Kids Updates

Here are some random updates about the kids:

• Davis is all done with daycare.  His last day, after 3 years, was on Thursday.  Next week he starts pre-school.  He will go three days a week for 2 1/2 hours each day, with the option to stay longer for lunch afterwards.  He is very excited about pre-school and "getting bigger".  
• I took Davis to a playdate at his pre-school where I met some of the other parents and he met a lot of his classmates.  He will have 15 kids in his class.  He had a great time at the playdate and didn't want to leave despite falling and cutting open his lip and scratching his face.
• Evan has been teething a lot recently.  He is always a very drooly kid, but in the last week he has got in about 3 teeth.  He has at least 5 now and has handled it very well.
• Evan is starting to crawl.  He is no where near as mobile as Alex, but he can commando crawl his way forward and gets up on his hands and knees a lot.  He can also sit up by himself which helps him a lot.
• Alex is very mobile and very fast.  He pulls up on everything and often can be seen just leaning against something or holding on by one hand.  He can also cruise along things he has pulled himself up on (train table, couch, etc).  Not bad for an 8 month old.  He will probably be walking before Davis did (10 months).
• Alex and Evan love Davis.  They are totally entertained by him and love to watch him play and/or interact with them.
• Alex's favorite toy is the one Evan has.
• Evan's favorite toy is the one Alex has.
• Alex's second favorite toy is a plastic sippy cup.
• Evan's second favorite toy is also a plastic sippy cup.
• Evan is about 22 or 23 pounds.  He is about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds bigger than Alex, but they are about the same length.
• Evan seems to need slightly more sleep than Alex.
• All three boys completed their latest round of swimming lessons.  This was our first session with Alex and Evan.  The twins had their lessons at 6:00pm and Davis at 6:30.  Davis would (mostly) sit on the side of the pool while we were in the water with Alex and Evan.  Then, I take the babies home and Kristen stays with Davis (often swimming in the lap lane that is open).  Its a pretty chaotic time to dinner, then get everybody to the pool.   We'll be doing it again as it has been really great for Davis.  He is a lot more comfortable in the water and has started putting his head under.  It really shows when we go to the Kirkwood pool how much the lessons have helped.  He has even tried swimming without any floatations a few times.  Alex and Evan are very different kids in the water.  Alex loves loves loves to splash the water while Evan is usually trying to eat it.  Its a cute and fun contrast.
• Alex and Evan both sleep through the night (7:30 pm to 6:00am) very reliably.  It is wonderful.  Usually Lilly wakes me up at least once, and frequently Davis wakes me up at least once as well.
• Davis is potty trained (im sure I mentioned this before).  He has done  great job.  He is rarely having accidents and sleeps without a diaper.  He is going a good job waking up at night and going to the potty, though he does seem to need help.  I'm a light sleeper and he usually yells for help and I sit him down then put him back in bed.  I believe it has been several weeks since he has had an accident at night (I knocked on wood).

Update: I started writing this post at 2:00 pm.  When I was watching the kids in the afternoon (around 3:30), Evan got up on all fours and crawled.  No more commando crawling for that kid.

First Tooth

This weekend we were a little surprised to discover that Alex has his first tooth!  Usually babies get their two front teeth first, but he has one of his top right teeth.  Its just poked through and doesn't seem to have bothered him too much.

Weekly update

Time flies when you have a child.  I don't really know what happened to last week.  Davis is growing up fast and we had a fun weekend.

This weekend did not quite go as planned, but we still manged to have a good time.  Kristen and Davis both have a cold (runny nose + cough) so we weren't as active as last weekend.  We had hoped to go to a bar with Davis to watch the University of Washington (Huskies) football game, but the colds and a late start meant we decided it was better not to go.  However, we did wear our matching Husky shirts on Saturday - it was quite amusing to be asked "So, are you big fans of George?" when we were picking up pizza (the shirts simply said: Washington).

