Magic or Science?

Sam recently got a kit from his grandparents called "Magic or Science" with a series of tricks/experiments you can do. It guides you step by step and tells you the magic words to say but after each one, it answers whether it happened because of magic or science and gives an explanation. He did the first few and then started flipping through and saying "Science...science....science...hey, none of these are magic!" Ah, bitter disappointment...

Andrew's stats at age 6

Andrew just had his 6-year well check and is 3 feet 10 inches (63%) tall and 45 lb. 4.8 oz (49%).

Thomas's stats at age 3

Thomas is now 3 feet 2.5 inches (70%) and weighs 31 lb 4.8 oz (43%).

Adam's 1 year stats

Just got his well check and his latest numbers: 

Height 2 ft 5.5 inches (37%)

Weight 19 lb 6.4 oz (20%)

He was happy and healthy and did very well considering the number of vaccinations he got. :)

Adam is walking at 11.5 months!

Over the last two weeks Adam has slowly increased his number of steps in a row until last week he walked the length of the rug. He now tries to walk as much as possible, though he still crawls about 20% of the time. He's super excited to walk and has a great grin on his face when he sees people cheering him on. Go Adam!

Monster drawings

Andrew's prayer

The night before kindergarten started I asked Andrew if he had a special prayer he wanted to say during our nightly prayer time. This is what he said, "Thank you God for my friends that I'm going to make this year and thank you for the ones I'll make every other year and thank you God for the friends I already made. Amen." Wow, what a great prayer!

Andrew's kindergarten drawing

Thomas-isms

Thomas has a great knack for fun turns of phrases like: sun-brella instead of umbrella, barefooted instead of barefoot, "I died him" when play fighting with his brothers, blankily for blankie, drinky instead of thirsty, photycopy instead of photocopy.

Adam at 10 months

Adam continues to be a cheery, happy-go-lucky baby. He loves to babble and smile at people. His latest is to clap with them and also sign along to songs. He's pulling up to standing whenever possible and sometimes cruises along. No full steps yet, but he surprised me the other day when I put him down and he stayed standing on his feet. He's a good eater and pretty much chows anything diced before him. He seems to be particularly inclined to fruits and beans and corn, though he just delights in eating what we are. His soft, blond hair is growing in with cute little curls at his neck. He's got two little teeth on the bottom and his top two seem like they'll break through soon.

Breakfast buddies

Adam at 8 months

Adam is a cheery, relaxed and quick to smile baby. He is crawling all over and pulls up to standing on whatever is nearby. He is a good eater with at least a meal of cheerios a day. He has big smiles for his brothers and enjoys being held by just about anyone. He continues to nap two to three times a day and while he has slept through the night before, he most often wakes once a night. He is saying "all done",  "ta da", "da da" and "Ad-ah" (which we interpret as Adam). Mom also swears she heard "Bye Bye Dada" and "Hi Dada". We are on the lookout for his first tooth to appear any day.

Adam is crawling!

Adam just turned seven months and while he's been working on movement for the last month, I think we can officially say he's crawling now. He's not fully getting up on his knees, but has found he can "army crawl" by pulling himself on his arms to get anywhere he wants. Given enough time, he easily travels off our rug and around the wood floor. If anything truly inspires him, he pulls out what I call his "ninja moves" and quickly covers ground in a matter of seconds. A new era has started for all of us as we try to give him space in which to practice his new skills without getting stepped on.

Adam baptized

Adam was baptized today at the UCSD Catholic Community at a lovely celebration with friends. He had a great time visiting with everyone.

Easter Story

Sam was very excited on Easter to surprise us with this story he wrote all on his own. 

Puzzler

Thomas did all this on his own at age 2.5! He got distracted and didn't finish, but I was impressed with his focus...

Shrove Tuesday

We went to the Pancake Supper at our church to take part in the festivities before Lent started. There were pancake flipping races, Mardi Gras beads and balloons. The next day I heard Andrew telling Thomas in the car that Jesus likes to eat pancakes. I said "Andrew, I'm not sure Jesus liked pancakes. That's not why we eat them on Shrove Tuesday. But Jesus was a person with a body like you or me and needed to eat, so maybe he did like pancakes." To which Andrew replied, but Jesus didn't have a body like us. "His body was made of bread, Mommy." Ah, how literal we can be about the Eucharist.

