First of all WAY TO GO GIANTS! The kids were well-dressed and excited to help Bill cheer for the Superbowl. They went to sleep after the first quarter, but I'm still pretty sure they were the good luck charm that put the G-Men over the top :) The last big Superbowl win was before Isaac was born, and although Bill was just as happy, he celebrated in a significantly quieter manner this year (no drunk yodeling up and down the street for starters...).
Isaac and Caitlin are so much fun to watch. She is talking up a storm, and he is constantly making her laugh and laughing when she tries to repeat everything he says. As these pictures from Isaac's most recent teacher-planning day show, Cesi still loves dressing them up, and we reap the benefits with great pictures :)
Caitlin refuses to eat in the highchair, preferring instead to eat with Isaac at the table. This makes for lots of messy, but entertaining meals where neither of them stays in their chair for more than 2 minutes. They take turns spinning in circles, dancing, pretending to fall down, or whatever it takes to make the other one giggle.
They love painting together on either side of the easel -- Isaac wants me to draw a train or a house so he can color it in (lately expressing concerns about staying inside the lines), and Caitlin takes her art very seriously, dramatically slapping the paint on the paper (while splashing it all over the floor and herself). And in her quest to do everything Isaac can do, Caitlin loves riding her tricycle along side of Isaac on his scooter or his bike. We have recently started taking laps around the block before dinner, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.
Okay -- the real catch up:
Isaac is doing well at school. We had our second parent-teacher conference yesterday, and we were told that he "has come out of his shell" (Isaac has a shell??) and is in the independent group, which basically means he doesn't need too much direction to get his work done and is progressing really well. Ms. Rodriguez said Isaac is one of the more perceptive kids, and always notices and lets her know when she changes up the order of the class or forgets an activity (like tooth brushing before naps). He had his first music assembly a few weeks ago, each class studied a different movie and learned a song and dance. It was not the most well-produced show I've ever seen, but he did great and it was fun to watch him with his class and even more fun to see how excited he was to see Caitlin. She LOVED watching the kids sing, and after giving him a huge hug, she walked back with his class as if she belonged there. He was happy to see us all there, and loved showing her off to his friends.
At 3.5 years, he weighs 29.5 pounds and has moved on from his obsession with Thomas to Curious George. He has mastered his letters and is getting really good at numbers (in Spanish and English!). He had bronchitis again after the holidays which earned him another trip to the pulmonologist for a diagnosis of viral-induced asthma (meaning whenever he gets a virus, even a cold, he is likely to end up in respiratory distress). More than likely he will grow out of it (just like his mommy did). He also had a dentist appointment where we were told he has THREE cavities!! It seems that brushing at night and in the morning with us, and in the afternoon at school is not enough for his teeth - so we will be taking him to a pediatric dentist to get nitrous for cavity fillings in March. He has finally realized that his toddler bed gives him freedom to move about the cabin, and has started getting out of bed on his own in the mornings. It had to happen at some point I guess, but it was a good run while it lasted ;) So we switched from nighttime diapers to pull-ups, and he is now staying dry at night and going to the bathroom on his own when he wakes up. Thankfully he is still respecting the Tot Clock though, and goes back to his room and waits for it to turn yellow before coming into our room. He has gotten more adventurous with food, inspired in large part by a brilliant tactic we borrowed from my grandmother of bribing him with a quarter. He definitely has his moments of tantrums and mischievous antics, but he is still a lover for example, Cesi was holding her throat and told him he lost his voice and Isaac took her hand and said, "Don't worry Cesi, I'll help you find it"
Now - on to Caitlin:
She had her 18 month appointment yesterday and she weighed in 24.14 (50th percentile!) and measured 32 inches (60th percentile). She loves reading and will drag out her nighttime bottle as long as possible to get in as many books as I'll allow. She's a great sleeper (7ish-7ish) and usually wakes up smiling and calling for Isaac who happily charges in to her room saying "Good morning Cate-linda" (Spanglish for pretty Caitlin). She is such a little girl on all fronts - she loves wearing dresses and putting on different shoes, and she is a total drama queen. If you dare to say no to her, she throws herself on the ground and proceeds to scream and cry hysterically as if she has been stabbed, but then turns it right off when she gets her way. Her nickname is BamBam because she walks up to whatever Isaac is playing with and grabs it or knocks it down (which he usually takes like a champ). I enrolled her in Gymboree last month feeling guilty that I took Isaac for over a year and hadn't taken her for any Mommy and Me classes - she loves it and is a total monkey climbing on everything and pushing the other kids out of the way saying "my turn" (which she learned from Isaac who says it regardless of whether it really is his turn!) She likes to eat, but is very particular about what she eats -- a perfect day for Caitlin would be an egg for breakfast, beans and rice for lunch (or any meal for that matter) and a hot dog for dinner. She is talking up a storm and we have no clue where it came from. One day she was barely saying our names and making animal noises (baa, moo, woof-woof), and the next she was speaking in sentences -- wash hands, brush my teeth, don't want it (we hear this one a lot), more milk, thank you daddy! The biggest surprise was when I sneezed yesterday, she looked at me and said bless you!!
She loves hanging with her best friend Marcela (who Cesi's mom nannies for) and dancing to whatever music is around, she also loves to sing --her particular favorites are "Twinkle Star", "Itsy" [itsy bitsy spider], and "Happy to you" [happy birthday to you]. Here's her newest - an attempt at "ABCD":
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