Snapshot Update

Life seems to be moving at warp speed and both Molly and Ian are growing and changing so quickly that it's tough to keep up.  Sometimes I try to take a mental photograph in an attempt to remember what they're doing and what they're like at a given instant in time.  Here's your snapshot update for the day:

Molly -
Favorite Foods: Cereal, Oatmeal, Apples, PB&J, Yogurt, Chicken Noodle Soup, Whatever Mommy or Daddy is trying to enjoy for themselves
Favorite Books: "Where's Puppy?" (When she finds the puppy on every page she shouts, "PUPPY!!!" as if she's just discovered the New World, followed by the most precious giggles) and "The Big Book for Toddlers", which means I read or sing nearly every famous nursery rhyme, fairy tale, and classic toddler song at least once, but usually several times each day.
Favorite Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Ants Go Marching, Little Bunny Foo Foo
Favorite Activities: Reading (one of her most oft-repeated 2-word phrases is a very demanding, "Read Books!!!"), Helping in the kitchen or with yardwork, Feeding Ian, Playing outside, Building block towers (although she usually spends more time sorting the blocks by color or shape than actually building).

"Open up, Ian."

Aren't they precious?  Molly has recently started smiling this adorable little smile when she sees the camera.

Helping Daddy rake the leaves.

'Side (outside) is MoJo's favorite place to be.

 Molly is well on her way to mastering potty-learning.  We've had the Number Ones down pat for quite some time now.  She's even been accident-free in many unfamiliar situations, including long-distance traveling, friends' houses, shopping, and hiking.  She has even mastered pulling off her own stickers from the sticker sheet and putting them on her potty chart.  As soon as she's finished, she shouts "Sigga!!!!" (translation: "sticker") to celebrate her accomplishment.  The Number Twos are a different story, although I'm optimistic with the system we just started.  I bought about 20 small prizes at the dollar store, wrapped them up in brightly colored wrapping or tissue paper, and placed them in a big basket on the back of the toilet.  These are "poop prizes" and she gets to open one if she uses the potty for Number Two.  So far she's opened 2 poop prizes (a bouncy ball and strawberry Minnie Mouse chapstick) and they were both HUGE hits!  I'm hoping she catches on pretty soon.

Attempting to earn a prize from the basket.

Molly has become such a child of routine, I've taken to calling her my little "Monk" (after the famously OCD television detective).  Her blankets need to be laid on her bed in a certain order; mealtimes, bath time, and bedtime need to be conducted by a specific formula; she greets me in the exact same way every day when I arrive home from work and then ushers our babysitter out the door.  Every daily activity has its own routine and she's not keen on changing any of them.  She really cracks me up!

Her "monk-like" tendencies at work while playing with blocks.

Molly starts each day with what I call her word flood, the deluge of language that narrates the first 30 minutes of her day.  I usually only get to experience it on Saturdays and Sundays, but it goes something like this, "Mommy! Daddy! Eeee! (Ian), bed, woobie, wet diaper, poop diaper, lights off, bunny, baby, Get up!  Get out!  News Two!!! (our local news channel)  Eat! Drink!"  And repeat, repeat, repeat.  It makes me smile every time.  After waiting for two years to hear what her little voice would sound like, we now can't shut her up.

Ian-

Favorite Foods: Mommy Milk (He's a big fan!), peaches, bananas, bread, noodles, carrots, black beans, really pretty much any food we put in front of him.  Typical guy.
Favorite activities: Banging on anything that will make noise, Grabbing items off the coffee table (especially things he's not supposed to have), Knocking down Molly's block towers, Playing at his music table, Wrestling with Molly, Sticking his hands in the toilet while I spray out dirty diapers (I LOVE this one), Climbing into the refrigerator at every opportunity, Going for walks in the stroller, Playing in the tub, Creating as many messes as possible in a 24-hour period ;-)

Unlike his older sister, Ian has always loved the stroller.

Another day, another mess to be made.

"BLOCKS!!!  This is how I'm supposed to play with them, right?"

They give the appearance of innocence, don't they?  Really I just caught a smile in the midst of a monster leaf-pile wrestling match :-)

Mobility notes: Crawls at the speed of light, which makes this his preferred method of getting around because it gives him the greatest chance of getting into something fun before an adult can stop him; Walking behind a support device (laundry basket, box, push-toy); Taking a few independent steps here and there, usually just one or two before plopping down.  Climbing is his new thing.  I caught him the other day in quite the devilish little plan.  He had pushed Molly's shopping cart over on its side and used it as a step stool to climb on top of the music table, which then became a step stool to get his hands on the kitchen counter!!  Yikes!!!  We're in trouble now.

