Being Like Big Brother at 53 Weeks

Dear Hannah and Nathan, 

This week has been a fun one, filled with play dates, parties, and pool time. Hannah and Nathan both have gone through some growth spurts lately and as a result have been bottomless pits when it comes to meal time. 

It's really neat to see Hannah really play with Nathan. Nathan, when you were younger, you would play alongside other kids, not really interacting, but with younger siblings, you can totally tell the difference. They always want to go and see what the older sibling is doing and tries to copy or imitate. 

Never did I think that at 1 year old, you would be able to play with the marble-run toy. And now that you are not picking up everything and putting it directly in your mouth, I even feel comfortable with you playing with this (while supervised, just in case one suddenly looks delicious) and you actually love it.  

 Hannah, you are starting to show that you understand that everything has a purpose or function. You knew that these pink sunglasses were for wearing on your face.

 You know that diaper pails are for banging...

 And paint brushes are for drawing, and occasionally, eating.

 One day, I handed you two each a big slice of watermelon to see what you guys would do. Hannah ate the whole thing and asked for more. You love watermelon.

 Nathan, you took a few bites, but you were not as excited about it as Hannah. But then again, you may have been too full from all of the spaghetti that you ate.

 On Saturday, we had Hannah's birthday party. We pretty much invited anyone we knew who had a kid close to the age of 1 or has an older sibling who is friends with Nathan. I plan on making a separate post about the party, but here is the short and sweet version.

We had a pinata for all the littles to pull. After the prizes dropped, the older kids got to whack it with a sawed-off hockey stick.

Since the theme was Hungry Caterpillar, we had a story time activity where I read stories and we played games. I think it was a big hit for both the younger babies and the older toddlers. 

When it was time for the cake smash, Hannah first poked the cake and then she just leaned her head in, with her mouth open and went for it. She stayed there for a good 5 minutes, sucking the frosting off of the cake. 

You were pretty happy afterwards. As the party continued, you quietly ate your cake for about 30 minutes. 

Overall, it was a fun day. You took a nice nap afterwards. Life continues. 

A few days later, we took Nathan in to see the allergist. Nathan was brave and endured the skin scratch test. After 5 minutes, this is what your back looked like. The peanut one (#5 on right) got so large that it actually started to blend in with the spot below it. The doctor had to give you an anti-histimine and a steroid to make sure the reaction didn't get too worse. On a scale from 1-6 for peanut allergies, you are a 4. Other things you are allergic to are cedar (#2), mold (#13), dog (#18), and soybean (#6 on right). You also ended up having a small reaction to wheat and corn, but the allergist did not mention anything about being allergic to those things in particular.

 After starting nasal steroids, your drooling has started to decrease, but it really seems like it gets even better when we don't feed you wheat, but I am glad that you are not allergic to wheat. Gluten-free products are not super delicious.

This week was probably the last time in awhile where I will be going to the grocery store with both of you. I think I'm going to take advantage of Nathan going to school to get shopping done with only 1 kid in the cart. This week, while grocery shopping, Nathan took his doodlePRO along and drew pictures through the whole trip. I was very impressed by this one in particular.

 Can't you tell? It's a picture of Nathan. The boy (on the left) has 2 arms, legs, ears, eyes, nose and mouth. The figure on the left was Hannah, but then Nathan changed it to be me.

Plus, Hannah can now start to help with putting grocery items on the belt. You did all the work while Nathan was drawing. In the end, you got a buddy buck and you tried your hand at the spinning points machine. Needless to say, your mind was blown.

 Today, while I was driving, I heard some giggles coming from the back. I looked back and saw both of you holding hands. I immediately pulled over and took a picture. Proof that both of you like each other. (Even though this week Nathan, you told me that you did not like Hannah and you wanted me to give her away to somebody else. After you saw that I was sad, you said, "I'm just kidding. I love Hannah.") I really hope you were kidding the whole time and just didn't say what I wanted to hear.

Hannah is teething once again as the final incisor is pushing through the gums. Hannah is drooly and more fussy than usual. Separation anxiety is also at its high point, places that used to be ok for you to stay at with someone other than me is now not ok. You cling onto me for dear life when I try to pass you along to someone else.

Nathan's "why" questions are still bearable. I don't think you purposely try to annoy me with those questions; you really want to know why all these things happen in the world around you, although sometimes we catch you asking "why" questions when you already know the answer (because we just explained it to you). I think you are trying to figure out more information, but just don't know how to go about it.

Well, that is about it for now. Next week, Nathan goes back to school and get to meet new teachers. Exciting! In the meantime, play nice together.
Love,
Mommy