Faith 18 Months

Faith is talking up a storm. Her favorite work is "No." This is often said with a lot of attitude behind it. She can say pretty much anything you ask her to, although often the words don't sound much like the actual word. She is also putting short sentences together.

She is getting to be very independent. She wants to do things for herself without any help. For example, she likes to climb up into her seat and buckle herself in without any help. If you try and help her she yells, "no."

She has become extremely attached to her lovey "Yae-yae" and wants to have one all the time. She has a number of them, and in a pinch any will do, although she particularly like a pink one with a teddy bear on top. She also wants her binky all the time. This started about the time she had the flu. I allowed her to have them whenever she wanted for a little over a week. Now I'm trying to enforce them as being only for nap, bedtime, and the car. Sometimes she chooses to stay in her crib after she wakes up rather than get up without her lovey and binky.

She is starting to get timeouts. She has exhibited that she knows exactly what she is doing and that she shouldn't be doing it, so we started timeouts. For example, at dinner last night she refused to eat anything but bread and butter. When I wouldn't give her more she sat there screaming at the top of her lungs. When I told her I was going to take her up to her bed for a timeout she immediately told me sorry without being prompted and stopped screaming. After going back and forth like this a couple of times I finally removed her from the table and gave her a time out.

She is really liking art. She will color for a long time and likes to do other art projects. She also still likes her baby dolls, Bryce's cars, and music. She loves to dance and sing to music. If you say "la, la, la" or some other sound she can repeat it in the same tone back to you.

She also loves talking on her "hi." Her favorite person to call is Auntie Juli. I wonder if this is a glimpse into what she is going to be like as a teenager.

Easter

Each year we go to Grammy's work for their annual Egg Hunt. The kids had a great time decorating cookies, seeing the Easter Bunny, and hunting for eggs. Faith would not sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. She started crying when I walked her over to him. Bryce was delighted to sit with him. He thought it was funny that the Easter Bunny had shoes on. This year, the egg hunt was set up differently then in the past. After the kids collecting their eggs, they exchanged their eggs for a goody bag. This meant that all the kids got the same amount of candy and other prizes, regardless of the number of eggs they collected. This was great, especially for the little ones. Bryce ended up with the most eggs, then Mason, followed by Faith - it was perfect.



The kids decorated eggs the day before Easter.


Unfortunately we were all sick with the flu for Easter. We missed out on going to church and the rest of the day was spent resting. I did manage to prepare an Easter dinner, but Juli, Clay and their kids were the only ones that enjoyed it.

We are hoping this is the last holiday that is spoiled by illness. Last year every holiday from Easter - Nanny's birthday were spent worried about Pawka. Then Pawka died on July 4th. Thanksgiving Faith was very sick and we weren't able to go to Grammy and Gramps'. Christmas Amanda was very sick, now Easter and we were all sick. Maybe this was God's way of not letting us have normal holidays which helped us not to focus so much on the fact that Pawka isn't here to enjoy them with us anymore. I do sure hope we are through with illnesses over holidays for a while.

The kids still got Easter baskets and hunted for eggs. The Easter bunny gave Bryce a new Buzz and Woody swim suit, two new Car movie cars, jelly bellies, and chocolate. Faith got a My Little Pony, a bathing suit, jelly bellies, and chocolate. Nanny got each of the kids an outfit or tee-shirt. Faith also got some chalk and Bryce got a Veggie Tales flower growing kit.

Pops and Grandma Julie also sent the kids Easter goodies. They opened these a couple of days after Easter and were able to fully enjoy them, as they were feeling much better.

Bryce 3 Years, 9 Months

Bryce is definitely approaching 4. He looks so big to me now. He can do more and more things for himself (when he chooses to) like get himself totally dressed, comb his hair (at least the front), and much more. He has also outgrown most of his winter clothes. I hope Spring comes soon so I don't have to buy him new cold weather clothes.

He is doing super with his letters and numbers. He has been enjoying watching Leap Frog's Math Circus, Letter Factory, and Word Factory. He is starting to get the concept that when you put the letters together with their different sounds it makes words. He has even been trying to sound out words. He also is understanding addition and subtraction. These Leap Frog movies are great. I try to reinforce what he sees in the movies, but he isn't always receptive to learning from me.

