Saturday

Sort of a typical Saturday for the family, so I'm not sure how long this blog post is going to be.  We all went to Target today to get a few things...namely new swimsuits!  You picked out a TNMT suit, even though I'm not entirely sure you know what they are.  It was a pretty quick decision, as it was the first one you saw...and even with other options presented, you held your position on that one.

Also managed to snag another pair of crocs (aka water shoes!) for you.  The ones we got for you to wear at your class water party were a bit too big (even though it was the size shoe you wear!)...but they fit Daniel, so score!

We went for a drive up South Mountain, passing by the "awful towers" (sounds like Eiffel tower...but they're really just TV and radio towers up on top of the mountain).  It's still cute to hear you say that though!

Also at Target, we had bought a pool for you guys, and I let you inflate it in the living room and sit and watch a movie in it (not filled with water, of course).  You guys were so excited though, there wasn't a whole lot of movie watching done.

Well...that's about all for the day!  We'll see what things we have going on tomorrow!

Kindergarten, Here we come!

You're FIVE now!  Holy moly, has it been THAT long!  I didn't go back and read the last blog post I made for you, but it was titled Happy Third Birthday!

In any case, today is the first day of summer vacation, with yesterday being your last day of preschool at the ELC at Milenio (the school Daniel goes to!).  You are officially registered for kindergarten and will start on the first of August!  I'm sure this summer will go by fast!

So what have you been up to?  You did really well at ELC this past year...everyone was so impressed with your spelling skills!  You made a lot of new friends, and even kept some of your old friends from daycare when they started at the ELC too.  You were SO excited to start at Daniel's school, and I think you are even MORE excited to be riding the bus next year together with Daniel.

In the past year, aside from turning five, being 100% potty trained, and so on, you also became a big brother AGAIN in February.  You're a big help, even if you are a bit shy with offering it.  When Daniel and Kaitlyn aren't around, you step right up and take good care of Laurel.

Well, we have BIG plans for the summer...it'll be fun to see if you guys enjoy the surprise coming your way!

Happy Friday!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

So I know it had been a while, but I didn't realize that it had been THAT long since I did a Jared-specific blog!  Oh my!

Three years ago today you came into this world in grand style and have been amazing us ever since.  We've all heard the Jared birth story (how fast it was...how goofy your mommy was...etc), but every birthday I look back and laugh and smile, remembering the day you were born.

Well...since the last post, you've become a big brother!  You're practically old hat at this, since your baby sister, Kaitlyn, just turned 7 months last week.  So I guess moving backwards, here's what you've been up to...

You've picked up on things so quickly...you learn so many things from your brother, and figure others out yourself.  You use our computers like a pro, navigate tablets (the iPad and Nexus tablets) easily, and you are decisive about the things you want to do.  You know all of your ABCs (have for a while!), identify numbers, can count to 20, all colors and shapes (again, that's been for a lonnnnnng while).  You love to play ball, whether it be basketball or soccer, or even throwing a baseball.  You love to sing songs, and you do a pretty good job of repeating what you hear.  You ask for what you want, and you do a good job of listening to what we ask of you.  You're getting the hang of potty training (even though you don't want to wear real underwear...you keep saying "no, it's Daniel's...it's Daniel's!".  And you still love Mickey Mouse, although you will switch to anything on Disney or PBS.  You're afraid of haircuts, but not much else.  You sleep in the bottom bunk of a set of bunk beds that you share with your brother, switching pretty effortlessly to a twin sized bed.  You get up in the middle of the night sometimes and show up in our room...you've fallen asleep on the floor on occasion, and other times woken up Daddy to bring him to your room to help you get back to sleep again.

Quirky things as of late...you love to hold the door open to the infant room for me and Kaitlyn at daycare.  You love to wave to everyone at daycare, and you ask to have your window down in the car.  You still need to nap, and you still need to cuddle.

You've traveled a bit since the last time we did a catch-up.  Over Christmas time, we drove all the way up to Reno (your first time there!).  You got to play in the snow a little bit and meet a bunch of people!  Before that, in October, we flew up to Montana.  And before that, while there was no massive distance traveled, but there was quite a bit of time spent in hospitals before Kaitlyn was born.

Coming up I'm sure there's going to be more exciting times!  Summer is coming quickly, and hopefully you'll get plenty of swimming time in as it starts to warm up.  I can see you picking up more and more things, and I can tell that you might be reading soon!  Potty training is coming along, as I mentioned before, and you're learning things so fast!

Well...here's hoping that it's not another big gap in time before the next update!  Happy Birthday, kiddo! :)

Jared's Adventures in Catching-up!

It's your turn little buddy...it was so long since I blogged in general, and I figured it's time to dedicate a little time to my cuddle-buddy!

The last entries were around the time we went to Disneyland!  So much has happened, importantly your birthday!  So let's see here...

The holidays were good, Thanksgiving and Christmas were low key and fun.  You got sick and ended up at the doctor on Christmas Eve, but luckily with nothing major, just the fever and ear infection.  It was a little scary for a while because when the nurse put the pulse-ox meter on, you freaked out a little bit and your oxygen levels plummeted.

