Saturday, March 30, 2013

neighborhood egg hunt

Last weekend we went to our neighborhood's egg hunt at the park.  ZJ went with the babies and there wasn't much competition.  NJ taught her what to do by telling her to clean up.  IJ went with the next age group and was the oldest of those.  So lucky us, our kids brought home 2 buckets filled to the brim.

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3.23.13

Friday, March 8, 2013

IJ is 44 months old!

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3.6.2013

IJ loves to play outside and can occupy himself quite well there. He rides his tricycle, sweeps, uses his measuring tape, shovels, digs in the rocks and uses his mower. If a park has a sandbox that’s all he’s interested in doing. He is more comfortable on a regular swing now but not interested in swinging. He also likes to help me in the kitchen and always helps make muffins for his snacks. He still loves books and stops everything if he hears me reading. I can’t read to ZJ while he’s otherwise occupied because he gets mad and comes running. He still only wants to sit on my lap if we’re reading. He loves music and likes most of the things I like to listen to. We play music every evening after dinner and he sings and dances. He also likes to be a rock star and play his guitar. He has gotten much better at independent play. He will play by himself for quite a while with his small set of legos, vehicles, construction site and puzzles. He is quite good at puzzles now. He still doesn’t like drawing and resists trying to draw identifiable objects although he can draw smiley faces now. He created a game where he says “what does _____ start with?” So he’s repeatedly asking what letter various words start with and likes discussing how to spell words.

IJ loves school. He is doing well in preschool and had a good midterm report. He behaves very well for his teachers and likes them a lot. In addition to the typical preschool activities and projects, he learns about and celebrates all the Jewish holidays, learns Hebrew, has music class and participates in Shabbat every Friday. This semester he has to sign in every morning by writing his first name.

IJ can still be very difficult to deal with. He often does not listen and is prone to fits. He began name calling and likes to call his sister and us various names. Poo poo is a favorite of his. He is rough with ZJ sometimes and has to be watched. It’s usually about her taking his toy or him wanting something she has. He can also be very gentle and sweet with his sister and loves to engage her in play or make her giggle.

IJ is still not napping and sleeping approximately 7 to 7 each night. In January we stopped waking him to pee during the night and he makes it till morning fine. He has adjusted to not napping and usually won’t even fall asleep in the car at nap time or later. He does say he’s tired during the afternoons and evenings and frequently acts that way. He occasionally tells us about his dreams and one of my favorites was when he said “last night the toilet came into my room and scared me so I covered my eyes and yelled "pee pee poo poo" at it and it went away!”

In November we started putting a bitter polish on IJ’s thumb nails to stop his thumb sucking habit. He only ever sucked his left thumb but we treated both in case he would try to switch. I was concerned about winter coming and the extra germs he picks up sucking his thumb. We knew it was just an unconscious habit he seemed to need help breaking. After a few tastes of the polish he quit trying to suck his thumb, but when we would skip applications he would start sucking again. We finally stopped in February and the habit seemed to finally be broken because he hasn’t started again. During this time he grew less attached to his stuffed dog that he used to cuddle, put its tail in his nose and suck his thumb. He recently realized he could stick the dog in his nose without sucking his thumb and has been occasionally doing so.

He has only been sick with colds although they’ve been very frequent. He loves to share every single cold with his sister and most with me.  At 3.5 he was 32 pounds and 37.5 inches tall.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

ZJ is 17 months old!

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3.6.13

ZJ is still climbing on everything.  I was washing dishes one evening and turned to see her standing on the kitchen table.  She climbs on everything, disregards my “No!” and often starts marching or stomping when I catch her on things.  She’s also decided it’s fun to run away when you ask her to come to you.  We’ve still been working on identifying parts of her face.  She’s recently started pointing to the proper parts more often and just started saying “eye” when pointing to that but sometimes says it and points to other random parts of her face.  She is great at identifying her belly and will lift her shirt to show you.  She’s always loved her books more than toys and likes to flip through them but now finally likes to have them read to her and will sit for several in a row and bring them to me.  She is learning animal sounds and woofs like a dog and tweets like a bird so far.  She woofs if she sees or hears a dog anywhere.  She still says “ahhh” and “eeeee” if she sees a tooth brush but now hates having her teeth brushed and fights it.  She also seems to have become a toddler this month and has little fits.  She does it when she doesn’t want to go somewhere or can’t have something.  She will just fall down, refuse to walk and flail about.

ZJ is inconsistent with her food preferences.  One day she’ll eat something and the next day throws it all on the floor.  Sometimes she’ll eat certain items from my hand but not feed them to herself.  She has been practicing using a spoon.  She’s also had peanut butter and several tree nuts now without problem.
ZJ had one mild cold this month.  ZJ had a sedated heart echo which clarified her exact congenital heart defects.  She has a Transitional AV Canal Defect which includes four abnormalities (endocardial cushion defect, primum ASD, cleft mitral valve, VSD).  When her heart was forming during the first eight weeks of pregnancy it did not form properly, leaving three holes in her heart and a cleft valve.  The holes in her heart allow deoxygenated blood to mix with oxygenated blood.  Even though she is healthy right now and not affected by the defects, she needs open heart surgery within the next six months to repair two of the holes to avoid problems expected to occur while she is still a toddler.  In addition to the Transitional AV Canal defect she has tricuspid valve regurgitation and an aberrant right subclavian artery but neither of these issues is causing problems.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

February 2013 Pics

ZJ found more places to climb this month.
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Feeding ZJ in the recovery room after her sedated heart echo.
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IJ contemplating life after petting a cactus at the garden center.
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Identifies her belly when asked.
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I just love a pointing baby.
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Dressed as a super hero for his school Purim celebration.
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Seen outside of IJ's classroom.  Its been 2 months since we went to the zoo.
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We made Hamentashen for Purim.
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