January Milestones

This January, Ariana & Gabriel turned 35 months, and Isabella turned 16 months. Time is just blurring together for me these days, so I am having trouble remembering what happened when. Bear with me.

This month, Ariana's biggest change milestone development is that she has started potty training. While we have been letting her go number 2 on the potty for the past several months (whenever we caught her in time), we've only recently started a potty schedule for her. Right now, we're still in the very earliest stages, but she has been sitting on the potty about 4 (sometimes 5) times a day. Up until the last week in January, she would sit there, but nothing would ever happen in spite of our encouragement, the running faucet, etc. But the light suddenly turned on for her, and now she very rarely misses the opportunity to go "pee" in the potty when she's sitting on it. After she goes, she usually yells something like "aha!" and smiles wide or gestures so we know that she's gone. Then, of course, our singing and cheering begins (we sing a "hooray for Ari" song & a "pee pee in the potty" song), and she beams with pride.

Ariana has started drinking out of a big sippy cup without a handle. She has been wanting desperately to make this transition to the big cup, and she finally has (barely) enough strength in her left hand to hold it while she's drinking. She loves it, and she will complain whenever anyone gives her the short sippy cups with handles.

This was the first month that Ari was able to sit in a wooden restuarant high chair on her own. We have waited so long for this, so we are really happy for her. We still prefer to take her feeding chair along with us because of the extra support it provides, but it is a great milestone nonetheless.

Ari has settled in to her big girl bed very well. She still plays with the blinds and often finds her way out of her covers at night, but she enjoys sleeping in her bed, and she hasn't fallen off since the first time. With her big bed, big sippy cup, new wheelchair, and new Dora toothbrush, it sure seems like Ariana is growing up. Speaking of growing up, Ariana starts preschool February 23 (doctor permitting)!!! And you can be sure she'll have a brand new backpack, new AFOs with butterflies, and new shoes for her AFOs (I'm thinking Vans or DC Kids) to boot.

Gabriel has grown up so much in the last month too. I often find myself cracking up at the things he says. He's been turning into his own person before my eyes. This kid has opinions about everything, but it's amazing to me how he is still so affectionate, eager to please, and loving. He begs Jake for "a hug, a kiss, and a squeeze!" every morning, several times, before Jake leaves for work, promising "Last one Daddy!" each time. But as tender as he is, he is every bit a boy. Lately, he is most interested in Peter Pan, sword fighting (which he does with whatever he can find: empty paper towel rolls, strips of foam from the floor puzzle, Daddy's tie), football, monster trucks, and Cars (of course). He loves watching movies and memorizing all the lines (especially of the bad guys, don't ask me why). He also has a great sense of humor -- I love hearing him laugh.

Gabe is just entirely entertaining lately. He loves memorizing and reciting all the lines from his favorite movies (especially of the bad guys, don't ask me why). I often wake up to the sound of him pretending to be Captain Hook, Hook's crewmates, dognappers from 'Air Buddies', or other disney villians (and sometimes heroes) over the baby monitor. (And yes, we still use a baby monitor so that we can hear him yell if he has to go potty in the night or if he is up playing when he's supposed to be asleep.) He loves to sing songs from his movies -- Peter Pan is the current fave. Gabe has also started memorizing songs from the radio, which is both charming and frightening. It's pretty dang cute to hear him sing top 40 songs with all the enthusiasm he can muster, but it also means that I need to be more careful of which music I let him hear.

This month, Gabe has started dressing and undressing himself for the first time. He's always been a little lagging in the self-help area, but he's definitely making progress. He is really pretty obstinant and always wants to take off his own clothes without assistance (but I have to chase him down to even get him to comply).

Gabe had "preschool tryouts" this month, because we are trying to get him a spot in an all 4 and 5 year old preschool class. He did really well with exhibiting socially appropriate behavior, following directions, attention span, conceptually with his pre-reading skills, but his fine motor skills fell short of the age group. So we've been working on it. Gabe has gotten much better at fine motor skills this month! His coloring has much improved. He is using greater pressure with the crayon and is making progress at coloring in the lines. He is also trying to color things using the correct colors (i.e. red apple). Gabe has also learned how to use the sissors, which is really cool. He is not a pro (can't make consecutive cuts yet), but he can make many small cuts. His block building skills have really taken off too. He now constructs "buildings" for me, and he gets very possessive of them when his sisters try to help him (take his blocks).

Isabella seems to grow up right before my eyes. She is talking up a storm now. I remember thinking that Gabe had a large vocabulary at 16 months, but Isabella's is at least three times what his was (probably because she's a girl). Bella has probably 40-50 words in her vocabulary, maybe more. She approximates any new word she hears us say, and she definitely makes her opinions known to everyone :).

Bella has also started singing. She sings "twinkle twinkle little star" and parts of a few other nursery rhymes and finger play songs. She dances and tries to do the motions to the finger plays, and it's super sweet. Cutest of all are her facial expressions as she does this. Isabella has such an expressive face -- she mimics facial expressions that she's seen and she performs them all the time, especially when she's trying to envoke laughter in her audience. She is our little actress.

Isabella's interests right now include: shape puzzles & shape sorters, feeding herself with a spoon (she loves food), her new prosthetic hand, shoes & boots, riding the plasma scooter (she fights with Gabe over this), making messes, going to the park (especially sliding down the big slide feet first on her tummy), play dough, emptying and refilling containers/bins, Baby Einstein & Brainy Baby movies, following her big brother around, and loving her stuffed animals.