First Ice Cream Cone

 

1st Birthday Celebration

As we did with Samantha's 1st Birthday Party, we kept it pretty low key for Thatcher. On one of our weekly playdates, I put up some St. Patrick's Day decor, baked some cupcakes, made a green themed spread and called it, "Thatcher's Birthday Party" or "Thatcher's Happy Hour", depending on who you asked. 

Thatchy Boy I promise you a bounce house next year ;)

Ouch!

Our table now has these ugly rubber corners on it because look what happened today:

Poor thing!  We have been saying for weeks that Thatcher is going to fall and hit the corner of the coffee table and sure enough, it happened.  I thought for sure he broke his cheek bone.  Thankfully it is just a really bad bruise. 

As if this wasn't enough, about two hours prior to this, Samantha opened up the baby gate on our back deck to go get her ball and Thatcher followed right behind her, tumbling down the stairs.  

Rough day for Thatch! 

Princess Day at the Zoo

It was Princess Day at the Santa Barbara Zoo this weekend. 

Samantha got all FANCY in her princess dress and she got to wear a little makeup. Actually Mommy got carried away with the makeup....

and her hair....

So the princesses were not exactly the same as the ones at Disneyland.  The girl in the middle said to Samantha, "Do you know who I am?" and Samantha looked confused.  The girl said, "I am Belle."  I was afraid Sam was going to say, "No your not!" but instead she sort of went along with it.  "Belle" actually had braces which really was intriguing to Samantha.  You can imagine the amount of questions we got regarding what was on her teeth, why did she have those, do they hurt, do they come off????????

Thatcher was all over the place, walking right up to everyone, trying to leave with them. I am not even kidding.  As soon as we put him down on the ground he would take off for another family, or in this case, some princess. To heck with that Mama's Boy phase he used to be in!! :(

We did check out a few animals.  There is a new baby giraffe at the zoo, this isn't it, however we did get to see the baby from afar.  I couldn't get a good picture of it because it is separated from the rest of the giraffes on the other side of the exhibit.  I think he/she makes its debut next week.

After the zoo we had lunch at Brophys

And then home for nap time.

1 Year Doctor's Visit

Thatcher had his 1 year doctor's visit on Friday.  Unfortunately when Dr. Abbott checked his ears, he saw that he had the start of an ear infection in one of them.  This is his third ear infection he has had which concerned the doctor.  When babies have their forth or fifth earache he said they start to look into having tubes put in their ears.  So, he is back on antibiotics and hopefully since we are at the end of cold/flu season he won't have another one.  You would never have known that Thatcher was sick. Tough/Happy little boy! 

I love this picture.  It is as if he is watching the scale making sure he hasn't gained too much ;)  And I was surprised by how small he was.  He seems so much bigger to me than Sam was at this age but they are almost exactly the same size.

Height: 30 inches (55%)

Weight: 21 pounds (35%)

Samantha at 1 Year:

Height: 29 1/2 inches (73%)

Weight: 21 lbs (50%)

  The good news about Thatcher's weight is that because he is over 20 pounds we can now turn his car seat around to face forward.

Thatcher lucked out with not having to get any shots because we had to postpone them until the earache is gone. He did however have a needle prick to the toe to test his iron and then some other needle prick test on his arm that I can't remember what it was for?!?!? I think I was still processing that he had another earache that I zoned out when she was doing the second test.  And in true Thatcher style, no tears on either test.

Other than the earache, the appointment went great.  I did inquire about the verbal difference between Samantha and Thatcher at this age.  I have video of Samantha at 1 year and she is talking A LOT.    While Thatcher does say some words, he doesn't say nearly the amount of words Sam was saying.  Dr. Abbott said not to worry because girls are way ahead of boys when it comes to talking.  He said boys are more concerned with playing trucks and getting into things while girls are more interested in chatting.

What is new with Thatch:

• You can ask him a question and he shakes his head and says, "No, no, no, no." It doesn't matter what you ask him, the answer is always "No".
• The pitter pattering of his feet walking all around our house is so much fun.
• Peek-a-Boo is STILL the best thing ever to him.  He even plays it by himself.  He will cover his eyes with his hands or throw a blanket over his head and when he uncovers his eyes he says, "Peek!"
• He loves playing with trucks and zooming them all around the house making "vroom" noises.
• He spends a lot of timing throwing a tennis ball around the house and then chasing after it. 
• He mimics being on the phone and will hold anything up to his ear and say, "Hi!"
• He almost has 12 teeth!  The "almost" is his 4th molar popping through.  Side note: The #1 comment I get from strangers besides, "That kid should be on TV," (not bragging, just sayin') is, "WOW, look at all those teeth!"
• Still taking two naps a day, sleeping through the night from about 7 to 7 and got the boot from his parents' bedroom to the hallway.  Making progress, (slowly), on merging the two kids into one room ;)
• He still is an excellent eater and since he isn't attached to the bottle, we are going to take it away as we transition him to whole milk.  He has so many teeth that I worry the bottle may create some issues if he has it any longer.
• Unlike Samantha at his age, he has absolutely no separation/stranger anxiety.  He reaches his arms out to everyone, even strangers at the grocery store, for them to hold him.  He is so easy going. I better keep my eye on him ;)  

The Leader

Today when I picked Samantha up from preschool her teacher, Ms. Katie, came over and asked me if Samantha ever tells me how she likes to lead the ENTIRE school in prayer before lunch. 

 NO, she never tells me this!!  To be honest, if it weren't for the preschool calender, notes from her teacher and the artwork she gets sent home with, I would have no idea what she does at school because when I ask her she says, "I played." 

Ms. Katie went on to say that each day they ask  for a volunteer to stand up in front of everyone with the director, Ms. Susan, and lead the prayer.  Apparently Samantha has been requesting to be the leader on a daily basis first thing in the morning.  Another teacher, Ms. Cindy, told me how serious she is about it.  She clasps her hands, speaks real slow and clear and is really thinking hard about what she says. 

I had to ask, "What does she pray about?"

 Today they said it was quite random and went something like this, "I am thankful for the birds.  I am thankful for my lunch.  I am thankful for my lunchbox.  I am thankful for the trees.  I am thankful for all the children.  I am thankful for babies.  I am thankful for the tables.  I am thankful for the playhouse. I am thankful for the trashcans. I am thankful for the milk......"  They said she went on and on and was looking around at anything near her and saying she was thankful for it.  They had to give her the "wrap it up" cue because everyone was hungry!

So proud of my little leader ;)

She's Fancy

She is obsessed with jewelery, shoes, clothes, makeup, jewelery, shoes, clothes, makeup, makeup, makeup.  Samantha is all about being FANCY lately. 

She picks out her own clothes, dresses herself and just when I think she is ready (it takes A LOT of patience to watch a 3 year old get dressed) she will say something like, "Oh Mom, I am not done yet.  I need to go in my room and find my lip gloss. and sunglasses. and bracelet. should I wear a watch? umbrella? coat? I need my purse. First let me fill it with toys. Be there in 2 minutes. " 

A shopping trip to Claire's is heaven for her.  That store is so filled with the crap stuff Sam loves.  Colored hair extensions, press-on nails, neon fuzzy slippers, Justin Bieber chain wallets......I actually manage to get out of there for less than I would spend at the toy store.  My last buy for her was a complete makeup palette that was 75% off.  Who knew yellow glitter eyeshadow was not a best seller?

Less is more??

She ALWAYS has to try on the highest heels she can find when we are out shopping. 

Love you Fancy Sammy!