Just So You Know...

Ev and Pax, I look through our pictures on my phone every night before I go to sleep. You know, when I was a kid we didn't take pictures everyday, we had to wait for film to be developed, AND if we didn't capture the moment just right we had to live with bad pictures because the moment was waaaay gone. Can you imagine??? Oh and we also didn't have cameras in our phone...or phones in our pocket. But that's another story for another day.

A Sampling of Our Favorite Everett Words

 

p.s. He must have gotten ketchup from the sound the bottle makes.  :)  Funny kid. 

Ev and J's Day of Pfun!

Tuesday when I took Pax to the clinic, my friend, Aida (she lives in Pflugerville, so fun becomes pfun and means it was extra fun), was generous enough to let me drop Everett off for the morning. Her son, Julián, is Everett's best buddy, and Everett was incredibly excited to spend this time with him. These boys are born a few days apart and have known each other all their two years of life.  The great thing about Everett and Julián is that though Ev speaks English and J speaks Spanish they understand each other perfectly.  Better than we do I'm sure.  Here's a fun example of how their speech merges.  Everett used to call dogs "bark bark", and Julián calls big dogs "vaca", which is "cow" in Spanish.  Now Everett calls dogs "baca".  haha! 

Well, referee Aida did a fantastic job.  As you can see, the boys played beautifully together though she tells me there was one fight that was also documented.  I haven't seen the footage, but I do believe it.  haha!  There were an abundance of incredibly adorable pictures, some of which are below.  (I had trouble selecting just a few. ;) 

Moving in!

They look like they could be brothers, right?

Little engineers at work.

If you know how toddlers play, you know this is an amazing display of the very difficult concept of SHARING!

Pax Cute

I took the boys to a baby shower for some dear friends on Sunday.  Ever since then, Everett has been looking at Pax and saying "Pa Cue".  Translation: Pax [is] cute.  Haha!  He must have heard a lot of people saying that.  He isn't bothered by it or jealous.  He says it endearingly and with a sweet smile.  I keep assuring him that Everett is cute too.  I should say "Ev Cue".  :)  I try to get him to say "Mama Cue", but so far I got nothin'.  haha!

Swings

It's amazing what 19.5 months will do!

Our Quest for a Round Head

Yesterday I took Paxton in for evaluation of his head shape.  He has brachycephaly, or flat head syndrome.  This is pretty common now since kids are put to sleep on their backs to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Hey, flat head is better than death!  The treatment can be a helmet to help reshape the head, but it looks like that's not recommended by the clinic we went to until 6 months (he is 4.5 mo).  In the meantime, he gave me a whole bunch of impractical advice such as putting him on his stomach to sleep and sit and watch him during the nap at first.  Um yea, not really an option as I have a two year old (which he didn't ask about before giving these great tips).  And when I brought up that he will not relax on his stomach and lay his head down, rather he only cries harder and harder, his response...that I'm not letting him cry long enough (he did not ask how long I let him cry) and that Pax would eventually lay his head down and fall asleep.  No thank you!  I'd rather not upset my child into exhaustion to have him plop his head face first into a mattress and fall asleep.  I'm pretty positive that this guy doesn't have kids or that if he does he had very little to do with raising them.  He said some other pretty ridiculous things and didn't ask anything about what we've already done.  He had no idea he was talking to a healthcare professional married to another healthcare professional and that I could tell what a poor job he was doing. .

So I'm upping our already in place efforts to keep him off the back of his head.  My goal is very little use of the bouncer and swing, and trying to limit the carseat as much as practical.  When he can roll both ways more proficiently, he will naturally start sleeping on his stomach.  And if not, that would be the appropriate time to encourage him to do so.  I use baby carriers often.  We got a Bumbo, which is a special chair that helps him sit before he can actually sit on his own.  So far, Pax will sit in it for a little bit, but Ev spends most of the day plopping in and out of it and crawling around with it stuck to his butt.  He's obsessed with it.

My back feels like it's about to break from carrying Pax all day.  Paxton, when you're old enough to read this, and if you have a nicely shaped head, know that massages would be good Mother's Day presents from you.  And while I'm at it, Everett, it's pretty hard lifting your 30 lb self into and out of the car, crib, bathtub, etc.  So you can buy me massages too.  ;)

Everett's 2-year Stats

Ev went to the doctor today for his 2 year well check.  All is well, and he was very brave.  Here are his stats.

Height: 37" - 98%tile
Weight: 29lb 2 oz - 60-75%tile
Head: 49cm - 50-75%tile

If you go by the old approximation that his final height will be twice his two year old height, then he is predicted to be 6'2"!  So hard but amazing to imagine him an inch taller than Eric someday.  :)

Two Years of Immense Love

Happy Birthday to our sweet Everett!  It's hard to believe it was two years ago that you entered our lives.  Time goes too fast.  What's even more amazing is how our hearts know no limits when it comes to love.  Just one of the amazing things you taught us immediately.

Everett, you are TWO!  And you are:

-SMART!  You find ways to play with your toys that I would have never thought of.  Yesterday you used a straw to aid in stacking blocks that have a hole in them.  You can remember where you put something days ago.  You are learning words at a rapid pace now and can retain words told to you just once.  My absolute favorite thing you are doing right now is saying a prayer, "O God guide me" before bed.  You repeat after me or Dad, and often instead of repeating you say the next word.  Most of the words are intelligible to only God Himself, but in your defense they are big words.  And God is the only one who really has to understand anyway.  I'm going to put that on video soon.  :)

-FUNNY!  You say really funny things.  You love to laugh.  You love to make Paxton laugh. You are a generally very happy guy.

-CARING!  You hold Sophie (giraffe teether) in Pax's mouth to help him chew on it.  You are sharing your toys with him now.  You softly rub his hair.  Lately you say "hold Pax!" a lot, which means you want to hold him, and which makes Pax laugh and smile.  Today as Pax was crying, protesting his nap, I found you camped outside his door quietly playing with one of your toys.  Also, you recently found a stuffed bear and pig and have been carrying them around, feeding them, putting them to sleep, pushing them down the slide, etc. 

-HELPFUL!  You like to put things back where they belong.  You like helping me clean, wiping things off with a rag, putting trash in the trash can, and trying to sweep.  You hand me things I need for Pax, like the burp rags.  You and Paxton share a bath now, and you enjoy helping bathe him.

-You're normal too.  You have tantrums.  You don't always listen.  You love cookies.  You know, normal two year old stuff.  :) 

We love you SO much and are really enjoying watching you grow up.  Happy birthday Everett!

These are some pictures from his best buddy Julian's birthday party this past weekend (Halloween hence the cowboy costume).

Loving getting buried by Dad at the dino pit