Faith 2 Years 1 Month

Faith's mind has started to go faster than she can form the words. Just a few weeks ago her sentences were very clear without saying "um." Now when she talks, especially if she is excited or has a lot to tell you, she says, "um, um, um" many times while she is trying to spit the words out. I know that all kids go through this, but it is so funny since she used to talk so clearly.

Faith is enjoying going to Patty and Jackie's. She normally cries when I leave, but stops just a minute after. It is mostly for show. She gets excited when I tell her she gets to go and is always happy to see me when I pick her up. She likes the kids that are younger than her. She likes to take care of them.

She is really enjoying playing with her dolls. She likes to change them and wipes their bums when they go potty. She nurses them, feeds, them, and plays so sweetly with them. Most of the time her babies' names are Cole and Kira.

Faith has started to go to the bathroom on the potty more frequently. I've let her wear training panties around the house a few times, but she has accidents a lot. I think mentally she might be ready for potty training, but I'm not sure her bladder is ready. Even when she goes pee on the potty she only pees about a Tbsp and then has to go again in 10 or 15 minutes or has an accident.

She started this new thing where she grabs a church directory out of the drawer and a piece of paper and something to write with. She looks at the directory and runs her finger under a line of text them pretends to copy what she sees onto the paper. She looks back and forth between the directory and her paper as if she is very intent on copying it just right. She says she is doing her email work. She holds her pencil correctly when she does this.

It seems like Faith is waking up at least half of the week in the middle of the night. Once she wakes up it is very hard to get her to go back to sleep in her crib. This is partly our fault since we don't like for her to cry for fear that she'll wake up Bryce. For a while she was doing so well with sleeping. I think she might be waking up now because she is cold. Without heat upstairs it gets very cold at night, especially since we keep the kids' door shut at night. Faith will not allow blankets in her bed so we double up her pjs, but her hands are still ice cold when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Halloween

We had planned on going to the pumpkin patch after Faith's birthday party, but it was pouring rain. Instead, we waited for a slight break in the rain later in the week and just went down to Punky's at the Wells Fargo Center. Faith wasn't feeling well and it was wet and cold so we were only there for a few minutes. Nathan didn't get to go with us because he was working. The kids still had fun, aside from Faith touching the stem and getting tiny throns in her hand, even though we didn't go to a place with a maze, tractor ride, etc.

Nathan carved pumpkins with the kids. Bryce said he wanted a Jack-o-lantern face on his. He didn't quite understand that any pumpkin with a face was a Jack-o-lantern. What he meant was that he wanted the traditional face - triangle nose and eyes and a smily face. Faith had no problem digging right into the "guts" and cleaning out the inside. Bryce took some coaxing before he would touch it, but I'm proud that he did.

We participated in Trunk and Treat again this year. Bryce was a Dragon Monster and Faith was a Ladybug. I at first wanted to put her in a Pig costume since she loves pigs, but when I showed her the pig costume online she through a fit and said with no uncertainty that she would not be a pig. After she had settled on a ladybug costume, she then told me she wasn't going to be a ladybug that she wanted to be a pig. Thankfully I got her to get into the ladybug costume idea since I had already ordered it. Bryce picked out his Dragon costume and thought it was pretty neat.

Bryce had a great time hanging out with Alex and Emilee Thomson at Trunk and Treat. He sang and danced with Pastor D. and went from trunk to trunk several time. Even though he had a ton of candy, he only ate one piece the entire night.

Faith had a good time collecting candy, but she mostly wanted to sit in the back of the Highlander and eat it. She had 3 or 4 suckers, milk duds, popcorn, and possibly more. I lost count.

Bryce 4 Years 4 Months

Bryce's behavior has been very good lately. It has been over a month since he has had behavior that warranted a spanking. I hope this lasts, as he is so much more pleasant to be around when he is behaving well.

Bryce has started to take an interest in learning to write his letters and numbers. He has a practice board that uses dry erase markers on a clear plastic sheet with work pages that you can switch behind the plastic. He has been doing remarkably well, but he is such a perfectionist that anytime he makes event he slightly mistake he gets very upset. We are trying to help him to hold his pen correctly, but he won't allow us to help him very much.

Bryce is doing really well in his Little Kickers soccer class. He is following directions, learning to dribble with both feet, learning balancing skills, and other techniques. It has been fun watching him. Anytime he does something well, he looks at me and gives me a thumbs up sign. Jackson Hermsmeyer is in the class with him and Hunter Mueller is in the class next to his, so that has been fun too.

Bryce has gotten away from his Franklin craze. Now he is really liking Little Bear and his Leap Frog Letter movie. He has pretty much mastered the basic sounds all the letters make thanks to this movie. He has also started playing his Boggle Jr. game and wants to sound out simple words. I love that he is starting to want to learn more and that he is willing to branch out and play different types of games.

