Ingrid can read! And not even just books that have been read to her over and over... She picked up a book at Kindermusik the other night and read most of it herself! :) There was a point when I thought she'd never have the attention span to actually sit and read. Now, her favorite thing is to write her letters OVER AND OVER again in a couple of notebooks we've given her. She draws pictures, too, but mostly just asks us how to spell things and writes them over and over in her notebook. :)
It all started when she kind of taught herself how to write the letters and showed me one day... It was crazy! I didn't even know she knew how to do it! I had tried and tried to get her to write and read, but she is so active that it was hard for her to want to sit and figure things out. Then, I gave her a spiral notebook one day and she started writing in it for long periods of time. Then, I drew the elementary lines -- you know, the blue lines with the red dotted middle line? I wrote one example of letters and she was supposed to practice them by writing the letters after the one I wrote. She did this for 3 hours straight!! ?? THREE hours! Now, you can seldom find her without her notebook nearby. She knows how to spell her name, Rowan's name, Mama, and Papa! I'm so proud. I got some "sight words" for Preschoolers at the dollar store and I've posted them on her bookshelf tonight. I hope she finds them in the morning... :)
Rowan is talking up a storm! He's one of those kids who should be on "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Here are a few examples:
The other morning, he had crawled into bed with us and when Ingrid woke up and came in, he looked at her and said, "Good morning, Sissy! What's up?" (even funnier when said with a paci in the mouth...)
The other night during nightly prayers, Rowan thanked God for feet. Then, he proceeded to thank God for EVERYONE's feet. Everyone. :) He probably listed about 20 people's feet to thank God for... :) Made me really think about how thankful I am that my feet work. Out of the mouths of babes....
On another morning, Rowan took Ingrid's face into his hands and said sincerely, "Sissy, you bootiful." AWWWW! :) Now, he says it to all the women in his life... He's learning the art of wooing. It works. When I told him that he was beautiful, too, he said, "No, Mama. I'm a prince." I guess princes aren't beautiful. Apparently, princesses are...and Sissy is a princess. Thumbelina to be exact. Sweet....*sigh...*
The other day, I told him that he needed to do something, and he said no. So I said he couldn't have the thing he wanted (I don't remember what it was...). So he went over to the corner and knelt down on the floor and put his forehead on his hands in front of his knees. When I asked what he was doing, he looked up and said, "I'm angry." and promptly put his head back down. So I asked him why he was angry. He said, "Eeecause I like to." OK then.
He's big into emotions right now. He's labeling emotions very well. Ingrid still isn't always able to label how she feels. Rowan knows absolutely. His favorite game right now is "happy face-sad face." He loves to make different faces for emotions -- he's got quite the repertoire. I'm afraid he's an actor......but I'm sure you knew that already.
One last story on the boy... The other night, we wanted to have "family fun night" and Ingrid wanted to play Candyland, but we couldn't find it. So instead, Andrew decided we could all try to play charades. So, we chose animals as our category and Andrew pretended to be a gorilla. Ingrid guessed right, so we told her she was next. She went up and pretended to be a monkey. With a little encouragement, Rowan guessed what Sissy was trying to be, so we told him it was his turn to pretend! Would you believe that he went right up to the "stage" and got down on all fours and said, "BAAAAA" ;) When we guessed right, he started hopping around and saying, "Ribbit!" :) When we guessed that right, he turned around and ran around on all fours saying, "Nnnneeeeiiiiggghhh!" I could NOT believe my eyes! Do 25 month olds understand charades?? I guess mine does. And the animals he was pretending to be weren't even related to his two examples before! He did this 3 more times before we quit the game to go to bed. It was amazing to watch.
STATS:
We went to the doctor for their well-child check-ups last week. They saw a new doctor in Oakland (a nurse practitioner named Danny Moon -- he was AWESOME.). Here are their stats:
Ingrid: 75% in weight AND height -- This is very unusual for us. She's been 10%-20% since she was born! ?? It's crazy that she's above average in height... She got two shots and needs two more in a couple of months. That was an unhappy surprise, but we got the meds in her--and she got a baby doll that afternoon! She also got a HUGE welt from her chicken pox shot, but she's feeling fine now. We also talked to her doctor about helping us get permission from the landlord to have an animal at our apartment. She seems much calmer around animals, and I think she could benefit from having something to take care of. She very seldom sits and rests when we're at home, but at the farm, she will sit quietly for a long time with her cat or with Bella. I hope it gets approved.
Rowan: 95% in weight......and 20% in height! Oh well. He's always been a bit of a bruiser, but I don't think you'd look at him and think that those were his stats. I think he's on the verge of hitting another growth spurt. Kids always beef up and then stretch out. We'll see how long he fits into his 18 month pants... He's already out of most of his 18month shirts. :) He's also 33.5 inches tall! Growing boy... He ended up needing a booster shot too that day, however, he didn't seem to care! He squinted his eyes and whispered, "Ow." and that was about it. A bit different when Ingrid followed him with hers. Andrew and I both had to hold her while the nurse gave her the shots. Rowan just willingly gave the nurse his leg. Oh, boys. :)
Well, that's what's going on here. I've got lots of pictures and stuff to post at some point, but my computer is pretty slow uploading pics, so I'll have to do that another time. Until then, take care!!
4 years ago
