Between Birthdays

After the busy birthday week we had in mid-February, things have been pretty much business as usual for us: play dates, visits to parks, plus a minor virus or two and a few more teeth on their way to keep us on our toes....

This play date at a park with Alexa and Caitlin...

...continued at their house after some lunch.

A good time was had by all!

Jadyn is quite a prolific artist and likes to use a lot of bright colors in her work.

Very proud of her picture of Grandma Jeanne

Her favorite activities lately are spelling, writing, making cards, drawing pictures, doing puzzles, reading books and magazines, cooking in her kitchen and ours, and watching videos.  She is also very good at identifying her favorite songs on the radio during commutes to and from school.  "Mommy, turn it up!" is a common request when she hears The Lumineers, Muse, Fun, Mumford and Sons, or Adele.

Between mid-Feb and mid-March, Joseph became a lot more confident standing to play and cruising around as furniture allows.  He pulls books off the shelf and flips through a few before finding something else to do.  He can empty most of the playthings from Jadyn's kitchen quite quickly, and then checks out the utensils and dish ware by putting the pieces in his mouth.  (Just this week we're noticing a couple more teeth seem to be trying to break through -- he has 4 exposed on top, 2 more up there looking to break free, and his first 2 teeth, the only ones visible on the bottom.)  Joseph now says "bah" for ball and plays catch exceptionally well for an 11-month old; better still, he LOVES it, laughing up a storm as we pass a ball back and forth to each other.  He is also a VERY fast crawler.  You know when he's on a mission with a piece of contraband (one of Jadyn's puzzle pieces, a handful of cat food) because he tucks his head and really focuses on crawling away quickly, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see who is in pursuit.

I like to play with the remote controls

I can hold my own bottle, even when half asleep!

I slide down by myself sometimes

Keeping busy at the coffee shop

We've discovered the Seattle Gymnastics Academy, and Jadyn loves going to the Indoor Playground session.  After an hour of non-stop activity on the various bars, rings, and beams, jumping on trampolines, rolling along the Tumble Track, and jumping in the foam pit, she is usually ready for a nap.

Even Joseph enjoys himself there!

 

Joseph is an incredibly happy, easy-going, and content kid.  He's added so much fun to the family!

The joke is on Mommy for
forgetting to put a bib on me!

Plus, I'm sleeping pretty well these
days.  Finally!

We have enjoyed watching the kids find ways to play together.  Jadyn likes to hug her brother more often than he is willing to be stopped during his play to receive the affection.  Joseph loves when she gets down on the floor and crawls after him, round and round in circles in the house....

Our next post(s) should have pictures of Easter and Joseph's birthday.  Check back soon!

Happy 4th Birthday, Jadyn!

Jadyn turned 4 on February 12th.  Sorry this post is so long in coming!

With our renovation still in progress, there were no options of having a party in our living space.  Instead, about 15 of her friends joined us at The Little Gym for a party in a gymnastics studio a few days ahead of the 12th.  The staff there mixed structured activities that honored the birthday girl and unstructured time for the kids to do whatever they felt like in the play area.  The last half-hour was in the party room for cupcakes and snacks we provided.  Jadyn had a blast helping to decorate the cupcakes.

At the party, she tried out most of the equipment.  She did great walking on the balance beam, and then she jumped off the end fearlessly.

 These shots capture most of the friends that attended the party.

Here's Jadyn jumping backwards along the Tumble-Track.

And everyone helping to deflate the Tumble-Track....

During Jadyn's party, Joseph was enduring a teething fever and a stuffy nose.  He slept through most of the fun.

Post-activity snacking; clearly Jadyn enjoyed her chocolate cupcakes.

We opened most of her birthday gifts from family and friends on her actual birthday, several days later. She received lots of thoughtful and fun gifts....

The Magformer tiles are a big hit.  Joseph loved playing with the wrapping paper and bows.

Also around the birthday, Jadyn visits the pediatrician and the dentist for routine check-ups.  At the doctor's office, she got her last set of immunizations.  She was so very brave for those!  She weighed 32 pounds (25th percentile) and measured 39 inches tall (32nd percentile), passed her hearing test, and had good vision, 20/25 in both eyes.  The dentist suggested she will be a candidate for braces later, as her mouth is small and already crowded with just her baby teeth.  She does so well there, being patient for a full cleaning and enjoying all the attention! 

