
Daddy 

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