Do you know what I never did? The end-of-the-school-year posts from June.

I took the pictures. I made the graphics. There’s no good reason I didn’t just get it up here on the blog.

I also have pictures from our vacation to Virginia, Linc & Finnegan’s very Pinnable birthday party, updates about our house and our dogs and the kids. I didn’t make Lincoln a birthday video post or recap my trip to Disney World with Caroline for The Summit cheer competition. Oops.

This blog turned 11 in July. It was 11 years ago that I first found out I was pregnant with Evan and decided blogging would be a good way to connect with other moms. It worked VERY well. Some of my best friends began as internet friends but now I would consider them more real than most people. I find it much easier to address a vague and unspecific audience when I talk about things I struggle with than talking to people face-to-face. I don’t want to give up this space, even if I don’t have any readers or sponsored posts or cool invites any more thanks to my absence.

In fact, this blog is the baby book for all four of my kids, with their birth stories and monthday updates and birthdays and adventures. It’s important to me that I keep it up, at least casually, while I still have little kids. The two oldest absolutely love looking back on things I’ve written about them (which is a relief) and I don’t want Linc and Finn to wonder where their toddler and preschool years went.

So if you’re interested in content like “Last Minute Disney Trip Tips” or “What To Do When Your Baby Keeps Shouting ‘You not my best fwend anymore!'” or puppy dog birthday party ideas, you’re in luck. I’m back.

All of the photos for this post are labeled “Caroline 16 months” because this morning I asked E “How old is Caroline now?” and he said “16 months”. It sounded right enough until I went to look up her 15 month milestones and realized THIS was her 15th monthday and I was getting ahead of myself. I guess when you abandon your baby for a week to go on vacation you forget things like her age. At least I got her name right.

(Speaking of vacation, I’ll be back to annoy the crap out of you will a zillion vacation pictures soon. You are going to HATE IT.)

From all of my parent’s reports, Caroline handled my absence pretty well. There might have been some crying and she had a few problems staying asleep all night but she luuuuuuvs her MorMor and Bumpa and is never going to forgive me when they go home. She ate like a horse and didn’t crack her head open so I’d say it was a raging success. Although it doesn’t really matter one bit, since I am NEVER LEAVING HER AGAIN. That week was fantastic but holy cow did I miss my babies.

Caroline is officially in the middle of a growth spurt and can no longer stand in front of our fridge when I open the doors or she’ll get conked right in the noggin. This makes her extremely angry, since standing in front of the fridge begging for food is one of her favorite hobbies. Other hobbies include jumping up and down on top of tall things and giving people heart attacks.

Likes include grapes, juice, clapping, kicking, standing on one leg, jumping, somersaults, slides, dogs, her grandparents, being held, OUTSIDE, animals, stairs, singing, basketball, hockey, dancing, noodles, apples, squeezy food pouches, shouting really loud and chairs.

Dislikes are bedtime, falling on her head, not being allowed to drink bath water, and not having food within reach constantly.

Cruisin'

Get out of my way!!

Crazy warm weather means bare feet on the patio

15 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Plays with ball – She’s an excellent kicker, but her throwing skills could use some work. No way she’s getting recruited for the Red Sox with her lousy aim.
Uses three words regularly – “Bah” means 15 different things, all involving food. But she also says mama, daddy, dog, hat, kitty, hi, and sings the Bubble Guppies theme song (sort of). She also signs hat, fish, more and please.
Walks backward – Yes. I made her do it so I wouldn’t accidentally lie to the interwebs.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Scribbles with a crayon – Yes, although she’d rather eat them.
Runs – Fast.
Adopts “no” as his favorite word – I have yet to hear her say “no”, although when she MEANS “no” there is absolutely no doubt about it. LITERALLY minutes after I wrote that she looked into my face and said “NO” when I asked if she wanted a carrot. Goodie.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
“Helps” around the house – She likes to sweep, throw things away and pick up toys.
Puts his fingers to his mouth and says “shhh” – She’s a super good mimic, so I probably could get her to do that…but I haven’t seen her do it yet.

