Harper has recently taken a huge interest in drawing and painting. She spends several hours a day making pictures for us. Since she is such a prolific artist, I can’t keep all of her creations and instead I’m trying to photograph them before they get recycled! She has come such a long way in just a few months and no longer scribbles – most of her drawings/paintings actually look like the intended picture.

Today I’m recycling a lot of the artwork on our display wall, so I thought I would post some of them. First, this is a project she did last January or February (I can’t remember, I just know it was cold out!) It is supposed to be flowers made from bunched up tissue paper.

And now, some of her more recent creations, with Harper’s descriptions of what they are. “A lot of people standing on hills in a snow town.”

“A butterfly.” (Uncle Julian drew the other pictures around it at Harper’s request)

“The part in Nemo where Dory and Nemo are trying to get through the jellyfish. Dory is camouflaged because she is blue and I only have one blue marker.”

“Ursula from The Little Mermaid.”

“A school bus with a stop sign and lights.”

“Thomas the train.” (She painted/colored this at Roman’s request)

“Mom swimming across the Potomac River.”

“Roman. I drew him in yellow because he has yellow skin, not like me I have dark skin.”

“People riding in the train at the choo choo park with stars on the wheels.” (She recently learned how to draw 5-pointed stars and usually adds them to her pictures in some way)

“A gingerbread house with a mom, dad, brother and sister carrying beds so that they have somewhere to sleep.”

“A gingerbread house with a flower on it.” (Flower detail below)

“A starry night with our whole family floating in boats.”

Not to be outdone by his big sister, here is one of Roman’s. He is way less interested in art than she is, but did this one at preschool:

On the topic of artwork, Portman and I recently tag-teamed a giant chalkboard wall in the basement. Portman framed it out with trim, and I painted it with chalkboard paint and sanded and painted the trim. It is a big hit with the kiddos.

Around the same time that Roman turned 3, Ada celebrated her 15 month birthday. At 15 months, she is a wild woman! She is into absolutely everything, and I like to think that she is so busy because she is trying to keep up with her big brother and sister. She runs, climbs, jumps and has no fear. If she wants something, she will make every effort to get it. She gets super mad if someone takes a toy away from her, and let’s you know that it is not okay! I call her my fighter because she will always fight for what she wants.

Her vocabulary isn’t huge yet, although she has no trouble communicating her wants or needs. She says mama, dada, thank you (“daah-doh”), all done, hello and no-no, waves bye-bye, and points and grunts to get pretty much everything else. She shrieks incredibly loudly so that we always know where she is! I don’t worry at all about her talking – Roman didn’t talk until he was two, and he jumped right into full sentences. She will get there eventually! Besides, she has two older siblings to talk for her.

Ada is very affectionate with her family and doesn’t hesitate to give us great hugs and kisses. She adores her older siblings and loves to help me wake Roman up by jumping on him and snuggling in his bed. She tries her very best to keep up with our busy house!

Ada is still very attached to her Mommy and Daddy. She won’t let other adults hold her, with the exception of her Aunt Cammie. For some reason Cammie is the only other person who she is not scared of! In fact, Cammie babysat her a few days ago, and when she left Ada flung herself at the door and pounded on it while screaming. She really loves her Aunt Cam. Oddly enough, we see some of our neighborhood friends much more often and she still cries when they come near her!

At 15 months her sleep schedule is pretty different from the older two at that age. She goes to sleep between 5:30 and 6:30 every night, wakes up between 3 and 6 for a light bottle, then goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:30. Since she sleeps so long at night, she usually only takes one nap during the day. I don’t mind the nighttime feeding because it means we get to sleep in until a reasonable hour!

We had her 15-month checkup last week and she was 31 inches long (69th percentile) and weighed 20 pounds, 6 ounces (14th percentile). She is still such a lightweight compared to her siblings (at 15 month, Roman weighed 27 pounds!) The doctor isn’t concerned at all since she has been below the 15th percentile for 6 months or so now. She’s just skinny! She eats pretty well. She won’t let me feed her anything, but she will nibble on whatever I put in front of her. Her favorite meal by far is black beans and rice, and she will always clean her plate if I serve that. She is still using a bottle for milk, but since she needs to gain a bit of weight, the doctor told us to keep using it for a few more months. I’m going to try to quit it by 18 months, but we will see how it goes.

We have gotten rid of a lot of the baby toys since Ada really just wants to get into the big kid stuff. Her favorite thing to play with by far is shoes – she is obsessed! Her morning routine is to wake up, demand to go downstairs, run to the shoe basket and pick a pair, then demand that we put them on her. She then demands that they be changed several times throughout the day. She just loves shoes. And, lucky for her, most of Harper’s from the same age are still too big for her, so she gets her very own NEW shoes – a rare thing in this house of hand-me-downs!

