Lewis is 8!

8 years old

Height: 54.8 inches [97th percentile]
Weight: 79 pounds, 12.8 ounces [96th percentile] 

What he's up to:

• He is in 2nd grade. The school year has been stressful for me, but not so much for him. He seems happy with how things are going, but I feel like his class itself is more distracting than in years past. He is still doing well and learning. Kevin and I are just not feeling great about how well he 'could' be doing. 
• He is doing Cub Scouts this year, which is going well. They have meetings 3 out of 4 Wednesdays a month. That initially seemed like a huge time commitment, but it hasn't been too bad. Our weeks off feel really nice, but the 1 hour meeting has been ok. He had a campout in the fall that Kevin went to, and he has one this spring that I'm going to go to. 
• Because of Scouts, we haven't done any sports this year. He was going to do basketball, but then he decided against it. He now says he wants to do spring soccer and summer baseball, but we haven't signed up yet. (Lenore also wants to do soccer, so we are waiting to talk about it again before signing anyone up.)
• He is going to be in his school's talent show next week. Three girls from his grade asked if he would be Slimer for their Ghostbusters act. They have a routine choreographed by one of the girl's big sisters, and it is adorable. 
• His favorite things to play with are still trains and Legos. If he was locked in a room with only those two things (and the thousands of pieces that accompany them), he would be perfectly content. He is amazing to watch. The stories he creates, the intricacies. He is going to do something in the STEM field.
• He and Lenore have been giving me glimpses of playing well together the past few weeks. We'll see if that keeps up. She is such an instigator and drives him insane every chance she gets. He takes thing so seriously (and she is such a shit-stirrer). They wear me out, but hopefully we are seeing a light on the horizon. Maybe.

That's Lewis at 8. I'm sure there's more to him, but these are the basics. :)

Lenore is FOUR!

Lenore Elaine turns 4 years old today. We celebrated with two parties yesterday--one for our friends and neighbors at lunchtime, and another for the grandparents and uncles at dinnertime. She was so happy to have so many people around to help celebrate her big day. When she woke up this morning, I told her happy birthday, and she immediately said she wanted to stay 3, instead. :)

Four Years Old

Her checkup appointment was this morning and went really well. The doctor said one of her ear tubes is still in place, and the other one is sort of floating around waiting to fall out. She still slightly has the sound of a heart murmur, but we've gotten the all clear from the cardiologist on that. Our pediatrician said it's normal to still hear that whooshing sound for awhile after. Everything else looks perfectly normal, which is always good to hear. She had to get 3 shots, which she was SO brave in taking, and she's all up to date until she turns 11 (minus the flu shot).

Waiting at the doctor with Uni the unicorn and her new Fingerling monkey.

Her stats:

Height:  41.3 inches tall [83rd percentile]
Weight:  41.23 pounds [87th percentile]

At 4, Lenore is...

