9 Months

I think the months are getting shorter on us! How are we this close to a year already?! Your ninth month included your first Thanksgiving, your brothers' birthday, and the start of many Christmas festivities.

• You weigh 20 lbs even, 79th percentile and are 28 inches tall, 63rd percentile. You are still in size 3 diapers, squeezing into some 6 month sized clothing, but more appropriately wearing 9 and 12 month sizes now. 
• You were a dream sleeper as an infant, but not so much now. We are lucky to get six hours in a row at night. But, we can't complain too much because you wake to nurse for about ten minutes and then it's right back down. The doctor keeps suggesting we let you "cry it out." While we did that for your brothers, it just seems faster and easier to nurse you and get back to sleep, then to be awake listening to you cry for ten minutes and then having to be awake to feed you. You are also still sleeping downstairs in our room. So when you wake to see Mommy right next to you, it makes it hard for you to fall back asleep. Plus, I may have the mentality that you're our baby and this is our last time for each stage. You won't be waking to nurse at five years old, so what's a few more months of these quiet moments together in the middle of the night. You also aren't the greatest napper either, but we don't blame that on you though. You usually get one decent nap a day (lasting anywhere from one to three hours). A second nap is an occasional occurrence. Your schedule revolves around everyone else's schedule, so you have to be more flexible. The plus side is you never fuss. So even when you go without a nap or just a few catnaps, you'd never know from your mood. You are always so chill, a go with the flow kinda gal. You are able to put yourself to sleep both for naps and bedtime, but bedtime is your Daddy's favorite time with you. He loves to let you fall asleep on his chest and hold you for a few quiet hours before we go to bed too. I love how smitten he is with you.
• You are about over the baby food and are very determined to feed yourself. We've thrown a few more table foods at you this month. You love to feed yourself small banana pieces, cooked carrots, and green beans now. You still nurse every 3 hours or so as well. We are at the "fun" stage of nursing filled with constant distractions and looking around, while trying to keep you focused long enough to nurse for at least ten minutes. This is even more difficult with two big brothers running around. 
• You sign "more" and "all done." We have introduced you to "please" and "thank you," this month, but still working on you using those signs. You try to say "more" when signing too. You also say and call us "mama" and "dada." 
• You love basketball and have been to a couple of Uncle Kye's games now. You watch the entire game, following the ball and clapping with the crowd. Daddy was watching basketball on TV the other night and when you noticed, you started clapping, almost like you know, this is what we do when we watch basketball! Do we already have another sports fanatic in the family?
• You are no longer our toothless wonder. You have your bottom two center teeth and are just adorable!
• Your transportation of choice now is....WALKING!!! How?! How is this possibly that before even turning 9 months old, you preferred walking over crawling?! And even more impressive is that you are actually a really solid walker already too. You know when you're about to fall and stop to steady yourself. We haven't really ever seen you wipe out either; if you can't steady yourself, you just slowly plop to your bottom and try again.
• You can stand up now without pulling yourself up on anything either. So when toddling around, if you fall, you can pop right back up no matter where you are. 
• You are still just as sweet and pleasant as ever. We say all the time, has there ever been a happier, easier baby?! You are just a doll, Char, and we adore you more than you'll ever know.

 

4 Years Old

4 years old - and what a big fourth year of life it has been! You made all your fourth year memories in our new house, you welcomed your new sister to the family, you had two trips to the beach and fell in love with the beach (just this week asked, "Can we go back to the beach, pwease?"), you have started another year of preschool, and so many more. Your daddy and I will often look at each other and say, "Who are these little people?! Where did our babies go?!" Each new stage of life has always been fun to experience, along with new challenges and your fourth year was no exception. Holding real-life conversations with you is so wonderful, "How was school, Mom?" and "How was work, Dad?" are usually some of the first words out of your mouths when we get home. With this growth and maturity has come a need for independence too, wanting to do things on your own, wanting to make your own decisions and resist being told what to do, and needing some control. All in all, it has been an incredible fourth year. So without further ado, let's get to it!