People tell us all the time how much Ada looks like Harper. It’s true, she is like a slightly lighter-skinned mini Harper. She has dimples, which Harper does not, and Ada has more hair, but other than that they look a lot alike. Just this week I was picking Harper up at camp and the counselor said “you must be here for Harper because that baby looks exactly like her!”

At the neighborhood playground – we think she has just the most gorgeous smile, but then again she’s our baby!

Some naked swimming on the deck. She does stairs like a pro, so I don’t have to worry about her out there:

Exploring the fountain at Fairfax Corner:

Black beans and rice!

This week we celebrated Roman’s THIRD birthday. My baby boy is getting so big! We had a “Lightning McQueen” party for him last weekend with 14 of his closest friends. We borrowed a big water slide from Ellie and Annie and set it up in the field. The kids had a blast, and the weather was perfect! Roman was very hesitant to go on the slide while all the kids were here, but after the crowds cleared out he spent the rest of the afternoon on it. It was a great way to celebrate 3 years of our little man.

Mommy and Daddy gave Roman a pirate costume for his birthday, and he rocked it. Arrr!

We asked Roman what he wanted for his birthday, and all he would tell us was “a Lightning McQueen cake with NO Mater on it.” So, that’s what he got.

Portman and I are constantly looking at each other and saying “Roman is such an awesome kid!” We hear it from a lot of other people too. He is funny, outgoing, won’t stop talking, and loves to entertain people. He says things that just have us rolling on the floor with laughter. He is a great big brother to Ada, and is best friends with Harper. He also loves his boy time/alone time with Daddy, and can spend hours “chugging trains” in the basement. His favorite things, by far, are cars, trucks and trains. He loves things that move! He has recently been going through a Disney Cars phase and was so excited to get Mack the Truck and Mater for his birthday. He is starting to get into Legos (the real ones, not Duplos), and also got a baseball tee for his birthday and has been spending lots of time smacking t-balls into the field. He has a ton of energy and keeps us laughing!

As far as we can tell, Roman is very articulate for his age and has a big vocabulary. People often tell us how surprised they are at his speech – he is very easy to understand, and Portman and I joke that he talks like a 40 year-old man. It’s funny to think back to when he was two and didn’t say much. Now he won’t quit! He is very excited to start “soccer ball” in the Fall, which he can do now that he is both three and potty trained.

Speaking of the potty, he is 100% potty trained now, and it was honestly such an easy process, if you can even call it that. From start to finish, he was completely potty trained in a week. He still wears pull-ups at night, which will probably last for a while, but he is accident free during the day. Although, at his birthday party he very matter-of-factly told me that “I just peed in my suit since it was already wet.

Yesterday I took Roman in for his 3-year checkup. He was officially 38.5 inches tall (74th percentile) and weighed 34.8 pounds (78th percentile). He is a big boy and I love every bit of him!

A friend from Harper’s dance class sent me some photos of the recital. I volunteered and was backstage the whole time, but I got to sneak in to see her dance. I was way too far away from the stage to take any photos, so I’m glad someone else did!

A few of my favorites from today:

Watching Ada fuss about something:

“Ada’s throwing a temperature because she wants my cracker.”

At the dinner table (sitting across from me):

“Mom, I gotta whisper something in your ear.” Me (not moving from my chair): okay, whisper it. “No! You gotta stretch your head out!”

Wandering around the house (shortly after listening to BNL Snack Time):

“Won’t you walk me down to BEGetable town!”

Tonight Roman smacked his head while playing in the basement, and Harper immediately volunteered to make him an ice pack. She was upstairs for a long time and at one point yelled down "I’m workin’ on it!" She finally brought this down- she had cut off part of a gel cooler pack (like for a lunch box) and wrapped it in a napkin! I have to give her an A for creativity.

She then proceeded to sit next to him on the couch and cuddle him while holding the mini ice pack on his boo-boo. Roman instructed her on where exactly to kiss him to make it feel better. I think they are practicing for when they get married.

Today the kids were drawing with chalk on the driveway, and Harper rushed in to get me. She showed me her picture and said:

"Mom! I made up a story! Once there was a sunshine and it made a beautiful rainbow, and then the rain came and it washed away the sunshine. And then the grass grew, and then…" Roman (interrupting): "And then the grass POOPED on the rainbow!"

He is boy, all boy.

Roman, in the car recently:

“Mom, you need to buy another baby boy. Because me and Harper are gonna get married, and you and Dad are already married, and Ada doesn’t have anyone to marry. (Me: “but what if we get another baby girl?”) Then you’re gonna have to buy TWO baby boys so that everyone can get married.”