Little Sister is a part of our daily conversations around here. I can't remember exactly when it started, but seems like it's probably been almost a year. Jackson just talks so matter-of-factly about his little sister, it's kinda funny. Most of these comments are totally out of the blue, not even related to what he was doing at the time. None of them are initiated by me at all. Here's just a sampling of the comments from the past weekish:
-(Laying a pillow down on the floor in my room) When my little sister comes, she can sleep on this pillow on the floor.
-(As we're getting in the car) Mom? When my little sister comes, she can sit in that spot (pointing between the car seats) but then when my little brother comes later, we will have to get a bigger car.
-My little sister will like to run around and play chase with me when she gets bigger!
-But I don't waaant my little sister to break my train tracks! Why do babies like to break train tracks? Whyyy?
-Do you think my little sister will be shaped like Dad's sister?
-J: Mom? Is my baby sister in your tummy yet? me: Nope, no baby sister in my tummy yet. J: But why? I want there to be a baby sister in your tummy. Are you sad that there is no baby sister in your tummy?
-When my baby sister is born we will have to get another crib for her---no, I know! Didi's crib is big enough for two babies to sleep in it! They can share a crib!
-My baby sister doesn't know how to use the potty yet. She will just have to wear diapers.
-Maybe when we go to grandma's house we can get a baby sister!
And no, there really is no baby sister (or baby brother, for that matter) in my tummy yet. The way he talks about it, it is hard to not think that the next little Shirts would be a sister. I think we're going to have a rough time convincing him if it really isn't. Who knows, maybe he knows more than we do!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Five Years
As we enjoyed our dinner date for our anniversary this weekend, we tallied up some stats of the past five years:-We have lived in six different places: Canyon Terrace Apartments in Provo; three places in Orem: the condo, April Longhurst's home, and the Buttar's home; Stow, Ohio; and Apex, NC.
-We've had three different cars, but were a one-car family for the longest period of time.
-We've had two children.
-We've broken two glasses (see previous point.)
-We've had seven different couches/sets of couches...paying a grand total of $0 + $26 for couch covers.
-We have traveled together to 20 states, one district, and one province: Alabama, Arizona, California, D.C., Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virgina, Washington, and Wyoming; and Ontario, Canada
-696 blog posts: 7 after getting married on my old blog, 275 on For the Record, and this is 414 here on The Lucky Shirts.
-Earned an MBA (yes, this counts as a joint thing)
-We've visited 15 temples together.
-We've been through seven cell phones between us.
-We've had nine different jobs ...me: Dynamic City, Packet Front, and Utopia (all doing the same thing) and Mom; Jack: teaching Seminary, PilmerPR, MBA student, Goodyear, and Kellogg's.
It was fun to reminisce about our accomplishments and to try to predict what the next five years will bring---how many kids we'll have, places we'll live, cups we'll break, etc. Stay tuned to get the update five years from now.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Jackson's trip to the dentist
Jackson had his first (and overdue) visit to the dentist last week. The day before he went, he took a trip to the "Mom Dentist" at home. He lay down on the couch and I put a paper towel on his chest and then brushed and flossed his teeth for him. Afterward he chose a sticker. He thought it was great, and has asked to go to the Mom Dentist several times since.
Wednesday we went to the real dentist and he did great! He really was so cooperative and just went along with everything. First the hygienist had him brush the lion's teeth, then she showed him the tools she'd be using, then she did her stuff and Jackson was a great little patient! His teeth were kinda gross looking before we went, but they look great now! He chose play dough as his prize, and happily smushed it in with his other play dough when we got home.
He did have one little cavity that we took care of today...today's visit was a little less cheery, but he still did pretty well. We had only minimal arm restraining/comforting during the process and he was thrilled with his giant grasshopper prize.
See you November 7th, Dentist!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Strawberry Picking
Did you know North Carolina is the 4th largest strawberry-producing state? Now you do. We decided to get in on the strawberry picking and went to Buckwheat Farm last week. It had stormed mid-day, but I decided to risk the muddy fields and go that afternoon anyway because it was the last day of the $1/lb sale. They just asked that you pick out the mushy berries and toss them on the ground as you pick. It really wasn't muddy at all, but our shoes were plenty messy from the berries.
