Micah

At 15 months he is 22 pounds and 2 ounces. He is also 30 and 1/4 inches long. He's doing fine. He has a bit of an infection that we just thought was allergies the past few days, but he's on some medicine to help knock it out before it becomes anything bigger. He also has a hemorrhoid; I didn't even know kids could get those, but I'm glad I asked about it. It could very well go away on it's own, or we may have to get it removed at some point, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. Overall, though, he's doing just fine.

Homecoming

Jason was in Peru and Ecuador for the past week and a half. Alexis wasn't very happy about this and was missing him a lot during this trip, understandably so. She was a little mad at him I think because she (pretty adamantly) refused to talk to him on the phone. When we got home from picking him up, Jason put her to bed and she rolled ovver like she would go instantly to sleep. However, she then popped up quickly and said "Now, don't go to work EVER AGAIN." And rolled back over to go to sleep. I think Jason's heart melted right then. Cutest thing ever.

Jason is home, and we had a nice day with the kids yesterday since he was off. We were going to go to a festival, but it decided to rain all day and we stayed home. On Saturday (if our car is fixed... again...) we're going to go out and celebrate our anniverary. Seven years. Hooray!

Micah has a 15 month appointment on Monday, and I imagine his doctor will tell him he is completely fine. He still never walks anywhere, only runs. My favorite is when he gets some speed up and is jogging along making little grunting happy noises and his fat cheeks start bouncing up and down. All he wants all of the time right now is to be up on a couch or a chair. Literally. He's trying to climb into my lap right now as I type. The problem is that he hasn't yet figured out how to get up on his own. Hopefully that's coming soon, but I'm glad it didn't come earlier like it did with Alexis. I think if he tumbles off a couch it's not really going to hurt him at all right now, which is what I always worried about with her. He'll sit on the couch, though, and if you have a few picture books, he'll usually be content for a LONG time just pointing out pictures and having you say the name of the picture and then trying to repeat it. You can really see his vocabulary beginning to take off and he readily knows words like milk and banana and will point or go to where they are when he wants them. He's also starting to point out some pictures like clock and pig, which is very cool to see. And, of course, He adores his Guapo, which is his best friend elephant. He also enjoys playing chase with his sister. It was amazing the other day to hear them upstairs, playing in their rooms, and laughing for over five minutes straight while they were doing this.

Alexis is turning into a super cleaner upper in the evening. She has the responsibility of cleaning up the basement and her room, and (most of the time now) she does a really good job. She gets incredibly excited about us seeing what a good job she does and thrusts her head into the bed or sofa until we come and see her handiwork. Her favorite thing right now is making crafts, and our dining room table is usually littered with scraps of paper and crayons and stickers and glue and foam and yard for her to create something special. (She has also started saying, around 7:30 at night when we go to bed), that she REALLY wants to do something SPECIAL tonight. It's pretty funny. She is developing a good vocabulary and busted out with the word purchase a few days ago at the store, and a woman overheard her and laughed because she thought it was very impressive to hear that from a kid her age. That made me feel good. A few months ago I got the most recent Ramona Quimby book at a used bookstore, and she saw it in her closet and claimed it as her favorite book. We've actually been reading it at night, and she will begin chapter 3 tonight. We'll see how long this lasts, but it's pretty cool that she's listening. I sometimes have to convince herto listen a bit, but she always enjoys it, especially when she can delay bedtime! The one thing I'm really trying to work on with her is consequences. She has a hard time focusing on things, so I'm trying to learn to appropriately enforce her decisions. For example, if she says she wants to go outside and play sidewalk chalk and then she plays for about twenty seconds and then stops, we'll go inside. Last night when I told her she could have a cookie after she did a good job of cleaning up and she didn't do a good job, she didn't get a cookie. Hopefully she's learning from these things.

