Grant

Grant is growing and learning something new everyday. We measured him in March, and he is three foot three. Exactly half of his dad! He is talking a lot more than he used to, and everyday we hear something new. It's been an interesting ride so far, and I am glad that we are finally getting this talking thing down!

Some interesting things about Grant:

He knows his letters, upper and lower case, and can even say some of there sounds. He can recognize some words in books, and words on signs around town. STOP is one of his favorites to recoginize. He can recognize also his name and Audrey's name.

He absolutley loves Super Why! He cannot get enough. He actually interacts with it which is great. I'm thinking for Halloween, we may have to find a Super Why costume.

About a month ago, he could not get enough of Toy Story 3. He didn't want to watch the first one at all, only the third one. He would laugh and laugh, and honestly, I think James and I have seen it at least 100 times, and that's not an exaggeration. We find ourselves quoting from it! How pathetic is that? We got Grant a Buzz Lightyear little action figure, and he just would hold still and look at it...so funny. He sleeps with it still at night. When he misplaces it, he will go around the house calling for Buzz. Too cute!

He loves to play outside on any kind of playground equipment. And he plays hard. He runs around the yard, pushing things, sliding on the slide, walking the lines in our yard...he really wears himself out when he plays outside.

He has James's dark skin. He looks soooo tan. I put lotion on him all the time, and he still walks away with this brown glow. He has great skin...just like his dad.

Grant is not much of an eater. I don't know what I did wrong..I introduced everything and offered everything I was supposed too, but he definitely has his favorite foods. He loves hamburgers, and I love making them so I can hear him say, "Gurgur." :)

He is an older kid, but still my baby boy. I love him to pieces!

Audrey

So fun getting to know my Audrey. You can tell the Grant and Audrey are siblings, but they are two completely different people.

Audrey is very independent, or tries to be as often as she can. She took her first steps on February 11th, all on her own accord. She did not want us to hold her hands and walk with her anywhere, so she didn't get sold on walking till the middle of March! What a stinker!

If you offer anything for Audrey to eat, she has to bring it to her mouth herself. How many times have I offered something for her, only to put it down and she promptly does it herself? Many, many times.

Audrey loves suckers. She can pretty much finish off a Dum Dum sucker, where as Grant will have a few licks and hands it pack to me, not wanting any more.

Audrey hates milk. We have offered and offered several different kinds of milk-soy, chocolate, strawberry, plain, in cups, sippies, with a straw, and every kind of way you can think of. She wants nothing to do with it. She gets her calcium through yogurt, any and every kind of cheese, and lots of the food she eats throughout the day have the essential calcium, and Vitamin D she needs.

Audrey is fearless. We spin her around and she lets her arms go like it is the best thing ever. Grant holds on for dear life!

She also loves to climb on things. She can climb the ladder on the slide, and its ladder rungs are pretty far apart. She has strong legs. She loves to climb on chairs and couches, and she can even manage to climb the sofa downstairs and make it to the windowsill! She's pretty agile. We have to watch her constantly!

Audrey still gets little speckles on her forehead when she gets mad. She has done that ever since she was an infant.

Audrey loves to color with me! She loves to scribble on pads and that comes in handy for church!

Audrey is loving books these days. This has not always been the case. She loves I Love You As Much..., Go, Dog. Go!, and I Feel My Savior's Love. Those are probably her three most favorite!

Audrey is not a morning person at all! It takes her a little bit to warm up to everyone in the morning. She loves her mom to hold her and get her up in the morning. (Which I don't mind! One of my fave moments of the day!) She give James scowls, and narrows her brows at him in the morning. Hopefully, she will grow out of this!

She is a special spirit, and I am so glad that I get to be her mom! Love this girl!

Side By Side

One of my favorite things to see are my two kids side by side at the sliding glass door.

Who would have thought I would now have TWO?

