19 months and counting

Judah is now over 19 months, but he got his 18 month check up a little late, and it reminded me to do a little update on him.

He was 33 1/2 in. and 25.13 lbs.  His head circumference was 21 in.  He was good for the doctor, but didn't like when they tried to get his pulse/ox on his toe.  He cried for just a moment when he was given the four vaccines, but then he was done and happy to eat his lollipop.

Judah's schedule is still the same.

Wake at 6:45am (usually already awake and playing quietly in his crib when I go get him)
Nap 9-11am (occasionally will not sleep, but play the whole time nicely in his crib)
Nap 2-4pm
Bed time at 7:30pm

In the shower

Judah is a good eater most of the time, so I don't worry if he won't eat much for dinner on occasion.  He eats a good amount of vegetables and fruit.

Unique things about Judah at this age...

He loves to hug babies or anyone around his size that he deems a baby even if they are strangers on the playground.  And not just one hug either!  He hugs them until they are telling their mommy that "the baby won't stop hugging them."  It is adorable and funny to watch!  He's going to be such a loving big brother.

He's very particular.  When it's time for mommy cuddles while I pray and sing with him before bed, he needs to lay his head on my chest, but he only likes his face to touch skin, not my clothes, and he always demands that I move my hair and necklace out of the way for him.  Judah is a big fit thrower too when he doesn't get what he wants.  We saw that with wanting to go outside when he couldn't or having to to come inside.  It extends much further now, to  everything from not wanting to wait for his food to come out of the microwave, to not wanting a banana cut a certain way, to not wanting to be buckled in his car seat or high chair.  It's getting ridiculous.  I don't give in to him almost ever, but his fits never seem to end.  they go on and on and on sometimes, unless we can distract him before he gets too worked up.

He loves baths, animals, books, hugs and playing outside!  His favorite song was Twinkle Twinkle, but is now My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.

On Sunday, he got a good boo boo on his face.  Drew picked up a chunk of pavement from the road about the size of my hand and threw it without looking.  It hit Judah right in the corner of his eye.  he's pretty scraped up, but he was mostly okay.  Drew was finished with his outside playtime a little early that day.  Judah loves outside so much that when I brought him in to clean up his face and get a cold pack, he was oscillating crying out "eye" and "outside" until I took him back outside.

The Big One!

 One Year Old Update on Drew

After a berry good dinner!  Unfortunately, this was taken right before he learned to take off his bib.

Troubles
Drew is having a very hard time in Mass for the last two weeks.  He may be on his way to beating Hannah as the family's worst behaved baby in church.  The only reason I say he would beat Hannah is because she was at least good if you stood in the back for a while and the returned to your seat at this age.  He still cries and squirms some days, and I have to stand out in the foyer with a crying squirming baby the rest of Mass.  A good summary of Drew right now is, "Great sleeper, great car traveler, great eater, bad airplane traveler, and awful mass attender." In fact, on his birthday after Mass some daily Mass friends of ours came up to him and said, "Your brother was not like you at all when he was little!  He sat and was so quiet!"  They meant no harm, they were just stating the truth!  Father Charlie gave him a birthday blessing and then made a point of telling me how glad he is that we come to daily Mass and how it must be hard for me to get them all up and there at 8am.  I replied, "Oh, that's the easy part!" because it so is!  We are now moving from the front pew to the back for daily Mass, at least, so I can not be a visual distraction to everyone as well as a noisy one.
On top of that issue, he has begun little tantrums as well.  Aah, can't I have my sweet boy back?  Where does the time go?

Physical Development
I was expecting him to be walking everywhere right now, but he is not.  I guess his illnesses slowed him down.  He is such a fast crawler.  He just drops and crawls when he really needs to get somewhere fast.
He has said a few new words this past week, but they don't come easy.  They are "Hi" (only to the phone) and "Night night" (only once to his daddy.)  His lack of words and signs is incredibly frustrating to me since I have always had talkers.  He will sign "More" if I start the sign for him by pushing one hand toward the other.  I know he understands so much because he will look at whatever I am talking about.  If I ask him if he wants a drink and he does, he will look intently at the cup.  If I ask him if he will help me turn out the lights, he looks over at the light switch.  You get the picture.  I just wish he would try to talk or sign!
 We have been working on body parts.  He seems to know nose, tongue, feet, and belly button.  You have to catch him at the right moment though or he is absorbed in what he is doing and will not respond.  He is no performer like the other three!

Nutrition/Eating
He is a great eater and eats almost everything.  Many times he eats things as fast as I can get them on his tray which leaves me little time to eat my own meal.  He is drinking water and whole milk from a sippy cup.  He is still nursing three times a day before meals. 

