Update on the Kids

The kids are growing way too fast for my liking! 

Anna will be 14 months old this weekend. She's not walking yet, but loves to push her walker all over the house. She loves to pull up on everything and uses my hands to pull her up in the middle of the room. She loves her babus. She only gets a paci at bedtime and naptime and we leave her main one in the crib during the day. She throws him back in there after she wakes up and says Bye Bye Babu. It's so funny. She always laughs at herself.  If I leave my diaperbag on the floor or chair, she'll pull down the paci purse where I keeps spares for roadtrips and will pull them out. I tell her to put them back and she does, sometimes.  She is talking non-stop! Her new favorite is ready, set, go when going down the slide. She loves to say shoes and put them on.  She is such a happy child. Her laugh and kisses are the best! She still makes her duck face when she wants kisses. It's usually first thing in the morning, then after she's eaten dinner.  She calls David "Day Day" and Pres "Pres Pres." She adores them both. She's the sweetest little girl! I'm so glad I get to spend all day with her!

 Such big kids! 

 We went to the USO Sesame Street Experience this week. It was such a cute show with all the Sesame Street characters. The kids loved it. They high-fived the characters, danced and jumped their hearts out. Anna screamed "HI Elmo" the entire time and waved at him. 

 David loved the toys they passed out.

 Clapping to the music. I am so grateful for events like this. The kids look so forward to it and are so entertained. 

 David is almost 3. He has grown by leaps and bounds these past few months. Completely potty trained and doing wonderfully with all that. He is talking so much and really soaking in a lot. The other day before Presley started school I was asking if she remembered her teacher's name. While she briefly hesitated, David said, "Miss B." He just soaks in everything, even when we're not speaking directly to him. He can be such a clown. He loves to make us all laugh. He loves to play soccer and have me and Cameron play trucks or cars with him. He's very into construction equipment and can name any piece of equipment we pass while on the road. He checks out 10 books, usually all about construction equipment, trucks, boats or trains from the library every week. He also gets a Thomas DVD every single time. At bedtime, he always adds on to his prayers to pray for each of us in the family, and has started including Samantha too. He then tries to delay me leaving and grabs my arm and says, "I want to keep you all night." He's such a nut. Whenever I can't understand what he's saying, Presley can usually interpret his little language for him. He still has a huge appetite. His favorites lately are granola bars, apple sauce, any form of noodles, and tacos. He also loves Honey Nut Cheerios in the morning and wants to eat as soon as he wakes up. He still naps once a day, but usually gets woken up when it's time to get Presley from school.  He loved telling Mal about his new school. He hit all the high points- "Mallie there's two airplanes, there's lots of toys, there's a playground right outside my room with a tunnel I can hide in and no one can find me and there's a potty right in my room." So funny the things he picked up from our tour. He's so big, all of a sudden. I don't know when he went from my little baby to this happy, sweet little boy. I'm so proud of him and excited to watch him grow and make new friends of his own.

I took him and Anna to a new park the other day before we went to my stroller fitness class. He loves to be outside. I can't wait for the cooler weather so we can enjoy all the parks on post.

Anna and I enjoyed the playgroup and all the fun toys they have while the older two were at school.

My sweet, sweet Presley. I cannot believe how grown up she is. She reminds me of myself so much. She gets shy and a little nervous when there's a lot of other kids running around. She's shy to make friends, but I'm so proud of her for being so brave at school. She's done so well opening herself up. She's made two really good friends. She definitely looks forward to routine in her class and loves having the structure of school. She's been so excited for school and her new ballet class. She's very smart and I know she will do so great.  She's so sweet with David and Anna. She loves to "mother" both of them. She takes great care of Anna while I get stuff done and she's always helping David by turning on the sink water, helping him find a toy he lost... anything. She even watches Thomas with him and will push her DVD for later if he wants to watch it. She's such a gentle, thoughtful little kid. Her prayers at nighttime are the sweetest. She always prays for Cameron if he's in the field and all the other soldiers. This is the first move where I really worried how she'd adjust since she experienced so much change so quickly- moving, new house, starting kindergarten and Cameron being gone right off the bat. She's handled it all really well. She's always on her best behavior and tries to help me. The other day when she could tell I was tired, she surprised me by cleaning up the playroom and the kitchen tupperware Anna had pulled out. She's such a sweetheart and I couldn't be prouder! Loving on sweet Cobalt.