Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Lincoln is 3!

Happy 3rd birthday to my big boy!



Lincoln had a birthday party on Sunday the 22nd with mostly family and had a great time. We are so blessed with such loving and generous people in our lives!


Cousin Kelli made the most awesome T-rex cake ever seen:




and Lincoln adored it!




On the 23rd, his actual birthday, Lincoln got to choose where he wanted to eat, and he picked the mall so he could see the BIG GORILLA!


Which he didn't want his picture taken with once we actually got there. Of course.

The mall was mostly deserted, which was great, so we walked around some after we ate and let Lincoln play in the kids' playplace. We don't usually get a chance to because it's so crowded with kids snotting everywhere, but that night Link was the only kid playing. Woo hoo!

He also got to sit on the riding lawn mowers at Sears, another of his favorite places.

Unfortunately, he started getting a cold Saturday evening after getting back from Monett (we had gone down for the day to help with the cake), was worse Sunday and absolutely miserable on Monday. What a way to spend your birthday! He still had a good time running all over the mall. It take a lot to slow this kid down!


He ended the night by reading a book with Jackson:


At 3 years old, Lincoln...


-is close (sort of) to being potty trained. It's one day at a time,

with some days better than others.


-knows his colors, ABCs, basic shapes, some presidents

(thanks to his awesome placemat) and millions of animals & dinosaurs.


-can recognize many lettes and numbers

and is curious about words.

-also knows almost every single Star Wars character

(loves Chewbacca) and is familiar with much of

Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.


-loves How to Train Your Dragon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,

and pretty much any movie we'll let him watch.


-loves to sing: the Grinch, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,

Old MacDonald had a Farm, Knick Knack Paddywhack.


-dances to "Can't Touch This" every night at 6:45 when an alarm

goes off on Mommy's cell phone. He calls it "Tan Hox It" and

will mumble along with the words as he jumps around the room.


-is super happy, super friendly and has good manners (most of the time).


-LOVES Baby Jack and is always telling him, "You're so cute,"

and "it's OK, Jackson, I'll protect you."


-BUT. He has started randomly knocking Jack over since J now sits up

on his own. He will also grab Jack's toys and is having a tougher time sharing.


-is a major talker and says such funny things so many times a day

that we can barely keep up with writing them down.

He has been speaking in complex sentences for a while now

and has an amazing vocabulary.


-adores other kids, his age, older and younger. Doesn't matter.

He always wants to play with every kid we see.


-can undress himself on his own except for his shirt but has trouble

getting dressed on his own.


-loves to be outside to run around and ride in his Cozy Coupe, which he's

getting too big for! He should be able to reach the tricycle wheels

this spring.


-is in the "what?" and "why?" stage and asks those questions about

EVERYTHING, even if it is obvious to him/he already knows

the answer!


and a million other things which I will post as I think of them. :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

6 months old!

Jackson is half a year old (as of December 28)! Where has the time gone?








He is SUPER smiley, SUPER happy baby--he may even be smilier than Lincoln was as a baby, which I didn't think was possible. Or maybe just about the same. Who can tell??



Jack is 27" long and weighs 16 pounds and 4 oz. That's the same length, but almost a full 2 pounds less than Lincoln did at this age--who knew Link was such a porker?



He was a trooper at the doctor's office. He cried when being weighed & measured, but didn't have a problem getting pocked and prodded by Dr. Griesemer. Kids. Who can figure them out?



Jack has a tooth! His bottom right tooth starting poking through the day after his 6-month birthday. That explains SO much, and he's definitely getting ready to cut more based on his behavior, chewing on his own fingers/anything at all, and waterfall of drool.



Here he is looking at a book with Lincoln:






Jack has been on solids for about a month. This child is an eating MACHINE. He will eat everything and anything in sight if we're not careful! And he likes everything, although he's not a huge fan of all-natural applesauce unless it has cinnamon in it. He's had cereal, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, acorn & butternut squash, pears, applesauce, avocado, banana, and several spieces...that may be it.

He really liked carrots on this particular day:




I'm not following the "feed one new food every 3-4 days to see if an allergy develops" for 2 reasons. One, we hardly have any food allergies in the family. Two, I read an article a year or so ago that said that babies who were fed new flavors rapidly tended to be better eaters as they got older. Since Lincoln has become averse to pretty much any fruit or vegetable, and I did follow the "3-day" rule with him, I want to see if not waiting between new foods has any impact on Jack.




Unfortunately, solids haven't really had any impact on his sleeping habits. UGH. A couple of weeks ago we (I. I was so desperate) were so desperate to get more then 2-3 hous of sleep at a time every night that we started putting him back in the swing to sleep. Sometimes it helped, sometimes it didn't. He's been doing a bit better lately, but again, he's still in the swing. The transition back to the crib is going to be the stuff nightmares are made of.




We'll have to do it soon, though, or else it will just get worse as he gets older.








6 month likes




Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln




Reading books




Turning pages of books (he's great at it!)




Exersaucer & Jumperoo




Sitting up on his own. YES!!!!




Squealing, cooing, babbling ("gagagaga" "baba").

Jack tries SO hard to form words.




Pulling self up while holding on to people's thumbs




People. Jack is a charmer who distracts people in church

because he's so adorable! (we don't want him in

the nursery until after cold/flu season is over)




Peekaboo. Best. game. ever.




Mirrors




Pooping in new diapers Mommy has JUST put on him. Grrrrrrrr.


Wearing 9 month onesies and sleepers, and already outgrowing some of them!!




His feet! Grabs them compulsively & is about to start sucking

on his toes. Yum.







6 month dislikes


Teething. Who wouldn't?

Not getting to eat until he explodes. He nurses and then has
solids, and when he's finished the solids and sees us take

the bowl or jar from him, Jack freaks out!!


Sleeping through the night (although getting better recently),

past 6 AM or longer than 45 minutes for naps


Soon to come: Some Christmas photos (better late than never) & photos of good times around the house!