• Such a 'strong, independent woman,' as Kevin calls her. She knows what she wants, she knows how to get it, and you better let her go ahead and do that if you know what's good for you. Not in like a spoiled/bratty way. Just that she is so decisive and stubborn once she's set her mind to something. I think this will take her far in life.
• She is kind. She loves babies and snuggles and animals and little tiny things.
• She does NOT like scary things. We went to Lewis's school's fall festival the other night, and she just shrieked and trembled at the kids in costume who were trying to scare us in the haunted hall. But she's so pragmatic afterwards--she said, 'I did not like that boy in the mask who tried to scare us by our feet.' She's not so hysterical that she can't make sense of it all, I guess. Also, we were out on the deck the other day, cleaning out a beverage tub for her party. There was a cave cricket in the bottom, so I touched it to make it jump out so I could wipe out the bin. It jumped toward her and all around her and back again, and she screamed and screamed. I was laughing so hard as she just kept jumping and screaming and jumping up on a chair. It was hilarious.
• She holds her own with Lewis. She will snatch something from him and run like hell, fully knowing he's going to be so mad, chase her down, and probably whack her. She keeps doing it, though. 
• She's really been big on imaginative play since school started again. I will be in the kitchen starting dinner, and I will hear her in her kitchen, working away as well. She also loves her dolls and loves walking them in a stroller or making food for them or food for us. She will sit for long stretches of time now and just play. She will make her toys talk and she will act out whole scenarios with them.
• She is writing her name, which seems impossible to me! And she's just really interested in letters, in general. She will see a letter and say, '__, that's in _____'s name.' Her preschool teacher is wonderful this year. She has writing homework every week and is getting stronger with tracing and holding a pencil (better with crayons, but getting better with pencil).
• She loves milk. When we go out to eat, she might choose Sprite or lemonade, but every other time, it's milk or water.
• She was a really good eater, but I would say she's gotten worse/more picky over the past few months. She will eat chicken nuggets until the sun goes down, but she gripes over grilled or baked chicken. She complains about pasta shapes (Lewis does that, too). Together, they combine to find something wrong with just about everything I cook. It's better some days than others, or I'm just becoming more numb to the complaining.
• She has been doing pre-ballet once a week for about 8 weeks, and we will finish that after two more sessions. We are either taking the winter off or looking into gymnastics. She is fearless and always has a scraped up knee or toe, so I think that would lend itself well to gymnastics. We will see.
• I am not sure what she is going to be yet when she grows up. I could see Lewis's engineering mindset from very early on. With Lenore, she has definitely always been a caregiver and 'little mama,' making sure everyone has everything they need (esp. Lewis). I could see her as a nurse or a teacher or something totally different--I'm not sure just yet. Maybe I'll have a better idea by next year. ;)
• She is wearing size 11 shoes and 5T or 4/5 clothing. 

That is our girl at 4! Life is fuller and happier and crazier than ever.

Lenore's Favorite Things at 4

Lenore is 4 today! Here are her favorite things:

What is your favorite...

...color? purple and pink

...toy? my Minnie car, my Minnie plane

...stuffed animal? my unicorn, Uni (from her cousins, Otis and Juni)

...thing to sleep with? my unicorn

...fruit? blueberries and strawberries

...vegetable? broccoli and cauliflower

...cereal? raisin cereal

...thing to eat for breakfast? mac and cheese

...thing to eat for lunch? turkey cheese sandwich

...dessert? donut

...candy? suckers

...drink? milk

...restaurant? McAlister's

...animal? elephant

...book? Princesses Wear Pants

...song? Just Like Fire

...game/sport? basketball

...TV show? Mickey

...movie? Finding Nemo/Finding Dory

...thing to do outside? ride my bike

...place to shop? Kroger

...shirt/outfit? 'I love my butterfly shirt and my Belle pants.'

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? 'Broccoli, cauliflower. Cake for dessert.'

Who is your best friend? Kate and Addie and Dylan

What do you want to be when you grow up? Princess

Lewis Turns (Turned) 7

Yesterday at the doctor.

 The night before he turned 7.

With Lenore. Story of my (our) life.

LEWIS IS SEVEN!! It happened 13 days ago now, but we've been busy. The way his birthday and Valentine's Day fell this year, we literally had some sort of celebration for 5 out of 7 days. It was a lot of cake and ice cream and candy.

He just went for his 7 year check-up yesterday, and I feel like I haven't written a post like this in forever (because I haven't).

Weight: 71 pounds, 9.6 ounces [97th percentile]

Height: 52 inches [97th percentile]

Kevin said he still needs to grow 2 inches before he's tall enough to ride this one particular coaster at Holiday World this summer (The Thunderbird), so we'll have to make sure he's eating his Wheaties these next few months. ;)

School is going well. His teacher this year is just phenomenal--she's been teaching for 23 years, I think, and she cares so much for the students and knows what she is doing. His favorite subject is science (yay!)--they have science every day in class, plus a weekly visit to the school's STEM Lab. Still very much loving our choice of schools.