About halfway into our picking experience, he realized these were strawberries! ...He kept himself occupied without trying to sit on me for the rest of the time :)
Jackson told me his favorite part of the trip was "running far far away" from me down the row. He had a great time running back and forth...he never got too far away or out of sight, but for him I guess it felt like he was living on the edge :)
His second favorite part: sampling a few berries. He found one that kind of had a dent at the end rather than a point..."Look mom! It looks like a bum!" And later, "Look! It's a little bum one! Like my bum!"
Clayton's favorite part of the trip: Eating the strawberries. For the first while of picking, he was kind of fussy and wanted to sit on me while I was trying to pick berries. He stuck his hands in a few mushy ones and was turned off of having anything to do with these red things.
Jackson told me his favorite part of the trip was "running far far away" from me down the row. He had a great time running back and forth...he never got too far away or out of sight, but for him I guess it felt like he was living on the edge :)
We ended up getting about 8.5 lbs of berries, most of which I made into jam with some friends in my ward. I'm planning on going back some time to get more to make into fruit leather and dried fruit snacks.
18 months of Clayton
...a month late, but better than never! The pictures are from March-April.
I just love this little guy. Every time I look at him I just want to smoosh him. In a good way. Just an update on what he's up to these days...
Stats:
Weight: 24 lbs 7.5 oz, 30th percentile
Length: 32 1/4", 47th percentile
Head: 18 1/2", 28th percentile
He's wearing size 18m-2T clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 5 shoes.
-He loves to play. His favorites right now are cars, trains, balls, and animals. I guess he's a pretty typical toddler boy there.
-He loves to be outside. In our back yard (which is fenced in---so nice!) he spends his time throwing or kicking balls and then chasing after them or going up and down the little 2 or 3 inch step between the patio and the grass. He's just recently mustered up the courage to step down rather than stop, turn around, drop to hands and knees, go down feet first, then stand up with a grin. It was quite comical.
-If he escapes out the garage or front door, he runs straight for the street. Fortunately we live in a quiet cul-de-sac. He also likes to ride on the coaster car scooter, which he can finally do by himself. He loves Jackson's bike and always wants me to put him on there and ride him around.
-He is goofy! He does things just to make us laugh. He likes to tease.
-He likes things to be orderly. He closes the kitchen cupboards that I leave open. If the syrup/honey/ketchup lid is flipped open or the milk jug lid is off while we're at the table, he points and squeals and grunts until you close it.
-He's a good cleaner upper and likes to put things away--cars in the car container, blocks with the blocks, etc. He loves to unload the plastic plates from the dishwasher and hand them to me one at a time to put them away. If he sees me sweeping, he chases me around with the dust pan, ready to hold it while I sweep the pile in, and then he carries it to the garbage (with help) to dump it.
-He loves his big brother still. They usually get along pretty well, though they have moments of wanting the same toy, etc. Clayton has learned how to tease Jackson by grabbing a toy and holding it up while running away....wonder where he learned that from. They do play well together most of the time though.
-He'll go the fridge and "Uh! uh! uh!" for me to open it for him when he wants his milk. But he will not take his cup from me until I give him Jackson's cup and then he'll run off to take Jackson's cup to him and then come back and get his. It is cute and sweet, but often Jackson doesn't want his milk so it ends up causing a bit of a problem. (They have different kids of cups to keep the milk and soy milk straight. Clayton definitely knows which kind is his cup.)
-Clayton is a little rough physically. He likes to hit, grab faces, and tackle. We're working on that.
-He sleeps really well. Until about 17 months old, he was ready to go to bed at 6 or 6:30 every night. That was kind of hard to go anywhere in the evenings and hard because he'd be ready for bed when we were trying to eat dinner. Recently he's shifted to 7:30ish and we do most of the bedtime routine with Jackson now. Clayton naps from about noon-2:30 or 3 usually. I have just recently started laying him down when he's still awake for naps and it works most of the time. Don't know why I didn't try that sooner...he's always done it for bedtime.
-He loves to dance! We have dance parties almost every day. He turns on the cd player himself and goes to town. He thinks he has to push buttons between every song to make it go to the next one so he presses pause-play-pause-play-pause-play-pause-play until the next song starts. I'm ready for some new kids' cds.
