The Hinderks Family: August 2013

Where has the time gone?!?!?! Madelynn literally just skipped 16 months and is already 17 months. How did I miss that? And Carter is 3 1/2. What? We are now on the downhill side to celebrating his fourth birthday. My babies are growing up way too fast. Here are a few little updates about the kids...

Madelynn Grace...
Miss Mady is now officially a walker...100%. We rarely see her crawl anymore. She loves to walk everywhere. That is pretty much what she does all day long...just walk. She carries toys, books, doll's, anything she can find and just walks. She still has the precious wide legged walk which I just adore. I don't mind if that lasts a while longer. However, she is fairly confident now in her walking and is pretty steady. She still squats down sometimes but she is great at it. Here I never thought she would walk and two months later it is all she does. Thanking Jesus that we will not be going to her 18 month check-up and telling the doctor that she isn't walking yet. I was really worried about that. She just likes to do things in her own timing. She is a little stubborn like that.

She is not talking really at all but understands everything! Even just this week I have been amazed at how much she understands. She responds to everything by shaking her head no or nodding her head yes and saying "uh huh." She is great at telling us what she wants without actually using words. She is also a master at the signs for more and please. We are working on thank you. I didn't really do signs with her early on but since she isn't in the mood to talk at 17 months old I decided to start it with her and she caught on in a day. She is a smart little wipper snapper. Just doesn't feel like talking.

She is absolutely in love with her daddy right now. It is precious. He just lights up her whole world when he enters the room. She will give him kisses easier than anyone else, including me. She adores him and it makes my heart melt. She also adores her brother. They eat breakfast together on the couch every morning and they always sit right next to each other. Every once in a while she will just lean over and lay her head on his shoulder or lean in to give him a kiss. This is my prayer for my two kids (and any others we may be blessed with). I pray they will always be best friends. I want this so badly for them.

She loves...
her blankies, waffles, grapes, blueberries, animals, looking at books, looking at books while sitting on her rocking chair or on Carter's bed, watching cartoons with Carter, playing cars and trucks with him, following mama around the house, bath time, brushing her own teeth (hates it when we brush them), Max, (our cat), talking on anything that remotely resembles a phone, all things accessories (necklaces, headbands, underwear that can be worn around the neck, milk, riding in her little car on walks, her grandparents, my cousin Carrie (she is obsessed with her!), and being held by mama or daddy.

She is still an excellent sleeper!! Sleeps 12 to 14 hours a night and one good two hour nap. She has a new tooth, one of her eye teeth. Thank goodness. She has been cranky for weeks and I think it had something to do with that. Although, I am not sure the crankiness has really gone away. We shall see. Her screaming days are gone! Well, the screaming when she is put in bed. She still gets mad every once in a while but thankfully she rarely screams anymore while trying to fall asleep. She started out as a terrible sleeper and has miraculously turned into an exceptional sleeper. We went to La Grande and Clarkston last week and she slept perfectly, even in a new environment and a different bed. I was amazed at how well she did. And she had a cold.

She had a doctors appointment last week just to make sure that she didn't have an ear infection before we left on our trip. Thankfully she did not have one but we were able to find out how much she weighs at 17 months. She weighed 19 pounds!!! She gained three pounds in two months since she was in the hospital with the stomach virus. That was amazing! That was probably the most weight she has ever gained in that short of a time. I love how little she is but it was nice to see some weight gain happening too. She is still wearing all size 12 month clothes and is still in a size 3 diaper. She might be potty trained before we get to a size 4 ;)

She gets a little shy and sober when she is around new people. She takes a little time to warm up. People will say how serious she is but they just don't know her. At home she is rarely serious unless its bed time. She is so fun and silly. She loves to play and laugh. She just needs time to warm up to new people. And she doesn't get that time when a stranger is talking to her in the store. She used to flirt with everyone she saw in a store but now she gives them the sober stare. Gone are the cute shoulder shrug, head tilt, flirty smile days. I miss those days. It was adorable. She'll do it every once in a while but not all that often anymore.

Well, that sums up my girl. Here are a few pictures of this sweet 17 month old...

Madelynn wanted in Carter's bed so bad. So I put her on it and then left the room. When I came back she was just sitting there reading books. It was adorable.

And now for my 3 1/2 year old...

