I was lucky enough (maybe, right?!) to go into Micah's bedroom shortly after 2:38 AM on Sunday morning to wish him a Happy Birthday while he slumbered away with 2 "Gosig" dogs wrapped in his arms. Macey has had a rough few nights with a cold and teething, so needless to being up in the middle of the night is commonplace around here. Sunday morning I was so exhausted that I could not physically make myself get up when the kids were ready to wake up. Fortunately, Kyle was eager to jump out of bed and have breakfast with them. I still remember feeling the same physical exhaustion the morning after Micah was born. I got to hold Micah for the first time around 3:45 in the morning on 1/26/2011. After admiring him, counting all of his fingers and toes, discussing who he resembled, and fumbling through a first feeding we all finally fell asleep around 5:00 AM, only to have the hospitalist who was following Micah come in at 6:30 AM and want to perform his evaluation.
This past week has been great, as we've celebrated Micah. Our birthday boy wasn't too interested in having a big party, and instead requested an afternoon of "bouncing" and pizza with his family. So, we had a near repeat of last year's party.
After Bouncing most of the afternoon, we met both sets of Grandparents at Pizza Ranch in Stewartville. Pizza Ranch was nice enough to allow us to bring in b-day cakes for both kids, because we made a mess! When we ordered Micah's cake, it came with a free "smash" cake, so since we didn't technically get Macey her own cake on her birthday, we took this opportunity to give her a proper cake smash.
After Bouncing most of the afternoon, we met both sets of Grandparents at Pizza Ranch in Stewartville. Pizza Ranch was nice enough to allow us to bring in b-day cakes for both kids, because we made a mess! When we ordered Micah's cake, it came with a free "smash" cake, so since we didn't technically get Macey her own cake on her birthday, we took this opportunity to give her a proper cake smash.
New favorite gift - a Guitar from Grandma Dawn
Kyle worked on Micah's actual birthday, but that did not stop us from having a great day anyway. The biggest milestone of the day was getting rid of all of his pacifiers. We stopped doing daytime pacifiers approximately 1.5 years ago, but Micah still enjoyed, loved his night time pacifier. We didn't know any close friends that had a young baby that we could "pass" our pacifiers on to. But, Micah talks a lot about baby Jesus, so around Christmas time we began preparing him for "sending" his pacifiers to baby Jesus when he turned "3". On his birthday, he helped me package them up and put them in the "mail", and he has not asked for one since. What a relief!! In return, Micah and I did bake chocolate chip cookies that morning. We spent the rest of the day doing activities that Micah enjoys such as playing basketball in our basement, going to the YMCA, and out for a meal of chicken strips, fries, and ice cream at Culvers.
We opened birthday presents at night after getting home. Micah loves his new truck from cousins Andie and John.
Macey also opened her birthday presents (1 month later!) since we were up in the cities over her birthday and the proximity of her birthday to Christmas. Clearly, she wasn't at all offended. She was more interested in climbing on her presents versus opening them.
Micah did have his 3 year MD appointment today, and overall it went well. He's in the 95th percentile for height (3ft 4in) and weight (38#). He's healthy with the exception of a large heart murmur for which he will be visiting a pediatric cardiologist in the upcoming future. He received a flu shot in his thigh today and did a great job with it. Of course, afterwards Kyle and I took him out for lunch and enjoyed some 1:1 time with him, which doesn't happen very often.
In addition to the above, here are a few other fun facts about Micah at this stage in his life.
* Currently wearing size 4T/4 clothing. Shoes are size 11.
* He's done great with day time potty-training, but still isn't trained at night. I keep reminding myself that he is young, and in talking to other momma's, sometimes boys don't fully potty-train at night until they are 4-5 years old.
* Loves his goldfish snacks upon getting home from "school" every night. He's trained his sista well on this too. Both kids come in the door, and immediately are pulling out their snack cup bowls looking for hand outs : )
* Great eater, thankfully! Really, will eat most things that we offer him and takes pride in having a clean plate most nights.
* He wants to do everything himself, from getting dressed to closing the car doors, all which is great, but some times he DOES actually need our help, which can lead to some frustrations!
* Making a lot of comparisons, such as "this car is the same color as your coat, mommy."
