Ian's 3 & 1/2 Year Letter

Dear Ian,

Happy 3.5 years, son!  As I write this, I'm alone at home while you and Kate are in Norman with Nanny and Papa for Spring Break.  Daddy is in Texas, heading back from a fishing trip with Jeremy and the other groomsman.  It's been a relaxing few days, but I miss my babies!

You are definitely a toddler now...look like one, act like one, talk like one, and play like one!  You're still tall and slender, wearing 3-4T shirts and pants (3T pants are a little long, but you're almost too thin for 4T). You're wearing size 8 shoes, and you're pretty good at getting your shoes, socks, and pants on all by yourself!  You're mostly potty-trained now, although we still have a few accidents.  If you have an accident, you go to your room and change your undies and pants all by yourself.  Sometimes, the undies are even on the right way! :) We're still working on going #2 in the potty regularly, but it will come...

You play hard!  You still love Disney Cars, Disney Planes, your construction stuff blocks, Lego Duplo blocks, and your train set.  Our house is constantly covered in cars...everywhere!  You also like to play with Playdough and color.  You've started getting more intentional with your artwork, and even drew a recent pic of Caesar that I thought was pretty impressive for your age!  You're able to write your name pretty well, and you're starting to identify letters and sounds.  You also love to wear your new superhero PJs.  The Batman and Superman jammies have capes, and the Spiderman jammies have "webs" under the arms.  Your newest fav movie is Disney "Frozen."  It just came out this past Tuesday, so daddy ran out to get it on release day. You still go to Discovery Place from 7:45-11am on Mondays and Tuesdays, then Miss Lori's on Wednesday mornings, and Thursdays and Fridays from 10:30-5pm.  Your closet friend at Miss Lori's is Chase, and we hear you talk about him a lot.  You are very social and never seem to have any reservations about talking to anyone.

Your favorite foods haven't changed...goldfish and fruit snacks.  You are a pretty picky eater and only eat if it's your idea, or if you're really hungry.  You definitely still favor mac and cheese and Spaghettios.  On Tuesdays, after school, daddy takes you and Kate to Chick-Fil-A and you love "Chick-Fil-A Tuesdays."  Daddy says that the same moms are there most weeks, so you have a little group of friends that you play with. You still love chocolate milk, white milk, and apple juice.  You're newest craze is Ninja Turtle or Spongebob Go-Gurt tubes, as well as "squeezy pouches" (applesauce, fruit/veggie mix....mainly want these because Kate gets them).

 I can't even begin to cover everything you say now.  Your vocab is too expansive!  You're inquisitive, though, and will ask if you don't know the meaning of a word or phrase.  You tend to get a little obsessed with not-so-nice words, and use them more often than you should.  These usually cause you to get in trouble if you continue to repeat them.  We think that you learn them from older friends at Miss Lori's.  It's hard to shield you from things like that, but we've been trying to teach you that they're not nice.  On the other note, you're very sweet and tend to say very kind and loving words to mommy, daddy, and Kate.

Kate is your little sidekick!  She gets so excited when you're around, and you do the same...unless she's interfering with your toys.  She's starting to get pretty sassy and will definitely stand up for herself.  Just yesterday, mommy was FaceTiming with you both at nanny's house, and Kate did NOT like for you to see mommy, so she kept pushing you out of the way.  Funny kiddo....you two are going to have a lot of stories in the future!  You still enjoy church and you're in the 3-year-old class.  You like playing with JJ, and you always want to know if she'll be there.

Bathtime is one of your favorite times of the day.  You love to paint and "shave" with your playsets.  You always want a toasty towel when you get out and say, "Mommy, is that a warm towel?" (we use a little towel warmer).  You don't always take naps, but have quiet time in the afternoon in your bed.  You ALWAYS want the iPad.  We had to block Power Rangers because you were trying to mimic them by kicking and fighting.  Santa brought you a LeapFrog for Christmas, hoping to take the place of the iPad, but you still always want the iPad.

In January, we went to Red River and you "tried" skiing for the first time.  You did NOT like it!  You did not like the boots or the skis.  After about 5 min, you were done!  Hudson lasted a lot longer.  You did LOVE sledding, however, so we spent a lot of time playing with the sled.

We love you so much, Ian!  You bring so much joy to our lives, and you surprise us daily with your intelligence and inquisitive nature.  Here's to a fun summer!!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Kate's 15 Month Letter

Dear Kate,


Well, you're 15 months old!  When I sat down to type this, I didn't think I would have much to add since the last post...wrong!  You've learned and changed so much in just 3 short months.  Let's see...where to begin...