-He's a pretty good eater and will usually eat pretty much anything. He loves oranges, apples, strawberries, broccoli, hot dogs, noodles, chicken, rice, scrambled eggs... he always takes his sandwiches apart before eating them.
-We're still avoiding milk/dairy for him. If he accidentally gets some he has an upset tummy and nasty diapers for several days after. Perhaps an improvement from throwing up?
-He is in nursery! He's gone for about 4 weeks now and does great. The first week I took him he hung out near me for a few minutes and then was drawn away by some cool cars and great nursery leaders and I snuck out. He's done great every week since.
-On Clayton's first week going to nursery I told Jackson that Clayton was going to go to nursery that week and Jackson was so excited for him! They held hands and walked down the hall and I took Jackson to Primary and then went to the nursery to take Clayton. In the car on the way home I listened in on their (one-way) back seat conversation..."Did you have fun in nursery today Clayton? Did you play with the swirly car ramp? That is a fun toy. And did you listen to the lesson? What did you have for snacks today?" It was just so cute to see Jackson acting as the experienced big brother. Nursery? I'm an old pro.
-At playgroup he usually sits on my lap for the whole time. By the end he'll venture out a bit to get a toy and bring it back to play by me. At music makers he sits right on my lap for the first part and then by the time we get to the run-around part he'll run and play with the bigger kids.
-He recognizes extended family members in pictures and gets excited to see them. I wish we lived closer to the Shirts side of the fam so he could know them better! It has been great to be able to see the West side so often.
-He still does not say any words, but he's starting to imitate new sounds and will copy them when we ask him to. He doesn't really give them any meaning though. I don't even know what to call it--not grunting or babbling--he mostly just says "uh! uh! uh!" and points if he wants something, or just makes tones up and down like he's talking but without any real consonants in there.
-He totally understands everything we say--sometimes when I'm not really even talking to him I'll realize that he's paying attention and following along. ex: I was saying something to Jack about the scriptures and Clayton took off to the bookshelf and got the Book of Mormon off the shelf and brought it to me. He follows directions well when we ask him to do something.
-He seems to understand most of what Jack is saying to him in Chinese, too. It is mostly the same words/phrases used every day, but he understands it--mom, dad, big brother, little brother, yes, no, ball, train, airplane, several animals, milk, soy milk, eat, drink, come here, sit down, stand up, brush teeth, give ___ a hug, fold your arms for prayer, etc. Tonight Jack would say a body part in Chinese and Clayton would point to it on the doll and did pretty well! Maybe the dual-language thing is why his speech is a little behind, but that's ok :)
-Clayton loves books! Some days he probably brings me 20 books to read. He'll often find a book and flip through the pages, looking at it and pointing to pictures by himself.
-He likes to sing, and often sings recognizable tunes, like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "I am a Child of God." When he wakes up in the morning he'll just chill in his crib, singing and talking to himself while I shower.
We love this little guy! He really is not a baby any more. It is so fun to watch him grow and learn new things and to see the ways he's like his big brother and the ways that he is his own little person. I'll keep him!
I just love this little guy. Every time I look at him I just want to smoosh him. In a good way. Just an update on what he's up to these days...
Stats:
Weight: 24 lbs 7.5 oz, 30th percentile
Length: 32 1/4", 47th percentile
Head: 18 1/2", 28th percentile
He's wearing size 18m-2T clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 5 shoes.
-He loves to be outside. In our back yard (which is fenced in---so nice!) he spends his time throwing or kicking balls and then chasing after them or going up and down the little 2 or 3 inch step between the patio and the grass. He's just recently mustered up the courage to step down rather than stop, turn around, drop to hands and knees, go down feet first, then stand up with a grin. It was quite comical.
-If he escapes out the garage or front door, he runs straight for the street. Fortunately we live in a quiet cul-de-sac. He also likes to ride on the coaster car scooter, which he can finally do by himself. He loves Jackson's bike and always wants me to put him on there and ride him around.
-He likes things to be orderly. He closes the kitchen cupboards that I leave open. If the syrup/honey/ketchup lid is flipped open or the milk jug lid is off while we're at the table, he points and squeals and grunts until you close it.
