Happy 14.5 Month Birthday! This will actually be a catch up post (three weeks worth of exciting fun) from since Thanksgiving, but for now enjoy the following list that sums up being a third child.
1. Your mother who has always made weekly updates since your oldest brother was in the womb goes 2, maybe 3 weeks between posts.
2. Your sister holds your hand down a slide. (You now LOVE slides! You spot them and point them out these days)
3. You get to play with the Bear-nativity scene with your sister.
4. Strapping into the high chair, yeah, doesn't happen ever.
5. You are often found walking around with objects that could cause blunt force trauma.
6. You are allowed to play chalk fairly close to the street.
7. Your mom has learned to only stock washable markers around the house. (It's so worth it to pay the extra few bucks for the washable stuff. )
8. You clap for yourself when you are proud of something.
9. You like whacking others with an oven mitt.
10. You have free reign of the stairs.
11. You spend a lot of time on the floor playing with random objects with your sister.
12. You get to load the egg tray with eggs after a grocery trip.
13. You are surrounded with books and toys galore! At your age, Nathan had one small box of toys.
14. You get snuggles whenever you want.
15. You are allowed to eat a corn dog before the age of 2.
16. You are completely content to be held by anyone. We joined Hannah's class one day and you just crawled around, laying on Hannah's friends and totally enjoying circle time.
17. You know books are for reading and not ripping. I'm shocked at how you are able to flip through an entire bookshelf of books without ripping a page. You love flipping pages and looking at pictures.
18. You still wake up at night to nurse. I'm sure I could probably let you cry it out for a few nights, but considering you are still such a picky eater, I begrudgingly get up to feed you once, maybe twice a night. It has been 442 (that's almost 450 days) of interrupted sleep for me. uhh. But I know sleep will come soon because this is all just a short phase.
Otherwise, you are an awesome baby who is happy, social, and curious. You still aren't walking, but I read somewhere that because you do a butt scoot, instead of crawl, you already are seeing the world upright, so there is little motivation to see things from a slightly higher vantage point. And you are totally right on that one. Walking, totally over-rated. Which leads to
19. your mom doesn't want you to learn to walk too soon because she knows about the trouble you could get into)
20. You drop down to 1 nap a day way earlier than #1 or #2. Between pick up and errands, it's tough to settle down into a steady routine. But more so than not, you are only taking 1 nap a day. 1.5 hours in length. You are sleeping from about 8-8 an then 1.5 hours starting a little after noon. You are getting an average of 13 hours of sleep.
Ok, so now we are going to do a quick recap of past 3 weeks' highlights.
At the beginning of the month, we met up with Hannah's Godparents for dinner. Their baby is only a few weeks older than Hailey and Hannah is just a few weeks older than their oldest. If arranged marriages were a thing, I would set this up in a heartbeat because we love this family.
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| The "Big Kids" Table |
The following week, your cousins from Florida came to visit for a day. We played at the playground, went out for dinner and then went to Mozarts to watch their light show.
It was pretty amazing!
Hailey loved the lights and was just completely mesmerized. I was very impressed with the show. Between shows, there was a piano player who inspired Nathan to want to learn to play the piano. You even asked your uncle if he would give you piano lessons over Christmas. I guess if you end up liking it, we'll set you up with piano lessons.
Last week was the last session of tennis. You are still one of the youngest, but you sure have a lot of heart. I love that about you. You told me you enjoyed tennis, but you are wanting to try something else now. We'll see what the school has to offer in the new year. Or we may sign you up for martial arts class of some sort because I still feel that you need to get some physical energy out somewhere. You have been having trouble with managing your anger and so we will be working on learning ways to manage those strong feelings better.
Nathan's school also had a winter festival with games, Santa pictures and pizza. You both had a blast, running around with friends. You didn't even miss pictures with Santa.
Hannah, I love how you enjoy being outdoors. One day after putting Hailey down for a nap, I tried looking around for you and I ended up finding you sitting outside. Here you were just sitting at the front porch watching the rain.
Later you went out back and played some more. When it rains, we get this little stream that flows and you had so much fun just splashing around
and playing with the water that was flowing down from the gutters.
Everyday at 3:00 we go and pick up Nathan. I just had to snap this precious picture. You two have really become so close and everyday I can witness you two sharing special moments.
For example, one morning, you guys were just playing with the game pieces from Labyrinth, imagining that the wizards were fighting off bad guys. Your favorite things to play with are still legos, doll houses, and hot wheel cars. Some afternoons you two get so carried away playing that when you are finished, your bedroom gets completely covered with lego fortresses for different mini-figures. I always feel bad when I make you guys clean it up, but I'd rather squash your creativity than slice a foot open with a lego. Not fun.
On Saturday, we prepped for our annual gingerbread house decorating event with the birthing center group. I decided to make shortbread cookies (which I think are yummier) for the walls. They are a bit more brittle, but nothing a bit of royal icing can't fix.
We met up at our friend's house and it was byog (bring your own gingerbread) and all the families brought a few varieties of candy.
Then we managed to get everyone lined up to see who had the tallest shoulders. This explains some of the awkward poses. But this is probably the best picture that we have of the group. Everyone is mostly looking at the camera and no one is crying. Win!
Afterwards, you guys acted exactly like what you would expect a group of sugared up kids to act like. Let's just say there was a lot of screaming and running around.
And then we had our last day of Chinese school for the semester. Both of you put on performances that involved reciting a famous poem and singing select Chinese songs.
We signed Nathan up for the school science fair and one day Hannah, you told me that you wanted to do a science pyramid. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out that you wanted to do a science experiment too, so I set up an investigation for us to find the liquids that will make baking soda fizzy.
And of course, we took data. This was fun. I really enjoyed spending this time with you. And I also need to remind myself to speak more Chinese around you too.
This past Wednesday, we carried on our family tradition by visiting Wimberly's trail of lights. It's so worth the 30 minutes we have to drive to get there. Immediatley, you kids wanted to roast marshmallows.
And then as we strolled around the grounds, we were able to snap a family photo.
Hailey even got to play the xylophones that were in the middle of the garden. And as you can see, you big kids had lots of fun posing for pictures at the different light displays.
And before we left, we got one last family picture.
This next week will be pretty exciting: end of year parties, events, and more. Nathan's class will actually be putting on a Gingerbread cowboy play and Nathan, your role is Narrator 1. You really wanted the scorpion part, or be the gingerbread cowboy, but I'm proud that you were assigned the Narrator. It's a very important part. At least you were not assigned to be
the shrub. (This was a memorable quote from "Diaries of a Wimpy Kid," which is what you are reading at school right now.)
I love your creative spelling phase and with your permission, I will be posting a few examples the next few days.
Ok, well, I think that pretty much sums life up for you guys these days. Until next week, (or 2-3 weeks)
Love,
Mommy
