Emotional and Physical Growth

In the past week, just all of a sudden, Jeff and I have seen both an emotional and physical growth spurt with Lucas. Physically, he looks more like a boy now than a baby. He has seemed to have lost most of that pudgy baby fat look and is now long and lean. And there is something about his face that I can't put my finger on, but he just looks older. He has also been eating more this past week. For months he was hit or miss with dinner but I didn't worry about it since I knew he ate well during the day at school. But this past week he has been eager to sit down at the table for dinner and engages in great conversation during dinner. Last night he asked for a grilled cheese sandwich before bed and tonight before dinner he was sitting at the table telling us he was ready to eat.

We expect the physical growth spurts, but the emotional growth is usually more subtle and gradual, but not this time. I feel like we are seeing glimpses into Lucas as a more mature child that can reason with us instead of a 2 year old that hasn't developed reasoning skills yet. He has been very respectful this week, using "please, thank you, yes mams" very regularly and hasn't thrown a tantrum when he hasn't liked something. The most delightful growth to me is that he is willing to just cuddle with me at night when he is falling asleep. It is so sweet and peaceful to lie next to him or cuddle him in the curve of my arm while he drifts off to sleep. I'm cherishing these times even more now because I see him growing up so quickly right before my eyes.

I am back at work full time, so Lucas is still enrolled in Montessori School. I am so happy with having him in this environment. I still sometimes worry that maybe he should be staying home with me (if I didn't work), but I really think that Lucas thrives in this environment. He has structure, loving teachers and 9 little friends that he loves and talks about all the time. He is learning to respect his environment, to be polite, to treat people with respect, how there is a time to sit quietly and a time to play hard, and many more wonderful things. We love to watch Lucas "work". He is, as he always has been, intense. He can play hard with the best of them, but when he is doing work he concentrates very hard on what he is doing. We had a conference with his teachers a few weeks ago and we were pleased with the positive things they had to say about Lucas. Here are some of the highlights:

- Lucas enters the classroom with a smile and something to share daily ("Mrs. Xenia, I got a new shirt!")
- He is very conscious of his friends and enjoys working with them.
- He is interested in new lessons and works and is using good problem solving skills.
- He is encouraged to try something new first and then ask for help.
- Lucas refines his fine motor skills through Practical Life and Sensorial activities.
- He practices his pencil grip and control almost daily.
- He is reminded to use inside voice in the classroom and is playful and loud outside.
- Lucas is progressing in respecting his friends by waiting his turn vs. taking work from other children.
- Lucas likes to do just about every work in the classroom.
- Things to work on at home: Let him do "big" jobs at home like laundry, dishes, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, etc. Encourage manners. Have order, everything has its place (yikes - I need to work on this). Consistent bedtime routine. Expect Lucas to do for himself - walking, dressing, shoes, coat, etc.

Here is Lucas at school practicing his snapping skills...

I'm assuming he was doing some work with this water and is going to pour it out (cleaning up after himself)...

And block work (with crazy hair) is always fun...

And my fav, color work. LB brings us home the best color work.

Here he is with his peers. He is working with the color prisms (?)... (upper left)

Here they are playing musical chairs...

And finally, some of this sizing work...

Ellen's 1st Live Appearance!

I had it on night vision, so the color is weird, but the sounds are precious!

Baby Ellen at 4 Months

Here are some random things about our little 4 month old angel and then some 4 month old pictures...

- sleeps swaddled in her crib from about 8pm-7/8am
- wakes up once to nurse (started this around 3 months old - we think it may be because that is when she started going to bed at 8pm instead of 10pm, thus going to bed with less milk in her belly).
- takes a morning and afternoon nap, swaddled in her crib. Usually 10:00-11:30am and 1:00-3:00pm.
- loves to chew on her hands
- loves mommy and daddy and shows no preference, but seems to be in awe of Lucas. She giggles the most when he is around.
- smiles all the time, most often with her mouth wide open and her eyes shining
- seems to nurse for food purposes only and not comfort - she eats quickly and then sticks her hand back in her mouth
- really never cries, except however, when she's in that darn carseat! I have to time it right with fatique and hunger or else she looses it.
- when she wakes up she makes little girly sounds and gazes at her mobile. When she sees us her entire face lights up and she starts wiggling and kicking.
- she has a stork bite on the back of her neck at the bottom of her hairline.
- she can roll from back to tummy but not tummy to back yet.
- she likes to stand up with us holding her hands.
- she doesn't love her baby bathtub, so I've started taking her in the shower with me every few days and she seems to enjoy it.

Hanging with the kiddos...

We're all sick of winter and can't wait for the days to be longer and the weather warm enough to play outside, but as long as we have to be inside, we make the best of it. Each day around 4pm Jeff or I pick Lucas up from school. When he gets home we all gather in the family room and wind down a little before making dinner. Lucas works on his DVD skills (he can now work the T.V. and DVD player entirely on his own) by changing the movie every 10 min and Ellen works on her roll over skills. Mommy and Daddy try to relax a little (is that possible with 2 kids?) and enjoy them...