I sort of can’t believe that after 33 months of posts – and only 2 more to go – I completely forgot Evan’s 34th monthday. Just totally let it blow right by without even a thought. I’ve had no trouble adjusting to writing 2012 on everything but admitting it’s February? Forget about it. At least it was just a monthday and not an actual birthday I missed. Like my husband’s. Which is on Saturday. Oh crap.

I think by blocking the date out of my head I was subconsciously avoiding trying to write this post. 34 month old Evan is pretty much the same as 33 month Evan which will probably be the same as 35 month Evan. This isn’t an age with big, exciting milestones to celebrate and check off and compare to other kids. This is an age of subtleties and new emotions and suddenly realizing my kid is drinking from a real cup and helping watch his sister at the playground and sitting quietly while we wait for an appointment. Yesterday in the car he said “My trains are right here, Mommy, all my trains” and I realized he has just used a personal pronoun correctly, twice. I’m not sure I’m ready for pronouns to replace all the Mommys and Evans and Daddys and Sisters. I can’t even pretend he’s a baby anymore. No matter how hard I squeeze him he just keeps on growing.

We are in the midst of a bedtime/naptime renegotiation, where he NEEDS a nap or he ends up falling asleep on the floor but if he DOES take a nap he won’t go to bed without hours of delays and then wakes up at 4 am, turns on all our lights and insists it’s morning. Even though we skipped naps on Tuesday, he tried that TWICE Wednesday night – once at midnight, once at 3 am and I ended up lying in his bed for an hour listening to him protest how NOT SLEEPY he was until he drifted off. I’ve been around the parenting block enough times now to know this is A Phase and like all Phases it will change before I can really do anything about it – but I’m still considering a door lock for his room.

When it comes to The Tantrums, a few parenting books are on their way to my door thanks to the magic of two-day shipping with a trip to the library on the agenda for tomorrow. I also took a more proactive approach and signed both kids up for weekly gymnastics. At the first class, Little Evan ran around like a wild monkey and then cried his eyes out when it was time to go home. At our second class, he ran around like a wild monkey, attempted a cartwheel, learned to do a somersault, swung on the high bar, waiting his turn, jumped in the foam pit, threw a Frisbee through a hoop, and cried his eyes out when it was time to go home. How many classes do I think it will take before he participates in warm up, jumps off the trampoline, learns to vault and DOESN’T cry when we leave? I have no idea but I’m willing to keep taking him until it happens. STRUCTURE is the name of the game, folks.

Speaking of structure, Evan heard some of the girls at Stroller Strides talking about school and now he keeps asking when he gets to go. “Evan go school too Mommy! See friends, see teacher, see trains. Bye-bye Mommy! See-ya later!” I guess I can’t keep putting off a decision for much longer, not unless I want to crush his dreams of backpacks and new friends and access to crayons that haven’t been chewed up by a certain small ginger toddler. I wrote “call preschool  at the church for a tour” on my to-do list today and if I like them I’m going to call it good and sign him up. I decided to stop stressing SO MUCH about preschool. We’re talking about circle time and finger painting here, not choosing between Ivy League colleges. As long as they don’t believe in corporal punishment or include a unit on Zenu our benevolent overlord I don’t think I need to spend so much energy on researching every single option withing a 60 mile radius.

I would like to sum up 34 months in a short, catchy way but honestly there is TOO MUCH of EVERYTHING to even try.

Likes include carrots, lollipops, trains, chips, dinosaurs, books, being carried, running, sitting in my lap, not sitting in my lap, Daddy, babies, friends, his blankie, milk, sleeping, Mickey Mouse, iPads, singing, the alphabet, helicopters, dogs, kitties, and the aquarium.

Dislikes include really loud noises, waiting his turn, riding in the shopping cart, sharing, and being forced to use the potty when he’d rather be playing even when he REALLY REALLY has to go.

I swear he's getting MORE gingery by the day

I have to put his dinosaurs to bed before he'll take a nap

Night night Mommy! Get out Evan's room!

