Maturing…

This little boy has aged a little bit too much for me lately. Aside from being what his pediatrician describes as a “big boy,” his vocabulary, reasoning skills, physical accomplishments and over all love of learning speak to a maturing Jace. That is, as “mature” as you can call a freshly turned three year old.

He’s not only potty trained to the point of telling us when he needs to go and only had one accident since training, but he goes all by himself. Assistance is only needed with getting the bottom half of his clothing back on (and it’s pretty adorable how he comes running to me with only a shirt on, carrying his pants and underwear shouting, “I went potty!”). He loves to wash his hands “all by myself” and loves having a stool just for him in both bathrooms. The upstairs stool is also used to say, “Good morning Reese!” and watch her get her diaper changed every morning and after nap time. He thought he should be able to give her vitamins the other morning, too. Good thing I caught him before he tried to squirt them all over her face.

He graduated to a big boy chair at the dining room table. He still loved his high chair and proudly climbed in and out of the thing after we’d pull the it away from the table. But after several meals where I was in the middle of nursing Reese and he desperately needed to go potty, it was time to say farewell to the confinement. It was like he grew three inches and gained the ability to make a *little* less of a mess while eating. And he’s so proud of himself.

We said bye-bye to binkie on February 11. Nolan and I spent a lot of time talking up how he’d have to say goodbye to it soon, and while he got excited about the concept, execution was a little more difficult. So, finally, we went to Target, he threw binkie in the trash can there, and we went in and bought a toy. And there were only a few tears at nap time, and then life moved on. I think I grieved over the loss of binkie more. When he didn’t hesitate and just chucked that nasty thing in the trash, I almost got teary. Goodbye to the last piece of his babyhood. This child is officially getting older.

The way he imagines while playing, the stories he tells us and the conversations we have keep us on our toes. While he can entertain himself for hours, his favorite times of play are when Nolan and I get involved. The other day he was standing on one of the ramp pieces of his train tracks and I said, “Jace, don’t stand on your trains. They might break.” He responded, “I’m not standing on trains Mommy.” “Train tracks. Jace, don’t stand on your train tracks, they might break. [Stepping off and giggling] “Mommy you said the wrong word.”

But with all these moments that make my heart smile while wishing time would just slow down, I love the sweet affection that comes with his growing ability to articulate what he feels. I can’t count the number of times he’s smoothed my hair and said, “I yove your haircut Mommy.” And then, yesterday, I was playing with him in the entry way and as he walked by me I asked for loves. He wrapped his arms around my neck and said sweetly, “I yove you Mommy.”

(For the first times since before he learned to walk, this boy fell asleep on the couch. Helped sooth my nerves after watching him sob over getting a shot that afternoon.)

So when I’m in the middle of our latest battle over who is really in charge, helping him get dressed again after the fifth post-bedtime trip to the bathroom, or coaching in him using his words to express his feelings rather than screaming, I’ll just keep reminding myself not to wish he’d grow up any faster. He’s already doing it quickly enough on his own.

4 Months Old!

I absolutely adore this little girl! She has become such a content, happy, easy going baby. It’s rare for her to fuss for any reason other than being hungry or very sleepy.

This past month she has been very sick and very well! She got a nasty bug from Jace early in January that lead to an x-ray for pneumonia and testing for whooping cough. She finally recovered and then needed to be sleep trained again. It was hard for me to readjust to waking up during the night again. But we’re back to sleeping through the night and even better than before—she’s ready to go to sleep by 10:30 and sleeps until 9 or 10 am. 

We’ve established a good nap routine as well—cat naps downstairs in the morning and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon while Jace naps!

(Thinking her toes are pretty fun to look at)

She eats every 3-4 hours and sucks her thumb in between. She loves that thumb! Playing on the floor is her favorite thing to do, whether it’s on her ladybug or just a blanket she wiggles and squirms all over the place. We’ve finally gotten her spit up problems reduced by me completely cutting dairy from my diet. She is still spitting up quite a bit by the time evening hits, so I’m thinking we have some reflux issues as well.

Even though she giggled for the first time in December, she’s only giggled two or three times since then. But her smiles are readily given!

On February 3 she finally rolled over from back to front and has been practicing ever since.

She goes happily to the nursery at church on Sunday mornings and again in the evening when we go to FPU.

We’re so glad she’s a part of our family!

Side by side of Jace and Reese at 4 months

Our growing girl!

Jace is 3!!!

Somehow, this little boy has grown up. And too quickly for this momma. I can’t believe he’s three.