Adam at 4 months

Adam continues to be a delightful and easy baby. He loves to smile at people and starting to do great giggles.  His favorite way to converse is by blowing raspberries. He tries to sit up or stand at every opportunity and is regularly bringing things towards his mouth. He's getting to be quite a good thumb sucker and soothes himself to sleep well. A week before turning 4 months he rolled over in his crib on his own. Unfortunately he wasn't too happy to find himself on his stomach. We look forward to much more activity in the month to come.

Precious, sweet and wonderful

Adam is just in a wonderful stage where he smiles at any face looking his way, happily watches all that goes on around him and is just sweet and cuddly. We are so lucky to be his parents and have him in our lives. What a blessing to have him on loan to us until he grows up.

Adam at 3 months

This is just typical of our easy going little baby. He seemed to be getting sleepy. I got things ready to wash him and nurse him to sleep and this is what I found when I came back to the living room! He just takes care of himself, this sweet little boy.

Sam turns 7!

Here is Sam celebrating his birthday at school with cupcakes in the shape of a happy face.

Valentines 2014

After seeing Sam and Andrew's valentines with their crayon Lego men, Thomas got very upset and demanded "I want go on rocket ship." I'm still not sure he understands it was just a graphic...

Bottle

Although Adam is breastfed almost all the time, I like to keep his skills in bottle feeding up. He passed the test! Yay!

Independent Toddler

Thomas is very much in a stage of wanting to do everything himself. He wants to brush his own teeth, peel his own tangerine (which he manages!), put on his own shoes, etc. However, he took this to a new level the other day. I looked at him and said sweetly, "Thomas, I love you." He looked at me with defiance in his eye and said, "No, I love me." Apparently he can do that himself too...

Gung hay fat choy

Today Andrew's preschool celebrated Chinese New Year. They made their own dragon and then marched on bubble wrap, popping as they went. So much fun! Thomas was hesitant to join in, but once the big kids left, he happily popped the rest.

Andrew's scribble scrabble

The boys have been enjoying chapter books being read to them in the evenings at bedtime and somehow Andrew has decided to doodle in a little notebook while listening. He gets it out dutifully every night and Sam has complimented him on how much he likes Andrew's "scribble scrabble." Here is one of his recent favorite doodles.

Adam has a great smile!

Adam's 2 month stats

I'm catching up on my posts, so here goes with Adam's 2 month stats:

Weight: 11 lb, 7 oz  (15%)
Height: 23.75 inches (63%)
Head circumference: 39.5 cm

So while he has gained weight, he's still a bit of a featherweight. His height, however, has shot up, which explains why all the sleepers are getting small!

Adam's personality

Adam is proving to be the most easy-going baby we've had yet. I think the #1 comment we receive about him is "He's so quiet!", followed by "Look how little he is!", followed by "What a good baby!" He seldom cries and when he does, it's always for good reason. Without jinxing myself I think I can say he's a good sleeper, already doing regular 6 hour stretches at 2.5 months old. He started smiling at Christmas and has added a chuckle to it in the last week. It's been hard to get a snapshot of his smile as he gets instantly mesmorized by whatever device you try to take the picture with and stops smiling. However, whenever he catches Mom or Dad's eye first thing in the morning he puts on a big grin and does the same when he hears a brother nearby. His brothers enjoy helping sing to him, say hello or occasionally hold him. Thomas continually tries to share toys with him but is satisfied when that's not always allowed to share a gentle kiss on his head. Adam has wide open inquisitive eyes that take everything in around him and he loves to be upright and stand up on his little legs. He's truly a blessing in our lives.

Christmas in San Diego

We spent a wonderful Christmas in San Diego in 2013, with a visit from Dave's mom and sisters. We had a holiday full of family and friends, Legos and jedi-role playing, theater shows and a spa trip. However, one highlight was a walk on the beach on Christmas day. The boys loved it and Thomas especially had great fun running along the sand, in and out of the waves. This picture does show all six of us, though Adam is rather hidden. So goes it when you visit the beach at 1 1/2 months old.