Rowan: 41 weeks/9.5 months

Wow, where does the time go?!  It is getting increasingly harder to get anything done now because Rowan is really mobile now.  In the last week or so she has started to stand, and cruise!  She is into everything, and wants to play with everything!!  So this means we spend a lot of time now in our playroom where it is safer and easier to watch after her.  But this also means that I can't get any house work done, or work on pictures, or pretty much anything for that matter.  Rowan has also settled more or less into a schedule.  She generally has 2 naps a day now, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon.  When we are home with her, we try to get her to take her second one when Liam does so we can have a break...sometimes this works, but sometimes it does not, which is a bummer because we need a break too!  Anyway, Rowan turned 9 months old on August 26th, which was when she also turned 39 weeks, her IN/OUT day (the day when baby has been out in this world as long as in).  She had her 9 month Dr.'s visit on Sept. 2nd, but I have misplaced her stats sheets, so I will need to find them before I can post them.  I did however write down her weight which was 18 lbs. 1.5 oz.  She had her iron levels checked, but thankfully didn't need any vaccines this time (except I opted to get her a flu vaccine)...so just one this time.  She did very well...meeting all her developmental milestones too.  She LOVES to play with Liam.  She just lights up anytime he is around, and she likes to follow him around too.  She has started to clap, and wave good-bye.  Her two top teeth are coming in now, so she won't be our little vampire anymore. They have quite a wide gap right now, so she might look like Anna Paquin for a while! She loves to eat her cereal and really loves her yogurt, but isn't much of a fan of her jarred food.  I'm not sure if she just doesn't like the taste of it, or if she just isn't very hungry when I feed it to her, but I sure hope she starts eating a better variety of food soon...we already have one picky eater in the house!  We started to feed her some Gerber puffs which she chews well and likes.  I tried a small pear the other day though, and she gagged on it and spit up some food.  Guess we'll need to keep practicing with that one.  The time is just flying by, and she is going to be one year and walking before we know it?!?!

Liam: 2 yrs. 9 mo.

This past month has been so busy and crazy it's been hard to keep up with everything.  Liam started preschool a few weeks ago on August 24th.  The week before school they had 'Meet the Teacher' day, but Liam had a bad cold so Mike and I went to meet her.  Thankfully he was feeling better when the first day started, and he was able to go.  They had some toys out for the kids to play with while the parents dropped them off in class for the first day...a few of the kids were crying, as to be expected. Liam looked rather confused, and a little withdrawn. This is the first time he's been in a setting like this with other kids. The room was pretty chaotic, and I stayed with him until class started. I'm not sure he even noticed me leave the room...he sat here playing with the toys.  When I picked him up he seemed happy to see me. Some of the things he said he did was play with crayons, saw some kids...he also mentioned that he made Miss Emily cry, which I hope is just in his 2 yr. old imagination!  The second day they asked us to use the drop off system in the back of the school.  Liam was really shocked that someone came to get him from the car.  He cried, and my heart sank.  He was OK when I picked him up though...happy to see me.  It's been a bit of a rough adjustment for him going to school as far as his naps go.  He is usually tired by the time school starts, but he is doing well so far.  On the days he has to go to school he usually says he doesn't want to go, and that he doesn't want to see Miss Emily, but after I pick him up he is happy, and then wants to go back on the days he's off.  Funny kid!  We will have a parent teacher conference at the end of the month, so it will be really good for us to see how he is doing....we just don't have a clue how he is really doing because he's 2.5, and his story changes all the time. 

 

Liam has been so sweet with Rowan.  Now that she is mobile, crawling and standing and playing with toys, he has become more interested in playing with her.  Sometimes if she is standing he will come up behind her and hold his hands behind her to spot her.  He sometimes will get jealous if we bring a new toy out for her, and he will want to play with it, but after the novelty has worn off, he will play together with her.  He is always telling us how Rowan is doing, if she is happy or sad or silly or crazy...he tells us how cute she is too!  The older Rowan gets the more we realize how similar their two personalities are, and we are thinking this could mean they will clash more as they get older, so we are enjoying how much they love each other now as much as possible!!  And maybe we will be wrong, and they will always be best buds...one can hope anyway!!

 

Here is a list of some cute things Liam has said lately: 

'Dad is kinda crazy'

'Deelicious'

'Humoungous'

'Ummmm...yeah'

'Nooo....maybe'

'Whacha doing?'

'What's the matter mom?'

'Yes, I did'

 

He is starting to use personal pronouns, I, me, you, they, him/her etc.  It's kinda crazy how things change, and you realize...hey, when did that happen?  When did he start using that word or phrase...everyday/week/month just blends into the next, and sometimes you just have an 'Ah hah' moment and it sinks in that a certain part of their development has arrived and you just have to savor that moment...that is why I HAVE to keep this journal for the kids because things change so quickly, and it's so hard to remember every little thing they do.  One thing that has changed recently is Liam has been MUCH better about me brushing his teeth.  I told him that we had to get the sugars off, and ever since then he has been better about it.  As far as potty training, well he lost interest in it, and bribing doesn't work with him, so we are just taking a break from it and will start up later.  We can't believe that he is going to be 3 soon!  Just crazy!!