Spring is Here!

Spring means warmer weather (hopefully!), flowers, Easter, and baseball!! '

The three of us have already been to three baseball games, including the Home Opener. Erick also took Cate to one, just the two of the them. Cate just uses it as an excuse to eat TONS of junk food (and play on the playground, of course!)

The day before Easter, we did the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Max did very little work, but reaped the rewards of Cate's efforts. On Sunday, we went to church and then off to another baseball game!

Max has been talking more and more, saying new words everyday! He signs a lot (slow start, but knows a bunch of signs). He also is starting to figure out his colors (when in doubt, say blue!). He can also point to all the major body parts. Beware if you visit - he loves to zerbert! His favorite thing to do is go "ouside" and blow bubbles. If we say no, he wants to know if it is "dark", "rainy" or "wet"...if not, no excuses! If outside isn't available, he wants to play in the kitchen sink instead.

Cate has been learning to write her name at school. Apparently learning to write "Cate" and then fitting the "herin" in there isn't the easiest thing to do!  She can count to 100, with the just occasional slip-up. They even have weekly pop-quizzes.  She knows the days of the week (with a cool little song) and even the months! She definitely can tell left from right waaay better than me! She is learning her multiplication tables; well, she can at least memorize the numbers when she sees them on a computer game at school. Cate loves to rider her Stryder Balance Bike all around the neighborhood like a champ! She is still in a sport/tumbling class right now, but this summer she will take a tumbling class and a swim class.

At about 18 months, Max weighed in at 26 lbs 14 oz (65%) with a height of 31 1/2" (25% - we're moving up!) and, naturally, a head in the greater than 97%!! At the same age, Cate was 23lbs, 9oz (35%) but also 31.5" (50% for girls). I made a note at the time that I didn't really think she was that tall.  I measured Cate just for the heck of it, and at 3 1/2 years she is 3' 2" and 35lbs.

Way too long!!

You know when blogger says I have not posted for over 3 months that I am not keeping up with my blogging duties! It would take me forever to catch up with everything, so to summarize...

We did a family costume of  Dora and her friends for Halloween. Yes, Cate's hair looks dark because I sprayed it with brown hairspray! The kids did trick-or-treat at school, then we went to Miss Judy's neighborhood and even an outdoor "haunted house."

We  finished up football season with a game at UNC over Thanksgiving then Army-Navy in Philly. The latter was cold with snow and freezing rain, so the kids and I stayed inside (much to Max's chagrin!)

Christmas was naturally a highlight, especially for Cate. I think they made out pretty well! We also went to a Christmas Eve service at our church's up and coming satellite location.

Last weekend we went to Nats Fest - the pre-Spring Training baseball event for all us super Nationals fans. Erick was busy getting signatures for Max's jersey (including successfully "stalking" one player) while Cate practiced running, hitting, throwing, and stalking a gecko. We also waited in line for an hour for a balloon sword (yes, it did pop quite quickly!)

Max is over 16 months old now! At about 15 1/2 months he weighed in at 24 lbs 7 oz, and 29 1/2 inches (Cate was about 20 1/2 lbs and 29 1/4 inches at the same age!).  As Dr. Ciampi said, his head is, well, really big! Just 3 weeks ago, I was saying how Max was only saying mama, dada plus a little bit of more and milk.  Since then he has taken off with down, up book, baby, bana (banana), yea, and no, plus his first two-word phrase "all done".  For a week and a half he has been saying Cate, which she loves!! He also can point to his nose, mouth, and ear (thanks to Erick!). He is in to everything, including couch cushions...

Cate continues to enjoy school, despite way-too-young bouts of "she said this or that" and worrying about what clothes she is wearing.  She got her fall report card with all 3 out of 3s, except in using scissors correctly and writing her name. She has been practicing cutting ever since! She excels at recognizing and making patterns and apparently teaches her friends (thanks Team Umizoomi!).  In October, she and I also did our first race together - a 5K (maybe next year she'll run, instead of riding in the stroller!!)

We are looking forward to some warm weather and baseball season is only 2 months away!!

A busy fall!

So much has happened in the past couple months! We have been keeping the kids super busy.  First, we went to the Baltimore Comic-Con. It was full of characters (sometimes hard to tell what was a costume and what was considered a person's "normal" attire :) ) Cate did get to meet a mermaid and a giant mouse!

We went to our last baseball game of the year - we could hardly keep the kids in place and didn't sit in our seats at all. Max loved dancing to the music and clapping when everyone else did. Despite missing the playoffs, we still love our Nats and are already looking forward to the home opener in April!!

Finally, it's football season again! We have already gone to two home Navy games, and one at UNC. I can't say much for the Heels this year, but we always have lots of fun going. At the Navy game, Cate played football and soccer with the boys (and Max tried to keep up with the big kids, too!!)

Just this weekend, we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a dreary day, but we had a break in rain and Cate didn't get too muddy picking out pumpkins! Afterwards, we went to the Variety Store Erick frequented as a kid (I admit, they had some good stuff).

Of course, I can't forget the kids' birthdays!! We celebrated Max turning one with a party at school and cupcakes at the football tailgate. He is walking all over the place and getting into everything. He loves stairs - he still needs to hold our hand to go up and down, of course, but if there are stairs, he wants to be on them. He tends to become DISTRAUGHT if one of us goes in the basement and doesn't invite him!! He also loves to climb on anything. He can even climb up and down the step ladder! Just last night he climbed up the kdis bookshelf, looked back and smiled like "look at me!!"  He also waves goodbye, points a lot, and for some reason loves to put lids on stuff.

Cate had ice cream and presents on her birthday at home, a party at school the next day, and then a party at the Little Gym on the weekend. She has a group of girls that she considers her best friends (and most recently says no boys -- Erick is ok with that!). She has been adjusting to a lot of her friends going into a different class very well. She is also in a different class each week at the gym...now she goes in without mommy (yay for me!!). It is a sports class where they do 4 weeks blocks learning different skills (so far, soccer and golf). She is also doing a weekly soccer class through the daycare. She is starting to learn to argue her point a little too well. We finally got her to use a cup at dinner one night (instead of the sippy cup). The next night I tried to give her a cup again and she said "No - cup, sippy cup, cup, sippy cup. It's a pattern". I mean, who can argue with that! This weekend when we said she would have to watch her show on the Kindle because we were watching football she commented that we had been watching football and we needed to share!

The kids both had their doctor's appointments on the same day. Max weighed in at 22 lbs 15 oz (50%), 28 1/2" (10%), and his head is over 97% (may explain all the bruises from falling on it all the time!). Cate was 31 1/2 lbs, 36 3/4" which is pretty close to the 50% for both!