Liam is 5!

Liam is 5 now!  It is hard to believe!!  I was putting him in his car seat this morning, and said to him 'You are 5 now'.  And it just sounded so crazy, but it's true.  He has grown up so much over the past year.  He loves super hero's now.  It started with Spider Man.  He was introduced to Spider Man from his best neighbor friend at Grandma B's house, Daniel.  It was his first friend influence that got him into something new.  He also likes Bat Man, and Green Lantern, and a bunch of other Super Hero's.  Dad also introduced him to a show called 'Teen Titan's'.   He loves playing games on his phone...although we swore we wouldn't go down that road after seeing how much kids can become addicted to them!  We really try to limit the time he is on it, and also make it a reward for good behavior.  He is quite good at games, and realize it does provide some benefit to coordination, and some learning.  I do prefer the learning games though, and hope we can steer him in that direction with the tablets that Mike got the kids for Christmas.

He has become pretty enamored with zombie's over the last several months.  Not sure exactly when it started, but it might have been when dad installed a zombie game (that isn't too scary) on his phone.  He talks about zombies all the time, and even asked for a zombie shirt.  We were able to find a 'plants vs. zombies' shirt on Ebay, and it is cartoon-ish, so not very scary either.  Although, all the talk of zombies does end up in some bad dreams every so often.  Even Rowan, gets into the whole topic too.  She came up with the term 'Pickle Zombie' recently from an episode of 'Martha' on PBS.  We thought it was pretty funny, and saw the resemblance to zombies after she mentioned it.  Even though he it totally into Zombie's Liam decided he wanted to be Spider Man for Halloween.  Rowan was a purple fairy, although dad thought her 'Princess Skeleton' costume was pretty great!

Liam is enjoying school this year.  He loves loves loves having Rowan go there with him.  Before this year, he always wanted me to bring him to his classroom.  And this year, he wants to me to drop him off in the back, so he can be big brother and take Rowan to her class.  Sure saves me some time in the morning, so I am happy about it.  Liam's reading and writing has improved a lot since he started school.  It is amazing how quickly he rebounded after our lull in the summer.  We are pretty determined to not let that happen this summer.  So speaking of school, we are so up in the air as to what to do for Kindergarten next year.  We need to go and talk to the public school teacher's very soon!!  I already talked a person at his current school about him going public next year, and what to do if it just isn't working for him.  She advised to enroll him, and pay the $100 fee to save a spot for him, just in case, and we thought that was a good idea too.  Only time will tell, but we will do what we need to make sure he is happy and adjusted regardless where he's going.

He had his 5 year check-up recently and his new stats are:  38.14 lbs. (34.2 %), 43 inches (57.46%), 14.5 BMI   (18.42)...so as you can see he's tall and very skinny, which makes it difficult to clothe him as of late.  His 4T pants are getting short.  And I didn't realize this at the time, but the brand that I generally buy him only offers 5/6 size.  Anyway, it will make for a few awkward months, but hopefully he will catch up soon.  He had a great birthday party this year, and we are glad we can still 'get away' with a combined birthday party.  He was especially happy this year because not only could he invite his cousins, he was also able to invite a friend from school, and a couple of his best buds from G'ma's neighborhood!  They all seemed to have a wonderful time sliding over and over. They made up games too as the party went on, like making trains to go down together.  

He loved all his gifts from everyone, so thank you again for all that came and celebrated our kids turning 5 and 3 : )  He still is into his cars and trucks, and he loves all his super hero stuff. And even if he takes a break from his Thomas trains, he tends to keep going back to them.  He keeps asking for these obscure, hard to find ones for Christmas...but unfortunately, he only started asking when it was too late to really get them. Hopefully, he will be happy with the couple that he asked for a LONG time ago, and were able to get.  Another thing he has done within the last month or so, is he decided he LOVES this little stuffed gorilla that I got him several years ago.  He never paid much attention to him, but all of a sudden he has given him the name 'Boo Boo', and he brings him all over the house, and makes stories up about him.  A little odd, but still cute.  And speaking of cute, I will end his update with something he told Mike a few weeks ago.  He told him that he wanted to go back in time to when Mike was his age, so that they could play together as kids, and be best friends.  Mike thought that was one of the sweetest things he has ever heard, and I thought so too.  Happy 5 years 'Little Man'- We LOVE you!!

comment by mom/grandma on 12/24/2012 That is so cute, he is such a sweet loving boy. He and Mike would have been best friends for sure, after all, they are now!

comment by Gaylene on 12/24/2012 That is one of the sweetest things ever, Liam is naturally sweet...and 5 does sound so much older. I never thought the boys first year went fast, but it certainly did this year. Thanks for the fun updates.