We have started looking at camps for the summer. He's signed up for one week at the history museum, one week at the nature center where he went last summer, and one week at a Lego camp with the theme 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.' We are deciding on probably one more outdoor option, and the other weeks will be spent at home, at a pool, and on vacation--we are venturing to the Oregon coast with my parents and my sister's family for a week, which we're looking forward to.

He's not doing any sports at the moment. We did a short fall basketball season, but he seemed to lose interest (so no winter basketball for him). He just finished a soccer skills class that was offered after school, but he decided not to sign up for spring soccer with the Y. He is definitely looking forward to doing baseball again, especially after I told him it is machine pitch at this level. Baseball might be his thing, or it might not. Not sure yet. We might look into soccer again in the fall if he shows interest again, or we might not. Everything is kind of up in the air right now!

He is currently obsessed with the Titanic and asks me multiple times a day why they hit the iceberg, why the 4th smokestack fell, why they didn't put on enough lifeboats, etc. He is full of questions, over and over. We are going on spring break to Pigeon Forge, and coincidentally there is a Titanic museum there (woot woot). That should be fun for all of us.

He still loves his trains, Legos, riding his bike, and going for hikes in the woods behind our house. He also loves drawing--vehicles, usually, or scenes.

He has lost his top two teeth, bottom two teeth, and he has a very wiggly bottom tooth just next to the middle two.

That's all for now. I'm working on typing up his favorite things list. He's answered the questions--I just need time to type it. It's been busy around here!

Lenore is 3!

Lenore is THREE (yesterday)! Things have been really busy with my cousin's wedding this past weekend, and (subsequently) my sister, niece, and nephew are staying with us for a few days/nights. I'm a day late.

Lenore at 3 Years

MoanaElsa (Moana's necklace + Elsa's dress with train)

Her stats (we will get at her doctor's appointment on Friday):

Height: 38.15 inches [77th percentile]

Weight: 36 pounds 6.4 ounces [91st percentile]

Her doctor's appointment went well! She didn't have to have any shots or finger pricks (Lewis was really concerned she'd have to have a finger prick). We just talked to the doctor about things, and he checked her out. All looks good!

What she's up to:

• She is in 3 day 3s (half day) preschool at a new school this year and loves it. She bounds in the car every day at carpool, wanting to show me what she's made or to tell me what she's done that day. 
• She loves to dance and sing. She'll ask me to sing 'that pink circle' song or 'that song about a blue rectangle in Gramma's room,' and I have to make up songs on the spot to her requests. Some times are easier than others. :)
• Her favorite things to watch are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Moana, SING, and Frozen (which is becoming slightly less and less).
• She loves wearing tutus and dresses and crowns and necklaces and bows in her hair. She loves pretending to be her favorite characters (Moana, Elsa, and Anna). She loves having her nails painted, and she lets me cut and fix her hair. [It's kind of fun to discover the sides of myself that I never really had time/interest/confidence in while growing up.]
• She likes to play with Lewis, but Lewis doesn't always like her to play with him or his toys. They will fight and scream and chase each other, which is hard. They are sloooowly starting to play better, which gives me glimpses of what it can be like.
• She loves to play outside and isn't afraid to get dirty. In that way, she and Lew play really well together. She likes to ride her tricycle and to play with the neighbors.
• She is potty-trained! After 2-3 false starts over the past 9 months, she's finally stuck with it and is doing really well. She was almost there when school started, but I kept her in pull-ups the first two weeks, just in case. Then we had one intensive weekend of only-underwear-commitment training (which she initiated), and we haven't looked back. We've had a few accidents when she's gotten really busy playing, but she is doing great. It was a lot easier than what I remember with Lewis. :)
• She is still napping 2-3 hours in the afternoon. I can see it waning a little bit some days--sometimes she will stay up in her bed past her 7:30 bedtime, but sometimes she still sleeps a lot. I'm trying to stick to her nap schedule as much as possible. It certainly helps with me not working this year--I can get her from school, do lunch, and get her down for nap early enough that she can wake up on her own before it's time to go to the bus stop to get Lewis. Sleep is everything.
• She also sleeps with a crib tent, like Lewis did. She started climbing out 3ish months ago, and she didn't do well in her toddler bed (getting things out of her closet, pulling off books, etc.). I think by the time the crib tent arrived from Amazon, she was STARTING to get the hang of it, but the peace of mind from the crib tent (safety/containment/etc.) is better for right now. 
• Along with climbing out of her bed, she is fearless on the playground. She will follow Lewis up any sort of climbing structure, and she might fall but pops right back up again. Fearless. I'm considering getting her signed up for a tumbling class or something similar because I think she would love it.
• She is pretty manipulative, I would say. If you tell her not to do something, she will tilt her head to the side and say 'But I'm just touching it' or 'I'm just looking at it' or something similar. She does NOT like to be told what to do or not do. :) It can be challenging, to say the least.
• She is wearing size 4T clothes and size 10 shoes.

