Oh how they grow

Clayt

STATS:
18 months

23lbs (12%)
30½" tall (6%
49cm head circumference (80%)
Teeth- Top- 8, Bottom 5 and 3 more coming in!
Clothing size 12-18months
Shoe Size 4

In the past couple of months he has decided to start taking a paci (I have a feeling its a "want to be like "Jojo thing"as she was the only paci taker in the house, but it seems that the trend has caught on and even Corban asks for one on occasion. Its more of a toy than anything, but its funny to see them picking it up at such late ages. He is still a thumb-sucker most of the time, and the paci's are confined to the beds, but if they find one that somehow escaped they will toddle around with it as long as they can get away with it!

He's a diaper escape artist...gotta have a one piece snap up outfit on if we even want to think about waking up to a diapered baby! He may have to settle for early potty training...maybe when Josie is ready...which is going to be in the near future I suspect. If I am diligent I can usually take him to the potty to "catch" his poops...but most of the time I'm not quite enough on the ball!

He is a climber....he loves to climb over the end of the couch and started climbing out of his bed just after his first birthday. Sometimes we find that he has shacked up in Corban's crib for a play fest at sleep time.

Looks like we have a TALKER...since about 15 months old Clayt has been trying to repeat what we say, and we've actually understood several phrases! He loves to say YES! It is so sweet, although you can't always count on him to mean yes, just because he says it, but it beats hearing NO, NO, NO all day! (even though he does say it on occasion...actually he prefers Nu-Uh.) He's also trying to learn how to count....and occasionally gets a few numbers in a row! Some of his regular vocabulary...Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, Jo-Jo, Please, Thank You, Hi, Bye-Bye, More, Eat, Bite, Cracker, Milk, Nana (banana), Drink, Up, Sit, Ball, Book, Beads, Phone, Toot, Bonk, Oh-man, Whoa, Nose, Eyes, Ear, Teeth, Outside, Night-Night, Paci, and Bumbo (his chair to eat in, although..corban sits in the "actual" bumbo chair, he calls his highchair the same as what we call brother's seat :) He can say the other kids names, but doesn't use them much on his own. Although, he will repeat pretty much anything we ask him to say!

Favorite toy...Balls! He LOVES to throw things...and boy does he have an arm for it. We are working on only throwing balls...soft ones. Definitely a work in progress!

He recently has fallen in love with the magnadoodle and carries around everywhere, loves to stop and "r" (I think he's trying to say color) with us then clear the screen and draw some more....and more and more!

He also has a love for NOT sleeping on a mattress. He used to have a foam insert in his bed but we kept finding him underneath it, so we took it out...well, now he tends to fold up the packNplay mattress and sleep in the "hammock" of the unsupported bottom...maybe we should get him a hammock?

He loves to spin in circles and tip toe run around the house...the tip toe run is something new, he is not a regular tip toe-er, but just does it for fun, it makes him laugh when he does it! Boy are those short little legs fast...its so funny to watch him run, but we have to be careful because if we watch very long he will be completely out of sight!

A few weeks ago, he dropped his morning nap and temporarily revamped all of the littles schedule...now they nap from 12:00-3:30....we are still working on the schedule for the rest of the day...I figure as soon as we get it down pat the new baby will arrive!

Josie

Okay, she's my niece, not "officially" ours, but I claim her. She spends 4 days a week with us and is a joy to have. It's nice to have some extra girl power over here! Her 2nd birthday is right around the corner, 4 days away!

Jojo makes sure to keep close tabs on Clayt and Clayt often asks for her when she isn't here...they play very well together when the tattle-tale bug isn't biting....but I just blame that on her being the oldest girl child...and being almost 2! I hear often that she tries to tattle on her daddy as well.

She calls me "Auntie" and not Mama anymore, and she refers to Eric as her "Unkie" which puts a smile on our face every time! Now to get Clayt back to calling me Mama. He occasionally calls me Auntie now...must be confusing to live in a house with so many names for different people!

She loves to count...and can count 1-15 in English and 1-10 in Spanish and sings a wonderful jumbled rendition of the ABC's so cute! She's ready for kindergarten and hasn't even celebrated her 2nd birthday!

She also loves to play with dolls and stuffed animals. She is gonna be one top notch mama practicing this early...breastfeeding, diaper changes, using the nasal aspirator and even sets up "blanket-time" for them...so sweet!

Corban
STATS
33 months
28lbs (19%)
36 1/4" tall (29%)
47cm head circumference (6%)
Clothing size 2T
Shoe size 6

Teeth- a whole mouthful, all caught up has all 4 2year molars...probably has for a while now! Thankfully teething is over for this one....it wasn't easy for him..he is a bit like his Daddy and reacts with anger to pain, and it took us a while to figure out what in the world was wrong with our boy's attitude! Now that we have it figured out...it is over for the most part!

He has been fully potty-trained for a couple of months now, even staying dry at bedtime! But just this week, he woke up from his nap saying he pee-pee'd. Eric checked him and he was dry up front...Corban says no..."pee-pee in my bum"...and sure enough, our poor little one had a bit of diarrhea. He was just so pitifully cute sitting on the potty trying to figure out why he was peeing out his bum.

