Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Happy 2.5 years, Sarah!

Sarah hit the 2.5 year mark on January 16 and we welcomed the opportunity to ponder back over the last couple of seasons and marvel at how she continues to mature. We are so thankful for her growth and find ourselves just sitting back in awe. It kind of seems miraculous the way our baby girl could become this sweet little girl we interact with day in and day out. And there are no brakes on her development these days. So we cling to these precious moments and look forward to all that is to come.

(We waited to publish this post until we got the stats at her appointment yesterday morning.)

Weight: 32lbs 6oz (84%)
Height: 36.5 (75%)
Diaper: FINISHED!!!! (details below)
Clothes: some 2T and mostly 3T; shoe, size 6
or 7

Likes: goldfish crackers, reading, imagining, piggy back rides, singing, other people putting her to bed (like Auntie Lee or Ms. Kim), giving shoulder rubs, play time (with music and corn puffs and cheerios)

Dislikes: not getting her way, cleaning up (would much rather go to bed than clean up!), loud noises (asks the mixer and/or food processor to please use their inside voice)

Schedule: Sarah's day usually starts between 7am and 8am, unless Josiah was too loud for too long and wakes her up earlier. She is then usually good until a nap around 1pm. Sometimes lately she has not been sleeping, but if she goes a day without sleeping she will definitely sleep the next. And if she goes to nursery in the morning she definitely sleeps. Even when she doesn't sleep she lays down and then I'll let her play in her room. We all need a little rest time! 

Eating: She still generally loves to eat. Favorites include peppers(preferably red)/carrots and hummus, yogurt with berries, pecans, and pasta. She is usually eager to try new things, but definitely knows whether she likes it or not after that first ambitious bite. I am thankful that she can usually eat what we are eating in some form or fashion.

Talking: This was the first well-visit where Sarah could really communicate with the pediatrician. I think it was a marker for us as to how far she has come with her speech. She continues to repeat pretty much everything and is pretty good at appropriately bring things up again. Her choice for conjugation is seemingly different with every sentence, but that is mighty cute at this point. I love the way she uses inflection, says "shall", and loves to sing. 

Developmentally: Sarah loves to draw and makes the most perfect little circles. Coloring fascinates her for longer periods of time now, as well as working with play dough. Dave has seen her draw an 'A'. She is running, but has yet to jump. That is one of our goals for the next half a year. She is really good at stairs now and just last week was brave enough to climb them without us right behind her. We quickly implemented a rule that said she has to ask before she goes up, but are excited for her bravery. It is a big step for our timid girl!
 
Potty Training: She is doing well! It is hard to believe that it has already been several months, but even harder to believe that diapers were a part of her life not that long ago. She seems so much more grown up now! Nap time and night time were never really an issue for Sarah, so dropping the diaper during those periods really wasn't an issue. If she doesn't go before bed, we still put one on just in case. I also still put a diaper on her when she goes to nursery, as I don't think she has ever told anyone she needed go. She just holds it until we get home. As for accidents, she has gone through a few phases where she struggles at certain times of the day. Honestly, I think it is mostly based on what she eats and what kind of warning she gets. Kiwi was not a friend :) She has resisted pulling her pants up/down on her own, but is starting to have some success with it. The day she climbed the stairs I think she was feeling really confident and took all of her clothes off on her own before her bath. All in all we are so proud and extremely grateful that this hasn't been a traumatic process for any of us! 
 
Random, but fun:
* She sits in the back of the shopping cart now, since we moved Josiah to a big boy car seat and he has to sit up front.
* "Go see neighborhood" is a common request to go for a walk, preferably in the double stroller. We don't use it super often, so I think it feels special to her.
* She pretends to be an Olympic swimmer in the bath tub...she might have gotten a little coaching toward this imaginative end :)
* Her memory is amazing. She is able to answer all kinds of questions about her day (though she doesn't so much grasp the concept of time as of yet).
* Feelings are a really big deal to her. She is always taking care of something stuffed who is sad and needs a 'nuggle. She likes to announce if Josiah is really upset that he is throwing a fit because he didn't get what he wanted :) (She knows from experience!)
* Singing and songs with motion are almost as fun as constantly reading, which is probably what she would want on a "perfect" day.
* Favorite songs include: Angels We Have Heard on High, The Solid Rock, Row Row Row Your  Boat, Good Night Josiah, I'm a Little Tea Pot, Sing Sing the Gangs All Here, Wheels on the Bus, Trot Trot to Boston, Here is the Church
* My heart melts when she sporadically says, "Mommy, I'm so proud of you." I know she is just repeating, but it lets my heart know she hears our encouragement and knows how much we care.
* She knows several Bible stories now. Favorites are about Samuel, David, Baby Jesus, and Saul.