* Repeating a lot of what Kyle and I say, so we really have to watch how we verbalize ourselves around him these days. Yesterday, while Micah and Macey were enjoying another post-school/daycare snack, I overheard Micah ask Macey to share with him. Of course she didn't respond, so he told her to look him in the eyes. (This is a habit that Kyle and I do when discipling Micah). Macey didn't respond, so I caught Micah trying to physically turn Macey's head to look him in the eye. That didn't go well, and I ended up stop the interaction before it escalated into a fight, but it reiterated how much Micah absorbs from Kyle and I.
* Piggybacking off of the above, Micah feels that it's his responsibility to discipline Macey sometimes and needs reminders that we will take care of it.
* Favorite things to do include playing out in the snow, helping Kyle shovel, running around our basement and playing basketball.
* Loves helping me in the kitchen, especially if what I'm making involves "stirring" or "digging", aka measuring out some dry ingredient or coffee beans in the morning.
* Doing better at independent play. There are lots of days where he just wants to play in his room by himself for 30 min-1 hour, but does not want the door closed. We end up putting a baby gait up to keep Macey out of his room.
* Latest fad is "Tow-Mater's Tales" and "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood". He gets to watch either of those before bed at night, which buys me about 30 minutes to get Macey to bed without a "shadow" next to me on nights that Kyle works.
* Sings or talks himself to sleep at night. I love it!! A few days ago, I heard him whisper "M is for Max", "W is for William", and "S is for Sage" as he drifted off to sleep.
* He really seems to enjoy his "school/daycare" and we are thankful for such great care that both of our kids receive.
Has a lot of look forward to over the next few months including an upcoming trip to Wisconsin Dells with Grandpa Larry, swimming lessons in March, his first attempts at down hill skiing, a new bike, hopefully warmer weather and more outdoor time as the days get longer and we get closer to spring!!
In addition to the above, here are a few other fun facts about Micah at this stage in his life.
* Currently wearing size 4T/4 clothing. Shoes are size 11.
* He's done great with day time potty-training, but still isn't trained at night. I keep reminding myself that he is young, and in talking to other momma's, sometimes boys don't fully potty-train at night until they are 4-5 years old.
* Loves his goldfish snacks upon getting home from "school" every night. He's trained his sista well on this too. Both kids come in the door, and immediately are pulling out their snack cup bowls looking for hand outs : )
* Great eater, thankfully! Really, will eat most things that we offer him and takes pride in having a clean plate most nights.
* He wants to do everything himself, from getting dressed to closing the car doors, all which is great, but some times he DOES actually need our help, which can lead to some frustrations!
* Making a lot of comparisons, such as "this car is the same color as your coat, mommy."
* Repeating a lot of what Kyle and I say, so we really have to watch how we verbalize ourselves around him these days. Yesterday, while Micah and Macey were enjoying another post-school/daycare snack, I overheard Micah ask Macey to share with him. Of course she didn't respond, so he told her to look him in the eyes. (This is a habit that Kyle and I do when discipling Micah). Macey didn't respond, so I caught Micah trying to physically turn Macey's head to look him in the eye. That didn't go well, and I ended up stop the interaction before it escalated into a fight, but it reiterated how much Micah absorbs from Kyle and I.
* Piggybacking off of the above, Micah feels that it's his responsibility to discipline Macey sometimes and needs reminders that we will take care of it.
* Favorite things to do include playing out in the snow, helping Kyle shovel, running around our basement and playing basketball.
* Loves helping me in the kitchen, especially if what I'm making involves "stirring" or "digging", aka measuring out some dry ingredient or coffee beans in the morning.
* Doing better at independent play. There are lots of days where he just wants to play in his room by himself for 30 min-1 hour, but does not want the door closed. We end up putting a baby gait up to keep Macey out of his room.
* Latest fad is "Tow-Mater's Tales" and "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood". He gets to watch either of those before bed at night, which buys me about 30 minutes to get Macey to bed without a "shadow" next to me on nights that Kyle works.
* Sings or talks himself to sleep at night. I love it!! A few days ago, I heard him whisper "M is for Max", "W is for William", and "S is for Sage" as he drifted off to sleep.
* He really seems to enjoy his "school/daycare" and we are thankful for such great care that both of our kids receive.
Has a lot of look forward to over the next few months including an upcoming trip to Wisconsin Dells with Grandpa Larry, swimming lessons in March, his first attempts at down hill skiing, a new bike, hopefully warmer weather and more outdoor time as the days get longer and we get closer to spring!!
