Bode at 18 months, Geneva at almost 5.

Bode just turned 18 months old so I figure it's time to run down our kids many charming qualities.  He's still a huge kid 35 inches and 30 pounds. That's 100th percentile height and weight by standard suspicious doctor-math.  He's a sweet kid - seldom fusses or cries.  He learned to walk at one year old and basically skipped straight on to running after that.  He loves to go outside and has quickly learned that if he wants to go out he has to get his shoes first. He'll be looking longingly out the back door and we'll tell him he needs his shoes and he'll trot off to get them. He's at that age where he understands much more than he can say. He says very few words but understands quite complex ideas.  Currently his words are hot (used for the BBQ and hotdogs), "ba" (ball or bird depending on context), Mama, hi, China (the little dog next door), "uck" (truck, or stuck, again depending on context), bye, agua.  It's a little on the low side for word count in a kid his age but with all the big talkers in this house I'm just not worried.  He also signs more, all done, and water as well as pointing at things he wants, so all told we communicate pretty effectively. 

Bode loves the iDevices already - he knows how to unlock our phones and iPad and plays the Toca Boca robot game (with help from his sister).  It feels like a parenting cheat but it'll sure be handy when we can entertain him on an airplane with one of these.  Then we'll feel like we can travel again.  I want to visit relatives in Chicago, DC, and I'm sure other places.

Geneva is almost five and tends towards the dramatic side.  We have a lot of conversations about using polite tone of voice and using words in general (instead of tantrums) to get what you want.  I'd say things are better than about 6 months ago when her tantrums would last for an hour but we've been having lots of calls from school about her talking back to the teachers.  We started a sticker behavior chart but it's still been tough going.  My mom thinks the current daycare isn't stimulating enough for Geneva and we looked at another daycare in the area.  It looked nice - the decor was straight out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog.  But it was partial day, only 9 months of the year, and cost $20k.  I just couldn't stomach it even with "financial aid."  Maybe I made a mistake and she would have been happier there but it's hard to know.

We have an argument almost every weekend on Saturday morning with Geneva.  Chris and I want to go out to the farmers' market with the kids and Geneva really wants nothing in this world more than to sit around the entire day watching cartoons in her underwear.  I think I'm going to have to hold out hope that Bode is the adventure kid. 

Bode and Geneva are still getting along great.  In August we went to Idaho for vacation and we had the kids sleep in the same room.  It went well so when we got home we put them in the same room here as well.  We're very surprised at the outcome, but Geneva actually sleeps quite a bit better with him in the same room. She goes to bed earlier, is quieter when she goes, and sleeps later.  I'd say she's averaging 1-1.5 hours more sleep per day with him in the room!  If she's noisy at all at bedtime we tell her that if she's noisy she'll have to sleep in a different room and she calms right down. She just really loves having another kid in the room with her. Also Bode almost always sleeps completely through the night. We had thought that Geneva was a good sleeper but that's just because we didn't realize how good it could be.  We very seldom have to go in to help Bode in the night and it's usually just because it's cold and he's uncovered or he got twisted in the covers or something.  At 3 1/2 years old Geneva still woke up in the night almost every night. We'd just need to pat her to get her to go back to sleep but that's still a lot of nights without straight sleep. The kids play well together too - there are occasional tussles with them both wanting the same toy (in fact Bode typically just wants whatever Geneva has) but mostly we've taught Geneva how to deal with it and it's not that big a deal.

Vacation in Idaho was really nice.  We did a ton of fun things like visit the water park, biking, horseback riding, swim in the lake, canoeing.  Unfortunately I got some weird headache disease while I was there (crazy crazy headache for 36 hours) and then when that cleared up I discovered a lump in my breast (which turned out to be a galactocele - i.e. no big deal) but my health is my biggest stress trigger so I was having a hard time enjoying myself.  Also Bode then got my headache disease only his manifested as a high fever with no other symptoms so I spent a good bit of time worrying about him (and at the emergency room trying to figure out if he had an ear infection).  

It was so beautiful in Idaho in the summer - we almost never go there that time of year so we had forgotten.  That and the total emergency room bill ($150. Last time we took Geneva to an ER in California it cost the insurance $3000) made us start thinking again about maybe retiring early to Idaho. Just relax and do fun stuff all the time.  Too bad I love California so much. And I'd probably be bored without an official job.

A couple of months ago we got a new bike contraption.  It's an extender to the back of one of our diamond frame bikes (Xtracycle) and we got these seats and rails that will hold up to 3 kids and both of ours just love it.  Sometimes Bode is so desperate to go on a ride that we strap him in and just take him around the block so he'll get a ride in. I think he even understands that he has to wear a helmet while riding so while he hates to wear it he'll do it anyway because he knows we'll pull him off the bike if he doesn't.  I keep seeing videos/photos of Geneva's little friends riding 2-wheel bikes so I think it's time to try to teach her.  I'm not gonna be too surprised though if she's not interested in learning.