One evening early last month, the kids and I wanted to take advantage of the warm November weather but time was not on our side since it's been getting dark earlier and earlier. We headed across the street to a little nature trail so Lucy could do a "nature walk." She filled her little bag with lots of nature's treasures - rocks, a feather, interesting leaves, pretty flower petals, sticks, a piece of mulch - while Max pulled the wagon around and acted like his wild-man self...at one point Lucy jumped back in and Max was actually able to pull her a little!
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| So cute! I love watching her be big sister-ish! |
A few days later, Dave and I took them to the Children's Museum to play. I thought we'd go to the Lego exhibit, too, but we didn't make it (there were a lot of people there that day, the line was already fairly long 30 minutes before the exhibit even opened and it wasn't free with our membership like I'd initially thought). The kids love it there, though!
This curious little gentleman is now 19 months old!
I took him to see Dr. Brokaw at 18 months and though it was a well visit, Maxy had a bit of a cold. Dr Brokaw said he wouldn't be surprised if it went into croup because it was going around and sure enough, a couple of days later he was barking like a seal.
Other than the cold, Max was given a clean bill of health - here were his stats:
Height - 32.25 inches (46%)
Weight - 27.81 (73%)
The croup cleared up (with the help of the humidifier) after only a couple of days and he was on the mend - but only briefly. He was almost better but then the cold seemed to reappear. A couple of times he got a very low-grade fever and he just wasn't himself. By the time it reached two weeks, Dave took him to the doctor where we found out he had an ear infection! He hadn't had one since the end of June. He got an antibiotic and I took him to the chiropractor and the night after he "got his back cracked" as Dave puts it, he finally slept through the night for the first time in two weeks! Dave said, "I could kiss Dr. Hogue right on the mouth!"
He loves to paint like his sister did (and still does) and enjoyed painting his feet - just like Lucy always used to! He loves coloring - he's always finding markers (which he knows how to get the lids off of! Aagh!), crayons, and chalk. He knows where to color/draw but sometimes gets marker on his clothes without even realizing it.
He's starting to enjoy books more, though he doesn't often let us read an entire story before leaving to get more books or closing the book or taking the book out of our hands...one of these days he's going to get curious about how the story ends and let us finish...right?!
He's a good sleeper (when he's healthy) and doesn't he look so cute while sleeping!?
He has a lot of teeth and we recently started having him brush them - he loves brushing his chompers and I think he feels super cool that he gets to do so. I recently brought out the potty chair and he's been sitting on it - Dr. Brokaw said just sitting on it with his clothes on would be a great start...once, I took his diaper off of him and he was pretty weirded out...
This isn't necessarily a good thing but he really likes watching tv! In the evenings, once he has his pjs on and has his milk, he'll point to the tv...it winds him down before bed.
He's still pretty obsessed with his B (pacifier) and I plan to work on it over the Christmas break - B is for bedtime only...wish me luck!
He's really starting to talk a lot more. He's always communicated fine - he gets his point across, let me assure you! But he's got a whole list of words now:
Making a dog sound was one of his first "words" but he can now make the following animal sounds:
Woof
Moo
Who who
Neigh
Roar
Meow
Some other words he now knows and uses:
More Shovel
Drink Done
Mama Hi
Daddy Mm Hmm (he says this constantly for "yes")
Fumble Wow
Uh oh Woah
Ball Hohoho
Bye Pop (for lollpop or popsicle)
Elmo Blanky
Baby
He loves taking baths (but he hates having his hair washed). He started playing a little game with me in the tub where he splashes his face and I am supposed to kind of freak out - "Oh no!" - and he cracks up and I dab at his face with a dry washcloth...super silly!
He has another game he plays with me in shopping carts - he'll put his hand under the bar and I'm supposed to think he's stuck...then he'll pull his hand "free" and laugh hysterically. He's a very goofy, silly, playful little sweetie!
