15 Months Old!

Matthew:
Learned how to play "How Big is Matthew?" compliments of Karen Vlieg in the church nursery.

Has started to ask questions with hands, especially to ask, "where is it?".  He sometimes does it out of context though, which is pretty cute.

Is great at walking while only holding onto your one finger.  He's getting better at walking unassisted...but not quite there yet.

Loves playing with my rice cooker.  He especially loves it when he pulls the bowl out and can push up and down on the spring.

Loves being tickled.

Really dislikes have to eat ground beef.  He'll eat everything else, but will spit out ground beef.

Still chokes on food every now and then.

Is very hesitant to get dirty.  It takes him some time to get into the sandbox.

Knows his bedtime routine inside out!

Knows where his belly button is.

Absolutely LOVES playing with the ball popper.

Has gotten over his obsession with pressing buttons on the DVD player - finally!

Is tough.  It takes a lot to make him cry when he's being disciplined.  If he's not emotionally hurt by my method he'll just look at you and intentionally do whatever he was doing, as if to say "Ha!  What are you going to do now?"


Kayla:
Has learned how to throw things in the garbage can.  It's great...I can hand her anything and ask her to bring it to the garbage and she'll either throw it in the bathroom or kitchen garbage cans.  So far she's been really good at only throwing garbage in the garbage cans.

Learned how to climb onto our kitchen chairs.

Loves stuffed animals.  We went to the Kids for Kabala garage sale at Surrey Christian a few weeks back and she went nuts when she saw the boxes of stuffed animals.  I let her choose (with my guidance) one for herself (a small pink elephant) and one for Matthew (a small brown monkey).  Whenever she wants to play with her elephant she'll find the monkey as well and will bring it to Matthew.  When she wants to walk behind a walker at my parents' house she'll bring Matthew a walker as well.  (No wonder Matthew isn't walking yet - he doesn't have to!).

Loves eating frozen peas and frozen blueberries.

Isn't a huge fan of cake and cookies.  She much prefers candies.

Calls Matthew "Ma"...not all the time, but she definitely calls him that.

Loves playing in dirt or water.  She always manages to find some.

Knows her bedtime routine inside out!

Can stack two objects on top of each other.

Knows where her hair, belly button, ears, and toes are.

Loves looking at and touching flowers.  She recently played "he loves me, he loves me not" on my chrysanthemum.  I was not pleased.

Is stubborn.  I can get mad at her and slap her hand and she'll continue to do whatever she was doing, with big tears rolling down her cheeks.

Still tries to carry as many toys at a time as she can.

Now notices airplanes in the sky.  You don't realize how many fly above you until you have someone pointing them out.

Sitting in Silence

As I sit here on the couch, contemplating whether or not I should get up and do some housework, Matthew and Kayla are slowing emptying out my book "basket"...looking at each one as they pull it out.  It's pretty cute.  And it's quiet.  And it's now a big mess for me to clean up :)

Taking Steps

The past couple weeks we've definitely seen a new confidence in Matthew: he is now okay if we only hold one of his hands when walking.  The past few days I've been 'removing' my hand from his while walking, leaving him to take a couple steps on his own before he got to his destination.

When we got to my parents' tonight I set Matthew down and started him on his way to see Candice.  He took a few steps on his own...and then luckily Candice started moving backwards because he KEPT GOING!  He took 10 steps!

We 'practiced' with him a little later, and he did 14 steps!  This is quite exciting!  My little boy (who can't even stand on his own!) is learning to walk!  YAY!

Growing Up, But Still My Babies

So I did it.  I started weaning Matthew and Kayla from their bottles, going almost cold turkey.  I didn't give them a bottle at all today, except just before bed.  They definitely didn't drink as much as they should...but that will come as they get used to only drinking from sippy cups.  They quite enjoyed their before-bed bottle tonight!  My babies are growing up!

Kayla has been "working on her poo" since yesterday afternoon.  Yes, it sometimes is a day-long process for her.  We knew it wasn't going to be an easy night for her tonight unless she got it out.  We put her to bed with her sleeper only half on, to allow us easy access for a middle-of-the-night change.  She woke up a few times early into her sleep, but they were false alarms.  Around 10pm she woke up in hysterics, so I took her out of bed and brought her to my room, only to discover she had already gone.  YAY!  Unfortunately, Kayla's screaming and the commotion that ensued woke Matthew up (who had managed to sleep through all of her false alarms.  I rocked Kayla to sleep...enjoying every moment of it while trying to remember when the last time I rocked her to sleep was.  Once Kayla was asleep and in bed I rocked Matthew to sleep (relieving Jon of his attempts to put Matthew to sleep.  I swear it's been months...which of course I'm grateful for...but this was quite enjoyable :)

Such a Mother

Kayla is such a mother to Matthew.  Most of the time he is okay with it, but sometimes she's just too much for him.  Kayla brings him his bottle when he cries, gives him his toy monkey when she grabs hers, feeds him food, brings him his coat and shoes, etc.  She tried to kiss him the other day, but he didn't meet her halfway so she gave up.  It's so cute!