The following weekend, at a park, she continued the gymnastics theme from her birthday while climbing on the bleachers.

Joseph used to snooze through many of his first visits to the park, but not anymore.  He loves to swing, here by himself, but also in a parent's arms, and then, this time, he managed to squirm free to explore the playground equipment "for real" for the first time.

It was a busy but fun birthday week!  Happy Birthday to our little baby Jadyn!  What happened to our tiny little bundle?  She has grown up!  Stay tuned for more posts with photos of February and March....

2013 Begins

Here are some updates for January 2013.  It was a big month!

Joseph had his 9-month well-baby check up.  He measured 27.25" long (10-25th percentile) and weighed 17 pounds, 10 ounces (5-10th percentile) at the visit.  These stats are a little off of his growth curves from his previous visits, though his head circumference of 44.75 cm is right on the 25-50th percentile growth curve he's been on all this first year.  January was a break from teething, diarrhea, and diaper rash, and we're hoping his appetite keeps up with his activity level, so the he shows appropriate weight and length gain at his 12-month well-baby visit.

Activity level....January was a huge month for Joseph.  Just after we returned from our big holiday travels, in the very first week of the month, he figured out how to pull himself to standing.  He was VERY proud of himself for this, squealing with delight at his completely new vantage point.  For the first week or so, he would whimper, whine, or squeak insistently to get our attention that he was ready to be helped back down to the floor.  Within a couple of weeks, he had figured out how to get himself down from standing so he could move to another location in the room.  Nice job, Joseph!  His army-crawl has gotten much faster, and he has also started hands-and-knees crawling.  He can even crawl with an object in hand (or mouth!), trying to get away from us with something considered "contraband," usually laughing and squealing as he tries to get away.  Very cute!

Enjoying a morning at our favorite coffee shop, trying to climb the bags of beans

I'm up -- look out!

See how proud and happy I am of my new feat!

I know I'm not supposed to drink from Jadyn's cups,
but I try to whenever I can get my hands on them.

In the middle of the month, he started running a low-grade fever for week or so, which was sometimes accompanied by decreased appetite, and one day it spiked high enough that he was sent home from school.  (He wasn't really sick at all, and only missed a day.)  An front upper tooth emerged from his gums within a week of that.  So know we are pretty sure what to expect, what we all endure, when Joseph gets new tooth.  Totally different from Jadyn's teething experiences -- makes sense, since they are totally different kids!

Joseph is trying all kinds of food now, and he is very interested in eating as often as we'll include him in a meal, even though sometimes he just shovels bits of finger foods in his mouth, and then stores them in there like a rodent would.  Gross!  When we started him on Cheerios, he gagged on them, until we broke them in half and moistened them.  We also tried some puffs, and these went over pretty well.  By the end of the month, he was handling these sorts of finger foods much better.  Lately, his teachers have reported that he really enjoys eating peas.  Go figure!

Service, please!

Having some finger food at school

Joseph loves music!  He sways back and forth when he hears a tune, either something we sing or from one of his electronic toys.  Pat-a-cake is also great fun these days.  He can make several cool noises with his own mouth and tongue, and he sings "aaaaahhhhh" while tapping his chest, to hear how the tapping alters the sound.  When we visit parks and playgrounds, he loves to be on a swing, either by himself or in a parent's lap.  He seems to understand lots of different words, waving hello and goodbye appropriately, and we think he is signing "all done" now and then (we've been working on a few signs consistent with the ones they use most often at school).

Chillin' on the couch

I really like being on a swing!

Jadyn had a busy month, too.  We went to a play with friends one weekend and to the zoo on the holiday Monday.  Even though it was chilly, we had fun seeing animals and keeping moving.

At the play with Zoe

Enjoying the zoo

Jadyn has also taken quite an interest in cooking.  She helps us make all sorts of things, including croutons, macaroni and cheese, cookie and waffle batter, and even our espresso in the morning.  Now if we could just get her to help with the dishes and the laundry!

Helping Mom make croutons

Ouch!

She did have an interesting fall at school one afternoon, slipping on a raised ledge that was a little too sandy for her to manage, and she hit her face on the way down.  All teeth are intact, thankfully, and the swelling went down quickly.  She's such a trooper!

And here are the two kids, just hanging out, saying hi.  We'll post more photos as the month continues....