This spring both of our babies have celebrated their birthdays, with Blaire turning five and Ben turning two. They both have such strong-willed personalities. They LOVE to play together, but also play well separately because, well, they both want to get their own way. I hope Ben always enjoys having multiple mothers because Blaire is always watching him. She inspects the age for every toy he gets, even if it’s one I’m buying, to let me know whether or not it’s safe for him. Whatever did I do without her help and input?!
Nicknames: Blairsey and I call her Blur/Bler lol
Height/Weight: 43.5″ (71%) and 45lbs (79%)
Learning: Still working on writing and recognizing all of her letters. She has all of her numbers down. Although she says sometimes 7s and 1s look alike when people put a “top” on the one. And she’s not wrong! She is actually really good at writing her own name, she knows how to spell BEN without help and also can write MOM and DAD without any help.
Watching: She loves watching movies more than she likes to watch shows. She is usually happy to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Puppy Dog Pals with Ben, since those are his faves. But she like to pull up Netflix on the TV and pick out a movie for them to watch if it’s her choice.
Reading: She loves the Lego Girl books, anything Disney Princess and Seek & Find Books. Those are usually the books she picks out from the school library each week.
What She Wants to be When She Grows Up: A “Jump Teacher”. What is a jump teacher you might ask… It’s someone who teaches kids how to jump safely, like at a trampoline park. She says she is going to open her own trampoline school.
Favorite Things to Do: She spends most of her time playing with her dollhouse. She has some Calico Critters and some of their little houses and some of the Peppa Pig play sets. She likes to set them all up and then take all of her people and play. She also likes Barbies. Santa brought her a bike so she is just so excited for the weather to warm up so she can get outside. Our new house has a playground in the backyard, so she is counting down the days until we move so she can get outside and run around.
Favorite Foods: She really, really loves “tiny pizzas” aka pizza rolls. She likes cheese pizza, ramen noodles, pasta, quesadillas, fruit snacks, mini muffins, chips and veggies. She would eat grape tomatoes and broccoli all day long. She also really, really loves cucumbers.
Biggest Milestone: Her independence. She is happy to go to school each day. She never whines about going or is sad to leave me. She kisses Ben and I bye at drop off every day. She had kindergarten round up last week and marched right off to the room and never looked back. She told us about her friends she made and that she got to ride a school bus and she just doesn’t seem to worry about leaving us. She’s brave. She’s confident. And it’s one thing I had really worried about because she had trouble in the past with daycare drop-off. She would cry and hold on to my legs and it was so hard.
My Favorite Part of This Stage: She wants to help. She wants to do everything I do. She wants to help cook, she wants to help take care of Ben. Whatever I’m doing, she asks to help. From taking down pictures and filling the holes in the walls (before we move), to painting furniture, to getting Ben milk or a snack. Whatever it is, she wants to do it. Sometimes it’s hard to step back and give up control because it might take longer or get messier. But I just have to remind myself that she has to learn somehow.
Nickname(s): Benny, Benny Boo, Ben Ben
Weight/Height: 33.25″ (25%) / 25.6lbs (17%)
Wearing: Mostly 18 months or 12-18 months and I’m buying him 18-24 month for spring.
Saying: He can say virtually anything you ask him to. He’s working to puts more than 2 words together to make his own little sentences and it’s so cute! The words he says most are sissy (duh!), mama, dada, dog dog, please and thank you.
Favorite Things: He loves to play. Whether it’s with Blaire or by himself when she’s at school. He is so good at putting people into cars or into any of the little play sets. He likes to make cars and people go down the slide of the Puppy Dog Pals play set. He also loves to play with cars, trucks and tractors.
Favorite Foods: Yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, apples, pizza, peanut butter sandwiches and anything he can snack on. Chips, popcorn, pretzels, goldfish, etc.
Biggest Milestone: There are so many! He puts words together really well, he always uses “please” and “thank you”, he plays well independently whether it’s at home or at the park (he’s a pro at climbing everything and loves the slides) and he listens pretty well.
My Favorite Part of This Stage: I love that he now has favorite things. Like the little birdie he’s holding in the photos below. He calls it his “baby bock bock” and for the past five days he wants to take it everywhere, even to bed with him.
Seeing these two together, even though they can make me crazy when they’re jumping on the couch and pushing each other off the slide, is just so much fun. Knowing they have a forever friend in their sibling is what makes me wish I could have a whole gaggle of kiddos.