Walking at 13 Months and 3 Year old Birthday

Dear Hannah and Nathan, 

We had a super exciting week. Hannah started walking around on Thursday and now realizes that she can get from one place to another much faster on foot than on hands and knees. The first time you took a few more steps than your usual 3-4 steps happened when you were holding on to a toy and you wanted to bring it to me to show me. You walked over, more focused on showing me the toy and when I got excited about how far you walked, you realized it and tried to do it again. Ever since then, you've been confident enough to take more steps. 

And suddenly shoes and socks have been very interesting to you. I guess it makes sense, you are walking, so you want something on your feet to help protect them. I often see you trying to put on Nathan's shoes.

After a year of sitting on the sidelines and watching everyone else have fun, you are finally free to play! There is pretty much nothing stopping you now. You can walk, climb, scoot, crawl- the world is your playground!  

 And Nathan, you celebrated your 3rd birthday this weekend with a few of your best friends and neighbors. Of course I forget to charge the camera and left the phone in the car, so I am so thankful that our friend Vivian snapped a few pictures for us.

(By the way, if you are reading this and didn't get invited, don't be offended, we still like you. You probably attended Hannah's party and since that just happened a few weeks ago, we didn't think it was cool to have people attend another Havlir party back to back)

 Most of the time you played in the pretend area and avoided the jumpy houses. The fans still freak you out a bit, but towards the end, we all went into a small house and you actually had fun jumping with Hannah and a few of your friends.

 On Sunday, we went to another birthday party. This one was pretty cool because it was at a farm. You spent a lot of time eating, we looked at a few animals, and you explored the fort that was there for awhile. Nathan, you really liked watching the goats, and Hannah, you were really enamored by the chickens.

We went in for your 3 year check up and you did great, partly because you went in knowing that you would not have to get any shots. You pretty much told anyone who would listen to you that you were not getting a shot today. Hannah, on the other hand, had to get blood drawn again to make sure hemoglobin levels are ok. The doc's office just called and things are great. 

Well, birthday parties, walking, and doctors visits have been consuming our time this week. We have a few more parties to attend, grandparents to host, so it'll be awhile until things slow down once again. Who knew the lives of 3 and 1 year olds could be so busy! 

Oh, one more thing. Nathan, the other day you stumbled upon Mommy and Daddy's secret stash of games for adults and begged to play. Before I told you "No," I remembered the time I found my parents' secret stash of games and just really wanted to play "Battleship." only to have my spirit crushed when I was denied due to my lack of experience and reading skills. So, instead of denying your interest in games, I decided to play a modified version of Carcasonne, where we just pick up pieces and try to fit them in the right spot. After a few turns, you picked it right up. Maybe next year, you will be able to handle farm stealing...

Well, that's it for now. Until next week!

Love, 

Mommy

Babbling and Climbing to New Heights: Week 57

Dear Nathan and Hannah,
It's been a pretty hot summer, but compared to past summers, it's actually been pretty mild. Nathan mentioned again the other day how we should move to Illinois because it is less hot. Don't worry, it should start to get cooler as the days go on.

We've gone to the pool twice this week. Once with daddy and once without. This week, Nathan you have learned to swim with your arms as you kick your feet. You even realize how much faster you can go if you use both your arms and legs. Your favorite thing to do right now is for me to push you away on the inner tube, you flip into the water and you swim back towards the stairs.

One time as we were getting ready to leave, I turned for a few seconds to dry Nathan off, and Hannah, you start climbing up the back of the lounge chairs!

 We hope to go to the pool a few more times before it closes for the season. Hannah has been able to swim about 2-3 feet and when you pop back up, you don't even cry or fuss. You have definitely learned how to hold your breath under water.

Nathan, one of your favorite things to do right now is completing a maze. I've started with easy ones and we are now at this level. As you can see, Hannah likes to join in on the fun as well. You have learned to start the maze and when you are at a fork, you will go to the end and trace your way backwards to find the correct route. Problem solving at its best here!