Over the past month Bryce was a sick a lot. He had a bad cold that turned into a sinus infection. He went on antibiotics for the first time for this. A few days later he was back at the doctor's because his eyelid was purple and very swollen. They said it was an eye infection and gave him eye drops. He hated the eye drops because they really stung. I felt so bad having to put them in multiple times a day.

Bryce is still handling tax season fairly well. I'm definitely noticing that he is missing Nathan, but the acting out isn't bad like last year. I think he understands a little more that tax season doesn't last forever and that things will be back to normal soon.

Bryce has started playing with his trains a lot again. He hadn't played with them for several months and now plays with them daily. He is also playing Cars more and Toy Story and Peter Pan less. He has earned a few new Car movie cars for good behavior. Each time he earns a new car he likes to play with them for several days.

Faith 17 Months

Faith is really talking now. Some of her new words include: "Bycee" for Bryce, chocolate, love, I love you, please, shoes, and tons more. She can repeat almost every word that you ask her to say. Bryce loves saying, "Faith can you say..." and most of the time she'll attempt to say the word.

I am still working on weaning her. She is down to nursing about 3 times a day. I try and cut out nursing either first thing in the morning or before one of her naps. She still frequently asks for milk, but is getting less demanding about it. A few days ago she even drank a whole cup of vanilla flavored almond milk. Out of all the types of milk I've given her this seems to be the one she likes best.

She is starting to skip her morning nap more and more, mostly because we are out running around in the mornings and she doesn't fall asleep as easily in the car anymore. If we are home she normally still takes two naps.

For the past several weeks she has been waking up in the middle of the night, normally around 1 am. She screams, "mama" at the top of her lungs over and over for 10 - 20 minutes before falling back to sleep. She doesn't really cry, she just screams until she realizes that I'm not coming in to get her.

Faith is definitely a dare-devil. She went to MyGym yesterday and was climbing on everything with no fear. The other day at playgroup, she climbed up a friend's big slide and was contemplating going down the ladder when I ran to get her. I've also found her on top of Bryce's train table, on the kitchen table, and standing on the rocking horse. I can't leave her alone for even a second.

She is still throwing some pretty big fits. When she gets really mad she tries to hit, pinch or bite. We've been trying hard to correct this behavior by giving her timeouts, taking toys away, and of course telling her no.

She really enjoyed this past session of Music Together. She loves to dance and sign. I think the next time we sign up for a class, I'll put her in MyGym and see how she likes that.

Faith's eye tooth on the upper right side poked through around the 1st of March. No she just has the other upper eye tooth and her two-year old molars left to come in. I'm certain she will need braces, as her teeth already appear to be crowded.

Faith has gone pee-pee in the potty a few times. She doesn't like to sit on the potty, but I try to put her on it before bath. When she does sit, I give her a jelly belly as a reward. She also gets an extra jelly belly when she goes pee-pee.

Bryce 3 Years, 8 Months

Bryce so far has been handling tax season much better this year. He still misses Nathan a lot, but his behavior hasn't suffered on a account of Nathan being gone like it did last year. He still has his normal fits, and he is whining a lot, but nothing out of the ordinary.

His naps are almost non-existent. He'll nap once a week on average now. I actually prefer it when he doesn't nap. He has been pretty good about staying in his room for around an hour for quiet time. Sometimes it is a struggle to make him play quietly on his own, but I try to explain that I need the time to work. My goal is still two-hours of quiet time, but that rarely happens.

I've completely cut dairy out of his diet. I wanted to see if this would make a difference in his digestion. It seems to have really helped. He really likes Almond Milk, and replacing dairy cheese and yogurt with soy hasn't been an issue. The couple of times that he has had dairy, his digestion gets off. I am convinced he is lactose intolerant, just like me.

Bryce is becoming a little better at trying new foods. We still have the rule that if I make something I know he isn't fond of he has to try 5 bites. He is doing this with less fuss than in the past. I'm hoping after trying things several times that he'll actually learn to like more things.

He is still really enjoying playing with Toy Story, Peter Pan, and Cars toys. He is also liking to read books more and more. He is continuing to do really well with his letters and numbers. He is recognizing more and more lowercase letters and all the numbers.

Bryce continues to thrive at school. He is back to playing with Dax and Garrett. He is also playing with Andrew a lot. So far there has been no more incidents of misbehavior. Bryce also keeps talking about a little girl named Sienna. I think he has a crush on her. She is a very pretty little girl.

