5.02.2008

3 Years, 13 Months

I know my posting rate has certainly declined and the photo frequency isn't quite what it used to be. Although the dust has settled on our injuries, my free time has been curtailed. Coupled with spring garden season and i find myself sharpening my garden shears at 10:30 at night instead of plotting out a good post.

For now i'm aiming for two posts a week-- ideally one that is topical and one that has updates on the boys. I'm just squeaking in with my second post this week and wanted to try to catch up on the developments i've failed to document.

Silas is climbing the stairs like a pro now and if we don't keep the baby gates locked at all times the second you turn your back he's up half a flight of stairs. I'm not so worried about him going up but he tries to go down either by just walking down (!) or scooting forwards off the step. Neither method are particularly foolproof and as our steps are very steep we have to be there to catch him. He's similarly fearless in the bathtub, constantly trying to scamper up the slippery tub walls-- not deterred by nightly face plants into the water. He generally still loves the bath and likes to splash around and put bowls on top of his head-- and then initiate peek-a-boo.

Speaking of peek-a-boo he's obsessed. Henry was a jolly enough kid but Silas starts games like there's no tomorrow. And, once you've made something a game-- for instance while he's looking at the ceiling you tickle his belly, he'll remember and initiate the game on his own months later. He's still not walking but pushing anything he can get his hands on around the house. He has a few walkers and uses them but just as quickly abandons them once they hit a wall and goes for the kitchen chairs or step stool. Brenda told me she bought a walker for him to use at school and after 3 minutes he was back to pushing the kid-sized chairs around.

Henry alternates between very loving, very obstinate, and very inquisitive. Why is still one of the questions we entertain minute by minute in the course of our day. I have figured out that i think part of his whys are aimed at enforcing consistency. He will ask the same "why" question at the same point in a story, song, etc. I've started asking him why he thinks and he seems quite pleased to give you the answer he was expecting. Which is great until he asks "why" essentially wanting you to explain all over again.

He's always loved books, loves anyone and everyone reading to him, loves to look at books on his own in the car and now to listen to stories on cd as well. He's also getting more interested in "reading" the words-- asking how to spell things, what words say what on books, yogurt containers, etc. For his Birthday Henry got a big magnetic board with magnetic letters and we've been trying to spend frequent bouts of time spelling out words he's interested in. Brenda told me he's the only kid that asks to do "homework" at school and gets upset if they don't have time to do it.

We had his 3 year Doctor appointment a few weeks ago and all systems were go. He was 31 lbs and some amount of height that put him in the 50-75% for weight (we'll take it!) and the 75% percentile for height. We have some skills he needs to accomplish by the end of the summer (walking up and down stairs like a "big boy", i.e. one foot one step, pedaling, and jumping.) If we don't seem him improving on these tasks-- especially the jumping and stairs we're probably going to have him evaluated for physical therapy again.

So far we've made pretty drastic progress on the stairs. We got his tricycle out today and he got frustrated but i think if we work on it consistently this summer he'll make progress. Besides the coordination though, you can tell it's really hard on his legs to push himself. That lack of strength is what we have to take pains to improve and if it doesn't improve enough, we'll probably need some extra help!

Okay, consider yourself updated. Even if there are no new pictures.

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