She is so much fun but she has definitely hitting the terrible twos.
She's potty training and doing really well. They are very active with it at daycare but we go with a pull up a lot and decide if we do underwear if she asks.
She's a talking machine. She never.stops. Our favorite mispronouncations are lodurt = yogurt loo-min = swimming lemon = eleven
i always love responding to these b/c i never write in their baby books and this is a way for me to remember everything.
jake is a talking machine. he is speaking in complete sentences and is starting to tell stories to recount events (like he'll tell matt something that happened while he was at work or whatever). he's also singing a lot of songs and repeating TONS of what he's learning on diego. he can count to 10 in spanish and uses spanish words/phrases in appropriate situations, even if he can't tell you what the word means. for example, on the plane last week i told him we were going up, up, up on take off and he said "arriba." and then he was playing in the tub yesterday and making rocket dive down in the water and was saying "mas abajo." that floors me when it happens. some of my fave mispronunciations are efisant = elephant and eminy = emily.
i would say we've been in the terrible twos for a good 8 months now. he is hell on wheels fo sho. when we went to visit my mom, she said "i've always heard about kids like jake, but now i'm seeing one up close and in person." you cannot take your eyes off of him for a second. between having to call poison control, getting out of the house a few weeks ago, and his nasty temper, he is just a handful all the way around.
jake and emily have a love/hate relationship. they have moments of pure sweetness, but about 90% of the day, they are fighting. he takes things from her, hits her, jumps on her, harasses her verbally. :sigh: it's a LOT of work to keep them from killing each other all day. i'm looking forward to the return to work b/c it means they will have time apart during the day. they REALLY need that.
books? jake RARELY holds still long enough for stories. when he does lay down with us for stories at bedtime, he likes "dora's chilly day" and knows most of the words, but that's mostly b/c emily MAKES us read it every.single.night. he has a book of trucks that he likes b/c it has buttons that make truck noises. other that that, not much.
it's unbelievable to me that he's 2.5. he is a total momma's boy and i love it. i love that he can be so affectionate towards me, but he's still all boy.
he's quite a natural in the water, so i'm going to see about finding him some swim lessons over the winter. we really hope that what appears to be some natural athleticism is enough to keep him out of trouble. we plan to encourage the sports he really seems to love (so far baseball and basketball and swimming) to try to focus his energy.
this boy's energy just might kill us if we're not careful.
ETA: jake is potty trained. still diapers at night and he always poops first thing so no poop on the potty really yet (except once or twice).
-- Edited by apies on Wednesday 26th of August 2009 06:29:20 AM
-- Edited by apies on Wednesday 26th of August 2009 06:51:12 AM
cara's toooo much. major spicey. she talks like crazy - complete conversations since she was about 18 mos. (she turns two tomorrow). she's super smart - it's so cool to watch, because she is where R was at this age, but acquires knowledge/info in SUCH different ways.
mispronunciations - this age is so cute with this stuff. right now she's mixed up on "i'll be right back" and "stay right here" so she says "stay RIGHT BACK" whenever she leaves a room :giggle
she also mimicks me constantly. "you do it again and you get a TIME OUT. RIGHT THERE. youre NOT LISTENING." this cracks rachel up SO much.
their relationship is amazing. they play alllllll day. definitely sharing issues, but this is mainly from R. C is pretty good with sharing bc she admires R so much.
C is pretty girly. she loves dressup and all of that. babydolls, etc. it's fun for me because R was always a little too shy for dressup. R is not a ham - C totally is - so it's fun to have both.
we're hit -or-miss with the potty. she pees here and tehre but nothing consistent. i'd say we havent really started yet.
terrible twos, definitely. she tantrummed pretty much all day yesterday. everything is "that's MINE" and she has throw-back FITS. she still faints from tantrums too, whcih suuuucks. it's getting less frequent, but we're not out of the woods yet. she's a major handful. but she's also REALLY funny. i cant lie though, i'm looking forward to her "regulating" a bit bc right now, she's just really a LOT. but xoxo. i adore her.
Oh my goodness - Owen is just...hmm, there are no words! He is a little terror but ten times more than that he is a total comedian and sweetheart. He's definitely a "he's lucky he's cute" kid. I have a feeling he is very similar to Jake!
