Peytra walking

This month, Peytra has really grown up.  She is now walking.  She can’t walk everywhere, and she does still crawl, but she tries to walk or be upright as much as she can.  Yesterday, she stood up in the middle of the floor and took 11 steps to get to me.  She could have just crawled over, but I guess she likes walking. 

Also, she can clap, and it doesn’t look like she’s washing her hands anymore.  She can dance (bounce) a little, and she likes to kiss and hug sometimes.  She’s not shy at all about the kissing, and will put her mouth around my nose or all over my neck. 

Stryker and Peytra looking at the new truck that the builders across the street bought for Stryker as a thank-you for him bringing them those tool cookies

She loves her turquoise monkey, which she sleeps with, and she still loves her pacifier.  We try to only give it to her at naptime and bedtime.  But she also gets it when she is loud in church or the grocery store, or when she is able to grab it herself off of the end table.  She also loves socks.  She likes to carry around her own socks, or Stryker’s.  She often puts them in her shopping cart and pushes it around.  On Thursday, which was laundry day, she was playing in the clean whites when Stryker wanted me to go outside.  So I picked her up to go out, but she had a fit when I had to pry Stryker’s underwear out of her hand (he was not wearing this particular pair at the time). 

Peytra checking out Grace Johnson, her 2nd cousin, on February 18

She still really likes people and faces, but she has some stranger anxiety.  On Monday, my friend Amy watched Stryker and Peytra while I went to the eye doctor, and when I tried to hand Peytra to Amy, who we see once a week, Peytra clung to me like a koala.

She has learned to point to things we say, like, “Where is Daddy?  Mommy?  Stryker?  Doggy?  Monkey?  Book?”  She is saying Dada, but she says “da” for a lot of other things, too.

She is also making the transition to one nap a day.  This month she changed her naptime about as often as she changed her clothes.  First it was 8:30 and 1:00.  Then it was 9:30 and 1:30.  Then it was 10:30 and 2:00.  Now, she takes a nap at about 12:00 after lunch.  I don’t see how that could change.  I hope it stays that way for the next 2+ years.  The length varies.  The first day, she slept for an hour and a half.  The second day for 3 hours.  Hopefully, she sticks with the 3-hour naps.

Peytra just sitting there

She can climb up stairs.  One day, I was in the bathroom, and I heard Stryker say, “Uh-oh!  Peytra is going upstairs!”  I said, “Oh, can you shut the gate?”  He said, “Ok,” and I heard the gate close.  Then he said, “She’s going higher!”  Peytra had already gotten past the gate when he shut it, so she was past the landing by the time I pulled up my pants and got to her. 

Peytra at Quaas Creek Park

She is wearing 18-month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 4 shoes.  She eats 3 meals a day, 2 snacks, and nurses 3 times a day.

My new laundry sorter

This is my wonderful new laundry sorter.  I had pined for this laundry sorter for about 9 months, and I finally ordered it.  Everyone says how nice it is to have our laundry room in such an accessible place, on the main floor.  While that is true, our small laundry room had no place for the mounds of dirty laundry that we accumulate.  We have a laundry chute, but when I open the cabinet where the clothes collect from the chute, an avalanche of dirty clothes engulfes me.  So this laundry sorter is a lifesaver!  I ordered it from www.walmart.com, and had it delivered Site to Store.  Now, I can take the laundry from the laundry cabinet every day or so and put them into the laundry sorter, which rolls neatly into this closet.  Then, I can do a load whenever a section of the sorter is full.  Or I can wait until laundry day, and Keith won’t have to climb over the mountains of stinky socks and dirty underwear in order to get out the door on his way to school.

Here are a few of Stryker’s thoughts lately.

Stryker with red cheeks

His lips have been chapped lately from him licking them too much.  Plus, he wipes his arm across his face, making his cheeks red, too.  One night, I put some Aquaphor lotion on his face, and he asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was making his red cheeks go away.  He said, “No!  Don’t make my red cheeks go away.  They’re what makes me me!”

Stryker often moves slower than we’d like when we go for walks.  One day, Keith told him to “pick up the pace.”  Stryker then slowed down even more and looked around on the ground.  He was looking for the pace.

At Sunday School, the kids have some time to play at the beginning and at the end.  One Sunday, Stryker said he played superheroes with some other kids.  I asked which kids he played with, and he said three other boys.  I said, “Do any of the girls play superheroes?”  He said, “No.  Usually, they just laze around.”

A couple of days ago, Stryker said, “I see a plane way up high in the sky!  I can see it with my carrot eyes!”  He said this because I always tell him that eating carrots is good for your eyes.  (I don’t know if this is true or not, but apparently he believes it.)

One day, I asked Stryker if he could name four fruits.  He thought for a minute and then said, “I would name them Tom Thumb and Chico.”  (I don’t know why he only named two.)

A recent question:  “What if I played tag with Jesus?”

Laura and Brian Watson with Peytra

Today is the birthday of Peytra’s godmother, Laura Watson.  She is only a few days older than Keith, who will turn 31 on March 28.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together with Laura and her husband Brian when we are in St. Louis over Easter weekend.

