Checkup
March 25, 2007
We’re all healthy now! We’ve been alternating between at least one of us sick and everyone being healthy–hopefully we’re over the cold and flu season now.
We were pretty good at guessing the boys weights, but we were off on their heights. Owen was 29 1/2 lbs. Andrew is 36 lbs. Owen is 38 inches tall. Andrew is 39 3/4 inches tall. I punched their heights into a web page that said it would estimate their adult heights. The estimates came out as 6′2″ to 6′5″. We’re going to have tall boys, but we already knew that. We’re guessing that the boys will grow out of their car seats in the next 3-6 months. After that, we think they will be switching to booster seats. It’s interesting watching the boys duck to go under things they used to walk under with no problems.
New words: toenail, Sunday, church, Mommy, Daddy (instead of Mama and Dada–they have gotten the “y” at the end now), kaboom (usually said when they fall down)
Andrew said his first five word sentence: “Mommy, lay down take nap”. Andrew has been working on his verbal skills. Both boys are talking a lot more now than they used to. The boys really do understand everything we say now.
Owen now wants to buckle his seat belt in the car seat. Also, Owen figured out how to drink from a water fountain at the aikido dojo which has a nice little stool underneath for the smaller kids. We took them by the dojo to start getting them used to it before they start training. Owen was watching the kids roll and I asked him, “Owen, do you want to learn to roll?” and he nodded his head.
Owen has mastered the TV and DVD player. He can get Baby Signing Times playing starting with the TV off. Unfortunately, they’ve taken the DVD out so many times that it may be too scratched to play now. We’ll have to see–I have one more trick left to try.
A couple of weeks ago, Owen managed to call my parents on my cellphone (I think he hit “recently called numbers”). Yesterday, when I was driving home, Owen called me on Nancy’s cellphone (she was out of the room). I chatted with him all the way home and had him look out the window as I drove up. He thought that was fun.
The boys can recognize three signs now: Home Depot, Applebee’s, and the Washington Square symbol. Someone said that recognizing signs like that is a precursor to reading.
Pictures
Owen at Gigi’s (Aunt Jill’s) house
Owen outside Hayden’s
Owen sitting on a rock
Boys looking at a bronze statue
Boys driving tractors at Home Depot
Grandparents and boys at Hayden’s
Andrew eating with Daddy
Andrew dressed as a fireman by the lake
Headshot of Andrew at Gymboree
Birthday
March 11, 2007
The boys are two now! Seems like only a year ago they were just turning one 
We’ll get official heights and weights on them later this week at their regular checkup. For now, we’re guessing that Owen is about 37 inches tall and Andrew is about 38 inches. Owen is probably 30-32 lbs and Andrew is somewhere between 35 and 40 lbs.
The birthday party was a big hit this year. The boys knew the party was coming and knew who was going to be there. They got to open a couple of presents early (we even managed a picture of one of the presents being opened). The boys were old enough to appreciate Chuck E Cheese’s this year. They enjoyed riding the rides and putting tokens into the rides maybe even more than riding.
They ate some pizza and cake and opened a few presents, then they were back to running around and climbing on the rides.
New words: green beans (instead of just “beans”), Thomas the tank, Tuesday, take nap, sleepy, camel, elephant, and giraffe.
We like to take the boys to the mall to let them run off some energy. Both boys enjoy pushing the strollers. In one of the pictures, Owen is buckling the belt on the stroller.
We’ve been sick for about a week now. The boys came down with bronchitis, so they’ve been taking Amoxycilin.
Pictures
Birthday sign at Chuck E Cheese’s
Andrew and Christopher playing in Scoop
Andrew wearing a hardhat and sitting with Grammie
Andrew flying the helicopter
Andrew swinging with mommy
Boys and daddy playing with the bucket at Gymboree
Boys opening birthday presents
Owen and Bryce talking on the big phone
Owen buckling the stroller
Owen driving Scoop
Owen sitting in Scoop
Counting
March 1, 2007
Andrew can count up to seven now, although sometimes he skips “two”. Last night at Gymboree, he counted the four balls he was carrying.
We’ve been practicing jumping at Gymboree. Andrew mostly wants daddy to catch him. Owen mostly wants to jump on his own (see the pictures for what they’re jumping off of and onto).
The boys keep getting bigger. We’ll have the official stats in a couple of weeks, after their birthday. Hard to believe it–they turn two a week from tomorrow!
We went to Home Depot the other night. The boys were both saying “Home Dep”, “Home Dep”. Nancy said, “They don’t know what that means.”
I asked Andrew, “What do we get at Home Depot?” Andrew said, “Bam bam bam” (his word for a hammer). The boys had to sit on all of the tractors and riding lawn mowers.
Other new words: bookcase, saw (as in the tool), orange, yield, mac cheese (used to just be “mac”), meat (meatloaf), yeah, and game (although Owen also says “yame” which means “yes”).
They have learned how to unzip and take off their jackets. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing–it’s good when we get home but not so good when we’re trying to leave.
We let the boys drive the vacuum cleaner last week. They thought that was great. It works best if we’ve cleared out a space on the pergo for them to vacuum, though.
We took them down to the Oregon Garden. They ran around for an hour or so. Andrew pushed one of the strollers most of the time we were there. He is getting really good at keeping the stroller on the path, even though he can’t see over it yet. Andrew is now just barely taller than the stroller.
Pictures
Owen signing all gone
Owen dragging a box
Owen walking under a tree at the Oregon Garden
The boys on the bridge at Gymboree
The boys climbing at Gymboree
The boys inside the gift shop at the Oregon Garden
Andrew headshot
Andrew jumping
Andrew playing with the mirror
