Friday, June 3, 2011

Big boys

Once again, I'm trying to cover two months worth of blogging in a single entry. Sigh. Where does the time go?

The first huge milestone was Nate's 3rd birthday on April 12. It was the first year when he really anticipated his birthday, the cake, and the presents. Of course, in spite of several more expensive presents, his favorite was a $3 pack of letter flashcards.

For the past year or so, Nate has been closer to normal at his pediatrician visits, like 75th percentile. But this past visit, Nate weighed in at 36 lbs. and measured 40 inches long -- putting him in the 97th percentile for height and 93rd for weight. Is that crazy? He looks like a 4-year-old. I can be terribly self-conscious when he throws a fit in public or when his Pull-Up is showing because people think he's older than he really is. I wonder if he will average out or if he will always be big. I told him that he'll be bigger than me someday, which he thinks is pretty awesome.

Theo just had his 15 month appointment, weighing in at 24lb. 10oz and measuring 32.5 inches long. That puts him in the 80th percentile for height (same as last time) and 55th percentile for weight (up from 45th last time). He's become a better eater in the past few months and loves eggs with broccoli and spinach, yogurt, applesauce, grilled cheese, and pancakes. He still doesn't like milk too much, but we try to get him to drink as much as possible, and the yogurt makes up for some of it. And I'm still nursing him, but it doesn't have the calcium he gets from whole milk.

Theo is like a mini-Nate these days, climbing all over the furniture, running around, copying everything his big brother does. His baby days are over (sniff, sniff). Also, we've entered the "terrible 1s," which means stubborn fits and arching his back to protest whenever we say "no." But when he's not throwing a tantrum, he's very mellow and really sweet.

Theo is starting to talk, with words we can actually understand. "Dada" is his favorite, of course. "Mama" sounds more like "Baba," but I'll take it. He's in a destructive phase, which can be a problem because Nate loves to put things in order (letters, colors, shapes, etc.). The two of them play very well together - cars, trains, going through this tunnel we have, jumping on the bed. They'll just giggle at each other. It's pretty adorable.