32.5 month / 11 month update

Here's a picture of our dynamic duo - but don't be deceived by their smiling faces. This month, they have been cooped up at home (neverending winter) and at each other's throats. The crying episodes and screaming matches are out of control. It's to the point where we can hardly leave them unsupervised for even a few minutes, for fear of someone really getting hurt. We sometimes catch Josiah pulling off her fingers when she's standing, swinging a toy a bit too close to her head, or simply trying to sit on her body. And Samantha isn't so innocent either - she grabs tufts of his hair, scratches his face, and kicks him. It's been an exhausting month of refereeing these squabbles and trying to be patient with explaining things to Josiah in the process. Thank God we have daycare during the day. While it was a tough process to get him acclimated, time apart and structured environments have been the best thing for everybody!

JOSIAH - 32.5 months

Josiah's been loving daycare. He makes a big spectacle about leaving in the morning.  He gives me, Maria, and Samantha hugs and declares that he's going to school with Daddy and going to be a good boy. While the teachers praise him for being very engaged and active, they also alluded to the fact that he tattles on other kids when they don't listen! Haha - little hall monitor. His main issue at school was being too scared to use the potty. However, after buying him a Thomas the Train potty seat, he's been at least agreeing to sit on it during school. But no action yet. So, some progress, but seems like we have a long way to go.

Josiah's still really clingy to me. He won't go to sleep alone and will only agree to go with Daddy if he thinks he's sad.  He's very sensitive to emotions and still says "I'm sad" like every other sentence. His bouts of jealousy have hit a peak as well. He gets really pouty when he sees us give Samantha too much attention. He constantly begs me to "hold me!" and pick him up. As much as I could use a good work out, it's killing me! Of course, when Samantha's not around, he agrees to walk.  And I don't know where he's learned this, but he often yells at Samantha in a stern, growly voice...like "Sa-man-taaa!" She, of course, screams right back.  It's amazing how sibling rivalry starts so early.

Another new thing these days is him walking out of his room in the middle of the night. It's so startling to wake up to his footsteps and little voice in the night. Lately, we've been singing to put him back to sleep that he's now learned to demand "sing song", with a special request for "how great" (is our God). As we've learned, he's very particular, and likes things a certain way during bedtime - his water bottle on the windowsill, his seahorse by his side, his blue blanket on him (my green blanket dare not touch him). Sigh.

Josiah's leaned out completely. I don't think he's gained even a pound this full year!  Just like Samantha, he's at the 20% percentile now. I still look at his baby pictures and gasp at the contrast. There's almost no trace of his rolls now! Part of it is due to him not eating as much. It's so hard to get him to eat, let alone give him any sort of healthy balance. I hate to admit it, but I still bribe with Youtube (Bob the Train or Pocoyo) to get him to eat. His loves are still strawberries, egg whites, and bread...and now orange juice! In fact, when he sees us eating something he likes, he yells out "sharing is caring!"

Multi-tasking

Developmentally he's doing great. He continues to rattle off new words everyday. He can name almost every shape (even parallelogram and trapezoid), knows colors and numbers in Spanish, and say a ton of funny phrases ("my goodness", "i got idea", "ready Freddy", "I superman and save the day") However, he's not as advanced with regards to physical coordination - probably my fault for coddling him so much! He still needs help feeding himself and picks at his food with his fingers (if not spoon fed by me). While he can spell his name, he can hardly trace the letters. Either he doesn't enjoy these things, OR he's already being reinforced to only enjoy the things he's good at. Maybe I'm reading too much into it already, but I'm hoping to foster a 'growth mindset' in him early on!

Overall, Josiah is doing well and going through the typical toddler motions, it seems. Most of the time, he's a delightful goof and knows how to make everyone around him laugh. He loves to "dance crazy"and make jokes and rhymes, mostly related to poopy diapers and stinky feet. As much as he can drive me nuts, he knows how to make me melt. Just today, he called me "Princess Mommy" :)

SAMANTHA - 11 months


Our gal is one month away from being a toddler! She seems ready to grow up and see the world for herself! She crawls so fast and tries to get her hands on absolutely everything, especially cell phones and power cords, of course. She can stand with support, and always has this look of fierce determination on her face as she tries to figure out her stance. We thought she may walk sooner than Josiah did, but she doesn't seem like she wants to take the risk now. Instead, she just screams until she gets what she wants :)

Speaking of screams, she is SO LOUD. She babbles up a storm and repeats "do do do do" with her lips out like a duck. But most of the time, she has varying degrees of yelling - ear-piercing pitch when she doesn't want to be in the crib, normal high pitch when she's yelling at Josiah, and a lower pitch when she's hungry. She will accompany these screams with fist pounding on the ground and dramatic flairs, like throwing her pacifier if it's not to her liking. Little diva!

Her food preferences keep changing too. While she continues to like Daddy's homemade creations, she's been eyeing our table food more and more. She loves whatever we give her from our plates. And now, she seems to prefer water over milk too. We are always afraid of over-feeding her, because she easily throws up (got that from her Dad!). Earlier this month, we had the craziest projectile vomit scene at a restaurant that you can imagine. Even Josiah was like "woah".

Samantha's got some new tricks! She can now wave (squeezes her palm toward herself), clap to "yay!" and blow kisses when we say "besito"! I love the look of pride on her face after these major accomplishments! She loves to show people too and seems to enjoy the positive attention she gets from it to. We catch her staring and smiling at people across the room. And just like Josiah, she loves music and will bop her head, kick her feet, and wave her hands to the music. At church, she will howl along to the songs too.

Our "Samantita" is small but mighty. I wonder how she will be when she starts walking! We have some major child-proofing to do!