Sleeping with a "few" things?

Luke's nightly ritual

Three and a half

Our little guy is three and a half. Time is flying. He is growing like a weed. His imagination and vocabulary are out of control. His naps are sparse. And we're more and more in love with him and feel so grateful to be able to watch him grow. Here's the mid-year recap on Luke:

The first half of 3 was "challenging," as many told me it would be. Several mommy friends warned me. I wasn't sure that I needed to worry ... I did. I can't put my finger on exactly what was the challenge. I guess because it was just EVERYTHING. Luke spent several months testing all of the limits and just being difficult in general. The good news is that we seem to have come through it and for the past few weeks he has been the most pleasant, agreeable, patient, kind boy. I hope that boy hangs around for a while :)!

Imagination and make-believe are the main parts of Luke's days. He LOVES to pretend. He has all sorts of scenarios playing out at all hours of the day. Some involve real people and real things, others involve things and characters that are most definitely not real (the pack of 10 dogs and 10 cats, for instance, who apparently live in our storage loft). Sam, Luke's pillow pet, is also a main player in all of the make believe. It is pretty cute and amazing to hear some of the stories that he comes up with ... then again, I don't find it quite so "cute" when he blames the shove that he just gave his sister on Sam.

After meeting with the social worker at Luke's school in November, we have completely figured out the potty situation. We basically gave the potty power back to Luke (since he had it all the time anyways) and it essentially "fixed" the accidents that he was still having. So, I can now say with complete confidence that he is potty trained and hasn't had an accident in 2 months! Woo hoo!

He's still the pickiest eater I know. In fact, things that he used to like have started to fall of the list - leaving an even shorter list of Luke-approved foods than before. I've decided that I'm giving Luke the power back on this one also (after all, he's in control - I can't force him to eat anything). So, I cater most meals to his tastes, adding in a non-approved food from time to time just to expose him to it. I sneak vegetables into fruit dishes and juices. Whatever ... hopefully he'll grow out of it. In the meantime, his growth is right on track....

Speaking of which, he seems to have grown a tremendous amount in the past month or two. I have no idea how tall he is, but I took one look at him a few weeks back and was shocked to notice that his 3T shirts are no longer fitting. They are all too short in the torso and arms. Amazing! 3T pants still seem to fit well. As of this month Luke weighs 34lbs.

Napping has been slowly dwindling down. For a while he was "resting" and falling asleep on most days, but we're down to a real nap about 1-2 days a week now. He takes a "rest" everyday from about 2/2:30 - 4:00, which means he's in his bed during that time with some books. The nice part of him not actually sleeping is that (after a short period of complete insanity before bedtime) he is 100% ready for bed at 7pm. He doesn't complain and there are no late-night antics. He just passes out immediately. :)

In terms of health - he's been relatively healthy this winter. Only one ear infection! One tube is out (right ear) and the other is still in. We'll just see how he does, but we are optimistic. Luke's speech sounds to us like it has improved dramatically. Most people seem to understand what he says the majority of the time. We'll double check with his teachers next month during our conference, but I'm hoping that he has made some progress and will continue to do so until he has caught up with his peers. He's at no loss for vocabulary! Some of the stuff to comes out of his mouth amazes me. This month his teachers at school did notice Luke having some trouble focusing his eyes and one of them wandering a bit, so he will be seeing a pediatric opthamologist in a few weeks to have them looked at.

At 3 and a 1/2 Luke has a full schedule - school 3 mornings a week, a pre-soccer class/program on Tuesday evenings, and swimming lessons on Thursdays. Although there are times when he tells me that he doesn't want to go (his favorite thing to do is to stay in his pjs all day long!), he really loves all of his activities once we get there. He's becoming more social at school, but overall is still pretty quiet in a group setting and takes a while to warm up. I say he saves all of his talking for Mommy and Daddys' ears!!!

What a sweet, sensitive, energetic, curious, loving, imaginative, silly, cute boy we have ... so lucky!

'Tis the Season....

...for birthday parties, apparently!

We have been to a few recently and we have several coming up in the next few weeks.

Luke was happy to attend buddy V's jump party at Pump It Up to help him celebrate, but to be completely honest, the main draw for Luke was seeing the lovely Jadyn.

Although Jadyn and her family have moved about an hour north, Luke has not forgotten about her - he talks about her frequently and jumps (literally, in this case!) at any opportunity to see her.

Here's hoping that we'll have a repeat Jadyn sighting at A's birthday party in early February. Luke's hoping ... and so are we actually, they are such sweet friends.

Mmmm ...

Lovin' her spaghetti

Mia at 1

What's going on in Mia's world at ONE year old?

First off, we headed out to the pediatrician this week for her 1-year-old well check. Everything looked great, her development is right on track, and her growth ... well, that is just fine too, even though she's still SUCH a peanut.

Mia's 1 year old stats

Weight: 17 lbs, 9 oz (right around 5th percentile)

Height: 27.75 inches - although this is up for debate since three different people measured her after the first measurement showed no growth since her last visit, but we'll go with it (between 5th and 10th percentile)

Head circumference: 17 inches (5th percentile)

She is still wearing 6-12 month (or 9 month, depending on brand) clothing, size 3 diapers, and size 3 shoes.

