Rowan: 2 years!

Rowan turned 2 on Nov. 26th 2011!!  She has been just the cutest little girl lately.  And even though she is 2, and technically a toddler now, I still think of her as our little baby.  I suppose she will always be that in my eyes!!  She's had a lot of things happen over the last couple months with all the holidays and birthdays!! At the first part of October she got to go on her first pony ride at the farm.  We gathered from her huge grin the whole time that she absolutely LOVED that!  She got to go trick-or-treating for the first time too!  Her costume this year was a lady bug.  I thought she might fight me getting it on, but she's a girl, and one thing I've learned about girls is they love to play dress up.  She loved to go to the neighbors house, and ring the door bell.  She got a little shy when they opened the door, but she really seemed to get the whole concept....I bet next year she will be a pro.  After that night, she would say 'Trick-or-Treat' anytime she heard a doorbell.  This lasted up until she got obsessed with the Christmas lights!  She also got to go to her first Halloween party at her cousins house.  She really enjoyed that, and the thing we learned about her that night is she is a ham.  She saw Grandpa J crawling like a crab earlier in the night, so later that evening, she started doing her version of the crab walk.  It was pretty funny, and I was glad I got it on video, because that was first time we'd ever seen her do that, and she doesn't do it very often.  Although one day when Liam was having a meltdown, she started doing it, and I think she was trying to cheer him up, what a sweat heart.

We had the kids birthday party on Nov. 19th. She had a great time jumping on the bounce house, and sliding down too.  She got some really great gifts (Thanks again to everyone who came).  She has totally started playing house now. She loves her dolls, and loves to walk them in the stroller that we got her for her birthday, and rocks them in her rocking chair while she sings 'Rock-A-Bye Baby'.  She also likes to put them to bed, tuck them in, and kisses and hugs them.  It's pretty adorable to watch.

So some other developments have been she is starting to say her ABC's, and numbers.  I have to admit that we haven't been as good about that with her, but I do think she does pick up on a lot with having an older sibling. We turned her seat around on Nov. 25th., a day before her 2nd birthday.  The first place we took her was to see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point.  The second we backed out of the garage, she was grinning ear to ear, and giggling like Butt-Head (from the Beavis and Butt-Head Show).  She has been pretty happy to face forward now, although she has needed the sunglasses because of the position of the sun now.  She won't always keep them on, and sometimes drops them, and she cries, so that has been a little hard...but, I think she is getting better about it since she is learning that I can't stop to help her.  Anyway, she has been very excited about Christmas, and loves all the lights, and trees, and ornaments, etc.  Her head is going to explode on Christmas day when she sees everything wrapped up, and SHE gets to open some too!!  She is at such fun and hard age, but I will take the hard stuff with the fun stuff because I know just how fast time flies!!

comment by Gaylene on 01/22/2012
You guys throw such fun parties, we need to make it there one of these times!

Liam: 3 yrs (8-11 mo)

The first part of the school year was a little rough at first.  Liam kept saying he didn't want to go, but then when I picked him up, he had a great time.  The kids seem to be less physical this year.  Perhaps it is a matter of maturing a year, but he hasn't complained of kids hitting him as much this year. Although, he did mention one of the boys hit him recently, and I asked him if he told him he didn't like that....he said no.  But then he said he hit him too!!  I wanted to explain to him that it's not nice to hit others because it's not nice to be hit...but then he said that he likes to be hit?!  Silly boy, not sure how to explain that one to him, if he likes it.  Anyway, there is a particular girl in his class that he likes.  And when we met her mom at the Halloween program, she said that her little girl talks about Liam too.  He had his school pictures taken in Sept.  A couple days before he was fighting me getting in his car seat...he grabbed my shirt and pulled it down. I grabbed my shirt back and, accidentally scratched his face right above his lip.  They were able to touch it up for a little extra money.  They did a pretty good job too, although I wish he wasn't doing his goofy smile...Oh well, we still think he's cute!!  He decided he wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween this year.  I was able to find a really cute set of PJ's at Kohl's that had a skeleton print on it. It's nice since after Halloween he can still wear it for bedtime. I took him to the Halloween store, and he found a Skeleton mask.  He only wore it for fun around the house, and for some pictures.  He kept saying, I don't want to wear it because I don't want to scare anyone.  Rowan was pretty scared of it after Dad exclaimed fright when he saw it...she was looking away when he 'screamed', and she jumped and cried...she now thinks the mask is too scary.  

Last month Liam had a bit of a scare when he fell and hit his head at Grandma's house.  His head was bleeding all over, and I rushed him over to the Dr's office. He was super brave, and let them clean it up and examine him. Thankfully it was small enough that he didn't need stitches!!  They would have had to put a staple in it.  That day he actually bumped his head earlier in the day when he pushed his chair out.  That night he told dad that he got a boo-boo here, and a boo-boo there, pointing to them....then he said 'If I get any more boo-boo's we should fire Grandma'.  We thought that was pretty funny, but also were shocked that he even knew what firing someone meant?!  When we were young kids, probably even older than he is now, we thought firing someone meant that you set them on fire.  

Around the start of August Liam announced that he had new friend, and we gathered from his description of her that she was imaginary, and her name is 'Ainey'.  Since then he's added several friends to the menagerie, there is Vic, and Johnson, and some others.  Most of them live in Highland, on the mountain.  He will incorporate what is going on around us to what is going on with them. Like if someone fell down, he would say, Ainey fell down too,she hurt herself and had to go to the hospital. He will also make up total fiction stories about them...Some of the stories are pretty dark and disturbing, and we have no clue how or why he gets so macabre.  We are just hoping it's just a matter of him having a really active imagination, and not anything more than that!!

