growing baby

Lots of new stuff happening with the kiddos.  Mateo’s teachers told us that he’s ready to go on to the Pre-K program instead of staying another year in the toddler program, so Mateo will be transitioning to the new school in August (still Hill and Dale, but in a different location).  We think it’s a good thing–most of his friends are moving forward, so even though Mateo will be the youngest there, he’ll be able to stay with the kids he plays with most.  Also, Mateo wants to go–he’d been asking when he’d get to go to the new school too.  In preparation, Mateo will need to be potty-trained (or toilet-learned as his daycare program says)–we’ll keep you updated on how that goes.  Also, Mateo went on his new balance bike for the first time yesterday!  He straddled it and walked with it.  Soon, we’ll teach him how to sit on it and walk–and then he’ll be running with it and cruising in no time!  (Or so we hope!)

Roan’s also been growing!  He’s already twice his birth weight at approximately fifteen pounds.  He’s outgrown his bassinet, so we converted it into a playpen and put it into Mateo’s room.  Ilya also dissassembled the crib and reassembled it in our room (it wouldn’t fit out of Mateo’s doorway otherwise).  The Hill and Dale teachers said we should keep Roan in our room until he could sleep through the night–that way we don’t disrupt Mateo’s sleep.  Also, Roan’s started drinking from the bottle!  It was a battle at first, but the Hill and Dale infant master teacher was sweet enough to give tips and she Roan the first bottle he didn’t scream at–in fact he took to the bottle as if he’d always loved it when she offered it (I guess 25 years of experience teaching in the infant room and raising more than 300 babies really helps!).  (Roan’s not at Hill and Dale, but the daycare teachers have been wonderful about answering questions about his care as well.)  Roan’s also started rolling to his side and now that’s his new favorite position to sleep in.  In fact, he’s become quite the wiggle worm, rotating to all different corners of his crib as he sleeps.  Also new: Roan’s been holding on to my thumb as he breastfeeds and he’s got a good grip!  I’ve been trying to substitute his elephant lovie’s nose instead of my thumb while I’m feeding him, though, that way he learns to associate the elephant with comfort.