Help the dinosaur find the chicken leg. 

 And when you complete the maze, you do a little dance and beg for another more difficult one.

Help Nathan find his daddy. 

 Nathan, you are really starting to understand how gentle you need to be with Hannah and Hannah, you have learned how to roll with the punches (literally) and both of you are now starting to play pretty well with each other. There are so many times when Nathan does something that looks a bit too rough and I think that you are about to cry, but more often than not, you start bursting out in laughter.

You love it when Nathan does crazy things: slide down the edge of the bath tub; do a front roll on the ground; shake his head crazily like a mad man while dancing. All of these actions will cause you to laugh hysterically. It is adorable!

Baylor homecoming is coming up in a few weeks and this year, we plan on going for the parade. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to make Hannah a cute green and gold tutu. You absolutely love it! Whenever you wear it, you bounce up and down. When I bring it out, you quickly come crawling over, with body language that conveys how much you want me to put this on you. Tutus and necklaces... will you become a girly girl? 

 Nathan, you have started to play pretty rough. You like to wrestle with bigger boys, play guns, and yesterday, you were a zoo keeper who was catching stray animals. Here's your best animal catching move.

 Something pretty cool happened yesterday. We had just gotten home from our afternoon walk and I had to prep dinner for a bit since everyone woke up from your naps early yesterday. I asked you, Nathan, to go upstairs and play Thomas, and while I was expecting a, "But I want to watch Thomas!" you actually surprised me by saying, "OK!" and gladly marched up the stairs. On top of that, you even called Hannah to follow you and you cheered her on as she climbed up the stairs.

While I prepped dinner, I kept a "watchful" ear on you guys and everything sounded great. Trains dropping occasionally, you two babbling back and forth peacefully, no crying. 20, yes, 20 minutes later, I went upstairs to join you two and walked into this situation.

 You two were playing peacefully, with Nathan showing Hannah how to connect the track and how different things worked. How cool!

Oh, and Hannah, you are officially past the 13 month mark and can now walk about 10 feet before you topple over. I find that you can walk farther if you have something in your hand and you are trying to get somewhere. When I have you walk towards me, you get too excited and fall down after 2-3 steps.

If you are holding the popcorn popper, you can pretty much walk as long as an obstacle doesn't get in your way. You haven't quite gotten down turning, but let's take this one step at a time (literally).

Today, I started holding a chinese story time / play date at our house. While Nathan is at school, I got a chance to do something fun with Hannah. I feel bad because for the past year, whenever we do something, it's usually geared towards Nathan's interest and now, I get to do something that really focuses on Hannah. I look forward to this time together alone. 

Another thing Hannah has been doing lately is babbling a lot. You will just say phrases like, "Waya, waya, waya" or "Bee-dee bee-dee" just as if you were having a conversation. You are also signing "sleep" when you are ready to go to sleep. 

Well, things are going well in the Havlir house. Life is good. We are blessed and I thank God for this time of happiness. Until next week, 

Mommy 

Week 56: Climbing and spell casting

Dear Children, 

This week seemed like it was a bit more busier than average. The weather is so nice right now, so I am trying to get us doing more stuff outside as much as possible. One of these activities involve helmets and bikes. Hannah, you actually love being on the bike. You are actually a lot less mischievous than Nathan was. When he was your age, he would kick my behind and pry off the safety bar constantly as we were riding. You just like to look around and point out things, occasionally giving a little squeal of delight. 

 But you have also been getting into, or shall I say climbing up on anything. But I'd say your favorite thing to climb into would be this activity center.

 Whenever I hear things get quiet, the first thing I look for is the activity center and about 80% of the time, you are trying to climb inside. The other 20% of the time, you are climbing up the stairs. In fact, you often will just climb up the stairs and play by yourself for a long time.

