I realized it's been a while since I did a kid update--as far as milestones, etc. Julia turned 1 1/2 on Oct. 29th (so today, she's 19 months!) and Sam turned 3 1/2 on Sept. 5th. Crazy, how fast they are growing up!
Anyway, Julia is getting to be such a big girl, even though in some ways she still looks like a baby. She hasn't got a lot of hair yet, which adds to this appearance. :) But, the plus side is that I don't have to do much to take care of it, other than washing and a quick brushing! She is starting to say more and more words that we can actually understand--a few of which are "please, thank you, cup, car, ball, bear, dog, fly, slide," among others. She also loves to sing lately--she goes around singing the same little song over and over. We think she's singing her own name because sometimes we sing her a little nonsense song with her name . . . and it sounds like she may be copying that. It's really cute, though, whatever it is.
My biggest recent accomplishment with Julia is that she's completely weaned now--hooray! She had a few rough days in the process, but overall it went pretty smoothly. I was happy that I could reach my goal of nursing for at least 18 months, and I am also happy to give my body a break before the next baby arrives. :) A very great blessing is that since weaning, Julia sleeps all night long, very consistently. This past week she's been waking up around 4:30-5 am for some strange reason, but I just snuggle her in bed with us and she conks right back out till around 7. This pregnant mommy has been very happy to get a good night's sleep every night!
Julia and Sam have started playing together pretty well, which is so nice. Yesterday Julia opened up the train track drawer before Sam did, and started building. It was so cute. They have been having a lot of fun lately with the marble tower that Jim made, too. Thankfully Julia doesn't put the marbles in her mouth anymore--at least, hardly ever. :) Another new thing she does is sit and read books or magazines to herself. She chatters on and on as she turns the pages and looks at all the pictures. She loves to be read to, as well.
Then there's our fun little boy . . . it is so neat to watch his imagination growing! I love it when he "pretends" things. His Thomas trains/tracks remain some of his most beloved toys, and he's also into Legos and anything that he can build and creat with. Play-Doh is another favorite. We got him a Play-Doh craft caddy for Christmas and I can't wait to see how much fun he has with that! He is also very much into drawing and doing "projects" involving paper and gluesticks. :) I'm thinking a paper chain for Christmas might be a fun idea sometime next week!
Speaking of Christmas, Sam is very excited about it. I think Christmas is going to be SO much fun this year because he gets it so much more. I'm looking forward to picking out a tree, decorating the house, baking cookies, and wrapping presents with him (he actually already helped me wrap a few presents for Jim--he handed me pieces of tape :)).
Sometimes he pops out with very funny comments. The problem is, I usually forget to write them down. Yesterday we were talking about our new baby, and he informed me that we should name the baby "Eli" (he has a cousin with that name). I explained to him that it would be too confusing to have two Elis in the family, whereupon he decided we should name the baby "Moose" instead. This really cracked me up because when my sister was a baby, I would occasionally refer to her as "Big Moose" (no idea why). Like mother, like son, I guess! :)
We're still working with Sam on obedience, but he is doing much better than he at this time last year. We're seeing evidence of a more tender heart and it's sweet to hear him sometimes say he's sorry voluntarily when he's done something wrong. He also loves to help us with things and we're trying to encourage that. :) We're also working on politeness--requiring him to answer when someone says "hi" to him, etc. He tends toward natural shyness (gets it from both Jim and me, unfortunately!) but we don't want that to be an excuse for him to not be polite to others. He's definitely making improvements! :)
Well, sorry this has gotten so long . . . hope you haven't all fallen asleep reading. :) I'm hoping to blog a bit more, later today--I always have plenty to say, but not enough time to sit down and type it out! Hope you are all having a good week!
1 comment:
Cute, cute! So, you and Sam are calling the baby "moose"? That is very funny. I think that it's great that you guys are teaching Sam to speak when spoken to. Some friends of ours have a daughter who is shy and when she was little, they would often gently remind her to speak when spoken to. She was a delightful little girl who would often chatter away once she broke throught the intial barrier. Kudos to you both for your consistent and godly training:). I hope that you are feeling well and taking care of yourself.
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