Claire, James, Ethan and Daniel: July/August Update

Ethan has changed so much over the last two months. He took his first steps in mid-July and has quickly progressed. Now he's completely walking, all over the place, forward, backward, sideways, stopping to pick something up, stepping over small objects. He's not quite running, but he's pretty much unstoppable! He no longer walks with his arms straight out and he's started to actually bend and use his knees (as opposed to the just-got-off-a-horse wide leg waddle). He has taken many spills in the past two months and often has bruises on his forehead. He has started to wear shoes, but they don't stay on very long. He uses the following words appropriately: socks, cat, clap, all done, dada. He signs please, thank you, more, drink, and all done. He claps, waves, gives high fives, and blows kisses. He points to things and pictures in books. He brings books to us to read. Ethan is better about playing in the bath tub and not standing up. His pacifier use is very rare these days. It's been no problem weaning him off of it since he never used it to fall asleep. It comes in handy periodically when we're out and he's sleepy but can't nap yet. Ethan is more selective about his eating. He no longer shovels the food into his mouth, but selects bites with his thumb and forefinger. He is still pretty good about eating most things we give him. We no longer use baby food, and he eats what we eat. His morning naps are in the process of being dropped, but if we're home he still likes to take one. He is sleeping well at night and wearing size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes. I can feel teeth 9 and 10 (back molars on the bottom) coming in.

It's difficult to find as much to say about the older two because they are just not developing and changing as rapidly as Ethan. James is two. Maybe that's enough said? He's constantly pushing for his own independence in doing tasks and having opinions. He has started randomly giving us hugs and saying "I luv you" which makes the difficult moments easier to forget. James and Claire have been playing really well together these last few days. Yesterday they were in the playroom for over an hour and built a big train track together. Today I found them giggling over a book sitting together in a chair. James' eating and sleeping habits are pretty much the same but naps are less frequent. He's wearing 3T clothes.

Claire is all about her dolls and Frozen. The dolls stay by her side all of the time that we are home. She is constantly singing about and talking about Frozen and the characters. Her pretend play often includes phrases from the movie. Claire has learned how to play "Go Fish" and "Old Maid" and she just loves it. I'm not sure if it the game or having special "just you and me" time when we play. Claire still asks one million questions every day. When she found out that we would do a movie night (one of her favorite things) at the beach, she said, "Maybe James will go to sleep so I can ask more questions!" Claire is wearing mostly size 6 clothes.

James and Claire do not often sit down to draw, but I wish they would more because I always love the results!

James' picture of Mommy (L) and Daddy (R)