Where do the weeks go...

So I haven't posted for a while, again. I hate to neglect the blog, but our weekends have been busy. I've been more focused on doing stuff and less on documenting it for our friends and family. Here's my attempt at catching-up.

February Fun
We celebrated Nate's birthday on Valentine's Day with cake and presents. Silas and Allie were very excited to help bake the cake from scratch. They were even more excited to eat the cake!

Rowan was pretty disappointed that he couldn't have any cake.
 

Allie's Almost Three!
Our little girl is having a birthday soon! She tells everyone that she's going to be "three in March" and that she's going to have "presents and balloons at her party." When asked what she wants her presents to be, she's not sure. She just knows that she wants them.

Allie loves to dress herself now. Her outfits are always colorful and full of different patterns. She has a lot of fun with clothes these days, and has been wanting to wear dresses more often. Nate told her one day that some sweat pants were like "exercise pants", and they have become her favorite pair of pants. She always wants to wear them to her class at the Little Gym.

Speaking of the Little Gym, Allie just moved up to the 3s & 4s class where she goes into the gym without a parent! She did great her first time!

We recently discovered the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy, which has a Children's Discovery Room full of fun toys, activities and learning adventures for kids. We just went last week for their Animal Adventure Hour, which was all about teddy bears and real bears. Allie brought her teddy bear, and during one of the segments they pretended to be doctors, and carefully examined their teddy bears with a magnifying glass, tongue depressor, and bandaid. Then they made their own paper teddy bears, complete with movable legs!

Allie and the paper bear that she made at the PWC.

Allie has a new favorite spot in the house––a little area behind
the love seat, where she stashed a few pacifiers to enjoy during the day.
(She's only supposed to have them at bedtime.)

There's nothing better than eating a bowl of ice cream
with underwear on your head.

I took a picture during the last class I spent with Allie
at the Little Gym before she moved up to the next level.

Silas and School

Silas is still loving school! They've been doing some fun activities, like making rainbow jello, and having a special olympics day where they ran in the hallways. He knows his schedule well by now, and it helps him to have a predictable routine. When things are different about his day, it can throw him off. But thankfully his class puts a strong emphasis on a consistency and routines.

His favorite "special" at school is library. I'm not sure why, but he always gets very excited when it's library day. They have other cool specials like art, music, tech and P.E. Plus Silas eats lunch in the cafeteria, has outdoor recess three times a day, and has a different job every week during calendar time. It's a great place for him to be during the week!

I have few pictures of Silas because he spends so much time at school, but this is a recent one:

The boys are bonding!

Rowan's a Growin' !
Rowan finally got his turn in the high chair! He eats there once a day, truly a highlight of his day. I held myself back last month and just gave him oat cereal, but I was so excited to try real food with him since he's such an enthusiastic eater! When he turned five months last week, I celebrated by buying some baby food. He's totally ready!

He also recently graduated from a bassinet to a crib! The crib barely fits in our closet, but we're making it work for now. Rowan's sleep was great for a while, but the last two months have been rough. We are currently in a terrible routine where he cries anywhere from 3-6 times a night, and I dutifully get up and help him back to sleep so he doesn't wake up the rest of the house. This is not a sustainable lifestyle, and it prompted us to start looking for bunk beds so Si and Allie could share a room (and Rowan would move to Allie's room). It's not an idea I'm very comfortable with, though, and so a few weeks have passed and we have not committed to the bunk bed/room sharing plan. I'm not sure what we'll end up doing...

The good news is that Rowan is very cheery little guy, and he loves his big sister. Allie is the only one who can make Rowan really laugh (as opposed to a little giggle that basically sounds like a hiccup). He loves watching her antics, and she in turn loves to perform for him. They're a cute pair.

The high chair is still a little big for Rowan,
as you can see from this picture that Allie took.

Rowan sitting in his bassinet before
we put it away for good.

When Mommy is out, the kids will play––not with, but ON––Rowan.  

Rowan's a talkative fellow, and he can get loud
to compete with all the other noise in the house.

Blowing bubbles––Rowan's a master at it.

This boy is a water baby! He loves his evening bath.

These two are already best friends!