Lenore's Favorite Things (Age 3)

What is your favorite...

...color?   Yellow

...toy?   Tomato (from her kitchen)

...stuffed animal?   Dog (from IKEA)

...thing to sleep with?   Frog blanket

...fruit?   Watermelon

...vegetable?   Potato

...cereal?   Lucky Charms

...thing to eat for breakfast?   Pizza

...thing to eat for lunch?   Pizza

...dessert?   Ice cream

...candy?   Eyeball (apparently she just had one yesterday)

...drink?   Lemonade

...restaurant?   Donald's

...animal?   Elephant

...book?   Clifford

...song?   SING (all of the songs)

...game/sport?   Riding my bike

...TV show?   Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

...movie?   Moana

...thing to do outside?   Ride my bike

...place to shop?   Kroger

...shirt/outfit?   A dress

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner?   Cake

Who is your best friend?   Juni

What do you want to be when you grow up?   Big :)

Lewis at SIX!

Lewis is SIX!

It's so hard to believe that our once tiny baby boy is now riding a bike, drawing, spelling, reading, writing, etc. He has grown up so much since starting Kindergarten. It really is incredible.

His stats:
Height: 49 inches [96th percentile]
Weight: 58.64 pounds [94th percentile]

What he's up to:

• He loves riding his bike. He'd ridden a few times without training wheels last summer, but then he got a bit of a mental block, both from crashing and from not being able to go as fast. We reattached the training wheels and let some time pass. With the crazy warm winter we've been having, we decided to give it a go again a few weeks ago. Sure enough, he was ready, and he hasn't looked back, since. For his birthday present from us, we got him a bigger bike--still basic with pedal brakes and no gears or anything fancy. His first bike was just too tiny for him now (think knees in the handlebars), so it was time. He's JUST a bit too short to get started on his own with his new bike, so he's still going back to his old bike when he wants to ride independently. If we help him get started, though, he will take off on the new one.
• We have new neighbors! It is great. One of the girls is in Lewis's class, and her older sister is in 3rd grade. They are the sweetest, and it's been so nice to get to know them and shuffle kids to and from each other's houses.
• School is going really well. The work that Lewis does astounds me--the concepts they are learning at such an early age. And he gets it. His teacher and assistant teacher are absolutely wonderful, and Lewis adores them. 
• He is still very much into trains. Over winter break, we had train tracks set up all over the house. Legos are big, too, as well as drawing and writing and drawing and writing some more. He pretty much wakes up and goes straight to the table to draw. He still watches the Kindle some (Lego videos, educational videos that he sometimes watches at school i.e. counting to 100), but he spends more time than anything else, putting pencil to paper.
• He is about 2/3 through his first YMCA basketball season right now. He says he enjoys playing, which is what matters. :) He's still working on learning the basics, of course. I'm not sure yet which sports he will sign-up for again. He played soccer and baseball through the Y last year. He says he wants to do golf, so we might look into getting him into a golf camp this summer. I'm pretty sure he thinks golf = putt-putt, though, so he might be disappointed. Although, maybe somewhere has a putt-putt league?? He also wants to go out for his school's track team this spring, which we are still on the fence about.
• Lost Tooth Count: still 2! The bottom middle ones. His dentist said the top middle would be next, but they aren't wiggly yet.

