Jane Clare...I Still Care

I've been feeling really bad that I didn't keep up with the blog for Jane Clare like I did for Crawford.  I just knew I wouldn't be that mom that let the second child's life not get documented.  I guess I was wrong.  So, in an effort to make me feel less guilty I'll give an update on what is going on with her right now.

She is two years and four months old!  She weighs about 33 pounds and is 37 inches tall (same height Crawford was when he was three).  She talks a lot!  She is getting pretty good about knowing all of her colors, currently pink is the favorite!  She is busy, busy, busy!   I don't know how many people have asked me if she ever walks or just runs!  Mainly she just runs!  And she is FAST!!  She is very independent and would much rather "do it myself" than let anyone else help.  This goes for getting in her carseat, buckling her car seat, getting dressed, getting her diaper, getting and buckling her high chair, etc.  It makes me laugh that she wants to do it all herself and Crawford who is 5 1/2 would much rather me do it for him!  Along with being independent a bit of bossiness is coming out.  She told a friend at school the other day, "worry about yourself!'  She constantly lets Crawford know what he can and can't do and loves to cross her arms these days and shout "I am not!!"  As frustrating as the "do it myself" phase is she is still so sweet and loving!  She loves to give hugs and kisses and snuggle.  When anyone comes home these days, she runs to us and screams, "you back!!  Yay!" She definitely makes you feel loved!

She...
Sucks her thumb
Takes a two-three hour afternoon nap
Loves the beach
Loves fruit - strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, pears
Loves Tacos
Loves Paw Patrol and Bubble Guppies
Loves the color pink
Loves school
Thinks her brother hung the moon
Has all of her teeth
Played in the snow for the first time in Vail
Loved going to Mardi Gras
Likes to pray on our way to school - "Can we talk to God"
Refuses to keep a bow or rubber band in her hair

Parenting Jane Clare at this moment is a bit of a challenge but I pray she never changes!  She has this confidence and free spirit that I could only dream of having and I hope she doesn't lose it, even if it makes my life more difficult!

Full of Questions

Crawford, Jane Clare and I spend a lot of time in the car going to swim lessons, tennis camp, speech and occupational therapy, karate camp, school, the park and who knows where else!  There's not much singing and dancing going on in this car, mainly just talking.  I am amazed daily at Crawford's brain and the number of questions it can produce; I barely have time to answer (or try to answer) one before it's on to a new one!  My brain and ears are exhausted but I sure love listening to him learn about this big world around him!

Here's what I answered this morning during about a two mile drive:

When can we go in the swamp?
Why do we need the right kind of boat to go in the swamp?
What does beautiful mean?
Is John's the longest neighborhood you know?
How do roller coasters go really fast?
How fast does Poppie's little car go?  Like 180?
When can we get a four door jeep?
Did you see that tractor on the road?  That's crazy!!
Can you go one mile per hour?
Is anybody behind us?
I'm bigger than that kid, right?  How old does he look?
Why is there a bench there?  Why is there only one?
Can we hang out here for a bit?
When does Jane Clare...trails off
Is that lipstick or pink paint on your lips?

Phew!!  As exhausting as it can be I love that he want's to know EVERYTHING he possibly can.  I pray daily that his teacher this year will have the patience and stamina to continually nourish his little mind!  Never change, little boy!!

Jane Clare - 17 Months

Happy 17 Month Birthday to you!!  I'm no better at blogging with you than I was for your brother, although I wish I was.  Your personality is really starting to show these days...mostly good things, but boy do you like to get your way!!  You have just recently begun a love affair with buckling straps on your highchair, car seat and stroller.  You spent hours at the beach last month trying, and a few times successfully, hooking the straps on your highchair.  This has turned into wanting to do it EVERYWHERE!!  It has certainly made getting you in and out quite the challenge!

We spent two weeks at the beach in May and you loved the Gulf, just as much as your brother!  And had zero fear running straight into those waves.  You also enjoyed walking down the beach and stopping to stare at others on the beach.  I never thought you would tan, but you got quite a bit darker while we were there.

Anytime any music comes on you start to dance.  This mainly consists of spinning around and around!  You have quite the high pitch scream, going.  Daddy is praying you learn to tone this down, sooner than later!

You and Crawford still really love each other, although I am beginning to have to tell y'all to stop taking toys from the other and to be sweet.  You want to do everything he is doing, which I think might mean you are going to be a bit of a tom boy, but time will tell.  As of right now getting you to keep a bow in your hair, is next to impossible!