He has been in the terrible twos for quite a while but TBH I really think a lot of it is his personality. He wants to be independent so badly and that (oftentimes) manifests itself as terrible twos. He is famous for the phrase "I dood it myself!"
He is definitely a talker. The kids been talking since before he was a year old and never stops. He just says everything - complete sentences, songs, stories, you name it. He spells his name all the time and always ends with "YAY!" It's pretty cute. There aren't very many words he mispronounces but one is "Joker." (From Batman!) He says "jokert" and it sounds almost like yogurt. Also, he mispronounces "devastator" which is a character from transformers. It's cute how he says it.
Books - you know I'm terrible and don't read him a ton of books. He is never sitting still so it's sort of a pain. But there are nights where he does ask. He loves books with animals - but honestly he likes pretty much any book he just has to be in the mood to do it and it has to be *his* decision.
Potty training is going okay. He does really well at my mom's house but not so great with Doug. TBH though I think it is because Doug isn't as proactive about it. And actually I think he is regressing just a bit because I have gone back to work - the whole negative attention thing. But he wears underwear all the time except at night and generally does really well. He's never had an accident outside the house so I think when he does it here it's for attention.
One of his very favorite things to do is puzzles. He totally skipped the whole wooden puzzle thing though and went straight the the flat puzzles that you put together. He does those (I think it's 24 piece) puzzles all by himself and I find it fascinating to watch. He seems so young to be doing it so well. Just this weekend him and Gavin put together a 60 piece puzzle just the two of them and they had never even seen it before. Unbelievable. He LOVES puzzles.
TBH while I can't believe my "baby" is already 2 he really looks and seems like a 3 year old. He is the same size that Gavin was when Gavin was three and he is a lot more advanced so it's hard for me to look at him and remember he is only 2!
I know we are older than the others, but we are still 2 here!!!
What's new with the toddlers? She is very excited about school. She has her orientation day on the 2nd, and her first day on the 9th. She had two friends in her class last year that she adored, and she is upset they won't be in her class this year. Her one friend, James, who has the same birthday she does, is her fave. She said, "When I go to school, I am going to say hi to James, and then I will hug James and then I will kiss James!!" And I told her James was going to be in a different class this year, and she said, "Well, will I have a new James in my class?" She just doesn't quite understand yet!
What are they saying these days? What is the funniest mispronounciation? Anything and everything. Kate talks *almost* as much as Anna. What cracks me up about Kate, more than mispronunciations (because she speaks very clearly-she has the typical kid talk in that she doesn't say r's right, but her speech is very easy to understand) is just what she says and the lack of any logic that goes into her thought. Like the other day, Anna said, "When I grow up, I want to be a mommy!" And then Kate yelled out, with great enthusiasm, "When I grow up, I want to be a bunny wabbit!!!!!" lmao. She just has the funniest thought process.
Are they in the terrible twos? Knock on wood, we seem to be on our upswing. She is a half year terror, and even just a month ago, she was downright unbearable. Every day was awful. But I am noticing fewer problems, and she and Anna are getting along better. She has only been in time out once this week!!!! That is pretty amazing. When she was 2, she was a dream child. I am hoping the same will be true at 3...at least until she turns 3.5.
How do they get along with their siblings? This week it has been pretty good. They either adore each other or hate each other. It changes from minute to minute, but we definitely have trends. There are times when they mostly fight and my life is just breaking up one fight after another. Then there are times when they seem to be best friends and I sit back and enjoy the peace. It all just depends. Anna is still boss though, and she needs to watch out because payback is going to be rough, lol.
What books do they love? Kate loves all books. She could sit and "read" all day long. The ones she is choosing at bedtime mostly these days are Goldilicious, Miss Bindergarten gets Ready For Kindergarten and anything by Mercer Mayer.
Pictures? Kate is not an artist, lol. She tries, but she just isn't that artistic. Come to think of it, neither is Anna! They are still drawing pretty rudamentary (sp?) things.
