2 year checkup

Mariella had a fairly uneventful visit with the doctor today. There was some drama involving sitting/lying down on the table, but we managed to get her checked out with minimal tears. Jacob was a super big brother, showing her that it wasn't scary, but she wasn't buying it. She must remember getting a shot last time. Luckily for her, she's all caught up and didn't need any shots today.

She was squirming a lot during her height measurement, so it might be a little off, but she was 35 in. tall (80th percentile). She did a great job of standing on the big kid scale, weighing in at 24 lbs. 6 oz. (20th percentile). That's the same percentile as last time, so at least she didn't drop further.She's just our little peanut girl. Maybe we should have asked for sticks of butter for her birthday. =) I looked back at Jacob's weight at 2 years old, and he was 30 lbs.! Big difference, even though you really can't compare boys and girls.

We're all done with the half-year checkups, so she doesn't go back until she's 3 unless something comes up. It will be nice to only have to take each child once a year now.

2nd Birthday (pictures coming)

Happy 2nd birthday!

Birthday Haircut

Because Mariella's 2nd birthday is coming up, we decided it's about time she get her first haircut. She won't let me do anything with her hair, so it falls in her eyes all the time. Bangs were in order. As I'm loading the pictures, I realized that today is Feb. 22, which was my due date with her. It seems like as good a day as any for a birthday haircut.

Jacob got in on the fun too. He was like a pro, telling Mariella that Mommy would stay with her because he knew how to go by himself.

Mariella with her long bangs



Here she shows her enthusiasm for this milestone

 

As usual, she is thrilled with having the camera on her

Cheese! Smiles from both kids. They are both very proud of their new cuts. (Jacob had a collison with another kid at the gym this morning, which is why he has a few bruises. He's fine though.)

Go, Dog, Go!

Jacob is learning to read! He has been so interested in the sounds at the beginnings of words that we bought him a reading game to play on the computer. We thought it would be a good introduction to simple words that a 4- or 5-year-old would know. Little did we know how completely engrossed he would become with the game, playing the repetitive stories and word games over and over until he "unlocked" each new level. Suddenly, he started pointing out words he knew from the game in other places--see, stop, the. He asked what the words were in the books we read. I decided to take him to the library to pick out some books that have lots of easy words, many of which he already knew, as an introduction to reading. This is the best book!

The book is very simple to read, and all of the pictures describe the story. If he's not sure of a word, we are usually able to point it out in the picture, and he figures it out. He is so proud of himself, and we are so proud of him! We know he's really smart, and he picks up on things so quickly, but it's amazing to hear him actually reading.

(Video coming later)

Snow!

We got about 16 inches of snow today (edited amount now that the official numbers have been reported: 17-17.5 inches). The snowblower that the neighbors always let us borrow is not working (of course), so we got to do lots of shoveling today. At least we knew in advance that we couldn't use it, because that would have been a really bad surprise to find out after all the snow had fallen. Here are a few pictures I took when Jacob went out to check it out.

Jacob at the end of the driveway after the plow came by for the 2nd time (thank goodness I cleared out the 2 feet from the first pass!)

Jacob standing in the path that I shoveled out

This is the huge pile of snow that we made from shoveling, off to one side of the driveway

Catching snowflakes

Jacob and the Garbage Truck

Obsessions grow over time. We used to keep a paper bag by the door to throw recyclables in before taking them out to our larger bin. When Jacob was about 18 months old, he would remove the contents of the bag and spread it all over the floor. Eventually, he started to notice which items went in there and which went in the trash. By age 2, he was helping to rinse out cans and put things in the recycling bin. He started to notice other people's trash bins outside when we took walks. Last year for Christmas, he got a garbage truck. He has spent many hours making the imaginary rounds of trash collection in various rooms of our house, tearing up bits of paper or using smaller toys to represent the trash.

It mushroomed this summer. Every so often, when we were leaving the house for errands or an activity, we saw the garbage truck approaching our house. Usually, I rushed to back the van out of the driveway before we could get blocked in by the truck. One morning, we were playing in the backyard when the truck arrived. Jacob watched how it emptied our bins, and he was in awe. The next week, I made sure we were outside again, and this time I let him stand in the driveway to watch. After that, watching the truck was a can't-miss event, and our viewings started to involve lawn chairs. We stood in the garage on the rainy days, and one time Jacob ventured out with an umbrella because he couldn't bear to be so far away from the action.

He thinks about his week in terms of how many days until trash day. Holidays upset him because our collection sometimes gets delayed. He will start a conversation by asking someone what day the trash truck comes to their house. He knows the colors of the trash and recycling bins of some of our relatives. This boy is Obsessed*, with a capital O.

A couple of weeks ago, Jacob had the most exciting morning ever. He was out watching the truck and waving at the man, as usual, when he asked Jacob if he'd like to have his picture taken WITH THE TRUCK. It was all he could talk about for the next several days. We've joked that we might have to get the trash collector a nicer Christmas gift than any of our family members.

Now that you've heard the whole story, here are the pictures and video:

The happiest boy ever

Jacob wheeling the neightor's garbage can up their driveway. We help them out sometimes, but he would prefer that they never do any of it on their own!

*P.S. What? You thought race cars were his obsession? They are firmly in 2nd place, and if I could have come up with a tasteful way to do a garbage truck-themed birthday party, that race car cake would have had a very different look.

Recent Photos

Wow, it's been pretty busy around here lately. With all of Jacob's birthday stuff behind me, I've been getting a bunch of things ready to take to a consignment sale. That has been a big job, but I finally got to drop it off last night. Now I hardly know what to do with myself when I have down time. That's all I've been doing for the last few weeks!

Jacob finally got to go back to preschool this week. Yesterday was his first day back. He has the same teacher as last year. I wanted a picture of him before we headed out, and Mariella ran over saying, "I too! I too!" So she got to be in the pictures with him.

Hug! Cheese!

Mariella got some new clothes. Here she is modeling one new outfit. I thought her face was cute.