Three years and Five months

Dear Patrick and Fiona:

Patrick, you are three years old! Fiona, you are five months old!

I'm afraid you children are going to have to share a blog post, because your Mommy is worn out. You two are busy, energetic, smart, fun, and inquisitive bundles of fun who are sucking the life out of me. And I mean that in the best possible way.


Patrick, you have grown so much in the past year and especially so in the last six months. You have acquired all these wonderful skills. But nothing makes us happier than to hear you talk with us. A year ago, you barely had 10 words that we could coax out of you. Thanks to six months of speech therapy with the wonderful "Miss Carol," you give us a non-stop commentary on what we are doing, seeing, hearing, smelling, and thinking. You can say all your letter sounds, usually in the right order. You repeat words back to us constantly. And best of all, we know what you want. We can ask you questions, and you answer them! Sometimes we even like the answer. Your Gramma, Papa, and Nana are all so excited everytime they see you because of how much more talking you can do and that we can understand.

You are also becoming potty trained! Daddy and I really had to bite the bullet on this one. You were ready...we were not. Something about your baby sister joining the party threw us all out of wack. So we pulled out our favorite parenting tool: cold turkey. Good-bye pull-ups (no kid uses these like underwear, we are all just getting ripped off like fools) and hello underwear. You were not impressed. You used your fabulous communication skills to ask for diapers. Repeatedly. Three days of accidents, and then you had it down. Mommy discovered a good way to get you to go potty was let you go outside. Daddy didn't like it so much when you did that in the zoo parking lot. Now you rarely have accidents and are such a big boy, wearing underwear all the time. Even at night! And there is nothing cuter than a little boy tushie in tighty-whities.

As for number two....I'm sure you'll get it the second you actually SIT on the toilet.



And my sweet Miss Fiona, you are my little wiggle-worm. Rolling all over the place, especially when I want to change your diaper. It's impossible! Thanks to a combination of rolling, lunging, and army crawls, you get anywhere you want to go. You are up on all fours and rocking back and forth. You want to crawl so badly, but the balance just isn't there yet. But it's just so cute to watch you rocking back and forth, then CRASH.


Oh, just look at those beautiful long eyelashes! And those big blue eyes! I can't wait to see what color your hair turns out.


The best is watching you start to really get each other. Patrick, you always want to know where your sister is. And you can say her name, although I really loved your little joke of "Fi-Oh-Nana." Fiona, your big brother makes you laugh the easiest of all. And you are always grabbing at him, his hair, the owie on his knee. Then he'll give you a toy and say, "Sister needs this toy." He usually throws it at you. Good thing they're stuffed.


Look at how proud you are Patrick, holding your baby sister. And she's pretty tough, just like you.
Well Fiona my sweet, your big brother sure means well.

You children are the delight of my heart, and I just think you are the coolest kids ever. We can't wait to leave you over night with a grandparent really soon!

I love you sweet kids!
Love
Mommy