Fall Update

I've gotten a little behind with my monthly updates.  Sorry about that!

Ethan is now 16 months old.  He gets around quite well.  No more crawling, except for going up stairs.  He can go down steps on his own but it still requires close supervision because he would like to try to walk down but his little legs aren't long enough yet.  I'd say that he has at least 30 words if you include animal sounds.  He imitates the number, length, and pitch of syllables more than the actual sounds.  For example, when teaching him that a cow says "mmmmooooo" he might imitate with a "ddddddaaaaa."  It's a little different than the way the other kids learned.  He also has a handful of baby signs that he uses.  Ethan has 12 teeth now.  His one-year molars took their sweet time coming in.  Ethan LOVES books and brings them to me all day long, frantically signing "please!"

We have enjoyed our special time at Kindermusik every week.  Ethan isn't interested in sitting still for the baby massage time, but loves exploring the instruments and dancing together.  Ethan claps for himself when he puts something away or closes a door that was left open.  He is generally pretty happy but he will let you know if he's upset by something, particularly if there is something that he would like to have but can't.  At his 12 month checkup, Ethan weighed 25 pounds, 14 ounces (90th percentile) and measured 31 inches long (95th percentile).  At his 15 month checkup, Ethan still weighed 25 pounds, 14 ounces (75th percentile) and measured 32 inches (90th percentile).  (I will add that I question the accuracy of these tests, for what it's worth).

Ethan is more picky with his eating habits.  Gone are the days where he just shoveled everything into his mouth.  Now his favorites are fruit, bread, black olives, PB&J sandwiches, and cheese sticks.  He is experimenting with a fork and spoon and refuses to wear a bib, so mealtime can be very messy.  Ethan is wearing but quickly outgrowing size 18 month clothing.  He wears size 5 diapers.  He sleeps a solid 11-12 hours at night.  We have transitioned from two naps to one, but he still fights this and is often very sleepy in the late morning.

James enjoys preschool and his teachers have said that they love having him and that he's a "hoot."  I would love to know why.  He recently made a teacher's day by saying that he missed her and was glad she was back after she missed a day.  James happily gets out of the car at carpool time and happily gets back in at the end of the day.  He and Claire like to report back to me when they see each other in the hall or on the playground.  James' imagination for pretend play has really developed over the last few months.  Now on the days when he doesn't nap, he will play by himself for up to an hour (woo hoo!).  He still loves puzzles and is very focused when working them.  He can work 48 piece puzzles by himself now.  James is working on becoming independent with things like getting dressed by himself.  He is still a pretty picky eater but now will eat some vegetables with the promise of receiving more of something else.  At his three year checkup, James weighed 33 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 38 inches (both just over the 50th percentile).    James wears size 3T clothes, sleeps 11-12 hours at night, naps about half of the time, and is completely potty trained.  We transitioned him to his toddler bed in October and have had no issues with him getting out of bed when he's not supposed to.

Claire is smart, sweet, and silly.  She talks and/or sings continually all day long, at least when she's at home.  A few weeks ago, I ended up holding Ethan in his rocking chair for his nap while she was having her quiet time in the next room.  She literally didn't stop talking for 90 minutes straight--and that's just what I could hear!  Her imagination is very vivid.  The scenarios she comes up with for playtime are quite impressive.  She likes to tell stories and now these have evolved into very complicated chapter stories that last longer than I've ever had the time to listen to.  Claire does very well at school.  She seems to know when it's appropriate to talk because her teachers have never commented on it.  She also happily goes to school each day.  Claire has been doing AWANA this fall.  It's a Bible club for children at our church.  I'm one of her teachers.  She loves to read the stories at home and memorize her Bible verses.  She's very proud of her vest and the patches she earns.  She has mentioned that she misses soccer since the season ended, but I think it's more of a social thing than the actual sport.  Claire will eat just about anything with the understanding that she can have more fruit when she clears her plate.  She is wearing size 6 clothes, but her long and slender figure have made it difficult to find things that fit quite right.  She doesn't nap but sleeps 11-12 hours every night.

Other big news for our family is that we're expecting Baby #4 in May.  I've had a rough first trimester but I think the worst is over for now.  Claire and James are pretty excited and have a lot of questions.  Claire is very interested in finding out the gender of the baby.  She would very much like a sister.  James parrots what I say, and reminds Claire that "God gets to choose!"