Faith 16 Months

Faith is starting to "talk" more and more. She has gone from making the same few sounds and her very small vocabulary of just a few words, to making all kinds of different sounds. She is now saying thank you, binky, ball, lovey, Bryce, Kona, and a few other words too. While none of them sounds quite right, we know what she is saying. She will also try and repeat words when you ask her to say something. In the past when we asked her to say a word that she knew the sign for, she'd just do the sign. The other day, I said, "say thank you", expecting her to sign thank you, and she said, "tank oo" without any prompting or ever having said it with her words before.

She understands absolutely everything we say to her. She can respond to most questions by shaking her head yes or no, or by pointing or showing you something. I love that we can communicate better with her now.

She still loves playing with her dolls, music toys, Little People's animals and people, and of course loves anything that Bryce doesn't want her to have - Duplo Blocks, Toy Story or Peter Pan figurines, etc.

She likes to climb up on to the kitchen chairs, which makes me crazy. She has taken a couple of good falls from them already. She also likes to stand on a little stool in the kitchen to watch me cook. Hopefully she'll enjoy cooking so that I have someone to do food projects with. Bryce has never been interested in helping me. If her eating is any indication, she's going to love cooking. She still eats whatever we give her, including spicy things like black bean soup. In fact, soups of all kinds seem to be a favorite. The only thing she won't eat or drink is milk from a cup. I've tried all types of milk and she wants nothing to do with it. I'm still trying to wean her and she isn't going for it. Most days I have her down to 3 times a day, but she walks around all the time signing milk. When I say no she throws herself to the ground and starts crying.

She is still napping twice a day, however if she misses her morning nap she survives until the afternoon. It does seem that afternoon naps are worse when she misses her morning nap. They do say that sleep begets sleep - I guess it is true.

She is starting to look more and more like a little girl and not a baby. Her hair is getting longer and fuller. In another couple of months it might be long enough for a real ponytail. She'll definitely need her bangs cut soon.

Faith went potty in her little potty for the first time a week ago. We had just brought in her little potty a few days before. She was doing the sign for potty, so I put her on it and told her to push her poo-poo s out, and she did.

Bryce 3 Years, 7 Months Old

We finally moved Bryce out of his toddler bed into a twin bed. He got to pick out his new sheets and surprise, surprise, he picked out Buzz and Woody sheets. I also bought him a plain navy blue duvet cover so that as he grows and is into new things we can just get different sheets and pillows and the duvet will still match.

His new phrase is, "But, what will happen" or "but, what if." He says this 100 times a day. When you tell him something as simple as "we are going to sign up to bring snack to school", he responds with something like, "but, what if they don't know we signed up." Then I explain that there is a sheet I can write on that the teachers will look at. He then continues, "but what if someone else brings snack." I tell him that no one else will because they will see that we are signed up. The conversation goes on and on this way. I know he is just trying to figure out how everything works, but it can be exhausting.

A few weeks ago Bryce had a week of terrible behavior. He went from being extremely sweet to over reacting about everything, yelling, not listening, throwing fits, etc. I felt like he was on timeout constantly and having lots of negative consequences. At least we weren't having to resort to timeouts in the car. A consequence, like no movie for the day, or taking a favorite toy away helped to not require us to put him in the car. He did have a couple of spanking during this week. When he would get a spanking he would ask if I could give it to him rather than Nathan. Apparently he is a quick learner and figured out that Nathan's spankings are harder than mine. Of course we didn't let him choice, instead, what ever parent said he was getting a spanking was the one to give it. Even though he has had a few spankings, it still breaks my heart every time we have to give him one. I just keep telling myself that it is for his own good. Better to learn good behavior, respect, self control, etc. now, than to grow up without these boundaries.

He is only napping one or two afternoons a week. It makes the evenings nice since he goes to bed by 7:30, but it makes for long afternoons. Even though he has to have quiet time, I don't get an uninterrupted break, as there always seems to be something he needs during quiet time.

Bryce is no longer playing with Dax and Garrett at school. We've had lots of talks about choosing friends that play nice and not have potty talk. Apparently these two little boys are the ringleaders for trouble, and Bryce is really attracted to them. He knows that he is supposed to play with the kids that have good behavior and that when other kids act naughty he shouldn't follow their lead.