Friday, May 20, 2016

Rowan the Toddler



 Our little guy is one year old!!!  (Actually he was a year old almost 3 months ago, but I'm finally getting to the post).

Having Rowan has been hard work, particularly dealing with his health problems, but he has definitely brought a lot of joy to our lives.  I really feel like Rowan has taught my older kids to love and it is a pretty beautiful thing.  They all love him so much and think he's so cute and shower him with attention.  They all love to make him laugh and smile.

Rowan still wakes up several times a night.  He continues to have lots of ear infections and also constantly seems to be cutting teeth.  He still smiles a lot and people are always telling me he is the smiliest baby they have ever seen.  They tell me he must be happy all the time--which is not quite true.  He's pretty bi-polar--either he's smiling huge, or he's screaming miserably.  He is finally starting to tolerate his car seat a little more, although not for long distances.  He still has not said his first word which does worry me, but I am doing all I can do.  We have been working with a speech therapist since he was 6 months old.  I am trying to do better about him wearing his hearing aid, but it seems like something always gets in the way.  Right now it's another ear infection...

Rowan did take his first steps about a month ago, and watching him walk his super cute.  He is very bowl-legged and looks like Tommy Pickles when he walks.

Rowan likes to play peek-a-boo, eat apple sauce and yogurt, and play with his siblings.  He likes going for walks in his stroller, playing in the dishwasher when I'm trying to load it, and pulling everything out of the cupboards and drawers.  He particularly enjoys dumping out cereal boxes and boxes of crayons.  He likes being outside and being pushed around in the wagon or Little Tikes car.











Jeffrey's B-day

 Since we never are quite sure where we will be and when during the summer, and since it is harder to get a hold of school friends, we decided to pick a random time and celebrate Jeffrey when it was convenient for us!   Jeffrey chose to have his birthday at Premier Gymnastics in Loveland.  Somehow I didn't get any pics of anyone actually doing any gymnastics--maybe John got some on his phone.  However you can see here there was a great turn out.  The glasses straws were a little complicated but were a big hit with the kids and their parents.

It really is a very fun place for parties and everyone always has a great time.  There is a big foam pit the kids can jump in, balance beams, rope swings, trampoline...  A couple of the boys even provided younger sister friends for Arabelle :)