October 2011

I haven't written in months, and I'm not even going to try to recap what has happened right now, but I need to record some things about the kids so we can remember all the funny things they do in the future.

Gabe
3 years & almost 4 months

I asked him what his favorite foods were last week, and here is his answer: "Cupcakes, fruit loops, chocolate, cheese sticks." Funny, we don't give him much of that stuff... at least he listed one semi-healthy thing.  He actually eats pretty much everything we give him, as long as it is room temp and not spicy.

Takes one nap, in the afternoon.  Learned how to pedal his tricycle this summer, and can mostly keep up with us when we go for a walk.  Loves to collect sticks on our walks.  Loves to go on walks and visit his friends Kimberlee and Ethan.  He's very friendly with all kids, although if it came to sharing his Thomas train, that would probably be a no-go. 

Says "okie-dokie-a-chokie".  Has been calling me his "baby mommy" and "little mommy".  Regularly says stuff like "What are you doing, Mommy?"  Oh!  Uhhhh... dat's cool, Mom."  Gabe knows mouth, nose, eyes, head, hair, ears, hands, tummy, and fingers in Spanish (our neighbor came over and did Spanish lessons for a while during the summer).  He also knows a few animals and random other stuff.

Gabe's teachers at daycare (he goes just a couple of hours each week) are always impressed at how smart he is.  He knows all his shapes, colors, counts to 20 sometimes, can accurately count objects (less than about 8), knows his ABCs, can identify all of them and most of their sounds, and knows tons of songs. 

Sings Thomas the Tank Engine songs and always requests them at bedtime.  Actually sings a lot of songs, all day long.  Loves Thomas shows, Dora, Caillou, Blue's Clues, and even "the purple dinosaur".  Yes, I let my children watch shows (on Netflix).
95% potty trained during the day, nighttime and naptime are another story.
One day at naptime I gave him his Thomas the Tank engine train and he said "Thomas is my best friend!"  Another day we had played and I gave him lots of hugs and kisses at naptime and he said "Mommy, you are my best friend!"  Melted my heart.

Naughty stuff: Gabe recently dumped a whole roll of TP in the toilet.  A few days later, he unrolled a whole roll all over the floor.  Not to much later, he pulled out every wet wipe from the wipes box.  He sometimes likes to chew on the wipes. (yuck) He and Luke are partners in crime and they like to shred wipes, TP, napkins, anything they can get their hands on.  They like to drink their drinks and spit them out- sometimes on each other (this is mostly just Gabe).  They like to pull things out of the kitchen drawers and cupboards, sometimes the garbage.  I have locks on the cupboards and the garbage, but they always manage to find something semi-dangerous that isn't locked up, so the kitchen is off limits, and we have a gate that closes it off. 

Luke
18 months

Sings I Am a Child of God and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (somewhat intelligibly) on his own.  Loves music and loves to dance.
Goes to sleep really easily most of the time, as long as he has his binky, blanket, drink, and a stuffed animal.  Starting to take only an afternoon nap and not his morning nap.  Loves all stuffed animals, but especially his zebra, cow, & blue teddy bear.  Cuddly, but he's a screamer- he has an ear-splitting scream that he's not afraid to use at any time if he wants to get his point across.  Started nursery last week- ran right in, played, no screaming at all.  What a relief for all of us, because church has been... not fun... with him for several months (maybe 6).  Hopefully nursery will continue to be a good thing for him.

Blows kisses and waves when daddy leaves every morning for work.  Loves cheese, bread, bananas, apples, applesauce, yogurt, all cereal, all sugary stuff (but usually not ice cream), most fruits, all crackers, pizza.  Sometimes likes broccoli and carrots (in ranch), beans, mexican food.  Currently hates noodles and rice (texture thing), usually peanut butter and most other sandwiches.

Luke loves to give kisses, but this time he was almost eating my cheek!

Says: Peeaboo (peek-a-boo), dit-de (binky), a-wight (alright), ok, ah-done (all done), ah-keen-ow (all clean now), poopoo, bum, eye, nose, mow (mouth), eah (ear), Babe/ Babiel (Gabe/ Gabriel), baby, Guke (Luke), mommy, daddy, Paw (Grandpa), Cah-kin (Collin), Ca-ya (Cara), Sessa (Marissa), Anna, Gook (book, drink, milk), eat, see-yal (cereal), nah-nuh (banana), be-ba (zebra), see ya, hi, hey-o (hello), bye bye, Ay-yuh-you (I love you), safe, don't, mine, want it, nie-ie (night-night), teeeee (teeth- wants to brush teeth), cah (car) goowuck/ cahck (truck), ah-side (outside), no, yes, yeah, uh-huh, uh-uh, no-way, icky, suuuuum (as in- I want some), lion, goggy (doggy), ti-tat (cat/ kitty cat), eh-pane (airplane), tain (Train), wow-ow (flower), messy, one-two-tee (1-2-3), sooooo (show- as in I want to watch a show).

He probably says more but I can't think of anything else right now.

Luke responds to most things we say to him- he understands and follows commands (if he wants to) and replies to questions.

At 16 months he:
Weighed 22.3 pounds (now he weighs about 25 lb.)- the 15th percentile.
Was 30.5 inches tall- 22nd percentile.
Had a head circumference of 19.2- the 86th percentile, down from the 96th when he was 9 months old!