Peytra in front of her gate

This week’s dress is a cute flowered blue jumper borrowed from Peytra’s friend Cate.  It’s actually reversible, too.  The other side is plain blue with a few flowers on the front. 

Peytra is pictured here in front of her gate that we’ve had up for a few weeks.  It is made by Dreambaby.  It is a pressure mounted gate that has a door that swings open, so it stays in place all the time.  Stryker can open the door to get through, but Peytra can’t.

Peytra standing and holding her play kitchen utensils

In other news, Peytra took 8 steps from her shopping cart to me last night.  She’ll be walking all over in no time!

Stryker walking a toy dinosaur on Peytra's arm

Stryker and Peytra at Cabela's

This week was Bear Week, and our letter was letter A.  As you see in the first pictures, we went to Cabela’s to see the real, stuffed, dead bears that they have there.  Peytra was just as intrigued as Stryker was.

Bear at Cabela's

Polar bear at Cabela's

Teddy Bear Picnic

On Tuesday, we had a Teddy Bear Picnic, where we ate typical bear food:  nuts, berries, and honey (on cinnamon toast).  Peytra’s high chair has adjustable height, so I lowered it all the way, so she could join us.  Defense wanted to take part, too.  She is such a good dog that she didn’t even eat the food, even though it was on the floor.  She just sat there looking longingly at our plates.

Stryker sorting Gummi Bears

In other food-related activities, Stryker sorted gummi bears by color and counted them and ate them.  This was an idea from http://cullensabcs.com. 

Stryker eating "ants in applesauce"

We also made “ants in applesauce,” for the letter A, and also since bears eat bugs.  It’s actually raisins in applesauce.  This recipe was one from an alphabet set of recipes we got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Finke.

He is not much into coloring, so my efforts to get him to color or paint a brown bear, black bear, and a polar bear resulted in half-hearted work, that you don’t see here.

Stryker and Peytra in their bear den

Stryker also did bear walk races (against me – he won), and growled like a bear, and built a bear den for him and his stuffed bears.

Next week is a review of all the letters of the alphabet.

Stryker at Family Fun Land

For the past 3 weeks or so, Stryker has been taking naps almost daily.  The trick is, I have to get him to be done with his nap by 1:00, or he has trouble getting to sleep at night.  So we’ve been having lunch at 11:30, and then he goes down for his nap usually by 12:15.  I then wake him at 1:00.  He usually doesn’t want to wake up, but it has to be done.  He is soooo much more pleasant in the afternoons and evenings now.  The downside of this schedule is that Peytra has been napping 10:00-11:30 and 2:30-3:30.  So their naps do not coincide.  As Keith says, this gives me lots of one-on-one time with the kids.  On Monday of this week, we used our 1:00-2:30 free time when both kids are awake to go to Family Fun Land, an indoor playground,  in Germantown, about 20 minutes away.  It used to be free on Mondays, but now it costs $1/kid, which is still reasonable.  A good time was had by all.

Peytra and Stryker at Family Fun Land

Peytra at Family Fun Land

Peytra saying "ohhhhh"

Stryker and Peytra at Family Fun Land

Peytra after eating spaghetti - she loves her carbs!

On Sunday, February 28, Peytra took her first independent step.  She was standing, and she took one step toward a duck puppet that I was holding.  Then she took another step later in the week.  On Saturday, March 6, she took 3 steps toward Grandma Hagy, and on Monday, she took 4 steps toward Keith.  She loves to walk around pushing her shopping cart, and she can even walk a little bit holding onto someone’s hand with one of her hands.  I guess this means we’ll have to buy her some shoes soon!  None of these pictures are of Peytra walking – they are just random cute pictures of her.

Peytra eating lunch with wild, sweaty-nap hair

Peytra on her favorite day of the week - Laundry Day! So many socks! But wait, which ones are the dirty ones she was wearing?

Stryker in his sandbox

We are having some very nice weather here.  The past few days, the snow has been melting, revealing the sandbox, the grass, and also a lot of dog poop!  We scooped all the poop we could yesterday, so that’s mostly out of the way.  We got out Stryker’s sand toys, and he sat down in the sandbox and stayed there for about an hour – a miracle!  I feel he’s old enough and responsible enough to play in the backyard by himself now, too, for a little while, so that really frees me up. 

Peytra and Defense watching Keith outside

While he was doing that, Defense and Peytra were by the front door watching Keith outside talking to the neighbor.

Peytra - Week 46

This week, Peytra is wearing a striped dress from Grandma and Grandpa Hagy, who visited this weekend and brought the tights, too.  It looks like Peytra is wearing a short-sleeved dress with a long-sleeved shirt under it, but that is all actually part of the dress.  I like that the colors are bright and summery, but it’s still a winter dress. 

Peytra laughing because she loves her book so much

Grandma Hagy and Peytra, who is making her new "oh" face

Peytra and Grandpa Hagy

Stryker and Grandpa Hagy