Just Like Daddy

Matthew clearly was not ready to go to sleep tonight when I put him to bed.  He spent about 20 minutes jumping up and down in his crib and then throwing his soother over the edge of his crib, and then crying because he wanted his soother.  I would then go in, give him his soother and lay him down.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  The last time I went in there to lay him down again I noticed there was a strange object in his crib.  I cautiously picked it up, only to discover it was his pajama pants, which he must have figured out how to pull off.  I guess he wanted to sleep in his 'underwear', just like Daddy?

14 Months Old!

Matthew:


Weighs:  20 lb

Loves eating and enjoys most foods.  He has recently developed a little more stubbornness when eating, and will push food out with his tongue if he really does not want to eat it.

Loves fruit:  strawberries (which gives him a rash we think), grapes, oranges, bananas, kiwi.

Loves to bang his forehead against our front window.

Loves to jump up and down in his crib.  It takes him about 10 minutes to fall asleep, and is typically the instigator of the giggling that comes out of their bedroom during nap time.

Loves playing with cars.

Is becoming quite predictable with his poops.  He typically goes within an hour of waking up in the morning, so I try to delay their baths until he's gone, or he'll go when he gets put down for a nap.  I'll hear crying and will smell it when I walk in the room.

Learned how to "high-five" this month.

Loves holding mail after we check our mailbox.

Still has very little balance, but we've been practicing standing unassisted.  He can do it for a fraction of a second :)

Is becoming quite comfortable with walking holding onto only one of my hands.

Loves pressing buttons.  He knows that he's not allowed.  He'll look at you, smile, and then will press one.

Learned how to go from a crawling position to sitting position this month.

Loves getting tickled on his "tickle spot" - a birth mark just above his right hip.

Clothes:
Pants:  12 month (and even then, he can only wear most of them with cloth diapers because his butt is too tiny with a disposable)
Shorts:  6-9 month
Shirts:  9-12 & 12-18 month
Pajamas:  18 month

Kayla:


Weighs:  21 lb 7 oz

Is getting better with eating.  She has a short attention span, so if she refuses to eat more then I let her feed herself (put the spoon in her mouth herself), and then I can usually get some more food in her that way.  If she doesn't want to finish her snack, she gives it to Matthew.

Loves fruit:  strawberries (which gives her a rash we think), grapes, oranges, bananas, kiwi.

Loves eating frozen peas.  Loves them.

Likes to feed Matthew.  She even says "ah" to get him to open his mouth.

Falls asleep instantly (unless being kept awake by Matthew).  It's amazing.

Loves stuffed animals and dolls.

Has been constipated for 3 months straight.  It's very evident when she is trying to go and/or is going.  She always sits down and pulls her left leg into her chest.

Learned how to "high-five" this month.

Loves going down the slide.  If it's a "big-kid" slide she'll wait for you to help her before she goes down.

Runs everywhere, swinging her arms as she goes.

Learned how to get off of the couch this month.

Loves picking dandelions.

Has really learned how to play with toys, especially the older Fisher-Price Little People.

Knows how to wave, and when it is appropriate to do so.

Is still deathly afraid of the vacuum.

Clothes:
Pants:  6-12 & 12-18 month (it seems like she never grows out of pants...because tights become capris!)
Shorts:  6-9 month
Shirts:  9-12 & 12-18 month
Pajamas:  24 month

Our Typical Day:
7:15am  Wake up.  1/3 cup oatmeal cereal mixed with 1 tsp wheat bran (to help with Kayla's constipation).

8:00am  Bath time.

9:00am  Snack time.  Usually something they can finger feed themselves:  graduates or graham cracker.

9:45am  Nap time.

11:00am  Wake up.  Lunch time.  One slice of bread and some fruit.

1:00pm  Snack time.

1:30pm  Nap time.

2:45pm  Wake up.  Snack time.  Usually fruit (a smoothie) or something a little unhealthy: Goldfish or

5:00pm  Dinner time.

6:45pm  Off to Grandma & Grandpa's.

7:15pm  Before bed snack.

7:45pm  Home again.  Bottle, brush teeth, a couple stories.

8:00pm  Bed time.