Anything else new with them? She is doing better with the potty training. She pees on the potty about 3 times a day. She doesn't poop there though unless she happens to be peeing when she needs to poop. I am not pushing it for the moment, and she seems happy to do what she is. I have come to terms with the fact that my kids are just later potty trainers! (which is actually not that bad)
Can you believe they are two (or almost two)? Kate will be 3 in October!! I can't believe it. She is so big, and there is just nothing babyish left about her. They both want to be mommy all of the time now-and I wish we could give them a baby brother or sister to take help take care of!!! (of course, watch them lose interest if we do actually end up having another baby, lol)
Anna is really doing great all things considered. I know I updated recently on FB that her speech is almost caught up to the standards considered normal for 2 although it is still not where most of your kids probably are. I am thrilled with this and love all the things she says wrong (even though I am constantly reminded by her ST to correct her).
She started preschool yesterday and did wonderful. I was so nervous about how she would do but they said she did great so I am praying to see that continue through the year.
She is completely potty trained day and night. She trained herself 100% which amazed me but then not really b/c that is just how she is. She was diagnosed earlier in the year with sensory processing disorder but on the low end of the scale so we are working with her on controling her impulses. They suggested putting her in group therapy for this but I wanted to see if going to preschool wouldn't help first since I have fears of putting her in a room full of kids with like behaviors would only teach her more naughy behaviors. Hopefully we won't need to worry about group therapy.
She can be quite mean to Lauren and this falls into line with her lack of impulse control but she does sit in TO so at least I have the means of punishment for her.
I have to say that despite all her "personality traits" which can make her difficult I love her more than words. She makes me laugh all the time and has such a quirky sense of humor. She loves to make people laugh and is such girly girl. She must wear a dress all the time, she must have her toes painted all the time and loves to wear lip gloss. She has really become quite the diva.
She turns 3 in December and I am really looking forward to seeing what changes the next year brings!
Juni wrote: Oh my goodness - Owen is just...hmm, there are no words! He is a little terror but ten times more than that he is a total comedian and sweetheart. He's definitely a "he's lucky he's cute" kid. I have a feeling he is very similar to Jake!
He has been in the terrible twos for quite a while but TBH I really think a lot of it is his personality. He wants to be independent so badly and that (oftentimes) manifests itself as terrible twos. He is famous for the phrase "I dood it myself!"
He is definitely a talker. The kids been talking since before he was a year old and never stops. He just says everything - complete sentences, songs, stories, you name it. He spells his name all the time and always ends with "YAY!" It's pretty cute. There aren't very many words he mispronounces but one is "Joker." (From Batman!) He says "jokert" and it sounds almost like yogurt. Also, he mispronounces "devastator" which is a character from transformers. It's cute how he says it.
Books - you know I'm terrible and don't read him a ton of books. He is never sitting still so it's sort of a pain. But there are nights where he does ask. He loves books with animals - but honestly he likes pretty much any book he just has to be in the mood to do it and it has to be *his* decision.
Potty training is going okay. He does really well at my mom's house but not so great with Doug. TBH though I think it is because Doug isn't as proactive about it. And actually I think he is regressing just a bit because I have gone back to work - the whole negative attention thing. But he wears underwear all the time except at night and generally does really well. He's never had an accident outside the house so I think when he does it here it's for attention.
One of his very favorite things to do is puzzles. He totally skipped the whole wooden puzzle thing though and went straight the the flat puzzles that you put together. He does those (I think it's 24 piece) puzzles all by himself and I find it fascinating to watch. He seems so young to be doing it so well. Just this weekend him and Gavin put together a 60 piece puzzle just the two of them and they had never even seen it before. Unbelievable. He LOVES puzzles.
TBH while I can't believe my "baby" is already 2 he really looks and seems like a 3 year old. He is the same size that Gavin was when Gavin was three and he is a lot more advanced so it's hard for me to look at him and remember he is only 2!
Jen, ITTTTTTTTU where you are coming from. Anna was always a big kid, but Kate is, and always has been, far and above where Anna was in terms of development at the same age, so it is hard to believe she is still only 2!! At this age with Anna, I was seriously getting concerned about her lack of speech, but Kate's speech is easily matched with any 4 year old-just night and day from Anna!!!
I will say though, Anna takes Kate on anything physical. Kate is very uncoordinated (as evidenced by her many falls, lol). She tries, but she just is clumsy. My parents think it is because she is tall for her age and has big feet, I think she is just a clutz. Anna is very coordinated and will definitely excel in sports, if/when we put her in them.
