Peter Started Pre-School

Peter started pre-school on August 14th. I don't think he really knew what it was all about at first but he was excited to wear his new Phineas and Ferb backpack. He loves going to school. It's amazing some of the differences I've noticed in him after just 3 weeks of going. It has definitely helped improve his speech and also his behavior at church. Last Sunday he said in a very excited voice, "Let's go to primary!" Which is a big thing because earlier this year I had to sit with him in primary to help him behave. 

Modeling his new backpack

Carpooling with his good friend Tingen

Peter and his teacher Miss Amy

Peter and Josie Got New Shirts

Check out Peter and Josie's new shirts!

Random Stories About Josie and Peter

Josie will hear the bath water running and do the sign for bath and then run towards the bathroom. 


She will be sitting in her high chair and I will ask her if she is all done and she will do the sign for all done and then when I go to get her out she will grab a handful of food and shove it into her mouth. 


Josie and Peter now share a room and have for a few months. It took a while for them to get used to it but now it's really nice. Well, until the past few weeks when Peter climbs into Josie's crib with her and she will scream bloody murder until we go in and extract him. I have learned that I can calm the situation by singing a primary song. I sang Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam one time and Peter climbed out of bed and crouched down and he popped up every time I sang beam. It took me by surprise the first time but it's so stinking cute. 


Josie wants to be just like her big brother and will copy things that he says and does. The other day Peter claimed to be stuck somewhere and Josie said stuck. 


We were at church a while back and Peter brought his stuffed dog Blue to play with during sacrament meeting. We just happened to be sitting in a pew next to the wall and Peter shoved Blue between the wall and the pew and said stuck. 

Peter was asking me for milk and I said to him, "What do you say?" and as he was emphatically saying "Please" with the sign for please, I look over at Josie in her highchair and she is also doing the sign for "please" and I heard her say "Please." It was the cutest thing ever!


I was going to rearrange my freezer so I brought my cooler inside and let it sit for a while until the kids went down for naps. So when I was ready I opened the cooler and it was wet inside. It wasn't wet before. I'm pretty sure Peter sat in the cooler and peed in it. Earlier I couldn't find where Peter was sitting when he wet his pants, now I know. This also explains why his foot was wet too.


Josie absolutely hates the one piece pjs, or she hates the time it takes to put them on her (which is longer than is should be because she wiggles and squirms to prevent it from happening).


Peter and I were eating "pillows" (pizza rolls) for lunch. I put some more on my plate and Peter took my plate and said, "welcome" as in you're welcome as in thank you in Peter speak.


Josie likes to look at books and point at things in the books and say, "this." She gets a kick when I start saying "this" as well.


If I make a kissey face at Josie she will stick her face in mine to get a kiss at least twice in a row. :)

Peter's 3 Year Stats

Peter also went in to the doctor's for his annual check-up last Monday. It was kind of fun because at 3 is when they start to do the physical type exam in addition to the doctor exam. They took his blood pressure and he got to help and they weighed and measured him using the big scale and the wall ruler. He was a bit wary of the thing that comes down on the wall ruler to measure his height but overall he did really well. They tried to do the hearing test but he wasn't giving clear enough answers, they also tried to do the vision test and they had me cover up one of his eyes but by the end of the exam instead of standing with his back against the wall he was lying on the floor with me covering one of his eyes. Maybe next year. :) I also tried to get him to pee in a cup and he just thought that was the funniest thing and was not having any of it. Peter used to be a crier whenever the doctor tried to touch him and this time he actually laughed. So here are his stats:

Height: 37 1/2" - 50%
Weight: 31 lbs - 45%
Head: 19 3/4" - 60%

So he's definitely growing really well. He came from the bottom and is now in the middle for everything. He is quite the character and a 75% good big brother. If I tell Josie to stop doing something and I don't get to her first he will intervene and take it away or make her stop what she was doing. I have to remind him that I am the Mom and I will take care of it. But he will also sit and play with her or give her toys or smack her or push her down for no apparent reason. He has so much energy and loves to go and play at the park or at his friend Tingen's house. He has turned into quite the picky eater, it's frustrating because he used to be just like Josie where I could put anything in front of him and he would eat it happily. I guess that's part of growing up. He loves Blue's Clues and Phineas and Ferb and he gets to watch one episode of one show after peeing in the potty. Which leads us to Peter's potty training, he has gotten so good at going to the potty all by himself. He will even yell potty and run to the bathroom when he needs to go. Peter is talking a ton. It's amazing the difference between a 2 year old and a 3 year old. He's still working on sentences and it's entertaining to listen to. He knows that there are supposed to be more words between Mommy and Blue's Clues Joe so he will insert made up words and that will be his sentence. Peter loves to hide in things; it doesn't really matter what, laundry baskets, boxes, under blankets or pillows he loves it. He thinks that because he loves it so much that everyone does too so he'll try to cover Josie or his friends in pillows and blankets and that usually ends with whomever he is trying to cover crying for help. He also loves to play with any and all electronics especially my camera. I have a whole folder dedicated to pictures Peter has taken while playing with the camera.