Well, the last thing I wanted to mention, was that we had the kid's birthday party this last Saturday.  We rented a room at Noah's in Lindon, and a HUGE bounce house.  His cousin's, grandparents, aunts/uncles as well as our friend Landon and his family came to celebrate.  We had sandwiches, and Cake and Ice cream, and great gifts (Thanks Everyone!) And the kids bounced and slid down the slide for 4 hours!!  We can't believe that another year has flown by, and he will be 4 in a couple of weeks?!  We will miss 3, but look forward to year 4 : )  We love you LIAM!

Rowan: 21-22 months

Rowan is 23 months today, and I can't believe that a month from now she will be 2 years old?!  When Liam was this age I was just about to give birth to her too.  Time really does fly, doesn't it?  Rowan has really changed a lot over the past couple of months.  Her language skills continue to amaze us.  She really is starting to be able to express herself by telling us exactly what she does or doesn't want. And she is able to express her feelings too.  It is really adorable when I tell her something, she will reply with 'Yes Mama' or 'OK Mama'.  The communication is becoming a lot more of a 2-way street lately, which makes things a lot easier.  She loves playing with Liam.  Although the toys still continue to be a hot spot between the two.  It seems it doesn't matter what she picks up, Liam wants it.  And if he rips it out of her hands she will let him know with a loud scream that she is NOT happy.  She has gotten a ton better about getting dressed, and will even hug me after I'm done changing her.  She also likes to give kisses too after her hug.  Her hugs are adorable, she tilts her head and rests it on your shoulder, and then she will pat your back with one of her hands.  She has been really good about eating lately too.  And we have also gotten in the habit of giving them a very small portion of ice-cream after dinner a few nights a week.  She now will ask for ice-cream for dinner, and all meals really.  It's funny because when she was a baby, I bought a shirt for her when she turned 2 that reads ''I want chocolate ice cream and cookies (for dinner)'.  And now she does!!  She loves pointing things out to us, one example would be the moon.  She has been very enamoured by the moon lately, and she will point to it whenever she sees it.  It has been in the day sky over the last couple of months, so it was quite often she would point to it, as well as airplanes.  She loves to paint, and play with cars, tools dolls.  She really doesn't have a preference between boy or girl toys really, she just LOVES playing!  Although, this past weekend she really has taken a liking to one of our Halloween dolls which is Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.  She wants to play with her all the time now.  I had to make Sally a bed with a box and blanket to get her to put her down when we need her too. She quite likes that game.  Rowan loves reading books too.  And we have now added that more regularly to our night time routine.  She was having some sleeping issues lately, and both me and Mike ended up having to stay up with her for the whole night!  It was pretty rough for all of us.  We decided that she was old enough for a firm pillow and blanket in her crib.  We are unsure if that was the issue or not, but so far she has been sleeping much better, and also not protesting bed as much either.  I will lay her on her pillow now, and she asks for her blanket, she smiles really big and then asks for a 'Liam Kiss'.

One more thing I wanted to mention was getting her to stop sucking her thumb. She has started to get little sores on her poor thumb.  Her dentist was pretty adamant about getting her to stop asap.  Her pediatrician,and most the stuff I've read online says we shouldn't worry until she starts to get her adult teeth.  Also most of the advice to get them to stop is for older kids....so I asked the periodontist that did my surgery, and he said the sooner the better.  So, we are going to be more proactive about getting her to stop.  Every time we remind her, she puts her other four fingers in her mouth...the ultimate rebellion!!  But, I do think it's helping, and she will take them out, and we praise her for being a big girl. I'm hopeful that it won't take too long.

I'm always so torn about the kids growing up. On the one hand a lot of things get easier, but on the other hand it's hard to know that they will never be a little baby again.  We just need to savor each age as much as we can because before we know it they will be teenagers, then adults!! 

Comment by mom/grandma on 10/26/2011
You are right about them growing up too fast, just keep enjoying them and keep up the blog, then when they are older you can escape back to the good old days when they were little:)

Liam: 3 yrs (6 & 7 mo)

Well, I've been a slacker this summer with the kids updates...But, I just wanted to write up a quick one before Liam returns to school tomorrow.  I can't believe the summer break is already over!!  I really am not ready for Liam to go back yet. We have had a pretty fun summer, and I'm not looking forward to him coming home sick again. But, I'm hopeful that we were exposed enough last school year, that our immune system is better equipped this year.  

Anyway, our spring/summer started off with raising some butterflies and ladybugs. It was so amazing watching how quickly they grew.  We took the butterflies over to Thanksgiving point to release them. With the second batch, Liam helped one of them out, and he was very gentle with him.  

 

The kids have really enjoyed their swing set and bounce house too this summer. It will be hard to give that up in the winter!  (Although, I do think the bounce house can be set up inside). Liam has enjoyed a couple of visits to the aquarium.  Once with mom and dad...and another time with our friends Julie, Justin and Landon.  He also got to go to the zoo with Rainier.  He enjoyed several visits to Thanksgiving point too.  One where we got to dig for fossils too!! While we were digging, he saw the horse carriage go by, and he decided he wanted a ride too.  So after that, I took him over to the Farm for his first ever ride on the carriage.  He was always too scared before, but it seems our little boy is growing up!  

 

We have worked on his letters, sounds and numbers this summer, although not as much as I would have liked. It seemed that his bedtime kept getting later as the summer went on, and so I tended to skip the flashcards if it was really late. But, I do think he is starting school with a better grasp on everything.  He can write, spell and recognize his name.  He LOVES to color, and has colored stacks of Thomas pictures over the summer.  He knows the names of ALL of the trains too. His obsession with Thomas has been less as of late though, ever since he discovered Phineas and Ferb! He has a crush on Isabella from the show, and wants the kids from the show to come play with him.  He had a total meltdown one night when dad broke the news to him that they did not live in our neighborhood. 