Sleeping
He is doing great with sleep.  He must be in a growth spurt or something right now, because he is sleeping so much more than usual.  He started fighting the bedtime routine AGAIN this week, but had been doing well with it for a good while before that.  Even when he fights the routine part, he usually settles down during the song.  Even if he doesn't settle down for the song though, he lays right down when I put him in his bed. I guess I can't complain.

Child Summary: Hannah at 7 years

Sleeping

She sleeps from 8pm until 7am (sometimes later when allowed.) She has had a couple of nights where she had trouble falling asleep, but it is rare.

Rest time

She has about 2 hours of rest time every afternoon. The first thirty minutes she is required to read a fun book of her choice or catch up on school reading. If we skip a rest time she seems to be fine without it. It is mostly to give her time alone since she is surrounded by her siblings all day otherwise.

Eating

Although I would not categorize her as a picky eater, she certainly has a way she likes things and a list of things she doesn't like. For example, Hannah does not like pears, anything spicy, yogurt, dips or of any kind (everything has to be plain and dry), foods touching, granola bars, any cereal, popcorn, hot dogs, and corny dogs. Most of these are not super healthy foods so I don't make her eat them unless she is served it at someone's house. She wants PB&J just about everyday for lunch, and this is an area I typically don't fight since it is easy. She is a good eater and usually the first to clear her plate at dinner. She will try new things and loves a variety of seafood (including octopus) despite the fact that I never make any seafood at home. She eats faster now and always eats everything she is given for meals, usually starting with the thing she dislikes the most to get it off her plate the soonest. Most of her dislikes are snacks anyway.

School

Hannah is doing well in school. She is reading above grade level. She has struggled with memorizing her math facts, but seems to be getting a little faster now. We are behind in History and Science, but I think we will just go through the summer for those subjects if we are not caught up by then. The reason we are behind is not her fault, but the baby set us back more than I anticipated, and Math, Grammar/Writing/Reading took precedence.

Books

She is reading chapter books that I find in the 2nd grade section at the library fairly easily, but the 3rd grade books overwhelm her with more words per page. She is reading Beverly Cleary at the moment.

Brian is reading the first book of Lord of the Rings to the girls right now. She has talked her daddy into letting her watch the movie after they finish the book. I don't know if that's a great idea, but Brian is on nightmare duty if it backfires so I'll leave it up to him. :)

Toys

Hannah still loves Barbies and American doll stuff, but she spends most of her time in imaginative play with her siblings or drawing, coloring, and crafting.

Dentist/Doctor

Hannah has had many doctor appointments of late for ear infections, suspected UTIs, seasonal allergies, and walking pneumonia. She is an excellent patient. She is seeing a pediatric urologist later this month.

She loves the dentist and always wants to go first. No problems there either.

Concerns/Trouble Areas

Hannah is a great kid, but she is super bossy and takes it upon herself to be on constant look out for rule breakers in the house. We are working on this. Also, a bit of initial shyness has caused her to slack on manners when meeting/talking to adults. I am trying to encourage her to speak up and give her phrases that would be polite and respectful to say to adults. Her attitude towards her dad and me continues to be a struggle under certain circumstances, but it is getting more rare which is promising.

Child Summary: Isaac at 3 years

Sleeping
Isaac is a good sleeper. He sleeps from 7:30pm (8 or 8:30pm for the summer) until I wake him up at 7am. If I don't wake him up, he has trouble falling asleep at nap time. He naps from 1pm until I wake him at 3 or 3:30pm. Again, if I don't wake him he will wake up before 7am after a couple days of longer naps. So he is getting about 13-14 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. He will skip a nap occasionally and just play in his bed. This is more likely to occur when we have disturbed his schedule by staying out past bedtime too many nights or by skipping a nap for an event. I recently took most of his stuffed animals out of his bed while trying to get him back into a routine after a weekend full of disturbances. This seemed to work well.

He goes to sleep easily and happily. He has the occasional bad dream and is very easy to calm down. He is in a big boy bed now and NEVER gets out without me. And he is keeping his overnight pull-up dry most of the time now, about 90% of the time.

Room time
We have not done regular room time this summer. We are about to start school again in a week and will start up with an hour of room time in the morning again so that I can get some school underway with the girls first thing after morning Mass. Hopefully, he does well with this transition, and I am not kicking myself for not doing it this summer. We've just been very busy doing fun stuff!

Eating
He eats well, but eats slowly now. All my kids were bitten by the slow eating bug around 3 years of age, and he appears to be no exception. He loves salad, and will eat any vegetable if he can dip it in Ranch. Fruit is a favorite of his, as well. Although he doesn't love spicy things, he will eat them as long as they are not too spicy. He is my only black olive eater in the house, besides myself.

