Your 9 Month Update...at like, 9.5 months...

Yep. Be shocked with me. It's been 9 months since the boys came home.

The boys went to doctor for well-child checks last week. Since August, Charlie has gained 10 pounds and grown 2.5 inches. Think that's a lot? Well, Sam gained 9 pounds and grew 4.5 inches! Yes, I said FOUR and a half inches! In less than 9 months. No wonder the 2T's don't fit him anymore (we've already made our way to 4 and 5T). This basically puts both of them over the 97% in height and weight. I'm just gearing myself up to always be the shortest in this family. I don't stand a chance with these two around.

Charlie took the Stanford Achievement Test a couple of weeks ago for kids who have completed kindergarten (which he hasn't) and scored between 87-95% on all sections. I don't want to brag, but appears that we might have a genius on our hands! And this comes on the heels of us finding out that English is probably the THIRD language this kid has had to learn in the past couple of years! Be impressed. I am. He is starting school in the fall, although currently there is some discrepancy as to whether we are going the 1st grade or 2nd grade route. We had geared ourselves up for 1st grade, but he did so well, the principal has asked us about considering 2nd. I'll keep you updated on that progress. But don't ask him about it. He is NOT pumped about it. Mommy, on the other hand, thinks that he will LOVE it...the kid asks a million questions a day about a million different things. I just hope he gets a very patient teacher.


Charlie continues to love art or building anything he can get his hands on. He draws all the time, mostly super heros or Curious George. He is still semi-attached to his Curious George stuffed animal. I'm really not sure where the fascination began, but on the way home from the zoo the other day, he told me, "I miss monkey." (Monkey had stayed at home this particular day.) I wanted to know if he missed mommy when she was gone as much as he misses his monkey. "I always miss Mommy!!" ........Okay. You can miss your monkey then.

The kid continues to eat more than I do. Explains the 10 pounds in 9 months. And everything has to have crushed red pepper or some kind of habenero sauce on it. He eats habenero sauce like ketchup. And with nothing to drink. Makes my eyes water just thinking about it.


Sam is perpetually in his own little Sam world. Oh, he will play with other kids and loves his daddy more than life itself, but seems much more content to push his truck around in circles all by himself. Between the faces he gives and the fact that he can't run in a straight line to save his life, he is pretty much the funniest kid this side of the Atlantic. He keeps us rolling and some days it's just hard to discipline a kid who makes me laugh while I'm trying to make a point! He can't eat anything without being covered from head to toe in it. But if he goes outside and happens to get a speck of dirt on his shirt, he feels the need for a complete wardrobe change. Still haven't figured that one out...

You may also notice a small gap in our teeth. Sam had an intimate meeting with the concrete of Gammy & Papa's driveway when we were in Alabama last month. The results were the loss of a tooth along with a very scraped up face and nose, since he literally caught himself on the concrete with his upper lip. (He was running. And the driveway is fairly steep. You do the math...) I assumed we would just have a hole there for several years, but wouldn't you know, he has a tooth coming in!! I know, I know...3-year-olds don't get permanent teeth, but let's just associate it with poor nutrition and move on. It does look awful funny on such a small little body.


I'm pretty certain he has a significant speech delay, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt since he has only been exposed to English for 9 months. He talks all the time, just not sentences like a 3-year-old should have. He says new words everyday, which just adds to the hilarity when he tells me something he has overheard Charlie say. He will be joining me as I teach Mother's Day Out in the Fall and I'm hoping the constant exposure to the language will help out in that area. For now, just leave him to his trucks, bicycle and water guns. He is ALL boy. And the portrait of a 3-year-old. Complete with the attitude and the attention span of a gnat.

I have no idea where he gets that from...Hey! Did you see that squirrel run by??