Rowan is 3 now!!

Rowan turned 3 on November 26, 2012!  She is loving Pre-School.  She doesn't talk a whole lot about it, but she mentions her teacher's name 'Miss Marjan'.  And one day when we were in the Dr's office waiting for the kids Well Check-Up, she saw a girl walk in, and she said "That girl lives in my classroom".  I wasn't positive because I haven't seen all the kids in her class, but when the other girl said, "That is Rowan". I knew she was right.  She is very good with her ABC's, and loves to learn them.  

When I suggest that we put in a Leap Frog DVD, Liam will complain because I think he's bored with it, but Rowan is excited and agrees that she needs to learn her letters.  She sometimes will say the sound they make rather than the name of the letter, which we think is adorable.  At the Dr's ofc. we learned that she weighs 29.76 lbs. (41%), she is 35.25 inches (13.07%), and 16.84 BMI (79.21%)...guess they don't do head measurements anymore.  Her poor brother had to have 4 shots!! And she got lucky, and didn't have to have any, which is good because after he had his, she was pretty shook up.  This was the first time I took them both for their well-visit at the same time.

She is pretty much 100% day time potty trained now.  It kinda happened on a whim.  I was planning to potty train her over the Christmas break, since we would both be home to work with her. So mid-November, I was curious, and put on some underpants just to see how ready she was.  She peed through exactly 5 pairs in a row.  She HATED the feeling and would scream.  After a while we realized the scream was becoming her warning signal that she had to go.  And ever since that day, she has just improved.  We were really surprised it was that easy with her because anytime we mentioned potty training, or going to the bathroom in the potty, she would just grin and say, I will just go in my diaper. Anyway, we are more than pleased that we can save money on diapers now (at least for the day time).

We had the kids birthday party on November 17th.  We tried to think of a different activity than last year, but with it being cold, and needing to be inside, our options are pretty limited.  We decided if we couldn't think of a better option, that the bounce slide would be our back-up plan.  I think it worked out great though.  The thing I like most is that it is a private party, and we don't have to worry about the smaller kids being knocked over by a bigger kid, like you see at the public bounce house places.  We went to Kangaro Zoo with cousin Rainier over the Thanksgiving holiday, and it was super fun, but pretty busy, and would hate to see what it is like on a Saturday.

Some say 3 is harder than 2, and some days I totally believe it.  She has been super hard to please lately.  She will ask for something, and you bring it to her, and it's not the right way, or on the right plate, or she simply decided she doesn't want it anymore, which can be pretty frustrating at times, especially if you went to the trouble to make (or bake) something.  She also has discovered that she can get out of her bed and play after we tuck her in.  For the longest time she never got out of bed, but I think that partly is because she is having a hard time going to sleep at night.  She is in that stage where she still needs a nap, but the nap makes her well rested, and she's not ready to sleep at bedtime.  It will be a rough year in that regard. 

She loves to give hugs and kisses.  And she loves to play with her 'Little People' toys.  She loves her Jack (from Nightmare Before Christmas) and has him and Sally in her bed every night.  She thinks that Santa is Jack in a Santa suit, and also called the bald baby Jesus ornament 'Baby Jack'.  She also has to listen to the music EVERY night!!  She also loves playing with cars and trucks.  She loves to be called 'sweetie pie'.  While we were potty training her, we would ask 'Are you dry?', and she would say 'Yes', and then we would say 'Let us know if you need to go pee or poo', which would sometime be shortened to 'go potty', and then she would reply 'Pee or Poo'.  Sometime she would reply 'Yes, I'm dry and clean and adorable!'  And that she is!!  We love you Rowan!!

comment by Gaylene on 12/13/2012 She IS adorable! Oh I'm so worried about the inevitable with the boys. It'll try my patience for sure. I think your party place sounds perfect. Happy belated to both of your cuties!

comment by mom/grandma on 12/12/2012 She is adorable. It's fun to see that she is pretty much the same here as at home. We love her too!