Liam: 5 yrs. 2 mo.

So my last update for Liam was right before Christmas.  He had a great Christmas, and we all enjoyed some time off at home together.  Last month we went to Parent/Teacher conference.  Liam is doing really well in school.  His teacher, Miss Kathleen, was talking about how the kids are learning to blend sounds together to read words.  They have a reading program at school where they send home books to read.  It is meant to encourage parents to read with their kids every day.  We assumed that all the kids in his class were reading the books sent home, but I guess not all of them are.  He's been reading for a year now, so that made us pretty proud of him.  

Liam lost his FIRST tooth.  It started to get lose on Christmas Eve, and I joked that Santa and the tooth fairy would have to come in the same night.  But, it was just barley lose, and he was way too scared to let mom or dad try to pull it out.  Then Friday it was bent out, but he still was too scared to let anyone touch it, but we knew it was on its way out.  He spent the day wiggling it.  By afternoon, I drifted off on the couch while he was playing.  All of a sudden he woke me up shouting my tooth came out. I thought for sure we would have to pull it, and was a bit bummed since I was going to take a video...but, oh well, he did it on his own, and that is pretty grown up for his first tooth. We really didn't expect it to come out just after he turned 5! Both me and Mike were at least 6.  That night Liam asked me if the tooth fairy would know if he's asleep if the lights were on. I told him she would because she would hear him snoring.  He started to go back to his room, then came back and told me 'I don't snore'.  We thought that was pretty funny. 

We have noticed lately that Liam is absorbing more information around him, even if it isn't directed at him.  Mike and I have been working out the last couple of months, and I guess I mentioned to Mike how much weight I lost, because yesterday when I told the kids I lost another pound, Liam says 'So you lost 11 lbs?'  I didn't realize he heard me tell Mike, and I asked him how he knew that?  He then said to me 'I know things'...which we thought was pretty funny!   

So not much else has been going on the last couple of months, the kids, especially Liam, are very excited for Winter to be over so we can do fun stuff outside.  He really misses riding his bike and just running around outside!  And now that I am in a lot better shape, I'm pretty excited to get a new bike and ride with him too this Summer!

comment by mom/grandma on 02/09/2013
Liam is such a great kid. He and Daniel had a blast riding bikes Thursday, and it was perfect because he was really missing his cousins!

Rowan: 3 yrs. 2 mo.

Rowan had a great Christmas too.  She got lots of new dolls and a really cool Little People Castle.  We went to Parent/Teacher conference for the first time for Rowan.  Her teacher Miss Marjan said that Rowan has come out of her shell, and has really blossomed.  We were really surprised when she told us at the Christmas party that she was the quiet/shy one in the class.  She is the spit-fire in the family, but I guess they always are different around other people, but it sounds like she is more comfortable now, and being herself at school now. 

Rowan is now in her BIG Girl bed!  She is a whole year younger than her brother was when he graduated from the toddler bed, but such is the benefit of being the 2nd kid, also she is much less of a mover when she sleeps. She has adjusted quite well to the bed, and it has helped a little with her wanting to nap and go to bed at night.  She likes to have everything in its place, and will organize her dolls, and toys just the way she wants them on her bed.  She keeps her bed very tidy, and she loves having all her cozy pillows and blankets too.  And a couple months later she is still LOVING her big girl bed.  She sleeps very well at night, and is even starting to sleep in a little on the weekends.  Not sure if it was the time change in November, but she was up EVERY single day of our Christmas vacation by 7:15 AM. She started to come down stairs on her own, and want to snuggle in our bed.  It was nice, but wish it wasn't that early. 

She has done quite well with her potty training over the last few months. Once in a while if she is really into her playing she will forget to tell us she has to go, and has a little accident.  And sometimes I had wished we waited for her to mature a little more because she will use the potty to insert her control.  But perhaps that is just more a girl thing than an age thing?  It happened one time when we went out to dinner with a friend, and she kept saying she had to pee, but she really didn't need to go, but it seemed like she enjoyed making me leave my dinner to take her to the bathroom.  

Sometimes she will sit on the potty way longer than she needs to.  She also uses the potty to delay bedtime which is a big pain in the rear.  But, for the most part it has been a great thing to have her trained, and I'm sure with time potty time will improve. 

She loves dancing, and when she puts on her tutu she turns into a ballerina.  I have no clue where she learned some of her moves, but maybe it's just innate for girls.  She then tells us we should take her to a dance class.  So that is something we will have to look into in the near future.  Another cute thing she does is make up costumes.  At Halloween time when she had her princess dress on, she grabbed Liam's skeleton mask and made a funny combo 'Princess-Skeleton' costume.  Most recently she had her tutu on and then found Liam's Spiderman mask, to make her 'Ballerina-Spidey' costume.  The girl cracks us up, she is such a ham.

comment by mom/grandma on 02/09/2013
She is quite the dancer here too. So cute. She comes up with the cutest things, she keeps us laughing all day:)