 

A phrase Liam has used lately is 'Do you remember when...'  He also told me one time when I wasn't feeling well, 'Don't worry Mom, when I grow up, I will give you some medicine'.  Sooo cute and sweet.  He is also very concerned with Rowan, and how she is doing.  Although, sometimes he does get jealous, and is not so nice. Perhaps the sibling rivalry is starting to flare up...but I would say, for the most part, he still loves his sister, and even wants another one....named Penny.

 

So that is our summer in a nutshell.  It will be interesting to see what the new school year will bring. We look forward for him to have a new teacher and new friends.  Here is to hoping there aren't any kids to push him, or bite him!!  When we went to meet his new teacher last week, it seemed a bunch of his previous teachers commented on how much he grew over the summer. I guess it's harder for us to notice since we see him every day, but we have noticed that he feels heavier!!  We weighed him on our home scale, and I think it was around 33 lbs, which is up 5 lbs. since his 3 yr. check up last December.  He hasn't grown too much out, so he really must have grown taller!!

Rowan: 19 & 20 months

Rowan has changed a TON since the start of summer!  She is a whole new kid now.  When we started to take her outside in the spring time she clung to me and would scream if we tried to put her on the grass or tried to swing her.  She slowly warmed up to the idea of outside, and now she asks (more like demands) to go outside all the time now.  She was pretty good with the slide, but never wanted to swing until one day about mid-way through summer she asked to swing....now she LOVES it!!  Although about a week ago she discovered she could climb the rope ladder, and now she is more interested in climbing to the top of the clubhouse and hanging out up there...only problem there is we have to be up there too!!  She does not understand edges and falling off yet.  She runs a little now, although thankfully is more cautious than her brother was at this age and mostly walks around.  She loves the bounce house too now, and gets so excited when she hears even the mention of it.  We have to spell it out, or use code words, but then Liam catches on to it and says it out loud, and then the cat is out of the bag, and we HAVE to put it up : )  Same goes for stuff like going for a walk, going outside, bath...all things she loves!!  Speaking of things she loves, she absolutely LOVES Liam.  She says his name all the time now.  She actually says it better than he did at 2.5 ;)  One time as I was picking the kids up at Grandma's house after work, we were waiting for Liam and the sun was right in her eyes, so I backed out of the drive way, and she totally lost it!! She started crying and saying Liam's name.  I think she thought we were leaving without him.  I don't know how soon sibling rivalry starts, but I am loving that they adore each other so much.  She loves babies too.  Whenever she sees a baby on TV or at the store, she smiles and says 'Baby'.  Her twin baby cousins came for a visit in June, and she was so sweet to them.  She kissed and hugged them, and brought them toys.  She was so adorable with them.

 

She is starting to say so many words now!!  She will say 'it's hot' and 'it's cold', although I don't think she quite knows the difference all of the time.  She asks to wear her Elmo shirt...If I pull out a different shirt, she will look at it, realize it's not Elmo, and say 'Whoa'.  It's pretty funny. If it is an Elmo shirt she squeals with happiness.  She says 'Oh dear' all of the time.  She loves watching Elmo, although lately she has been asking for Thomas.  Liam seems to be done with Thomas (for now) and loves watching Phineas and Ferb.  She enjoys the show too, and calls them 'Berb'.  She has said Phineas a couple times though.  And she calls Isabella, 'Bella' and we love how she says 'Parwee' for Perry.

 

It's been a really fun summer watching her change so much!!  It's hard to believe that she is going to be 2 years old in just a few months!!  It is just crazy how time has flown by?!  It just doesn't seem that long ago that I was planning Liam's 2 year birthday party, and was pregnant with her.

Rowan: 18 months

Rowan turned 18 months on May 26th.  She is quickly changing from our baby to a little girl.  I stopped pumping around 17.5 months, and she had her last frozen milk a few days ago.  It was bitter/sweet to stop pumping.  I was sad that I couldn't make any more milk for her, but happy to have my time and body back.  Rowan is starting to get picky about food.  She used to like hard boiled egg whites, cheese, and some other things, and now she doesn't like it.  We were so enjoying the super easy eater, but alas she is now telling us what she does and doesn't like...and not just involving food.  She now tells us what she wants, and if she doesn't get it, she gets a huge tude and/or has a temper tantrum.  Thankfully they are short lived and we usually can distract her with something else.  She has a maniacal laugh sometimes, and she is also talking up a storm.  She adds several words a day to her vocabulary, and I have lost count.  She is talking in 2 and 3 word sentences.  The moon has been in the day sky lately, and she will point and say 'Moon' and 'Sky'.  If she sees the stroller she asks for a 'walk'.  She always asks to 'Go Outside'.  She is starting to drop a nap, so some days she gets 2, and other days just 1.  She has really taken an interest in her foot and toes in the last couple of days, and know the words for each.   She has started to 'play house'.  She takes her Elmo doll and puts it in the high chair and will feed him.  She also will put him to bed.  She LOVES Liam's bed, and knows exactly what it's for.  She likes to lay on the pillow, and put the blankets on top, and she will roll over and say 'Night Night'.  It took Liam about a month to sleep in his bed when we transitioned him to the toddler bed, but when it's time to move her, she will know exactly what to do.  Her hair continues to get more curly as it grows.  She also loves to pose for the camera, she loves the attention, and somehow knows that she's supposed to ham it up when we are taking pictures.  Her personality just gets cuter by the day, and we are so grateful she is part of our family!!

comment by mom/grandma on 06/23/2011
she is such a joy to be around, every day she does something new and cute, today's was a very pointed stink eye at Andie, I almost fell off the sofa laughing:)

Liam: 3 yrs. 5 mo.