A man on the go!

They're here!

Back at the beginning of September, the mom of one of my students graciously gave of her time and talent to take our family photos as a teacher appreciation gift to me.  After a month of crazy rain and hurricanes we ended up with a gorgeous day for photos.  Unfortunately, Molly had gotten quite scraped up a few days before and Ian had scratched his face too, but the photos show the honesty of real life with real kids.  Many thanks to Tami for the amazing gift.  Enjoy!

You can find the entire album here:

Ayr Mount Family Photos

Overdue Update

I've been meaning to post an update forever, but time just keeps getting away from me.  Between grading, lesson-planning, and spending time with my babies and sweet husband, the moments in the day fill up quickly.  And both Molly and Ian have been growing and changing so much lately, it's hard to keep up.  By the way, this will be my 100th post!!!  Can't believe it!  So I'll try to make it extra-good ;-)

We'll start with Molly.  If I could pick one word to describe the last few weeks with Molly, it would be her middle name: JOY!  She has been such a joy to spend time with lately.  I've been waiting for the "terrible twos" to hit, but we've seen nothing of the sort.  I'm hoping we had the the "terrible 18-months" and we've paid our dues, but I'm not holding my breath.  Every day when I get home from school, I'm met with a beaming  face shouting, "Mommy!  Mommy!", running up to me to give me a big hug.  If all goes as planned, Ian is taking his second nap, so Molly and I get a little one-on-one time.  We share a snack and snuggle up on the couch with a big ol' pile of books.  She loves to snuggle and she LOVES to read!  Sometimes we work our way through the whole pile of books that she picks out, but more often than not I hear the common refrain, "Iggy!  Iggy!" (translation: "Again!  Again!"), especially if it's a favorite book like Eric Carle's "Pancakes, Pancakes!" or Sam Lloyd's "Mr. Pusskins".  We go to the library ("yabba") once every week or two and the library books she picks out are always at the top of the pile.  She loves to learn new stories, songs, and words from her library books.

After listening for months for Molly's first words, we now can't shut her up.  She's in the "Polly Parrot" stage of repeating just about every word that we say.  It's pretty adorable to hear her attempt crazy big words when she's parroting us, but it's also dangerous.  We're trying to be very careful about not saying things that we don't want repeated in public because she has a way of latching on to certain words or phrases and repeating them over and over again.  We've stayed safe so far, but I know it's only a matter of time before she shouts out something embarrassing at church or life group.

I have been absolutely amazed at the speed at which Molly has picked up so many things.  You always hear that the mind of a child is like a sponge, soaking up everything around them.  It is definitely true!  I can't believe all the things that she has learned in such a short period of time!  Here's a small sampling:

• Her numbers 1 through 5.
• All of the letters A through Z by sight.  She has even started picking out favorite letters in the middle of words in the middle of text on a page.  Every time we go out for errands, she picks out the letters on the store signs.  At Wal-Mart, she excitedly shouts, "Dub-ooo" (W); at Zaxby's, it's "Zeeee!"; at the library, it's "Emmm, Peeee, Ellll!" for Mebane Public Library.
• A few sight words: "No", "Zzzzzz", "Boo", and "Roar".  I'm sure that, for the most part, she recognizes them because we read the same books over and over again, but it's a start.
• Most of the colors: pink ("peek"), purple ("purp-pooool"), blue ("boo"), green ("geeen"), yellow ("yeyow"), red ("waaa"), black ("bic") and orange ("orrr").
• A few shapes: heart ("hhhhhart"), star ("saaar"), circle ("cir-cooo"), square ("squa"), triangle ("tra"), and rectangle ("rec").

She also does a bunch of cutesie little things that we've taught her, either purposefully or inadvertently.

• When she hears any kind of rock music, she starts playing her "air guitar" and head-banging.
• When she hears the local news theme music, she immediately starts shouting, "TWO! TWO! TWO!" while holding up 2 fingers (our local news is on Channel Two).
• Anytime Ian is within arm's reach of her, she immediately hugs and kisses him.  No exceptions.  No questions asked.  Just a hug and a kiss, every single time.
• She loves to help feed Ian and really loves to finish his leftovers when he's done.  I wonder if she's aware that the pureed peas she finds so fascinating in his bowl are the exact same peas I struggle to get her to eat off her own dinner plate.