• You are now 37 pounds, 64th percentile, 41.5 inches, 77th percentile, and wearing 4T clothes (it's still amazes me that you have completely caught up and in your age apporpiate clothes! You'd never guess you were a 3 lb, 30 weeker preemie)
• You have the sweetest, most sensitive soul. We have recently been reading, "How to Be a Bucket Filler," on repeat. You have been so focused on being a "bucket filler," and making others happy. You now greet your teacher with a cheerful, "Hi!" to fill her bucket before class. You have seen things laying around the house and will pick them up (not your things either) and proudly exclaim, "Here Mom, let me fill your bucket! I put dis away for you!" You have taken such pride in making others happy and filling their heart with joy. It truly could make me weep when I see this. We love your heart, Wiley!
• Your Curious George nickname, since being a baby, still holds true. You have to know what everything is. "Don't touch," "Don't reach," "Is that your's bud? Ok than don't pick it up," could be played on repeat all day. And it's not out of misbehaving or mischievous, it's just genuine curiosity. You have a need to know! You love to tinker, build and explore how things work. If we sit back and watch, I swear we can see the wheels turning in your head as you make sense of your world around you. I can't wait to see what you do with this curiosity with how things work as you grow. 
• You may look and act just like your Daddy, but don't be fooled, you have a lot of your Momma's traits too....which may be why we butted heads a little more this year. You are a strong-willed, determined, somewhat stubborn little boy. You want to do things your way without being told how to do it. You want to do things yourself without someone doing it for you. And if you can't, meltdowns may follow. Unfortunately for you, I'm a little strong-willed, determined, and somewhat stubborn too! Hence, the clash of personalities. In just the last two months or so, you have gotten so much better at controlling your emotions though! Instead of me being so stubborn with you and wanting to make decisions for you (decisions as simple as what spoon to use for breakfast), I have learned to let go of my control too. When appropriate, we let you make those decisions that are so important to you. In the mornings, you now get to look through the spoons to pick the one that you'd like to use. Together, we compromise and pick outfits together. You have also learned though, that sometimes the adults need to make the decisions (like which route we are going to drive to get home) and you have become much more flexible with this. So while these traits can be challenging at four-years old, I can't wait to see what great things you do with it as you grow. 
• You love to tickle things to calm yourself down. You have "tickle sheets," "tickle pants" (super soft jammie pants), and some of Mommy's clothes make great "tickle shirts." When I wear a "tickle shirt," you will follow me around tickling the ends of my shirt. You must have something to tickle to fall asleep too. Recently, you tickled gigantic holes into your two favorite tickle pants. We were panicked that you wouldn't be able to fall asleep without these jammies. But the mature little (nearly) four-year-old that you were, you said, "It ok, Mom. You can throw them away. I just tickle my sheets." 
• You have an incredible, creative imagination. I love to just sit and listen to you play. You become completely transported into the world you have created.
• You have more energy than we know what to do with! You have two speeds that you go through life with: fast and faster. With these two speeds, that means lots of booboos. I tease that I want to just cover you from head to toe in bubble wrap to protect you better.
• Dinnertime has become a little more challenging, as you want to just get up and play with Daddy who is finally home. But when we do get you to sit and eat, you seem to be our more adventurous eater. You like to try anything and so badly want to like everything. Before you've really even tasted a new food, you exclaim, "I like it!" The facial expressions that follow cue us in as to if you really did like it or not. 
• You love letters and numbers. You now know almost all of your letters and some of the letter sounds too. You can spell and write your name! You love to count and can count 29 objects. 
• Oh our little Wiley Bug, how we love you so! You are so fun and keep us on our toes! Happy Birthday, Bug! 

 

• You did it!! You finally broke the barrier and now weigh 30 pounds! You weigh 32 pounds, 19th percentile, 40 inches, 44th percentile, and wearing 3T clothes.
• You are our affectionate cuddle bug. You love to snuggle up, sit on our laps, and tickle our thumbs. I love that you ask to cuddle with us. You need to just get your little fix throughout the day and then you can go on with what you were doing.
• You are our rule follower (although you've been testing these boundaries a little more recently). You know what you are allowed and not allowed to do. If anyone breaks these rules, you are quick to let an adult know.
• You are very empathetic and worry about others. You have the sense to realize feelings may be hurt if certain comments or actions are made. You ask about others (especially family members) often, checking on how they're doing and feeling. 
• Along those lines, you can not be given one thing or do one thing without saying, "What about Wy?" It can be as small as, "Hey Ry, want to run to the basement with me?" You will answer with a shout to your brother who is upstairs, nowhere around, "Hey Wy! You want to go to the basement with us?!" I have never witnessed such a young kiddo so focused on making sure everything is fair. The bond you have with your brother is beautiful and I love how you care for him.
• You have an incredible, creative imagination which sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate between reality and imagination. You talk to us constantly about "your office" and what you did at your office that day. Apparently you coach baseball and basketball there, you have a refrigerator there with drinks and food to eat, you fix cars, you work there, you are a teacher there, and you can sleep there with your bed. 
• You are our physical little boy. You love all sports, but especially baseball. You like to play rough and wrestle, especially with your Daddy. You take your physicality out on your toys and play rough with them too. You are more destructive, knocking things over and hitting them (even to your brothers pleas to stop). You can also become physical when upset: stomping feet, hitting things, etc. Rarely do you take it out on people, but when especially frustrated you have hit or even bit your brother.
• You may look and act just like me, but don't be fooled, you have a lot of your Daddy's traits too....you are so outgoing and suddenly want to talk to everyone. Walking through the grocery store has become quite interesting as you now try to greet anyone we pass and ask how they're doing. I love how social and outgoing you are, but for your shy Momma it has taken me some getting used to! You are teaching me how to interact and make small talk with strangers too - something that could've given me a near panic attack in the past.
• You love letters and numbers. You now know almost all of your letters and some of the letter sounds too. You can spell and write your name! You love to count and can count 11 objects. 
• Gosh we just adore you, Ryan! You bring so much joy to our home. Happy Birthday, Monkey!

