8 months and 34 months...

Physically Josie is doing so much more than Eddie was at this age, but then he was the Michelin baby at this age (see link). http://watchusgo.blogspot.com/2005/11/gobble-gobble.html#links

Otherwise, she is about like him developmentally, I think. She has become a breakdancer, Den likes to say, as she flips to her stomach as soon as you lay her on the changing table. To add to the excitement, she then tries to stand up. She also just rolls herself over, kind of like a turtle to get on her stomach. It's not such a big deal--except when poop is involved...

I think I've wrote this before, but in the space of about a month, Josie got from being able to get herself to a sitting position (about the first of Nov.) to crawling about 10 days later, to pulling herself up and then finally, I kid you not, by Dec. 4, she surfed the furniture. And today she crawled up the steps for the first time. Wow!

She is starting to do better with solids. We still give her milk of magnesia to keep her regular (I'm astounded at the number of references to my kids poop on this blog). We've not been as good about expanding her mealtime selections, but given her milk allergy and difficulty adjusting to solids, I've been a little cautious. She still eats with gusto and in fact cries when you've ended the meal too soon.

We wound up canceling her eye doctor appointment as her eye gunk appears to cleared itself up--she was fine shortly after we made the apointment back in November, so that is thus far, a relief. I don't know if I've written this before, but she definitely knows her name, seems to respond to Josie more than anything, I think because Cookie calls her that. I typicaly call her baby J or Josie. I love that her name has so much potential for nicknames--watch her HATE that aspect of her name :)

Cookie has pointed out that she is standing with flat feet and she thinks this means she will walk sooner than later. So, I'm taking bets. My own bet (and if you remember for Eddie, I was off by a lot), I think by Eddie's birthday for sure and more likely by Feb. 1.

We've been trying CIO, or 'cry it out', which with Eddie was a disaster. Instead of gradually calming down and falling asleep, he would just get more and more upset until he'd be up for another hour after you were holidng him. Josie thus far seems to be farily reponsive and we are almost used to just listening to her cry. It sucks, but 15 min. or 30 min. tops of crying at night, versus going up 10 times a night...theoretically she is supposed to learn this sleep thing soon. She's been able to get herself to sleep (w/o crying) for a couple naps, so we're hopeful.

On to Eddie. He is having his own bit of growth. We've had to put him back on the pulmicort for asthma (we took him off for the summer per doctor's orders to see if he'd outgrow the asthma)--no luck. He's gotten a little better about taking the meds, so that's good.

He is REALLY into 'art projects'. He loves painting and is drawing faces, including cheeks. He draws horns on his cows. He also recently likes us to label all his drwaings--that was kind of my fault. I don't remember what is pictured here. Usually dogs are blue. He especially like 6 or 10 legged cats. They are usually yellow.

Ed has also pretty much given up his nap. What this really means is that we can't take him in the car anywhere after 1:30 or he will fall asleep. I took him shopping yesterday and he fell asleep to the point that I put him in his stroller, he was STILL asleep as I wheeled him around, woke right before we got in the car and then fell asleep again.

This was not exactly a conscious decision. If he takes a nap, he is up until 10 pm, even a short nap. He resists naps like they are punishment, and if he takes one, typically wakes after an hour.

Here is Ed after a painting session--he ocassionally has a bit of a problem with licking his fingers to get the paint off. Yuck!

We've been making Christmas Tree decorations, making chains with construction paper and using special tape with goofy on it. Ed has also gotten more into TV, his favorite show being Micky Mouse Clubhouse. His record is 4 shows in a row when I was so exhausted, I didn't care what he did.

When he doesn't want to watch that, he'll watch sports--just about any sport. It's just bizarre to me, it is nothing we have done, but he will ask for a sport--football or baseball, basketball, soccer, and if it isn't available, but we find something else, like golf or volleyball, he'll be happy. But not with other TV programming. He really is into sports.

One thing I'll say about 2 kids is that it really helps illuminate their differences, similarities and personalities. Previously things Ed did were just cute, or 'him', but they weren't striking in the same way they are now. Now with Josie, she is not into exactly the same things he was at this age and even more, it really shows me more of how they are individuals. My mom likes to say she raised 3 only kids, and we couldn't be more different. Josie and Eddie are clearly still developing, but coming from the same house, they definitely have different interests and approaches and it's wild to see.

Both are easy going. Eddie is more of the negotiator, as Den says, working to get what he wants without you realizing what you are agreeing to, and with Josie, there is no negotiating, she just holds out for what she wants. I think we'll be in BIG trouble very shortly with this trait.

Below are both kids with some of their respective favorite toys at the moment...