Liam has grown up so much over the school year.  I can't believe he graduated this month!!  We were nervous and curious how well he would do at his graduation.   He started out shy like he usually does.  He was sucking on his robe, and wasn't really singing much.  Then after a few minutes, he was the star of the show!  He was right in the front and center and he was singing, and doing the moves with the songs.  What a vast difference from his first program which was for Halloween!  He got separated from the group, and then kept running down the hallway, his teacher kept having to chase him?!  He also did really good with his graduation pictures.  We were kinda nervous about getting them done because lately when we try to get him to smile he does a silly Thomas the train character face.  We were pleasantly surprised at how cute he smiled, and were very relieved!!

 

So many changes over this last month too!!  We got some butterfly larvae, and he has really enjoyed watching the caterpillars grow, and change into butterflies!  We released them at Thanksgiving Point garden, and he chased a few of them down, and we were able to get some really cool pictures of them on the flowers.

 

He has been enjoying his swing set, although it seems he loves to collect Roly Poly's more.  This past month has been pretty rainy, so we haven't had much outside time though.  He loves to do puzzles now, and can do a 24 piece one all by himself.  He wants to dress himself now too, which can be an interesting site at times.  He was sick with a tummy bug a few weeks ago, it was the first time it was coming out both ends.  He was very good about using a bucket, and also using the potty.  We were very glad that we got him potty trained for that one!!  He had a dentist appointment earlier in the month, and he did really well.  He got x-rays of his teeth, and they were able to get all but one set because he kept gagging, oh well.  He thankfully doesn't have any cavities still!!  He also remembered the dead bunny on the drive over, which was 6+ months ago?!  That kid has a great memory when he wants to.  He has been talking in a different language lately.  Usually it happens when he is REALLY tired.  He has been known to talk the whole way home in his own language.  He also will talk in other people's voices.  Mainly in Rowan's voice.  His voice will get high and squeaky, and he will say something like 'I don't want to go to bed'.  or 'I want some food'.  It's pretty funny!  He has also improved on his language, he has started to use the word 'Either'.  And he uses it correctly, like 'I am not feeling good either'.  He also uses the word 'Cute'.  I have been decorating the 2nd floor with decals.  And he will come in and look at them, and say 'Awe Cute'.  He saw me holding a new shirt for myself the other day, and said...'that's cute'.  Or if Rowan is wearing a new shirt he says it too.  He and Rowan absolutely LOVE each other.  Sometimes when she is at my mom's house for the day, and he's at Grandma B's house, he will tell her that he misses Rowan.  They get along pretty well except when it comes to sharing toys : ) 

 

This past weekend, we finally were able to take him to ride on Thomas the Train.  The weather wasn't looking good, but we took a warm coat, and an umbrella just in case.  After about 30 min. of being there the sun came out, and the weather was perfect.  We decided to leave Rowan with Grandma B since it was during her nap time.  Plus we thought it would be fun for Liam to have an outing with Mom and Dad by himself.  He was very excited and had a great time.  After we took a ride, we got a picture in front of Thomas, then we did some of the activities...he did mini golfing for the first time, and we realized that we suck because he's never been before.  He definitely needs some practice with that, but he had fun anyway.  Then we got him a tattoo sticker on his hand.  Then went to the store where he picked out 3 new trains, got both the kids a new T-shirt, and Rowan a hat, and a little Thomas bag to carry everything...They are so spoiled!!  Then we were all ready to head home!

Rowan: 17 Months

Rowan's personality is exploding along with her 'tude' and her vocabulary.  A couple of months ago Mike was getting a little concerned about Rowan because she was pretty quiet in the talking department, but this last month she has picked up soooo many new words. So much so, we have lost count.  I remember doing a list for Liam at 17 mo, and it was 17 words for 17 months....But, Rowan has far surpassed that count!!  And perhaps part of that is this is our 2nd time having a kid, so maybe we just pick up more on it, but really it's been amazing hearing so many new words on a daily basis.  She is also really good at mimicking the words we say.  It's almost like we have a human parrot.

 

She has really started to like her freedom, and wants to do what she wants to do, or she gets pretty mad.  This has made it really difficult to do her 'mom and me' picture this month.  We tried getting a picture on 2 different occasions, with not so much luck.  So this months picture she looks like 'Miss Cranky Pants', which is kinda funny because her 16 month picture she has the biggest smile on her face. 

 

We have noticed that she has a really strong grip, so if we try to take something away from her she puts up a huge stink, and it is also pretty hard to pry it out of her hands.  She also has discovered she can climb onto the couch with a little help from climbing onto a toy or box.  And when she's up on the couch, she does exactly what Liam used to, and hangs over the side, which is dangerous!  She has been eating everything in site lately.  We joke that she is a Betta, and will eat until she pops.  She loves most anything we give her, but she did decide she wasn't too fond of egg whites recently and puts up a fuss when I give that to her, so I stopped.  We can try again another time.  She tried pineapple yesterday for the first time, and she LOVED it.  She will just cram her mouth full as fast as she can sometimes.  It seems she has a hollow leg, just like her mom.  She has started to like to use a fork too, and will insist on having one to eat.

 

She has started to wave with her whole arm lately, it's pretty cute.  She likes to wave to the dogs, and the fish too.  She loves Elmo and Pooh bear.  She has started to sleep with a couple Pooh bears that we gave her.  She snuggles with them, and is really happy to have them when we give them to her.  This morning she was fussing when I dressed her, and I said where is Elmo, let's find Elmo. Then she walked over to her bookshelf, grabbed a book, sat down with it, and flipped through it till she found Elmo, she was quite happy and proud when she found him!  It amazes me how much she understands at this young age.  She also understands what it means when we ask her if she wants a bath...she gets so excited, and walks into the bathroom when the water is ready.  She has decided that she likes outdoors, most of the time. She says 'side' when she wants to go out.  She likes the swing set for the most part. She mostly likes the slide, and says 'Way' or 'Wee' when going down.  She's not too fond of the swings, she mostly cries when we try to swing her, but sometimes if she is in a swinging mood, we will hold her on our lap, and she will say 'Wee' too.  

