The Powells: Joint update - 34 months and 6.5 months

Jack - 6.5 months

The little man has done a lot of new things in the last 2 weeks. On November 20, he started saying "bee", "buh", and "bah" and doing a little babbling that sounds like "buh buh buh". He already knows the sound of the letter b! He also makes the "mmmm" and "ma" sound occasionally, but mostly when he is fussing. I remember Elise doing the same thing at this age. On November 23, he started gradually "scooting" around on his belly. He pushes up with his arms and drags his body about 1/2 inch at a time :) He's mostly moving side to side with a little bit of forward, but I know it won't be long until he is everywhere. He always gets off the mat. He can push up and get his little belly button off the floor. Once he gets those knees under him, he'll be gone. Slow down, little buddy!

I'm trying to transition him from 3 naps to 2 naps. Some days it works, and some days he's so cranky at 12:30 that I have to lay him down early for nap #2 and give him another short nap right before dinner. If I can make him wait until 1:30 for the nap, then he and Elise sleep at the same time :)

We've gone to the park quite a bit lately and he LOVES to swing while watching Elise play on the playground.

(notice in the sequence of pictures that he scooted to the cup and then picked it up with his left hand)

Elise - 34 months

Several things have happened with Elise this month as well. At the beginning of November, she asked if she could use the downstairs potty (which doesn't have a potty seat on it) and since then, she will use any potty without needing the seat! This is big, people. This means that I no longer have to carry around the wet bag with the potty seat in it. Yippee! She's still scared of toilets that flush automatically, but thankfully, the places we frequent don't seem to have those.

She's still napping well for 1.5-2 hours (talked through 2 naps earlier this month, but none in the past few weeks) and still sleeps well at night. We normally have to wake her up from her nap and in the morning, but if we don't, she'll take forever to fall asleep at night. Lately, we have had to go in about 15-30 minutes after putting her to bed at night to lay her down again (or take her to the potty or give her another drink of water) but I think it's just a phase that will go away soon. It's possible that she's going to bed too late (8-8:15 pm) but we don't want it to be too early before our trip to CST in a few weeks. She normally falls asleep around 9 and wakes up by 8.

She's such a sweet and caring little girl when she isn't having a tantrum :) I get many compliments from her every day. Yesterday, Mike was getting ready to leave for school and had dressed up for a presentation that he gave. Elise complimented him on his shirt as soon as she saw him. About a minute later, she also told me that she liked my Turkey Trot t-shirt. Haha. When Mike put her to bed last night, she put both hands on his cheeks, gazed into his eyes and said "I like your tall big face, Daddy!" She also likes to tell me how proud she is when I do something, like getting dressed by myself, fixing dinner, playing with toys, etc.

She continues to do a lot of pretend play. She loves to play teacher, store, and mommy to her dolls and stuffed animals. She also loves to organize her things. All of her purses and bags are packed full of smaller toys, and she can tell you exactly what is in each one. She's also enjoying her "It's a Match!" game from Discovery Toys. She has an incredible memory and still talks about things that happened in Alabama versus things that happened in Baltimore versus things that she's done in Texas during her summer visit and last Christmas. Whenever we go to the zoo or Costco, she always remembers what the animals were doing last time we saw them and which samples were available at Costco the previous week. She's always disappointed that the pickle lady hasn't been at Costco in about 2 months :)

Here are a few funny sayings:

(while watching Mike play in a flag football game)

E: "Is it okay to take the football away from someone else?"

(when Mike went to get her in the morning after she'd been coughing)

Mike: "Do you want some water to help your cough?"

E: "No... well... I think a pumpkin muffin would help!"

(after we both went on the big potty)

Me: "Good job, big girl!"

E: "Good job, taller big girl!"

(while chasing Boss around the backyard)

E: "Boss, Miss Elise is coming to get you now. You are not cooperating. You need to have some room time behind that tree over there."

(while laying in our bed one morning... our room has a fan but hers doesn't)