I heard a ruckus during nap time and went to check on Peter and this is what I found 

 Looking cool in his sunglasses

Watching a movie with his cousin SD

This picture makes me wonder where my little boy went

Dressing Blue in his clothes

Helping Mommy crochet Josie's blanket

Chilling in his new Black Friday car seat, the last car seat he will ever need

So happy he gets to bash the pinata at Tingen's birthday party

Striking a pose

Self portrait

They had so much fun playing with these blankets

Peter loves when we get packages

Paper monster!

He's going to mail himself to you

Peter's handiwork behind the camera

Peter Likes Tangled

We got Tangled from Netflix the other day and we've been watching it quite often and today while we were watching it Peter got up and started singing and dancing to the I've Got a Dream song. It was so cute that I rewound the movie so it would play again so I could get the video below. Enjoy!

(Peter is not wearing pants but is wearing his big boy underwear. He even put them on himself all by himself).

Our Busy Life

You wouldn't know it from *all* the blogging I've been doing lately but we've had a fairly busy 1st quarter of 2011. January started out uneventful and ended with a trip for Josie and me to Washington for my Grandma Lercher's funeral. It truly was a celebration of her life, we all told stories on her and laughed and cried and sang, "The Old Gray Mare". I completely forgot to take pictures the whole time I was there but I had fun catching up with all the family that came. There were a lot of cousins that it had been many many years since I had seen them. I stayed at Andrew's parent's house because I was pretty sure that all of the housing options on my side of the family would be filled, I was right. Also I really enjoy hanging out with Andrew's parents.

Can you believe that this is only a fraction of Grandma's posterity?

We wore purple as a tribute to her

Andrew's sister Stephanie turned 40 while I was there and her husband, Sean, threw her a surprise birthday party at an Irish Pub. Josie and I went and had some yummy food and totally surprised Stephanie. They had a live bag piper playing and Josie fell asleep to his playing. The bag piper was playing when Stephanie walked in and she turned to her friend and said, "Hey these are the guys that played our [annual St. Patrick's Day] party." Her friend turned and looked at her and said, "I know." Then she looked around and realized that she knew everyone in the room and that her parents were even there. :)

We got notification that Andrew's Grandma Gardner passed away while I was on the airplane flying home. So I literally got home and unpacked just to repack to drive to Wyoming for her funeral. Andrew's grandma was a Marine so her funeral wasn't as lively as my grandma's but it was still a beautiful service. They did the traditional military funeral gun salute and firing at the graveside service, it really made an impression on me. Peter loved the snow, there was about 2 feet or more on the ground, but he wouldn't leave his gloves on so his hands got cold but he got upset when he had to come in and warm them up.

Grandma & Grandpa Gardner's wedding picture (they were both Marines)

I had a minor meltdown when my diaper bag went missing. Both Andrew and I searched the church high and low for it but couldn't find it. We were prepared to give it up as lost and just leave without it when we ran into Andrew's Aunt Ann and family at the restaurant in Afton. Originally we were going to eat at Rulon's Burgers (he won the Olympic medal for wrestling a few years back, he's Andrew's dad's cousin or 2nd cousin or something like that) but Andrew's brother's decided that they didn't want a burger from the same place you pump gas. I had noticed the restaurant on our trip through Afton and suggested it as our alternative eating place. Everyone agreed and when we walked in who was sitting there waiting for their food but Andrew's Aunt Ann and family. I mentioned to her that I had lost my diaper bag and she said that the bishop had found it and asked her if she knew whose it was and she said no so he had locked it in his office for safe keeping. She happened to have his number so I called him up and he brought it to the restaurant where we were. I was SO relieved, my camera among other important necessities were in there. No pictures for this event either. :(

When we got back we were informed that it was a good time for us to be away because there had been a major nasty sickness that went around while we were gone. It took until the end of the month but we did get it. Poor Peter was SO sick I felt so bad for him, he got so upset when he threw up, he would try and run away from it, and then just when we thought he was feeling better, just in time for Josie's blessing (I'll do a separate post for that), he had a relapse and was worse. I'm grateful it was just a really nasty flu instead of RSV, croup or pneumonia all of which we knew several kids in our area that had all of those. Josie was lucky that she only had a bit of congestion for a while. Sometime in the mix of all of this my brother Reed announced that he and his girlfriend Audrey were engaged and going to be married in March in Las Vegas. We were SO excited to hear this for two reasons: #1 we LOVE Audrey and #2 Vegas is only an 8 hour drive from us so it would be easy for us to go to the wedding (also going to get its own post).