34 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Names one color – His favorite colors are orange, pink and purple, but he still gets the rest of them mixed up a lot. Still on my list of stuff to ask about at his 36 month check-up.
• Names one friend – He cried yesterday because he didn’t get to see his friends, all of whom he can name.
• Carries on a simple conversation – Yes, although sometimes I have NO idea what he’s talking about.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Alternates feet going up and down stairs – Yes, although he fell the other day and is now being SUPER cautious on the back steps.
• Uses prepositions (e.g., on, in, over) – His new favorite joke is talking about all the places he is not going to put his poop. No poop in tub! No poop on baby! No poop on dog! No poop under couch! Ahahahahaha!
• Speaks clearly most of the time (75 percent can be understood) – I don’t think the PERCENTAGE is getting any better, but he’s using a lot more words. Other people can understand him about 50% of the time, but it’s more like 90% for me.
• Stacks eight blocks – FOURTEEN BLOCKS. BOOM.

Evan & friends built (and knocked down) this tower over and over for 10 minutes.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Is toilet trained during the day – Still yes. Next step is to get him to stay dry during naps.
• Wiggles thumb – Yes, but he’s about as good at giving a thumbs up as my cat is.
• Expresses a wide range of emotions – SO MANY EMOTIONS
• Draws a stick figure – Still no, but he’s started declaring his scribbles are things. Mostly dinosaurs.

Happy 32 Monthday Little Evan! You are only Little Evan here on the blog, and even most of our friends have stopped calling you Baby Evan. I haven’t thought of you as a baby in a long time, but the extent to which you are an actual human person astounds me on a daily basis. Because it is one thing to grow a baby – babies are tiny and helpless and they need you for everything so the fact that you made them with your body is impressive but not unbelievable. But once that baby turns into an independent being that can walk and talk and feed itself and tell jokes and recognize emotions and wear underpants it’s a totally mind-blowing experience. No one ADDED anything to that baby I grew (unless you count the truly impressive number of Goldfish he’s consumed in the past 2.5 years) but now he counts to 20 and can put on his shoes and use an iPad and help me decorate for Christmas and recognize his friends on the internet.

Of course he can also punch me in the face and scream at me in public and throw epic temper tantrums and push his sister and refuse to pick up the toys he just threw all over the floor and feed his breakfast to the dog and fall out of his stroller and drive me to the brink of insanity. He’s equally good at being both a functional human being and a sociopath. I think most toddlers are.

(Sidenote: I think at this point “toddler” is exceedingly inaccurate, but since he’s not in any kind of school “preschooler” sounds like I’m getting ahead of myself. CAROLINE is a toddler. She toddles. Evan hasn’t toddled in more than a year. Is there an in-between word?)

This week Evan ran up to me and said “Mommy, can’t locate the kitty cat!” He says stuff like that all the time now and constantly blows me away with his vocabulary. I can hardly believe I was concerned enough about his speech to have the early intervention people come out. It’s a good example of how the age range on milestones is REALLY A RANGE and just because you know a 2 year old who holds entire conversations about abstract concepts like poor choices versus wise choices doesn’t mean your kid is behind.

Potty training update: Day time training is done. Diapers at night and nap until he stops waking up SO wet, although yesterday he stayed dry during nap so we might be getting closer. He never uses the diaper on purpose – since he woke up dry I left him in it for a couple hours and he still told me when he had to potty. I think that means I can declare success.

He is at an age where he is super excited to see me, even if I only left the room for a minute. It’s good for my ego. Even my dog isn’t that happy when I walk into a room. And my dog doesn’t give such great hugs or laugh in the most infectious way ever. Almost every night before bed, Little Evan tells me “Mommy, so happy. So happy.” And I tell him “I’m so happy too, buddy.”

Favorite things include Mickey Mouse, jumping, hide and seek, boats, fire trucks, piggy back rides, sitting in a grown up chair, kitty cats, pillows, his blankie, rubbing noses, his sister, lemonade, lollipops, splashing, and hugs.

Least favorite things include holding still, being out of milk,  sharing when he doesn’t want to, mommy’s angry face, broken nails, and when the kitty cat runs away.

