Growing Updates

THE TWO YEAR OLD

Canaan is almost two years, five months old! I must admit, I was

 talking the other day about how I thought Canaan would have lots mo

re hair at this point than he does! His hair HAS grown a lot, but it looks like baby fuzz, thin and sparce. It is also a light brown color, so you can't see what he does have very well. But, I think his lack of hair makes him incredibly cute. Besides, I don't think I am ready to have to start FIXING hair yet! Especially since we are still in hat weather. 

Canaan talks more and more everyday. He always talks in sentences, t

hough at times they are grammatically and humorously incorrect. He uses new phrases all the time that he picks up. Have I mentioned that he talks a lot? Well, he talks constantly. 

All day long there is a little voice not far, talking to m

e about something, asking me questions, commentating on what is happening, etc. I have decided he would be a WONDERFUL companion for a blind person, since he narrates everything he does, as well as what others are doing. Dougle thinks he would make a great sports commen

tator! 

I am not sure Max will ever start talking, because I am not sure he will be able to get a work in edge-wise! Ha. Once we were taking a walk when my mom was here. Canaan and Max were in the stroller and we had the rain guard over them to keep them from the wet rain-snow slush that was falling. After walking about 10 minutes down the street, my Mom commented on how this was the longest she had heard Canaan be quiet. I disagreed. I speculated that he hadn't been quiet, we just couldn't hear him. Sure enough, we bent down close to him and could hear him chattering about the busses and cars passing us by on the road!

He is just now starting to pick up on a few Russian words, beyond the numbers, hello, goodbye, please and thank you that he has known for a while. He understands mo

re Russian than he speaks. And when I try to pointedly work with him on Russian words, he usually just says, "Mommy, no speak Russian." I imagine the more time we start spending with Ukrainians, the faster and the more he will start picking it up. Recently, though, we've just been inside our house...having a new baby has done that to us! :)

Canaan has started doing summer-salts, thanks to the instruction of his fine teacher and uncle: David. He does them really well, I think, getting over his head and going straight most of the time. Mommy does them well too, since he likes me to do them with him sometimes! He started jumping a month or two ago. He loves to jump in place or do a skip-jump. In our apartment, I just try to have him jump on the carpet so as not to disturb completely our neighbors below us! He has also taken a step up in his drawing. For a long time, he would just draw straight horizontal or vertical lines. Then we learned squiggles and circles and he would just scribble sometimes. The other day, he started drawing faces of people. We draw faces for each member of our family and put different hair styles on them to tell them apart. Well, the other day, he drew a circle (a two year old circle, anyway) and put eyes and a mouth in it, as well as some hair on top! I was SOOOO IMPRESSED. Of course, I am the Mom, so I am supposed to be so impressed and proud of everything he does. But, for his age, I think it was amazing! :) He has also started noticing the lines on coloring book pictures and has started to stay somewhat inside the lines. This is VERY new, as of 2 days ago. He still goes outside the lines quite a bit, but it is more concentrated scribbling and most of it is inside the lines of the main picture. 

THE SIX WEEK OLD

I really thought Canaan was such a good baby. He had his challenging moments, but he was overall a good baby. I was really scared that Max was going to be my problem child. So far, he is a dream baby! 

Today, at six weeks old, I laid Max down to cry himself to sleep. He sleeps well in his bed every night, but during the day he wants to be held. After holding him a majority of the morning and early afternoon (while attempting to potty train Canaan), I decided he needed to nap on his own this afternoon. Plus, he was fussy and just wouldn't sleep well in my arms. Canaan, at nine weeks old, cried for 90 minutes before falling asleep. Max cried for all of 4 1/2 minutes and fell asleep. Then, he slept like a baby for three hours. Life is wonderful for this Mommy! 

Max is a pacifier baby. He loves his paci and often falls to sleep only if is he sucking on one. So far, his preference is for Advent pacifiers, while Canaan's was for Mams. And we've been giving him a pacifier since day 2, but he still is a great nurser as well. In fact, he eats so well that at his 4 week check-up, he weighed a healthy 10 lbs, 2 ounces! He had gained 2 pounds in his first four weeks of life! He is definitely my chubby baby. Canaan never had a fat roll on him. He was skinny, except for his face/cheeks, which made him look like a chunk. Max, however, has the cutest little rolls around his thighs and tooshy. I am having to remember to clean his diaper area between the rolls, something I never had to worry about with Canaan! Max also grew almost an inch during his first four weeks. He is just taking off!

Max rolled over for the first time at 4 weeks old!! We are in awe. He has rolled, from his tummy to his back, several times since. I think he is a bit ahead of the rolling curve for his age!

Other miscilaneous information about our newest addition is that Max still doesn't cry in his baths. He cried a tiny bit during his first baths, but since has not cried. He doesn't like having his face wiped off, but I often have to clean his little eyes because he has a lot of mucous and sleepers that matt his eyes; I think it must be from a clogged tear duct. Max proved to be a great car sleeper. On our recent trip to Donetsk, he slept almost the whole trip, and while he was awake, he just looked out the window at the sky. Max also has some pretty big cheeks. They are starting to get a little hang-dog look. Adorable! And, in case anyone was wondering, he still has about one diaper every 5-6 days.