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Kids/Parenting

Getting bigger

I haven’t blogged about my kids in a while, it seems, and then they’re growing up so fast, I don’t know where to start!

This morning, Rachel used the couch to stand up for the first time! This is her last week, using the rocking chair (also the true first):

She’s still growing, but not quite as fast as she used to be. She was almost average sized at 4 months (a first for one of my children!), but at 6 (really 7) months, she was closer to the 35th percentile in weight. (Height was at the 98th percentile, but since she’s not abnormally long/tall, the doctor and I think that was probably a mis-measure.)

Rebecca is growing, too! She’s officially two and a half today. Lately she seems to be speaking much more clearly. For example, she doesn’t say “pea’ bu’ saas” but “peadut butter sammatch.” She still doesn’t say her r’s, favoring y’s and w’s instead. (“Diapehy” is a favorite of mine.)

She started having serious problems with bedhead, so I tried to get her to use scrunchies. If I did her hair “wike Tinkie Behww!” or to match mine (“We matsh?”), she was excited to let me touch her hair (a first!). I got her a few scrunchies at the dollar store last week, and she lets me do her hair almost every day now.

Hayden is learning new words. He likes to sound out words often these days (Last night: “G-g-g-gum. G! Gummmmm. M!”). He loves preschool, especially when it’s our turn to teach/host. He’s also experimenting with more photography, because he saw the Newborn Photographer I hired to take him pictures (revolving around his latest favorite toy) and self-portraiture.

Warning: extreme closeup!

I fear I’ve created a monster, though: last week, I showed him the folder of Internet bookmarks I had just for him. I showed him how to open the browser. I showed him which link (of the 2-3) led to PBS Kids games. And now all he wants to do is play on the computer! (We have a few rules, of course: he has to ask first and get off whenever we tell him to.) It’s a little annoying during a lot of the day, but makes for a quieter quiet time. (And Rebecca happily taking naps again is helping with that, too!)

I love that they’re growing and discovering new things ad getting more independent, but I’m always sad to feel their early childhood slipping away.

What milestones have your kids hit recently?

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Kids/Parenting

Rebecca and Hayden take on the world

When you have a child, you want him or her to be able to succeed. To take on the world and win.

When you have two, you want them to do that together.

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And some other fun pictures from the park today:

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Shots 1, 2, 3

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Hayden dancing on the stage and singing his ABCs

What have you done to help prepare your kids to take on the world—including giving them a sibling to work side-by-side with?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Big girl!

Rebecca is growing up! While she’s still physically quite small, every once in a while I’ll notice how long her legs are getting or how chubby her little belly is. (Especially after dinner!)

Last week, she finally learned to pull herself to standing. It took her a while to reach that milestone, but she’s really caught on! And a week or so before that, I pulled her hair back into pigtails for church—and she really looked like a big girl!

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The ten minutes of wrestling and screaming to get her hair that way, we haven’t attempted it again. But we will at some point.

Her first birthday is coming up quick—it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year, but it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year!

How do you celebrate first birthdays? Do you think the time continuum of early childhood (where the days drag but the months fly by) gets better or worse as time goes on?