Overall, the kids are doing really well. Alexis prays for her new cousin, Elizabeth, every night, along with her parents. Elizabeth was born at 27 weeks and just over two pounds and is quite a feisty one I've heard. She had surgery to correct some birth defects earlier in the week, and she'll have to have more done at 3-6 months. It looks like she'll be in the hospital for 6-9 months at this point, which is incredibly difficult. We pray for them. We also pray for Earl every night, and mom, as he goes through shemo treatments. Jason has today off, too, so we have a long, four-day weekend to enjoy together since he was gone. Hooray for family time and relaxing!

Alexis

Micah started saying Alex's name yesterday afternoon. It sounds like a two-syllable "ice" amnd is really adorable because he was doing it over and over and over again. She was the first person in his room this morning, and I heard him say her name when she walked in. It's pretty stinkin' cute.

His favorite thing right now is to run to someone, turn around, and sit in an available lap. I don't know what it is about this that he likes, but it's one of his favorite games. And I'm definitely not complaining that he wants to be close! I'll take all the cuddles I can get since he's always so on the go!

Language Explosion

Micah is experiencing a language explosion! He is finally starting to identify objects more readily. He'll go get his ball, a book, his Guapo (elephant), Maardvark, and even his cup sometimes. He'll also say "ba" for ball, and we were just reading a book that had a picture of a car on it and he looked at it and said "ca" without any prompting. It was so cool! He's going to talk more quickly than Alex did, which will be a little weird for me simply because I'm not used to that. Let the fun begin!

A Disgrace

I haven't updated since Micah's birthday. SHAME ON ME!

In August we went on a wonderful first family vacation. We were lent the use of a house in Wintergreen, and it was amazing! It was this huge house that slept fourteen people (easily), so we closed off the basement and used the top two floors. There was a huge, open kitchen/dining/living area, and there was even a little playroom for the kids to use! Jason and I slept in a loft bedroom, and Alexis slept in a room that had a forest mural painted all over the walls. She loved it and slept in a regular bed for the first time. She did fall out on night, but she was fine the other nights. While we were there we took the kids to the pool, to the lake (they played in the sand and had lots of fun digging), to a small museum where Alexis got to "dig" for fossils, went hiking, watched movies and tv, and generally just had a very relaxing time together, which was the whole point. Alexis keeps talking about going on vacation, so I think it was an exciting time for her. I thikn of all things she was most excited about her bug net! She caught a number of cool bugs in it.

We've been spending quite a bit of time lately fixing some things around the house. We still have a number of things to do outside that aren't completed yet, but Alexis is very willing to "help" with anything and everything! It's hard to believe how big she is getting. We've been going over letters in a workbook that she has, so she's starting to pick up a little bit on what sounds make what noises and what words start with what letters. We've only done a handful, but I think she's doing a reasonable job of learning. She has also recently gotten really good at coloring. It was like something clicked inside of her, and now she can color in the lines and WANTS to color in the lines. She is still taking a nap in the afternoons, but we'll see how much longer that lasts. She also went to camp in the mornings for two weeks this summer, and she LOVED it! The second week was at the park, and they have a water playground there, so she went swimming every day. The first day she came out saying "I went down the slide all by myself and didn't swallow any water!" She is also picking out her own clothes most days and is really helpful when we go out; she is very cooperative, rarely cranky, and can get in and out of the car by herself, which is really nice. She does go back and forth with pouting or being really upset when she doesn't get her way, but we're working on that. She has actually really responded to time outs. She doesn't like to go and udnerstands why she is there, and I think it has clicked with her as a form of discipline.

