Happy birthday to me

I went to Publix recently and bought a bottle of wine. It must have been a school day because I only had Jordan and Akiva with me, as I was checking out with my almost two year old and infant son, the cashier asked me for my ID. Can you believe it? As he looked at my drivers license and handed it back he said "You look like a very young..." as his voiced trailed off and he looked at the floor very embarrassed. I quickly finished his sentence and said "Yes, I am a very young looking almost thirty eight year old".
I am no longer an almost thirty eight year old. I am now officially thirty eight. How did that happen? When did that happen? The good thing is that I did not celebrate this milestone event alone this year. I had the pleasure of celebrating with my sister-in-law Tanya, who shares my exact birth date with her twin sister.
I was so lucky this year, I got to celebrate my birthday two nights in a row. We went out to dinner with my parents on Wednesday night and had a quick get together Thursday night with everyone.

Poor Jordan

My poor Jordan, she wants to be a big kid so badly. We switched Sydney and Lior's room today to make room for Akiva. Akiva got the girls old room and they moved into what used to be our guest room. Now Matt does not have to paint and everyone is happy, except Jordan. She wanted to move also. When the girls went upstairs to look at their new room I had the letters that used to hang over their beds laying on the bed so they could pick which bed they wanted. It is funny Sydney picked the bed I thought she would and Lior just went with the flow and was happy that the new lamp made it back into the room. "Look mom, my lamp is here! I love my lamp!"
Jordan looked around and was surprised that her crib was not in the room. Sydney was also disappointed "What about Jordan?" They really thought Jordan was going to sleep in their room too. If we did that nobody would get any sleep and Matt would be even crankier.
Jordan climbed into one of the beds and said "I going to sleep" which made me feel even worse. I need to do something special for her room to make her feel a little better. By the time bed time came around she was so tired that there was not an issue but I hate that she feels left out. I need to go out and get her a letter for her wall like the girls have and put them all up on the same day or something.
Akiva is OK with the move as long as there is something for him to chew on. He does not know what he is in for. I suspect there will be a lot of crying in his future. Maybe I'll get him a letter too.

Five

I got rid of three things today which brings my total for the month up to five. I am hoping to at least double it tomorrow when we move the kids bedrooms around. I am feeling confident that we can get to fifty this month without a lot of effort.

Six months

It is hard to believe Akiva is six months old today. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.
It is even harder to believe how much he has changed in the last six months. He has gone from this tiny little guy who needed to eat ALL OF THE TIME to a fairly consistent schedule which includes solid food.
Tonight he tried his first teething biscuit, which he loved. He even picked it up from the table and placed it into his mouth. I think they will become a part of his evening routine because we were able to eat some of our dinner without holding him. I also think that the biscuit may make his gums feel better. Our poor baby has been teething for about two months and he has nothing to show for it. He tries to put both of his fists in his mouth on a regular basis. I am hoping a tooth pops out soon, maybe that will help him sleep through the night.
He is not sleeping as well as he was a month ago. The doctor seemed to think that solid food would help and it really has not so we are going to try some tough love. Matt seems to think that he is waking up out of habit so we are going to try to Ferberize him, it is time to cry it out and learn to sleep through the night. Matt is in for a rough week and a clean house because when the baby is crying we tend to clean to take our minds off the screaming.Akiva is going to start sleeping in his own room which should help him sleep through the night. I know it will help us not to have to hear ever single sound he makes during the night. I of course will have the video monitor trained on him because I need to make sure he is breathing before I can sleep at night.
Akiva is enjoying tummy time on the floor. I have started to put him on the floor in the afternoon to give him some time to play and strengthen those tummy muscles. He loves it and can hang out down there for about thirty minutes or longer, especially when the girls are playing with him. He is starting to do the army crawl and today he was pushing himself backwards along the floor. The rocking motion has started and he will be crawling before I know it. Where has my baby gone?
Akiva is one lucky kid because he has three older sisters who just love everything about him. They love to talk to him when he is sad to try and cheer him up. They love to help me change his diaper and they love to hold him.

He is one lucky boy.
Akiva is always singing and talking to his toys and his feet. He loves to eat his feet. Matt and I think that Akiva is our only child who has shown this much interest in his feet. I just do not remember the other kids eating their toes! Akiva has a dynamic smile and the bluest eyes I think I have ever seen. He is really a very happy baby.