I thought from the first year of your life that you wouldn't be as busy as Crawford, but that is not proving to be the case!  You are busy, busy, busy! Diaper changes are not very fun right now.

You still really love your momma, but are warming up to others.

You still like to eat, but are really loving fruit of any kind right now!  Chicken, not so much.

You can show us where your hair, eyes, nose, mouth, belly, hands and toes are, most of the time.

You are talking more and more each day.  Some of the words you say a lot are:

da da
mama
nana for nanu
poppa for poppie
hot
dude for juice
nite nite
is it for where is it
me
mine
caw caw for crawford
ga ga for thank you
pank for spank
get it
cup
towel for paper towel or napkin
toes
eyes

Can't wait to hear what you have to say next!!  We love you so much!!

CrawfordISM's

Crawford has been in speech therapy for about 15 months now and as happy as I am that we are really making some progress I am really sad he is starting to say some words correctly.  My baby boy is really growing up!!  He's now started calling his sister by her real name, Jane Clare, instead of Jane Chair.  And now he wants to eat a steak for dinner not a snake.  He's still honnrry for pampakes though!  Thank goodness all of my favorites aren't gone...just yet!

Mardi Gras 2015

What a fun weekend!!  I really was beginning to think I had lost my mind bringing Crawford and Jane Clare to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but it turned out to be a blast!!  Crawford is just like his momma and loves to catch some beads!  And boy did he catch.  Tinsley said she only dreamed of catching all of the stuffed animals and swords that he caught this weekend.  Both kids were amazing despite late nights and short or no naps.

Friday night was pretty low key with dinner at Tommys and a few floats from Hermes on our walk back to the hotel.  Saturday morning we got up and headed back to the Windsor Court from Tins'.  We hung around the hotel and then watched Iris and Tucks, followed by Endymion.  It was wonderful that all of the parades came right in front of the hotel except Endymion.  The crew including Crawford, Daddy, Nanu, Poppie, Tin Tin, Ms. Aunt Jean, Uncle Phil and Carter walked over to St. Charles and caught tons and tons of beads.  Jane Clare and mom went up to the room for her to get some rest!  Tin Tin and Crawford were a hit as they came back with so many fun beads and toys!  Our night ended a bit differently than expected... Dave failed to let Tinsley know that he was hit by a car while riding his bike TWELVE hours earlier!!  Thank goodness he was still alive, a hurt shoulder and possible broken arm, but still alive!  I commend him for not wanting to ruin everyone's fun, but good Lord!

Sunday, we did a lot of fabulous eating!  Brunch at Muriels and dinner at Luke!  Dinner was especially  delicious!  In between brunch and dinner we caught more beads at Okeneos and Thoth!  Crawford was pretty pooped and getting pretty whiny, but luckily took a power nap on my lap during Thoth...slept straight through the bands and the screaming people!  Everyone was pretty tired after dinner but we waited around for Bacchus and caught some beads, but Crawford had had enough...fell asleep on Tin Tin this time.  So, we got the car and headed back to Tin Tin and Uncle Dave's for some rest!

I loved Mardi Gras as a kid and am so glad Crawford did too!  Jane Clare liked the people watching and dancing to the bands!  Mardi Gras 2015 is a wrap!  I think we might all be recuperating for a while after so much fun and so many late nights!

Crawford - The Last Five Months

Crawford,

I am happy to say that as I write this you are doing wonderfully!  You're listening and overall behavior has been much improved this year!  You have been on green at school all year and have been a really good kid at home too.  We started using a magnet chart that Nanu and Poppie got you for Christmas and that seems to be working well.  Currently, the areas of focus are: no whining, no bad language (this includes baby talk), bed time routine, keeping hands to yourself, doing homework, pick up toys and saying please and thank you.  If you got all but seven magnets each week you get a prize!  So far you have gotten to build a bird house and a locker.  This week you get to plant your garden with Poppie if you keep up the good work!

You are making huge progress at speech therapy and have mastered your K and G sounds.  You are back working on your T,D,N and W sounds.  It won't be long and we won't be going to "new school" anymore.

I just dropped off your application to Our Lady of Mercy yesterday!  It took mom and dad a while to decide which school was going to be best for you, but we finally made a decision and you get to go to the same school as daddy!  I can't wait to see what big boy school has in store for you!

You are still hilarious and we never know what you might tell or ask us!