Here we are this afternoon. EC's outfit is way too big, but it kept her warm and snuggly today.

This Weekend

This weekend was pretty low key. Lucas was up early on Saturday, we played and then he took a long afternoon nap and so did Jeff, Ellen and I! I was so tired and felt so much better after a good nap. After naps we went to Lincoln's house - he used to live 2 miles away and now he only lives 1 mile away - yippee! They had a good time goofing off outside and then we went to dinner. I'm finally able to almost relax with Lucas at dinners. This time he was perfect in his seat until about 5 min before it was time to go and then he wanted to get down and crawl under the table, but who can blame him after sitting still for an hour! Sunday morning we made an eary morning trip to my favorite store, Tar ge', and then spent some time outside cutting grass and sticks with Lucas's scissors - his new favorite past time!

Lincoln and Lucas

Four Months Old

Dear Ellen,

At four months old, you are a complete joy to be around. Your daddy and I love you so much and are in awe of how sweet and amazing you are and how lucky we are to have you in our lives. I am sure that you have been here before because you are so content and at ease, as if being a baby is a piece of cake. You are absolutely no work at all. During my 12 week maternity leave I actually felt like I was on vacation. You are happy 99% of the time, and when the other 1% of the time rolls around all we have to do is pick you up or nurse you to make you happy again. Your smiles are contagious. I've come to expect that when we are out in public that you'll attract many strangers because of the way you engage and then pull them in with your smile. You smile with your eyes and, when you're really tickled, with your mouth wide open. And your giggles, awww, so wonderful. Most of your sounds are girly sounding, but your giggle is low and sounds like a little boy. You giggle the most when Lucas does something silly or when I tickle you. Speaking of Lucas, you keep your eyes on him when he's around - I think you really love him and I know that he adores you.

Thank you for being such a sweetheart. You are an amazing little girl.

I love you,

Mommy

She did it!

Ellen rolled over last night for the first time! It was very cool to see. We were in the playroom and she was on her back on the floor. She kept progressing so that she was on her side, but then she'd teeter there for a second and fall back on her back. She would squeal in frustration and then try it again. Her face was red and she was making little noises of determination. Finally she made it! We cheered and clapped for her and she smiled as if she was proud of herself. She did it 3 times last night and has been practicing this morning already. I have to laugh though because I was just reading about how the age a baby turns over is more a sign of their temperament than their physical capabilities. Well, that totally flies with my kids because Lucas turned over almost exactly one month before Ellen. So far it seems that my kids have totally different temperaments. I'll let you guess which is laid back and which is not ;-)

Postponed Valentine's Day

A few hours after my post on 2/13 I came down with food poisoning - yuck! For 24 hours the thought of the last thing I ate made me sick. It was so hard to be sick with two kids. And to make it worse, Lucas usually has to be woken up at 7:45, but he decided to get up at 5:30am on Saturday morning. So all day I was sick, but still had to nurse Ellen, and Jeff had to take care of me and play with Lucas on only 6 hours of sleep. By mid afternoon we were exhausted and had to reach out for help. I moan and groan a lot because we don't have any family in town, but I suddenly realized that we DO! I immediately picked up the phone and called Jill to see if Jeff and Lucas could come hang out there for the evening. It would give Jeff a break because Lucas would play with Max and Ben and of course would leave me with a quiet house (remember that Ellen is the easiest baby on the planet, so she was not a problem). Jill was amazing. She insisted that we pack a bag for Lucas and let him spend the night. I was so sick that I didn't even let myself feel bad for sending my little boy off, I just accepted. When I told Lucas that he was going to have a sleepover with Max and Ben he was SO excited! He must have said 100 times - "when we going to Max and Ben's?" I told him that we needed to pack his bag, so he grabbed his little Lucas bag that Jenn got him and started packing. When I inspected his bag all I found was one roll of toilet paper. Haha. Anyway, he ended up spending the night and LOVED it. Mike and Jill made a pallet for the boys next to their bed, but Lucas and Ben were goofing off, so they moved Lucas to their bed. Jill said that Lucas curled up next to Mike and fell asleep quickly. Jeff and I got there at 10am the next morning to pick him up and he hardly acknowledged us! He was having breakfast and then he hopped down and ran away with Max and Ben. Jill invited us to hang out there all day and have dinner, so we did. The boys rode on the motorized vehicles in their col-da-sac and had a great time. It was not what I had planned AT ALL for Valentine's Day weekend, but it turned out okay. And we are SO THANKFUL for Mike and Jill's help!

C-C-Cookies and C-C-Cards

I am so excited about Valentine's Day this year. It's just a fun day that you can play up or down, and is more fun with a toddler to be excited about it too. And to make it even more fun, the letter of the week at school is "C", so it fit perfectly with our idea to make cookies and cards! We all had a great time making the cookies. Too bad I'm an idiot and don't know how to space out the cookies properly... but Lucas didn't notice.

