Although a tad late, I did finally get the kids to the doctor for their yearly check-ups. Thankfully we had a pretty healthy year and didn't have to visit too many times in between. Here are their stats and a few other fun facts about each kiddo.
Sophia
Age 5
Height: 46 3/4" = > 95%
Weight: 47 lbs = 90%
Some of the things on the Parental Guidelines sheet our pediatrician gives us are...
* knows her own age...um yeah, along with the age of all the rest of the family and her 87 dolls and stuffed animals
* name most colors...so by "most" does that include aquamarine, violet, chartreuse?
* draw a person with 6 body parts...both her Ped. and her teacher had her do this and both of them said that her drawing is quite good for her age and she included lots of details.
Sophia is my sweet little girl always. She is so helpful and kind towards her brother, her mom and dad and just about everyone she meets. She has taken a few of the other children in her class under her wing and is happy to do so. One of the moms even told me thank you, not that I had much to do with it, because her son really needed someone like Sophia in his life to take charge! LOL! :) I'm glad she's making an impact.
She loves to color and create art projects. She really takes her time and is very careful about what colors she's adding, how she's arranging it and what it should look like. She still loves to read and we read lots of different books. Lately we've been getting into Magic Tree House books and she really loves them. She follows along well and is interested in the story and the characters. They are our first set of chapter books. Of course we also read our other favorites like Pinkalicious, If you Give...books, the Click, Clack Moo books and many others.
She's very creative and observant. She asks lots of questions, retains information very easily and loves to sing and dance. Even her teacher commented on how she learns songs so quickly. I'm hoping that maybe after all these years one of us has inherited some of this musical talent my father had! She is taking ballet, her first recital is next weekend, and gymnastics. Ballet is about to go on hiatus. I'd like to get her involved in some other activities and we're going to get her back in swimming lessons soon. In fact, we are thinking of having her "train" for swim team this summer. It won't be crazy Olympic style training or anything, but if she's interested I'd like to get her working towards it.
Leo
Age 3
Height: 39.5" = 90%
Weight: 42 lbs = >95% (did anyone notice that's only 5lbs less than Sophia!!)
Leo also masters most of his recommended targets on the Parental Guidelines paper. He is quite bright actually, but he really doesn't want anyone to know it. :) Just this week he's used the words enormous and crank (like a hand crank) in context. I didn't even know he knew those words.
Leo's big deals however are his big boy bed and potty training. He moved into his big boy bed in July. I wanted to get pictures up on the blog, but life got in the way of that. His room is really cute, and maybe I'll eventually get some up, but he has dinosaur bedding and sports related wall hangings. He is able to store more of his toys up there and is happy to play in there, especially during "nap" time.
Potty training is going smashingly! I really dreaded it, I mean who doesn't I suppose, but I've heard so many horror stories about boys that I really didn't want to do it! But, with the timing of our various out of town activities, Christmas, etc. I figured it really had to be now or never. He picked out lots of different undies, Ninja Turtles being the favorite, set a date and made it happen. The first day we went through about 7 pairs of underwear, the second day we were down to 3, the third day...1 pair!! Woo Hoo...and the rest is history. He honestly has only had one or two accidents since then and he's doing a great job. I do believe that waiting until he was 3 and going straight to underwear is really what has made it so easy on us. We have a long car trip coming up at the end of this month, but I'm confident that he'll do okay. He is basically night trained as well but we're still keeping him pull-ups for now, just in case. I don't see any need to rush that and he doesn't seem to mind putting a pull up for bedtime. I'd also like to add that Sophia has really taken on potty training Leo for herself. She's quite involved actually and sometimes it's not all that helpful!! ;)
He goes to Parent's Day Out one day a week and he really likes it. His teachers tell me he does a great job and they enjoy all the funny and interesting things he has to say. He is a talker, that's for sure. I'm so happy because it didn't start out that way, but thank goodness for early intervention!
Right now he is really into pretending to be different people. It's usually people we know or characters he sees on TV or in books. The amount of times I hear..." I not Leo" throughout a day are staggering. It's usually followed by a series of questions like, well who are, where are you from, what do you know or whoever you are can you please just do what I'm asking!
He loves to play with his castle and superheroes. He still likes Little People too. He really likes to be outside kicking the ball around. He is happy to get out every single toy we own, play with stuff, throw stuff around and then want to swing for 30 minutes straight! Ugh. He doesn't seem to be particularly interested in learning how to ride a bike (even one with training wheels). He rarely rides his big wheel and won't even consider a trike. He likes the sidewalk chalk and the bubbles and his happy to walk around the block while Sophia rides her bike.
He also enjoys reading and follows along with the Tree House books more than I expected. He's even picked out a few of his own that we've read. I was honestly surprised that he was so interested in them at a young age, but it helps that Sophia is into it.
He is a sweet heart under all his rough and tumble dirtiness, that's for sure. But, Man, he can wear a girl out. He is very active, very opinionated and very fast. It's tiring to be his mommy, but I really do love it.
