Levi's turns 2!

Our sweet Levi turned two right at the end of last year. It's hard having birthdays so close to Christmas because everyone just kind of feels party-ed out. We didn't do a big party or anything, but I think it was special for Levi.

Last picture as a 1 year old.

Levi is growing and changing and learning about life so much right now. He talks so much - he's been to speech therapy twice (to help determine if he needs cleft palate surgery) and each time his therapist says he is speaking and understanding much higher than his age level. All glory to God for that! 

He knows his ABC's, can count to at least 14, loves to sing (and knows many songs and hymns), has memorized several Bible verses and knows about ten answers in the Child's Catechism. We are just amazed at how much he loves to learn.

He is a little guy. He weighs 24 pounds (soaking wet) and has just recently (like in the last 2 weeks) outgrown his 12 month clothes! He's just compact! :)

He loves trucks, animal figures, trains, dolls, cooking, dress-up, reading and more reading. He likes coloring, doing puzzles, and playing with play-doh.

He still takes an afternoon nap and sleeps great at night. He usually sings himself to sleep.

He is such a helper. Whatever daddy or momma are doing, he wants to be right in the middle of it. 

He has a streak of stubbornness and an attitude that sometimes gets the best of him. When he's done wrong he quickly asks for forgiveness.

He does not like to wear his patch. :( He had an eye appointment this week and he has to go back to wearing it 3 hours/day instead of just two. Poor boy! He fusses and is grumpy when it's on. I hate it for him! We go back in 2 months to get his eyes dilated and examined.

He loves all his family and is quick to give hugs and say "I love you."

He adores our babysitter, Hannah. He "talks" to her all. the. time. on his play phone.

He isn't too picky when it comes to food. He is usually willing to try whatever is put in front of him.

He is polite and usually remembers to say please and thank you. :)

Our two 2 year olds. Lily and Levi are the same age for two days.

Levi told me that he wanted bacon and bananas for his birthday breakfast. :)

His birthday was on Sunday, so we celebrated at Jacob's parents house with all my family. Levi shares a birthday with Grandpa (Jacob's dad), so we had a dual celebration. 

Daddy and Grandpa trying to help him blow the candle out. He was blowing above the candle so they were trying to tilt his head down. :)

Mmm, brownie and vanilla ice cream. 

Lily was a willing helper when it came to opening the presents.

Tired birthday boy.

Several family members went in with us to get a big present for all three kid's birthdays. 

A wagon!!

They were so excited! They have asked for a wagon since a dear friend watched them at the park and pulled them around in her wagon.

Our three sweet little ones.

19 months (and palate update)

Levi is just growing and changing so so much. Everyday is a new adventure with lots of learning and exploring for him. He is full of energy and definitely ALL boy!

He still loves to sing. His favorite songs right now are Twinkle, Twinkle, Standing on the Promises, and Trust and Obey. We have a kid's hymn cd in the van and he'll join in humming or singing along with it. I love that he loves music!

He is constantly moving - dancing, jumping, running (I seriously think the child can't walk! ha.) He plays really well by himself and he and Lily are playing together for longer periods of time now. 

He loves balloons, fans (wherever we are, he begs to turn the ceiling fans on), bananas, brushing his teeth, his blanket, looking at pictures, anything to do with water, playing outside, animals, popcorn, and kale chips.

His favorite books right now are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Go Dogs, Go!, Curious George, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

He knows four catechism answers - Who made you? God, Who was the first man? Adam, Who was the first woman? Eve, and Of what was Adam made? Of the dust of the ground.

He had an appointment at Children's Hospital last week. His growth and development are really good. The plan for now is to have 3-6 months of speech therapy and then the doctor will decide if he needs palate surgery or not. Levi is having trouble pronouncing some sounds like "s" and "ch". They come out like a nasally kind of snort. The doctor isn't sure if that is because of the abnormality in Levi's palate or because he's just not saying them right. The speech therapy should help to determine what is going on.

Mama: "Levi, did you put the crayon in your mouth like mama told you not to?"

Precious Innocent Looking Child: "No!" 

Ha!

18 months

My little man is a year and half! How can that be?

He is such a busy boy - always moving, getting into things and being a little helper.

He loves helping empty the dishwasher. Seriously, when he hears me open it, he drops whatever he's doing and runs to help. Love that boy!

He is a daredevil. Climbing, standing in rocking chairs, you name it, he'll be found doing it.

He burned a little finger on the stove top a couple weeks ago. He wasn't even in the kitchen when I went to get Lily off the potty and when I came back, he had a chair pulled up to the stove and was saying "hot, hot" while holding a little red finger up to me to blow on.

His stubborn streak is coming to the surface very quickly. He has just learned to say "no" and it seems to be his favorite word. 

He will try to repeat anything you tell him, but sometimes they come out like grunts. He has some trouble putting some different sounds together too. Like, he can say "ba" and "ll" but he can't say "ball." I think a lot of it has to do with his abnormal palate. We go back to Children's this month or next month...I've got to remember to call and make an appointment. We are praying that he just needs speech therapy and not surgery.

He is looking more and more like his Daddy did when he was little.

He and Lily get along really well most of the time, but Levi sure does know how to push his sister's buttons.

He is cutting two molars right now.

He weighs about 20lbs, wears size 3 shoes and wears size 12 month clothes.

Eating is really touch and go with him right now. He'll eat something and love it one day, and hate it the next. Cheesy eggs are his favorite right now. 