 32 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Recites own name – Yes! He uses his name most of the time instead of personal pronouns.
• Draws a circle – Yes, but he calls them other things, like kitties or dinosaurs.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Puts on a T-shirt – Yes but is much faster at taking OFF his clothes.
• Balances on each foot for a second – I said yes to this last month, so I made him do it to test and make sure. Yes.
• Recognizes ABCs – Some of them. Not all of them. He’s better at words than letters.
• Brushes teeth by himself – Yes, and we’re about ready to upgrade to real toothpaste because he’s figured out spitting.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Uses two adjectives – He knows lots of adjectives. His favorite one this week is “AWESOME!” Everything thing is AWESOME.
• Draws a cross – No.
• Points to objects described by use – Yes, and is especially good at things the baby needs. He’s an excellent big brother.

I didn’t miss Little Evan’s monthday on Saturday, I was just too busy enjoying spending time with him this weekend to bother to sit down and write an update. He’s turning into a little person more and more every single day and it’s an amazing transition to watch. Just this week he found two of my vintage doll house people – the father and the little boy – and he’s been carrying them around making up pretend stories and adventures. They rode on cars and rode on the dog and sat in chairs and ate stuff and talked to each other. I named the father Joe and after Joe told Little Evan to be nice to his mommy Little Evan gave me a kiss. I think maybe next time Joe is going to tell him to pick up his toys, eat his vegetables, and take more naps.

Although really, naps aren’t our problem. Anytime between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm that he starts looking tired he’s more than happy to head upstairs for some shut-eye. A sippy cup of milk and a blankie are his only requests, although if I let him take a book to bed he’ll “read” it before he zonks out. Bedtimes are almost the same, but Daddy does bath and pj’s first. It’s nice to have at least one consistently easy toddler thing – and for it to be such a BIG thing – especially on days when everything else feels like a battle.

Speaking of battles, we’re currently in the middle of one involving food and how it is prepared/served. It all changes daily, which is beyond frustrating. The whole apple he loved yesterday gets thrown across the room today or the yogurt he was eating from the container 30 seconds ago is suddenly not good enough unless it’s in a BOWL. I have to let him choose his own utensils or nothing gets eaten at all. If I put the plate on the desk and he wanted to eat at the counter the meal is ruined. I try to be accommodating because I know he’s just trying to control one of the few things he can in his great big world but food isn’t optional. He HAS to eat. The worst part is I doubt “picky eating” is a phase that ends anytime soon.

Little Evan’s favorite things this month include the dog, the cats, his vintage wooden desk, his alphabet flashcards, sitting on the couch with mama or daddy, coloring with chalk, reaching things he’s not supposed to touch, and getting anyone who comes into the house to pick him up. His least favorite things include leaving anywhere he’s having fun, being told “no”, and sitting in the shopping cart. All those least favorites makes taking him on errands all sorts of challenging, so my evenings and weekends are now busy with those sorts of things.

I’m excited about Little Evan’s upcoming birthday but of course sad that his days of being 1 are numbered. 2 is going to be a whole new adventure!!

23 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Names simple picture in a book – Yes! He’s very good at this now, especially the books with animals. Maybe exclusively books with animals. I’m not actually sure we own any books that don’t contain animals.
• Uses 50 to 70 words – I never did get around to making a list of words but I would say we’re up to about 60 or 70 on a regular basis. Plus he’ll repeat almost anything and picks up new words on a daily basis.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Opens doors – Yes, including our back door which is going to be a problem.
• Sings simple tunes – If by “simple tunes” you mean “the theme song to How I Met Your Mother or Battlestar Galactica”, then yes. In case you think I’m a horrible mother, he can also sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. And several Ke$ha songs. Maybe I am a horrible mother.
• Takes more of an interest in playing with other kids – He has ALWAYS liked playing with other kids. He’s very good at sharing too, which always makes me a proud mama.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Talks about self (likes, dislikes) – No. I’m not sure he even knows what he likes or dislikes. It changes on a minute by minute basis.
• Asks “why?” – Not yet. Can I add “thank god”?