Twenty three months

I should be in bed, I should be closing my eyes and going to sleep but I can not because Jordan is twenty three months old today and deserves an update too.
Jordan was a very good baby, I should know because I never put her down. Matt swears that I did not let him hold her until she was three months old. She was so cuddly and because she nursed all the time we were always together and a perfect fit. Flash forward to today and Jordan is no longer nursing but we are still a perfect fit and always together. I used to say that I was Jordan's favorite person in the world and I think I still might be.
At twenty three months Jordan is able to name colors, animals, objects by function, answer questions related to a story or event and retell a story. Her ability to follow multi-step directions is amazing. Jordan expresses her emotions. Right now she is fixated on the fact that "Halloween stuff scares me" and that "Halloween stuff is meam." The other day when Sydney and Lior were at school she told me "I miss Sydney and Your". She does not miss them enough to want to join them at school but she misses her sisters enough to tell me about it.
Jordan's gross motor skills are incredible. She can swing on a bar, walk across the beam and climb just about anything. Her fine motor skills aren't bad either, she can pick all the stickers off a sheet by herself and then stick them all over my floor.
Jordan's biggest problem is that she is not three. When you watch Jordan play, she plays like a three year old. She has tea parties and birthday parties for her dolls. She changes her babies poopy diapers, pushes them around in a stroller while she talks to Minnie on the cell phone. She can usually be found playing with a hat on her head. I do not mind buying Jordan hats because she wears them, especially if she thinks her sisters want to wear them. Jordan loves Minnie Mouse, she may love Minnie Mouse more than she loves JoJo and that is a lot. In fact Jordan wants to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween, finally a kid who knows what costume she wants!
Jordan knows what she wants and how to get it, unfortunately her way of getting things often brings a tear to her unsuspecting sisters eye. Jordan hits and pushes and screams to get what she wants. Jordan is discovering the joys of time out on a daily basis because we have started a zero tolerance policy for hitting. When we ask her if she wants to go to time out, she usually says "no" and slinks away.
Jordan is a very funny child. She is constantly laughing and giggling at everything and anything, especially when her big sisters are near. Jordan loves her sisters, she always has and hopefully always will. Right now Lior has the most patience for Jordan and plays with her the most. Sydney also plays with Jordan but they butt heads because Jordan wants whatever Sydney has and Sydney has no patience for that.
It is hard to believe that my "wild child", my funny, silly little girl is so shy when we are out and about that most people do not see the real Jordan. They see a child who sits on my lap during activities and does not stray far from me. Jordan usually does not interact with people unless I am by her side or Sydney and Lior are there to break the ice for her. I hope she is able to break out of her shell and become a little more outgoing. I do have to admit that I do not mind being her favorite "thing" in the world, a mom could not ask for more. I am sure there will come a time when she will not want to play with me at all, so I will enjoy it while she still likes me.

