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