She had her second haircut a few weeks ago, and she hated it!!  She just does not like anything where she is contained, and messed with.  But, we managed, and her hair is getting so long and curly in the back!

 

She had her first dentist visit last week, and she cried a little, but did pretty good for her first time.  The dentist asked if she sucked her thumb, and then said we really need to try to get her to stop.  So, we are going to be working on that.  She doesn't very often, mostly when she is tired, or going to sleep, but we know it's better to stop it now before it ruins her mouth, and before she's older when it will be even harder to stop.  

 

Below is a list of some of the words she is saying, but like I said I lost count after a while, so I'm sure that there are a lot I missed. 

 

Words

All gone

Abby

Apple

Baby

Ball

Bath

Bear

Bird

Bye

Car

Cookie

Cracker

Dada

Doggy

Elmo

Fish

Food

Flower

Get Down

Hello

Hi

Koko

Kitty

Light

Mama

More

Nana (for banana)

Night Night

No

Pooh (for Pooh bear)

Shoe

Side (for outside)

Thank You

That

Uh Oh

What's That

Liam: 3 yrs, 4 mo

Liam turned 3 yrs, 4 mo. on April 7th.  His imagination has been exploding lately.  He plays with his trains all the time, and tells stories like the show does. "Thomas says (fill in the blank)".  It seems the more his imagination is developing, the more intense his dreams are getting too.  A few weeks ago, he picked out Snow White to watch right before bed, and he ended up having bad nightmares, and Dad had to sleep on the floor next to his bed.  We learned a lesson there, not to let him watch scary movies right before bed!!  The next night, dad told him to dream about Georgie riding Thomas the train, and the next morning he told me that he had that exact dream!  Their minds are like clay, and it just makes us realize even more of our huge responsibility to form them correctly.

 

The other day on the way home it looked really gloomy out, and the wind was blowing.  He told me that a storm was coming, and we better get home quickly.  He also asks me 'what city are we in?' as we drive to and from home.  He will say 'We are in Orem now', 'We are in Pleasant Grove now', etc. 

 

A few weeks ago we ordered a swing set from Costco.  It said that it would take a couple weeks to arrive, but I guess because it was a local company that made it, it was ready to be delivered the next day.  We set up a delivery time a couple days later, and the following weekend when the weather was better we started (mostly Mike) to assemble it.  We were able to get the big frame part up, then the next day it snowed, and the next weekend the weather was bad too!!  Finally the next weekend the weather was good, and Mike finished it up.  Liam absolutely LOVES it!  Although the first time going down the slide wasn't so great because it was soooo fast that he fell right on his bum, so the next day we put Sequoia's old dog bed at the bottom, and now he has so much fun going down.

 

Another cool thing we got for Liam that seems to be about as entertaining as the swing set, but WAY less money, was we got him a Beta fish.  He loves to watch him swim around, and especially likes to see him eat his food.  He is mostly blue/green, and his fins are red with blue/green streaks.  He's very pretty, and we think he's pretty young since he's still on the small side, and he's really active.  We haven't given him a name yet, since Liam comes up with a new one everyday...which we find quite amusing.

 

So back to the topic of Liam's imagination...Below is a conversation we had about a week ago on the way to work: 

 

(Liam saw the big plume of steam where Geneva used to be)

 

Liam: Mom, look it's the abominable snowman!!!
Me: Wow, it's amazing! (Thinking to myself...did he just say abominable??!! Do 3 yr olds really use that word? I'm pretty sure he got that from 'Frosty the Snowman' movie, but still...pretty amazing vocabulary.)

 

(As we got closer)

Liam: That's not the abominable snowman, that's a nightmare!

 

That kid never ceases to amaze me.

 

One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination. ~Sam Levenson

Rowan: 16 months

Rowan turned 16 months on March 26th.  We were talking the other day about Rowan, and how she is the happiest baby we have ever met.  And it's kinda crazy because both of us are pretty cranky, and so is Liam, so we have no idea where it comes from!!  But, we are very happy that she is so happy, and she makes the rest of us happier so we have no complaints here.  She is also a very good eater, which we are very grateful for because Liam is going through a picky eater phase, and I think I would just go insane if they both were picky at the same time.  She loves the Asian Noodles that come in a frozen pack at Costco.  Whenever I heat one up for myself, I pull out a little for her, and she just gobbles it up.  She also really loved the Salmon and rice we saved for her recently.  Once and a while, more so when she's just got up from her nap, she will push the food away and say 'Nooo'.  But if we can distract her with a toy or show, she will end up eating.  Liam was pretty similar at this age.  She loves saying 'Night night', and blowing kisses.  This morning I even saw her kissing her feet in the car ride.  It was pretty funny! 

 

One time recently she started putting her hands in the air, and saying 'Hoooray'.  I grabbed my video camera and got a little of it on video...but mostly it was of her from behind because she kept walking away while she was doing it.  But, we are glad we got what we did because we haven't seen her do it since.  She likes to point at the light and fan now, and I also taught her where her nose is, and she will point to it now when I ask her where it is.  She understands what her bath is, and gets excited when I tell her lets go take a bath.  She knows who Dada is, and calls him by his name.  And she loves to ride on Dad's shoulders, so much so that when he was holding her, she tried to climb up onto his shoulders!!  Speaking of climbing, she now takes an object, like a box in the playroom, and will bring it over to the couch and climb on up.  She loves sitting on the couch with the rest of us now, and is quite proud of herself when she gets up.  She HATES going to bed because she doesn't like leaving everyone.  She also hates having her teeth brushed, hair combed, diaper changed, dressed....pretty much anything that gets in the way of having fun!  Although, once she's in her bed, she just rolls on her tummy, thumb in her mouth, and she's quite happy to go to sleep, especially when she's really tired.  Overall she is such an easy and happy baby!  She is the kind of baby that makes you want or think you want another one!!

comment by Gaylene on 04/01/2011
I'm so glad we came down 2 weeks ago, she's grown so much and is a doll! Love the ending to your post too

Liam: 3 yrs, 3 mo.

