A New Friend, The Pool and Freedom of a Walker

The walker has definitely given Sloan freedom that she LOVES!  She can now run and reach out and grab a lot of things.  She has discovered Grant's shoes (aka what used to be my wine rack) and she loves to pull them out and throw them on the floor.  Grant does not like when she does this though.  She is now crawling a foot or so and then drops down to her belly to rest.  We took them both to the pool this weekend and they both enjoyed it. 

Busted grabbing a shoe!

Grant likes to try and show Sloan how to crawl.  She tries to get to the hardwood floors so she can bang her hand on them and hear the noise.  She loves to hit things....lets hope that is not indicative of her future...

 I was driving home from the grocery store and saw a turtle in the middle of the road.  So, I stopped and rescued it to take home to Grant.  He loved it of course.  This turtle was not shy at all either, he never went into his shell.  We went and released him around the lake in our neighborhood.  I thought he would want to keep him for a while but he was totally fine.  He said "He needs to find his mommy and daddy?" and I said yes he does.

 Sloan tried to make an escape to the deck but got stuck on the rug.  She got pretty upset after I took this picture.  Patience doesn't seem to be her strongest trait, lol!

She has found the door locks and tries to pull them off

 First trip to the pool

 Grant tested out his new life jacket which worked out perfect since he is not quite swimming on his own yet.  He is totally drown proof in this thing and can go all over the pool by himself while I held Sloan.



Grant's 3 Year Doctors Appointment

I took Grant for his 3 year check up yesterday. He weighs 31 pounds (50%) and is 37 3/4 inches (50%) tall. Everything else was great. They don't check vision until his 4 year check up so we will have to wait until then to see who's vision he got, mine or Luke's. He had to get 2 vaccines, Chicken Pox (varicella) and Hepatitis A. I was hoping he would catch chicken pox but no luck with that so he got the shot. I told him before we went that he had to get 2 shots and that it would hurt for a minute when they stuck him but it would be quick. He said okay but I was a little worried that I may have to hold him down for the second one. The nurse came in and he said "I want it in this leg." She got a laugh out of that. He also wanted to sit up so he could watch even though i told him to look up instead. The nurse asked him to hold onto my hands. She did the first one and he clinched his fists and I was waiting on the scream but he was fine. Then, he said "one more?" and I told him yes. He watched as she put the second one in and never made a peep! The nurse was shocked too! I was shocked but glad it went so well. We went to Toys R Us afterwards and got him a new toy for being so good.

Grant Turns 3 and Sloan Eats Puffs

Grant is officially 3 years old!  We had a very busy week.  I took him to Waffle House for breakfast on his birthday since he loves it so much.  Elizabeth (aka Betty Crocker) made him a firetruck cake which he thought was awesome.  So, he got to blow out candles on his birthday and this past weekend at his birthday party.  His party was at The Little Gym and all of the kids had a great time.  The theme was Cars per Grant's request.  He received a ton of gifts/toys and I am not sure how much more can fit into our house at this point.  I think we could really open a toy store at our house!  I am taking him for his 3 year check up at the doctor tomorrow so I will post his new stats soon. 

Sloan is now officially on 3 meals per day plus 3 bottles.  We moved her to baby food for lunch this week.  She can down about 2 small jars per meal and her bottles are about 4-6 ounces each.  We are on the countdown for getting rid of bottles!  This has made her napping consistent now too.  She is sleeping 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon and 12 hours at night.  She also received her first puff yesterday.  For those that don't know, these are little, easily dissolving rice pieces.  She was very curious at first and put it straight in her mouth, like everything else these days.  She choked a couple of times but then started to get the hang of it.  We are working on it each day now to get her used to some thicker textures.

 At The Little Gym, sitting in the middle of the parachute while the kids turned it around him and sang "The Wheels on the Bus"

 Grant and Juliet

 Jumping on the Air Walk

 Enjoying some pizza before the cake

 Blowing out his candles

 Grant (covered in icing) and Sloan

 Grant on his new bike...he does circles through the house

 Sloan looking at the puffs

 Sticking the puff in her mouth

 "What is this stuff?"

Spelling & ABCs

Sippy Cup, Crawling, Planting and Sliding....

 Grant is asking to hold Sloan a lot now.  He says "mommy, I want to hold Sloan on couch".  I only let him hold her when he sitting on the couch for obvious reasons.  He is very gentle but still has enough toddler in him to forget that he can hurt her.  For example, he constantly tries to push her around in the walker and wants her to go faster.  It is funny to watch them though...she will smile at him if he just looks at her and talks and it takes way more than that from me sometimes.