Lior at thirty eight months

Lior is thirty eight months old today. It is hard to believe that she is three. It is hard to believe that she is three years and two months. The time has flown by.
Lior was not an easy baby. She was tough. I think I have said it before and I will say it again, I was afraid she was going to be as difficult throughout her entire childhood. I am extremely thankful that she is not as tough now as she was as an infant. She is tough and strong willed. She likes to test her limits to see how far she can push you and often does not like the consequences when she has overstepped her boundaries. Thank goodness for time out and 1-2-3 Magic because those behavioral techniques really work for her.
I do not want you to think that Lior is constantly throwing fits or tantruming not stop. She simply knows what she wants and is often unwilling to accept the alternative. She needs to know her limits and what the consequence will be if she does not follow directions. Once she realizes that there will be a consequence and that we are not going to change our minds she tows the line and is very pleasant.
Lior is silly. She is very very silly. Right now she is making up words for words that she knows the name of. Chicken legs are now called "chicken wacks (walks)" Uncle Jake is Uncle Eric and
ruggy means rough. Her grasp of language and the size of her vocabulary is absolutely amazing. She can talk your ear off and will if you appear to be unwilling to listen to her. If she realizes that you want to hear about what she is talking about, she stops talking and makes you really work for the information. She loves telling me about things that happened "yesterday" or "last night". I can always find out what happened at school because Lior can corroborate and expand on the stories that Sydney tells me.
Lior is funny. She also thinks she is funny. Today we we got into the car I heard her tell Sydney "It was so funny, I peed myself... isn't that funny Syd?" Of course Sydney thought it was funny. Those two often stay up for hours giggling and laughing.
Lior loves to cuddle. She falls asleep every afternoon with her head on some part of my body and at night she is cuddled into Sydney. I think she would be a couch potato if I let her. She would rather sit on my lap and read a book than play. She likes to play but if I am sitting in the room, she is sitting on the arm of my chair or in my lap. When she does play she plays beautifully one on one with Sydney and Jordan. Jordan loves Lior and Lior loves her, they are good friends and Jordan can often be found sitting in Lior's lap reading books or watching television. Lior is also good friends with Sydney. When ever I ask the girls who they played with at school I hear "I played with my sister, Syd." or "I played with my Sydney, she's my friend."
Lior loves to read books and can often be found thumbing through books or retelling the story to anyone who will listen. Her obsession lately has been looking for hidden pictures in her High Five magazine. She is so observant that she often sees things before I do.
Lior has started to write her name and creating drawings that look like actual objects. She can look at objects grouped together and tell you how many objects there are if there are fewer than four items. Her abilities change every day and she is learning new things all the time. Sometimes I find myself asking her "where did you learn that?" and she usually laughs and walks away or shows me the book where it came from.
Lior loves to get dirty. She likes to dig in the dirt and make mud. She does not shy away from activities that are hands on and require using your imagination to create.
I can not wait to see what she is going to do next!

Sydney at thirty eight months

Sydney is thirty eight months old today. I figure it is time for an update on all the wonderful things she can do.
When Sydney was an infant I called her my "easy button", I could put her down on the floor with a toy and she would play for hours and then she learned to walk and the easy days were over. Right now Sydney has the capability of being my "easy button"because she lives to please. Sydney loves being a good listener and she loves playing by the rules. Sydney is only difficult when she is wronged by one of her sisters or a friend and when she does not get her way, after all she is three.
Sydney and Lior play beautifully with each other when I am not in the room they always have. The second that they know I can see them the fighting starts. The fighting also starts when Jordan enters the picture. Jordan and Sydney do not play as well together because Jordan wants whatever Sydney has and grabs it right out of her hands and runs away. That really pisses Sydney off and it really pisses Jordan off when Sydney takes the item back, forcefully.
Sydney loves to play with her babies, she can play with them all day. She feeds them, changes them , dresses them and holds them while she reads them books. Sydney loves babies. She is fantastic with "Keev", as she has renamed her little brother. Sydney is always talking to him and engaging him, she finds toys that she thinks he will like and brings them to him if he is crying and she loves to hold him.
Sydney is always looking to draw pictures and write "letters" for us. She is demonstrating age appropriate pre-writing skills and I think it is going to be a matter of time before she is writing her own name. Sydney can identify and name between five and ten letters of the alphabet. She knows the letter "s" because that's her letter. She also know "L" for her sister Lior. The other letters she is aware of all corelate to members of our family (A, E, D, M and W). She counts from one to ten and is grasping the concept of one- to- one correlation. Her language skills are excellent and she is getting better everyday. Her articulation is her biggest obstacle at this time. Sometimes she is hard to understand but after careful prodding I have discovered that she is stimulable for all the sounds she is omitting. What does that mean? Well it means that she is capable of making the sounds now, when she is given a model so I suspect that she will be using them all soon.
Sydney is such a good natured and sensitive child. Her feeling get hurt so easily. It breaks my heart when Lior does not want to play with Sydney just because she knows that it bothers her. I guess that is what kids do to each other but it still bugs me.
Sydney loves life. She loves having fun and taking risks. I have always said that Sydney has an incredible zest for life and that has not changed one bit. You can tell that she is soaking up every little thing. There is a zip to her step and a wiggle in her walk. Some would take one look at her and say she is up to no good but that is not true of Sydney. She is simply interested in having a good time and following the rules. Now lets just hope that her desire to follow the rules continues on through her teen years.