Summertime

Since my last post right before 7 months, Max has started full-on crawling (including up the steps into the kitchen) and cruising! A couple days before he turned 9 months he really started standing unsupported and in the past week he has started standing from sitting without holding on to anything. He'll be walking in no time (Cate walked at 10 months).  Max grabs any movable object close to his height (including other older kids at daycare) and use it as his walking support. He also climbs on to anything he can - chairs, shelves, tables...he's not picky!

At 9 1/2 months, Max weighed in at 21 pounds, 3 ounces (60%), 27 inches (10%...maybe this is off?!) and head circumference greater than the 97%. He has a healthy appetite and has tried all kinds of food, pureed and plain ole finger food like Cheerios, avocado, peas, green beans, broccoli, pasta and even sweet potato fries! I am trying to get him to start using a sippy cup (and apparently lounge in chairs like he owns the place!). He is saying da-da, and sometimes ba-ba, ma-ma, and na-na. I think his fourth teeth on both the top and bottom are finally pushing through, so he won't be lopsided anymore!

Cate is still enjoying her gym time and we even went for a little extra time and took Max on Mother's Day. This summer she is doing tumbling only - she wasn't really enjoying the dance part of the spring class. She loves the balance beam!

Cate got all 3s (out of 3!) on this "report card" for the spring. Summer is more of a camp (vs school) type atmosphere for daycare, so more play, water time, etc. Cate will let the teachers fix her hair all fancy, but mommy and daddy aren't allowed! She has been so good using the potty. She still won't go number 2 at school, but otherwise she is great during the day and we are going on over a week with no  nighttime accidents (knock on wood). That is especially important since this is how each night starts...and sometimes it ends, too!

Cate is already listening to pop music - her favorite songs are Walk the dinosaur by Was Not Was and My Songs Know what you Did in the Dark by Fall Out Boy (not that I expect most readers of this to know those songs, but I look forward to telling her her first two favorite songs in 10 years!). The latter song was performed live on tv the other day and she made me rewind it 5 times so she could dance to it. When they played one song at the baseball game, Cate wanted to know why they didn't play her other song! We think she is going to be a little drummer when she grows up! One Saturday we went to Old Town and our little rockstar got to play on some drums!















The pool is open and Cate loves it again. Max has only been in  a few times so he's still getting his sea legs! Besides swimming, we are trying to go to as many baseball games as possible, although the heat may hold us back some this summer.  Erick is trying to get all of the Opening Day players to sign an authentic Nationals jersey for Max. They have "Signature Sundays" every home weekend, but you have to show up to find out who is signing!

 We are lucky to have such a happy little family  and Cate and Max get along so well! We have been enjoying visits from family and friends and look forward to some more this summer!

Max is here and Cate is two!!

If I was a little more organized, this would be two separate posts, but I'll blame my delay on being busy with a newborn and a toddler!

As you all know, Maximilian "Max" Jacob Andrew Messing was born on September 18th at 8:22am. He weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long.  At his two week appointment he was already up to 10 pounds 3 ounces and 22 inches!! He loves to eat.

Cate has been a great big sister from day one.  She was excited from the moment she saw him. She loves to bring him little toys and becomes very concerned when he cries (perhaps even a little angry if we don't seem to address his crying quickly enough!).










Cate, of course, celebrated her second birthday just two weeks after Max was born. First, she had a little cupcake party at daycare. I was able to attend this year since I am home on maternity leave anyway. The next day she had her two year old Well Child Check where her measurements of 27 pounds and 33.5 inches put her at the 50th percentile. She also had to get two shots, but any pain was forgotten once the nurse brought her stickers, bracelets, a pencil and a lollipop!

Over the weekend we celebrated Cate's birthday at The Little Gym. They have lots of mats, bars, and beams and the staff put on a great party for all the kids. Several kids from daycare came, as well as some of our friends' kids. All the kids enjoyed licking the icing off their cupcakes (apparently two-year-olds don't actually eat the cupcake?!). As if that wasn't enough excitement, we also went to a birthday moon bounce party for one and three year old brothers the next day.

Cate is still enjoying being in the twos classroom. She can count to 20, knows all the main colors, and is working on her alphabet. She is also making progress potty training (yay!). More and more words are recognizable, although she will still go on rants of her own little language. Her word of the week has been "okay"...every time you ask her a question she will just reply okay, whether it actually makes sense or not.

I still have three weeks home with Max before I will go back to work and Erick will take over for a few weeks before he starts daycare in December!

18 months

Again, I am remiss in updating! Cate is changing all the time, it is hard to keep up. She definitely has been "delighting" us with some tantrums, and we are hoping she gets them all out of the way before Baby # 2 arrives in September.

Cate has added some vocabulary...w-aale (waffle), elbow, apple, happy (usually said in triplicate), baby (we are practicing that one!), lion, and "one more".  I am sure there are more, but we can't remember them all. She also can say the letters A, B, H, I, O, N, M (and identify I and O).

She also has a new boyfriend whose name she can say - Alex. The other day when I picked her up he walked her to the coat rack and handed her the coat! He is an older man - her last boyfriend was a month younger and this one is 7 months older!!

Cate can be a sweety, but doesn't take any static. One day I picked her up and she was trying to comfort another little girl who was crying by patting her on the cheek. Only a week or two before that I got to daycare and she was carrying a boy's sock and shoe. She tried to hand him a sock and he swatted her hand then ran away. She chased him and threw the shoe right at his head (she had perfect aim, I might add). I said "no, Cate!", but the daycare ladies said no, she is sticking up for herself because she was trying to give him his stuff and he swatted her!

Cate has shown interest in the toliet, too. She knows the sign for it and knows when she is supposed to use it, but can't quite complete the action. We will take her over, she sits on it for a little bit then tells us to put her diaper back on - THEN she does her business!! Oh well, she is at least getting the idea.














We have had a full social calendar over the past couple months. We have had brunch with a couple of friends, and even got to see the St Patrick's Parade in Old Town with Auntie Jen. She went to a cosmetics party and got to play with a 3-year-old girl, a baby, and a dog. Yesterday we went to Auntie Jen and Uncle Phil's housewarming party where there were a couple other kids and a cat. Despite many attempts, Cate was never able to get close to the cat - apparently she is intimidating despite her small stature! She made do with going up and down the stairs repeatedly and exploring the house.

Coming up this week are three Easter egg hunts, and hopefully we will get around to dying some easter eggs!