Liam is doing really well with his potty training.  We don't have to ask him as often because he tells us he needs to go now.  He has had a few accidents here and there, and just to be on the safe side, we still send him to school with a pull-up, and we put a 'night time diaper' on him at night, but I would say he is pretty much POTTY TRAINED.  Sadly, earlier this month Liam got a really bad cough and it came with a fever that lasted more than 5 days.  By the 5th day we decided to take him to the Dr. to see what is up.  His cough was so bad that he gagged up his food and sometimes his medicine. Usually when he gets a fever it breaks after about 3 days. This one was not going away, so by day 5 we took him to the Dr. The Dr. listened to his lungs, and heard a crackle. He checked his Oxygen too. He wanted to determine for sure if it was a bacterial or a viral infection, so he had us go to the hospital to get an x-ray. While we were waiting to be seen, Liam was getting anxious waiting. We walked around a bit, and we came across a vending machine. He wanted the Doritos, and so I checked my wallet, and there was NO CASH! I called my mom, since she wasn't too far away and asked her to bring some cash. They took us to the back before she arrived, but they told her where we were when she got there. Liam was happy to see Grandma. Liam did really awesome getting the x-ray. He listened to direction, and wasn't scared at all. We got him the Doritos and finally went home 2 hours later! The Dr. called later that afternoon, and told us that it appeared as he thought, as a viral infection. He thinks it was RSV.  This is only the second time that Liam has been to the Dr. for being sick.  He has been such a healthy kid, but unfortunately when you send them to school, they are just bound to get sick!  Mike was saying that for the first 2 years of going to school they tend to get sick about every 4-6 weeks, and that is exactly what has happened this school year....it is really rough seeing your kid sick.  Another side effect of him being sick so often is he can't seem to gain any weight.  Once he gains any, he just loses it again when he's sick.  He has been 30 lbs. for a long time now.  He is super skinny and his pants fall off him, esp. now that he doesn't have a diaper to help hold them up.  He also seems to be going through a super picky eater phase, where he won't eat anything...at least not for dinner.  The whole time change thing hasn't helped either.  He doesn't get hungry till it's way past his bedtime.  He also won't turn off his light, so he's not getting to sleep till past 10 pm now.  And that makes it hard for him to get up in the morning, then he's tired all day...it's a viscous cycle and hopefully he will get back on track really soon!!

 

Now for the happy stuff.  Cousin Madison had her birthday party on March 12th.  And thankfully he was feeling much better by then because he had an absolute blast!  They had rented a bounce house, and it had a slide too.  He played for 90+ minutes straight, and crashed a few minutes after I got him in the car...he then slept the rest of the night. 

 

Liam is TOTALLY obsessed with Thomas the train right now. And I made the mistake of telling him that we got tickets to go ride on him over 2 months in advance. He wants to go 'RIGHT NOW!', and because he's only 3, he doesn't fully understand the concept of time, and that he won't be here for a couple more months. Lately, he has been waking up and wanting to go 'RIGHT NOW!'. And after I explain to him that it isn't till May, he gets very cranky, and is not happy for a long time. I got the brilliant idea (I hope) the other day to print out Thomas's schedule and a map of the U.S. and put stars on the state he's in...I hope it works, otherwise the next 2 months are going to be miserable.

 

Some of the cute things he's doing lately: 

~When I tell him something exciting, he says 'That is so exciting', or 'I'm so excited'. 

~He will sit on my lap and ask to snuggle.

~He colors a lot of Thomas pictures at G'ma's and he has to display them on her door, and he likes to bring them back and forth.

~He is starting to use imaginative play with his trains and cars, he tells stories, he will also act out the stories from the Thomas show.

~He knows how to use the Roku (instant Netflix player), and can find the show he wants and play it.

comment by mom/grandma on 03/25/2011
Liam is such a great kid, I'll be glad when he is eating well again too. I love when he narrates his play. "Then, Thomas said" or "Yes sir, said Percy" so cute.

Rowan: 15 months

Rowan turned 15 months on February 26th, and now it's a month later and I am guilty of being a slacker!!  Well, to be fair this past month has been a little crazy with the kids getting sick for 2 weeks.  And poor Rowan, her cold seems to either be returning, or she has another one.  I will be glad when Liam is out of school soon, and they can have a break from all the germs going around!!

 

Anyway, I will write all the cute things she's doing in my next update since she will be turning 16 months in a few days.  She had her 15 month check-up on February 25th and here are her stats:

 

head: 18.5 in. (85.52%)

 

weight: 21 lbs.  2 oz. (31.65 %)

 

length:   30.2 in. (57.83 %)

Liam: 3 yrs. 2 mo.

Liam turned 3 yrs and 2 months on February 7th.  Yes, I know I am behind AGAIN!!  But, even if it is a little late, I am very glad I have kept up month to month on their updates.  All the days tend to blend together, and when I look back on it, I am always glad I took note of what they are doing and saying at that moment in time.  So speaking of some of the things Liam is saying, here are a few....'good idie', for good idea , 'I got a question', even if he's just making a statement, when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, he says 'I'm busy', and sometimes gets really mad.  One time Dad found something for him, and he said 'You saved the day'.

