3 year & 9 month checkups plus lots of videos!

We had Dawson's 3 year checkup and Ashlynn's 9 month check up earlier this week. They are both growing great and meeting all of their milestones. Their pediatrician was impressed at how well Dawson talks which makes me laugh because a few months ago she suggested we get him into speech therapy. Since then she has commented twice on how well he talks.

There was a curtain in the room that we were in and Dawson pulled it closed a little bit, went behind it and then came out and asked us if we were ready for the Dawson show! We all thought that was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing. He started singing a Blue's Clues song and their pediatrician commented on what an artist he is. ♥

Dawson weighed in at 35.6 lbs and is 40 inches tall. That puts him in the 86th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.

Ashlynn weighed 21.3 lbs and is 27.6 inches tall. She's in the 85th percentile for weight and the 42nd percentile for height. She's a shorty! And those percentiles are on the regular charts, not the preemie charts, she's too big for the preemie charts! Dawson weighed 22.15 lbs at 9 months so Ashlynn is catching up to him!

They both got a flu shot and did really well. Dave said Ashlynn didn't even flinch. I don't like to watch them get their shots if I don't have to so I was playing with Dawson while Ashlynn got hers and vice versa when it was Dawson's turn.

The other night Ashlynn was getting up on her hands and knees better than she ever had before and I was trying to get a picture of her doing it but of course she stopped as soon as I pulled out the camera. I asked Dave to put her up on her hands and knees hoping that if he did so it would encourage her to do it again by herself. She didn't like it when Dave did it though and I got this picture out of it...


She is not a happy camper but I still love the picture. :)

And here is another random picture. After her bath the other night I sat her up on the counter so she could see herself in the mirror and she started giving herself kisses.


Ever since then whenever she is in front of a mirror (a few of her toys have mirrors) and I say to her "give Ashlynn kisses" she'll lean forward and give herself a kiss. It's too cute.

I think I posted video of her clapping the other day, just after I posted that she started clapping when I would sing Patty Cake to her. As soon as she hears it she knows to clap, I don't have be clapping or anything. She is still just saying "dada" and "nana." Every now and then it sounds like she says "hi" when she's waving and "yay" when she's clapping. She is getting 4 bottles a day, eating around 20oz of formula. She also eats baby food 3 times a day. Usually 3.5oz of fruit for breakfast, 3.5oz of veggies for lunch, and about 3oz of a meat and veggie for dinner. She also snacks on puffs and yogurt melts. She LOVES to feed herself. She rolls around everywhere and gets into everything. Lately she has been really interested in cords and trying to get into the TV stand which I remember Dawson loved those things too. She's started scooting forward a little bit better, and I got it on video today. It's not the best video but it gives you an idea on how she moves herself forward. I'll share it in a minute.

Dawson loves to color and draw. We're going to get him a new magnadoodle for his birthday. He got the one that he has now for his last birthday and he uses it everyday, multiple times a day and it's about had it. He could definitely use a new one. He loves to "read" and he loves when we read to him. He loves talking jibberish, too. He's been doing it for a couple of weeks now, he seems to only be doing it when he reads now so that's good. Before he would just randomly break in to speaking jibberish and it would drive me crazy! *lol* He loves doing his puzzles and playing Blue's Clues. He pretends like he is Steve (or sometimes Joe) and I'm mailbox (he always comes up to me when he's playing and says "mailbox can I have my letter?" and then I hand him a pretend letter and he thanks me) and Ashlynn is Magenta. A couple of weeks ago we were meeting with a lawyer to go over our will and she asked Dawson what his name was and he said "Dawson" and then he said, "I mean Steve!" haha It was pretty funny and I had to explain to her how he loves Blue's Clues and likes to pretend like he's Steve.

I know there is a lot more that he loves to do but I can't think of anything else right now! Oh, I know! He loves to rhyme, too. If he hears something on TV that rhymes he will come tell me what words he heard that rhyme. He likes Dr. Seuss books a lot right now, too, although his favorite are still his Clifford books.

I think that about catches everybody up on what the kids are up to! I'll get to the videos now. :)

This first video is of Dawson and Ashlynn rolling a ball to each other. They were having a lot of fun.



In this video Ashlynn is playing Patty Cake and playing with Dawson.



And here is the video of Ashlynn scooting forward. I like how she gets up high and pushes off with her feet.



And this video shows Dawson rhyming. I watched a little bit of it just now and realized that every word that he comes up with starts with a "B", that's not always how it is. He's really good at coming up with words that rhyme. He always spells his name in this video. He's been doing that for a few months now but I couldn't remember if I had gotten it on video or not. And he also draws a little bit. I really need to post more of his artwork because he is really good! Some of the things he draws blows me and Dave away!




I've got one more post that I want to do about our Disney trip, I'll work on that this weekend. I was just excited to get these videos up so I wanted to do this post first. :)