Andrew and Ethan have been a part of our lives for 1 1/2 years now. At their 18 month check up, Andrew weighed 24 pounds and is 31 inches tall and wears a size 6 shoe. Ethan is 32 inches tall and weighs 24 1/2 pounds and wears a size 6 1/2 shoe. They can still wear 18 month clothes but will soon move into 24 month clothes.Our current schedule is get up at 7:15am and they drink some milk while we sit on the couch and have worship. We all eat breakfast together, if Daddy doesn't have an 8am appointment. We play, run errands, and wish we could go for a walk (it's been too cold or rainy for two weeks now). Lunch is about 11:30am and then the boys take a nap for 2-3 hours. During nap time I clean up the kitchen, plan meals, work on the computer and from time to time take a nap too. The rest of the afternoon is for playing or errands. At least once a week we go visit Daddy's office to see him, along with Grandma and Grandpa Crawford. Supper is at 6pm followed by bath and bedtime by 8pm.
Daddy loves to read stories and ask "where is the butterfly or ducks...?" It is surprising how large their vocabulary is. They can identify at least 50 animals and are beginning to point out numbers, especially 2 and 3. They have grown so big that is hard for me to reach around them and hold the book while sitting in the green chair.
The boys like to spend time at Nana and Papa's. In this picture they picked up acorns and put them in the bowl. Then they had fun throwing them down the slide and watching the acorns bounce.
I never appreciated the time it took parents of small children to get places before having my own. Now that is cold outside it take about 10-15 minutes longer to unload from the car. Here's the situation. When they wear winter coats they look like the Michelin tire guy because they can hardly bend their legs or arms. The children can't wear their winter coats in the car because they will be too hot and they can't move at all once their are strapped in. So that means that every time I get them out of the car I have to put coats, hats, gloves (sometimes) on before I strap them in the stroller. Then there is keeping track of gloves, hats and shoes are present and accounted for at all times. Putting shoes or gloves back on every 15 minutes and walking or getting my errand done at the same time. Whew! No wonder I've been staying home more these past two weeks.
Here are some great things about Andrew. Andrew loves to say boo and gives great hugs. He is very fun to play with and has a great laugh. Yesterday he was eating a corn dog and would hand it back between each bite to have us dip it in more ketchup. He is picky about his food and would prefer that it was in a bowl rather than directly on his tray. Yogurt "gogurt" is one of his favorite foods along with sweet potato fries, ice cream and graham crackers. Andrew is a great mimic. A soon as I start putting on chapstick, he rubs his lips together than gives a big smack at the end.
Ethan is still an engineer at heart. He take things apart as carefully as he can and wants to know how everything works. He loves to climb and does things repeatedly until he has mastered it. When he is excited, he has very expressive facial expressions and often kicks his feet like yesterday while seeing animals at the zoo. When greeting someone he says "hi. hi, hi, hi, hi, hi" until it is returned. One time is not enough. If I let him wander around the van, he immediately heads for the drivers seat and wants to hold the steering wheel and push all the buttons. He is also very fascinated with cell phones. He can play for at least 10 minutes with a phone and not notice what is going on around him. Nana is so kind and lets him play with her phone.
