X and K update

X had a doctor's appointment last week. He weighs 21 pounds! He shot up from 15th percentile in height and 30th in weight at his last appointment, three months ago, to 50th in height and 70th in weight. No wonder he outgrew his 9 month clothes so quickly.

 

X is now honest-to-goodness crawling, belly up off the floor. True to form, though, he does not crawl unless he has to. Instead, he wants to walk, walk, walk (holding my hands). Yesterday as we walked around and around the house, we kicked a red ball in front of us and he laughed every time it went rolling away.

 

K is enjoying the pre-holiday festivities (especially his chocolate Advent calendar). We went to a friend's cookie-decorating party over the weekend and he created Technicolor cookies drowned in so much frosting you couldn't pick them up without getting covered in it.

 

I proudly reported to my parents that K is reading everything in sight, from signs to cereal boxes. K overheard and said, with a perfect Yogi Bear inflection, "You are totally right, Mommy. I read everything I see!" He never liked to flip through books on his own for fun, and he never pretended he was reading when he had actually memorized the book. I thought all little kids did that. But now he sits there and reads on his own, and since he whispers the words to himself I can tell he's actually understanding what he reads. Often, after sounding out the words, he'll go back and read the sentence again ("Happy... birthday... shout... shouted... Pooh. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY,' shouted Pooh!") I love that.

 

Recently I was part of a conversation with two older women who were talking about how things are so much harder when your kids are teenagers. They both agreed that their kids went through a phase where they seemed like they hated the parents and were so difficult to be around. One woman whose kids are grown now reassured the other, whose kids are currently teens, that it's all worth it when they come back in their twenties and thank you. The whole conversation made me grateful for my two cute little guys. Once in a while I tell K I have to get lots of hugs in now, because in ten years he won't want me to hug him so much. He always says, "Don't worry, Mommy. I'll still want lots of hugs!" I would put it in writing, but we all know that 4-year olds don't have the capacity to enter into a contract. Because in ten years he'll be a different person.