Growing Up Quickly

So I caught Asher standing yesterday.  We have a drawing table for the kids in the kitchen and he had crawled out there to it.  He was awfully quiet, so I thought I would check on him and he was standing at the drawing table.  Somehow he had managed to pull himself up, of course I freaked out because our kitchen is really, really, really hard tile (as opposed to the really soft tile ;)) and all I could see was him falling and hitting his head on the floor.  I know he's advanced because I compare him to what Calvin was doing and he's a few months ahead, but it still throws me for a loop every time he tries something new.  Now, if only he would get back to sleeping well at night...I can always hope, right?

And The Cake Was...

A whale.  After all the suggestions...a school bus, a digger, a ghost, a ladybug, a blue frog, a dinosaur, an alligator...he finally settled on a whale.  It turned out cute and he was very happy with it. 

Here's the birthday boy and his special birthday shirt, thanks Grandma Cheri!

Happy 3rd Birthday Calvin!

Dear Sonshine,

Has it been 3 years already?  I remember it like yesterday when we went to the hospital and you were born...our sonshine!  And now you are 3 today!

Last night when I (Mama) tucked you in, I told you that you were going to sleep a 2 year old, but that you would wake up a 3 year old.  You were very excited.  And this morning after you woke up, you told me, "I'm 3!"

This past year you've grown so much, you are now 29 pounds and 38 1/2 inches.  You gained a brother this year and sometime after he was born, you learned how to fall asleep on your own without your "binky".  Now you don't even remember you ever had one.

You are one smart cookie.  You can already read basic words...some of your favorites are bus, stop, and school.  You know all your ABC's and you can count to 30.  You have a sister who is your best friend and a brother who you can't wait to play with when he's a little bit older. 

Your favorite things to eat are peanut butter and honey sandwiches and Mama's "green" smoothies.  It is the only way I can get a green vegetable in your body willingly.

We love you so much!  We are excited to see the plans God has for you!

All our love,
Mommy & Daddy

Kindergarten!

Well, we survived the first day of Kindergarten.  Mia seems to have done very well and it sounds like she did a few different activities to keep her busy.  I asked her if there was anything she didn't like, and she said no, she liked everything.  Calvin missed his sister sorely, he was a grump for a good portion of the day because he wanted to go to school too.  It will be a bit of an adjustment.  Picking up and dropping off was a nightmare...I'm hoping that things will settle down and not be so chaotic over the next few weeks.  Here is the big Kindergartener!

Last Weekend of Summer

Oh my, where did our summer go?  I can't believe that school starts on Monday, this month has flown by.  On Thursday this week we went down to see Mia's intestinal surgeon...he's followed her yearly for awhile now and gave us the official, "we'll miss you and we don't need to see Mia anymore".  Praise God!  Our doctor list is getting smaller and smaller, that is a wonderful thing!  At the moment, we only have 4 specialties that we see anymore and we will probably see them for awhile, but that means only 4-5 trips to LA a year now.  I remember when she was born and we had to drive to LA weekly and then when she wasn't healing from one of her surgeries the next summer and we were driving there twice a week...we have come a long way and it is only by the grace of God that we are hear.  Thank you Lord!

Yesterday Mia got to meet her Kindergarten teacher.  She was so excited and then so disappointed when I told her we had to wait until Monday for school to officially start.  She said, "but Mama, it is Monday".  So determined that if she said, it would be true.  Her teacher is wonderful and she should have a great time.  This is the same school she did her preschool at, so she's very familiar and comfortable with it, which is great also.  :)  We'll let you know how Monday goes!

Changes

Today was Mia's last day of private speech therapy.  She's come a long way!  We are so proud of our little girl and it was almost surreal that it was our last day.  Next week she starts kindergarten and everything is going to change...this will be a pretty big transition for us...

So, remember back to the beginning of the summer when I gave myself permission to not worry about Mia's schedule until August...well, things are so different now that her schedule has become rather simplified.  Praise God!  She will still do OT once a week and we are hoping to pick up a PT spot also, but they are so booked that nothing is available at the moment.  She will continue with MARE, but I will probably pull her out of school an hour early to do that and so the only thing left is vision therapy and that is still undecided whether or not we will continue with that.  So it's looking like her schedule is working itself out for me, thank you Lord! 

Kindergarten will be all day for her, so that is going to be a change.  I think the person who will have the hardest time adjusting is Calvin.  Mia is his best friend and I know that he will be sad when she is not around, so be praying that he adjusts well to all of this. 

On a different note, Asher can now get himself into sitting...and he's starting to stretch and consolidate his naps, that makes this Mama very happy. 

All Kids 6 Months

Is there a family resemblance?  You decide, here are all kids at 6 months.

Number Sense

If I don't write these things down when they happen, I'm going to forget them.

This morning I had poured Mia and Calvin each some smoothie type drinks with their breakfast.  Mia then said, "hey, smoothie smoothie".  And then Calvin responded, "a double smoothie!"  At that point I was super impressed that he even knew the word double.  Mia then said, "what's a double?"  (Which I'm sure she knows, she just likes to ask the question what these days.)  And then Calvin said, "it's like twosie twosies, you know, a double."

Calvin has such good number sense, I see a future math type career for him, if he so chooses.  :)

6 Months and Growing

Asher had his 6 month check up today.  He's doing great.  He is now 28 1/2 inches and 16 pounds 10 ounces.  They did a vision test on him and he has some astigmatism that they'd like us to get checked out, but if I remember correctly because of all of Mia's vision issues, all babies are born with astigmatism and usually grow out of it by 3-4 years old.  Of course, maybe his is more than just the normal baby amount...so we will get him an eye exam here and check out his beautiful blues. 

Happy 1/2 Asher!

1/2 a year?!  Where did it go?  This kid is growing by leaps and bounds and totally ahead of the curve on lots of things.  I keep telling him to slow down, there's plenty of time to catch up to brother and sister, but alas, my words aren't changing anything.  We love this adorable guy, couldn't imagine life without him and are so thankful every day that God has blessed and entrusted us with this little man.

I read a book that said when your kid starts reaching for your food, then it's time for them to eat.  Well, Asher is ready.  I sat him on my lap and could barely restrain him from grabbing all the food off of Calvin's plate, so we decided it was time for him to get some too.  As of now, he's tried banana, oatmeal and peas...the only he didn't like was oatmeal, but I don't blame him because it was mixed with formula and well, it didn't look appealing to me either.

He now crawls...mostly an army crawl, but he will get up on all fours and take one step forward.  He can now sit like a flowerpot, but since he crawls he doesn't stay in that position for very long.  He also does a very nice downward dog.

Here is the little man.

And for those of you who never see the little guy upset...it does happen, just not a lot...but when it does...