-He sleeps really well. Until about 17 months old, he was ready to go to bed at 6 or 6:30 every night. That was kind of hard to go anywhere in the evenings and hard because he'd be ready for bed when we were trying to eat dinner. Recently he's shifted to 7:30ish and we do most of the bedtime routine with Jackson now. Clayton naps from about noon-2:30 or 3 usually. I have just recently started laying him down when he's still awake for naps and it works most of the time. Don't know why I didn't try that sooner...he's always done it for bedtime.
-He's a pretty good eater and will usually eat pretty much anything. He loves oranges, apples, strawberries, broccoli, hot dogs, noodles, chicken, rice, scrambled eggs... he always takes his sandwiches apart before eating them.
-He is in nursery! He's gone for about 4 weeks now and does great. The first week I took him he hung out near me for a few minutes and then was drawn away by some cool cars and great nursery leaders and I snuck out. He's done great every week since.
-On Clayton's first week going to nursery I told Jackson that Clayton was going to go to nursery that week and Jackson was so excited for him! They held hands and walked down the hall and I took Jackson to Primary and then went to the nursery to take Clayton. In the car on the way home I listened in on their (one-way) back seat conversation..."Did you have fun in nursery today Clayton? Did you play with the swirly car ramp? That is a fun toy. And did you listen to the lesson? What did you have for snacks today?" It was just so cute to see Jackson acting as the experienced big brother. Nursery? I'm an old pro.
-He recognizes extended family members in pictures and gets excited to see them. I wish we lived closer to the Shirts side of the fam so he could know them better! It has been great to be able to see the West side so often.
-He totally understands everything we say--sometimes when I'm not really even talking to him I'll realize that he's paying attention and following along. ex: I was saying something to Jack about the scriptures and Clayton took off to the bookshelf and got the Book of Mormon off the shelf and brought it to me. He follows directions well when we ask him to do something.
-He likes to sing, and often sings recognizable tunes, like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "I am a Child of God." When he wakes up in the morning he'll just chill in his crib, singing and talking to himself while I shower.
We love this little guy! He really is not a baby any more. It is so fun to watch him grow and learn new things and to see the ways he's like his big brother and the ways that he is his own little person. I'll keep him!
Friday, April 13, 2012
A little too quiet?
This morning we were playing downstairs when Jackson wanted a game from the closet upstairs. He went up with me and I got a game down for him and he went into his room to play with it. I switched a load of laundry and was folding clothes and then thought I should check on Clayton downstairs. He wasn't driving cars on the table in the family room like he had been when I went up. I glanced around downstairs and didn't see him at first, and then I found him. He was under the dining room table, picking up dried noodles and throwing them in the garbage.
Maybe I should leave him alone more often!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
...all of that is really beside the point, but now you have the background.
Dinner time. Jack dishes out the said Hamburger Helper onto Jackson's plate as I put swirly noodles on Clayton's plate.
Jackson: I don't waaaaaaaaannnnt these noodles! I want swirrllyyyy noodles like Clayton.
Jack: Mom made this dinn... (maybe realizing that I didn't really slave over dinner, or maybe just deciding not to battle it out) ...Try again.
Jackson: Can I please have some swirly noodles please?
*gets swirly noodles*
we eat. Jack leaves. Jackson and Clayton finish off the swirly noodles and then Jackson wants more.
Me: Sorry bud, they're all gone. But you can have some of these macaroni noodles with the cheese on them.
Jackson, in a super excited voice: Macaroni and cheese?! Really?! I always wanted some earlier this day!
*I dish it out for him, and he takes a bite*
Jackson: Mmmm!! Why is this so yummy? Whyy? I really like these noodles, mom!
...ok, so this story was way better and actually had a point in my head, but now you have it anyway...
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Clayton's 15 month stats
Clayton's stats from his 15 month check-up:
Weight: 22 lbs 3.5 oz, 18th percentile
Length: 30.5 inches, 31st percentile
Head: 18.25 inches, 28th percentile
Weight: 22 lbs 3.5 oz, 18th percentile
Length: 30.5 inches, 31st percentile
Head: 18.25 inches, 28th percentile
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