Hellobee

As I sit here writing this monthly update almost a whole month late, I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to keep this up…! I think once Lil Miss Wagon is walking and talking I will switch it up to only a few times a year. Maybe at each of their birthdays and half birthdays. I do love chronicling their lives monthly, but once they’re toddlers, there isn’t much in terms of updates… except maybe tantrums. And I know you’re all dyyyying to hear about those.

Here we go!

We are heading into my very favorite stage… learning how to walk and talk! I just think this is the stage where they are the cutest and funnest to be around. Or maybe it’s just a nice relief after the newborn stage is over. In any case, my sweet girl is soooo very fun and adorable these days.

We definitely have LMW’s first word, which is “dada.” She favors the “da” syllable and everything she “says” is some form of “dada,” but she does refer to things consistently with similar noises. So Daddy is “dada,” Doggie is “dada,” Stop (when we’re telling the dogs to stop barking) is “da,” and Thank You is “dat-doo”. She actually points to pictures of Daddy and doggies and says “dada” so we know she knows what they are!

She does say “mama” but only when it’s eating time. Koreans do use the word “mma-mma” as baby talk for food, but we never used it that way with her…! I like to save that word for me, but she never refers to me as Mama. When referring to me she usually just squeals or screeches.

She has been coming in for cuddles, hugs, and kisses lately. She loves to play and she’s a big daredevil. She loves when we flip and twirl her around and toss her in the air. She can never get enough.

Eating

LMW is pretty much just eating whatever we eat now. We usually cut her food up for her, but for the most part we just prepare the same food for all four of us and we all chow down together. She loves feeding herself, so with things like pancakes, bagels, cheese, etc. we just hand her the whole piece and she goes to town on it. She seems to love meats (she goes crazy over turkey meatballs and breakfast sausage) and she’s really taken to cherry tomatoes (I think she thinks they’re grapes because we cut them in half the same way!).

She’s still a crazy milkaholic. She’ll drink 2 cups with each meal if we let her. We can still go through 3 gallons a week, easily.

Sleeping

LMW’s sleep remains consistent, which is great for all involved in her care! Every now and then she’ll have an off day where a nap is only half an hour, but for the most part she takes about an hour nap twice a day and sleeps through the night from 7:30-6:00. She goes down easily and only cries during the night maybe once every other day… but always for just a second or two and goes back to sleep. Her night sleep isn’t as long as WJ’s used to be at this age, but I think that will change once we transition her to one nap a day. Plus, WJ used to have many many night wakings and would sometimes take a while to fall back asleep, while LMW pretty much sleeps through the night.

Wagon Jr.

WJ is definitely exiting his picky eating phase and will try many new foods, and he’s eating veggies at almost every meal. His portions are becoming smaller, but we are trying to stay more flexible and laid-back for his eating in general. He’s still chubby and is obviously eating enough despite how active he is, so we really need to tone it down for our mealtimes to be enjoyable and stress-free.

He’s still a major goofball and it’s tough to get him to focus on doing what he needs to do, but gosh is he fun to play with. He has a crazy imagination and is starting to get into things like superheroes, swords, shooting, and all those boy things. I’m horrified (where did my sweet baby go?? This is too much violence!) but Wagon Sr. is thrilled.

It’s sometimes a struggle to get him to take a nap, but he definitely still needs one. When he does nap, it’s for well over an hour, and he still falls asleep at night well before 8pm most nights. And when he doesn’t nap, he wakes screaming and crying several times a night. It’s pretty interesting to see how the 3.5 year old needs Mommy “because I need you” while the 1 year old next door sleeps soundly through the night.

Sibling Love

Our weekends are now filled with adventures now that we have two kids to entertain. It’s exhausting, but so rewarding to watch both of them filled with wonder and excitement. Both of the kids are pretty independent, so their interactions are limited, but they are both laid-back and love to laugh. Some of our favorite moments is when they’re giggling at each other in the car, sitting in their carseats. Even if it is naptime and they’re both supposed to be falling asleep.
Most of the time we have to dictate to WJ how to be a good big brother (“don’t snatch the toy from her!” “if you want to take that toy you have to bring her a different toy!” “be gentle!” “don’t step on her hand!”) but when LMW cries, he usually runs to make things right. If she cries because he’s snatched a toy, he will often drop it (or throw it) right in front of her. He’s not happy about it, but he does it. Sometimes if she’s crying for a reason that has nothing to do with him, he will rush to her side and try to push a toy at her, saying with a panic “it’s ok, you’re ok, nice toy Baby LMW!”

But for the most part, we’ve been seeing what we expected to see… whenever one has a toy, the other one wants it. Doesn’t matter what it is!

That’s it from us this month! See you next month for some more exciting updates!