12 Month Update

One year already? It went by so fast! I've come a long way since those newborn colicky days. Every day and every month just keeps getting better and better! 

Stats:

I weigh 18 lbs, 6 oz. (9th percentile) and measure 29 inches long (12th percentile). I'm a small kid and although my height is back on track since my last appointment, my weight dropped down a curve. The doc said it's probably from all that moving around I've been doing lately. His orders were to feed me fattier foods (ie. avocados, yogurt, cheese) and don't stop feeding me until I indicate I want to stop. Best doctor's orders ever! 

Developments:

I'm officially walking! It started happening about a week before my first birthday and now I can easily walk across a room without falling down. I still take breaks for longer distances and sometimes, crawling is still faster. But I'm enjoying this new found mobility!

I go barefoot about 95 percent of the time because I still hate wearing socks or shoes!

Along with the walking, I have this constant desire to stand. It's impossible to take me anywhere because I refuse to sit still. I'm always trying to stand up in shopping carts, swings, restaurant high chairs - and if I'm not trying to stand I'm twisting my whole body around trying to see what's behind me. I get so easily distracted, it definitely does not make eating out any fun for Mommy or Daddy. 

In terms of verbal development, I've said the words mama, dada, hi, and no. I had been repeating the sound "ma-ma-ma" for awhile, but one evening Daddy was carrying me and put me down, and I crawled straight toward Mommy and said "mama." Mommy is pretty convinced that was the first time I said "mama" and meant it. 

Here are some other random things I've started to do this month:

• roll my arms when Mommy chants Pat-a-cake
• say "hi" and wave to everyone I see in the classroom when we drop Kaitlyn off at preschool
• charm everyone with my smile, especially people working the cash register at stores, and people waiting in line behind us
• splash my hands in the bathtub when prompted
• put a telephone to my ear
• throw or roll a ball toward you
• dunk a ball into my toy basketball hoop
• explore playgrounds. I've finally stopped trying to eat the tan bark all the time, so Mommy lets me check out the play structures and try to climb up the slides. I still need to stop trying to eat the sand in sandboxes though.

Eating:

Eating is as messy as ever, as I insist on feeding myself and refuse to wear bibs. I recently started deliberately dropping food onto the floor during meals. I love to look down to see where it lands, and then watch Brady gobble it up. Sometimes I even look around first to make sure Brady is nearby, then make sure to drop the food in his direction.

This month we discovered that I have a peanut allergy. I ate a tiny amount of peanut butter from the crust of Kaitlyn's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. About twenty minutes later, as we were picking Kaitlyn up from preschool, my face had broken out into hives around my mouth. My eyes were itchy and got really swollen from me rubbing them. The nurse hotline told Mommy to call 911 or take me to the ER immediately. Fortunately one of the mothers at preschool is a pediatrician and was able to check me out right there. She gave me some Benadryl and all the swelling eventually went down. Now I'm supposed to avoid peanuts until at least next year.

Weaning:
I made it an entire year of exclusively breastfeeding! It wasn't exactly what Mommy had planned, but that's just how it ended up. We're still trying to figure out what to do next. I love nursing, and it's a quick solution to my night or early morning wakings. All Mommy has to do is give me the boob and I'm down for another one to two hours. On the other hand, Mommy would like me to be a little less dependent on her, especially during the day. They started to give me cow's milk from a straw cup but I still haven't shown much interest.

Sleep:
After six months of sleeping in a Pack n' Play, I have FINALLY moved back to the crib in the bedroom. It took a few sleeps to adjust to being back in there, but I'm finally sharing a room with my sister again. Bedtime is a bit challenging. Before, I was sleeping in a pitch dark room with the door closed and the white noised turned up, while Kaitlyn did the opposite (door wide open, hallway lights on, and a bunch of other nightlights). In order to make it work, I go down first with the lights off and door closed, Kaitlyn does her bedtime routine in Mommy and Daddy's room, and then they sneak her into the room after I'm asleep and tuck her in, leaving the door open and a faint light on outside. There have been a few times when I've woken up angry, and my crying in turn has woken her up, but hopefully it won't be long before we can enjoy being roommates.

My naps are still pretty scheduled, with the longer morning nap starting around 9:30-10am, and the afternoon nap around 3:30-4pm. I'm usually so tired by 10am that I probably won't be consolidating to one nap anytime soon.

