Pretending

First of all, Ethan had his 2 month check-up last Thursday.  Ethan, like his sisters, is long and lean and with a big head.  He weighed 12 lb. 11 oz. (53%), was 23.5 inches (65%), and had a head circumference registering at the 84%.  He's meeting all of his milestones and even checked out clear in his ears and lungs after his first cold.

He also got his first round of immunizations.  The poor kid (and mom and dad) had a rough evening/night on Thursday.  Ethan was pretty sore and miserable, but perked up again on Friday.

Now for a glimpse into our lives.  Kate, moreso than Anna, is fully immersed in an imaginative stage of life.  For the past year or so, she will latch onto a particular story for a few months and pretend it again and again, with her own variations.  She will also insist on being called a certain character's name and give every member of the family a name from the story as well.  Anna, of course, plays along and will often direct which pretend story they will be playing.

Anyway, the current stories in our home are The Lion King, The Lion King 2, Aladdin, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and The Little House on the Prairie.  So Kate's names vary from Kiara to Jasmine to Cinderella to Ariel to Laura.  After Matt and Anna leave in the morning she'll often announce to me "I'm Cinderella.  Who do you want to be?" or "Hi, Ma!"  In reliving a lot of the "classic" Disney fairytales, I've come to realize that there are not a lot of positive adult women, so I choose the fairy godmother over the evil stepmother :)

Since the snow day last week we've had more fresh snow every few days and some slightly warmer temperatures so we've been able to play outdoors a little bit.  It's nice that I can even send Anna and Kate out to play on their own after school some days and be able to stay inside with Ethan.

I love playing outside with them, but when I'm on my own with all three kiddos I can't do it very often.

With Matt home over the weekend, though, the girls and I got to have a couple of Mommy-Daughter dates.  First, we spent Saturday morning doing Kate's make-up music class and then running a few errands.  Then on Sunday afternoon I took the girls swimming for the first time since Ethan was born.  We had lots of fun :)

Perhaps the weekend really tired Kate out because on Monday while I was feeding Ethan, she crawled into bed and fell asleep.  This kid has not taken a nap willingly in her bed in at least a year!  Then she slept in until almost 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning!  We were gearing up for another round of sicknesses, but other than a little bit of congestion and a slight sore throat, Kate seems just fine.  Maybe she just slept this virus off and didn't pass it on to anyone ... let's hope so!  Here's a shot of our sleeping beauty.  (I needed to take a picture to document this rare event.)