Lewis's Favorite Things (Age 6)

What is your favorite...

...color? Blue

...toy? My Polar Express

...stuffed animal? My doggy

...thing to sleep with? My big teddy bear (that used to be his auntie Schwee's)

...fruit? Blueberries 

...vegetable? Carrots 

...cereal? Cheerios

...thing to eat for breakfast? Toast

...thing to eat for lunch? PB&J

...dessert? Ice cream 

...candy? Hershey's Kiss. Actually, Crunch bar. (I included all of his words because I love when he uses the word 'actually' in a sentence.)  :)

...drink? Lemonade 

...restaurant? McAlister's

...animal? Tiger

...book? I Spy

...song? Trolls (aka Can't Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake)

...game/sport? Basketball 

...TV show? Mickey Mouse 

...movie? The Polar Express 

...thing to do outside? Play tag

...place to shop? Kroger 

...shirt/outfit? My choo-choo train shirt

What do you want to eat for your birthday dinner? PB&J 

Who is your best friend? Eli

What do you want to be when you grow up? Train driver 


Here is a link to his favorite things at 5, and at the bottom of that post, there's a link to age 4 and age 3, if anyone is interested.

I'll take his picture this afternoon--he wasn't up for it this morning before school.

Lenore, From There to Here

A look back, especially for Auntie Schwee.

A few days old

 One

 Two

 Three

 Four

 Five

 Six

 Seven

 Eight

 Nine

 Ten

Eleven 

 One Year

 Thirteen

 Fourteen

That one was rough, apparently. :/

 Fifteen

 Sixteen

Pink Sleeper Appearance #1

 Seventeen

 Eighteen

Pink Sleeper Appearance #2

 Nineteen

 Twenty

 Twenty-One

 Twenty-Two

 Twenty-Three

Verrrry rough.

Pink Sleeper Appearance #3

Two Years

Lenore is TWO!

24 Months Old

Her appointment on Tuesday was fine--it took forever (like an hour and a half) and she has a double ear infection (lovely). That explains some of her extra fussiness the past week, though I'm having trouble distinguishing when she's fussy from being sick and fussy from being herself. (It has been  a rough week.)

Her stats:
Height: 34 1/4 inches [50th-75th percentile]
Weight: 30.6 pounds [75th-90th percentile]

What she's doing this month:

• The past few weeks, her vocabulary has really taken off. She jabbers to me more, like I'm supposed to know what she's saying, which is true half of the time (probably 70% of the time). Kevin is able to understand her better as well.
• She continues to love dancing. I haven't signed her up for a tumbling or dance class, but I have been asking around to friends who have daughters, to get an idea of what is available. She loves Creative Movement and Music at school.
• She continues to mimic everything Lewis does, both good and bad. I've been talking to Lewis about being a good example, but some days are rough when they are acting up together.
• She's getting better at feeding herself with a spoon and fork (less spillage). She's been drinking out of a straw cup at school, but I'm going to stop sending it so that she can continue working on drinking out a regular cup. She will do pretty well when I let her drink out of a cup or water bottle, but there are still spills (which makes me revert back to cups with lids and spouts/straws to save me from having to clean up another mess).
• She will take a pen, marker, crayon, pencil, whatever, and scribble on paper, thanks to practicing at school.
• She loves school. The morning drop-offs have become so much smoother this month--she will walk right in, willingly, once she sees one of her teachers. No more tears. Whenever I walk by her room with my class, she'll say 'MAMA!' and point and wave.
• She is tough (physically, probably due to living with Lewis), and very strong-willed. I'm realizing that the tactics I used on Lewis will not work on her (giving two choices, standing firm on certain things, etc.). She will let me have it--crying for 20-30 minutes if I do not let her have her way. I did not have to deal with that with Lewis--he is like Kevin and I, pretty black/white on things. She is much more emotional than I am used to dealing with. I've mentioned that before--not wanting to 'give in' to her and let her get away with everything, but I've got to figure out a better way than our current way. Eventually, a switch will flip, and she'll forget why/how/what she was mad about and move on, but those 20-30 minutes are brutal.
• When she's not angry, she is so sweet and hilarious and wild and free, and I love that about her. 
• She is wearing size 3T.
• Current Tooth Count: still 20, as far as I know.