Today is Carter's half birthday. Amazing how time flies. I feel like we just celebrated his third birthday. He reminds me all the time that when he turned three he had a construction birthday party and that when he turns four, he wants a tractor birthday party. He then tells us that when he turns five he wants a fire truck birthday party. He has things figured out! I don't see him changing his mind either. After his third birthday party I kind of thought that maybe we wouldn't do an actual party for his fourth birthday but with all his talk about having a tractor birthday now I just don't know. It is hard not to celebrate every birthday with a party. I always want to celebrate big but I don't really want a big party every year. So we shall see. He may get his tractor party :)

The big news in Carter's life (or really in the life of our budget) is that Carter is COMPLETELY out of diapers! Even at night people!!! He was waking up every morning dry and only peeing in his diaper after he got up and started playing. He knew he had a diaper on so he would pee in it. I decided that it was stupid that we were using a diaper just for him to pee in it in the morning when he was awake and fully capable of going to the bathroom. It worked. We have been doing it for weeks now and he has only had one accident in his bed. We are very proud of him! Most mornings I here his door open and then a couple seconds later I hear the toilet seat go up. Good job buddy! He's got it down!

Carter is still a fun, silly, spunky, stubborn little man. I love seeing who he is becoming! He loves to pretend! His imagination is running rampant! He loves to pretend he is a fireman, a daddy, a construction worker, a garbage truck driver, and many others. He makes up great games and plays them by himself. I always hear him pretending to have a conversation with someone else and playing both roles. It is great! He loves to ride his bike, play outside, go to parks, go to the library, and read lots of books! He is still obsessed with all things that have wheels or move. He loves trucks, tractors, motorcycles, ambulances, fire trucks, garbage trucks, etc., etc... That is pretty much the conversation we have every time we are in the car. "Mama, look a fire truck." "Mama, did you see it?" "Mama, look a garbage truck." "Mama, look a ladder truck." "The ladder goes really high." "Mama, who rides in the bucket on the ladder truck?" "Mama, I saw a motorcycle, did you see it?" Don't worry, I do respond to him. This is how our driving time is spent. He still loves his blankie just as much as ever and also still loves stuffed animals. His favorite right now is a puppy. He has a sweet soul!

He is getting much better at obeying but still goes through phases. Time out happens every once in a while with a spanking here and there as well. He is a good little boy but does test his boundaries. For example, today at the park he started to walk toward a bridge that goes over the little creek. I told him that there were no adults over there and he could not go across it. He looked at me and promptly walked across it and ran for quite a while to be where some of his little friends were. I said good-bye to our friends, walked over and got him, and we went home, him screaming the entire walk to the car "I don't want to go home." I have no tolerance for disobedience at a park. We were about to leave anyway but he didn't know that. I hope that he will obey better the next time we are at a park. Thankfully those moments of deliberate disobedience do not happen frequently. He gets into the most trouble when it comes to his sister. He can't stand it when she has something of his and will rip it out of her hands or even push/hit her. We are working hard on that! He adores Madelynn though so I just don't understand why he does that sometimes. He is so loving toward her. I love their relationship and love watching them play together. They will have moments together where they just play and play with no issues. It is the sweetest thing. And then other times he doesn't have much patience for her.

He just had his last time in the 2's and 3's class at church with teacher Nora and Mrs. James. He will be moving up to the preschool class next week. I am very sad about this and not ready for him to leave those two ladies but it is time. That class is huge and will be adding three or four brand new two year olds in the next couple of weeks. Carter is the oldest so it is time to move him up. He has learned so much from teacher Nora and Mrs. James. I am so thankful for the year and a half that he had with them. He can be a very stubborn little man and they knew exactly how to handle him all the while loving him unconditionally.

He also had two other big milestones this summer between turning three and three and half. He did swim lessons for the first time and had his first dentist appointment. He rocked them both. He really is growing up and turning into a little man. Oh, and another huge milestone is that we are finally able to stop using the gate on his bedroom door at night. He is staying in his bed even when we don't have a gate up. So thankful we did that and finally solved the problem of getting out of his bed a hundred times a night. We used the gate WAY longer then we needed to but I was nervous to try without it and go back to the issues that we had for so long. He has outgrown that phase though!

He will be starting both preschool and Awana at church this year. I am excited for both but a little hesitant about preschool. I hope we aren't doing something too early but I also think it could be really good for him. Two big milestones starting in September.

And here are a few pictures of our boy...