Whitley Ann - 15 months old!

It boggles my mind every time she does something new and big and WAY ahead of when Naylor or Lalon did it!  I keep thinking she's likely a genius, and she may be, but then I do have to give a little credit to Naylor and Lalon for keeping her intrigued and wanting to keep up!

I took her to the pediatrician for her 15 month well-check and two shots and she looked great all around.  She's definitely growing and while she's certainly not hurting for a meal, I think she has slimmed down slightly with all the running around she's doing these days.  If nothing else, it's certainly wearing her out because she's had some mornings where I've had to go wake her up!

Here are her 15 month and 1 week stats; we go for another check in September when she's 18 months old.

24 lbs - 85%
31.5" - 80%
46.6 cm (head circumference) - 75%

She has 12 teeth total now: 4 molars, 4 top center and 4 bottom center (she does have a not so pleasant habit of testing them out on skin occasionally, we're working on stopping that).

She's talking a bunch, more than I had given her credit for actually... a few things I can think of at the moment are listed below, but she DEFINITELY understands and follows directions.  Well, most of the time!


Hi, bye, Mama, Daddy, Naylor, Kitty, shoe, some version of cup/juice, "what's that?", baby, blows kisses and gives kisses / loves her babies, uh-oh and let's not forget "NO!" while screaming....

Here's a picture of sweet girl playing in the yard over the weekend.  One of her top favorite past times is climbing, doesn't matter what and if it seems dangerous / would potentially give me a heart attack, even better!!

Last Day of School!

Naylor and Lalon headed off to their last day of school for the 2011-2012 year.  It has been a very fun year for them and boy how they've grown!  I took a picture of them before they left and then later remembered I did the same for the first day of school, so I scouted that picture out to compare... WOW!  Lalon is like a whole new person - she's so tall and thin compared to the beginning of the year, almost as tall as Naylor now!

I know the kids will miss their friends, Naylor will especially miss his best buddy Jack, but I think we'll have Jack over for a play date at the pool for sure.

It's amazing to look back over the year and see just how much has changed in them both and I certainly credit their teachers for a big part in that growth!  Ms. Selena, Ms. Marilyn and Ms. Tanya have guided Naylor through a big learning year and fully transitioned him to a big boy.  Ms. Starr and Ms. Debra have found great strengths in not tying Lalon up... HA!!  I'm kidding, but they certainly knew how to not always be roped in by her smile and charm; I think we still need to work on Ms. Molly because she's a sucker for some Lalon.  :)

We will miss school this summer, but look forward to next year when they will both be in big kid classes (but different ones) and will go Tues / Wed / Thurs from 8:30 -12:30pm.  Whitley Ann and I will still enjoy our time together and depending on how things are going, she may start after Christmas one or two days... I'm not promising anything just yet though!

THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL YEAR!!

 First Day - 8.25.11

Last Day - 6.7.12

Mmmmm beef jerkey.

Brian's family arrived this morning and Pat brought with him the dehydrator we gave him for Christmas.  I'm not sure who was more excited about this, Brian or Pat, but let's just say they were both excited!!

They headed out just after dinner to get the supplies so that the meat could marinate overnight then we dehydrate the next evening.  We all agreed we should do some samplings before doing it all one way; it's quite possible they got carried away with that part...

They picked up a beef brisket and another piece, maybe a loin (?) and Brian started the slicing.  Pat was on the other side mixing up the marinade and then we set up the sample bags of Texas Pete, Cholula and Texas Pete Chipotle.

 

After doing those, I think the consensus was that the original TX Pete and Cholula were the best.  Then they got fancy and did some General Tsao's and two REALLY hot, hot sauces named Tongue and Fire.  In my personal opinion, I still vote for Pat's original TX Pete recipe and the Cholula!

The guys had an awesome time making it up and it was fun to see the process all the way through.

Swimming!

Yesterday was the beginning of swim lessons for Naylor.  He'll be going for 45 minutes Monday - Thursday this week and next week.  So off we went yesterday morning for the pool... I was going to leave Naylor with the instructor and the girls and I would play in the kiddie area until he was done.  He started out strong and did great, but was getting over it towards the last 10 minutes.  I think he was over it because he could hear and see Lalon pitching one of the biggest fits of her life.  For almost 45 minutes, I sat in the kiddie area with her as she screamed and cried because she needed to "go to swim class too".  So we sat, she cried and Naylor eventually heard her, but we powered through the last few minutes.

I contacted the swim class folks after we got home to see if Lalon could join the class and they said sure!  So last night before bed we practiced our "big arms" and talked about going back to the pool.  This morning everyone was in a little better spirits to return to the pool, but when we got there it was kind of cold.

They did their lesson though, albeit with blue lips and constantly asking to go home, but they did great.  Lalon gave it 110% - she jumped in, kicked, did arms, put her head under water - the girl loved it.  She even jumped in one time when it wasn't her turn... good thing the teacher was watching and pulled her up.  I was playing with the camera and caught part of it - that's good parenting right there folks!

We had packed a picnic for the pool, but they were all freezing, so we came home just in time for the sun to come out and had our picnic by our pool instead.

Here's to 6 more successful swim classes with blazing sunshine!!

DAY 1:

 Whitley Ann was happy enough...

 Lalon was not!

 Naylor at the end of class, ready to go home

DAY 2:

 Naylor and Lalon waiting their turn.

 Whitley Ann making silly faces while she enjoys a snack.

 Lalon doing big kicks!

 Lalon attempting to follow Naylor and teacher Maggie although she doesn't know how to swim... Maggie saved her thankfully.

 Naylor big kicking

 Naylor freezing

 Whitley Ann having a fun time wrecking my bag.