Out With Therapy, On to Preschool

Grant's last day of therapy took place at the end of March. The end of an era. Grant had been seeing someone from the Child Development Center since he was almost 2 months old. They came once a week for about 2 1/2 years, and then increased his time to 4 days a week. He has really excelled in the past year. It has been amazing. Grant's speech therapist Casey Hopman, who came when Grant was 2 and a 1/2 years old. She came twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. She's actually LDS and we would have great talks about our kids. I feel like it is worth mentioning that she is LDS since that is so hard to come by. Don't get me wrong...the church is strong here, it's just nice to know someone else is. I've learned not to take that for granted!

This is Kelly Taubert. She was Grant's Occupational Therapist (often called Physical Therapist by me). She started seeing Grant when he was 2 months old. For a long time it was only once a week, and then she started to come twice a week. Grant always looked forward to her visits. Near the end, he gave her a kiss on the leg. How cute is that!

Of course, Audrey would want to get into the fun. She looked forward to the visitors as much as Grant did. She always wanted to climb into the chair that one of them would always bring.

Grant and Audrey loved this drum! Oh my! So glad that I do not own one. The keyboard downstairs is enough for me! The gal on the left is named Bree. She came to get Grant acquainted with a program that they apparently use in preschool. (I say "apparently" because I have yet to see it make an appearance in his preschool sessions.)

All in all, it is a great program, for infants to three. They come to your house! You don't have to haul your kids anywhere. And it's FREE!

I've also been impressed with Grant's preschool which is also from the same outfit. More about that though, in upcoming posts.

A New Discovery

A favorite fun activity for sure, was Grandma's piano. Audrey couldn't enough of it. She loved to press the keys, and climb up on the chair to reach it. She had a great time!

Grant's First Haircut

On March 5, 2011, I was just sitting in my chair watching my kids play, and just thinking how OUT OF CONTROL Grant's hair was getting to be. Audrey's hair is also getting long, and I have to do her hair or else she looks like a ragga muffin. Grant's hair was taking longer to do than Audrey's. And that is saying something. Audrey isn't the most compliant when I am doing her hair. Some days are better than others. So I was just looking at that massive amount adorable out of control hair, and finally thinking that "today is the day." I had no idea even the night before that I would be cutting Grant's hair. It just happened in a minute. I grabbed our clippers, got the biggest size of attachment I could find, and grabbed my toddler. I made him sit on Daddy's lap, and he was suprisingly good. I asked James, how I should do this, and he said, since I am just "buzzing it" it doesn't really matter. So I went for it. I held those clippers in my hand and did the deed.

Then I cried.

It was sad for me to see all those little baby curls on the floor, and finally realizing he is not a baby anymore. He is a preschooler, who needs to look like a little boy.

So it's done. And I am please with the result. He looks so much like a little boy now! It really grew him up a lot. It is short in these pics, but right now, it is just a good length. He still has his curls, so I am happy! :)

Look at how out of control it was! So happy that the deed is done. (And yes, I saved a curl!)

Spring Break Continued

Grant loves to play on these playgrounds. He had such a good time crawling through the tunnels and going down the slide. My mom and I heard the word, "tunno" a few times for tunnel.

Climbing up the slide...no matter how many times I say to go down the slide, Grant thinks he has to climb up it. It must be a kid thing to have to climb up a slide.

Entertaining kids is always something we think about. Luckily, when we go to Grandma Jeanne's, Kirk has his cars that he had when he was a kid. Grant loves them.

Audrey just loved being in Grandma and Grandpa Killpack's backyard. She could not get enough of being out there with the green grass and warm air. It was still pretty cold in Casper, so both kids were content with just being outdoors. I love Audrey's hair. It was just barely long enough for me to do something with it!

I love any picture I can get when my mom and my kids are together. I was just thinking about when we have birthday celebrations, its pretty bare to have no one else in the background other than just our family. Maybe someday Utah will be back in the picture. Not for a while though.

Audrey loves suckers. She has only ever had a Dum Dum sucker. This one was pretty big. In the car, it was nice to give to her. I had to sit in between Grant and Audrey because the car ride can get a little hairy without someone to referee!