Kiddo Update

Time for an update! 

Collin
There is so much to report on this guy! At Thanksgiving, we started seeing some real determination in his crawling attempts and Mom, Dad, Andrew and Kylie kept telling us that he was going to start crawling in Missouri. I actually didn't believe them:) He had been so close for so long without actually doing it. But, I was proven wrong as he most definitely did start crawling while down in Missouri! It started as an army crawl and was definitely a motivation to have presents under the tree - he always went toward them! He has since gotten up on his knees and done some regular crawling, but he usually needs to be on carpet. He just slides around on our wood floors!

Getting ready to crawl

He has started eating solids! Yay! He very much prefers to eat what we are eating. Since he has six teeth and I'm sure more soon, we are giving him whatever is appropriate from our plates. We try to sneak in some purees as well. Last night, he ate some venison roast and then an apple/cinnamon/oatmeal puree. I was so happy! Even though our pediatrician wasn't really worried - I was. Time keeps ticking away, how am I supposed to wean him in a couple months if he isn't eating solids?!! I have hope now:)

He loved these Magna-tiles!

Loves bath time!

As soon as he could crawl, he went over to the couches and pulled up to standing. He has been wanting to do this forever and in a matter of days, he is now cruising around all the furniture. It is a whole new world for him. And me. My days are drastically different than when I could set him down on a blanket with some appropriate toys and not worry! I think we may spend Christmas putting new childproof locks on our cabinets:) 

Cruisin'...

He finally is over his ear infections, thank goodness. He was weighed at his last ear check and I swear she said he was 21 lbs. 14 oz. That cannot be right, at the appointment just about two weeks prior he was just under 20 lbs. Same scale. When he wakes up, I'll have to jump on our scale with him and check it out. He is basically still very long and average weight. His hair continues to grow, the color changes with the light, not sure on the color yet. 

He seems to be a mommy's boy (not in the sissy sense, I hate the way that sounds!) Obviously, I have a slight advantage over Dave at this point:) but he seems to prefer me when upset and for awhile (too long!) he only wants me at bedtime. By the way, I am loving the fact that he seems so attached to me:) I hope it continues, especially since Kate seems totally content to be with Daddy.

He is babbling/talking and I think he has his first word (not sure if it counts?) He says, "Uh oh!" I say that every time I hear a toy hit the floor (which is pretty constant) and he has definitely picked up on it. He will say it on his own or mimic us when we say it. Other things he mimics are coughing (so funny) and singing. I LOVE hearing his little voice, it was one of my favs with Kate too, and as we all know, she hasn't stopped talking yet:) I am so curious to see how Collin fits into the mix. 

Kate
Speaking of our verbose little Katiebug....right now we are starting to get the extremes - "Mom, this is the best day of my entire life."  "I've wanted to do this my entire life." "I have wanted to do this for years." (referring to using her ink stamp on the log walls. Yeah.) She knows and sings a ton of Christmas songs, super cute. 

She was not too thrilled about Collin pulling up on the furniture, she would rush over and sit behind him, trying to bring him back down, "He might fall!" So we are working on her being helpful and around to monitor him, but not preventing him from learning/doing what he wants. He is starting to go after what he wants, so we will see how this plays out initially - she doesn't love that he tries to get her things, but does very well with swapping it out for something he can have. 

She got this cool Goldie Blox for Christmas - engineering toy for girls!

She loves school, is already talking about best friends...oh boy. She has a nice, boy friend named Gabe. Whom she refers to as "Gave. Gavriel Wolf." So funny. He is a little cutey:) 

She is so sweet and will compliment Dave and I, give lots of hugs and kisses. She will do it randomly, when she can tell we need it (if we hurt ourselves or seem sad:) or if she knows she is about to be in trouble:) 

She is a daddy's girl all the way and when I am done nursing Collin, I am hoping to reclaim some special Mommy/Daughter time. She wants to be like Dave when she grows up (can already say "anesthetist" better than most people:) she wants to wear camouflage and go hunting with Daddy (quite obsessed with hunting right now, not sure how much I love this) and usually prefers to cuddle with him in the evenings. She often wants me to read her books and do bedtime, mostly I think because I am committed to Collin right about then. But as Dave was gone so much last week and missed out entirely on some of their days, she was asking/crying for him a lot. She knows he helps people at the hospital and always wants to know who he is helping, "Did a mommy have a baby? Was it a boy or a girl?" The other day, Dave went it for a bone fracture and I said someone hurt their leg, "Was it bloody?" Umm, I'm not sure, probably not sweetie. "I think it was. I think they hurt their leg. And their arm. And it was bloody." Oh boy.

She is very good at writing her name and likes to write other letter now too - a lot of"C"s for Collin. She will "write" which means scribbling a line across the page, almost like cursive and say out loud what she is writing - so precious. She likes to play/pretend school and being a teacher, being a mommy obviously (was nursing her "daughter" this morning with a little receiving blanket she found as a cover-up), and is getting pretty good being the "big kid" to our friends with younger ones. 

Melting my heart...

We say it all the time, we can't believe how blessed we are, how we got such wonderful kids!