You are pretty average in size - 3'5'' (60%) and 37 pounds (56%)

You had your first job on January 10th walking "Memmy" for Nanu and Poppie and got paid $2.00.  You love to talk about all of the jobs you are going to have when you get older and how much money you will have.  You constantly tell us, we won't need to worry, that you'll have enough to share!  You are currently saving your money to buy a truck and wood for your building job.

We sure do love you!!

Jane Clare - The Last Five Months

Why is it so hard to consistently write?  A lot has happened since Crawford's 4th Birthday...

Since September, Jane Clare had her First Christmas, her First Birthday and is walking/running all over!  Since I'm not going to write on each event here's a list of what's happened and when it all happened with her.

September 17 - Top Two Teeth Came In
September 18 - Started Pulling up on the coffee table

October 2 - Two more top teeth came in; tried little bites of banana
October 15 - Crawling with tummy off of the ground and walking around objects; can stand by herself for a second
9 Month Check-Up - 28.74 inches long (83%); 22 pounds 10 ounces (94%); 45.7 centimeters around head (89%)

December 1 - Taking one to two steps
December 15 - Taking seven, eight, nine steps

January 6 - Happy Birthday baby girl!!  This last year has been so much fun with you!  You are the sweetest baby!  You currently have eight teeth, say daddy, night night and no-no!  You still love your momma and would much rather be held by her, unless your Nanu is around.  You really like her too!! You love to dance when music comes on, generally moving your arms up and down - raise the roof!  You love to give hugs to your stuffed animals and sometimes your family!  Slobery, open mouth kisses are your specialty.  So far, you are very calm and patient and rarely fuss.  You play wonderfully by yourself and thankfully you still love your sleep.  You sleep about 12 hours at night (7:00 PM - 7:00 AM) and take two 1-2 hour naps a day.

We gradually switched you off of your formula and you did great!  And you made the transition from bottles to sippy cups very easily!  Thank goodness!  You love your food and eat three meals a day with milk and some water with a splash of apple juice throughout the day.  So far, the only thing you don't really like are mashed cauliflower and mashed potatoes!  You LOVED your birthday cake!

January 27 - One Year Check Up - 29.921 inches long (68%); 24 pounds 3 ounces (87%; 46.4 centimeters around head (81%).

Please stop growing so fast!!

Happy 4th Birthday

This past year has been an extremely fun (and challenging) year with you, Crawford!  At your core you are kind hearted, caring and loving and I so hope that you never loose those wonderful qualities that make you, YOU!

• You always want to do things as a family
• You are constantly telling Jane Clare how pretty she is
• When asked who your best friend is, it's usually Jane Clare
• You wished (in a fountain in Duke Garden) for Nanu not to be sad about Granny dying
• You also wished for Granny
• You made Granny a card with tape to bring to her grave
• You saved some of your hair, after a haircut, for Tin Tin because a few weeks before, she asked if she could have some of your hair because it was so thick and pretty.

You are funny!

• You told me you thought I was going crazy when I turned up the radio and started singing and clapping
• But you love to "crank up" the music in daddy's car and listen "big brother music"
• You wish Poppie had a pig at his house
• "Oh, Man!" is your saying of choice when something goes wrong right now
• And you love to call everyone a silly goose
• You call Jane Clare "Jane Chair"
• You always want mommy or daddy to tell you a story at bedtime - has to be one from our lives and one you haven't heard, "in a long, long time."

You love to help!

• With Anything
• Cook
• Sweep
• Put diapers in the garbage
• Take the garbage out
• Put clothes away

You want to be an excavator driver, a bobcat driver, a pressure washer, a digger and a builder right now.  You are promising that you are going to build me and daddy our next house.  So far you've asked what we want it built out of and what color we want it painted.

You enjoy your routine.  You started speech and occupational therapy this year and that is going well.  You are working on your K and G sounds as well as T, D, N and W.  You have made great progress since starting in February!!

Some funny stories I don't want to forget:

• We were talking about big boy school and how you would go when you were almost five and I told you I was going to cry because you are getting too big.  Your sweet response, "Mom, that's what happens.  Don't cry silly goose; everyone grows up!
• One of your favorite subjects to discuss right now is God and heaven - you said you didn't want to go to heaven when you died, you would rather stay in your house because it would be too busy up there...it will be wild with all of those people.
• You also wanted to know on a beautiful, sunny day how the people in heaven weren't falling down, since there weren't any clouds to hold them up!
• You love to have "sitting time" on daddy's lap before bed time every night!

You are one wild and crazy, all boy, sweet, wonderful, handsome four year old!  We never knew we could love someone so much!!!  Happy Happy Birthday!