Well, once again, it has been over 2 months since my last post. Life has been continuing to keep us busy, as is expected with a 3 and 1 year old.
Avery is now 3 and almost 3 months. She has always been our agreeable girl - we never experienced the "terrible two's", but during the last couple of months, she has definitely entered the "testing threes." She has decided that she has opinions and preferences and when they are not met, as she sees fit, she is not afraid to express her disappointment. It usually shows up in the form of crying and whining, and occasionally collapsing in a pitiful heap on the floor. It's all very dramatic, but that's not surprising, as she has always had a dramatic "flair."
However, she continues to be our happy (for the most part), overall wants to please Mommy and Daddy, and mostly sweet older sister. She continues to go to dance class once a week, and is getting better at not being easily distracted by her classmates. I'm crossing my fingers that she actually participates at this spring's recital.
She loves to play with her baby dolls most of the time, busily putting them to bed and feeding them, and asking Mommy to help her wrap them up or put them to bed. And occasionally, she prefers to be called "Mommy," instead of "Avery." She is getting good at praying at meals and at bedtime, making sure to bless her friends and family and praying for gentleness towards Evelyn.
Evelyn is almost 16 months. At her 15 month appointment, she was 20 pounds, 1 ounce and 32 inches tall. Although skinny like her sister, she is not such a peanut anymore, as she has shot up the charts in height! She's even taller than Avery was at her age. She got 3 shots at her appointment and cried for about 5 seconds and then was totally over it. She's a tough cookie.
She loves playing with whatever her older sister is playing with, which drives Avery nuts. She is also in a stage of being incredibly rough. Mostly with friends that are her size or smaller (including small babies). We are working on getting her to understand her own strength, as even when she is hugging, she is squeezing as hard as she can. Anyone who knows Evelyn can attest that she is freakishly strong. She has also started hitting, although I think she thinks she is patting. It's just plain smacking. I'm worried that soon she won't have any friends!
She likes to pray, finishing with an emphatic "Amen!" She is obsessed with books and if given the chance, she'll grab one and back herself up onto a willing lap, exclaiming, "Buh!" It's hard to say no to that! She is still a little dare-devil, constantly finding things to use as stools so she can reach things she's not supposed to and climbing things like bookshelves and the back of the couches. She is steady on her feet, though, so she rarely gets hurt. When she does get hurt, she rarely cries about it. She likes to count to "free." A month ago, she said nothing but "no," but now, she loves to respond to questions with a sweet little, "Yeah" and a nod of her head. She is going through the normal separation anxiety that is typical at this age, which drives me crazy, as I can't be out of her sight without her screaming. She has pulled the long fence out of the concrete basement wall for the second time.
We have moved both girls' bedtimes to 8:00, as this way, they sleep until about 7:00 am, which is much more doable for Stephen and I. Before 7:00, we are just zombies and grumpy. With them getting up a little later than 6:00, I can actually get up before them and shower and eat breakfast and the day starts much more functional. I have learned that kids' schedules are constantly changing and needing to be adjusted. Especially when they are so young. Avery still naps every day, but they can't be in their room together for naptime, so she naps on the playroom couch. For the most part, she does go to sleep. Evelyn has been napping just once a day for a few months already, but I recently got her to stretch until noon. The past couple of days, she has napped for two and a half hours, which is amazing. I'm hoping it becomes the norm.
Even though they are so skinny, they both want to eat every two hours throughout the day. Needless to say, I am tired of preparing food! I feel like I'm constantly in the kitchen, making snacks and cleaning up.
Their favorite "shows" right now are Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Curious George, and Cinderella. We will be canceling our cable in a couple of months (after basketball season is over), so I'm learning how to stream things. It's pretty slick. We should have canceled cable a long time ago.
All in all, things are good with us! I will not look back on these days and miss all the screaming and fighting, but I'll try to remember how sweet both girls can be, and how their curiosity and innocence makes them so cute. God has truly blessed us with our babies.