• She walks around the house and identifies all the things we've warned her about that can hurt her (pliers, scissors, knives, hot water) by saying and signing "hurt".
• If we're out and about on a walk or errands and Ian starts getting cranky, she points to him and says, "Nap!  Home!"  (pretty adorable, aye?)
• She loves to help in the kitchen.  If I'm cooking, she has to be the one to dump the ingredients into the bowl.  If Eric is doing dishes, she wants to be the one putting the rinsed dishes into the other sink.

Molly and her "doin' dishes apron".

Another on-going project with Molly has been potty-training.  We started this summer with marginal success and we're still working on it.  I would not necessarily say that she is "potty trained", but I would say that she is trained to not "go in her pants".  During the day, she wears big-girl underpants or goes bottomless with very few accidents.  However, she does not use the potty very often.  Instead, she waits until naptime or bedtime (when she knows she'll have a diaper and she goes then).

Now it's Ian's turn.  If I could pick one word to describe the last few weeks with Ian, it would be MOBILE!  This kid wants to move!  It started with pushing himself to a sitting position.  No big deal, right?  Except that it then escalated to crawling...and then pulling up on things...and then to cruising between furniture...and then to standing alone...and then to walking behind supports (like the music table or laundry basket) ALL within a month!  He's not even 8 months old yet!  This is crazy, right?  My mom likes to laugh at our current plight, as she believes I'm being paid back for all the angst I caused her by learning to walk and climb by 9 months.  I was under the age of one when she walked into the kitchen to find me trying to climb onto the refrigerator (floor to chair to countertop to microwave to fridge).  She likes to remind me that my favorite place to sit was directly in the middle of the kitchen table.  What goes around comes around, I suppose.  Here's a photo-progression of his mobility over the last few weeks:

Sitting himself up.

Climbing.

Really climbing!

Pulling to stand.

Pounding on the music table.

Free-standing!!!

Pushing the bib box across the house.

 Ian is still the cutest little bugger ever.  He is just such a happy, smiling, content, cooing, laughing, ticklish, silly little boy.  I can't imagine a baby more pleased with just being alive.  I think back to my mindset in the month before he was born when Molly was in the midst of one of her "challenging" phases.  I believe the correct terminology for what I was experiencing would be "freaking out".  I just couldn't imagine parenting Molly AND a newborn.  Well, God knows exactly what each person can handle and what will happen in every moment.  And He sent me Ian.  If anything, Ian has taught me to be more relaxed, loving, mellow, and happy...because that's what he is ALL the time!

Other Ian news:

• He now has 4 teeth (2 bottom and 2 top).  He is eating solids like a champ.  Favorites seem to be mangoes, peaches, yogurt, asparagus, and potatoes (although the potatoes were perfectly seasoned with oodles of roasted garlic as I pureed them from a dinner Eric prepared for us, so who wouldn't love them :-).  

• He has dropped the 2am feeding (finally!), which means we're down to 2 wake-ups per night on a good night (yay!).  
• Ian has become very vocal and loves the sound of his own voice.  He has lots of adorable cooing sounds, but his favorite syllable to shout is "DaDaDaDa!".  (I'm sure we'll get to "MaMa" soon enough).  

• He has really started to play with Molly, which is pretty stinkin' adorable.  I love to see them sharing toys, wrestling, building (Molly) and knocking down (Ian) towers of blocks, and just being together.  Once you add my third child (Eric) to the mix, there's usually a whole lot of fun happening in our house.

Do you think Daddy had anything to do with this set-up?  If you can't tell, Molly is pants-less, as she often is at home during this potty-training stage.

I thank God every day for the blessings He has rained down upon us.  I feel privileged and blessed to be allowed to enjoy these two amazing little people that He has given us.  They are more than I ever could have asked for or imagined.  I am trying to soak up every second that we have together and just enjoy the short little stages they seem to be passing through on a weekly (sometimes daily!) basis.

Sneak Preview - Family Photo Session

We were very blessed this past weekend to have a wonderful photo session with the mom of one of my 7th grade students.  She is a hobby photographer who does not take photos for a living, but instead prefers to use her God-given talent to bless her family and friends.  She set up this family photo session as a teacher appreciation gift.  In my 6 years of teaching, never have I received such an amazing gift!  She spent over 2 hours just following us around Ayr Mount, capturing these precious moments.  After 4 weeks of re-scheduling due to rain and hurricanes, we finally had a gorgeous, sunny Saturday.  Naturally, when we finally had a sunny day, both kids had scratches on their faces.  Such is life with little kids!  The pictures turned out beautiful anyway and they show the honesty of real life.

 

 

 

 

This is just a sneak peak.  Amazingly, she took over 600 pictures that she's still editing and compiling!!!  More preciousness to come in the near future.

