Do you think she looks like her mama?

11 Months of Spunk

Sweet Pea is 11 months old today and full of spunk.  I found her splashing in the toilet this morning when I came downstairs (Papa Bear must have left the door open...sigh).  She heard me coming and splashed with more gusto knowing that I was going to pull her from her fun immediately.  She let out a peal of laughter as I grabbed for her and then had an equal amount of fun getting soaped up and washed down in the sink.  Then she toddled back and forth across the kitchen as I try to get things done in the morning and her high arches created the cutest little suction on the tile floor so she sounded like a baby octopus moving through the kitchen.  Everything about her is fun these days as she is starting to really be able to keep up with the boys and play with them.

She is still taking 2 naps a day for about an hour and a half each and is sleeping from 7:30pm- 6:30am with occasionally sleeping in until 7:00.  She nurses first thing in the morning but is taking bottles for her other 3 feedings during the day and she has 3 meals a day with an occasional snack.  She loves self-feeding and prefers finger foods to purees now.  She is walking and takes anywhere from 2-10 steps before falling down and crawling the rest of the way.  But when she ca, she will cruise and then walk a few steps to the next object and cruise again.  She goes everywhere using those methods so it rare to find her crawling.  When we catch her just standing her balance is amazing and in just a week has become really steady.  The only problem is that she tends to lunch for her last step which has caused a few close calls.  As I was writing this she grabbed something she couldn't have off of the table and when I went to get it back from her she scurried away in what I can only deem her "baby run".  Girl can move fast.  I think we are in for it.

Things I don't want to forget about Sweet Pea at 11 months:
- her booty shake dancing moves
- her kitty cat mew when she is not happy about her circumstances (not to be confused with her unlady like shriek that she does at any time for just about any reason)
- she adorable "uh-oh" and "this" first words
- her love for her biggest brother and their adorable way of playing together

Stay tuned for a video of Sweet Pea's first few steps!

Slowing it down for some hugs

Weekday mornings are always busy and we move a sprint like pace to get everyone fed, dressed, bathroomed, groomed, re-bathroomed and re-dressed and out the door for school.  Mondays are the worst.  The kids have to say good-bye to Papa and are loath to let him go after two days with him here and it just takes a little more time to get used to and fall back into our schedule.  Plus we have to get Little Man off to school and then race back home for speech therapy so it is extra important that everything get done on schedule.

This Sweet Pea sat in her high chair covered from head to toe in blueberries, bananas and teething biscuit crying her little head off.  I was trying to wash the morning dishes before attending to her because loading the dishwasher is impossible with my newly walking little monkey who thinks it would be fun to climb up into the dishwasher.  Little Man and Peanut were alternately coming in to show me their creations from the playroom (bowls of pretend soup with the same bowls I would need to prepare dinner...sigh).  Little Man came in and told Peanut to come quick with him and as they both tried to run from the kitchen at the same time Peanut ran smack into the door frame.  Now I had two crying.  Setting dishes aside I gathered up a sobbing Peanut and held him tight.  I sat in a chair near Sweet Pea trying to reassure her with my closeness that she was next for hugs.  Then a cry came from the playroom and Little Man came running in crying.  He had "tried to sit nicely on the couch" and bonked his head.  My theory is that he was trying to jump on the couch and bonked his head.  So I gathered Little Man to my side and pulled him as tight as I could with Peanut still on my lap and Sweet Pea pulled close to the chair.  Peanut calmed down and Little Man climbed up to get his hugs.  We hugged and counted to 100. Then I picked up a very messy Sweet Pea and stuck her under the sink to clean her up.  I left the dishes that weren't washed and decided that maybe we needed to just slow down for a second.  As soon as I stopped trying to be productive and get everything done, amazingly enough everything that needed to get done got done including hugs for everyone that needed one.

-side note: I got everyone ready and saw that they were playing nicely so I could sit and start writing a quick post.  Then Peanut had an accident and peed in a plastic bin, Sweet Pea tried to attack the computer when I put it down quickly to deal with the accident and I had to change my clothes because I am not sure if it was just water or pee that somehow covered my pants.  So everything I had gotten done - just got undone. I think I might be the one that needs a hug by the end of this day.

Happy 11 months to Sweet Pea today.  I will write her update later today.

Sweet Pea Joins the Party!!