He is serious. Contemplative. Analytical. Literal. A problem solver. He uses words like, “Actually…” and phrases like, “I think…”

He’s affectionate. Loving. Compassionate. Adores his sister. When she fusses I hear him say, “Don’t worry Reese…” or “It’s ok Reese…” He always needs to know where she is. Wants to get in her face and say hi. Showers her with kisses and loves to “pet” her.

He LOVES rescue vehicles—fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. He actually thinks any vehicle with a light on it is a police car, and any vehicle with a ladder on it is a fire truck. When we go visit Daddy at work we pass the downtown fire station, and Jace loves to look and see if the bay doors are open and he can see the trucks inside.

He is a master of the iPad. He comes into my room in the mornings, gets the iPad from me, sits on his Hippo chair and plays with it until I’m ready to get up. He goes back and forth between playing games and watching shows on Netflix. If he had his way, we’d have shows playing on Netflix all day long. The favorite shows these days are Mighty Machines, Dora, Team Umizumi, Max and Ruby, and Bubble Guppies.

He loves to sing, especially The Wheels on the Bus and the ABC’s. He’ll randomly make requests in song, and start singing his numbers in scales.

He keeps us laughing. The phrases he comes up with, the way he pronounces words, and the dramatic flare with which he approaches life makes us smile all the time. My favorite is the way he says oven—nuggens. 

This boy LOVES trains. He builds his tracks and takes the trains around them. He sets up the railroad crossing piece and says, “dingadingadingadingading” while raising and lowering the crossing guard. While he had a Police Car birthday party, his actual birthday was all about trains. We surprised him with a train trip to Salem and back.

He was nervous when we got to the train station—he’s never been so close to real life tracks!

But his excitement grew as we waited in the station. He pointed out an old-fashioned passenger car that was sitting in the train yard and thought we’d be riding it (calling it a people car). I said, “No, Jace, that’s an old people car. We’re going to ride a new people car.” To which he responded, “Oh, that car’s just for old people.” Guess I needed to phrase it better!

He loves to be affectionate. Sometimes his affection is very awkward. At this moment, he was holding Nolan’s face and kept just holding them nose to nose until Nolan got uncomfortable, at which point Jace held their faces even closer.

He is always aware of where we’re going and what we’re doing. Just about every morning he asks me, “Where are we going today, Mommy?” and “Who’s coming over today, Mommy?”

Everything is labeled by it’s description—the mail store (Postal Connections), the coffee store (Dutch Bros), the donut store (Cork’s Donuts), the sandwich store (Big Town Hero), the grilled cheese store (Hasty Freeze) the ice cream store (Dairy Queen).

We started and mastered potty training in a week right before his birthday! He caught on faster and easier than I had even dared hope for. He still wears a diaper for nap and bed time, but I sure am loving not changing diapers all day long!

Bed time is taken care of by Daddy and they have a special routine—brushing his teeth while Daddy sings Kids Just Love to Brush! followed by singing Veggie Tales, Jace’s Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus and We Love You Lord. They also read a Bible story and pray. Our little guy is very routine oriented so we don’t dare have me try and put him to bed or else I’ll mess up the routine and it’ll be the end of the world.

He loves to go to church and see his buddies. The classes are named by his favorite toy in each room—he used to go to the bus class before he turned two. Then the past year was in the kitchen class. And now he’s moved up to the fire truck class. He can tell us which buddies were in class with him—Sam, Asher, Brock, Zack, Josie, Eden, Elli… Nolan has enjoyed being in his class and witnessing Jace actually carry on conversations with his peers. Birthdays tend to be the favorite topic.

He can make me giggle one minute and drive me absolutely crazy the next. Our greatest conflicts come when he’s made up his mind already about how something should happen and I differ from the plan. I find with just about anything it’s best to prepare him for it—start talking about it in advance, tell him in detail what to expect, and coach how he should react. He’s typically not very friendly in social settings. But if I tell him ahead of time that he needs to be nice to people and say hi when they say hi to him, he’ll actually smile and wave at people. A lot better than when he used to yell “He’s hurting me!” when someone would say hi.

He knows his ABCs, colors, shapes, numbers and logos of all his favorite stores. 75% of the time he has his right and left figured out. He towers above his peers. And his physical abilities are starting to catch up with his mental skills. He can now jump and is actually starting to climb on things. Nolan thinks his muscle strength has finally caught up with his size.

We love this boy and are so happy he is a part of our life. I find myself praying that he will know, love and serve the Lord as he grows older. That Nolan and I will have wisdom in knowing how to develop leadership skills from his bossiness and help teach him flexibility and how to be a compassionate and feeling person without being controlled by the intensity of his emotions. I’m so excited to see what being three means for Jace!