Next appointment: Monday, July 22, 2013 at 9:15am

Understands presents this year :)


"It's a niiiiiight gown, Mommy, NOT PJs." I don't want anyone else to be misinformed!


Loving the stool/chair made by Uncle Jerry!
Meeting Baby Lincoln for the first time. She thought Baby Lincoln and Baby Jesus were one and the same for most of the Christmas season.

Tickling each other :)

Helping... :)

"I feel the wind!!!"


Advent ornament fun.

Taking care of Josiah.

Fancy grown up hair-do.

Having fun with Uncle T.
Practicing our "restaurant manners" with Auntie Lee and Uncle Frank. She now thinks every proper restaurant experience should end with ice cream and chocolate syrup.



She loves walking on the snow. We had to make do with Daddy's gloves and Mommy's scarf for some reason that day.

First time in the back of the cart.

Her serious rapper face.

And her not so serious rapper face :)

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Joshua's Pond in the Snow

Near our home there is a pond called Joshua's Pond, to which I like to sometimes go and take pictures. When snow fell this Tuesday morning, I decided to go and get a few shots on the way into work.




Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sarah in the Leaves

Tuesday we had a good snow, so we knew we need to catch up on the yard work and rake our last batch of leaves on Monday. We thought you might enjoy some pictures of Sarah playing in the leaves.





Saturday, January 12, 2013

Morning Playtime

What does morning playtime look like here? Well, here was this morning, with a photo taken every fifteen seconds. Sometimes it's more destructive than this, sometimes it's nice and calm like this one was.



We didn't realize this at the time, but at the end you can see Dad putting his little boy down for the last time in that room! We moved him upstairs just after that, not realizing that the moment we captured that morning would be so special.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Christmas Gifts

We love Christmas around here. It is certainly a special season of remembrance and celebration. To aid us to that end we do what most people do- we sing, bake, eat, laugh, decorate, and eat some more. And to top it all off we give gifts.

While we never want our family (children or ourselves!) to be greedy about gifts at Christmas, we do find that they hold great value as part of our celebration. We remember that God is a good God who loves to give good gifts to his children. So we try to gift good gifts to our children and to each other. No pressure, right? Well, really there isn't. But we do have fun with it and this year was no exception.

Josiah: Josiah got a couple of tubes of Gerber puffs- his first finger foods! We let him eat them under the tree on Christmas morning. This was the first gift under our Christmas tree. Sarah knew what they were and told him at every opportunity leading up to Christmas.

Sarah: A matching "big girl" plate and cup. The say "sweet pea" and have a picture of a smiling pod of peas. She is now helping set the table and (consistently) learning to drink from a cup.

Emily: I received awesome tickets to see the Nutcracker in Boston. This is what Dave (selflessly, not being sure he was a fan of ballet) gave me last year, but we had to give them away to make an unexpected trip to MS. But this year was even better. Since my parents were in town they watched the children and sacrificed hotel points so that we could stay the night. We had a nice dinner with a gift card from other family members. And to top it all off Dave genuinely liked the ballet!

Dave: For a few years now we have been toying with the idea of getting Dave a nice new camera. He was faithful to his hobby and diligent to learn new techniques regularly. The camera he had was used when he purchased it many years ago and painstakingly slow- not an asset when trying to photograph a toddler. We decided before Thanksgiving to take the plunge and he set out to find the best deal, which he found online the Friday after Thanksgiving. As such, he has been enjoying his gift throughout the Christmas season and we have been richly blessed by it. Oh, and when you see him with his fancy camera you can go ahead and say "happy birthday" too :)

Monday, January 7, 2013

Josiah's Chocolate Muffin

 

On Sunday Sarah knows that after nursery we go to the gym. Once in the gym she immediately goes to the left and sits down against the wall. I will then bring her a bagel, muffin, piece of cake or other sweet sundry from the snack table.  This system was established to minimize crumbs and increase the likelihood that I could have a conversation during the coffee hour. It takes great strategy to have conversation these days!

Yesterday we did go to the early service and this routine played out like normal. When my arm went numb from holding Josiah, I sat him down next to Sarah and let him play with the handle of my purse. He was chewing on the strap. Sarah was eating a chocolate muffin. I wasn't free enough to enjoy a cup of coffee, but I was talking to the kind soul that came my way to say hi. Then this kind soul suddenly started laughing and pointing at my kids. I quickly turned to see what the matter could be. Was there blood? Was there mess? Were there tears? 

It seems that Josiah had pulled Sarah's arm back such that he got a perfect bite of her chocolate muffin without ever taking it out of her hand. She realized what happened, pulled her arm back, and quickly ate the remainder of her muffin. I went to trying to wipe the chocolate off my eight-month-old's mouth.

We all had a good laugh while Josiah continued to drool chocolate and Sarah licked up the crumbs.



