Hannah at 1

Our beautiful little princess turned 1 on July 14. The year has passed oh so fast. I still remember being on Maternity Leave and carrying Hannah around in her car seat because she was sleeping and handling her so gently and delicately because she was so small. Well, small is definitely a word of the past. She is no small baby anymore.

From her 1 year appointment on July 16, here's her stats:
Weight: 25 lbs 10 ounces (96% )
Height: 30 inches (75% )
Head Circumference: 18 3/4 (97% )

Dr. Sudha says she's growing well and she can have everything but peanuts now. We also informed the Doctor about her reaction to the cake on her birthday party and received a prescription for an Epipen and an appointment with an allergy specialist.

Hannah is amazing!

• Hannah can walk now!!!! As of this weekend, Hannah is cruising around the house without assistance. She's a full blown toddler now. She still falls occasionally at gets nice bruises on her forehead, but she sure is loving being mobile. She likes to take the walker and cruise around the house really fast.
• She's drinking whole milk from a bottle and is trying sippy cups. She likes to eat real food and will not even touch the Gerber mashed foods. Her favorite food is fruit and doesn't care for vegetables much, just like Mommy.
• People say she looks like Mommy, even strangers at the store say that.
• She's got alittle bit of hair now. Daycare has been successfully able to get alittle ponytail or pigtails but it looks like it's a stretch. I'm still going to wait for a bit more hair until I start putting her in pigtails. I'm not worried though, Ian didn't have much hair at this age too and now look at him. His hair grows fast.
• She is the only baby I know of that can blow her own nose. She's been doing this for the past two months. We didn't even teach her how to do it. She picked it up on her own. She'll even grab a piece of kleenex (if we allow it) and put it in front of her nose and blow.
• She likes to dance to music and tries to sing. Her favorite song is "If you're happy and you know it"
• She's a fast crawler. If you don't pay attention, she'll crawl really fast to the bathroom and play with the toilet water. Yes, it's happened a few times now. Mommy and Daddy weren't thinking and left the bathroom door opened. Next thing we knew, we heard splish splash.
• She loves baths. Her favorite thing to do is turn the water on and off. Yes, she knows how to do that. If you turn it off, she notices and goes back and turns it on. Like I said, she's amazing.
• She hates sleeping in her crib. She prefers to sleep on the guest bed that's in her room. We'll try over and over to have her sleep in her crib, but the minute you put her head on the bed, she's down for the count.
• Hannah says "Eeeyaa for Ian", "Ma Ma", "Da Da" and that's about it for now
• She knows when we're leaving especially in the morning. She starts to throw a fit and wants us to pick her up. Then, when one of us picks her up, she looks at the other and starts to wave bye.
• Her favorite toy is the play kitchen that we have. She LOVES to pull everything out of the refrigerator and the stove and put some of the stuff in her mouth.
• Teeth - I think she has 12. After the first 4, she just hasn't stopped teething. 4 on the top front, 4 on the bottom front, two molars on the bottom and two molars on the top.
• She makes kissing noises... so cute.
  
  
  

Ian at 3

On July 15, our ever growing boy turned 3. It feels like just yesterday he was hiding in the kitchen cabinet, sleeping in the crib, or watching Elmo. Now, he's the tallest kid in class, can reach on top of the island and get things, and is jumping everywhere high and far.

Ian had his 3 year old check-up on wednesday, the 16th. No shots for him that day so he was happy to be there. We did have to pee in a cup for the first time and he didn't quite like that. He choose Mommy to go with him to do the sample and Mommy had no idea on the procedure for urine samples for a boy. Nevertheless, he peed and I was able to catch some of it in a cup. He was pretty insistent with me to dump the pee from the cup in to the toilet. He didn't understand that the doctor needed it. When he turned for a second, I quickly filled another cup with water and dumped it in the toilet.

Weight: 38.4 lbs ( 96%)

Height: 40 1/2 inches ( 97%)

With stats like that, the doctor said Ian was fine. She too can't believe how tall he is.

