WEA at 2 and a Half

Walker turned 30 months, or two and a half years old, on June 18th.  His growth has been utterly amazing the past several months.  His vocabulary is soaring and he's just growing up right before my eyes.

Walker's updates/milestones/random tidbits at 2 and a half:
~he can count from 1-12.  I first noticed this over Memorial Day weekend at the beach when I overheard him counting the steps from the beach to the house.  It took a couple of trips up and down the stairs for me to realize that that was in fact what he was saying.  And since then he counts everything.  He loves to point at pictures in books and count how many like things there are on the page.
~his vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds every day!  He repeats everything he hears so it's not uncommon for him to spout out something that he overheard one of us say the day before.
~he has recently gotten interested in painting and doing crafts.  Over the school year most of his PMO projects would come home with a single line across the page.  Now he will sit and paint or color for several minutes until his work is finished.
~he loves most everything that his big sister loves including princesses, mermaids, dress up, etc.  He slept in an Elsa dress every night for 3 months until he got paint on it and now he refuses to wear it because it's dirty.  He also carried around a Rapunzel wig, even to school, for a couple of months.  It's currently "missing".  Right now he carries around 2 mermaid dolls and a construction digger at all times.
~he had his first dentist appointment back in March.  He did unbelieveably amazing!!  I think by his next appointment he will be happy to lay in the chair without me holding him.
~he still takes one nap in the afternoon that is usually about 2 hours long and he sleeps a solid 10 hours over the night.
~his eating patterns are pretty random.  Some days I am amazed at how much he eats and the next day her barely eats a full meal.  He's definitely more of a snacker.  He loves yogurt and Clif bars which if given the choice he would survive off just these two things.  But he will also eat an entire pizza from the country club which shocks anyone sitting near us at the time.
~he is a big fan of accessories.  He loves to wear sunglasses, preferably mine or Savannah's, and also his "tick tock" watch.  
~he still has had some biting incidents but we are actively trying to stop those.
~he has no interest in potty training but he will go on it before baths.  He will also tell you when he goes in his diaper.  I figure that I'll give him until December before I aggressively start training him.
~he has been relatively healthy.  The ear tubes are still in place so he hasn't had any ear infections but he is still quite the snotty, congested little guy.  Not sure if it's allergies or just lots of colds.  Regardless, he is still the happiest, most playful boy.
~he has grown to 37.5 inches tall and he is 34 pounds.

playing on the playground

getting into arts and crafts

one of two Elsa dresses he slept in regularly

looking like such a big boy in a collared button up shirt

his new favorite spot, the railroad tracks

with Dr Avni, his dentist

hanging out by the diggers

just a boy at the pool with his pizza 

Starbucks visit

this is no longer a strange sight around here

I sure do love this little man!  He is such a fun, playful little boy and I really enjoy every minute with him.  He must know how he has me wrapped around his finger because he can pretty much get away with murder and then look at me with his sad big brown eyes and say "sorry mommy" and I turn to mush.  He still loves to be babied and he loves to cuddle and give kisses.  Oh i just love him so!! 

Father's Day, June 21st

Savannah is really getting into any and all holidays nowadays.  Really any reason to celebrate anything calls for a big hurrah.  So just like on Mother's Day, Father's Day called for breakfast in bed.  But unlike on Mother's Day, we actually made breakfast from scratch this time.  Lucky Dad!

Then we got dressed and went to church.  But before heading home, Dad had to make a quick stop by Sunrise Biscuit for their cinnamon roll. Now five pounds heavier he's ready to head to the pool. A couple of hours there followed by a nap at home and we're ready for our weekly dinner at Jason's Deli.

It was a nice and relaxing day for Dad, basically a normal Sunday 😄,  and Savannah loved making him feel extra special.  Big thanks to our super awesome Dad for being such a wonderful daddy.  We love you lots!!!  

SGA at 5 and a Half

I completely forgot about documenting Savannah's half birthday milestones!!!!  It wasn't until June as Walker's half birthday was approaching that I realized it had passed.  Ugh!! The days are really flying by too fast!

