This child does not cease to make us, or anyone who sees him, happy. He is smiling at least 95% of his life. What a joy. If he's not smiling he's likely screaming and that screaming is when he's incoherent in the middle of the night on occasion. Fortunately that has been decreasing in frequency.
Big things lately: he scoots forward, feeds himself (does fistfuls sometimes, misses sometimes, but does well overall), claps (that's new as of today, the 9th), pulls himself up on his knees to get into things or look at things (he is very, very curious), eats everything and anything, has 2 - almost 4 teeth, loves toys, gets surprisingly excited when "Dora the Explorer" is turned on in the house, and LOVES music.
June makes him laugh like crazy. He loves when she talks to him and plays with him. When he cries she tells him, "It's okay, Bubby." "You're okay." "You don't need to cry." or "Uh oh, spaghetti-o." Sometimes it works, sometimes he needs mommy, a clean diaper, a binky or food.
Anson is sleeping much, much better. He goes to bed around 8:00-9:30 and wakes up between 4:30-6:00 to eat. Most often at 6:00 on the dot. He has some milk and either passes out for another hour or so or wakes up and plays then takes a nice 2 hr nap. He naps 3x per day in general and is flexible. That's just how we run our life.
If you couldn't notice, this kid EATS. Not only is he not very picky, but he eats incredible volumes of whatever I feed him. It took some convincing, but now he will drink water from a bottle too. I am SO happy we are not dealing with the same constipation thing we dealt with for June. I was worried for a couple weeks...but I think we're in the clear. Won't go into more of those details.
Anson notices when people leave. If he's looking at Daddy, Daddy better not leave the room if Anson is anything near sad. He'll cry like his heart was broken. He knows and loves his mommy, sister, daddy and is getting to know other people well. He reacts when he sees his Grandma Venita and Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Clint. He is the center of attention at any public place and any female of any age who passes him says something to the effect of, "Look at that smile! He is so adorable!" I agree.
One funny thing he has stopped doing as frequently is blowing raspberries. Sometimes when he's done eating he give a good little raspberry while shaking his head. He also does little giggles when he sees things he likes (and full chuckles at June, when being tickled, etc.)
Other funny June things: She is a negotiator and will try to talk you into anything relating to park outings, avoiding nap/bedtime and getting dessert.
She's pro at her scooter. It took her a while to learn to use the brake properly, but she's not too big of a risk taker so I wasn't overly concerned.
She loves to sing and dance, and her dancing is getting better by the day. She used to be terrified of the spraying/fountain features at splash pads but now loves them (thanks to the Washington Square Park fountain).
She prefers to eat pizza, popcorn, chicken nuggets, asparagus, broccoli and cereal.
She has to wear a dress EVERY day. Can't remember the last time she didn't. Skirts are
not the same as a dress. Must be a dress.
She loves "pretend stories" that we tell her at bedtime. She chooses the characters and we tell the story. Her request for characters is usually a frantic list naming every princess she can think of in the moment (think: "I'd like a story about princess june and ariel and aurora and sleeping beauty and snow white and princess dora...."). The stories most often include parks, baking cakes/cookies, sharing, helping people, going on adventures, cleaning, birthday parties, etc.
June went through (and is still going through I must face) a curiosity phase with Anson. Last month she bit him a couple of times - hard enough to leave a mark for > a day. She has pushed and put pillows on his face and taken toys, dumped buckets of water on his head, etc. The good news is she really knows the difference between a "good choice" and a "bad choice." The other news is we're still getting her to make more "good choices." She's doing well. Potty training was a weird thing.
She was 100% for a few months (think part of April all of may and a little of June) then a couple of weeks ago just started having accidents. I felt like we went back to square one with a sticker chart, bribes to watch shows when her panties/pullups are dry, etc. We have now had 3 or so accident-free days. Hallelujah.