About Ian:

• He is really growing in his physical abilities. He loves to jump and skip on one foot. Often saying "Mommy watch me...mommy watch me" as he jumps from his bed to the floor. He also loves to jump from one end of the couch to the other. We always tell him to watch out and be careful, but do you really think he'll listen to us?


• Ian is almost fully potty trained. Last weekend, we made the move and switched him to underwear full time. It was a struggle in the beginning. He was successful at peeing when we get him to the toilet, but it's a fight to get him to go to the bathroom. Then, he wouldn't poop in the potty. He had numerous accidents. (Luckily, daddy has been doing the clean-up...what a great daddy). Then, we made him wear underwear to school all week. At school, he was great for most of the day and then had a poopy accident in the afternoon . The incentive for him to learn to potty is so that he can move to the 3's room where his friends Liam and Jacob are. Then, on wednesday, I was conducting a training so Ian went to Daddy and actually told him, I have to go pee. Daddy told him to go to the bathroom, and he took off his own diaper (we're still putting him in diapers at night), and peed all by himself. He went to his room for underwear and felt he had to poop so he went poop all by himself. YEAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Now, it is sunday and Ian is telling us when he has to pee and poop. He even told me at Target last night and went there. I think in another week or so, I can officially declare Ian is potty trained. Last night was the first time I didn't have to buy Size 5 diapers at Target. Woohoo! What am I going to do with the extra room in the shopping cart now?


• During June, Ian went to PB&J Preschool taught by our friend Niki. She is a wonderful teacher and we were so excited for Ian to be able to join her class. We got lucky and another "friend" was not able to attend the session, so Ian got to go for 4 mornings a week. He warmed up to Niki really fast and loved his time at PB&J. He was shy in the beginning and then really started to show his true personality. His favorite thing was being the Flag Helper. After two weeks, he learned to say "Everyone, please stand up" and then he was able to recite the whole Pledge of Allegiance. Can you believe that? At 3, he knows the Pledge of Allegiance. After it was done, he would tell everyone "Please sit down". It's so cute hearing him say all of that. Starting this week, Ian is back at PB&J Preschool for the Regular Fall Class session. Ian will be attending two afternoons a week and one morning a week. We know he'll learn so much from the class as well as have fun. We can't wait to see what he has to share with us now.


• As far as TV, Ian is over his Backyardigans, Diego, and Wow Wow Wubzy phase. He's now in to Oswald. As soon as he's up and as soon as he's home, "I want Ozzzwald" he says. It's not that bad of a cartoon but it's just alittle too polite and slow for mommy's taste. I've tried to expose him to other cartoons, but he just wants Oswald.


• Ian still loves his trains and cars. He also misses the Cable Cars (or Bable Cars as he says it). We frequently catch him pretending to be a Cable Car driver.


• Ian is still attending Rollie Pollie every saturday morning. It's summer session there and since it started in May, Ian's still in the Two's class until the next session in August. Ian's is like a giant compared to the other kids in the class. He balances, swings, and hangs from the bars so well now. It's amazing how much he's grown at that place. He used to only do the TumbleTrak, now he does everything, even the bounce house. It took 3 sessions for him to finally go in that thing. He is also jumping in to the Foam pit with no fear.


• While Ian loves his little sister, he still has his moments. She is often trying to touch his toys or him, and he'll push her. He'll also take toys away from her when he decides he wants it. We're constantly trying to teach him to share. He will have his good moments though where he will share his toy or food with her.


• Just when we thought the tantrums were done during the Terrible Twos, it's even worse now with the Terrible Threes. Ian knows how to push our buttons and screams, tries to talk firmly to us, gives us stern looks and hits, or pushes us. He's also learned that if Daddy won't give him something, to go to Mommy. He has a fake cry that he can drop in a second.He knows when he's being a bad boy and a good boy and sometimes will tell us "I want to be a bad boy". However, more often he is a good boy and loves to have fun.

As Ian says when he's ready for us to leave and go to work, "Bye xxxxx, have a good day... , , . I love you"