Oh summer time! The days may be longer, but they still go flying by. Our summer days have been a blur of playing in the backyard, picnic dinners, dirt under our fingernails, exploring new parks, and getting sticky with good summer things like watermelon and ice cream and sweat.
I am taking a breather from it all to update the blog. My kids are changing so fast! I know I need to chronicle these days before I forget them.
Joey: 11 months
Joey is not walking yet. He’s not even crawling. I’ve talked with our pediatrician about it and we have a plan in place if he really seems delayed, but I’m not too concerned. I think he’s just taking his own sweet time. He has started scooting himself around on his bottom a little. And the other day I left him on his tummy in his room and he somehow ended up under his crib. So mobility is coming, albeit a bit slowly.
He is doing a lot of other new things though. He eats, a lot. He loves food, and he’s getting pretty good at feeding himself. His favorite food is watermelon. He also loves strawberries, re-fried beans, carnitas, veggies straws, and oatmeal. He can wave, clap his hands, sign “more” and “fan” (he likes to look at our ceiling fans) he plays so big, and puts his hands on his head whenever we make the sign of the cross. He also loves Alex, which is monumental since just a couple months ago he would scream if anyone besides me was holding him. The next step will be to get him to warm up to a few babysitters.
Trixie: 3 years, 9 months
When I took this photo of Trixie I asked her to show me a nice smile. This is what she did. I guess she’s at that stage now, the stage where they can’t figure out how to smile. Johnny has been in that stage for a couple years. They will figure it out eventually. I actually kind of like their goofy smiles.
It’s official, Trixie is no longer taking naps. Naps were ruining bedtime, so we ditched them. Early afternoons are somewhat tearful now, but we muscle through and she gets a second wind around 3:00. It’s been an overall unpleasant transition, but I’d rather deal with some crankiness in the afternoon then spend every evening from 8:00-10:00 going upstairs and telling her to go to sleep 37 times.
Trixie has started calling Joey “Joseph” which I absolutely love. When Joey was born I had planned on calling him Joseph, but the kids started calling him Joey from the start and it just stuck. I’m not sure what lead Trixie to start calling Joey “Joseph”, we hardly ever use his actual name. But she started using it and being the trend-setter that she is, the rest of us have started using it more as a result. Maybe he will be a Joseph after all.
Johnny: 6 years.
See? He’s doing it too. He can’t quite figure out how to do a normal smile. He’s getting better. We’ve learned to say “show me your teeth!” instead of “smile!” and that helps.
Since my last post Johnny has turned 6, graduated from preschool, moved to a bigger two-wheeler, and had surgery to get his second cochlear implant. His cochlear implants really deserve a post of their own, so for now I will just say that everything went well and he bounced back incredibly fast.
Johnny has become at the same time very delightful and very challenging. If Trixie is a threenager, Johnny is 6 going on 16. Everything from not wanting to be told what to eat and wear, to enjoying a packed social calendar, to backseat driving. He is definitely exerting his will and wanting to prove his independence. It’s super annoying, but I’m also secretly grateful. That kind of will and confidence will serve him well as he starts his mainstream schooling this fall.
Now for the delightful parts. I made Johnny and Trixie clean their room a couple weeks ago. Trixie’s contribution was less than stellar, but Johnny got really into it! After he got the floor totally cleared he said he liked having a clean room and that his toys don’t like being on the floor. He is definitely my child.
Johnny sees the beauty around him. Every time a new flower blooms in the yard he shouts “Look mom! A beautiful flower.” Every bird that perches on our fence is a “beautiful bird.” Every butterfly is beautiful, even the caterpillars currently living in a jar on our dining room table are beautiful. I hope he never looses this appreciation for the natural world.