 

He has totally been into Thomas lately, more than we've ever seen him.  He knows most, if not all the names on the different shows.  He even knows who is in each one, and will say I want to watch the one with 'So and So' and we usually don't have a clue which episode it is, so we will have him point to the right one on the Roku.  He will do all the different faces of the trains, and one night I had him tell me a story about the trains while I took a video, it was really cute!

 

He loves playing with all his trains too, and carries them around all the time.  He knows exactly which ones he has and knows if any are missing, and names all of them off all the time.  Dad took him to the train show at the end of January and he got a bunch of new trains for him to use as a reward if he goes #2 in the potty.  We had them for a few weeks, and he'd always say, I can get so and so if I go poo in the potty.  He knew exactly what he needed to do, but he is just so darn stubborn he would not do it.  Anyway, last week I happened upon a site from someones blog, and found the secret to potty training our stubborn 3 yr old. We knew he was ready for it, but we just needed that extra tool to figure it out.

The site is: http://www.3daypottytraining.com/

It is an E-book, and there are some copyright issues, so I can't share too much publicly about it, but we are just thrilled with how well her information worked with Liam. After reading it, I have to admit I was a little skeptical and a little upset we had just paid $24 for an E-book, but being able to potty train him in about 4 days all but makes up for the diapers we are going to save!!

We did a variation of her method, and since we didn't have 3 entire days in a row to work on it ourselves, we decided we would just test it out, to see how well it worked and go from there. We also have decided to not worry about night time right now, and let him wear a diaper. We also were unsure what to do about preschool since he has multiple teachers throughout the day, so we decided he could wear a pull-up until we are all confident that he is comfortable asking to use the bathroom there.

So we started our 'Potty Party' on Friday morning. He had pooped in his diaper that morning, and I was ready to begin!! On went the big boy underpants, and shortly after that he told me that he had to pee in the potty!! I was shocked how quickly it worked?!?!

Day 1: He did all his pees in the potty! Had some #2 accidents though.
Day 2: He had one pee accident, and 1 #2 accident, and did 2 #2's in the potty
Day 3: Tricky day since we had prior plans and had to send him to G'ma's he did really well with pee's but not so well with #2
Day 4: Back on track, had ZERO accidents!!!
Day 5: Went to G'ma's again, and had school, NO ACCIDENTS

We are currently on Day 6, and I got a text from G'ma that he told her he needed to go #2 for the first time! I dare say our little boy is potty trained, for the most part. I expect he will have a few set backs here and there, and we will need to work on night time later, but we are just super happy with the results. So if anybody out there is needing a little help with this, I do recommend this plan.

 

Anyway, our little boy is growing up to be such a 'Big Boy', we are just so proud of him!!

Rowan:14.5 Months

A few days after I wrote Rowan's last update, she started to stand & walk!  It was on January 7, 2011 when she was about 13.5 months old.  It seemed to happen overnight. Once she started to walk more than 5 or so steps, she was walking half way across the room, then all the way across the room, then she just stopped crawling all together. Then she turned 14 months old on January 26th...and again I need to hurry and write up her update because she is just growing and changing so much!!  She is now an expert walker, and even was running yesterday?!?!?  She was home with Liam and Dad and she grabbed one of Liam's cars and ran across the room.  They were both very surprised to see her take off like that.  This past month she also has been sick. First she got a little cold, then when she seemed to be better she came down with a fever and cold, and Liam had a fever too...but after hers broke after about 5 days, she had a little rash so we think she had Roseola. Plus on top of that all, she was teething, so she was not very happy for about a week!   She has been loving trying new foods.  She has tried Kiwi, Mango, Orange and loved them all.  She pretty much loves anything we give her, and even if she doesn't seem to like it, she will eat it anyway. We usually know when she really likes something when she says 'Mmmmmm' .  We know one day she will probably start to get picky, so we are enjoying this phase while it lasts.  Some of her new words lately have been 'Night Night', 'Wow', 'Book'.   She makes growl sounds a lot, and roars at her riding Lion toy.  She says 'bye bye', and blows kisses, even with the kiss sound now.  We think she is going to be a bit of a tomboy.  She LOVES Liam's toys, especially his Thomas trains.  Thankfully, Liam is learning to share because she is starting to get a bit of a 'tude' now.  That is our word for attitude, but think 'tude' is a cuter way to describe it.  She is so easy to make smile, and she has such a funny sense of humor too.  She comes up to us now and tickles us, and says 'Tickle, tickle, tickle'.  She also thinks her farts are funny because after she farts, she laughs like a hyena...just like her mom ;) She also loves to dance, which is a totally new thing to us because Liam never started doing that till after he was 2, and even then it's more like running around.  We had a little dance party one night, and she made us laugh so much dancing to 'Jungle Boogie'.  We love her so much and constantly feel so lucky at what a good baby/kid she is!!

comment by Gaylene on 02/18/2011
So adorable! Love "tude" also...can't hardly wait to see how they've grown next month

Liam: 3 yrs. 1 mo.

Liam had a great month and holiday.  We all had about 2.5 weeks at home, and he had some time to sleep-in in the morning.  We figured he was catching up on all his sleep debt.  It was a little crazy because he and Rowan woke around the same time everyday,around 9am.  But on the flip side, he also had a really hard time getting to sleep at bedtime, and it didn't make much of a difference if he had a nap or not.  We think part of the issue is he insists on having his big light on at night.  He was really excited for Christmas, and had a great time singing with the other kids at his school's holiday party on Dec. 8th.  We don't think he really knew what Christmas was all about until he saw the presents on Christmas morning.  He loved opening up the gifts, and kept asking for another one for him.  He helped Rowan open hers, and still couldn't get enough!  So spoiled!!  At the start of our time off, he was really into the potty training.  We offered him a penny for a pee, and a nickel for a poo.  He earned lots of pennies, and even several nickels, but then kinda gave up after about 3-4 days.  We don't want to push the issue, but at the same time we hope he will get motivated soon!  He has had a new found love of Thomas the Tank Engine lately too. He knows all the names, and will name them off when they roll the credits between the episodes.  He is also pretty picky which episode he watches.  We have a ton on the Roku, and we can't just play just any ol' episode, he has to pick just the right one!! Even Rowan loves watching it now, and gets excited and points at the screen when we are picking one out.