Since you turned 1 year old, you have enjoyed your 2nd Christmas!  Daddy and I were excited to watch you this year because last year, you were less than a month old.  We just knew that you would be a little more "into it" this time.  We spent some time in Enid before Christmas and through Christmas Eve night.  You had fun seeing family at Grandma Donna and Grandpa Chuck's house, as well as Great-Grandpa Frank and Great-Grandma Leta's house.  Your favorite things to do were to play with the wrapping paper and try to grab Ian's toys...haha...he didn't like that very much!  You also liked to touch all of the "pretties" on the Christmas tree.  The Sunday before Christmas Eve, we met Nanny and Papa at Eischen's in Okarche to exchange gifts and have some famous fried chicken.  Mommy is 32 years old and had yet to go to Eischen's!  You can check it off of your bucket list already. :)  On Christmas Eve night, we drove back to Wichita in some really heavy fog.  It was so dense that mommy made a wrong turn onto I-35 and had to drive 20 minutes out of the way to turn around!!  It was a bit scary, but you and Ian were sleeping soundly in your car seats.  When we got home, you went right to bed.  The next morning, you had a blast with your giant (yes, giant...7 feet!) stuffed caterpillar, Klip Klop Princess Stable, and Little People Princess Castle.  It was fun to watch you and Ian play and enjoy our special family time. 


The biggest milestone since the last letter is that you're walking!!  You had been cruising for a while, but confidently took your first independent steps at 14 & 1/2 months.  You have been on the go ever since!!  You love go walk all over the house & chase after brother. You're also starting to get the hang of stairs.  Going up is no problem, but we're learning to come down properly.  You seem to be pretty good at understanding, so when we say, "Lie on your tummy, Kate," you do exactly that.  Lately, you love "driving" the little push car around the basement.  You haven't really figured out how to go forward, but you're an excellent backwards driver.  Ian thinks it's funny and says, "Mommy, look!  Kate's going backwards!"  You could care less...you're driving all over the place.


You're definitely a girl, that's for sure!  Your favorite things to play with are baby dolls, your Minnie Mouse Kitchen Set, your picnic basket, your tea set, and necklaces.  You got some pretty beaded necklaces (cheap!) for Valentine's Day, and you LOVE to put them all on and wear them around the house.  If mommy tries to take them off for anything...bed, bath, etc., you throw a tantrum.  You also like to look at books, as well as play with anything that Ian's playing with at the time.  Ian is NOT a fan of your interventions, but it's so cute to see you wanting to play with your big brother.  You also seem to like to organize.  You'll pick up all of the pieces of something, just to put them back in the box.  Then, you'll dump them out and repeat.  The other day, you took some pieces from Ian's Tinker Toys set, all identical, and put them in his cars box....one by one.  You would open the lid, put a Tinker Toy in the car box, then close it and go get another one.  You did this until all of the identical pieces were gone.  Today, you took all of the unmatched socks that mommy was organizing, put them all in a basket, and got upset if anyone tried to touch them.  Hmmm....I wonder what all of this means?!


You're quite the little "talker" now.  You say a few words...mama, dada, bubba, hi, bye bye, bath ("ba"), ball, and "uh oh."  You have a variety of squeals and shrieks, both pleasant and not so pleasant, to let us know what you want and don't want.  You will point at something and let out a shriek!  If we recognize the correct thing that you want, you smile, coo, and nod.  If it's the wrong thing, you swing your arm and squeal again.  You're pretty sassy when you want to be.  If Ian's interfering with something you're doing, you scream and take a swipe at him with your little hand.  You're definitely learning to stand up for yourself!


It is obvious that you're in the right family because you love to eat!  Haha!  You will eat pretty much anything and shovel it in your mouth at 90 miles per hour!  Your favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, bananas, squeezy pouches (i.e. fruit/veggie baby food), graham crackers, and anything that you can "collect" and carry around in your snack cup.  You love to drink milk and still have a warm bottle ("baba") in the morning when you wake up early--it puts you back to sleep. :)  You have 4 teeth on top and 4 teeth on bottom now, and you're not afraid to use them.  When the last few teeth came in, you were really fussy.  It turned out that you had a double ear infection, so you had your first round of antibiotics.  Ian hadn't had an ear infection before, so we may have waited longer than we should have to take you to the doctor.  Fortunately, you felt a lot better within another day or two.


You're daily schedule involves getting up around 7:30-8:30am (waking up at 6:30am for a bottle then going back to sleep).  You will have breakfast and play, then you'll typically take a morning nap.  After lunch and more play, you'll take an afternoon nap.  When you awake, you're usually up until bedtime.   You are at home with mommy and daddy most of the days, but you go to Lori Chrisman's house Wednesdays from 8:30am-11:30am and Thursdays & Fridays, from 10:30am-5pm.  You love Miss Lori and she loves you! 


Bath time is one of your favorite times.  You enjoy the bubbles, bath activities (i.e. paints, colors, shaving cream, etc.), and playing with Ian.  After your bath, you love to run around the house naked (well....mommy makes sure you have a diaper on now...I learned my lesson).  You're so happy to be "free" and have a final burst of energy before bedtime.  When you go to bed, you want your paci, blankie, and "baby" (doll).


Kate, it has been so fun watching you grow and change.  I just wish it would slow down! 


We love you!
Love,
Mommy and