We are in the process of looking into Kindergarten's at public and private schools for him next year. This is so difficult. We see pros and cons to public and private schools and just want so badly to make the right choice for him. We also worry because he had such a rough time adjusting to being back at Brush Creek this year and worry about his new teacher and their ability to handle it if he has the same issues with going to Kindergarten.

One afternoon while Nathan and I were out and Nanny was watching Bryce, he said something very funny. He was having trouble going to the bathroom and was complaining that his poop wouldn't come out. Nanny told him to sit there for a little while. When she went back he had done his business and he told her, "I figured it out. There were two poops that were trying to come out at the same time. They realized that they had to take turns." So funny!

Faith 2 Years Old

I can't believe Faith is two, yet when I see how advanced she is in so many ways, it seems like she is beyond two.

She understands concepts that a lot of three year-old kids don't grasp. She understands the basic concept of time and uses words like I used to do ______, or I will do _______ later, or maybe next time we go/do/I have ______. She understands and uses pronouns correctly. She is already started to dress herself and put her own shoes and socks on. She can count to 10 without much assistance, holds her pencil correctly (with both her right and left hand), and can use scissors. She knows a few colors - her favorite color is pink.

She is starting to be a little picky about what she eats. She now doesn't eat every veggie I put in front of her. She also took bites of black bean soup, which she loved last year, only to spit them out and refused to swallow.

Faith had a wonderful birthday at My Gym. It was so stress free for us. All I had to do was bake cupcakes, buy paper products, and get stuff for the guests' party favors. All the kids and adults really enjoyed themselves.

On Sep. 27th her second lower 2-year old molar starting coming through.

Bryce 4 Years 3 Months

It dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that I haven't seen Bryce suck his thumb in a very long time. I'm not exactly sure when he gave it up, but it appears that he isn't even sucking it when he goes to sleep. I'm glad I never stressed over him sucking his thumb, knowing that he'd give it up when he was ready.

He has finally settled into going to school. He doesn't throw fits about getting ready to leave for school, is happy when I drop him off, and comes home excited about his day. He is even participating in the art projects.

His behavior has also greatly improved. I think so much of his behavior has to do with stress for him and he gets very stressed over change and new situations. Now that life has settled into a comfortable routine he is doing much better.

he is really starting to sound out words and spell simple words like dog, pop, cat, bat, etc. Academically he will definitely be ready for Kindergarten.

Faith 23 Months

It is hard to believe that in just one month my baby will be 2 years old.

She is becoming very self sufficient these days. She will often says "No I do it" "no me" or other phrases to express that she wants her independence. She has event old us she wants privacy when she is sitting on her little potty.

She is starting to use her potty occasionally, but only because we bride her with a jelly belly. Bryce also gets one for encouraging her. When she goes pee we all clap and say "yea Faith."

When Faith is mad she has taken to saying "You bad Mommy" or "Daddy" or whomever happens to be doing or telling her something so doesn't like. She will also sometimes spit at you or try and hit you. She has also picked up some potty talk from her brother. She says, "No you yucky poo poo guy." She especially likes to say it to Bryce because he get very upset.

Her vocabulary is continuing to grow even more. She now uses words like "tomorrow" "next week" "next time" all correctly.

Faith's 1st 2 year-old molar came in on the lower left side of her mouth on Sep. 17th. She had been putting her fingers in her mouth for a few days and then all of a sudden a tooth popped through.

Bryce 4 Years 2 Months

Bryce started preschool again today. All summer he has been telling me that he was not going back to school. He says he wants to stay home and play with me and that school is no fun.

I told Bryce that he had to go to school or else we could get in trouble because it was the law that all 4 year old have to go to school.

When we arrived I had to drag him out of the car. He was very grumpy and upset. He wasn't happy about having his first day of school picture taken. Once I got him onto the playground he just clung to me crying and kept saying don't leave me mommy. It was heart breaking. I stayed for about 10 or 15 minutes. Finally I had to leave so that I could take Faith to her first day at Toddler Playgroup. Birte, one of his teachers did a good job of taking him away from me. I tried to assure him that I would be back soon, that he would have fun, and that he was safe.

When I returned to pick him up I was told that he was only upset for about 5 or 10 minutes and then had a good day.

I think Bryce has a very difficult time with change. He has always had trouble adjusting to any new situation whether it be going on vacation, moving, or starting a new school year. His whole system gets out of whack and he becomes agitated and gets upset much more easily.

Bryce has also had a hard time adjusting to our move. It has been about a week and a half since we officially moved in with Nanny. Although we've been here since June 20th my mom didn't invite us to move in until July 22nd and we didn't move out of our house completely until mid August. He tells us that he misses his old house, but can't verbalize why. We try to tell him all the wonderful benefits of living at our new house, but he is very focused on being upset about it. I hope with time he comes to appreciate how blessed we truly are.

I think some of his issues lately also stem from the fact that I've been working a ton on Worth WeeCycling. He is not used to having my focus elsewhere. I feel bad that I've been putting in so many hours, but with the sale just two weeks away I have no choice.