An Apple A Day...

... doesn't keep the doctor away from scheduled visits!!

DJ and Elektra had their milestone appointments today: DJ's 2 year and Elektra's 6 month.

DJ weighed in at 28 pounds 12 ounces, 34.25 inches tall, and that equals out to about the 65th percentile. Clearly, he has slowed down and is starting to average out. His head circumference is 44.7cm.

That means he grew 1/2 an inch, put on a pound and a quarter, and his head grew 1.2 cm since his 18 month appointment.

Elektra weighed in at 17 pounds 12 ounces, 26.5 inches tall, and that puts her between the 75th - 80th percentiles. She has slowed down a little, too. Her head circumference is 42.5cm.

That means she grew an 1.25 inches, put on a 1.5 pounds, and her head grew 1 cm since her 3 month appointment.

To compare with DJ at his 6 month appointment, he was 19 pounds 13 ounces, 27.5 inches tall, and a had a head circumference of 44.7cm. Doing the math, he was 2 pounds heavier, an inch taller, and 2cm in head circumference. As the doctor said it today, "Viva la diference!"

Actually, the doctor said that in response to their behavior. DJ is very much involved in doing stuff whereas she wants to be involved with people. DJ, at 6 months, was crawling and sprouting his first tooth but not talking whereas Elektra is still only rolling over from back to belly (and that's it), sprouting her first tooth and talking up a blue streak.

But still... Viva la diference!

Both children are reaching appropriate milestones and are healthy. Elektra gets to have 2 solid meals a day now, and I can expand her palette, too. Bring on the peas and green beans (pureed, of course). DJ, well, we just get to fight the terrible twos food war. ;-)

DJ started saying "Bye Byes" (with an S) on Saturday! And he even combined a "Daddy bye byes" when we were leaving to go to the grocery store. This tells me that phrases will be coming soon as he starts to get his babbling under control.

DJ is also very boy. He received a new construction truck toy from his godparents and his cousin Eleni, and he insisted not only to take it to his room when it was time to get changed for bed, but he insisted on taking it to bed. When I went in to check on him before I went to bed, he was clutching it tightly in his hands. It was very cute.

Also this weekend, we noticed Elektra's first tooth is soooooooo close to breaking through. We can see it through the gum it's so close. She is gnawing on anything she can get her mouth on, particularly our fingers. She also ate a metric ton of food on Sunday. Growth spurt anyone??

Happy 2nd Birthday DJ!

DJ turned 2 years old today! Our toddler is now a preschooler... and has quite the stubborn/independent streak. ;-)

When we got to daycare this morning, Sonny and Eleanor started singing Happy Birthday to him. He wasn't quite sure what to make of all the fuss, but he was grinning from ear to ear nonetheless.

Happy Birthday Little Boy! We love you very much!

Items of note about the kids

Elektra has not only discovered her feet, but she's discovered that she can get her feet in her mouth! That happened this morning on the changing table!

Yesterday afternoon, DJ was "counting" soda 2 liter bottles... two, teee, two, teee (notice, there is no one or four, LOL). We got him to say 'four' once, but we'll have to wait awhile until we hear that again.

And today is Elektra's 6 month birthday! I can't believe it's been 6 months already... where has the time gone??

DJ's 2nd Birthday party

Yesterday, Steve and I threw a birthday party for DJ's 2nd birthday. The usual suspects were present (the grandparents, the Schrammies, Marty, the Doyles and Andy Leeds) plus some new ones! DJ's buddy from daycare, Grace, and her family came to celebrate with us! Yaay! She was in an adorable little pink dress with layers of ruffles, white tights, and patent leather shoes. She was adorable! What was hilarious was that DJ and Grace didn't even acknowledge each other for the first hour, as if they didn't recognize each other outside of daycare. Eventually, they figured it out. ;-) And baby Evan effectively slept through the whole party in Daddy's arms. I tried to give them a break by offering to take Evan for awhile, but Daddy bogarted the baby. Foiled again! LOL

DJ spent most of his party going up and down the deck stairs (like a big boy!), snatching Wheat Thins off the plate, swinging on his swing, and running around outside. He finally saw the presents in the living room, and promptly decided that they needed to be ripped open. Grace wanted to help, especially when she saw Thomas The Train stuff to be had! When DJ would open a gift of clothes, he'd scrunch up the tissue paper and fling the clothes behind him. If the gift was a toy, he'd want us to open it on the spot for him. How do they know at age 2?? Wow.

DJ got some cool presents, like the toddler-sized picnic table that Marty made for DJ, cardboard blocks that he loves to play with from Leo, and activity books from Grace. He also got lots of necessary clothes from various people as he's outgrown everything from last summer already!

We sang Happy Birthday for DJ and he got another handful of cake in the process of blowing out the candles. Once his hand got dirty, he didn't know what to do. So I put his fingers in his mouth which, at first, he didn't want to do, but then realized that it tasted good. We washed his hands and he had some cake. It wasn't long thereafter that he went down for a nap... he was beat!

Elektra was being passed around between the grandparents and my sister. At one point, Elektra got ahold of Papou's thumb and was chomping on it because clearly, someone else's thumb tastes better than her own... She also barely napped, as our little Social Bug insisted on being in the middle of all the racket at all times. She was wiped out by the end of the day!

It was a long day (got up at 6:30 to start cooking!), but it was worth it. DJ seemed to have a good time overall, except when Napoleon stole the cracker DJ was eating. To be fair, DJ dropped it, but DJ doesn't know the difference. We also broke a drawer in the kitchen and dog poop was tracked in the house from outside, but oh well. It was fun to have everyone over on such a nice day!

Elektra milestones

This past weekend, Elektra did a few things!

First, she rolled over the other direction... from left to right as opposed to her normal right to left. She still prefers right to left but if that path is "blocked", she will roll the other way.

She also started grabbing her feet! I know my mother loves this stage, so I hope she saw Elektra do it on Saturday when she and my dad babysat the kids.

The last thing she started doing is sucking on her lips. She'll get a good suction going and then POP! She lets go.

The weekend was GORGEOUS. The weather was as perfect weather can be. DJ and I were outside most of the weekend, and DJ would fuss if he had to come inside. He was exhausted from all of the activity; he took a 3.5 hour nap both Saturday and Sunday, slept 12.5 hours overnight and went to bed early on Sunday. Busy boys make for tired boys!

Weekend Update

And not with Kevin Nealy. I'm not nearly that talented.

First, DJ said "More" yesterday. We both heard him, but he didn't say it again the rest of the day. Today, when we were in the grocery store, he received a piece of cheese from the deli lady and asked for "More" which I rewarded with not just cheese but lots of praise and kisses. We practiced "More" at lunch and dinner as well as during post-dinner activities.

Meanwhile, Elektra started blowing raspberries today! She sat in her swing and blew raspberries at the tv for 20 minutes at one point. Right now, she's enjoying her exersaucer immensely and is beginning to become quite adept at it! We tried the Johnny Jump Up yesterday, but she wasn't so sure about that, even though she's been kicking her legs these days.

Marty came over last night for dinner and hung out with us. Otherwise, Steve and I did very little; it was nice to have a quiet weekend at home.