 We went to a friend's (Sadie) birthday party.  Grant had a great time!  The slides were pretty high but he never hesitated....just went right up there, slid down and went back again and again.

 Sloan sitting up.  She still falls some but it's getting better.  She will reach for something and forget to catch herself and topple over.  I am really wanting her to get really sturdy sitting up so she can sit up in the bath tub!  That will make bath time much easier for us too since they will be able to bathe together then.

 I got Grant some flowers to plant with Ms Kasie (his nanny) and he is really good at watering them everyday.  It takes all he has got to not pick all of the flowers off though.  He likes to pick flowers and bring them inside and put them in a bowl of water. 

 I gave Sloan a sippy cup for the first time and she did okay but is far from understanding the concept.  She bites everything these days so she bit down on the nipple and it came pouring out into her mouth.  Which she then just let it all run out of her mouth.  She did enjoy holding it though.  This is a work in progress....

 Her latest skill....getting up on all fours!  She has started the "rocking" which usually precedes crawling.  I think her limited mobility is coming to an end soon!

Watch Out! She's a screamer!

Grant was quiet compared to Sloan!  Not only does she babble consonant sounds way before he did, she can scream with the best of them.  And poor Mason gets to listen to it a lot.

Priceless new experience

Luke took Grant to the driving range this past weekend for the first time.  He hit a ton of balls and had a great time.  However, the highlight to the trip was totally not golf related.  Grant finished hitting his balls and was taking a break and having his fruit snacks and juice....and watching Luke hit balls.  All of a sudden, Grant starts saying "dada what is in his mouth", "dada something is in his mouth", "what's that?", and then yelled "oh no, his mouth is smoking dada!".  He was looking at a guy smoking a cigar.  He had obviously never seen someone smoking before.  How funny! 

Grant's Early Birthday Present

Grant will be 3 years old in a couple of weeks!  He got his birthday present from us early though.  A swing set for the backyard!  He watched the men put it together and then immediately went to play on it.  He loves it which we knew he would.  Although when we told him it was for his birthday, he immediately said "No", ha ha.  I guess since it was not wrapped up, it doesn't count in his little mind.  And he hasn't had his party with cake and candles to blow out yet.  I think that means he is a bit spoiled too but it is so much fun to see his excitement.

A couple of other funny "Grant" stories.  He has picked up the phrase "Oh really?" from somewhere and now if you tell him anything, he will look at you and say "oh really?". 
He had swim lessons again this weekend and did really well.  Inside the swim place, they have a store with all kinds of swim accessories and of course, a rack of candy.....which is like a marketing ploy for all of the little kids to throw a fit to get some.  I am sure they sell a ton of candy in there.  Last year, if he did a good job in his swim class I would let him pick one thing to buy.  So, this year he has demanded to continue that tradition.  Luke and I trade off every other week on taking him so one of us stays home with Sloan so she can nap.  However, Luke forgot to take cash last time and Grant got really, really, really, upset....hence a little meltdown ensued.  Luke had his credit card but you have to spend at least $5 to use that.  Grant got carried out to the car that day kicking and screaming.  And proceeded to tell Luke "mommy always has dollars!".  Oops.  Fast forward to this week, which was Luke's turn.  I made a point to give Grant a dollar before he left and he said "Oh thank you mommy" and turned to Luke and said "Grant has a dollar daddy, put it in my bag".  When he finished his lesson, he told Luke "not forget dollar this time daddy".

Sloan is now sitting in a high chair and loves it!  She was starting to get bent out of shape being stuck in her carrier when we went out to eat.  So we were having to get her out and hold her which is not ideal.  We usually make a point of being back home by 7pm to start baths and get them both in bed.  But on this particular night, it was 7:30pm before we left the restaurant so she was pretty tired.  I looked over and she was laying on the side of the highchair with a pitiful, tired face.  We left shortly after that and she was happy to get a bath and go to bed.  We did have a great time out with friends and their kids though.