Micah isn't a baby anymore. He is definitely a toddler, or whatever you call the next stage. He never crawls anywhere and rarely walks; he just wants to run. He has started to play jokes on people, like taking a toy and pretending to give it to me but then snatching it away. That's one of his favorites. He also will sometimes play peek-a-boo and put his hands over his eyes and gets very excited when he takes them off. AND he'll hide under tables and act like he told a really funny joke. It's your basic non-baby adorableness. He is really expressive, just like Alexis was, but whereas by this time Alexis was starting to identify some objects, he has no interest in that. However, he'll repeat a lot of sounds randomly, so it sounds like he's trying to say things like "ice" and "bread" and other things. He really only says mommy, though, even though he is incredibly vocal, much more than she was. I guess that's prone to happen when you have a big sister jabbering at you all day. He is also incredibly attached to his best friend, his elephant who is now named Guapo. He adores this thing. He especially likes to plunge his face into it. However, he likes to plunge his face into everything and will run to you with an open mouth and plant his face into your chest or face or neck with a big hug. My favorote is when he does this to Alexis and he gets her right in the stomach! She thinks it's really funny. I think that Micah has given up his morning nap, which makes me sad, but that's what kids do, right? He still sleeps really well at night; I don't think I've had to get up in the middle of the night for weeks. (The bigger problem with that was with Alexis for a while. First it was spiders, and then it was whales. She has worked through it mostly, and tells us that when she has a bad dream she prays to God to keep her safe and then goes back to sleep. Oh, and she has also started making up these crazy elaborate, incomprehensible stories that she tells us at night. It's only been a few so far, but I imagine more are coming.) Micah has finally gotten off the bottle totally and now only used sippy cups. It was a process, but he's all good now. He also has started to color a little bit, and by this I mean he'll pick up a crayon and eat some and then color a little on the paper, and then try desperately to color on the floor, and then eat some more crayon. (By eat I mean try to eat... lol)

Overall they are both doing great. I'm trying to integrate their learning together a lot by identifying objects for Micah and then asking Alexis what letter the word starts with. Has anyone else ever noticed that a lot of kid words start with the letter B? Alex is really good with that letter.

"I like Micah. He's the favorite friend ever!"

(while holding Jason's face in her hands and with a tone of gentle chastisement) "Look, don't chew maardvark;s nose, okay?"

"We eatt the rocks so that America can be free."

These are just a few of the most recetn ridiculously cute things that Alexis has said. She's such a hoot! He favorite thing right now is jumping EVERYWHERE! She can really launch herself off of the couch in the basement; it's pretty impressive. She's been in camp this week, and even though when we ask her if she likes it she says no sometimes, every day when I pick her up she's really excited about what she did that day. She told me it was the best party ever yesterday! She's the youngest kid there, but that's probably good for her. She went swimming the first day, but she swallowed some water and had to sit out for the rest of the time. They haven't gone back since, but I think it was probably good for her to have something a little scary in the water so that she gets a healthy fear of water. We went swimming last Saturday, and she kept wanting to insist that she coudl do it all by herself. It's great to see the independence, but with something like water, it's a little scary, too. We got her a life vest, so hopefully that will help the next time she goes swimming.

Micah is doing great. He walks everywhere and has absolutely no desire to be held at all. Sorry to everyone who wants to cuddle with him!He also loves to walk around wih objects in his hands, especially if thery're exceptionally large.I'm not sure why he likes that unless it's just for the challenge of it, but it's his chosen mode oftransportation. It's pretty funny to watch him walk around with a big red ball of penguin that it as big as he is! He's still not really talking, but he jabbers a lot. We've been working on identifying objects a little. Alexis picked up on a numbof things by the time she was about 14 months, so we'll see wherehe is in a few months. He also had his one year checkup today. He has to go back for a few more shots in a week (because he's not officially one yet), but the doctor said he looks great! He seemed pretty please to watch him walking around. Micah now weighs 19 pounds and 6 ounces, and he is 28" long. I think he's as tall as Alex was when we moved into the house, which was when she was 1 1/2. We also switched him to a front-fcing car seat a few days ago, which has been a really good move. He was starting to get pretty unhappy about hte other seat, where he had to recline, so now he has a good view of everything. I can't believe he'll be one on Saturday!

Officially Walking

Micah is officially walking. He took his first step two weeks ago (May 30?), and yesterday he took four steps at a time a number of times. Before bed he had done seven or eight. This morning before church he did 14, and then this afternoon he's just decided that he "gets" it and is walking. He's still pretty wobbly, but he'll do it on his own now without any convincing. I think he thinks it's pretty cool that he can do this. I think Alex did the exact same thing aroung the same time. Anyway, he's officially walking. While I'm sure that I'll continue to count sometimes, I'm not going to keep track of it anymore. He's going to be a little firecracker by the time he's one.