Friday, January 4, 2013

Happy 8 months, Josiah!


This month has been full of adventure for our J-man. He has started crawling, is eating a variety of purees, and having fun playing with Sarah. We're 2/3 of the way to one year- hard to believe!

Weight: on 12/10 he was 23 lbs 10 oz with a diaper and onesie on
Length: ?
Head: ?

Diaper: size 4 and cloth
Clothing: 12 and 18 month, Shoe: size 4

Likes: being on the floor, kisses, eating, playing with the window shade over his changing table (we have to pull it up for every diaper change), sitting up, trying to eat a sippy cup, playing with Sarah's toys, chewing on cords and shoe strings (he has an eagle eye for both of these when he hits the floor crawling)

Dislikes: the jumper (his first true love leaves him pretty dissatisfied these days), teething, peas

Schedule: Here is what we aim for. This month we haven't gotten anywhere close, it seems, but it helps to have a goal. I really do believe that regularity is best for Josiah and our family, but we try to be flexible and take what we can get on the challenging days. He took lots of short naps this month and subsequently went back to five feedings a day a few times each week. This also means that his third nap is a necessity (at least to try for). 

7 am: Wake and nurse/cereal
7-8 am: Wake time
8-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and nurse/vegetable
11-12 pm: Wake time
12-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and nurse/cereal and vegetable
3-4:30 pm: Wake time
4:30-6 pm: Nap
6-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Nurse and down for bed

Sleeping: Still not Josiah's strongest area through any given day, but I think he probably is improving. Over the last few days he has taken decent 2nd and 3rd naps. We are considering going ahead with his big move upstairs so that he will be less affected by the garage door, back door, and laundry. As it is, we are on pins and needles as Dave is leaving for work, because more often than not Josiah wakes up as Dave is backing out of the driveway. We'll see what the next month holds!

Eating: Little man loves his meal times and has only found one nemesis when it comes to eating . . . peas. He is still nursing well 4-5 times a day and we are continuing to build a deep milk reserve in the freezer. Praise the Lord! After his first three meals of the day we feed him solids (which, of course, are pretty soupy, and more accurately still liquids). So far he has had, as purees, and  in this order: rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, avocado, squash, and peas. We generally steam, puree, and freeze the veggies in ice cube trays. At meal time I simply microwave a couple of cubes, thin and cool with some milk from the fridge, and he is ready to go. Since Christmas he has been loving some puffs. It didn't take him long to perfect his fine motor skills when a little snack was on the line!

Moving: We officially have a sitter and a crawler. He is pretty stable now sitting up and enjoys it as a rest after a good bout of activity. We have been somewhat intentional in talking to his pediatrician about ways we can help him develop the core strength and muscle tone that were part of Sarah's barrier for walking. Her advice was to have him do as much tummy time as possible and to do lots of reaching from the sitting position. We are thankful that he loved tummy time and it is good to see him reaching now! You can find a video of him crawling here. That really took us a bit by surprise, as he went from scooting to crawling overnight. 

Talking: I haven't seen much verbal change this month, just the same sweet laughs, grunts, and buzzing.

Teething: He has his bottom two teeth fully in now and is definitely working on another in some form or fashion. Right now he has a drool rash on his bottom lip, the likes of which I have never seen. Paired with some pain and fussiness, I am confident I can blame teething. Once this week I found him awake from his nap happily gnawing on one of the vertical slats of his crib. 

Fun facts:         
- We have started correcting him over putting his hands in the heating system (can't burn him, but generally not a good practice) and "motor boating" when he gets full while we are feeding him.
- He and Sarah can really play together a little now that he is crawling. She is very sweet to intentionally play with him :)
- He had a mean spot of eczema on his little bum that is healing nicely. 
- He has taken a couple of big boy baths in the big boy tub with Sarah. My parents gave him one on 12/26 and I bathed them together on 1/1. 
- Josiah is already the proud owner of a convertable carseat. He's growing so fast!
- Especially at night, he often sleeps on his side . . . and never where we put him down.
- He likes to strike a pose while playing that we like to call "beach babe." Even Sarah calls him on it. See pictures below.

Next appointment: Monday, February 4, 2013, 10:20am

Being sweet for the camera after church the Sunday before Christmas.

Goggin and Papa came to visit!

The Cooks after the Christmas Eve service.

He dominated Christmas morning.

And loved every minute of it.

Exciting day :)

Mid-roll
Bath time!

Sweet sleeping boy :)


Here is the beach babe. I know it looks like he is mid roll, but sometimes he just likes to play like this.


He used to touch his upper foot to the floor so that it really looked like he was posing. 



"Mom, I'll get you and your camera! Why are you taking pictures of my "beach babe" pose?!"
Note his sad little chin rash :(