November 2016 Update
So I decided that after I finished Fynn's weekly blog posts that I would just start doing one monthly post with updates on our family and the kids since pictures and events tend to overlap between the two kids' posts anyways. So here is the first official monthly update! And of course, I lost my phone in the ocean last week and lost a ton of pictures and videos this month, but oh well!
This month was a whirlwind of travel for us! We started out the month splitting up--Ron had to go to Argentina for work for a week, so I took both of the kids to Oklahoma. We both had a great time on our trips. It was my first time flying by myself with both of the kids. It was rough, but I expected that haha. The kids enjoyed playing with all of the grandparents and meeting Aunt Jamy's children for the first time! As soon as we got home from Oklahoma, Tio Kevin and Tia Beverly arrived for a long weekend. Then a couple days later Aunt Lexxie visited us for the day, and then we were off to Florida for Thanksgiving! We also got to celebrate Aly's birthday there with family. Again, the kids had such a great time with everyone! During that trip, we left the kids with Lito & Lita and went to Jamaica for 3 days. This was the first time we've left the kids this long! It went so smooth; the kids did so great. We had an amazing time in Jamaica. It was so nice to relax, read, swim, play pool, go out to dinner, watch shows, and just enjoy each other's company. We came back just in time for Thanksgiving dinner with Ron's family. Then we finally made it back to New York, and it certainly felt good to be home! We ended this month with our annual visit to see Santa at Macy's!
Here are a few things from the month with the each of the kids:
Aly:
-Aly has been obsessed with talking on her toy phone. One day, I caught her saying, "Yes, we live on 144th and Broadway. It's Arevalo, A-R-E..."
-This month, Aly had a huge change in her prayers. In the beginning, we just had her repeating a simple prayer every night. Over the last few months, we've encouraged her to pray for things that are going on in her life. One night while we were in Oklahoma, Aly just started praying all on her own. She prayed that God would keep Papi safe in Argentina and bring him home soon. It was so sweet!
-Since we did a joint birthday party for Aly and Fynn during the last weekend of October, Aly has been slightly confused on when she's turning three haha. She knew it was on November 20th, but she'd constantly check to see if it had happened yet. At their birthday party, after we sang and were eating cupcakes, Aly came up to me and asked me, "is me three yet?"
-In Oklahoma, Chad taught Aly how to "take her fingers off" with a little slight of hand haha. Aly has done it nonstop since that night. Usually she performs her tricks at the dinner table and for anyone and everyone who visit.
-One day we were standing on the subway platform, and Aly looked up at the train table and said, "It's 6 minutes for the next train, Mami!" So apparently she can read the train time tables now.
-Aly is so incredibly independent. She loves to do everything by herself. For example, when going to the bathroom, she will move the stool to be able to turn on the lights. She also figured out that if she climbs onto to the top of the toilet, she can reach the faucet and wash her hands by herself, so now she is able to do everything by herself!
-Aly has been doing so much better behaviorally this month. We have seen huge improvements in her ability to express her emotions better.
Fynn:
-Fynn learned out to stand up without holding onto anything early this month. He is incredibly agile and still loves to climb all over everything.
-He loves to cover his eyes and play peek-a-boo
-Fynn has figured out how to "communicate" this month. He points at what he wants and makes a little "huh huh huh" noise until we figure out what he wants. It must be so nice to finally be able to articulate his desires to us!
-We are also on the fence of whether or not Fynn said his first word. He says "Aiii-ya" a lot, and usually it seems to be when he wants Aly!
-Unlike Aly as a baby, Fynn loves to put socks and shoes on haha. He often brings me his shoes when he wants to go somewhere!
-Fynn has become a bit aggressive this month. He loves to grab faces, pinch, and bite. Yikes! We are working on it, but most of the time he finds it even funnier when we tell him no!
-Fynn loves to imitate us. One day, Aly and I were pretending to go apple picking, and joined us too and was pretending to pick apples too!
-One day in Florida, Fynn was pretty cranky even though he was done napping for the day. He kept whining, so finally I just asked him if he wanted to take a nap. He stopped crying immediately, climbed out of my lap and walked to the room, pointing at the crib haha. Guess he knew he was extra tired that day!!
-Finally, Fynn has been a blast this month. I see him growing so much. He is so expressive, inquisitive, and just a really fun little guy to be around!
