Devin's 2 Year Update

Every six months or so, I am going to document what the kids are able to do.

Here's Dev!

Cognitive Skills-
-Devin can recognize some letters inconsistently and a few numbers
-He can say some of the alphabet and can count to 10 forwards and backwards
-He knows some of his shapes (oval, triangle, star, circle) and many of his colors
-He understands some prepositions (on/off)
-He is able to match like items
-He can complete puzzles that have a separate place for each piece
-He explores cause and effect


Social/Emotional Skills-
-Devin is very open to meeting new people. He is sometimes shy, but could be copying his brother
-He is usually cooperative, but sometimes gets frustrated when he doesn't get what he wants
-He will follow directions and is a great helper, loves to help cook, clean, etc...
-He is an awesome sharer
-He uses his manners some of the time
-He engages in pretend play


Speech and Language Skills-
-Devin can speak in full sentences
-His receptive and expressive language is growing everyday
-He can link two sentences together to form a thought
-understands and can follow one step
-He is able to answer simple questions


Gross/Fine Motor Skills-
-He can draw a line and a circle and color
-He can run, jump, do a somersault, break dance, and climb
-He throws a ball with pretty good accuracy
-He can catch a large ball when thrown really slow


Self-Help Skills-
-He initiates using the potty for number one only. He is successful about 60% of the time.
-He washes his hands, but still needs help since he can't reach
-He can take off his jacket when it is unzipped
-He is able to feed himself and uses a fork and spoon really well

Also, Devin weighs 30 lbs and is 36 1/2 inches tall, which places him at the 50th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for height.

Ryan's 3 Year Update

Every six months or so, I will document the things that the kids are able to do.

Here's Ry!

Cognitive Skills-
-Ryan can recognize most of the letters and numbers up to 10
-He can recite the entire alphabet and numbers up to 20 and from 10 backwards
-He knows most of his shapes and all of his colors
-He understands some attributes (big/little) and prepositions (in/out, on/off, under, behind, next to)
-He is able to match like items
-He can complete puzzles with up to 6 pieces
-He can identify familiar signs and labels (Hannaford's, Welcome, McD's)
-He explores cause and effect
-He has some problem solving skills
-He is starting to understand the concept of time, (yesterday, today, tomorrow, in a few days, later)
-He is aware of his own body space



Social/Emotional Skills-
-Although Ryan is still shy with some people, he warms up more quickly than before
-He is cooperative and listens to directions
-He is working on sharing, he does really well with it, sometimes
-He uses his manners most of the time
-He engages in pretend play


Speech and Language Skills-
-Ryan speaks very clearly-he's a chatter box
-He has a large receptive and expressive vocabulary-he's like a sponge, hears something once and knows it
-He can link multiple sentences together with six or more words
-He can tell a simple story in sequence, with prompting
-He asks, where and what
-He is able to answer some general knowledge questions (name and age)
-understands and can follow one-two step directions



Gross/Fine Motor Skills-
-He can draw a line and a circle and color
-He can run, jump, do a summersault, and climb
-He throws a ball with pretty good accuracy
-He can catch a large ball when thrown really slow
-He can stand on one foot (and sometimes hop on it)


Self-Help Skills-
-He is potty trained (1 and 2). Stays dry overnight 75% of the time.
-He washes his hands, but still needs help since he can't reach
-He can pull down his pants and take off his jacket and is also able to unzip

Also, Ryan weighs 34 lbs. and is 37 1/4 inches in height, which puts him at the 75th percentile for weight and 50the percentile for height.

Devin's update will be posted tomorrow. =0)

Never-ending Birthdays

We headed to New York to celebrate the boys' birthdays with family. A quick side note, on our way down, the Mazda was making a really loud noise and driving a little sluggish, we decided to go back home and get the other car. Well after all was said and done, the entire trip took us 8 hours and we had to drive around! Anyway, we did try to get one party going with all family involved, but that was just way too difficult! So, we split ourselves in a million pieces, something we are used to doing anyway when we come down. The boys had three birthday celebrations in one day, cake, cake and more cake! It was a very hectic day, but we were able to see everyone and the boys got a lot of nice gifts.

Ry's cake

Ry enjoying his cake


Dev's cake


And Dev enjoying his cake

Happy Birthday Fred!

