E's 18 Month Checkup

When the kids were off of school and we were between vacations, we took Elizabeth to the doctor for her 18 month appointment. She is doing great and is now 21 lb 8 oz (11%) and 32.25” long (64%). Her percentages are staying right on track from previous appointments so she is continuing to grow well. The doctor said that she looks great and we will go back when she turns two! She did have to get one shot that day, so that wasn’t super fun, but she was a trooper.

Elizabeth has more words every day. She wants to “walk” everywhere herself and go “(out)’side” as often as we will let her. One of her favorite words is “cheese” whether smiling for a picture or asking for a snack. She is starting to name people more and often follows the name with mama sounds. So we have dada-mamamama, grandma-mamamama and grandpa-mamamama. Ben/Brother sounds mostly like Bubby or Bobby. Elizabeth enjoys all of her accessories always wanting to wear “hats”, “shoooes” and “socks” – probably so she can go “’side”.

She still firmly believes she is the princess in our house and at school. She doesn’t leave the teachers’ sides and often goes on errands with them to the school office the same way she follows Daddy around at home. At the same time, she is very independent and as her brother says “wants to do what she wants to do”.

She is still a great eater. She runs to her booster seat as soon as we get home from school ready for dinner. We check her care sheet to make sure she ate lunch and it normally says she ate double servings of everything – she is just hungry again! When you move that much, you must just need a lot of fuel! She eats a good variety too. She definitely out-eats her brother when it comes to vegetables.

She is quite the wonder and we are enjoying watching her soak in the world around her!

New Classes

After a fun week off, the kids both started in new classes at school on Monday. Ben is now in the Explorers class and Elizabeth is in ICD (the oldest “infant” class). Most of Ben’s friends moved with him so it is mainly new teachers and classroom to get used to. His new schedule is chock full of center time, group time, worksheets, and all sorts of learning and stimulation. It is also the first time that we have had school supplies – he even has his own scissors and three subject notebook now! He loves it and actually requested on the second day that Mom didn’t pick him up so early and let him stay longer. The Explorers are studying Hawaii this week and having a Welcome Luau on Friday. We are really excited about what fun is in store for him this year.

Elizabeth is in a room that has a loft play area, lots of dress up and a whole new level of toys to explore. There are also tables and chairs instead of the table with little jump seats, and there is no buggy that the class uses to get around. The kids are expected to hold onto a rope and follow the teacher. Watch out, ICD teachers – Elizabeth has a mind of her own! Her teachers are ones that she is already familiar with and she seems to be right at home. There are a few familiar faces, but lots of older kids to get to know. It should be a fun year!

Back to School night is next week and we will get to hear even more about the year ahead. They are both growing so fast – it is exciting to see the new opportunities they will have!

Ben's first day outfit - Wow!

Dallas

Thursday

We drove in and arrived around 1:30pm. The first stop was IKEA! Mom and Dad both had lists of items not to miss and the kids were really pretty tolerant of these plans. The kids’ area is so wonderful that they really didn’t want to leave in the end. Especially when we walked through the warehouse area to checkout and Ben was very concerned that we were somewhere we were not supposed to be!

It wasn’t quite dinner time so we stopped at the Allen Premium Outlets to hit Gymboree and Children’s Place. The kids spent most of the time outside “on a walk” with Dad while Mom tried to figure out what to buy for fall.

After that we headed to McKinney to the Swarts’ house. We met Maddox, and Ben and Elizabeth proceeded to terrorize Sarah and Dusty’s poor kitty for the rest of our stay. We decided to give the cat a break and went out to eat at Firehouse Subs. It was our first time and we all found something we enjoyed! We’ll have to go again now at home. We enjoyed visiting with Sarah and Dusty and stayed there that night.

Friday

We got up and got on our way to the Target and the donut store. Apparently we forgot diapers and also needed a little sugar to start our day. After we did our shopping, we headed to Fair Park to get a museum pass and start with the butterfly gardens at Texas Discovery Gardens. It was super hot and everyone was pretty drained by lunch. We refueled at Sonic and then headed back out to power through nap time and go to the Museum of Nature and Science. We could have spent a couple of days there! It was very kid friendly and had lots of interactive exhibits. Ben and Elizabeth got to dig for fossils in a sand area near the dinosaurs and played several games related to the other main exhibits. Then there was an entire area downstairs geared even more towards preschool aged kids that had a water play area, a music area, a fire truck area, a farm, a bug exhibit and lots more. The kids had a blast!

We went on to check into our hotel for the rest of our stay. We used points to stay at an Embassy Suites near the Galleria and it was so worth it! The extra space was wonderful and the kids enjoyed the fountain with live swans, the glass elevators and of course, the pool. The kids rested and then we swam. Ben jumped from the side of that pool probably over a hundred times. He would have gone more if poor Mom and Dad had let him. When we were cleaning up to eat, Elizabeth hit the corner of the cabinet really hard and got a giant goose egg. The gash wasn’t very deep so we just treated it with ice and proceeded on with dinner plans. She was a trooper after she got settled down.

There were yummy snacks at the hotel happy hour and then we headed to the Galleria for dinner. We decided to try the Grand Lux Café as it was recommended to us by the hotel staff as having a large variety on the menu and being family friendly. It was nicer than where we usually take the kids so we had a big talk about manners before going in. The kids were very eager and quickly decided what they would eat. They got wikki stix to play with instead of crayons and that was a huge hit. After dinner had arrived, Ben looked up and claimed that this was the most favorite part of the trip for him. Guess we need to eat out at nicer restaurants more often at home! They did a great job and then we enjoyed a short shopping trip and watched the ice skating at the mall.

Saturday

On Saturday we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then headed back out to the world of museums. We went to the Museum of the American Railroad and realized that it was nearly all outside as it consisted of actual railroad cars. It was a very hot tour of lots of engines and rail cars, but Ben enjoyed looking at them and climbing inside of some of them so it was worth it.

We headed to lunch at Blue Mesa Grill and it was so yummy! The kids got balloons and thought it was another fun meal. We headed back to the hotel for naps and swimming.

We went to the Galleria again for dinner since it was so entertaining the night before. Since we had enjoyed such a big lunch, we headed to the playground first before thinking about dinner. The kids enjoyed climbing around on all of the neat play equipment. We ate at Five Guys Burgers right off of the skating rink and the kids gobbled up their food while watching the skaters go by. We finished our outing with a random trip to Old Navy and then headed to the hotel for bedtime.

Sunday

We enjoyed another nice breakfast and got all packed up to head back home. We killed some time and stopped by The Container Store before lunchtime, and then hit the road to head back home after grabbing some McDonald’s. The kids did great on the actual trip, but when it came to the car, E was not her best. If you are considering inviting her on a road trip any time soon, please watch this clip first (sorry it is sideways!). She will grow out of it, but in the meantime – watch out!