3 Yr/7 Mo Stats

HEALTH: Ugghhh! It's been a rough month. The day of Harper's 1st birthday party, Brax woke up from his nap feeling bad, and by night time, he had a 101.2 fever with coughing. (This was round 6 of respiratory illness since October...) Usually his cough is the lone symptom, and is controlled with the addition of Xoponex breathing treatments. This time hit him a bit harder. He had the low grade fever all week, so his asthma doc gave us a round of Prednisone. That helped for awhile, but the cough and yucky nose came back about 10 days later. We then started on 2 weeks of Augmentin for a suspected sinus infection, and have been instructed to continue his Pulmicort breathing tx's twice a day through mid-March (instead of once a day as maintenance).

NEW TRICKS:

• This has been a big month in the way of Brax's independence!!! We had parent-teacher meetings the beginning of the month and she told me he needed to be putting his jacket and shoes on by himself. I am very guilty of rushing out the door and doing these tasks for him just to go faster. After some candy-corn bribery, Brax willingly mastered the jobs (as well as socks!) within a day or two. (I swore I'd never bribe my kids, period. Much less bribe them with CANDY.)
• He has also mastered getting undressed AND dressed by himself! (Not always perfectly, but the effort is there!)
• In the past, I've always helped get situated when he has to go "#2," (putting the potty seat on, helping get up there) but now he insists that he will do it by himself and says, "Leave me in privacy, Mom!" I still do the clean-up, though!!!! (One thing I won't miss!)
• LOVES to ride down the "big" hill on our street on his bike at full speed. He refused to do this last summer-he was so scared! Now he says he's brave and boy, is he. He doesn't even touch the brakes on the way down.
• Making himself burp, and also making himself gag when he decides he doesn't want to eat anymore dinner. Charming.
  

FAVORITE FOODS:
A new favorite--toasted raviolis. Also decided that he likes cherry tomatoes (he used to hate them.) Also likes Cutie Oranges, especially peeling them!

FAVORITE BOOKS:
After a brief rendezvous with Lightning McQueen, he has rekindled his love for all things Thomas, especially the story books. He likes to reenact the plots with his real trains. It amazes me how he can quote parts of the books, verbatim!

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:
Playing with his Trackmaster Thomas set. (These are the motorized Thomas trains on the bigger tracks.) Also likes pushing Harper's push-toys around the house pretending to "mow" the carpet. Has an affinity for squishing Harper's cheeks, regardless of how many times I tell him not to.

DAILY ROUTINE:
Same. Can skip nap every now and then and still be tolerable.

FAVORITE SONGS:
Frequently requests "fast" songs.

DISLIKES:
Eating food. This is not to be confused with eating snack, which means any of the foods on the bottom shelf of the pantry (crackers, granola bars, etc.). "Food" translates into any meal that has nutritional value that I actually put effort into preparing. Sometimes I will tell him to come eat and he actually asks, "Is it snack or food? I don't want food, I want snack."

MOMENTS I DON'T WANT TO FORGET:

• The first time he told me, "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" (Feb. 8). I had put him in time-out for something. I'm sure this won't be the last time I hear it! However, someone once told me that if your child says they don't like you, then you are doing your job.
• Conversely, on Feb. 12, he said, "I love you, Momma. You are my BEST FRIEND." Redemption. Sweet redemption.
• We were decorating our little tree for Valentine's Day. I pulled out some little glass heart ornaments and warned him that they were fragile... to be very careful not to drop them. Who drops one??? ME! He said, "It's no biggy, Momma! It was an accident. We'll just clean it up." I wondered, would I have been so gracious if he had been the one to break it? Sweet boy.
• One day I went in to wake him from his nap. I was just rubbing his face to wake him gently, and he started smiling before he opened his eyes. He was so peaceful and happy.
  

BRAXISMS:

• "That's HILAROUS!"
• One day he told Harper she looked pretty and that he wanted to marry her.
• "I like the ingredients in this food." (I don't remember what it was, though! Probably snack!)
• One day I was struggling with Harper during a diaper change. I guess he sensed my frustration, because I looked up and he was standing there with his pants around his ankles! I couldn't help but laugh, and when I asked him what he was doing, he said, "Just being silly!!!!!"
• One day I had gone upstairs to put Harper down while he was eating at the table. I heard him doing something and when I hollered down to ask him what he was up to, he answered, "I was putting my plate by the sink! I told you I could do it myself!" (I didn't even ask him to do this!!)
• It was bath time and I was making treats for Harper's party. I told him he could have one marshmallow if he would go upstairs for bath with Daddy with a happy attitude. He kept fussing about it while I kept negotiating (I broke Parenting Rule #1--It's not a negotiation.) I said, "Brax, if I give you this marshmallow, do you agree to go take a bath without whining?" He answered, in true master negotiator form, "Yes, I agree..................to have the marshmallow."
  
• We are working on not talking back and being respectful. He always retorts that I'm the one being "disrespectABLE" when I'm getting on to him.

ONE YEAR STATS!

31 Inches

21.8 Lbs

Size 4 diaper, 12 month clothes, Size 3 shoes

TEETH:

4 teeth erupted in one month! (Got F, then O then G, then P-one each week. D and E are bubbling under the surface!)

HEALTH:

No sickness this month, just lots of teething symptoms! Ouch! She eats teething tablets like candy! Two nights before she got her first tooth (which was on 1/12), she was up most of the night

NEW TRICKS:

· CLIMBING! Stairs, the fireplace, into her toybox, Brax’s train table… Also quickly picked up on going down the stairs and fireplace backwards.

· Waves hi and bye.

· “Shares” things—food, toys—will hand them to me.