Mia has a few words now, but her new thing is that she talks ALL the time. She loves to talk. She's got a ton of consonant and vowel sounds and her voice has inflection like she's having a real conversation, except the sounds aren't really in an order that any of us can understand. It is super cute to listen to, though. She does say "hi" all the time, often to complete strangers. She also says "bye," "Daddy," and "kitty" consistently. Not so consistently, but I've definitely heard them are "Momma" (go figure!), some form of "Brooklyn," and "milk." She is also starting to use signs. Her sign for "all done" is used after nearly every meal. She also knows the sign for "milk." We are working on "more," "please," "thank you," "eat," and "drink."

She seems dangerously close to walking. Dr. Dugoni said on Monday that her guess would be that it will happen within the next couple of weeks. She stands without support or holding on to anything all the time now. It seems impossible for such a little thing to be standing on her own - so cute!

Oh, the teeth, the teeth. She's got such a funny mouth right now! She officially has 6 teeth now with the 7th (the top left) pushing through as I type. The new ones in the past month are the top right front tooth and one on the bottom to the left of her middle teeth. She looks like a little jack-o-lantern.

Sleeping continues to go well at night. We consistently get somewhere between 11.5 and 12.5 hours! There were a few nights last week that she woke up at 5:30am, but I am chalking those up to teething. She naps twice a day, and after about a week of rocky morning naps we are back on schedule. She wakes up for the day sometime between 7 and 8, goes down for a nap between 10 and 10:30, I wake her from that nap by noon (to preserve the pm nap), she naps again from 2:30ish to 4:30ish, and then is in bed between 7 and 7:30.

In the world of eating Mia continues to outshine her brother! Although, I must say that she is getting a bit more picky, which is starting to really worry me. Please, God, I canNOT deal with two non-eaters. What are her favorites? Well, the girl can down a banana faster than anything. She LOVES carbs (mmmm ... me too!) - crackers, pretzels, bread, toast, waffles, cereal - loves it all. Italian food is also popular: ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna, as are refried beans and lentil soup. She was eating all veggies for a while, but lately has definitely preferred sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots and not as many greens. Strangely, she doesn't seem to like cheese. This is something that I just cannot bring myself to understand. I transitioned her to whole milk the week of her birthday and she did great. She had her first sip at Aqui's on the evening of her birthday and hasn't looked back. We also took the bottle away at the same time (she was getting a couple of bottles a day during the past 6 weeks or so while I weaned her from breastfeeding), so she's drinking her milk from a sippy cup during the day. I am still nursing her twice a day: upon waking in the morning and at bedtime.

Think that's it for now ... will update more soon on Mia and also on our big 3 and 1/2 (officially in a few days!) year old.

Papa's girls

First birthday girls Julie (in September 1979) and Mia (in January 2011) spending time with their beloved Papa

Mia's Winter Wonderland

Mia had a purple and silver themed "Winter Wonderland" first birthday party this weekend. So, I've always had fun planning Luke's birthday parties, but this took the excitement of planning to a whole. new. level. Perhaps it was all of the fabulous inspiration I got from viewing so many party-planning blogs ... or maybe it was just because I was able to use my most favorite color. At any rate, it was so much fun!

The invitation on display alongside Mia's birth announcement

Outside guests were welcomed with a snowflake luminary lit path, hanging snowflakes, and a welcome sign

Inside, beautiful purple and white floral arrangements created by Day were on nearly every table.

Poms in various shades of purple, snowflakes, and a sweet Happy Birthday sign hung from the ceiling.

The bar area offered guests (purple, of course) Sangria, as well as a hot chocolate/coffee bar with all of the fixings for both the adults (Baileys, peppermint schnapps, Kahlua) and the kids (marshmallows, whipped cream, and candy canes).

The dessert table was the focal point of the family room - Snowflake cookies, rock candy (icicle) pops, purple jelly beans, cupcakes, lollipops, Hershey's (winter) kisses, and snow(cake) balls. Day made the fabulously beautiful personal cake for Mia.

The dining table was decorated with winter tree branches hung with snowflakes and photos of Mia from her first year.

There was a snowflake art project in the backyard for the kids,

but the boys seemed to prefer playing upstairs with trains (surprise, surprise!)

La Milpa (Mexican food) catered the party, which was in no way related to the theme ... it is just so yummy and Mexican is one of Mia's favorites! Here are her and Chloe enjoying their beans :)

Mia had no interest whatsoever in diving into her beautiful purple cake. Even after Luke gave her a little tutorial on what she should do, she resisted. Of course, since then she has had no trouble getting up close and personal with a cupcake from her party. Oh well...

Present opening was not unlike Christmas. She still isn't as interested in bows, boxes, and paper as I would have expected ... but she does love playing with each toy as it comes out of the box! So many cute books, clothes, and toys - what a very lucky little girl!

The Birthday Girl having fun with some of her favorite people

Another winter tree by the door was hung with unique quilled snowflake ornaments for guests to take home as favors. The tree also doubled as Mia's "Wishing Tree" where people were able to write a wish for the birthday girl on a small piece of cardstock and hang it on the tree. I'm sure that they will be treasured keepsakes in years to come.

Thank you to all of you, near and far (and those who were here in spirit), who came to celebrate Mia's birthday with us. It was a wonderful, memorable day. A very special first birthday!

**An extra special thank you to Gina for coming early and taking most of these photos!