Oh my how they grow!

My children are growing up so fast. Here's a quick recap of the major happenings in each of their lives:



Connor is really growing big. He's growing tall too! He's almost 3 inches taller than he was in June. His hair is growing out again - and those curls are persisting.

In October Connor started speech therapy. At that time he was able to only say one word - "mama". And, it was more of a babble - never actually said to me or in reference to me. Now, he's got quite a list of words that he says and we are so very happy about it:
mama, papa, mine, yeah, no, cheese (when taking pictures of course - just like his brother - a camera hound), up, down, why, hey, boy, ham, hot, hop, more, two, one

Connor likes to combine a couple of words now. It always involves the word "mine". Mama mine. NO MINE. Not really the word we wanted him to fixate on, but we'll take it.

Connor is also very much into his knees lately. For the past couple of weeks he'd walk around with his pant leg pulled up and he'd want to show us his knees. So, when the weather forecast called for a warm day, I put shorts on my son. His response really wasn't what I expected. In fact, it was the opposite. He fixated on COVERING his knees. He whined and fussed while he pulled his shorts down below his knees. Presumable, he has forgotten all about shorts. What a long winter!

We had some mini ice cream cones the other day. This was a first for the little guy. He loved it. Of course, it was chocolate and he comes from a long line of chocolate lovers - but he really loved it. So much so that he asked for another. Ramesh handed him an empty cone. He was perplexed. He looked at it up and down. He poked his finger into it. It was a "where's the beef?" moment - only, where's the ice cream!



Aidan is also growing a ton. He's about 2-1/2 inches taller than he was in June. He is still taking soccer classes and has recently started karate. So far he really likes karate and I think he finally has reached a maturity level that works in such a concentrated class.

Aidan has really fallen well into the role of big brother. The other day Connor flushed the toilet (joy oh joy) and Aidan came out and said "Mama, Connor helped me flush the toilet and I was just SO proud of him!" He sits and reads books to Connor, he teaches him words and they sword fight a lot.

Aidan's doing great academically. His reading and math are both above level for this time of year. He is very mindful of his teacher and usually looks forward to going to school every morning (all except that getting out of bed part). He recently received an award for most academically improved in his class. We were notified yesterday that he'll be getting another award. This one we are most proud of (and I just about cried when I read the letter). This award is the Terrific Kids award which is "based on superior efforts in citizenship, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and respect for others". WOW. We've raised such a wonderful little man and I just can't wait to watch him grow even more.

There ya have it. I'm done gushing about my boys now!