As I wait for Audrey to finish up in the shower (it's amazing that a 3 year old can spend more than 20 minutes in the shower without the water running by the way) I bask in all of the glory that an undefeated Notre Dame football season can provide. At least 3 of the games his year have been heart-attack worthy, but my poor soul has arrived at the end of the season unscathed.
But I didn't decide to work on our blog posting just to gloat (although it is fun to do), but there has been alot going on in our little household. (Audrey's creative play now includes instructing swimming lessons to 2 shampoo bottles and a plastic container of bathroom wet wipes.) Everett is now apparently reflux free and a much happier lad than previous months. It was about at month 3 and 1/2 where he really started to turn on he charm. Smiling, laughing, and now fairly* content in his exersaucer and johnny jump up (please note the asterisk indicating some variance in mood from time to time). But for a Dad who doesn't lactate, it is nice to have something more than tears to deal with. Everett has been such a mama's boy the last 3 to 4 months, that it is nice to have a few smiles thrown in my direction. I will tell you this though, that kid LOVES to be held. I guess it's better to have a snuggly baby than not, but there are days that he absolutely refuses to be alone. The tears stream until he becomes attached to someone, whether it be by boob, arm, or front pack. And the world is completely safe again.
His physical therapy has been going well the last 6 weeks- for those who don't know, he was diagnosed with mild torticollis (neck muscle tightening) when he wouldn't turn his head to the right. I have struggled a bit with the idea of the therapy, thinking that as he gets older, that he might just get better a turning his head from side to side- but I have also seen kids in my clinic go the opposie direction too. Today his therapist raved about our progress, even going so far as to say that he was well ahead of kids his age- woo hoo!
Audrey continues to be our little princess, which is a pretty appropriate description given her recent obsession with Cinderella and Belle. She and I have prolonged discussions about who she would be in the imaginary world. Usually the conversation begins with "I'm Belle and you daddy are phillipe he horse." I ask her if I can be "Ariel the Mermaid" and she quickly declares that she will play he roles of cinderella, belle, ariel, and princess aurora all at the same time. No one else is allowed to be a princess apparently. I myself just enjoy getting her a little riled up by declaring myself as one of her desired characters. Most of the time I end up as a side-kick animal such as Flounder the fish or a prince of some sort. Jen is not always as lucky with the extra female roles that she is given... Ursula, Mother Gothel, etc.
Her swimming lessons are going spectacularly. We have come a long way from the parents getting kicked out of the swimming pool area because audrey couldn't focus on her swim lesson. In fact, she is so enjoying her lessons, that she pretends to swim while sitting in the car, will now use her swim goggles without tears, and this past tuesday was able to swim with only a small foam back support on. Her teacher Heidi seems to have picked her out as a favorite and it helps that the two other little boys were pretty dang good at swimming to begin with.
Christmas for Audrey has a whole new meaning. Jen's Uncle Frank played our Chrismas Santa for our early family party and she actually was one of the few kids that hopped on his lap and very firmly told him what she expected for Christmas. "A black teddy bear for Christmas please." A definite change from tears and hysterics the last 2 years. She has decorated our tree a few times now and it gets more comical with each attempt. The tinsel is in a big ball on the side of the tree and you can see on the other side where she really got a handle on hanging the christmas bulbs (there are 4 or 5 clumped on a single branch). Thankfully we had at least a small snow fall. Audrey has traditionally eaten 4 meals during the winter, two out of the four are made up of handfuls of snow. She licked some ice today and her tongue got a little stuck, but no serious damage.
In case you were wondering, 3 years old is full of spectacular milestones. Audrey now dresses herself, is regularly using the potty on her own (without constant reminders!) the last week without accidents, and reads her books at night until she decides to turn off her lamp and fall asleep for the night. The tantrums can be a bit entertaining, but generally (and fortunately) pretty short-lived.
Her vocab continues to increase by leaps and bounds; she has started telling jokes (e.g. "What is brown and sticky? A stick.") and laughs at them on cue as soon as she is finished. She has the Notre Dame fight song down for the most part (could a father be more proud?!), has english and spanish versions of happy birthday down, and recently described mice as scampering. Most recently she has been using the repetitive use of the word "Hey...hey...hey" when she really is excited about an idea and REALLY wants your undivided attention. I think I have counted 7 or 8 "heys" in a row before she can get out what she is so excited about. The spanish is coming along...but pretty dependent on how much I am using with her. "Yo quiero...ayuda, leche, agua, queso..." are common phrases. Andy has taught her the song "Hey, I just met you...and his is crazy" and more recently how to dance gangham style. I honestly would pretty much let Andy do (almost) anything with her, just because she enjoys his company so much. When the two of them are done playing, I'm not sure who is more exhausted!
Jen is totally under the weather right now with some viral illness. She resisted being placed in a 2 week plastic bubble. The fevers have come and gone, but the congestion is the biggest beast this evening. Hopefully she recuperates sooner than later, dinner was mac n cheese tonight (my specialty) and will likely only go downhill from there. Frozen pizza... here I come! At least I know that Audrey won't resist. More excitement to come! Much love, Ryan (Jen, Auds, and the Everator)
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