This is a picture heavy post, but I will try to fill in the fun activities with as much detail as I can in my limited time. Phoenix has been hitting some major milestones over the past few weeks. The first big news is that two of her four first year molars have cut through the gums and one more is just about to. Keith and I both thought the frequent crying/whining throughout the night was her teething. She always puts herself back to sleep after 10-15 minutes. It must be painful to cut through the gums. Hopefully she will have more peaceful nights to come when the teething process is done.
In other news Phoenix is officially running. Her climbing skills have also improved. She is still trying to "get air" with her jumping. Her hand eye coordination is improving and she is able to stack the rings and stack different size cups quite well.
Her vocabulary is taking off. She is working hard at repeating and using words in the correct context. Her first sentence is "sit down". She has also mastered saying blueberry, which has taken her some time. It is so much fun to see her mind blossoming. It is hard to believe that my baby is now 16 months, but at the same time when I look at her she almost seems older because she no longer looks like a baby. She looks more and more like a little girl every day.
Phoenix has also started pretend play. When she cooks she pretends to turn the facet water on and fill her bowl. She also stirs, pours and even pretends to eat what she is cooking.
Phoenix is also getting more and more into books. Her attention span is improving although some days it is tough getting through a book from cover to cover. She wants to do everything herself. I often put her to sleep with a book and she looks through it and then falls asleep. Keith and I feel so blessed to have such an easy going child. Her squeals of delight, light up the entire house.
Axel continues to mature physically and emotionally. Over the past few weeks it seems that he is looking older. The big news with Axel is that he decided he wants to learn to read again. We had started a few months ago and then he decided he wasn't ready. I am excited to see what this summer has in store and if he will follow through with learning to read with me.
On May 16th Axel's preschool had an end of year picnic at one of the local parks. Here he is with his two teachers, Miss Theresa and Miss Salima.
Almost all 30 students showed up and played non stop for nearly 2 hours. I was able to get Axel to stop long enough for a hot dog and then later on for ice cream.
The next afternoon, Axel, Phoenix and I headed to a birthday party. Phoenix took an early nap, so Axel R.'s dad picked up our Axel and headed to the party. When Phoenix woke up we then drove over to join Axel for the birthday fun.
Phoenix checking out the birthday fun.
Phoenix joining Connor and Axel for some birthday fun in the jump house.
We were one of the last two families to close out the party, hence why the bounce house looks empty. Both Phoenix and Axel were quite brave and went into the bounce house with about 10-15 other 5 and 7 year olds when the party was in full force earlier in the day though.
On Thursday Phoenix had her first experience washing the car with me and Axel. Axel decided he needed a break from tap and ballet so we stayed home and played instead.
Axel had a blast manning the hose, while Phoenix was content playing in the bucket of water.
She did manage to scrub her wash cloth on the car a little bit, although she was more fascinated in watching the water drip from her wash cloth onto the ground.
Axel and Phoenix have really been into taking bubble baths lately. I found the all natural bubble bath Axel was given when he was baby. It has been fun to see them play with the bubbles. Daddy taught Axel how to make a beard and other facial hair.
Yesterday, we headed to another birthday party at Pump it Up.
Axel had a blast. It is amazing to see how much he has conquered his fears over the past few months. He needed zero warm up time although I did have to help him a couple of times with climbing walls that were too difficult or getting comfortable going down this huge slide. I have to admit that is the best part of going is getting to get in on the fun with him. This particular slide Axel and I would get a bit of air and rocket down over the crash wall.
As you can see from the crowd, this was quite a party. I think there was over 30 kids. Luckily the rooms were big enough to accommodate such a big party.
After this birthday party we headed over to our neighbor's house to celebrate his retirement and birthday as well.
Phoenix and Axel had fun playing with Annika while us adults were able to socialize a bit. It was quite a long fun day.
Today we had Tyler and Cynthia over for dinner. They are gearing up for their twin girl's arrival. The girls can come any day, but they are hoping to last another few weeks. Both Axel and Phoenix have had a lot of excitement and later nights than usual. Hopefully, we can all get back on track with sleep.
I want to give a shout out to all of the May birthdays that are coming up this week. Happy birthday Mom, Kendra, Grandma Burgess and Grandma Goldstein!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment