reading with his tag reader jr.
enjoying his new tag reader
ready to be done jumping
(these are low quality i was taking the pictures behind glass)
carter blowing bubbles
in the teachers arms getting ready to go under
(carter on the left) waiting his turn
at the end of class they go down the slide you can see he is still a little timid
swimming to the side after the slide, happy as can be
so much love!
my three hams!
wow, i cannot believe that it is really 2011! it is so crazy. time is flying by like normal. we got back into our normal routine around here and it feels pretty nice. carter was happy to be in preschool and to have something to do besides play at our house. it has been nice outside a few days this last week and the kids got to go out and play a bit which was nice. in new news carter started swimming lessons out at the country swim school this week. after much discussion and a convincing parent night, we decided to put him in lessons two nights a week. the place was pretty impressive. they take swim lessons pretty serious and we were able to watch what they do with the kids on our parent orientation night. it was amazing what these teeny tiny kids can do. carter did really well the first two lessons. there were a few tears due to fear but once he was in the water he was fine and stated that he loved swim lessons. he even put his head under the first lesson. i think that all of the kids have made some major changes in the last few weeks. i don't know what came over carter but he is no longer my baby but my little mature man. he decided that he only wants to do things that *big* people do. he only wants to roll up his sleeves at meals if chad and i do. he doesn't want to take a toy to bed because we don't. we made the mistake of giving him a *baby* fork the other night and we never heard the end of it. he now wants to drink water at meals because we do and wants to eat anything we are. it is cute, annoying and a little sad at how big he is actually getting. along with this other great things have come about such as him wanting to find a binky for baby callan if he is crying or getting things for me that i ask for. he likes to be *in charge* and feels big when i give him some responsibility. he also learned how to open the gate to the basement and callan's room which he thought was a huge accomplishment. i am sure some of it stems from us telling him things like "callan can't have that because he is too little or camden can't do something because he is too little" so now he thinks he is older and can do more things. he has also taken a special interest in his new tag reader. i told him it was just for him (because i don't want camden to break it) and to put it up when he is done. he has spend quite a bit of time with it. unfortunately he is used to the tag jr and isn't used to how to use this one for reading the words (but it is a little advanced for him) but he likes the independence it gives him. one funny thing he said this last week was while he was eating his lunch was "god, will you eat this sandwich for me?" and then laughs. i told him he needed to eat it to get some dessert. i guess he though god could help him.
camden found a new love for flash cards. we bought some to help carter with his letters and he is the one who asks for them on a daily basis if not more. he can name all the shapes correctly and is working on his colors. i have this on video and need to put it on here. it is pretty cute. his vocabulary just amazes me. he continues to talk loud all the time. he is used to saying the dinner prayer now and is starting to say it along with us but always ends it with a loud AMEN! he plays so nice on his own a lot of the time, especially when carter is not around. he has a new habit of getting upset when eating if he can't get the corn to stay on his fork, or if his sandwich falls apart. there are often meltdowns at each meal for things not going the way camden thinks they should. his type a ness is still if full swing. he refuses to have socks on without shoes or leave the house without his hat. he also loves it when you are done changing his diaper he will say "shake da silwees out". we always "shake the sillies out" after we are done changing him.
little callan. callan has thrown us for a loop lately but i think i figured him out so hopefully we are back on track. before christmas he was sleeping till 5-6am. then when the holidays hit and we were not home for the normal schedule he starting sleeping poorly. we also stopped swaddling him because he was always getting out. but after many bad nights i thought maybe the swaddling was the problem. it may just be a fluke but after i gave him my famous nazi swaddle wrap he slept like a baby. he slept until 6:15 which is not too shabby. I just hope that is the answer and he continues to sleep well. in other callan news he has become a professional breast feeder and on a good feed he can eat in 10 minutes. he *loves* his jumper, but more importantly he loves being upright. he spends lots of happy moments jumping and watching his brothers play. he also started truly and purposefully laughing. it is adorable. blowing raspberries on his belly or carter is sure to bring out the belly laughs. he is also able to roll onto his sides but just can't get all the over yet. he still drools like crazy, but is a very happy baby.
Another big thing happened at our house last Saturday and that is that Camden turned 2! We are going to have a party for him in June but we did do a mini celebration. I made a cake and grandma Karen brought over a big cookie (my favorite). We also ordered pizza for dinner and just had a fun relaxing day. I am amazed that he is two. He still seems like my baby. I don't know where the time went. I also had his doctor appointment with Callans and he was 26lbs which is the 24th percentile so he is moving up. (he was in the 9th) he is moving down in height and was 331/2 inches which is the 25th percentile. His head was 19inches which puts him in the 38th percentile. He did not have to have any shots which made him very happy and everything turned out well for him too. He seems to be on track and doing well. Some of his favorite things at two are: Foods- he is picky and I can't think of a favorite, maybe cheese. He also likes anything sweet. He is eating his veggies these days which makes us very happy. Unfortunately he also has a very sensitive gag reflex and this causes him to throw up if he eats something that he doesn't like, or if it happens to be a stringy food. Thank goodness it doesn't happen that often but often enough that we don't like it. Toys- he loves toy story characters (mainly because Carter loves them) he also loves little people, curious george, and naming sesame street characters (even though we have never watched it). Books- he LOVES curious george, especially Curious George and the pizza, which we read at least two times a day. He loves reading and loves to point out all the things he knows on the page. Quirks- he has to have his shoes and socks on, or bare feet. He insists on wearing a hat in the winter. It bothers him when things fall out of what he is eating. Such as when the meat falls out of the taco or when the meat and cheese come out of his sandwich. He gets frustrated when eating and the food doesn't stay on his fork. He *loves* his blanket(s). He likes to have several. He will say before nap and bedtime "puppy blankie" over and over until he has the desired amount of puppies and blankies in the bed. He is still taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and goes to bed at 7-7:30 and gets up around 6. He will still fall asleep in the car if the car ride is longer than 10 minutes (yes, he is tired and needs more sleep). He loves being a part of what the big kids are doing and will do anything that Carter tells him. 