Lewis at FIVE!

Five Years Old

----------Updated 2/23/16 with doctor's appointment findings:

His stats from the doctor:
Height: 46 5/8 inches [96.4th percentile]
Weight: 54.1 pounds [99.6th percentile]

His appointment went very well. They tested his urine and blood and screened his vision, hearing, blood pressure, handwriting, colors, walking on toes/walking on heels, touching his toes (to check for scoliosis), and a few other things I'm probably forgetting. It took longer than any appointment we've been to, but Lewis seemed to enjoy the tasks, except for the finger prick. He was VERY brave while the nurse pricked and then squeezed his finger, but after she left, he was VERY upset that there was a hole left in his finger. I'm talking sobbing tears, upset about why there had to be a hole left in his finger. I tried to calmly explain to him that his body would repair the hole right away (definitely by bath time), but he was soooo upset! 'But why does there have to be a hooooole?!' Thankfully all looked back to normal by bath time--phew!

All checked out well except for his iron. It was just a little low (11.8, and the minimum should be 12), so we are going to get him back on a multivitamin with iron. He didn't have to get any shots and is up-to-date until 2022!
----------

It's hard to believe that Lewis is turning five years old. My memories are a little foggy from his birth day now that time has passed and Lenore has joined our family, but it definitely feels hard to believe he's been with us for five years. Kevin and I have been parents for five years! [Ten years, if you count the dogs, I suppose. ;)] 

Here's what he's been up to lately:

• He is doing very well at preschool. We had a parent-teacher conference in the fall, and they said he was pretty much on track, as far as Kindergarten-preparedness goes. At the time, he did need to work on gripping a pencil and using scissors, so we've been working on those. He's just starting to want to color and draw more--it's just not been something he's been interested in before. His handwriting needs some fine-tuning, as well. In time. ;)
• We have applied to his elementary school, which is a whole process here in Louisville, even with the public schools. Everyone lives within a cluster, and you rank your choice of schools within your cluster, and you hope that you get your #1 (or #2) choice. Our #1 is just a mile away from our house, so I really hope we get it. There is a more well-touted school in our cluster that we hope others will try for, so that should leave us a better chance of getting into ours. We will find out in March, I think.
• He has played soccer at school last fall and this spring, and we are going to sign up for T-ball this summer with one of his buddies. I need to sign him up for swim lessons, again, too.
• He very much loves his trains. He caught Hand Foot Mouth disease at school right before Christmas break, so we were home in quarantine for a week, and his love of trains kind of got re-energized then. He spent hours working quietly and built the most elaborate set-ups. He can be so meticulous and patient when he is in the train zone, unless he gets frustrated or Lenore gets too close. We actually got him a beginner's model train set for his birthday that is meant for a slightly older age group, but he can handle it.
• He loves to play outside in the yard, either digging in the dirt or playing in the sandbox. He likes to pretend that he's camping, and he loves when we build a real campfire. He loves to collect things he finds outside in the yard and/or on bike rides, and he brings them home and puts them in a treasure box (a small box he made at school). He has feathers, acorns, rocks, pine cones, etc.
• He does have some angry outbursts at times, which are usually followed by a big hug. I feel like he is definitely working through how to express his emotions properly, so we work on using our words. Sometimes he tries to hit or kick/trip Lenore or twirl her hair aggressively, hits a toy, shrieks, or stomps around. We, of course, are trying to teach him that it's not okay to put his hands onto other people out of aggression, but it's an ongoing battle. He has twirled my hair and her hair as a comfort thing for a while now, which is fine, but it's not fine when he pulls her hair as he does it.
• He has started saying he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. We have started seeing a particular fire truck more often on our way to/from school, one with a REALLY long ladder on top, and he wants to have the job of the 2nd driver of that truck. Someone sits on the top of the back of the truck to help the truck turn corners.
• He's starting to try to tell jokes, which is funny in itself. He hasn't quite gotten the comedic timing down yet, but he's trying. And he cracks himself up, just walking around saying silly words.