Super Readers - To the Book Club!

Saturday kicked off the birthday celebrations with your birthday party. We've been counting down for over a week now, so when that last paper chain came off today, you were both excited. "It's our party, it's our party, woohoo, woohoo!" was sung all day long. You were so excited to get your Super Why party underway and finally play your "secret, surprise game."

It's always nice to have family in our home, but especially on an evening like today where they are here to celebrate and love you. Our home was filled with loud shouts of cousins playing and giggling! I think I say this every year, but I just love that all your family is right here with you. Growing up away from my own family, I didn't have those relationships with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. So to see that you all get to experience that is so wonderful for me. You boys are so very loved by so many! It was a busy, fun day and great way to kickoff the birthday weekend!

 

  

 

Celebrate!

Today we had our first parent-teacher conferences of the 3-year old school year. It's such a different experience being on the parent side of these conferences vs the teacher side! You want so badly to hear that your kids are shining the way you know they can. You want to know your kids are being loved and taken care of during the short time they are away from you.

So to sit across the table today and hear such loving words from your teacher made me so proud! At (almost!!) four-years-old you are still compulsive and learning how to control your actions. To hear that you still able to be so successful, loving, and kind makes us so proud! It was also so wonderful to know how loved you are by your teacher. Already she knows each of your hearts and knows just what you each need to succeed.

With this great news, we had to have an afternoon to celebrate. It was a beautiful, fall day that called for an afternoon picnic and time  to play on the playground. Keep shining, Little Ones!

 

 

 

8 Months

Well Little Squish, another month has come and gone! We have been busy celebrating fall and Halloween this month.

• No official weight this month, but we would guess you are close to 20 pounds now. You are still wearing size 3 diapers and size 6 and 9 month clothing.
• Your schedule hasn't changed month this past month. You still take a solid 2 (or more if we're lucky) in the late morning / early afternoon. Occasionally, you will squeeze in a second nap, but this is more of a catnap. You still aren't sleeping through the night and will wake for a quick 10-15 minute nursing. With the close of this eighth month, I do believe it's time to start transitioning to your own room. When you stopped sleeping through the night the first time, it was because you were too big for your rock-n-play. Once transitioned to your pack-n-play, you slept through the night again. So maybe, you need more space? Or maybe you just need to be in a room where when you wake you aren't staring at your food source and will put yourself back to sleep.
• You are still eating about every three hours, with some solids for breakfast and dinner. You love to eat your food now, especially when you can feed yourself. You like to pick up small pieces of bananas and cooked carrots to feed yourself. You do a pretty good job of it too!
• We have been introducing you to sign language too and this month you started to use it! You sign "all done" when you are finished eating your breakfast or dinner. You will also occasionally sign "more," when we ask you if you would like more.
• You are a cruising machine and incredibly confident in your abilities. You can now stand up without really pulling up on anything (you like to use the wall to guide you). You can also stand for more than 10 seconds at a time without holding on to any supports. You are even beginning to brave taking those first steps! This month, you have moved from coffee table to couch, letting go for just a moment to get to the next surface.
• You are still an adorable, toothless little girl.
• We love to listen to you babble, especially as you start imitating the sounds and inflections you hear around you.
• You are a clapping machine this month. Anytime you hear "yay," you grin and clap. 
• You love to play with your toys, as well as your brother's toys. You have learned the art of dumping out your toy bin, which seems to be one of your favorite games. You also like when Wy or Ry build block towers for you so that you can knock them down.
• Your sleep cue has stuck - you are officially an ear tickler! It used to be that you would tickle your ear while falling asleep, but like your brothers' sleep cues, it seems to be growing into more of a soothing pastime. I catch you tickling your ear when nursing now too.  

I say it every month, but I just don't know how we are here already! You are such a sweetheart and the four of us adore you more than we thought possible!

 

 

 

 

Fall Break

To sum up fall break in two pictures, it would look something like this:

Whew, we survived quite the fall break. I had been looking forward to this week off to relax and recharge our batteries, while having a little fun. Instead, we kicked off the week with a very scary accident with you Wiley, followed by a double dose of hand, foot, and mouth disease - that even caused us to miss out on trick-or-treating. Instead, we headed to Tse Tse and Zsu Zsu's so you could at least say, "trick-or-treat," at two houses. You were too sick and grumpy to even bother putting your costumes on (yet at the last second, decided to throw on a combination of dress-up clothes!). It wasn't quite what we hoped for, but thankfully it all happened on a week I already had off of work, so that I could be home with you.

 

 

General Butler: Trick-or-Treat

Every October, we head up to a nearby campground to join Pappy and Carl at their campsite for a night of family, fun, and trick-or-treat. This year was no exception. Last night, we headed up for a fun night spent with your cousins, playing and trick-or-treating. Family traditions seem to get a little more fun as you guys continue to grow, getting excited about these traditions too.