J and M + j + s: Stats for both kids!

Well we have been so slow to post, that we are going to combine Josh's 3 year stats and Sam's 9 months stats.

Josh weighed in at 33.6lbs, 70th percentile and was 38.35 inches tall, 71st percentile. Pretty much what we expected. We were a bit surprised that at 3 years old the pediatrician wanted him to pee in a cup. This was a particularly unpleasant experience for all of us. Overall Josh is doing very well. He was being a bit difficult at the appointment, which did not go unnoticed. We talked a bit about consistency for discipline and such with the pediatrician, so we are working on making sure we stick to that. We figured out that Josh was being particularly difficult that week because we had him doubled up on nebulizer drugs, as soon as we stopped over the weekend he was in a much better mood. Julian and I are also working on recognizing what behaviors Josh can control, and what he can't--particularly since we know there are side effects to the asthma meds he is on.

We have been so impressed with Josh's cognitive reasoning lately. He has gotten very sophisticated in his thought processes, and can remember complicated details. He has learned all his letters and numbers and can spell his name. He can write JO_H, but still has some trouble with the S. He can write many of the other letters too, but Josh is the most important :-) These days he loves playing outside, arts and crafts, emergency vehicles, any vehicles, animals, and cooking. He also loves reading books. He can mostly dress himself, although it is faster and more accurate to help him.

Sam is 19lbs 12.5oz 52nd percentile, 29.25 inches long, 84th percentile. 71st percentile for head circumference, which is not something I cared about until all this talk about microcephaly. Tall and thin, which is pretty much something we expected as well. He loves solid food these days, and has gotten more picky about refusing a bottle. He won't take a bottle from anyone at home, and we hear he is picky at daycare about which teachers he will take a bottle from. I've been working on him taking a sippy cup, and since he will eat plenty of solid food, we don't think it will be a big problem.

Sam crawls very fast, and pulls up on everything. He is cruising along furniture these days, and I've caught him standing for a second without holding onto anything before sitting down. He has started saying consonant sounds, Bababa and Lalala. I think I've heard others, but not consistently enough to call them. We are still waiting on Dada and Mama. He tends to be quiet when Josh is around, and will be more chatty one on one. Perhaps he is more like his Daddy :-) He also has very good hand eye coordination already, he can eat peas and other small foods by himself with great accuracy. He is very smiley and happy :-)

His sleeping lately has left much to be desired. He has regressed a bit and is waking up about 50% of the time. He has been getting teeth and was sick, so he had some excuses, but pretty soon we might need to start doing a bit of CIO. Hopefully it won't come to that. His bedtime is around 6:45-7, and his napping has been relatively good lately. He takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap. As long as I don't run any long errands, they will each be about 45-90 minutes--usually one longer and one shorter. If I run errands and he falls asleep in the car, then his naps get thrown off for the day.

Both boys have been mostly getting along well. They always want to play with the same toy. As Sam has gotten more and more mobile, he likes to steal Josh's toys, or eat them, or knock them over. I understand how Josh feels, because Sam also likes to steal my phone and my diet coke. We mostly try to give Sam a different toy to play with, but then inevitably, Josh wants the toy we just gave Sam and steals it. Josh has been dealing with a bit more jealously lately, as he gets older and more capable of those feelings. We try to make sure to do something with Josh during Sam's morning nap, so that he gets some quality time with us. We've been trying to talk very openly with him about his feelings, so that he at least understands that it is ok to be upset, and then help him understand that he gets special time with Mommy and Daddy too. But overall Josh just loves Sam, and Sam thinks Josh is the best. Josh loves to help feed Sam and make him laugh. He is looking forward to being able to play with Sam, although I think it will be longer than he would like. Sam LOVES watching whatever Josh is doing, and just smiles at him all the time. We hope they will be good friends :-)

And for the most important....cute pictures :-)