My poor sick Peter

Josie and Peter "playing" together

My cloth diaper babies

My cute Josie sporting her new winter gear

Monkeying Around

The other day (about a month ago) I was doing laundry and Peter came into the laundry room and saw his monkey costume from Halloween hanging up and he got really excited and started saying "gunkey, gunkey!!" It took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about, but I finally did and I asked him if he wanted to wear his monkey costume and he emphatically said, "Yeah!" So I got the costume down and took it into the living room and got him all dressed up in it. He was SO stinking excited and super CUTE. It was really funny to watch. I got a few pictures and a couple videos (please ignore the mess we were still recovering from our road trip to Wyoming).

Obligatory February Post

I have been meaning to post about Josie and Peter and life, etc. but I think for now I will just post a few pictures.

Josie                                                                                                              

Peter                          

                               

Josie

Josie

Josie

Peter

Josie

                       

Peter

Peter

Peter

Peter

Goofy Peter

He's shaking his head no.

"I want to help" (see that thumb heading right for the lens).

Guess Who Got a Haircut?

So after 2 years and a little bit we finally decided that it was time for Peter to get his first haircut. I agree that he needed it cut but I'm sad to see it go because it means that my little boy is growing up.

We started the haircut in Andrew's lap but Peter was extremely wiggly so we strapped him into the highchair and even though he was still wiggly he couldn't lay down on the ground which really hinders the haircutting process.

I cut a lock of hair from the top of his head for his baby book (one day I'll start & finish it) and then we just used the trimmer we have. I think this means that we'll need to get a real haircutting kit soon. Maybe his hair will start to grow faster now that we've cut it. Who knows.

Here are some before, during and after pictures.

Happy 2nd Birthday Peter!!!

I can't believe my little boy is 2! Today is his birthday but we did cake and ice cream on Tuesday while Andrew's brother Aaron and family were in town. We got Peter Blue the dog and some legos and we still have some matchbox cars to give to him. He was so stinking excited about the Blue's Clues doll and his cousin Shaun David was really excited about the legos. :)

Peter's birthday party. The bottom right picture just cracks me up!

Peter is a very active little boy. He definitely keeps us busy. He knows all of his letters and will even find letters in things. For example the other day we had spaghetti and one of the noodle was on the table and he said "S" because that's what it looked like. He will randomly say letters that he sees wherever we are. His favorite letter is E, or at least I assume it is because it's the letter he says most often. He's not quite as good with his numbers but he likes to say, "one, two, one, free." We've started working with him on his colors and everything at first is "yeyyow." He will say some of the other colors but I can't get him to say orange. He will specifically request to watch Blue's Clues and Cars. Each request has a hand motion. For Blue's Clues he raises his hands and flashes them like they do in the show. For Cars he does the sign for car where he pretends he's turning a steering wheel. He has started talking a lot more although there's still a lot we don't understand. He is adjusting well to having a little sister. He will give her things like blankets and toys when she's in her swing or bouncy chair. He will even try to put her pacifier back into her mouth. He likes to pat her tummy and say "nigh, nigh." Today he even tried playing with her. She was sitting in the bouncy chair and he put his mini tupperware pitcher between her legs and she would kick it off and he would put it back. He definitely wants more attention now that he sees Josie getting a lot of attention. His good way and my favorite way of getting our attention is to sit and snuggle with us on the couch while watching his shows. His bad way of getting attention is he throws really dramatic fits. He's always thrown fits but now he throws himself on the floor and rolls onto his back and kicks his legs in the air. He's still learning that fits don't get him anything. He's a very goofy boy and likes to take his mattress off of his bed. The other day I went to get him up from his nap and the mattress was across the room and he and all of his blankets and stuffed animals were on the bed.

I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish...

We're thinking that Peter finally needs his first haircut. We're still debating if we should do it or if we should take him somewhere and do it. We'll see. 

Peter loves to rough house and was in heaven with Uncle Aaron staying at our house for a couple days. When someone asked is Uncle Aaron teasing you? Aaron said the answer to that question will always be yes. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

We enjoyed a nice quite Christmas at home with just our little family. Peter came running out of his room with nothing but his diaper on. It was a lot of fun to see Peter actually open presents this year. He was super excited about everything he got and he even decided to play with Josie's presents too (lower left picture).

Josie got two dolls and the rocker stacker from us. Her stocking was full of the bath toy letters (for Peter) just so there was something actually in her stocking. She's posing with her new book from Grandma Thatcher.

In Andrew's family it is a tradition to get your own box of cereal wrapped as a present under the Christmas tree. A few years ago I didn't do the cereal and Andrew was sad. So this year I made sure to do it. Everyone got cereal except for Josie, she'll get some next year though. :)