Kate also isn't difficult in the same way as it sounds like Owen and Jake are. She isn't "into" things. She is all girl, and all drama, all the time. She isn't physically draining at all, but even at almost 3, she has taken a huge emotional toll on us, lol. Her teenage years are going to be...interesting!! But I think I'll take that to the crazy boy thing anyday. I think I would go insane with a non-stop, into everything, bound to kill themselves or others boy!! Hats off to you ladies!!!
Oh, and for those who were thinking of getting a Tag-Kate LOVES hers. They each have one, and they get a lot of use here. Maybe it would be different for kids who aren't into books in the first place, IDK, but my girls use theirs alot!!
I love that Faiths character is really coming out in the last few weeks. Its like since she turned 2 she grew out of the 2's. She isn't throwing Screeching fits nearly as much. And has a lot more times lately where she just wants loves or to be tickled.
Her and Braxton are still about 50/50 on the love hate ratio. They do fight over toys a lot still but I love the times when I spot them running hand in hand in the back yard or even wrestling together.
We haven't really started potty training yet. It seems like when I put her up there when she doesn't have to go she can sit there forever as happy as a clam. But when I try and catch her pooping it is a he!! of a fight to get her to sit on the potty.
Faith has always loved books. For her B-day I got her 5 little board books and those are her favorite. She has all the princess ones I could find and will carry them all over the place with her.
I am just amazed by Faith's speech. Since dealing with Braxtons delays it is so wonderful to see her speech progress so quickly. She can say 3-4 word sentences now. (Well certain ones) Like when she was chasing Grandma saying " I get you" over and over again. Or jsut the other day she wanted to show Grandma my nephew Nathans room so she ran down the hall yelling " Come on Grandma"
I have been horrible on taking pics lately. But I will try and get some good ones here soon.
What are they saying these days? What is the funniest mispronounciation?
Are they in the terrible twos?
How do they get along with their siblings?
What books do they love?
Pictures?
Anything else new with them?
Can you believe they are two (or almost two)?
Whats new? Well Austin is still really into climbing and jumping off of anything and everything. He still talks with his mouth closed most of the time, which makes most of my day a guessing game.
What does he say? Not much. He calls everyone daddy. Even Aubrey. LOL He can say car, house, dog, kitty, tractor, hot, more juice, cheese, sshhh (he is always telling us to be quiet!), tasty, and a handful of other words that seem to escape me right now.
Austin has definitely hit the terrible twos. He throws himself on the floor..most of the time only carpet or grass. LOL He will yell at me if I tell him to quit picking his nose and point his finger at me. Its funny sometimes, but I don't remember getting 'tude like this from Aubrey at 2!
Ocassionally the kids will play together, but playing without someone crying or screaming is rare in this house. Usually they end up playing a game involving tackling and one kid gets pinned down and the one on top is laughing while the one underneath is crying. LOL I just let them duke it out.
Austin loves the Tag Reader books. I invested in another tag pen yesterday so they can both have one...(Did you know the new pens are 10.00 more, but they hold 10 books now instead of 5!!!) He loves the Little Engine That Could book and Tractor Tipping from Cars.
What's new? Kevin seems like such a big boy now, but he can definitely still act like a baby at times. He likes to say, "Mommy, hold my baby?" when he wants me to pick him up or cuddle with him. I love how he snuggles and puts his head on my shoulder and digs it in to my neck...I'm sooo going to miss that when he stops. He's doing awesome in all areas, I'm so proud of him.
What are they saying these days? What is the funniest mispronounciation? He's always been a little talker and there's no slowing down yet. He talks in complete sentences, likes to repeat things he hears, and is non-stop chattering from the moment he wakes up in the morning. He likes to say, "Check out this" before he does something like jump off the arm of the sofa, and then follows up with, "You see that?" He's also been saying, "I love you, Mom" all on his own out of the blue alot lately, and I love it! He's such a love. Not many mispronunciations, but he does say "stitchy" instead of "itchy" and "sammich" instead of "sandwich"
Are they in the terrible twos? Yes! He wants to be independent and do everything himself, so that leads to a lot of meltdowns. He's also really stubborn. If he's in a bad mood and something doesn't go his way, forget it, nothing else will go right for him after that. He's got a short temper at times and is quick to swipe at Kyle, but his teachers say he doesn't do this to other kids at school. He doesn't take to time-outs well at all, it's a battle.
