Kiddo Update: Spring 2012

I've been working on this update for a couple months now and it's high time I get it posted already, so here goes!  (Also, I was remiss in sharing Easter pictures so forgive the abundance of Easter-themed images.)

William Champion

My little man with the soulful eyes.

• About:  You are now 34 months old, mere weeks away from your 3rd birthday.  We're going to have an "Ocean Friends"-themed birthday party for you in Indiana, so you can celebrate your big day with family (when we asked you what you wanted for your birthday party, you replied, "Elijah."  We think you might miss your cousins...).
• Interests:  You continue to love anything and everything planes, trains, and automobiles-related.  Anything that has an engine, basically.  (Something tells me we are in for it when you turn 18...)  Lately you've really become interested in helicopters and you like to find them in the sky (even when they're not really there).  You and Daddy love to watch a show on airplanes and you get really excited to say "albatross."

Beloved Thomas and Friends.

• You also continue to love ocean animals (thus, the theme of your party).  You often request to watch your "orca" movie, which is really just a documentary about the oceans.  You have these little bath squirter creatures and sometimes you won't take a bath unless you have "big orca, little orca, humpback whale, and shark" with you. 
• Activities:  Your favorite, favorite thing in the whole world is go to the park ("big park" -- the huge playground by a lake -- and "little park" -- a neighborhood park just down the street).

On Easter, playing in your cousins' backyard.

•  You dearly love to play with Play-Doh and will while away HOURS doing so.  Sometimes you don't fall asleep doing "couch rest" so I let you get up and play at the table.

You told me this was a choo-choo.  I can see it!

• Food & Entertainment:  You are still a very picky eater, although you've certainly expanded your palate and (most of the time) will obediently eat what's on your plate when told.  Your favorites are grilled cheese and tomato soup, hot dogs, and DONUTS (I think you live for donut day -- we get Dunkin' donut holes once a week).  You also have to have a big cup of orange juice first thing in the morning and, true Southern gent that you are, you love to have a cup of iced sweet tea (decaf!) with one of your daily meals.  Your favorite shows are the LeapFrog videos (numbers, the alphabet, phonics), Caillou, Kipper, Max & Ruby, and the perennial favorites Dora and Diego.

Sometimes your soup spoons magically turn into "heli-top-ters."

• Health & Development:  Thank the Lord, you are an extraordinarily healthy child.  I honestly can't remember the last time you were sick, and even then I think it was just a case of the sniffles.  Last month we took you out of speech therapy because we are just so pleased with how you're doing and want to let you continue to expand your speaking abilities on your own.  You now have so many words and phrases and sentences that we no longer keep track.  Mommy and Daddy have really learned this about you:  You might not develop according to the textbooks, but when you decide to grow in a certain area, you really go for it.  We've learned to stop worrying about you so much! 



Spittin' image of your Daddy.

• Extras:  You continue to enjoy playing on your own, but you're including Lucy more and more into your fun.  Sometimes I hear the two of you giggling about something and I know you have your own inside jokes already started (I certainly had that with my sisters!).  I know she can get on your nerves sometimes but you love her dearly and desperately hate to see her cry.  You are my sweet boy!



"I love Lucy."

Lucy Elizabeth

My fair little blue-eyed beauty.

• About:  You are now 21 months old.  We're also having your birthday party in Indiana, which will be baby doll-themed.  (I have some fun ideas up my sleeve for this!)
• Interests:  You adore your babies and you love for me to give you bottles and pacifiers (out of the stash that we still use for you!) for them.  You have a stroller that you push them around in, but usually you just carry one or two haphazardly on your hip. 

You have a serious love of the staircase and you have this crazy competitive need to beat your brother to the top every time -- wonder where you get that from?  Ha!

• Activities:  Besides following your brother around, you love to dance to almost any kind of music, but from what I can tell, you love Adele, Alison Krauss, and the BeeGees the most.  You also love the park and are much more of a daredevil than your brother was at this age; sometimes you scare us with your love of climbing on everything, but at least you prefer going down slides backwards (feet first) -- it just looks a little bit safer?!

Wheee!!!

• Food & Entertainment:  Just in the last couple of months, you've switched entirely to table food.  You adore feeding yourself and will sometimes get angry if Mommy or Daddy tries to help you finish up -- you're a big girl now!  You actually love vegetables -- you will eat broccoli, green beans, corn, and peas like they're delicacies.  You also really love hot dogs, deli ham, spaghetti, crackers, yogurt, bananas, and cookies.  Your favorite shows are Dora, Diego, Sesame Street, and the Lori Berkner Band.

You're a good eater but a super-messy one...

...so much so, that we often have to give you "sink baths" after each meal!

• Health & Development:  Little one, you have struggled with high fevers since you were 8 months old, and even though we took you to the doctor every*single*time, we were always told "It's just a virus."  Mommy and Daddy never liked that answer and felt that there had to be another explanation, and it turns out we were right.  After a series of really yucky high fevers this spring, we finally got referred to a specialist who told us that you have a funny thing called "PFAPA" (pronounced "piff-pah").  The bad news is, you will probably have to have your tonsils out sometime in the next couple years, but the good news is, we can treat you with steroids until then, and even if the tonsillectomy doesn't work, you will certainly outgrow this.  We hate that you've had to deal with these fevers but we feel so much better now that we have a diagnosis and a good plan to get you on the road to a lifetime of good health.  Developmentally, you've been a tiny bit reluctant to start talking, but just today Mommy looked up what's typical for a toddler your age, and essentially, you're supposed to have at least 12-15 words.  Well, good news, you have at least twice that number!  Here's the list that we compiled just off the top of our heads...you can say:  Mommy, Daddy, Pup, hi, bye-bye, up, down, help, stuck, (where) are you?, there you are, go, no, outside, shoes, car, look, baby, eyes, nose, ears, hat, ba-ba (bottle), ball, wow, uh-oh, Dora, Diego, and bubble.



You love to wear anything on your head!



You are also very interested in the texture of objects, like this Easter grass.  At the park, I have to double-check every plant that you touch because you can't seem to help yourself from touching anything with a leaf or bloom!

• Extras:  You are very mischievous and can pull off the perfectly innocent look when caught.



"What?  Is there a problem?"

• But more than anything, you are my little sprite who is constantly filled with joy and sparkle and energy and curiosity.  You love life!!!



So pretty.



So big!!!