Hurry Spring!

Zoë had her five year checkup after we returned from Disneyland and she is growing perfectly normally.  50th percentile for weight (39 pounds) and 49th percentile for height (42 inches).  It's hard to believe that she started out in the 3rd percentile!  I knew there weren't any vaccinations this time but we were surprised by blood work so she freaked out about her finger poke.  Coffee and a treat afterwards fixed it NO problem, though.  I was so proud of her that she said hello and goodbye to Dr. Moore by name when he came in and left the room and had a normal conversation with him.  For our shy-around-strangers girl, that was pretty impressive. 

She is learning so much at school, recently talking about omnivores, herbivores and carnivores and animal adaptations (one of my favorite things to teach).  We are both really excited that the weather is not as cold (lots of rain still though) so she can have a few less layers on when she heads out each week for school.  She can recognize and sound out about half of her letters which, for not doing any formal teaching at home, I'm pretty happy about.  She tries to sound out the first letters of words on her own which makes me so happy to hear her do!  She LOVES to write her own messages on cards and pictures for family and friends and her drawings are becoming more and more sophisticated.  We recently discovered a YouTube channel for drawing that she absolutely loves to do on her own during nap time.  We recently spent two afternoons pumping up balloons with the bicycle pump to see how much air each one could hold.  She did a great job with predictions and loved the POP of each balloon!  I see more science afternoons in our future.

Zoë is working on skipping (a skill that has alluded her so far) but mastered pumping her legs on our swing set in the backyard last week!  She is thrilled to be able to swing by herself (me too, since I have told her that I'm allergic to pushing kids on swings for the past two years).  I've been noticing that her ballet skills are improving, too, and she looks more like a skilled dancer rather than an adorably uncoordinated toddler. 

Sadly, Oliver looks as if he's transitioning out of his nap.  :(  We're at about a 50% napping rate and I am much more rigid about it now that I think a day without it just adds to the possibility of it being gone forever.  Luckily, he really isn't much of a mess without it, but when he does nap he HATES to be woken up from it at 3:30 when we have deemed it the LATEST HE CAN SLEEP BEFORE HE HAS PROBLEMS GOING TO BED AT 7PM.  He is still difficult and scream-y in general but has gotten MUCH better over the past month and is much LESS likely to have a raging tantrum over every little thing.   He is also very sneaky and mischievous which at times completely gets on my nerves.  A lot of the time he can grin his way out of things (with me at least). 

He is loving ballet and is doing a great job listening to his teacher, Miss Kaeli.  I'm impressed he can focus the way he does though when it was parent observation day he did get several reminders to remain on task.  :)  He is much better at leap frogging than any slow deliberate movement but he tries and is SO cute as the only boy in the class.  The Little Gym is still one of his favorite things (mostly the air mat) and I am so proud to say that he stays with the group listening to his teacher about 95% of the time.  Every once and a while he'll point to the other kids running wildly around the gym and I'll say, "No, listen to Miss Brooke" and HE ACTUALLY LISTENS TO ME.  Shocking.  He practically runs across the balance beam and dives at his favorite ball when it rolls out of the bucket at ball time.  I canNOT believe his third birthday is right around the corner.  My babies are no longer babies. 

We are anxiously awaiting spring so that we can enjoy more sunshine and outdoor adventures (who am I kidding, the rain doesn't stop us!).  We're looking forward to Easter, Oliver's Birthday, a trip to the Tulip Festival within the next month.  Yay spring!