For those of you that follow this blog, my apologies for not posting birthday and school pictures. Blogspot has been giving me fits with uploading pictures. This one will be a long one, with no fun pictures to break the monotony. I'll keep trying.
We went to the doctor today, Eve's 15 month well check and John's 3 year well check, so I have stats...and lots of other updates, particularly for John.
Here goes......
Eve - 23.3 lb (57th percentile) and 31 in. (70th percentile) head circ. 18 3/4 in (91 percentile). I don't think her head looks that big! She's still doing everything great. She has really started to enjoy sliding, and doesn't understand yet that some slides are too big and fast for her. I was able to take just her to the playground while John was in school and caught her about 1/4 of the way down a big slide as she tubled over the edge. No tears, no fear. I think she thought it was fun. She struts around a lot with her belly and chest out, waving her arms at her side...kid of like football defensive line. I remember John doing that, and also hitting his head (which she also does) like d-line. She's very sure of herself when she's walking around, and it's so funny to watch. She also gets excited about LOTS of things. She's at such a fun age! Her temper is coming out a bit more, I think exaggerated some because of her inability to communicate, but still, it's short. She's still not very ticklish, except when Buck tickles her neck with his beard...then she laughs hysterically. She's also getting really good at identifying body parts on herself and identifying pictures from the words, and following simple one-step instructions. She's wearing 18 month clothes and size 5 shoes...quickly growing out of both!
John - (this will be long...fair warning) - 38 1/2 lb (95th percentile) 39 inches (85th percentile). I found these measurements funny because I just mentioned the other day that it seems like he's really trimming down. Hmmm. He's wering 4T shirts, 3T shorts, and around a size 10 or 11 shoe. Anyway, I love love love the stage he's at right now. He is so fun to talk to, so funny to listen to, and even though he still gets in trouble, he's mostly just a lot of fun. I love that he's so sweet, so expressive, so kind (sometimes), and loves his sister so very very much. Don't get me wrong, he's still very much a 3-year-old boy, but he's all of those other things too. One funny thing he's started recently is starting an answer to a question with "hmm..." or a drawn out "wellllll.....". It's so cute because I know he already knows the answer. He just throws it in for fun. He likes to make conversation, so he'll bring up things from a while ago out of the blue, just to strike it up. He has answered the phone a few times, unbeknownst to me, and surprised either Buck or Mom, but still had a fun conversation. Right now he's obsessed with his trains, and enjoys setting up little scenarios and stories...mostly repeating stories we've read or things he's seen before. He's been going back and forth between his big bed (in Eve's room) and his little bed (in his room). He has trouble getting to sleep in the big bed, and actually left it last night and snuck into his little bed. Neither Buck nor I knew about it until this morning (aren't we great parents :) ). He's doing great on his bike, starting to get better at catching (he really enjoys throwing, catching, hitting, and kicking...a ball, that is), scooter, you name it. He still loves anything vehicular, but is still quite hesitant with loud noises. Can't remember if I wrote this in an earlier post, but when we went to the movie he loved it and was terrified because it was so loud all at the same time. His entire body was shaking. Today we were feeding the geese and one got pretty close and hissed at him. He said it was a little bit scary. In his defense, I felt the same. He likes to snuggle while reading books and watching TV. I love to ablige. He still is playing mostly on his own, but I'm hoping school will encourage him to be more social. He's buddies with every garbage man that rolls through the neighborhood. There's oh so much more, but I could go on forever. He keeps us laughing with what he says, that's for sure. In the car last Sunday he kept yelling "AND COFFEE FOR DADDY" as Buck was trying to order at the drive-thru. "Oh, and a cheeseburger" when we got to the window. It was breakfast time. I asked "What are we going to laugh about when they get older?".
SO, John's Spiderman party was lots of fun. He's been talking about it and inviting people since January...no pressure, Mom. We had about 10 kids show up, and fortunately lots of helpful parents. Everyone made superhero masks, then we played a game of "Spider Senses" where they guessed what things were by touch, taste, hearing, and seeing (parts of a picture). It was chaotic, but lots of fun, too. We had spiderman cake and spiderman ice cream, then opened John's presents. He opened one very slowly, then wanted to go play with it. We really had to push him through the rest because he was so excited about each one. Funny, when it was actually his birthday and he got our presents, he managed to tear through them quickly. Anyway, afterward we went outside and passed out silly string. Buck dressed as a villan and they all shot him with silly string (spiderwebs). It was all fun and games until someone gave him some silly string and he managed to get John and a little girl at the party right in the face. Tears followed. Of course he felt terrible. We came back inside and each kid had to find their name, then follow spiderman's web to their goody bag. Like I said, mass chaos, but fun.
John's actual birthday was Monday, which also happened to be his first day of pre-school. It was a double whammy for me, but I managed to squeak by with dry eyes. He had a "Birthday Boy" ribbon from a neighbor that he wore and we brought in cupcakes. He went straight in and started playing, no issues. His teachers are Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Page. He managed to finish the first day with an incident report. Just skinned his knee on the playground. No biggie, but they have to write it up anyway. He didn't have much to say about the first day. He answered "I don't know" for most of my questions...par for the course these days. He was counting to 5 in Spanish, though...not bad for one day. Wednesday went just as smoothly. Again he answered I don't know to most questions. The only information I got, and only time he really perked up, was when I asked about the bird in his science class. "His name is Tweety...and HE POOPED! Did you know birds poop in their nests? EWWWWW!" I couldn't help but laugh. At least he learned something...and so did I. So, he'll be going Mon. Wed. and Fri. from 8:30 or 9 to 12. He really just seems indifferent about it now, but I think he'll really like it, and Eve will enjoy it, too.
One last accomplishment...maybe. He's been going in his diaper while he's awake, so last night we let him sleep in big boy underwear. We'll see how that goes. First night was a success.
My sweet baby's off to school (sniff sniff)...complete with a "Birthday Boy" ribbon from Mrs. Kathy next door.
Cool! Wait, wrong finger...
Let's try that again...Cool!
He got to open one present before school. His superhero backpack. It's HUGE (on him). Oh, and there are his buddies, the garbage men. He's buddies with the drivers of each of the 4 garbage trucks that come through the neighborhood. One even honks and waves when he sees John watching from the window. So cute.
And off we go. Only 15 (let's hope 19 or so) years of this ahead.
Side note about the balloon...it was so huge that when I was sneaking it upstairs (in a hurry) I tried to walk through the door, but the sides caught the jam and my face walked right into it. It was hilarious.
Then two weekends ago we went to Maddie's princess #3 birthday party. The invitation said "wear your favorite royal attire". Off to Burger King we went. I also had a gold lamé '70s shirt that worked (sort-of) as a royal robe. Fortunately Suzie passed out shirts for the boys. John's said "Sir John the Strong". Perfect. Anyway, we had a blast, and then the horses showed up on the back yard and we had even more fun. I think you can see by John's face...he LOVED it. I love how expressive he is. With his voice, his face, everything. It's so fun.
He enjoyed cleaning the bear.
This is a lovely mix of oreo and sand. For some reason, Eve loves eating sand. She doesn't try it and spit it out like most kids. She just keeps eating it...and clearly keeps loving it.