SGA at 5.5 years (May 8, 2015):
~her speech has improved tremendously!  She still has a lazy tongue, as I like to call it, where her words roll together.  Oftentimes I think it's because she talks too fast and when prompted to slow down she is much easier to understand.
~her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds.  Every day she pops out a new "big" word that I've never heard her say before.  One day it was "literally" and the next day it was "coincidence".
~her memory is beyond amazing!!  She vividly recalls events from over two years ago.  She can recite books cover to cover.  Sometimes she will read books to Walker and never miss a word.  She can also recall and sing songs that she's only heard a couple of times.  It really is baffling!
~she has a slight obsession with youTube.  She loves to watch Barbie and Disney princess videos.  And she also likes these crazy homemade videos where two people do the narrating for different toys and act out stories.  The good thing about some of these are that they show her ways to use her imagination when playing with her own toys but on the flip side they're teaching her words like "hashtag" which leads into a whole other realm of conversations.
~her favorite things to do now include: playing with her dolls, Barbies, and princesses; arts and crafts; swimming; tennis; helping in the kitchen; getting pedicures; and having playdates.
~her favorite foods/drinks are spaghetti and meatballs, hotdogs/corndogs, mac and cheese, chicken, yogurt, most fruit, water, and chocolate milk.
~she joined the swim team this summer and although it is a battle to get her to the practices and the meets, I do think she really enjoys the sense of accomplishment after each meet.  Plus she's a really fast little swimmer when she focuses on her form.
~she can ride her bike with no training wheels completely unassisted.  This actually happened several months ago but I don't believe I actually documented it.  
~she has grown to 44 inches tall and weighs about 46 pounds.
~she is beyond excited about summer vacation and starting Kindergarten in the fall!

Way overdue

So I'm way behind on posting blog updates but it's not for a lack of blogging.  I'm actually totally up to date on writing the posts but I haven't been able to post them since our last Apple computer update.  For some reason I can't access iPhoto so all my posts are lacking the accompanying pictures.  Well, I've managed to find a way around that and attach pictures by blogging on my phone.  It's definitely not the easiest or the fastest way to blog but at least I'm able to do it.  So for now I'll be posting with limited pictures and once I figure out how to attach pics from the desktop I'll go back and add more.  Please excuse my extremely late posts and enjoy reading about events from at least 3 months ago.

Memorial Day Weekend

The Alvarez family headed back to Topsail for the Memorial Day weekend for our third year in a row.  This year we were fortunate to have Grams, Michael, and Rach join us, too.  

We arrived to the house mid-afternoon with plenty of time to unpack and get settled before enjoying our only meal out at a local seafood restaurant.  Our house was walking distance to the center of town so we after dinner we enjoyed a casual stroll back home.   

driving to the beach

our house had its own foosball table

evening stroll 

building castles after dinner

Everyone was up bright and early Saturday morning.  And I do mean bright and early because as soon as the sun came up, our room was flooded with so much light that it was impossible to sleep past 6am.  Walker joined me for a nice and early five mile run and we returned to join the rest of the crew for breakfast and fun on the beach.

my trainer

beach dudes

ahhhhhhhhh....my happy place

showing off her shell masterpiece

Uncle Michael makes the best mermaid tails

me and my mini in our matching suits

can i just freeze this moment???

Sunday was another early morning.  Oscar and I went out for a run without my trainers.  I always forget how much easier it is to run without pushing 100+ pounds.  The rest of the day was spent all on the beach.

showing her surfer girl moves

cupcakes after lunch.....sure, why not???

love these cuties

please mom, no more pics!

working on her tan

isn't this how everyone showers at the beach??

We had to return home on Monday but not before spending half of the day back on the beach.  Walker absolutely loved the beach this year!  It was impossible to keep him out of the water.  His favorite thing was to jump over the waves.

Michael, Walker and Savannah

Such a fun weekend!  Every year it gets better, and thanks to the addition of Grams this year was the best yet.  We've already reserved the house again for next Memorial Day and just maybe we can convince Grandad to come, too.