Outtakes from this morning:

 Snuggles

His CHEESE Face

Lewis at 4 Years

Four Years Old

His measurements (percentiles from World Health Organization because he's too old for the BabyCenter one now):

Height: 44 inches (97.7th percentile)

Weight: 48.2 pounds (99.8th percentile)

We go to the doctor on Tuesday for his 4-year check-up, so I'll see if they agree with our measurements.

What he's into/what he's doing:

• Trains! Everything is trains right now! He still very much loves tractors and planes and construction trucks and the like, but he's been especially fond of trains these past few months.
• He knows his numbers, and we are still working on letters. He was doing pretty well with them, but recently he's either forgotten them, or he thinks it's 'funny' to get the letter wrong when we ask what it is. He's really good at 'reading' signs and brand names.
• We haven't begun to work on writing at all, but I think that will happen soon. He's doing better with coloring (scribbling, holding a crayon, etc.).
• He LOVES his sister. He gives her a hug and a kiss goodnight every evening, and they've started interacting more during the day. For instance, I can put her in the jumperoo, and he'll talk to her and play with the toys with her--she just giggles her head off at him, so I think it's safe to say she loves him, too. :)
• School is going really well--he loves his teachers and classmates so much. They've started Show and Tell this semester, so he's started taking in a toy one day a week to share with his class. We are trying soccer again this semester, and it seems to be going much better this time around (he bowed out last year after just the first week, I think).
• We are starting swim lessons again in April (we last took them when he was just over a year old). Hopefully now he's old enough to learn to swim on his own! I don't have to get in the water with him now, so Lenore and I will just watch from the sidelines.
• He asks great questions! For instance, in the car the other day, we were jamming out to Throwback Thursday, like we do every Thursday on the way to school. I was dancing like a fool (as usual) and said something like:
• Mama: Man, these are all the songs Mama used to dance to when I was a kid.
• Lewis: Who drove the car when you were a kid?
• I told him that it was Gramma or Papaw. Then he asked if they drove my car, to which I explained that my car wasn't around back then, but that we drove Gramma and Papaw's cars. We then went on to talk about what their cars were like, and he asked if Gramma's blue car was kind of like Dada's blue car and so on. It just kept going. It was sweet to have a whole conversation with him, with him actually thinking and inferring and contributing to it. He seemed so grown up!
• Sleep isn't the greatest at times. He hasn't napped in months (except for the occasional one in the car if we're driving a long distance). He still goes down for the night at 7:30pm (sometimes earlier if he's wild), and he's been waking up around 6am (maybe 6:30 if he's 'sleeping in'). A few weeks ago, he put himself to bed at 5:30pm and didn't wake up until 6:30 the next morning. The end-of-the-day-sleep-deficient-Lewis is quite a sight to behold, let me tell you!
• Eating is meh. He would definitely survive on bread and crackers alone if we let him. I didn't realize just how appalling his appetite was until we were in Boise and I saw how well Juniper and Otis were eating. [To be fair, we'd fallen into a particularly deep granola bar and peanut butter/cheese cracker sandwich habit between Lenore's birth and the Boise trip.] When we got back from there, we implemented a fruit-only snack policy, which helped immensely. (I've loosened a little on that, but he doesn't ask for granola bars or cheesy crackers anymore, thank goodness.) His list of foods he will eat is still fairly small, but we're working on it.
• He is wearing 5T shirts and pants right now and size 12 shoes. Some of the shirts and pants are getting a little short, so it depends on the brand--we've moved up to the XS (4/5) boys size in some pieces. His footed pajamas are size 6.
• We love him to pieces! Looking forward to 4!

Here is his 3 year post.

And his 2 year.

And his 1 year.