Corban still loves his blue blanket that Aunt Deb crocheted him and his "woof-woof" stuffed animal rottie that daddy picked out. But he doesn't like real dogs or cats AT ALL...thanks to a stroller ride this summer where a dog barked at us as we walked along the side walk of "his" fence. For a while Corban would get very upset if he even heard a Dog barking, so our stroller rides have been put on hold. We did recently have a new neighbor move in next door and they have a dog, so he's been doing better with the barking...thank goodness being stuck indoors in this beautiful October weather we have had would be terrible! But then there's the cow...he hates the Cow. It is an ice cream truck that Moo's...and for some reason it scares him silly. He usually hears it at bedtime, since they go down at 7:30 and it is still light out. I'm about ready to pay off the ice cream driver to not come down our street!

He loves to drive his ride-on train "to work" otherwise known as the front door, then he comes back and announces "I'm home" we play this game back and forth all the time and it's so fun to see his face light up when he returns!

Daddy clone...Corban can't stand to be messy, and always asking for a cloth or a napkin, a fork (to eat a muffin???) while eating. He likes to have things certain ways and always needs a bowl or plate for his snack. So much for sparing extra dishes with this boy!

Loves to "Suggle" mama...and is just a pretty good snuggler altogether. Mornings are fun when the babies pile into bed with us...it doesn't usually last very long, but I take any extra time to wake up that I can!

Libby
STATS
9 years 5 months old
4'7 1/2" tall
84 lbs
Clothing Size 10-12
Shoe Size 4

My sleeping beauty who loves to take naps...actually she looks more like snow white with a beautiful olive complexion. See....



We celebrated her birthday in May with a slumber party. 4 friends came over after our Last Day of school field trip to Woolaroc Museum. Jordan C., Mandy S., Eiley C. and Danielle F. went with us to the Museum and came home with us afterward. We had beef, chicken and shrimp and veggie Kabobs for dinner, and watched a Tinkerbell movie with popcorn and candies. :) The girls all got along well, and even didn't stay up TOO late! In the morning we had a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and Apple Enchiladas with homemade whipped cream. It was such fun to have a table full of GIRLS at this boy dominated household...even dad agreed! Next we prepared for the "party" and made 2 batches of brownies...one with Reeces peanut butter cups and one with crumbled heath bars. After a morning of playtime, the girls' families and our relatives all joined us for presents and the yummy desserts!

This summer, Libby and I had a little extra girl time with the boys off at Ground Crew Monday-Thursday. It was an adventure with just us and 3 babies, but we made it through and had a great time! Each week I plannrf a "long" outing and a "short" outing to meet up with friends. We made a few trips to the Zoo, Incredible Pizza, had her friend Lilly over, and hit the sprinkler park pretty much each week for some water play and a picnic.

Hopper collector...Libby found a love for collecting grasshoppers this summer. She has a small netted cage to keep them in and she makes sure to get them fresh grass, and even let them go after a few days. The funny thing is that the babies have all joined in with her. It is so cute to see them pulling grass to add to the cage! Although, Corban is convinced that a mosquito bite that he got was from a "hopper" we've tried telling him repeatedly that "hoppers" don't bite...but I don't think he believes us!

Libby helps around the house by being the Breakfast helper, Straitens the living room and vacuums after the babies go down for naps. She's starting to help Perry a bit with the kitchen clean up as well and does her own laundry.

Libby is on the Guts Kids Praise and Worship Team again this year. They learn songs with dance motions and get to be up on stage and help lead worship time.

Parker
STATS
11years and 355days old
4'8 3/4" tall
73lbs
Clothing Size 10-12
Shoe Size 6

This summer he moved up to JV class at church and attended Ground Crew and went to JV Camp with Perry for the first summer. He had a great time!

Parker helps around the house by being on Bathroom duty each week and is the daily lunch helper this year...he's been a great help in the kitchen preparing lunch and with clean up in the kitchen and dining area. Parker also does his own laundry!

What does Parker like to do...Play, Play and Play some more! He can have fun just running around outside, playing with plastic cowboys and indians or entertaining the babies. He really is such a great helper.

He has taken an interest in drawing has done some very nice work recently. He has a learn to draw book that he is learning from. He is also enjoying reading more for fun as well.

Parker's Birthday is just around the corner, we have the party with our family planned for Monday November 15th....just 9 days away!

Perry

13y and 6 months
5'6 1/2
97lbs
Clothing Size 14
Shoe Size 8

We have a TEENAGER in the house! Perry turned 13 in June. He celebrated the same as last year...taking cookie cakes so share with the kids at Ground Crew (a summer program for kids 6th-9th grade at our church).

Perry started serving in the "Walkers" (15m-2 1/2year old) class at church with me this year. He is such a great help and looks forward to serving every other week. This summer since my belly is starting to get in the way, I switched over to the nursery and Perry has stayed on in the Walkers room.

We had a family birthday party at the house and then everyone joined us at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, Mr. Mambo's, for lunch.

The past few months it seems that he grows taller every few weeks...as of today he currently stands 5'6 1/2...he passed me up earlier this summer and it looks as if he's now passed up Eric as well!

This summer Perry took on the task of "lawn mower" and kept the yard cut every week for us. It was such a blessing since Dad and fresh cut grass do not get along all that well. He's also my most thorough Kitchen helper. His daily task is to unload and load the dishwasher and when we have our "home blessing day" he cleans the kitchen from top to bottom! He also does his own laundry.

This year he was able to participate in the Nightmare outreach at our church. He helped behind the scenes as a "tech" and helped with the special effects...turning on the snow and dropping the light post in the car wreck room.

Perry and Clayt are still joined at the hip...Perry is such a great helper with him! I remember him saying how he wished Clayt was "his". I have overheard Perry talking about the great times they will have when he has his own place...wow! That was a scary thought, but I suppose when Perry is 25; Clayt will be 15....it will be awesome to see how their relationship continues to grow!