Growth updates and Paci Wars

Today we took the kids in for Sadie's 15 month checkup and Jake's three year appointment. Height-wise, both are still off the charts. The doc said Sadie is just about where a normal two-year-old would be. This time Jake got to do some new stuff, like check his eyes by "reading" an eye chart, and getting his blood pressure checked (uh, for what -- stress??).

The chart below compares the heights and weights of Sadie, Jake and me over the first three years. Height data is on top, and weight data is on the bottom. My baby book is missing three-year data, and Ali's baby book is missing (period).


It's interesting to note that both Jake and Sadie are taller than I was at their ages. Jake is now a full two inches taller than I was at three years. Sadie is over an inch taller than I was at 15 months - and almost three inches taller than the average girl her age.

Paci Wars

So, yesterday on Jake's birthday, we decided to try retiring Jake's pacifiers, which have been the only comfort object he's had since birth -- no interest in stuffed animals or blankets or anything like that. But when it comes to pacifiers, he's always felt most comfortable when he's in bed with one in his mouth, two in each hand, and a few others scattered about. Ali decorated a little box and we told him that now that he was three, it was time to let the Paci Fairy come to take his pacifiers, and that she'd leave him a toy. He was into it, and he didn't seem to mind not having pacifiers as we read stories and did our normal bedtime routine. But when the lights went out, the battle started. He probably came out non-stop for close to two hours. He didn't say anything about pacifiers, just that he didn't want to go to bed, or that he couldn't sleep. Finally, around 11pm, we gave him a pacifier and didn't see him again until the morning.

We thought maybe last night's debacle had to do with all the excitement at home and at school because it was his birthday. We went through the normal (paci-free) bedtime routine and everything went well. But the drama started again as soon as the lights went out. He was crying and hysterical and would come out of his room as soon as we put him back in bed, for almost an hour. When we finally gave up and gave him a pacifier, he immediately went to bed and didn't come out again.

We had a quick parental pow-wow and came to the conclusion that Jake is obviously physically addicted to pacifiers and we better start looking for ones that won't look out of place when he's in high school.

And we remembered that with his other big steps (potty-training, crib-to-bed transition, etc), he's always let us know when he's ready, and he is clearly not giving us those signals now...

Jake turns 3!

Happy Birthday Jake!

Here's Jake three years ago:

And three days ago:

The mini NASCAR circuit

Jake had another fun day riding his Lightning McQueen car around. Today, he perfected the spin-slide-break move on our driveway (see video below). We also set up a few courses and he did really well handling the turns and being careful not to run over the cones. He didn't quite get the slalom course, but I wonder how well Jeff Gordon was driving on his 3rd birthday.



Sadie, by the way, is also fascinated by Lightning McQueen. She hovers patiently waiting until Jake parks it, and then she pounces. I've seen her run to it, and literally dive into the driver's seat. She was happy to just sit there gripping the wheel, until she figured out that she could reach the gas pedal. I'm not sure who was more surprised by that - me or her.

Jake's 3rd Birthday Party

We had a great time yesterday at Jake's birthday party. Thanks to everyone who came out to have fun with us. The slip-n-slide was a big hit, even though the automatic shark jaw contraption didn't work (thanks, Cole, for manually operating that). Some slipped and slid, and others crouched and crawled, but it looked like everyone had fun (even Sadie).


Here's Jake blowing out his three candles on the beautiful cupcakes that Ali put together way past her bedtime last night:


The big present of the day, from Mimi and Grandpa, was this Lightning McQueen racecar, which Sadie is modeling here:

When Jake first saw it, he had a huge grin on his face and kind of walking around it, saying "It's Lightning McQueen!" I asked him if he wanted to get in but he was still wearing his bathing suit and was worried he was too wet. But when he saw Sadie making a bee-line for the driver's seat, he jumped right in and quickly got the hang of it. Of course, all the other kids wanted a turn, and I was proud of Jake for sharing with everyone. His favorite thing to do is to park it in our garage - over and over and over. He also likes to lean out over the side to make sure he doesn't have a flat tire (like in the movie).

Fun times! More pictures here.