At 15 months, Evan is 27 lbs and 32.5 inches tall. Both are 80th percentile, which doesn't concern me but will be something I keep my eye on as he had been closer to 95th. His appetite has been down for so long due to ear infections, teething, and increasing pickyness, that I'm not really surprised he isn't gaining a ton of weight. Of course there's also the fact that he's a big walker now and burning off the few calories he's eating!

So I listed 4 things about Noelle, but can I list 15 about Evan for how many months he is? I'll keep them short.

1. When he's tired, he lays his head on our shoulder and tucks in his hands.

2. He's a man of few words, mostly signing "more" and pointing at things.

3. He has said mama, dada, dog, Duncan, go, tickle, baby, down, and car. Maybe some others, but although he HAS said them, he doesn't use them often.

4. He takes one nap a day.

5. It's getting better, but he still doesn't usually sleep all night.

6. While I'm getting ready in the morning, he paces back and forth between Andy's closet door and the bedroom door, opening and closing each a few times.

7. He loves to scrunch up his face and squeeze his hands together (see picture) real tight, then let go and laugh. Andy calls it his first joke. 

8. He loves playing with Noelle

9. The foods he will eat any time are banana, yogurt, cheese, raisins, crackers, and our most recent discovery, snap peas.

10. He is smiling and laughing almost all the time, but that boy can throw a tantrum!

11. He doesn't care to watch tv yet, except for the theme songs to Noelle's shows. Loves them.

12. He will crawl up in my lap and hand me a book to read.

13. His favorite toys are things he can put in other things, like his plane with balls that you push through the top or his blocks that came in a container.

14. The boy gets hurt all. the. time! Crashing into this or that, pinching fingers, falling on his face, it never ends.

15. This boy loves his mama, and his mama loves him. Whenever he sees this picture he buries his head in my shoulder and smiles.

So I promised some updates after Noelle's check ups, and I'm finally getting around to it. Last Thursday she went to the dentist for the second time, and she did great. She went back all by herself, and the Dentist told me she was so well behaved. She got to pick out a toy, and was thrilled with her new toothbrush and floss. So far, she has no fear of the Dentist, and hopefully it stays that way! Our Dentist names all her tools, like "Mr. Thirsty" for the saliva sucker and "Mr. Counter" for the pointy thing they use to check your gums.


Noelle did great at her well visit with the Doctor, also. The picture below was taken as we walked out the door to the appointment. She dressed herself, doesn't she look sassy? She is 43 inches tall, which is 97th percentile for girls her age. Her Doctor told me we can expect her to be at least 5'8", but definitely could be taller. At 4 years old she is wearing size 6 in a lot of things because of her height. She went a little crazy after putting on the paper gown, I think she felt silly. Again she thought that peeing in a cup was really weird, and it was hard to help her with while holding Evan! (Note to self - bring stroller next time)

In honor of her being 4, I thought I'd list 4 things about her that you may or may not know. In no particular order...

1. She makes up her own songs. Sometimes she will be singing something and I'll ask where she heard it, because it sounds like a real song. Many of them have lots of dramatic flair, others are silly. Often she asks me to sing along, when I have to remind her she made it up and I don't yet know it. She also changes out words to known songs on the fly, and her changes totally fit. This summer she was singing the ABC's and I joined in. At the end she sang "Next time let me SING IT BY MYSELF!" and started laughing. Today I was singing Patty Cake to Evan, and on the part where it says "and mark it with a B" she sang "and STAB IT IN THE NECK." That's a hilarious family inside joke, Papa. Which leads me to...

2. This child is funny. She gets a lot more than I would think a 4 year old could, and comes out with some really zany stuff. I think she reserves a lot of it for home, because her teachers told me that she doesn't get crazy at school. I was the same way. I asked her why she didn't let them see her be silly at school, and she laughed and shyly said "I don't want them to know!" But we sure do around here. 4 year old humor sometimes makes me roll my eyes, but more often it brings me real joy and laughter. I'm constantly sending Andy IM's with something Noelle said or did.

3. She loves her little brother. They play together so well, at least 95% of the time. She tries to cheer him up when he's sad, loves to make him laugh, and gets genuinely tickled when he does something cute. Tonight in the car we heard the song "Hush Little Baby" and she asked me about the last line, which is "you'll still be the sweetest baby in town." She kind of defensively said "Evan is the sweetest baby in town." I think they are going to be good friends and have a lot of fun together.

4. Noelle and her Daddy watch Iron Chef, Emeril Live, Good Eats, Jamie at Home, or any other cooking show together. She asks tons of questions about what they are making and what the ingredients are. This week they were watching Iron Chef when Noelle took a bathroom break. She came back saying "Let's see what's happening over on Chef Batali's side!"

So there you have it! Love you, little girl.

This week we have already:
- Got the kids H1N1 boosters
- Cut Noelle's hair, first ourselves and then professionally (pics below)
- Went to the grocery store with both kids
- Switched our old tv for a new to us one
- Sent Noelle back to school (yay!)

And we still have:
- Library story time with friends
- Church dinner
- Dentist appointments for me and Noelle (unless it snows, because apparently in Nashville even the dentist closes for a snow day)
- Doctor appointments for Noelle's 4 year and Evan's 15 month well checks
- Purge purge purge toys and other miscellaneous items

I'd prefer busy to bored, but hopefully I can also find time to clean off this desk of mine and maybe even take a shower!

Noelle never lets us brush her hair, so I've been threatening for a while to cut it all off. This week, we did! Andy and I tag teamed a home cut, and while it looked "fine", I figured if we are averaging one cut every 2 years, it should be a good one. So, she got her very first professional hair cut yesterday, and she was so great!



We think she looks absolutely adorable, and she really likes it, too. And it's so easy to brush! A win all around.



I'll post about the dentist and doctor visits on Friday afternoon when they are all over!

Favorites:
Cereal - Honey Nut Cheerios
Vegetable - Tomato (she says she likes them now that she is 4)
Fruit - Peach. Plum.
Drink - Cherry Pomegranate Crystal Light (I'd still say milk, which is what she chooses 90% of the time)
Toy - the poodle I got for Christmas
TV Show - Wow Wow Wubbzy
Game - Cards
Book - Raindrop Plop
Restaurant - BD's Mongolian Grill
Holiday - Christmas
Animal - giraffe (strange, same as last year and I didn't mention that to her)

If you could change your name, what would you choose?
Japan

What do you love about each person in our family?
Daddy - playing with him
Mommy - playing with her
Evan - running with him when he gets older, walking with him

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?
Grammy's state

What was your favorite thing we did last year?
Going to the zoo