Summer Time Fun

Grant still loves to be outside every chance he can get.  I think he would live outside if we would let him.  It has been really nice this week so we pulled out the big blow up pool.  Sloan is growing fast and is sitting up really well now.  She will still lean and fall sometimes but getting stronger everyday.  She is going to be a talker for sure....she is always babbling and squealing.  I guess it is a girl thing because Grant was not this vocal at this age.  And she knows what she wants.....she will scream and reach for a toy if she drops it off of her walker. 
Our next post will most likely include his birthday present!  We are getting him a swingset and I think it is going to be set up this weekend...a little early.  He is going to LOVE it......or at least he better, ha ha.

Sloan's 6 Month Stats

I took Sloan for her 6 month doctor's appointment today.  She did great!  She now weighs 14lb 1oz (25th percent) and is 25 1/4 inches (25th percent).  She has jumped up on the growth chart a bit.  The doctor was very pleased with her skills, sleeping and eating.  She had to get one shot this time (PCV) and it is the one that hurts the worst so she did cry a bit.  All the doctors say this one stings the most so I always know what's coming.  I guess it's good that Sloan had no clue.  There is always that moment of silence when the shot goes in and the screaming begins....(calm before the storm) so sad but it ends pretty fast.  She still needs her 6 month DTaP, HiB and Polio combo shot but she will get that now at her 9 month appointment since there are no other shots at that visit.  That saves us a visit back in a few weeks too!

A squealer and the new question....

We officially have a squealer! Sloan loves to squeal in excitement, especially when Grant is around.  We took some videos so we will get those uploaded soon.  She is way more vocal than he was at this age so I think we are in trouble, ha ha.  She has already started babbling consonant sounds (bah, bah, mah, mah, dah, dah).  She is very aware of what is going on around her now too.  If someone new enters the room, she is eager to see who it is.  She is also very intent on grabbing whatever it is that she wants.  I am scared that I may have 2 strong willed children....how does that happen?  She is almost officially on a 10am and 2pm nap routine for about 2 hours each.  She is really ready to sleep around 9:30am but not hungry so we push her to get to 10am, eat and then sleep.....so it is for a good 2 hours.  I still have her eating oatmeal and a fruit in the morning, 4oz bottles during the day and 2 jars of baby food for dinner, and 6oz before bed.  We introduced peaches and prunes this week.  So far, she is a really good little eater.  She has become a real pain when it comes to changing her diaper because she tries to roll over the entire time.  You have to distract her with something to get her to stay still.  She is sitting up pretty good now but not perfect.  She can catch herself from back to front but if she starts to lean to the side....it is all over and she falls.
Grant's new favorite word is "Why?"  If we tell him he can't have something, he immediately says "why" now.  Another example.....I went and got a pedicure this past weekend and he saw it when I came home and said "Why did you do that mommy?"  To which I replied, because it looks pretty and asked him if he wanted his painted.  He said "Ohhhhh" and then said "No" to getting his done.  I got them painted a really dark purple color so if they were pink, I think he would have wanted his done, ha ha.  I am sure his will end up painted one of these days.  He asks Why we do everything now and some of the answers are tough to be honest.  I find myself wanting to say "just because" a lot.  He is also pretty intent on what he can do when he gets "bigger".  If I tell him that he cannot do something, he immediately says "I can do that when Grant gets bigger" and I just say yes most of the time.  He is also constantly saying things that he CAN do but Sloan can NOT do "until she gets bigger".  I see many fights in their future when she does get bigger.  If she even tries to touch one of his toys, he gets really upset......but he wants to take ALL of her toys.  Typical first born I guess.  A really funny moment....this morning I was getting him dressed and he pointed to his chest and said "Grant will get hair on nipples like daddy when I get bigger" and I held back my extreme laughter and said...yes you will.  Then, he raised his arm and said "Daddy has a whole lot of hair under his arm, Grant will have a whole lot of hair under my arm when I get bigger".  I said yes you will and was glad that the conversation topic ended with that.  I was only imagining where it was going next....

Sloan - 6 Months Old

Sloan is now 6 months old! We don't have her doctor's appointment until next week and then I will have her new height and weight stats. She is now eating oatmeal and a fruit for breakfast, bottles throughout the day and a jar of a vegetable for dinner and a bottle before bed. She had peas tonight for the first time and kind of liked them, so strange. Grant hated them beyond belief. She actually prefers more bland food like peas, squash and bananas and doesn't care much for more tart stuff like applesauce and pears. How can two kids be so different! She is still sleeping 12 hours at night and napping about 3 times a day for at least an hour each time.

Sloan's First Food - at 5 Months Old

20120317 Sloan Rice Cereal from Luke Johnson on Vimeo.