It’s been a minute since I’ve provided an update, so here’s one for the curious:

Michaela (The Challenger)

Michaela is not as petite as she was compared to her siblings. She had another growth spurt recently, and is only a tiny bit shorter than Emma now. She’s still boss indoors, but does not really dominate her siblings out in public. She’s babbling more these days, and enjoys having the ABCs pictured in the previous blog post sang to her. We put emphasis on the letters G, P, V and Z (Geeeeeeee!!!!). She even hums along. Yesterday I caught her trying to count from 1 to 5. She was playing with her fingers.Within 6 months I’m sure they’ll all be really talking. Whatever she’s babbling about she’s increasingly passionate about it.

I love it when I get home from work in the evenings. She gets really excited and babbles, “Daddy!” and barrels through the other two to be the first to greet me. Then she demands to be picked up and she holds on to me tight – she misses me.

When eating she’s taken up spitting food out if she puts too much in her mouth. She does like to feed me whatever she is eating, which is cute.

She likes to challenge us the most. Our strategy is usually to ignore her when she does something we don’t approve of for too long. I’ve taken up to just walking away and saying “Bye”. Works like a charm every time, especially outside when she’s misbehaving on the retaining wall. She has lightning quick reach and will grab anything she can get her hands on. Worse, she’ll lean if it’s out of reach. As a result, lots of stuff pinned on the refrigerator ends up on the floor. Her sense of fashion continues to evolve. She likes to try household items on and also accessorize whatever she is wearing with other clothes around the house. She has featured oven mits, adult socks, and a collander.

Emma (The Angel)

Emma is our vocal superstar. She is rattling off so many words we can’t keep up. And they are clear as day. She now greets us in the morning, saying “Hi!”. This morning when I left for work, she had a bottle in her mouth and was holding it with one hand, and waved goodbye with the other. It was absolutely adorable!

She’s mixing it up with Michaela and Christopher more during play time. She has different levels of comfort with each when she plays with them. She likes to be chased by both, and is more comfortable playing with Michaela. We think they’re starting to develop a sister bond. Christopher is learning to be gentle with her if he wants to play with her. When she’s laughing hysterically, we know she’s comfortable. She loves to play hide and go seek with her big little brother.

Emma is our pickiest eater. She will definitely let you know when she doesn’t want something. She puts her hand out and swats it away. And now she’s learned to say “No”. She loves vegetables and black olives. She’s often caught staring at us when she is sitting in our laps with this cute smirk. Emma doesn’t like to be held when the others climb up. She will even go as far as to try and shoo them away before she gives up and moves on. She is working the hardest on talking – she enunciates, and mimics how we say things. One day and airplane flew over our house and she pointed to the sky and said “Airplane!”. Whoa!

Christopher (The Bull)

Christopher is still growing at a steady clip. He loves to dance to music and throwing things around the house and at people is his new found passion. He understands “No” and throws a fit and is absolutely beside himself. With all of the boxes we have in their play room, he finds pleasure in destroying them after they are stacked. He’s your typical boy. He loves to help his mom clean around the house.

Next month they will be 2 years old. Oh my!