I can't thank Tami enough for such a heart-felt gift.  It has me thinking, "What can I do to bless and enrich the lives of those in my circle of influence?".  Food for thought.

Ian Zachariah - 6 Months Old

 

That's right; Ian is SIX MONTHS OLD!!!  He has blessed us so much since he joined our family and brings us delight every single day.  Just as he has been since the day he was born, Ian is happy, easy-going, and oh-so-sweet.  He rarely cries, and even then it's only if he's tired or hungry.  His precious little face just melts my heart every time I look at him. 

 

One of the sweetest things to watch over the last six months has been the growing relationship between Molly and Ian.  There really is a special love between them that started developing from the moment they met.  Molly has always shown lots of love toward Ian (along with a healthy dose of 'little brother abuse').  She showers him with kisses and hugs, wipes his mouth when he slobbers, retrieves toys when he drops them, and entertains him when he's bored.

 

Molly still loves to pet and kiss her brother, but recently Ian has started to return her love too.  He loves to tackle her if she's in his proximity and douse her with big wet kisses. 

 

Ian is also growing like a weed.  At his 6 month appointment, his measurements were 17lb. 2oz., and 26 inches long, around the 50th percentile for both.  Ironically, his 6-month measurements are almost identical to what Molly's 12-month measurements were.  I feel like I'm constantly changing out drawers in his dresser to put away clothes he's outgrown and dig out bigger ones.  He's now wearing size 12-month PJs, which means he's wearing pajamas right now that Molly was wearing just a few months ago!

 

It's funny to look at them side-by-side.  At first glance, Molly looks like she's a lot bigger just because she is so much older and more mature, but on closer inspection, you can tell that Ian is quickly catching up to her.  He's only 7 lbs. lighter right now.  This picture makes me smile because their hands seriously look to be almost the same size.  Molly has always had petite hands and feet and Ian has always had what I call "man hands".

 

One defining characteristic of Ian is that he NEVER stops moving.  I can attest to the fact that his love of constant motion started months before he was born.  I remember laying on the couch in the evening during my pregnancy and just marveling over the constant state of motion my belly was in.  His long arms and legs just go and go and go and go and go some more.  We've discovered that we can no longer use snap-leg pajamas because this is what we find when we wake up in the morning:

 

On this particular night, he had gotten up three times and each time I had buttoned him back up, only to find his bare legs hanging out once again when he got up to eat 3 hours later.  His little energizer-bunny legs would just kick and kick until all the snaps were unsnapped.

Another thing Ian loves is to be naked.  He's especially happy if he can be naked and mobile at the same time.  Of course the best time for this is during diaper changes or right after a bath.  Getting a diaper on this little boy is like wrestling an alligator.  He can get himself from back to belly in under a second and will do so every single time you lay him down to put a diaper on.  I've learned how to fasten many different diapers from the back so that I can finish diapering him on his belly.  Most of the time, I just let him roll around naked for a few minutes as long as he's still on his towel or on a cleanable surface.  I don't have to worry about him spraying the room because I know he will never choose to lay on his back.
 

He surprised me the other day when I left him bottomless on his play mat, playing on his belly.  When I turned back to check on him, this is what I found:

 

He had pushed himself from his belly to a sitting position!  Look how pleased he is with himself.  I just can't believe he's already so independent in his mobility.  There's the diaper sitting right in front of him, ready to go on.  Thank goodness for "onesie flaps".  Otherwise, this might be a very embarrassing photo in 13 years or so :-)

His mobility doesn't stop at rolling and sitting.  This boy wants to CRAWL!  It started with some strange body contortions while he was on his belly.  He was trying to figure out what in the world to do with all his arms and legs: 

 

Then he graduated to doing "the plank".  He looks like a little military man ("Drop and give me 20!"):

 

But within a couple of days, he has at least figured out the correct body formation.  He's very pleased with his progress and will spend the better part of his playtime pushing himself through the poses; belly, hands, toes, knees, and back again.  He rocks back and forth a lot on his knees, but hasn't quite figured out how to gracefully propel his body forward.  That doesn't stop him from getting where he wants to go though.  Through a series of inch-worm-like contortions, along with an army-style crawl.  He can pretty much get himself anywhere he wants.  Something tells me he's going to be keeping us on our toes VERY soon.

So, with half a year gone and a lifetime ahead of us, we are thankful for every second we get to spend with our sweet, handsome boy.  As Daddy likes to say, our little "Ion" is "positively squishy" (a little chemistry humor for the science geeks like us out there ;-)