James has had an exciting month. He can climb stairs; he took his first steps (on October 3 in the driveway); he has three new teeth (on the top, first came in the two on either side of where the front teeth should be and then came in his front right tooth); he points to objects; and he has several new words. The first word that he seemed to correctly associate with something was "cat." He has since added "duck," "up," and "uh-oh." He likes to look at books for short spurts of time and point to the pages while babbling. He loves pushing his walker and Claire's doll stroller around the house. He will go full speed in a straight line until he crashes into something, laugh, and maneuver himself around to the other side and take off again. He laughs really hard when we say "bonk" as he crashes.
James is also very physical. He is strong and fights very hard with his whole body when he doesn't want to do something. Lately this has included diaper changes, getting dressed, and getting into the carseat. He also seems to want to roughhouse. If any of us lies down on the floor, James quickly comes over and climbs on us as if he's tackling us. Thankfully, Claire finds it funny when he's gotten his tummy over her face and his hands in her hair.
James' nighttime sleep has gotten a little better, but the Michigan trip and a recent ear infection have thrown him off a bit. His naps usually only total an hour and a half each day--sometimes even less. James probably averages 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour time period (with still waking up at least once during the night) compared with Claire's usual 15 hours during the same amount of time!
We've been trying lots of finger foods with James. His favorites are still crackers and yogurt melts, but a few times recently he's surprised us by eating sizable portions of a casserole that I've made. This weekend, he thoroughly enjoyed a turkey pot pie complete with corn, green beans, peas and carrots. He does well with most pureed food and is starting to spoon feed himself, which is entertaining, but quite a mess!
James loves to play outside, be around other people, open drawers and cabinets, dig though the rice box, and turn everything into a drum. He has an adorable smile that lights up his whole face, and his laugh is contagious. He is in 12 month size clothes and size 3 diapers and refuses to wear socks.
Claire is very observant and full of questions. She loves to play with her dollhouse, dolls, play food, and stuffed animals. We have been playing outside a lot with the nice fall weather. Claire likes to go on treasure hunts for little sticks, leaves, and flower pedals. She has a new tricycle that she is still learning to pedal by herself but is getting better every day. It's taken awhile, but she finally seems to enjoy sliding on the slide attached to her castle and at the playground.
All of our regularly scheduled activities--Kindermusik, Bible Study,
preschool, MOPS, etc--are going well. Both kids seems to have fun and
enjoy opportunities to be around other children and toys. We are so blessed to have so many fun activities to enjoy together!
A few days ago, I had a parent/teacher conference with Claire's preschool teacher, Ms. Nancy. Ms. Nancy only had nice things to say about Claire (I have a feeling they only say nice things about all the two-year-olds). She said that Claire is very vocal for her age and that she and the assistant teacher have laughed about letting Claire teach the class. They have been surprised by how much she knows and visualize her as the child who would organize a game for the other kids. Claire had her first picture day last week. I can't wait to see what it looks like! Claire can name all the kids in her class and has gotten to do several art projects. Circle time is usually the highlight of her morning at preschool.
Claire is in size 3T clothes and using pull-ups. We haven't really tried potty training very hard, but just let her go in her little potty when she shows interest.
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