After the beautiful cookies (hehe) we made his Valentine cards for his school friends. I had pre-cut the supplies, so he and Jeff worked together to glue the hearts to the cards and then Lucas added some extra stickers to everyone's card. The last step was to assign a card to each friend... we laid the cards out and called out each friend's name and then he chose which card that friend got.

Here is the turkey getting ready to go to school today. His cookies and cards are beside him : )

4 Month Well Visit

Ellen will be 4 months old next week, but we had her well visit today for some reason. It was fun - I loved showing her off to Nurse Janet and Dr. Wiles. She was so funny during the visit. I undressed her down to her diaper and then was playing with her on the table while Janet asked me some questions. She was trying SO hard to roll over. She was grunting and pulling on the paper blanket, but couldn't make it. She did it again when Dr. Wiles turned her on her side to look in her ear. Janet called it her little routine and they said she was strong and persistent, but darn that right arm! Then the little show off, when Dr. Wiles was moving her legs and checking out her hips she giggled and coo'd at him.

We thought the bird was a chunky monkey, but we were wrong. She IS a little lady bird, weighing in at only 12lbs and 6.5oz, which puts her in the 30th percentile. This is down from the 50th percentile at 2 months old, but she was only 30% at birth, so we're no concerned at all. I mean look at her - she doesn't look skinny. But I guess she is because her length is 24.5", which is in the 65th percentile. Her head is avg at 16 (?) at 50%.

Poor angel baby had to get three shots, which totally ticked her off, but she smiled at Janet on the way out, so she holds no grudges.

So close! Move over arm!

The Lady Bird up close...

Sweet baby found her feet this week...

Two and a Half Year Celebration!

We forgot to celebrate Lucas's 2 1/2 years in October, so we celebrated this weekend. He requested a blue cupcake and a blue candle... and also a blue string for his helium balloon. He enjoyed us singing to him and blowing out the candle. Little cutie!

Friday Nights

A few weeks ago we met two other couples that have toddlers at a local pizza place. It was really fun - always a little stressful - but fun. I'm into routines lately, so I suggested to Jeff that we try and eat out on Friday nights - either just us or with another family. This past wknd we met the Rays and the Rollmans. The boys got a little restless, so we invited the Rollmans to our house for a much needed glass of wine (Charles was sleepy). Pierson and Lucas had a great time playing chase and acting silly!

And apparently didn't think it was cool that I made them stop for a picture...

But did think it was neat to pretend they were asleep on the couch...

And then jump off like monkeys!

"Enough mommy..."

Growing Fast

Warning - you may tear up when you look at these pictures - at least I did! Lucas, please stop growing up so quickly!!! Jeff and I were looking at the blog tonight while I searched for this old picture and I was shocked at how different Lucas looked even a year ago. It just seems like he's always been the way he is now until I look back at old pictures. Sigh....

Anyway, the intent of this post was to comment on how fast he is growing emotionally, not physically. Rewind back to a little over three months ago when Ellen was about to be born. I was losing sleep over the fact that Lucas would have to be away from his mommy for 2 nights. It ended up he did just fine over at Max and Ben's and actually really had a good time. Now flash forward to this weekend. We had a great few hours at Max and Ben's house on Sunday. When it was time to leave Lucas protested so we jokingly said he could stay there. His response - "My stay here! My spend night with Max and Ben!"

So in 3 months he went from mommy's boy to see ya later mom and dad!

More proof that he's growing up...

Look at me!

Our Little Valentine (one of them)

A "My Lucas" Boo-Boo

Let me explain. Lucas LOVES for us to chase him around the downstairs. He calls it "my Lucas" because one night Jeff and I were pretending like we were fighting over him by each of us pulling him and saying, "this is my Lucas. No, this is MY Lucas." Now he says, "Dada, let's play my Lucas!" as he runs away. On Thursday night Jeff was chasing him and he tripped and fell head first into the island. He screamed for about 30 seconds and then wanted to see his head in the mirror. He was quite proud of his goose egg. We were pretty sure he didn't need medical attention, but just to be sure we visited our neighbor, Nurse Michelle, across the street. Lucas lucked out and left her house with some Lightning McQueen bedroom slippers. While we were at her house, this was the conversation:

Michelle: "Lucas, do you know who this is?"

Lucas: "Litnin Maqueen."

Michelle: "Do you want these slippers?"

Lucas: "No. My not have Litnin Maqueen. My have Wally, Racoons, and........ Monsters. And Nemo! Nemo broken. It scratched."

After filling Michelle in on our Pixar collection, he graciously accepted the slippers and we were on our way.

Why not?

This was one day last week. We had already eaten dinner, played and taken a bath. This seemed like a creative way to spend a half hour. If you want to try it at home, all you need is an old electric toothbrush, lotion, windex and a rag. After all of the fun you end up with a sparkling clean mirror (not shown here!).