You have a pretty good plan, looking all cute and all, you climb in and you wait; wait for someone to see you and push you around the house as you squeal in delight. But really, how could anyone resist this?

Like I said, we've been trying to find excuses to get outside in the afternoons, in the mornings, really, any time. One day we went outside and played with chalk. Nathan, you decided to pick up a roll of toilet paper and trace a circle. Tracing, I didn't even know that you knew that this was a thing. 

 And after watching Nathan create master artwork on the driveway, Hannah was determined to get to the chalk as well. At first, I kept you away from it, fearing that you would make a feast out of it again, but I decided to trust you and let you have it. You actually picked it up and tried to draw with it.

 On Friday, we went over to one of Nathan's best friends house for her 3rd birthday. It was a decorate your cupcake party and they all had a blast. While Ariane's family will be finding sprinkles around their house for months to come, it was so cool watching all the little ones build their fine works of art and devour it with satisfaction. Nathan, you actually sat there admiring your work for about 10 minutes before you asked me if you could eat it. You have amazing patience and will-power.

 And of course, Hannah wanted to climb the vacuum cleaner.

 On Saturday, we decided to go (along with 2,000 other Austinites) and meet Daniel Tiger. The line was so ridiculous, so we took a picture with the PBS car and went to the Nature Center instead. I think we would've had to wait about 2.5 hours to spend a few minutes (if even) to take a picture with the tiger. Apparently, he got a heat stroke, which slowed things down a bit, but in the end, he was ok.

 Nature center turned out to be way more educational and fun. Both of you guys were very interested in the little animals that they had  there.

 Hannah, you found a magic wand and started to cast spells on the animals. I blame your Harry Potter loving cousin for teaching you this oh so adorable skill.

 Then, you two practiced your paleontology skills, as you dug for dinosaur fossils in the sand pit.

 Daddy decided to dig a few holes and Hannah just loved crawling in and out, from one hole to another.

 After about 30 minutes, we found something. Nathan worked really hard for about 3 minutes to brush off the debris to uncover the hidden gem.

 Before we left, we stopped by the indoor portion and Hannah discovered the power of refraction.

 On Sunday we went to church and for the past few weeks, Hannah has not been able to stay in the nursery for too long. Separation anxiety plagued this little girl, but for the first time in about 2 months, Hannah was able to stay in the nursery the whole time. Things are starting to look up.

Birthday party season is also about to start. For the next month, we will have 5 birthday parties, including yours, Nathan, to attend. It's going to be crazy, but fun.

Nathan, you've been telling me lately that you don't want to be a boy anymore and you want to be a girl. I've tried to explain to you that God made you a boy for a reason and you seem to have accepted it. You also say that you want long hair like me, so I'm thinking that was what you wanted in the beginning and didn't quite know how to communicate that. Anyways, we are going to let you grow your hair out. We'll see how it goes.

While you were at school, I went to the gym with Hannah, and the ladies at the gym put Hannah's hair in a little "thing" on her head. I don't think it's quite a pony tail, perhaps a unicorn horn? TV antennae? Anyways, the first thing you asked me after you saw her was, "What is that? I want one too." So I tied your hair up with a hair tie and we went on a walk. That little thing was quite amusing to you as you watched your shadow and wiggled your head to see the "thing" wiggle back and forth.

Yesterday, we visited Daddy at work. Hannah, you were very adamant about using a fork to eat your food. You didn't want any help and I put the food on the fork for you, you would take it off and re-pierce it on the tines before putting it in your mouth. We've been experimenting since then and you will pretty much eat anything off the fork. This morning, I put you down for breakfast and you started slinging food off the chair, but as soon as I put a fork on the table, you returned back to your civilized self and ate your food in peace.  

Before we visited Daddy at work, we went to story time at the library where Hannah shocked everyone when you started to sign the hand motions to almost all of the songs that we sing at story time. You really love music. 