Disposition:

As Mommy and Daddy both like to put it, I am one crazy little kid. It is always nonstop action from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I am curious, adventurous, and persistent. Those three traits combined equals trouble. I love getting into everything, especially places I don't belong. My favorites are the shoe closet and Brady's bed. I also try to climb everything. If someone leaves the stepladder out, I will try to climb it over and over. Basically, if it is dirty or dangerous, I am there.

Overall, I am a very happy baby. Always smiling and always observing. I love staring at strangers and once I'm comfortable enough, will flash them a huge grin. Mommy predicts that I will have a pretty outgoing personality when I am older, at least compared to Kaitlyn. 

Likes: the tags on my muslin blankets (and those blankets in general. I have become attached to them more than ever - they are my comfort items!)

Dislikes: diaper changes (probably mentioned before, but I really do hate them)

Birthday crown at Little Wonders

Oops, we didn't get any photos of me and Brady together this month, but here's a video of our typical daily interaction.

Four (and three quarters)

This was supposed to be Kaitlyn's four-year annual update, but I'm so late it's embarrassing. I should have just given up, but I have all these photos sitting in my computer that I've been meaning to post. Kaitlyn has about three months to go before she turns five(!), so here's what the fours have been like.

Stats:
At her four year appointment, she weighed 32 lbs and measured 3 ft, 2 in. Not much has changed since then. She's always been on the small side, but did go through quite a growth spurt before she turned four, especially height-wise. One day all her pants suddenly seemed shorter! She's always been a size behind, so can still fit into size 3T clothing. Her feet are another story. I took her shopping in the fall for some new shoes for preschool, and discovered that her shoe size had jumped from size 7 to size 9! Who knows how long she had been cramming her feet into all those tight shoes?

Preschool:
Kaitlyn loves going to preschool and always runs eagerly into the classroom. She's come such a long way from her first year, when she used to cling to me and cry every time I left. Now she's so eager to hug and kiss me goodbye. Her teachers tell us that she is outgoing, funny, and always participates in class. She loves to learn and looks forward to talking about the calendar, weather, and show-and-tell during each class.

She started being able to write her own name early on in the school year. She knows all her (capital) letters and can write out words as I spell them out. She can also do simple math problems as long as she can count them on her fingers (ie. she can't go past 5+5).

At music class. She was proud that she could write her own name tag.

Activities:
Since preschool started in the fall, Kaitlyn had stints in soccer, ballet, and music class. Although she enjoyed them all, she didn't love them enough to want to continue. She enjoyed soccer up until they started playing actual games, then realized it was not so fun when she didn't have her own ball to kick. I guess she's not very competitive. Music class got boring after a ten week session - she was so excited to take a class with Colin, but it got old pretty quickly after doing the same routines every week (I don't blame her, I got bored too). And I'm not sure why she didn't love ballet class, but after a few weeks she asked to stop going. So now, we're left with her good ol' swim classes, which have been part of her Saturday morning routine for over three years now!

Interests:
If there's one thing Kaitlyn loves, it's her animals. She has such a giant collection of stuffed animals and rarely leaves home without bringing one with her. Her animals are her friends, and are almost always involved with her play, whether it's playing school, throwing a pretend birthday party, or having a picnic. She loves all real animals too and never passes up an opportunity to pet a dog walking down the street, visit a petting zoo, or ride a pony.

Although a lot of girls at preschool are into princesses, she was never really into them. She shows interest and asks for princess toys once in awhile, but then rarely plays with the few that she gets. I was happy when she said she wanted to dress up as a doctor for Halloween, while every other girl was dressing up as a princess. But then, when she saw most of the preschool girls dressed up as Elsa at a Halloween party, she had to jump on the bandwagon too (by the way, that costume has not been worn since).

Kaitlyn also loves her play-doh and arts and crafts - anything that involves scissors, tape, or glue. She plays at her art table almost daily and it's pretty amazing to see some of the creations she comes up with. Other interests include baking, riding her scooter and bicycle, singing and dancing to music videos and, of course, iPad.

Favorite Things:
- TV shows: Caillou, Paw Patrol, Blue's Clues
- YouTube videos: Nerdy Nummies, Disney Collector, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift music videos, What Does the Fox Say?
- Color: purple (probably because I buy purple everything for her)
- Foods: mac and cheese, pesto pasta, strawberries, hot dogs, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles
- Songs: anything by Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson (they're all so catchy!); Animal and Sugar (Maroon 5); Try (Colbie Caillat); All About the Bass (Meagan Trainor), Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars)
- Number: "ten hundred" (she really does use that number all the time!)
- Words/Phrases: butt, stinky feet, poo poo (do you see a theme here?); omigosh (she picked it up from me)

Personality:
Best word to describe her? Silly. Kaitlyn is fun loving and just downright silly most times. She loves to laugh and make other people laugh, even over the smallest things. She is very easy going and gets along with almost everyone.