My gorgeous little boy is growing up so fast! Fred turned 5 years old today! He's my forever baby though, no matter how old he gets, he'll still be a baby and will cuddle with me forever! I've been meaning to create a post all about Fred. Most of the posts are about my human babies mostly because, well, they just do a lot more. But, Fred is just as important in our lives. Many people, once they have children, kind of consider their dogs or any other animal they have as less important than before they had children. This could not be more wrong for how we feel about Fred.

He is the best cuddler that I have ever known. Every single night, he slips under the covers with us and we just love it. He snuggles on the couch with us and loves to be loved. We've always felt that he had a hard puppyhood. We found him at a pet store and know that he came from Chanute, Kansas son of Ruth and Merle. Because of his neediness, we feel he was starved for attention and we give him the extra love that he needs. The day we walked into the store, we knew right away he was the one. He was running around the outside of the other dogs barking. The guy had a hard time getting him. We fell in love right away and have had 5 wonderful years with him and hope to have 20 more!

For his birthday, we got him a filet minion cesar's wet dog food. We put a candle in it and sang happy birthday. Whenever Fred eats food off the table, which unfortunately he does way too often, he knows it's something he's not supposed to do. Even though we were all there, he figured he'd better get the food while the getting was good. He almost choked trying to eat the entire thing at once. We were able to get it out and break it up for him. Ryan gave him a bone and he enjoyed that for the rest of the night.

Fred almost choking on the food

Much better!

Loves bones!

Happy Birthday Devin!

Devin is now two! TWO! My little baby is two! To celebrate, we had school at our house. We made birthday crowns with our school friends and had some cupcakes. Kristian was able to come home a little early and we took the kids out to Margaritas and then only to be fair, we took the kids to Toys R Us to get some presents. We got a drum set! The boys have always loved Alex's drums, so we figured they would really enjoy having a set of their own.

Birthday Crowns!

Drums Set, oh wait

Happy Birthday Ryan!

I can't believe Ryan is three!!! He is definitely more of a kid than a baby now. The things he does and says just amaze me! Anyway, we had a Birthday Playgroup today and some of the boys' friends came over to celebrate. When Kristian came home, we went out to eat at the Outback Steakhouse. We decided to take the boys to Toys R Us to pick out a toy with their birthday money. Ryan picked out a very large pick-up truck with a trailer and Devin picked out Wall-E. After that we came home and had some cupcakes! It was a fun day!

Birthday Playgroup

At the Outback

Birthday at Coco Key's

To kick off the boys' birthday week, we decided to go to the Coco Key Water Resort. It is an indoor water park that is attached to a Sheraton Hotel. It was actually a really great deal, not only did we get to stay at the hotel, which was really nice, but we got two days at the water park, two $10 passes to the arcade, and free passes to a future visit, not to mention the Starbucks welcome basket! All for under $200 bucks! No, I don't own stock in the joint. Not in this market. ;0)

Anyway, when we headed out, there was a pretty big snow storm going on. We had to dig out to leave. We only had to travel under an hour, but it was really weird to think that we were going to a place where we'd be wearing our bathing suits! When we got there, it was too early to check in, so we went straight to the water park. We had a lot of fun, but it was really cold! Well, it was ok when we were in the water, but walking from one section to the other, it was chilly!

Here are some pics:

chilly!

here's 731!

mackin' in our room

best buds

sportin' new shirts; these should keep us warm

the arcade, we won some prizes
totally wiped out!

Guess Who's a Big Boy!?

Ryan! He got a big boy bed! He picked out a car themed bed set (of course) and we set it all up for him. As you will see in the pictures, his mattress is on the floor. His box spring and frame will be delivered sometime next week. It's good that he'll start on the floor seeing as how this is is first time in a big boy bed! We'll probably end up getting a bed rail for him, but we'll see how it goes. Ok, so after we set up the bed, we read a few books before bed time. Ryan was really excited, Devin too...Devin was almost more excited than Ry. I kind of felt bad for him, because I think he thought the bed was his. After we finished reading their books, we said, "OK, snuggle in" and then Devin got under the covers of Ryan's bed. He totally thought it was his too. It was really cute, but sad. Anyway, we tucked them both in their own beds. There were a few stall tactics, but that is the norm. Ry requested some water and then said he had to poop, which he did. After that, they were both in and quiet. It's 10:00 and it's STILL quiet! What a good boy! I snuck in and got some pics of him sleeping. So cute! We'll see how the morning goes, but so far so good!

Here's His Bed Set

The Boys Enjoying the Bed

He's Sleeping!