What am I going to do with the 2 of you! I love you guys to bits and pieces. I look forward to the many adventures to come. Have a great week!

Love,
Mommy

Communication Skillz

 Dear Nathan and Hannah,
We have had quite the busy week. New discoveries this week for Hannah include nodding and shaking your head "no." It was actually really cute when I asked you last night, like I do every night, "Are you ready for bed?" You quickly and vigorously shook your head.

Nathan has discovered Hammer Time  by MC Hammer. I love the way you dance to the music and the way you say "Hammah Time!" and when Hannah is touching one of your things, you will rap, "Can't touch this, du-na-na-na" Much improved from those temper tantrums that you would throw.

Here's an example of how Hannah is pretty much wanting to do everything Nathan does. One day, I found you climbing on the scooter, so I pushed you around the house and when I stopped, you protested strongly.

After spending some time with your Harry Potter-loving cousins this summer, you have picked up the "stupify!" move. Any time you see a wand-like device, you'll pick it up and point it at someone as if you were saying "Stupify!" When you get me, I always make a silly face and freeze, which urges you to keep going. 

At the pool, you noticed how much fun Nathan was having with his goggles. So when he placed them down to play sans goggles, you immediately crawled over and tried to put them on your face. For this picture, we had to help you a tiny bit.

After a long stretch, Nathan, you finally got to see your best friend. We went to the park and you guys just sat on the swings and had fun. 

 For this week's crafty Tuesday, we made a lion mask. We've also been working on connecting the dot activities as well as completing simple mazes.

 Nathan, sometimes when you are doing something really cool, Hannah wants to join you and usually ends up making you frustrated because she's just throwing stuff around; therefore, I will take her to another part of the room and do something cool with her too. But then you almost always abandon the cool thing that you were working on to try what Hannah is doing as well. Luckily, you get bored of this baby stuff pretty quickly, and Hannah can go back to doing what she was doing.

 The other day, your friend Abi made you a get well card. After we found out that she was sick too, we decided to draw a picture for her. I suggested that you draw a picture of yourself and Abi holding hands. I walked away to play with Hannah a bit and when I came back, I was pretty amazed at the picture that you drew.

A few days later, I thought that maybe grandma and grandpa would like a picture too. So, I asked you to draw a picture of grandma and grandpa with you in between. First, I suggested that you draw something on grandma's shirt. You decided to draw a dinosaur like the one you have on your shirt, but then you changed your mind and drew "lines" like how Daddy has on most of his shirts. You even drew shoes on grandma. Then, for grandpa you drew his face and added glasses, which made him look angry. And then you decided to give yourself an orange shirt to wear.

 Yesterday, we went outside and you went dinosaur hunting with the older kids next door. I think it is so cute, how they include you in their big kid games.

 A few days ago, we went to the grocery store to pick up some food. You were completely excited about the kid-sized cart. When we saw anyone , you would make sure to tell them, "I got my own cart!"

 Some days you are pretty silly.

 On Friday, we met up with some other moms from MOPS and we went to the Wildflower center for their Sprouts program. Afterwards, we went to the swings and played.

 Hannah enjoyed sharing food with Lillian.

 We also had a pretty busy labor day weekend. We started it off by visiting the Thinkery with baby Lucas on Saturday.

 And then we went swimming later that day. I don't know if it was the nasal steroids, or if Nathan figured out how to hold your breath under water, you suddenly love swimming again. You don't mind putting your head under water anymore.

 On Monday, we went over to a friends house and we had a triple play date and fajita fest. Both the kids and the adults had lots of fun.

On Tuesday, I got a chance to join a bunch of other Chinese moms to make moon cakes. Moon cakes are typically eaten during the mid autumn moon festival. Everyone loved eating the moon cakes.

And at that moon cake party, Hannah took her first 4 step walk! I am sure by the end of this month, you will be walking. Nathan started walking at 12 months as well!

Until next week!
Love,
Mommy