A Whole Month

It's been a whole month since I last updated. We've had a busy time with a bunch of birthdays and trips out. Plus a whole lot of playing at home. In fact, a lot of the time I forgot to even get my camera out. So here are some updates and pics to go along with it.

We've celebrated Kris's birthday (and gave some birthday wishes to Grammie, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Amy). Nothing outrageous here. We went out to dinner and had cupcakes at home. Kris really liked his Polamalu jersey that I bought him - although he would have preferred that they actually WIN the Super Bowl. But we did have a family of little Steelers fans as you can see.

We've had some trips to the park on the nice days and the museum on the not so nice ones. We are spending a lot of time at the gym to work out and take swim lessons. But we've been spending a lot of time at home just playing! Here is an update per kid.

Ryan - Ryan is doing well in school, but could be better. We have a meeting this Thursday with ALL of his teachers and we're really not sure what to expect. He is having a lot of trouble with the writing portion of school and the concentrating part. Luckily, he really enjoys school and has been disappointed the days it has been cancelled. He recently added OT at Children's to his Speech Therapy. OT is working on calming his body down and having more body recognition. His speech has come a long way to where we can understand almost everything he says. He is working on sound production at around a 3 year old level (yes, Emma speaks clearer than him now). Happily, he enjoys his time in therapy and likes to do the homework at home (can't say the same about school homework). He is really into Disney movies and playing school, Sunday school and church. We're still working on helping him figure out how to do these things by himself though! Do you like his new haircut??

Emma - Emma is 2 1/2 - as she will tell anyone who asks. Then she will give a monologue about how when she turns 3 she will go to preschool. Yes, we signed her up and she got to visit there on open house night. She is really looking forward to it and I fully expect her to be standing at the door with her backpack on the day after she turns 3 expecting to go that day. She will be sorely disappointed. But she will be happy to be able to go into the big kid room at the gym - which has been a big goal of hers. She is working hard on using the potty. She tends to forget during the day, but will use it willingly when we are out (and tell us she has too). But she hates to be wet or dirty if she has an accident, which I think is a step in the right direction. She's been in big girl underwear for a while now and we tend to have one or two accidents a day if we're not careful.

Emma is taking swim lessons at the gym. Ryan started with her, but he was not happy and after 2 weeks we gave the whole lesson to her. She is progressing well and is a real fish, but she just needs to get over her fear of putting her face in the water and she'll be set. Emma's new love is doing puzzles. Aunt Dawn sent Ryan a puzzle of all the states and Emma loves it! She can do it all by herself and likes to know who lives in each state. She has decided to be a big girl in all respects. She no longer wants to sit her her booster at the table, wear a bib or use baby silverware. She also wants to get herself dressed and brush her own hair and teeth (such a different child from Ryan who would still let me do all that if I would).

Nick - Nick is now walking! He took off in the last two weeks (amazingly, I only have video of him walking - no pictures). We had seen steps for the last month or so but it was only one or two. Last week, he decided that he was up for more and has taken up to 20 steps (that we've seen). He's still wobbly, but I am excited to have him be more steady by the time spring and summer come. Today he shocked me by blowing kisses to my parents on Skype. I had never seen him do that before nor tried to teach him, so I was amazed. He also started waving bye and saying iye to it, actually understanding what he was doing. Nick has been plagued with ear infections this year and may end up with tubes if this one doesn't clear up. We've been to the ER for wheezing and I've been up with him too many nights because he just wasn't comfortable. Plus he has the first 4 molars coming in with only 1 breaking through already.

Nick stopped nursing just last week. I was nursing in the morning because he was really hungry - sometimes seeming to need it at 4am or so. But he finally started drinking cows milk, eating more and sleeping longer, so he didn't seem to even want it by the end. And that was it. He is definitely my pickiest eater. He takes after Grandpa - a real meat and potatoes kid. He loves yogurt, but is just finally starting to eat real fruit - although he would eat baby fruit.