He loves water...to play in and to drink. I rarely give Lily and Levi juice, so on the 4th when it was super hot and we were playing outside, I gave them juice, and they took one sip and started begging for me to dump it out and give them water. It was funny!

I'm so thankful for my first-born boy. God has used him to bless our family immensely!

17 months (and eye update)

Sweet handsome man!

My precious first born boy is growing up so fast! He is learning new things everyday.

Gotta love the baby toes and crossed ankles! 

Levi had an eye appointment last week. It was a long appointment where his eyes were checked and then dilated and then checked again. I was really proud of how brave Levi was! He sat pretty still so the doctor could look in his eyes. Yes, he squirmed, but we didn't have to hold him down like last time. The doctor was able to see a stigmatism's in both eyes, so she ordered a new prescription for lenses. We are also down to patching his "good" eye for 2 hours a day instead of 3. The doctor said that as bad as Levi's optic nerves look, he shouldn't see much, if anything...but obviously he is seeing amazingly well! So thankful for this miracle!

Levi loves exploring and examining new things. 

Playing in Daddy's shoes.

Levi loves to read! He will sit and look at books by himself for a long time, and he will sit and listen while we read to him. He still loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Hop on Pop, and all of the My First Board Books.

Levi is definitely more of a climber than Lily (and I thought Lily was bad!). In the last week I've found him on top of the stove, on the counter, on a chair trying to open the front door, and using his chair to climb onto our bed, and to get stuff off our dressers. He seriously pulls his little blue chair around the house with him to help him reach anything he decides he wants! He will also push our tall bar stools around the kitchen to climb on - that's how he got on the stove. This child is crazy!

Of course he still loves playing outside! The water table is his favorite outdoor activity - he will play with it for the longest time! He's not too much into the sprinkler or sand box yet.

"hmm, I wonder if I can reach that dirty knife?"

His appetite has come back for the most part. Although he still isn't a fan of fruit besides bananas and applesauce. We have smoothies every morning for breakfast, so he typically drinks his daily amount of fruit.

He is very much into putting things into containers, dumping them out, and doing it all over again. 

How I love this sweet, stubborn, loud, funny, crazy boy!

16 months

Sweet Levi is 16 months old today! Wow, can't believe I'm actually typing that! Babies grow up way too fast. 

• Levi is a typical busy, busy boy. He is rarely still, as you can see in most of the pictures I post of him!
• He wears mostly 12 month clothes, but still some 9 month pants. He's short and chunky! :-) He wears size 3 shoes. Yes, he has small feet!

• He is extremely mischievous.
• His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. 
• When he gets frustrated he lets out an ear-shattering scream! Ugh, we are working on that!

• He is so curious! He will sit in the floor and examine something for the longest time. 
• He gets into everything! I have to keep my eyes on him all the time.
• He's started taking a longer afternoon nap...about 2 hours. Such a blessing!
• He is back to eating most things. He's not a huge fan of fruit except bananas, so we have smoothies every morning for breakfast. He loves drinking his smoothie out of his "big boy" cup (with a straw).

• Reading is his favorite thing! He likes to sit and look at books by himself but he also likes for us to read to him.
• He loves playing outside.
• He sleeps about 12 - 12 1/2 hours each night. 

• He loves brushing his teeth.
• He likes to figure out how things work. I will put his snack (usually cheddar bunnies) in a container and give him another container and he will move the bunnies from one container to the other. Keeps him busy for a few minutes, but also helps his coordination.
• He loves singing! Away In A Manger is still his favorite song, but he also likes Twinkle, Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. He actually sings alot of the words and carries the tune pretty well.

• Anytime I am in the kitchen, he pulls his little chair up to the counter and wants to help. He likes to help with the laundry too...basically he likes to be where ever mama is, so he helps with everything.
• He is definitely a mama's boy.
• He is a great big brother - patting Asher sweetly and giving him his paci when he's sad. We are still working with Levi about giving gentle hugs to Asher.

How I love my sweet boy!

14 months

So what is this 14 month old little man up to?

• He is a busy, busy boy!
• He leaves a wake behind him wherever he goes. ha!
• He is a happy boy, unless he's tired, then all he wants is mama and his blankie.
• He sleeps from 7pm-7am and takes a long afternoon nap. Sometimes he takes a morning nap, but not usually.
• He loves playing in the kitchen while Lily and I are cooking. 

• Lately he's started getting picky with his eating. Lily has never been picky, so this is a new experience for me. I think Levi is teething, so I'm hoping that is what's causing the picky-ness!
• Levi is such a mama's boy. I love it, although it gets hard sometimes when he constantly wants to be held or holding on to my leg! I think having a new baby brother is going to be good for him.
• He loves helping empty the silverware from the dishwasher. He hands me each piece with the biggest smile!
• He also likes to throw away his diapers or whatever I tell him to go throw in the trash. He's actually a little over-zealous when it comes to throwing things away. I keep finding toys and his cup in the trash can. Ha!

• Levi likes to try to do everything Lily does. He's so funny!
• He loves to color and actually does great not putting the crayons in his mouth.
• He likes to sing. We can pick out bits and pieces of Away In A Manger, Head & Shoulders, E-I-E-I-O, and Ho, Ho, Ho, Hosanna.
• He is such a fun (although extremely busy) age! 

We are so thankful for our sweet boy!