For breakfast, he will eat either cereal (usually Daddy's Frosted Mini Wheats) or yogurt most days. For snacks, he is not picky, but he loves granola bars to death. For lunch, he like Hannah in that he is addicted to peanut butter and jelly. Even though he likes other things, he would rather have a PB&J sandwich for lunch. Most of the time, he is eating his sandwich, standing on a stool the second it is made while I finish up his veggies and fruit. He's always been impatient for food.

Siblings
He loves both his sisters and wants to play with them most of the time. He does seem to favor Hannah a bit still, but I have yet to figure out why since Genna is so sweet and loving to him. He will play whatever they want if they don't feel up to playing trains or Legos with him just so long as he gets to play with them.

He is very excited for his baby brother to "pop out" of my tummy, but he insists that we should name him Baby Conley still. He loves to feel him kick too.

Education
He knows the basics including his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. He also knows lots of random facts about whales and sharks and other things like baby animal names. He can write his name, except for the "S." This coming year, my plan is to do lessons with him on phonics, math, and use the Five in a Row curriculum for the rest of the subjects. I will not be spending more than 30 minutes a day in formal learning, and realistically, probably not even that much with the new baby. I do hope to include him in our Religion and Art lessons at his own level.

Books
He loves to be read to and enjoys looking at books as well, although not as much as the girls always have. After hearing a book one time, he can retell the whole story, details and all, even weeks later. His favorite books lately have been Where the Wild Things Are and all books about airplanes. His old favorites are The Fox and the Hound, Chicken Little, and Bambi, two of which have hunters in them which is probably why he likes them.

Toys
At the moment, his favorites are Thomas trains, airplanes, and play dough or gak. He loves to play outside, riding his trike, using sidewalk chalk, and blowing bubbles. He plays well and carefully with his toys most of the time. I recently have had to correct him about throwing toys, but I think this is a behavior that has been picked up by other kids he plays with and will probably be a short term problem.

Dentist/Doctor
He did great a t the dentist, sitting in the chair by himself and following directions. He needed me to sit next to him, but that was it. He asked questions and was curious what things were.

At his 3 year well check up, he did not need any shots. I told him ahead of time that I was pretty sure he didn't need any shots. His sisters did not go with us to the doctor because they were playing at a friend's house and so he was a little bit nervous about it at first. I promised him that if he was good and brave he could have a lollipop afterwards since that's what I always got when I was little. That seemed to get his mind off being afraid. He did great once we were there, but he did check with the nurse and doctor to make sure they weren't going to give him any shots.

Talking
He is a big talker, especially for a boy. He talks nearly as much as the girls do. My favorite thing is his expressive face when he talks. He wrinkles, squints, and twists his face while he is talking and uses quite a bit of inflection.

Concerns/Trouble Areas
As of the last couple weeks, he is having some discipline problems. He is crying a lot, when he used to use his words. He has been much more difficult to calm as well. He has also been more deliberately defiant to me (not to Dad as much.) My guesses at the cause or causes for this turn of behavior are, 1)he is getting his 2 year molars in finally, 2) I am being too lax with him because of my lack of energy at the end of this pregnancy, and 3) as I mentioned earlier, he has not been doing his regular room time and I really think that helps with discipline and obedience. It is probably all of those things, and I need to tough it up and crack down a bit on our rules. Normally he is a very laid back, obedient boy who is easy to discipline. Hopefully, he will get back to normal soon. He usually prays "for the best mom he ever had," but on a particularly challenging day last week, he prayed, "I pray that my mom will be the best mom I ever had again." Needless to say, he wasn't happy with how things were going either. Constant discipline and consequences coming from an unhappy mommy do not make "the best mom I ever had."

Schedule
I have already mentioned his sleep schedule and since summer is over for us and the school year begins and our schedule is about to change I won't post a schedule here. During the summer, other than getting his naps and trying to keep to an 8:30pm bed time, we haven't had a set schedule. We have been swimming twice a week and had lots of play dates with friends. Plus, we've played outside with the neighbors whenever it was not too hot.

Child Summary: Genevieve at 5 years old

I am going to try something new here and do child summaries at birthdays so I don't forget the details of each child's individual life as they grow and change. Since Genevieve just turned 5 a month ago, I will start with her.

Sleeping
Genevieve sleeps from 8pm until 7am which amounts to 11 hours of sleep. She rarely naps (since she was 3 years old,) but she will fall asleep during her rest time if she is overly tired. Genevieve is a very deep sleeper still. She is wearing a pullup at night and we are thinking about trying a bed alarm to help her wake up at night to potty.