And this little lady is growing up so much lately! First of all, physically! Suddenly she seems so tall to me and most her pants and leggings are getting seriously short - I can't even hide it in her cowgirl boots anymore!
She's also maturing and finding things funny and ways to make us laugh. She can be pretty sassy, too...though she's also still our sweet little baby girl!
She insisted in riding in her pink car a couple of weeks ago - we got SO MUCH use out of this thing over the years but I really think she might be getting too big for it...?
And look - Maxy showed her how much fun it is to hang out inside the toybox! She's cozied up in there with a blanket and a magazine! Goof!
Bedtime continues to be hit-or-miss but with a lot more "hits." We still do the charting and she loves getting rewards but sometimes she just can't control herself, I suppose...
We're having a little success with our Elf on the Shelf (EJ) keeping an eye on her but she still has her bad nights.
I've been working on her outbursts with her - when she feels mad, I encourage her to go to her room to scream or act crazy or whatever she needs to do in private rather than throwing her holy fit with us or Max...it seems to be sinking in.
She's very crafty and will tell anyone who will listen that she's "an artist." She doesn't even paint all over herself anymore while painting - she's too intent on her masterpiece!
Blue sprinkles everywhere....sooooooooo funny!
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| Finally...a finished product! |
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| She loves baths, too, and has gotten a lot better about hair washing time |
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| Lucy and I went to the Levee to see The Peanuts Movie and to look at the Christmas decorations! |
Happy Thanksgiving! We made our annual turkey cookies again but also made pilgrim hat cookies, too! (Fudge stripe cookies with a Reese Cup on top and a mini M&M for the hat buckle).
Lucy and Daddy were matchers! So cute!
We put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving as usual...but this year we got a new tree. Our old one is very full and fat and takes up a lot of space in our already tiny and filled-with-stuff living room. This skinny tree is much more appropriate for our space.
St. Nick visited! It was while Maxy wasn't feeling quite himself so he wasn't as into it as we'd hoped but Lucy was excited.
My mom and I took the kids to see Santa at the mall. It went much better than we expected! I thought Max might actually sit on his lap (and I brought Hershey Kisses to occupy him while on Santa's lap) but I was wrong. I thought Lucy would freak the freak out but luckily, I was wrong about that, too. It was a very happy medium - neither child would get on (or too near!) his lap, but neither child cried, either! Oh and they both think Hershey Kisses are yummy...
We all had the most fun after Santa - doing some shopping and having dinner.
Getting a good pic of the two of them together is tricky business, indeed!
We went to the Newport library to see Santa again...and again, neither kid wanted anything to do with his lap...and our friend Ms. Joan (who we see for PJ Time on Tuesdays nights at the library) took this picture but chopped off my head...funny stuff!!! I should just crop me, Max, and Santa's jeans out of this picture and it would be pretty cute!
Last Saturday was beautiful and warm so we decided to try to hit the Festival of Lights at the zoo. We went when it was still light and after passing a few zoo lots that were already full, we finally found a space to park in one and headed in. It was pretty crowded on such a gorgeous night but we had fun!
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| Maxy wrote his letter to Santa! |
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| We had fun watching this little armadillo named Bocce run around and around |
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| GranJan helped Maxy mail his letter to Santa |
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| This picture cracks me up! Lucy and her crazy eyes...that little girl backing into our picture... the memory of hearing her family yell "sorry!!" and trying to pull her away in time...good times! |
Maxy was worn out by the time we left!
These two are getting funnier and funnier together...they feed off of each other! Silly faces galore!
We are ready for Christmas! Lucy's class is having their Christmas party on Friday and I'll be attending and then the kids and I plan to check out Scuba Santa at the Newport Aquarium. We have two Christmases this weekend - at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Saturday and at my Uncle Mike & Aunt Judi's on Sunday for my dad's side of the family...then we're all off for two weeks and will surely have plenty of holiday adventures!