How do they get along with their siblings? He gets along with Kyle very well most of the time. It's when they want to play with the same toy that they have problems and fighting. He likes to pick on Kyle by taking away toys, copying him, following him around, etc. It's pretty cool to watch when they're getting along, they love each other and play well.
What books do they love? The big book at the moment is Green Eggs and Ham, but he also enjoys dinosaur books when he's in the mood to sit still and listen.
Anything else new with them? Like Owen, Kevin is big in to puzzles right now, too. I was floored when he first did a 24 piece puzzle all on his own. One morning I woke up to find him already awake lying on the floor in the living room doing a puzzle. He also likes to play with Kyle's Leapster, and he's really in to the GeoTrax set we recently got. The set came with a free DVD of short stories with the different trains and characters, and Kevin likes to watch that and then mimic the stories with the train set. Oh, and he also loves food play - he likes to make me a "sammich"
Can you believe they are two (or almost two)? I can't believe he's 2.5 already!
Victoria's little personality has come out in spades -- she is a delight. She's got this crazy mix of shy-but-friendly, considerate-with-sass -- I'm in love. She's a far more fearless child than Alexandra ever was... and by fearless, I mean lacking any sort of caution whatsoever. Couple that with her clumsiness, and it's expected to hear her go "splat" on the hardwood floors at least a few times a day. Fortunately, she's tough... LOL!
We think the clumsiness might have something to do (duh) with her eyes -- she's been diagnosed with intermittent divergent strabismus, and our local ophthalmologist is recommending surgery. His diagnostic techniques seem a bit, um, dated -- so we're taking her to Johns Hopkins for a second opinion in November.
What are they saying these days? What is the funniest mispronounciation?
She is a talker, for sure. While her pronunciation is not as clear as Alexandra's was at this age, her vocabulary (and dare I say verbal ability overall) is far more developed than I remember A's being at this same time. She's been talking in full conversations for a few months now as well. In terms of mispronunciations, she doesn't have many, and she's about to give up my favorite... she's been calling the letter W "doblevee" forever now. It's been hard to correct her... afterall, I'm thinking she's technically right... LOL! Another favorite is an obsession with school buses (?), at which she will yell, "SKOOBUS!"
Are they in the terrible twos?
I guess so -- she was kind of born there. Unlike A, there is no reasoning with this one... when she's pissed, she's pissed, and she's going to cry about it.
How do they get along with their siblings?
Mostly love -- they play quite a bit, which is fantastic. She adores A for the most part... although she will do things deliberately to piss A off from time to time (in fact, just last week, I watched her get all in A's face at the dinner table, and then break an ear-to-ear grin when A started crying). Whether or not they fight is pretty much based on A's mood. V will do things (like give up toys) to console A, but the reverse doesn't happen.
What books do they love?
She's been OBSESSED with the Pigeon Books (e.g. "Don't let the Pigeon stay up late") since she was about a year old. Current favorites are Llama Llama Mad at Mama and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
Pictures?
Sorry for the redundancy facebookers, but I think these two from Jibs bday party capture her Jeckyll and Hyde sides quite nicely...
I guess so -- she was kind of born there. Unlike A, there is no reasoning with this one... when she's pissed, she's pissed, and she's going to cry about it.
How do they get along with their siblings?
Mostly love -- they play quite a bit, which is fantastic. She adores A for the most part... although she will do things deliberately to piss A off from time to time (in fact, just last week, I watched her get all in A's face at the dinner table, and then break an ear-to-ear grin when A started crying). Whether or not they fight is pretty much based on A's mood. V will do things (like give up toys) to console A, but the reverse doesn't happen.
what i've quoted here describes our situation exactly. amazing.
jake RARELY holds still long enough for stories. when he does lay down with us for stories at bedtime, he likes "dora's chilly day" and knows most of the words, but that's mostly b/c emily MAKES us read it every.single.night. he has a book of trucks that he likes b/c it has buttons that make truck noises. other that that, not much.