Rest time
Genna's rest time is 2 hours long. The first part of this is for reading books and if she is tired she can then take a nap. If she isn't tired after reading, she can quietly play with the toys in the room she is in. On alternate days, she gets to have rest time in her room. On the other days, she must have rest time in the baby's room or the basement "school room." (Hannah and her take turns since they share a room. Their room is the preferred room since they have more toys in there.) She is very good about staying in her room and almost never complains about it. We do skip rest time on occasion when we are out or when Daddy is home and working outside, but not too often.

Eating
Genevieve is a good eater, but a slow eater if it is something she doesn't particularly like. Currently, she will try new things with some encouragement, but she is not as willing as she used to be. She has a sweet tooth and will eat dessert until she is sick if we don't watch her portions. She is also a dip eater and loves to dip things in a variety of dips. Genna doesn't like things too spicy, but she can handle a little spice. She likes a variety of snacks, breakfast foods, and lunches. Dinner tends to be her slow meal. She loves milk and likes water okay, but LOVES juices, teas, and seltzer water. I have mentioned before that I limit juices to special occasions in order to develop good drinking habits. Her favorite breakfast is yogurt and fruit. Her favorite lunch is a wrap, fruit, and carrots with Ranch. Her favorite dinner food is tacos.

Siblings
Genna is very loving toward her sister and brother still, but I have caught her being sassy back to Hannah secretly though she rarely does it openly. She still is my best sharer and will throw a game she was winning if it means that Hannah will be happy and still play with her. She is particularly loving and caring toward Isaac, always the first on the scene to comfort him when he gets hurt. Genna is currently getting left out with her siblings a lot. For some reason Isaac and Hannah leave her out of things and try to exclude her from time to time. We are working on this. She is looking forward to Speck's arrival, perhaps so she has someone who will let her take care of him. Isaac seems to resist it alot.

School
Genevieve is ahead in school. She completed Pre-K officially, but is nearly finished with the Kindergarten curriculum. She does her work joyfully, and only dislikes/struggles with Handwriting. She is a pleasure to teach because she enjoys learning and strives to keep up with her big sis.

Books
She loves to read! She will sometimes read for her entire 2 hour rest time even though I do not require it. She is excellent at sounding out big words and using context to help her figure them out or catch a mistake. She really enjoys The Magic Tree House books and can read them herself. She is not afraid to attempt a more challanging book.

Toys/Play
Genna is one to carry around a stuffed animal or doll all day. She is very nurturing and will take care of this animal or doll all day and then change to another one in a few days. She enjoys playing pretend with her brother and sister, and she also likes to play trains with Isaac. She loves to go outside and is getting really good at riding her tricycle. Hannah gets discouraged that she rides faster than her. Her favorite thing would have to be playdates. She is very social!

Dentist/Doctor
Genevieve had a lot of anxiety about getting shots at her 5 year check up, but it turned out I was wrog and she didn't need any. She has never been afraid of the doctor, and she usually talks his ear off during her appointments. This year was no different. She even got all dolled up with lots of jewelry and sunglasses that she wore throughout the appointment except for during the eye exam. Speaking of, she didn't pass the eye exam and has an appointment with the optometrist coming up.
Genna has always loved the dentist, so that was a breeze. She wanted me to sit in the room for moral support, but other than that was a perfect patient. (Her godfather will be happy to know that!) She will probably be getting a retainer later this year when her molars come in.

Talking
She talks all the time and will readily admit that she loves to talk! When she is trying to tell me something, I have to truly practice patience because it takes a while for her to get to the point. The only thing about this is that a long seemingly nonchallant story can end with something that needs my immediate attention. Blah, blah, blah, blah.....and Isaac spilled all of his milk on the floor. Hopefully, one of these stories doesn't end with something more serious.

Chores
Genna is not a huge fan of some of her chores. She has been caught licking a spoon clean and sliding it back into the drawer just to avoid loading it in the dishwasher. (You are so dying to come eat at our house, right?) She gets 20 cents a week if she does her chores and marks them off on the chart. She is not as consciencious about marking them off as Hannah though. She also has lost her allowance for not being responsible with it and leaving it around the house instead of putting it away. She is very distractable and loses things all the time. I am hoping this will teach her to take care of her things and put them where they belong. She must put her folded laundry away and hang up her dresses every week. Plus, we have "penny jobs" that they can opt to do to earn an extra penny that week like matching and putting away the socks or organizing the coat closet. Her daily chores are:
Make bed
Unload dishwasher-either all silverware or all plastics (takes turns with Hannah)
Loads own dishes after meals
Cleans up toys
Sets table with silverware only (help Isaac learn this too)
Clears table after dinner

Concerns/Trouble Areas
Areas that we are working on right now are crying too much when she should be using words and tattling when she should be learning to work things out on her own. She seems to be going through a testing phase right now as well where she will push the envelope a little, but if I am consistent it doesn't go very far or happen very often. Overall, she is very obedient.