The other big news around Christmas was that you're going to be a big brother!  I'm sure you're going to be a great one, just like Daniel was for you...and you'll have Daniel to lean on whenever the going gets rough :).

March came along, and it was your 2nd birthday!  Even as it stands today (the 22nd of May!), you haven't had your 2-year well check at the doctor (reprieve on shots, right?!) since you've been sick on and off with something.  Right after your birthday, you had pneumonia to go along with your ear infection (Daniel's ear drum burst the same day, so you guys had tandem appointments).  After that was clear for a bit, Daniel came down with strep/Scarlet Fever and managed to pass that on to you before weeks end!  Just now are things settling down.

So in other things, you are in a learning and language explosion time!  You are so talkative!  You know all of your basic colors, identify all of the numbers up to 10 (and you can count), and you know a few of the A, B, Cs.  You love to play on mommy's iPad (Elmo Sesame Street games) and you still love Mickey Mouse.  You want to do a lot of the things that Daniel does, and you guys do share pretty well, most of the time.

Right now, the phase you are in is saying NO a lot.  You do get your feelings hurt, and tend to pout a bit more than usual.  It's hard to remember these things with Daniel, but it is a phase you'll get through.  You started in the 2 year old room right after your birthday, which took a little while to get used to going there, versus the toddler/1 year old room.

And...most recently...you love swimming!  You can float around pretty well on the steps of the pool, and you love having either me or your dad whoosh you around the pool.  You don't want to go into the little mesh boat thing from last year too often, and the floats we have for you are a bit of a pain to get on...but I think once we figure out something to get you a little more independent, you'll be free floating around the pool!

So last, but not least...your most adorable school pictures.  Daniel was absent that day, so it was all about you...

To Disneyland!

As a last minute thing (as in, it was officially planned two days before we left), we finally took our trip to California and to Disneyland!

In the interest of time and pictures (you'd much rather look at pictures, right?), I'll just mention the basics.  We drove to California on a Thursday night, spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at either Disneyland or California Adventure, went to the beach on Monday before driving back home.

Needless to say, it was a busy, yet still fun and relaxing trip.  Only wishing that we'd had more time at the beach...it was the perfect way to end the trip!

A Chatty Little Jared

Rolling up on almost 18 months old (eep!), you're becoming quite the chatty little guy!  Even back when you were closer to a year old, you had the starts of conversations going on with us and the people at daycare.  You would say something resembling "whatssat?".  From there, you went into the "da-da", but not so much the ma-ma, even though you'd say that sometimes.

Now your vocabulary consists of not only daddy and mommy, but also Daniel!  Perfectly clear and enunciated!  You've also got the appropriate use of "uh oh" and "ta-da!" down.  Recently, you've also picked up "no" (and the head shake to go with it), even though you often say no when you really mean yes.  You tried to say "papa" (for Grandpa) and "gama" (for Grandpa) over the weekend too.  And, of course, kitty...we have three, so that makes sense, right?

Even what you don't say perfectly clear, you manage to get across what it is that you want.  Handing us your cup or bottle to get milk.  You LOVE yogurt, so often times you'll lead one of us to the fridge and wait until we open the door (and try to climb up to get at the yogurt).

You're growing by leaps and bounds!  You weren't a baby that long ago, and now you're really turning into a little boy, keeping up with your big brother without any problems!

Mobility

One of the major milestones in a baby's life is...drumroll...walking.  Mobility.  It isn't like you weren't mobile before, but now you're REALLY mobile.

Your history with being mobile seemed to start early...and we even figured that you might be an early(er) walker.  You rolled over earlier than Daniel (which isn't saying a whole lot, considering that he never cared to roll over).  You did an army crawl, you crawled fairly early and you sat up on your own earlier than your brother.

So your birthday rolled around in March, and no walking.  You could pull yourself up to standing and cruise a bit around the couch, but even that was limited just as you were turning 1.  We were patient though.  April rolls around, and you turn 13 months.  Still, no walking (as a side note, Daniel was walking, officially, a week or two after his first birthday, and definitely before he turned 13 months).  But, again, we were patient.

April 28th rolls around.  Maurice (friend from Reno) comes for a visit passing through.  The weekend prior, you were taking a step here and there, mostly stepping and falling into me or your dad.  But on that day, you were standing up, and taking a few more steps on your own (and not the falling kind!).  As Daddy takes Maurice back to the airport, you and I are playing on the floor in the living room and you take off on a voyage to the kitchen.  About 20 steps later, you look back and realize that I wasn't behind you...but you keep going until you hit the middle of the family room and sit down!  You're walking!

You keep practicing through the week, and on the following Saturday (May 5th), I manage to catch you walking down the hall.  After that, it's like you are walking like a pro!

Now that you've mastered the walking, they started really working with you to eat more table food at daycare, and now you're officially in the toddler room!  Such a big boy!  As I type, you're just over 15 months old...and on your way again up to Montana with us next week!