We took the kids to a nearby park that requires at least two adults to oversee our crew because it is a huge park and the boys always run in opposite directions making it impossible to take the kids on my own.  We went a month or so ago and Sweet Pea hung out in the stroller while the boys ran wild.  But today she joined the party!  She refused her stroller almost from the start and walked, crawled and played with her big brothers.  It was amazing to see all three of the kids enjoying an activity at the same time.  We couldn't play a zone defense because of the enormity of this particular park so instead we had a two-on-one and one-on-one approach.  Whoever had the baby was also responsible for Little Man and the other person had to be on top of Peanut.  Peanut has gotten fast and has absolutely no fear of strangers, heights or any other danger.  So one-on-one with Peanut is a must.  I just loved seeing all 3 kids laughing and playing together.  I feel like we are turning a corner on the type of family fun activities that we can all start enjoying.  It is perfect timing for all of the fall festivals, pumpkin patches and holiday activities that are just around the corner.

Look Whose Walkin'

Little Ms. SweetPea has decided that it is time to take some steps on her own.  When properly motivated (read: to get food that is just out of reach) she takes tiny little hesitant steps until she is close enough to lung and grab onto her final destination.  Her first steps were to move from a chair at the kitchen table towards her high chair where she had spotted some rogue cherrios.  The best thing about it was that I actually managed to see her do it and since Papa Bear had only caught the tail end of it we lured her into a repeat performance using a baby rice cake to motivate her.  Since then she can often be found standing all by herself with a grin on her face contemplating that next step.  She still only takes one or two steps before throwing herself down on the floor laughing to resume crawling.  It isn't going to be long before those tiny hesitant steps turn into full fledged walking and then running.  Let the fun begin!

Logan's Heroes - The Walk

These people are all heroes to our family.  We had a team of 23 people walk in the Northern Virginia Apraxia walk today and a bunch more who walked with us in spirit but couldn't actually make it this morning.  It was chaos and fun and exhausting and exhilarating.  The kids ran and walked and moved from stroller to wagon to stroller again.  We didn't walk the full 4.8 miles around the lake because we kind of thought that was quite a distance to tackle when 13 of our 23 team members where children and all under the age of 7.  Our team raised almost $400 for CASANA!  You are all Logan's Heroes today and forever.  Thank you all for the support and love that you showed our family.

And this guy, well he is the world's best biggest brother.  Peanut doesn't know it yet, but he has a protector, a friend and a teacher in his big brother.  Little Man ran and ran and ran and played and played with his friends and cousins while on the walk.  He was a champ about it not being all about him for a few hours and other than a brief fight over not getting to wear fancy clothes today he was an angel.

My personal hero is this sweet guy.  He walked and ran more than he rode in a stroller and was excited to finally be at his walk.  I don't know if he knew we were all there walking for him, but he knew that he was surrounded by people who love him.  He has so many words and has worked hard for each and every one of them.  He has the sweetest voice and an infectious smile.  Everyone that meets him walks away with a smile on their face because he is so genuine in his love for life.  

Peanut's First Day of 2's

Peanut had his very first day of pre-school today.  He started in the 2's class with Mrs. H just like Little Man did two years ago.  But unlike Little Man, Peanut entered that class like he owned it.  This morning he was so excited to finally be able to use his school bag that he had his shoes on at 7:30.  I had to read books for 45 minutes just to keep him occupied so that we weren't an hour early for school.  When he got there he ran down the hall, picked up his picture tag, hung it on his peg, washed his hands and was off.  I had to force him to say goodbye to me and I only did so because I didn't want him to be surprised later if he looked up and realized I was gone.  We had established a sort of routine as we dropped Little Man off at his class over the last few days.  A quick hug and then "Bye Bye, see you soon" and so when I told Peanut that I was leaving he smiled his Peanut smile and said "see you soon".  I walked out and made my way down the hall with my ears pricked for his cry.  It never came.  He was fine.  I was shaking.  The director of the school went and spied on him for me over the course of 15 minutes.  Finally I got the picture that my kid was doing great, painting pictures and really enjoying himself. So I took Sweet Pea home and put her down for her nap.  Then I stood in my house, it was silent.  I quickly picked up toys and the kitchen and then I just sat.  I didn't know what to do with myself.

At pick up, Peanut was happy and all smiles.  He told me "Love school" over and over and he wanted to go back to school after lunch.  I put him down for a nap and he was out like a light.  The boy played hard.  Little Man told us that his favorite part of his day was getting to see his brother at playground time.  (The 2's and the 4's are on the playground together)  Tomorrow I get to co-op in his class so I will get to see my boy in action and even get to see Little Man on the playground!

Brothers with peekaboo Sweetpea

Hanging up his tag in the classroom

Painting his masterpiece

With his teacher at the water table