This weekend:

• Davis and I went to the Burlington touch a truck.
• I went to the Y for a work out.  Kristen and Davis stayed home sick.
• Davis had a 3 hour nap on Saturday.  He woke up after an hour and 20 minutes, then slept on me for an hour and 40 minutes.  I really enjoy having him sleep on me, so I did not mind.
• Davis had a 3 hour nap on Sunday.  This was his first long weekend nap where he did not sleep on me for part of it.  It was quite a surprise and blessing.

Davis:

• Can now jump.  It is incredibly cute.  He throws his hands up in the air and gets just a little bit off the ground. 
• Uses a lot more words.  He has said in the last week: "breakfast", "grandma", "hungry".
• He is starting to use short phrases including: "All right", "No Way!", "Where is Mom", "Read this"
• Helps put his toys away before bed
• Feeds the cats treats.  He tends to favor Domino, but Kristen makes sure Lilly is looked after. 
• Climbs into the dining room chairs and sits when we say it is time to eat
• Has a few more teeth.  He has at least 9, but it might be 10.  Its hard to get a look in his mouth.
• Almost, but not quite, needs his first haircut
• Pretends to vacuum the floor.  He connects 4 or 5 of his magnetic cylinders to a ball and walks around making vacuum noises.
• Pretends to play trucks with his mega blocks.  Last night, he handed me a block and said "truck" then we drove our "trucks" around the living room.
• Shows a lot more interest in reading.  He now brings us books and sits in our laps while we read him stories.  He really enjoys "The cat in the hat", "Mr. brown can moo", "Brown bear brown bear, what can you see" and his bedtime stories.
• Pretends to give his monkey water.  Pretends might not be the right word for it since he actually gives his monkey water.
• Gives wonderful hugs
• Is staying up later and sleeping in later.  He usually goes to bed at 8:00 and wakes up at about 6:30.  This is great as we get an extra half hour with him at night and an extra hour of sleep in the morning.  Some days, he sleeps in until 7:30 which is great on a weekend, but a little stressful for the week.  We've started setting our alarm clocks again which is quite a change.

June Updates

Kristen and I haven't been good about blogging lately -- some of this is laziness -- but some can be contributed to the fact that we are getting out and doing more and we've had less time to sneak in a blog post here or there.  As Davis has grown and we've gotten more used to this whole "parenting thing" we are taking a lot more half and full day trips on the weekend.  For instance, this weekend, we took our first camping trip with the little guy.  This of course we preceded by two days of finding our camping gear, making lists, packing and cleaning.

Anyway, enough of the excuses for the lack of posts this month.  Here are some recent updates.

Davis:

• Is teething.  There are lots of fingers in the mouth, drooling and chewing on things at daycare.
• Loves the new daycare provider Lucy.  
• Says hi and waves to: random people on the street, cats, dogs, cars
• Understands and can say "shoes"
• Can feed himself with a spoon and fork
• Either loves or hates his bath.  If he loves his bath, he can be in there for an hour, if he hates it, we are in and out in a couple of minutes.  
• Plays his belly like a drum (taught by dad)
• Is gaining hair at the same rate I am losing it
• Loves the little piggy song and playing with his toes
• Loves his sand box
• Loves water
• Tries to combine his sandbox and water

We haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately, but here is one from a recent evening:

A rough week

Its been a tough week for our little guy.

• Last Monday, he went back to daycare after two weeks off
• Thursday he had a high fever and would not eat after daycare (we did get to goto the zoo because of this)
• Friday and Saturday he broke out with a rash all over his body
• Saturday he finished a 10 day course of antibiotics for strep
• Saturday he got taken to the YMCA daycare while we worked out
• Sunday he went to the doctor for the rash (nothing to worry about)
• Today he went to the park at 7:15 am with mom and dad, only to have dad leave for his doctor's appointment after 15 minutes (Davis stood at the fence saying "Da-Da?")
• He has multiple teeth coming in at once

Drop off at daycare has been especially tough for the last week.  He really does not like to see mom or dad go and lets us know about it.  Tonight was a really rough night for all of us - teething seems to have him in a lot of discomfort and he spent most of the night screaming and throwing himself around.  A popsicle at dinner did help, as did Tylenol, but it was tough to see him so uncomfortable.