Update on Kids- 19 months and 3.5 years

One of my favorite parts of my little blog is looking back over times past and seeing how much things have changed. It seems my kids change drastically from week to week if not day-to-day at times. Wanted to write a quick update for each of the kids that I can look back on later down the road.

We just had Mack's 18 month check-up. Here's a picture of him while tearing through the doctor's office. He destroyed that little 8 x 8 room in about 14 seconds flat. He had crayons flying, the trashcan out and spilled on the floor, stacks of books around the room, a bag of chex mix dumped into the middle of the floor and his sticky little handprints on almost every surface. He was having a B-L-A-S-T.

The doctor said he looks healthy and all seems well. He is in the 80th percentile for his height, 60th percentile for his weight and 70th percentile for his head size. For the most part all of his head issues have remedied themselves. He still has a small flat spot that is very mild, and unfortunately, since his soft spot has already closed, he will always have this little flat patch. Poor kid. Somebody remind me to tell him this before he is 16 and wants to shave his head like the rest of his friends!

We have been battling it out from time-to-time in the area of obedience and submission, but lately have made HUGE progress. He loves trains, cars, trucks, and our dog Josie. He likes to get down face-to-face with her and touch noses. Then he says, "Nooooosssseeee" and laughs hysterically.

His vocabulary is growing quick! Seems to me that he is even speaking more than K was at this age, and she was a talker compared to her friends at the same age. We can generally understand most of what he is saying and this is helping to eliminate some of his tantrums.

He understands EVERYTHING we say, which I love, but he isn't such a fan of at times. I can tell him to take my blue shoe and to put it into the clothes hamper in his room and then to shut the door and he can do it.

A funny story...I was baking last week and kept telling Mack he couldn't touch the oven because it was hot. He looked at me and said, "why you?" and meant 'why can you touch it if I can't?'. I tried to explain that I had on an oven mit so it protected my hand and I could not get burnt. He disappeared for a few minutes and I assumed he went to play with K. When he returned, he had one of his Daddy's big snow gloves on and said "Ready!" and wanted to touch the oven. Hilarious.

He now has 12 teeth and is much happier it seems. I am SO glad to be past this phase! He sleeps well- usually from 7:30 p.m. until 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. and still naps from 1:30-3:30 each day. He likes to do things for himself, but still wants to snuggle if we're watching a movie. He runs to his room, grabs his Blankie, his Buddy, his Paci, and then runs and asks for me to hold him on the couch. I. Love. It.!


Mack is so much fun right now. I love his smile, his laugh, the sparkle he gets in his eye when he's getting ready to try to 'wrestle' or give me a hug. I am SO glad to be his Mommy!

Karsyn is now 3 and a half years old and is going on sixteen!
We measured her on her growth chart and she has grown almost three inches in the past six months! From ages 2.5 to 3 there wasn't much growth at all, so I'm glad to see that she's grown so much lately. Maybe this explains why she asks to have a snack about every 4.7 seconds lately?!

She is a happy girl and has begun composing songs and singing them for the camera. (See yesterday's post if you haven't yet!). Her favorite toy recently is her Barbies and she loves to pretend they are getting married. Poor girl only has female Barbies, so she really uses her imagination to pretend that the girl with blonde hair down to her waist in a puffy pink ballgown is a 'Prince', but she makes it work.

When she wakes up in the morning she sits in her bed and plays with all her toys. She has about 49 toys in her bed at any given moment, I'm not really sure how she has room to sleep and they don't jab her in the side when she rolls over. She will stay in her bed and play as long as I will let her. This has been SO nice for the mornings where Mack sleeps in and I want to get a head start on things around the house. She doesn't nap anymore most days, which makes for some grumpy evenings lately. She stays in her bed for two hours for 'quiet time', but usually she is singing and playing so loud there is absolutely nothing quiet about it!

We've been having a few issues lately with temper flare-ups and bad attitudes, but she rallies quickly and asks for forgiveness often. (I must admit that I ask for her forgiveness just as much if not more for the bad attitude that I often exhibit!). One day she had really been giving me a fit. When it was time for her to go to bed, we did our normal bedtime routine and I tucked her in and said goodnight. As I was leaving, she said, "Mommy, when you get to your bed, will you pray for me?:" I said, "sure, I'd be happy to. What would you like me to pray for?" and she said, "Just pray I can be a better girl and have a happy heart".

I went back to her and we talked together about how we need to ask Jesus to help us and that we can't be a 'good' girl without Him in our hearts, and then she prayed right there for Him to help her. It was a sweet moment. I am so looking forward to the day when she fully understands her need for Him in her heart and asks Him there to stay!

K is SO excited for Christmas, but doesn't understand how it can be Christmas without snow. The only Christmas she really remembers is last years when it snowed a lot. I'll tell her, "Karsyn, it's only 4 days til Christmas!" and she'll say, "It can't be yet, there's no snow!".

She's a sweet, funny, intelligent girl with a loving heart. The days and months are passing quickly and I'm already starting to dread her starting school in a year and a half. I'm so glad she's mine!