Blake. 3 Months until 3 Years

Blake has been giving compliments lately. He told me he liked my "cute toes" one day. Another day I was cooking in the kitchen and he was sitting on the stool. He said "Mom, I like your shirt and pants, mom." (They were not new, and not even cute for that matter.) He died easter eggs last week and when examining his egg he said "I love these beautiful stripes."

He went through a rhyming phase. All the rhymes he would make up started with the letter "h." All day he would say "Mom, watch this. Motorcycle, hotorcycle. Yogurt, hogurt." He would do this for every object he saw around him. Then he went through names. "Katie, Hatie. Eric, Heric."

Blake loves coming to my activities on Wednesday nights for Young Women. I take him sometimes when Eric stays late at work. Last week he wanted to come but I didn't know if Eric was going to be home in time and I didn't want to get Blake's hope up. Blake kept asking and telling me that he wanted to come and I kept telling him "I know you want to come." He became annoyed with my response and said "Why you not saying the words when I say I want to come to the activity." Or in other words--just answer my question mom.

Blake gets very shy in social situations. He doesn't love large groups or unfamiliar people and he will stay very close to me. In retrospect, I think this is why separating for nursery was so difficult. His nursery leader told me she was concerned because Blake won't sing or participate during singing time. I was told he just sits there and stares with his eyebrows furrowed. And I don't think he talks at all there either. I take him to lots of activities at librarys and play groups and try to help him participate in music time or interacting with others. I think he is getting better and recently will participate more as long as I am right there doing whatever it is with him and giving him lots of positive reinforcement. It is funny to see him loud and crazy one minute and so shy and quiet the next.

He also is afraid of a lot of things. He won't really go down slides. Until Janie does it like its no big deal and then he will follow along on his tummy. He wouldn't paint his face at the museum until recently so I consider that progress. He loves playing hide and go seek but gets startled when finding someone and doesn't like that. He will not go in the basement alone but maybe that one is scary?

14 Months

Janie's personality continues to come out. She likes to get her way, and when she doesn't she lets out a good wail and stomps her feet back and forth. It always makes me laugh. She is persistent as she continually climbs the kitchen chairs and table after I pull her away. Today I put all the chairs down on their sides and problem solved. She doesn't like to share my lap with Blake and will try to push him off. When kids are touching things she wants she will push their hand off of the toy. She love books and is constantly bringing them to me to read, but she can't sit still long enough to finish them. She knows lots of animal sounds. My favorite is her impression of a gorilla. Yesterday she blew on the space heater because it was hot. She has energy and spunk which is so fun yet so exhausting!

Janie is alway getting into the cupboards. Her favorite item that she carries around is the vanilla. I have locks on some cupbards but don't know how to keep her out of all of them. I find spices all throughout my house.

She has curls! I was so surprised that my baby would have curly hair and I love it. Her hair is especially curly after a bath, and straightens after sleeping on it.

Chuck E. Cheese's

I love this place. I loved it when I was a kid and I love it now. Blake had fun using the tokens, playing the games, and getting the tickets. Janie loved climbing and going down the slide. Both kids were scared of big Chuck E. and I wish I got a picture of Janie's horrified face when he approached her.

I remember my mom taking us here when I was little. She would sit at the table and my sisters and I would run off to play games and would come back to the table to get more coins. It was strange having these flashbacks because now I was the one sitting at the table and Blake was running to me for more tokens.

Kids

Janie climbs! I don't remember Blake climbing this much. I have caught her so many times standing on something that she shouldn't be on. She can almost get out of her exersaucer on her own. She loves cheese, her belly button, and taking baths with Blake.

Blake and Sam were playing the other night while I was making dinner. They were laughing a lot and it finally occurred to me that they were probably having too much fun. They were in the closet and had pulled all of Blake's clothes from his whole life out of bins and boxes and were rolling in them. Blake said "We're making a mess because it's fun!"

Blake decorated this box for about an hour. After he was done he said "Let's send it to someone."

We were in the basement yesterday and Blake was bowling. He put the basket on his head and said "Kids wear helmets when they go bowling."

- Earlier today Blake was eating a snack at the table while I was doing dishes. I looked over and saw that his hands were in his cup of milk. I asked him to stop making a mess and he showed me that his string cheese wrapper was in the milk. He said "It's getting baptized. They're all done getting baptized."

- Yesterday Blake proposed, "Let's go to Dairy Queen, eat ice cream, play on the toys, come home and read books. Sound good?"

Code

Blake says some words consistently wrong and I like it.

"snow cloud" = snow plow
"magments" = magnets
"macaroni" = pepperoni
"dream" = drain ("The water went down the dream")
"last time" = yesterday
"shove" = shuffle ("Mommy now you shove it.")
"busy" = dizzy ("I'm getting busy!")
"so big a day and a join again" = we are your friends the Backyardigans (theme song)


Blake loves playing hide and seek. Here is one of his best spots. He is funny....and he is sweet. The other night he said out of the blue "Guess what Mommy? I love you."

Chicago Friends

I love my Chicago friends! Robyn and her three boys came from Chicago, and Melissa and her two kids came from Ann Arbor. We live pretty close to middle of them. The boys had a great time playing. We tried to keep the kids busy and happy so that we could chat all day. We had pizza for dinner and went to play on the toys at Dairy Queen for dessert. Robyn and Melissa are moving in the next few months and I'm so sad!

Blake the Babysitter

Blake and Janie have recently started playing well together and I'm finally able to let them play alone. I can't say how wonderful it is to be able to do this. Last week I put the kids in Blake's room each day for about 30 minutes to play so I could get things done. It is surprising how sweet Blake has become to her and I love hearing him say in a high pitch voice "It's ok Janie." or "I'm sorry Janie I didn't mean to." I cleaned the kitchen while they played but those cleaning efforts were not worth much when a huge disaster was created. Blake pulled every toy and book off of his shelves to give to Janie. Toy heaven.