We took Liam to his very first play on December 12th.  It was called 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie'.  We had purchased the book before hand to familiarize him with the story, and to get him excited to go.  He was very attentive for about the first 15 to 20 min., but then he wanted to run around the theater.  He tried going up on stage, and down the side isle.  He started talking, and would NOT sit still.  We kept giving him different snacks to try to keep him quiet. Mike had to hold him for most of the time, and get him some juice from the car.  It was a super cute play, but it was one very long hour!  Hopefully next year he will be a little more mature and able to sit still for it.

On December 16th, he had his 3-year well visit.  He did amazingly well, and sat still and listened to the nurse while they did an eye exam.  He passed his 3-year questionnaire with flying colors!  He now weighs 28 lbs. 7.5 oz (16.54%), he's 37.5 inches tall (52.99%), and they didn't do his head this time, but did do his BMI which was 14.22 (3.72%).   He was the same weight as he was at a visit that he was at a couple months earlier and figured that he lost some from being sick twice with a tummy bug.  But he sure has grown a lot over the year, 2 whole inches!!  He has been a little more willing to try new foods lately, which has been a great relief to us.  He is starting to try some of the meals that we eat too. 

He also loves talking about all the different types of food.  He has shown a great interest in cooking, and Mike especially looks forward to having him help make some meals in the future.  Another new development he's had in the last week or 2 is he has decided that he isn't afraid of Gretchen any more and absolutely LOVES her now.  He wants to play with her all the time now, and calls her his friend.  He thinks it's funny when she licks him, where he used to get mad at her.  Gretchen is loving it too, and is now getting worn out by playing so much. Liam's school has their registration for next year going on now.  We debated which time would be better for us, better for him, and my work schedule.  We originally went with the same afternoon time, but the other day, he was commenting how tired he was on the way to school. I went in to talk to his teacher, and she did say that her morning time kids are more awake and refreshed.  Also she mentioned that she only teaches the morning class for his age group next year, and we really love her, and would like for her to be his teacher again.  So, the woman who takes care of registration told me that it would be much easier to switch to afternoon if needed, and recommended that we try the morning time first.  So, I guess we will see how that works next school year. One thing that Liam has known for quite a while now, that I keep forgetting to mention in his updates is that he knows the difference between his left side and his right side. He also has an amazing sense of what we try to tell him, that is if he's listening.  He will process what we say and either say 'Oh, OK.' or he will say something back to us that indicates that he has a profound understanding.  I will show him a picture of Sequoia, and he will say her name correctly now, and says he remembers her, and knows that she is dead.  We never really talk about death to him because he is so young, but he seems to have some level of understanding of it, and knows that it is a sad thing.  He still remembers the dead bunny in the road, even though we just drove by it, and he never even saw it!  The kid ceases to amaze us, and we are always telling him what a wonderful boy he is, we must also tell him he's cute too because over the holiday Liam kept saying 'I'm Cute', it was pretty funny and cute! 

Rowan: 13 Months

Rowan is growing and changing so quickly I can't keep up!  We had some time off for the holidays, and couldn't believe how much she changed over nearly 2 weeks.  On December 17th she had her first haircut, and she did great!  She turned 13 months old on December 26th.  She says a few words now, but mostly she chatters in her own language.  So far she does say 'Mama', 'Dada', 'Baby','What's Dat?', 'Uh-Oh'.  She points at things she wants or likes which lately have been Cheerios and lights.  She is starting to want what we eat now.  So I will give her bits of it to try. She really loved the hummus that she tried the other day, and she really loves bananas, and squeals in delight when she sees I cut some up for her.  She also loves graham crackers, and had a little tantrum when I tried putting them away after giving her some. I ended up giving her some more, and she is now learning how to get stuff from us, just like Liam?!?!  We are such pushovers ;) But she has learned the sign for more, and will do the sign, or clap which is similar to the sign. 

 

She LOVES the lamp I put in her room.  She was always blinded in the morning when I turned on her big light, and she would sneeze several times from the light...so the lamp has helped a lot and she loves to point at it, and give it her own word.  She also loves the lights on the Christmas tree, and thinks they are candles and tries to blow them out.  She is still very cautious about walking, but over the holiday she started to take more than 2 steps...it's around 4 or 5 now, then she will stop, pat her legs, sometimes dances, then kneels down to crawl.  She is getting braver everyday, and she is so proud of her walking.  She is also learning to stand on her own.  Last night she was able to stand by just using the boppy pillow to hold onto.  She also does this really cute thing where she will do a downward facing dog position with her legs and head, then she will take her hands and put them on her ankles, it's quite impressive, and I hope to capture it on video!! She is also now a climber!  But, she is not as cautious about climbing as she is about walking.  She can climb onto the kid's table if the stool is next to it!  She will pretty much try to climb anything she can reach now, so we do have to watch her more carefully!!  Another thing she loves is giving Liam hugs and kisses.  The best time to see it is at night when they are getting tired and loopy and they will just roll around on the floor in the blankets and hug and snuggle, it's the cutest thing!!  I love watching them play and bond, and am very grateful to have had some extra time to spend with them over our break.

comment by mom/grandma on 01/04/2011
They are so cute together, we are glad to have them here again.