· Is able to stand by herself for a few seconds, but only does this when she doesn’t realize what she’s doing! Otherwise she only likes to walk holding on to furniture. Not into walking holding hands. Will walk pushing her toy stroller sometimes. Would rather speed-crawl!

· Blows kisses—so cute!

· She graduated to a “big girl” carseat—taking over Brax’s convertible seat and moving him up to a combo booster.

VOCAB:

· First real word (besides “momma” and “dada”) was “uh-oh” as she drops stuff on purpose.

· 2^nd word was “baby,” VERY clearly and purposefully! She will hold her babies and rock them, saying, “baby.”

· Says “ni-ni” very deliberately (we call her paci’s “nite nites” because she usually only has them in bed)

· “gagga”=dog

· “num-num-num”=when eating

· “no”=(obviously)

· Signs more, please, and all done

· Will point to lights on command

NEW/FAVORITE FOODS:

Loves Kashi waffles for breakfast, with cut up blueberries. Also likes YoBaby vanilla yogurt. Gerber meat sticks, frozen peas, well cooked cauliflower, any pasta…

Tried scrambled eggs and liked them, but woke up with a rash all over the next day.

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:

· Her pink and purple plastic purse. Especially loves the little coin purse with stuffed coins.

· Climbing into her toybox. She will sit there for 30 minutes just playing!

· Climbing on the fireplace, then leaning over to push the buttons on her playhouse to play music, then she sits up and dances on the fireplace.

· Playing “catch” with my Bender Ball (this is the most action this ball ever sees). She gets so excited and proud of herself when she throws the ball.

· Likes to scribble on the DoodlePro thing, and then chew on the writer. (We can’t do crayons or paint yet because she eats it!)

THINGS I DON’T WANT TO FORGET:

· I came home from work one day and Noelle said that as soon as Harper heard the garage door open, she booked it toward the door. When I walked in, Noelle was holding her and she was kicking, so excited, and said, “MA!”

· How she loves (and so do I) for me to hold her and say, “Love my baby… Love my baby…” We do this all day long! She will hold her babies and rock them, too.

· How every single time I remove the tray from her highchair, she digs in the pocket of her bib looking for food she dropped!

· How she will stand up holding onto the rail of her crib, then let go and stand for a second before plopping down on her bottom and giggling.

· How she does the sweetest belly laugh when you tickle her.

· Her “scrunchy face.”

· How, on the night she was up all night with her teeth hurting, all she wanted was her momma

· Her last ride in her infant carrier (to Babies R Us to buy a new one!)

3 Yr/6 Mo Stats

41 3/4 Inches

32 Lbs

4T clothes, Size 9 1/2 shoe

HEALTH:

Round 5 of respiratory infection. No biggy.

Almost had another ER trip when he was climbing on the back of Harper’s chair and pulled it over on top of himself (with her in it, no less!) Only minor bruises on his shin! Whew!

NEW TRICKS:

· Learning the states with his Lightning McQueen vitamins and his US map placemat. Every morning we put his two Lightning vitamins on a state and then “drive “ them back home to Kansas. Knows California, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Nevada, Montana and Missouri.

· Can ID all the letters of the alphabet, and knows some of their phonetics.

· Counts objects accurately.

· Stays dry all night, sometimes even waking himself to go potty (but won’t get out of bed—he yells, “I HAVE TO PEEEEEEEEEEE!” till we come get him! I keep telling him he’s not locked in his room anymore!)

· Loves riding in his big kid booster carseat.

· Draws stick people.

FAVORITE TOYS/ACTIVITIES:

· Sitting in Harper’s crib and “reading” to her.

· Thinks it’s HILARIOUS to blow me a kiss and then I “miss” it and it hits me in the forehead. He always says, “Momma, I’ll blow you a kiss and don’t catch it!” The harder I pretend that it hits me, the funnier he thinks it is!

· Playing with his dog puppet. He likes to stuff things where your hand is supposed to go and pretend like it’s eating.

· Loves ice water.

· Loves playing with one of Harper’s dolls, the one that is “life-like.” Sometimes he’s really sweet to it, like tucking it in to bed or feeding it, and sometimes he’s tossing it around and beating it with a golf club….

THINGS I WANT TO REMEMBER:

How when I get him up in the morning, I sit on the end of his bed and he curls up in my lap and we snuggle for a few minutes. He always asks, “What day is this?” wanting to know if it’s a school day and if Miss Noelle is coming.

BRAXISMS:

· Tucking him in one night, he said, “Oh Mom, I love you.” I said, “I love you too!” He said, “That’s GREAT!”

· Randomly (and often) says, “This is RIDICULOUS!” or “Are you kidding me??”

· “Mom! A new Lightning is coming to the movies! I’m so exciting [excited]! I can’t WAIT!”

· “I need some Momma love.”

· Mad at me for something-“We need to TALK.”

· I had gotten ready (and by ready I mean I was wearing something besides sweats, no makeup and a ponytail). When I went in to get him out of bed, the first thing he said was, “You look pretty!” and it was still dark in his room! Such a charmer. Then he said, “Let’s go see what Daddy thinks about it.”

· He had made Harper cry so he said “sorry.” When I went on to get onto him about being rough with her, he said, “Didn’t you hear me say I was sorry??”

· In Harper’s crib with her, “reading” her a book. She was romping around and he said in his sternest voice, “Harper, do you want me to leave? No? Then be still.” (This is what I say to him at night when I’m laying with him and he won’t lay still!)

· I was lecturing him on “treating Harper how YOU want to be treated…” He says, “But I LIKE to play rough!”

· Mike was having a talk to him (probably about being rough with his sister) and Brax obviously wanted to change the subject. He told Daddy, “I need to scratch my bottom.”

· We were sitting at dinner one night and Brax said, “You are such a good mommy!”