That time she took my iPhone and took all these selfies.

Big Sister:
Kaitlyn enjoys being a big sister, but only really shows it for about five minutes at a time. She greets Colin excitedly in the mornings when she wakes up, when we pick her up at preschool, and when he wakes up from his naps. But after that initial excitement wears off, she's back to ignoring him and doing her own thing. Colin is at a stage right now where all he wants to do is pull her hair and mess up her things, so I can't blame her for not wanting to play with him more. She does love the fact that she can do certain things that he can't just because she's older, like eat ice cream.

It's been a tough year for me trying to balance a kid and a baby at the same time. My biggest challenge has been figuring out ways to entertain Kaitlyn in the afternoons after preschool, while having limited mobility because of Colin (she's still at daycare all day on non-preschool days). Colin is pretty high maintenance and constantly demands my attention. At the same time, as soon as my hands are free of him and I have a moment to myself, Kaitlyn will jump into my lap and want my attention too. She probably watches more TV and iPad than she should, but we gotta do whatever works. She's definitely not complaining about too much TV or iPad. 

Most of all, she is amazingly patient with him. She knows when I need time alone with him to feed him or put him down, she understands when we can't go out because he's napping, and she has the ability to completely tune him out when he's crying/screaming at the top of his lungs. I know she loves her little brother and I can't wait until he's old enough so they can play together. Although there is a big age gap between them, I hope they'll still be close.

Brady:
He's still her sidekick and she loves telling him what to do. She loves to climb into his bed while he's sleeping and snuggle with him, and Brady is extremely patient with her. He adores her as well, most likely because she loves to give him treats, and she's usually the only one playing with him first thing in the mornings when he most wants attention. There were a couple times when Kaitlyn asked if we could give Brady away so we could get a cat. I'm hoping she wasn't serious.

I can't believe she will be five soon and entering kindergarten! She is growing up too fast!

My First Birthday!

I am one year old! We celebrated my first birthday with a small party at home. I don't have many friends my age so this party was more for the birthday celebration-loving people in our household (ie. Mommy and Kaitlyn). All Mommy knew was that she wanted to make a smash cake for me and everything else was planned at the last minute. Fortunately all the guests were able to make it with two weeks' notice. We enjoyed our new backyard, Daddy grilled, the kids bounced, and, of course, I tried my first piece of cake!

Mommy's first attempt at an ombre cake! What better excuse for a party?

We had started out with a fox theme for the party since Mommy thinks they're cute (for some reason she always gravitates toward foxes when buying any animal-printed clothes for me). It helped that Kaitlyn LOVES the YouTube video What Does the Fox Say? She's always playing it and dancing along, and it's become a very familiar song in our house. I even perk up whenever I hear it. The fox theme eventually morphed into a "woodland creatures" theme, after Mommy discovered all the cute desserts that she could make. 

Hedgehog doughnut holes and toadstool cupcakes.

S'mores on a stick

Favor boxes

Kaitlyn was excited to have a giant bounce house in her own backyard! Mommy was just glad that we finally have a usable lawn that could fit a bounce house. I tried it out for the first time and really enjoyed it! I really wanted to jump, but since I can barely walk, it was a bit tough. 

Time for the moment Mommy was anticipating the most - the smash cake. She figured I would like it since I'm always reaching for food and I love putting things in my mouth and eating. 

I started off slowly...

I spent a lot of time just sitting there and feeling the frosting between my fingers. Soon I started smearing it all over my leg, like it was lotion. 

I finally tasted a little frosting and just seemed confused. It tasted good but I just wasn't sure what to do with it. I probably had more fun just smearing it around. Besides, all these people were watching me. 

Eventually I lost interest and started playing with the banner behind me, then crawling away, so Mommy took me inside to get cleaned up. It was rather anticlimactic, but still cute.

The damage. I didn't even get into the cake part.

After the party, I took a huge nap and spent the rest of the day playing at home.

I love all the nice birthday cards and drawings I received!

Kaitlyn drew a picture of all my favorite things! From left to right: a beach ball, a rice cracker, Brady, a balloon, "love", "the girl who sings Shake if Off" [Taylor Swift], and a birthday card.

From Kieran

From Alex

Happy birthday to me!