Haddie: Summer 2016

• You have hit a growth spurt and are catching up in height to Titus. People mistake you for twins pretty often
• Your favorite foods are... no food. You don't want to eat much of anything. Most of your meals consist of the same rotation of a few things: pickles, turkey, yogurt, goldfish, strawberries. You sometimes scarf down pizza, spaghetti, or french fries, and then other times you don't care for them at all. You will eat a little ice cream or other desserts, but not a lot.
• You really like to dance and you especially like it if we're dancing with you because you imitate our moves (it's hilarious)
• Most of this summer you spent in just a diaper or even naked. By noon you are usually wet, muddy or a combination of both
• You don't seem to miss school at all, but you do ask about "Si Si?" which is what you call Zion, your best friend in your class
• One of our friends said you have the highest, sweetest voice of any toddler she's met. It's so true, everything about your voice is ultra feminine!
• You have started going to bed later, like 8/8:30 and wake up around 7/7:30. You still take a great afternoon nap, usually 2 hours and sometimes as long as 3.5 hours.
• You are obsessed with other babies, although sometimes your affection is still too rough
• Your favorite toy right now is an old hand-me-down Finding Nemo or the stuffed cat you got from Grandmother
• You have started throwing a lot more fits. There are a lot of tears accompanied by melodramatic sobbing. These can go on for a looooonnnnng time and I am starting to get a picture of how 13 may look for you ;)
• You love playing in the stream at Gulley Park, your favorite part is throwing rocks in the water
• I have been trying to not give you the paci in the car (only in the crib) and you will wail from the backseat, "PAAAAA-CCCEEEEEEYYY" LIKE YOU ARE DYING. This is also hilarious to me
• Your play really well independently, but you also like to play with Titus a lot (when he's being nice to you)
• You love making animal noises and when we ask you what sound a Haddie makes you say, "Ah Hah-eeeee!" and pat your chest
• Your favorite shows are Little Einsteins, Rescue Bots (thank to Brother you're obsessed too) and Horton Hears a Who
• I hear you say frequently to your dolls/animals/pacis, "no ma'am!" which is clearly something you have been hearing a lot lately
• You have recently discovered Princess outfits/jewelry/shoes and walk around with a wand saying, "Princess time!"
• You say, "no ma'am!" all the time to Titus (you don't know "no sir!" is a thing). This is mostly because a) you hear that from me, and b) Titus says it to you A LOT
• When you wake up in the morning Titus usually brings you books and toys in your crib. This is one of your favorite things!
• You have recently started to not like bedtime very much (kicking and screaming when you are getting your jammies put on). Once we put you in the crib and leave the room you start to cry, but you always calm down almost immediately when we sing to you through the baby monitor.
• Titus recently developed a fear of thunder and after one particularly scary freak out, you became scared too. Now when I ask you if you want to go outside, you frequently say, "no tanks. It waining." (even though it never is)

You have started talking so much and I'm loving hearing you put 2-3 word sentences together. When you are throwing a fit I will ask you to use your words and you usually say, "that." Which isn't super helpful but eventually you usually explain what I need to know. When we went to the beach this summer you were a little nervous about the water, but it didn't take much to convince you it would be a good time. You liked to go out past the waves with me and just lay back with your floaties, cross your ankles, and close your eyes while you floated in the sun. This pretty much sums you up: laid back, fun loving, adventurous, a big time momma's girl, and a casual lounger. We love you, sweet girl!

Titus: Summer 2016 update

Dear Titus,

 At 4 years old...

• You must be going through a growth spurt because you are eating all the time. You are wearing 3T things and have outgrown everything 2T (which is a big deal for you!)
• You rarely take naps anymore (maybe once or twice a week) so we try to get you to sleep by 8/8:30. If you take a nap, it may be more like 9/9:30 before you fall asleep. 
• When you don't nap, I lay you down for 30-45 minutes of "rest" and you usually make up Rescue Bot stories with your stuffed animals the whole time
• You try the same excuses to get out of bed every night. 
1. I need to go potty
2. I'm still hungry (no matter how much you've eaten)
3. Wait wait wait, I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING! (it's never important)
• You like to sing, "Hangin tough!" because Daddy sang it to you once and you thought it was funny. You also sing the Nationwide Car Insurance jingle with Nanay ("Nationwide is on your siiiiide!")
• Your L's still sound like W's
• You refer to all kids and babies younger than you as "her" or "she" even if it's a boy
• Out of nowhere you developed this really thick southern accent. A lot of one syllable words have become two syllables for you 
• When you are getting in trouble you will start fake giggling and cover your mouth, I can't tell if you are doing it to be defiant or if you are trying to make me laugh so you don't get in trouble. Either way, it can be pretty infuriating.
• You talk about, pretend, watch, tell stories about Rescue Bots ALL THE TIME. As much as I get tired of watching the same show, I am glad you've found something you like to pretend when you play by yourself.
• When you pretend to be a Rescue Bot you call yourself "Hokeekeewah" and then transform into objects (car, boat, vacuum, drill...)
• You are really missing school and keep asking when we get to go back
• I overhear you trying to explain things to Haddie a lot and it's really funny ("No Haddie, we don't put the blocks on the kitchen set! The blocks go in the toy box, silly.")
• You love watching YouTube videos about tornados
• When you have to go to timeout or I get you in trouble you like to growl because you know you're not allowed to talk back. You are learning the hard way that is also considered disrespectful.
• Your favorite activity with Daddy is building our large USA map
• Your infatuation with getting under Haddie's skin has only gotten worse. You spend a lot of time playing in your room alone because you can't keep your hands to yourself. Or worse, you like to steal her toys and run away, teasing her because she can't catch you
• You LOVE swimming. Like, obsessively love it. Last year it still kind of scared you, but this year you've been so happy to wear the floaties and even jump off the diving board all alone
• You have learned to buckle yourself into your carseat and are so incredibly proud
• Your favorite foods are raspberries, PB&J, pickles, pepperoni, ice cream and applesauce
• Most of your stories include "My best friends, Brooks, Garrison, Maddox and Rozy"
• We are really working on "obeying the first time." I will tell you, "go back to bed please" and I'll have to repeat myself. Then when I get off the couch and you know  you're in trouble, you say, "I'm doing it now!!!" and hope that will keep you out of trouble. 
• I hear you tell Haddie a lot, "no ma'am!" because you love making her reinforce the rules
• You frequently pretend to be a Transformer named "Hokekewah" who transforms into a vacuum cleaner, car, drill, and many other things.
• You LOVED the beach so much! Your favorite activity was to put on your floaties and go with Daddy to where the waves were breaking and take them in the chest. Sometimes they would splash you in the face or even knock you over, but you loved every second of it!
• Your love to draw robots on your magnet board, along with lots of spelling and some "Spanish words" (which are mostly just scribbly lines
• You have developed a fear of thunder so now anytime you think it's going to storm you panic and run inside

I can't believe at this time next year we will be preparing to send you off to kindergarten! I'm still in denial. I don't know what Haddie and I will do without you around! The other night you spent the night at Mimmy and Nanay's house and Haddie kept walking around and checking all of our rooms, saying, "Bubba? Ty-tis?" Even though you don't always get along, she can't imagine a day without you and neither can I. I love seeing you use your imagination to set up pretend situations with your Rescue Bots, the way you draw marble machines and mazes on your drawing board, and hearing you suggest a plan for the day, followed by, "Does that sound like a good idea?" We love you so much, I am so thankful for this final year at home with you!