Turner thought this was funny

Turner's had a pretty big week. He has started smiling at himself in the mirror, kicking his feet in the bathtub (especially when Mom tells him to), grabbing and chewing on things (like his arm and hands as well as Mom's), and noticing his hands and feet more. On his four month birthday Thursday he was staring at his hands, so Mom pretended to eat them. And for the first time, he laughed! Mom was really excited and we're all happy he's starting to have more fun.

Hazel and I had fun wrapping up my birthday this week. After a good Monday morning at Leaps n Bounds, where both of our classes and most of the teachers at our school ate my birthday cupcakes, we came home. Hazel took a nap and Mom showed me a fun new doctor toy she picked up for me. She told me about Turner's doctor visit Monday morning and that I had an appointment Friday. In the meantime, it was fun pretending to be a doctor. I liked the toy blood pressure arm band (Mom and my doctor call it an arm hug) and even practiced giving myself, Mom, and Dad shots.

After Hazel's nap, we all had the last cupcakes, then went outside to play with a fun toy, Moon Sand, that Mom and Dad got me for my birthday. We then piled into the car and went to Toys R Us.

I've been telling Mom for a while that I wanted a toy vacuum. She didn't believe me because I am really scared of her real vacuum. Anyway, she finally said I could use some of my birthday money for one. So that's what we got.

I picked out the color I wanted (pink) and gave the cashier the money for it at the store. When we got home, Hazel and I jumped up and down and told Mom to open the box. While she was opening it, we jumped up and down and ran around excitedly the whole time. Then I played with it for two hours straight. Mom wishes it worked because our house would be super clean!

Meanwhile, Hazel played with my other toy, a little shopping cart. Dad says she looks like a bag lady when she pushes it around.

I had my 4 year check-up yesterday.  For the most part, it was actually pretty fun. When we got to the doctor's office, we started by measuring my weight and height.  Boy, have I been growing!  I'm 39.75 inches tall (45th percentile) and 37.5 pounds (75th percentile!). Mom and Dad were pretty impressed.

Next, we played some games so they could test my hearing and eyesight.  I got to say "Beep" whenever the nurse's machine made a beep in my ear.  It was pretty fun, though it took me a little while to figure out the rules of the game.  To test my eyesight they showed me pictures of shapes and I had to say what the shapes were.  Dad thought they should've used letters instead.  Mom said I saw the shapes better than she could with her glasses on.  Anyway, my hearing and eyesight are great.

The doctor also measured my breathing using a stethoscope.  I got to take a lot of deep breaths, which I had practiced when Hazel listened to my heart with my toy stethoscope.

The last part of the appointment wasn't as much fun.  I had to get four shots.  It hurt right when the nurse did it, but I did a good job of holding still and stopped crying right after the last shot.  I made Mom and Dad pretty proud.  The doctor's office gave me four stickers - one for each shot.  Overall, it was actually a pretty fun visit, but I hope I don't need to go back until I'm five.

Here's my latest growth chart, which you can also see on the right side on the blog.

Since the shots, I've been tired and groggy so yesterday and today I took a nap, which I haven't done in a while.

After that, we had more free time than we've had in a while, so Dad suggested we all go to South Austin to Bananarchy, a frozen banana stand. Mom was more excited than I've seen her in a while. I had a banana dipped in vanilla and sprinkles. Hazel had chocolate and sprinkles, and was better at sharing than I was. The banana stand trip was fantastic! Much better than getting shots.

Grow, Turner, grow!

Today Turner had to go to the doctor for his four month well visit. The doctor was really impressed with him. She kept telling Mom how gorgeous he is (and said he looks like me). She said he has grown a lot too. His head is 40.4 cm (10%), he is 24 3/4" tall (50%), and he weighs 13 lbs. 1.5 oz. (20%).

The best part though was she said Turner is moving around like a six-month-old because he spent the whole time rolling all over the examination table and scooting forward while trying to push up on his knees to crawl. She was pretty blown away by it and said his motor skills are really unusual. She predicts he will grow up to be an acrobat. To that I say, look out, Hazel!

You can see Turner's latest growth chart here, or click the chart on the right side of the blog.

One potato, two potato, Mich potato, FOUR!

This was a huge weekend for me. I turned four!

To celebrate, Bubbe came down from Atlanta Thursday. Hazel and I were super happy to see her. Turner still hung with Mom for the most part.

Bubbe brought lots of fun things for us to play with: arts & crafts, her iPad, a bubble machine and a seal sprinkler. We had lunch with her at Costco too, on Friday, and today she took us to the park. We had a blast.

Saturday Mom and Dad threw me a birthday bash. It was at the same park as last year, Brushy Creek. Lots of our friends came, we played in the splash pad, some people played in the sand pit and we ate lots of yummy food.

We also had CAKE! I finally had the chance to enjoy my long anticipated "Happy birthday Mitchell" rainbow cake and I managed to scarf down about three pieces before Mom cut me off. It was all super fun, it was great seeing everyone and they all brought me lots of nice presents.

Bubbe went to the airport today. We are sad to see her go.

Tomorrow we're wrapping up the party when I go to Leaps n Bounds. Mom made almost 50 cupcakes for the kids in my class and all the teachers at the school. Hazel hopes she'll get one too.

In the meantime, here are pictures of my fourth birthday adventures!

A very busy month

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, we have had a very, very busy month.

Hazel, Turner and I have been helping Mom learn how to be a general contractor. We interviewed lots of painters, floor guys, handymen, landscapers and all kinds of other people and hired about eight of them to help us get our old house in good enough shape to sell. We are almost done with all their work and should be ready for showtime next week. If anyone's looking for a nice three bedroom house in Milwood, give us a call!

Meanwhile, Turner, Hazel and I are getting bigger and funnier every day. Hazel and I have been playing together -- and fighting with each other -- more and more. We've been more imaginative than ever too. We have a bath toy that looks like a fountain and we've been "making applesauce" with it. Hazel's been lying on her tummy in the tub and the other day told Mom she's swimming like a dolphin.

Turner is cooing and smiling more, rolled over once (June 16, but he hasn't done it since) and is getting really big! He is awake more of the time and much more alert than before. He really likes watching the action around him. We can't believe he's three months old already.

Two weekends ago, Aunt Lauren came to visit. We had a blast. We took her to the park, where we've been going almost every weekday morning when we don't have school. We also went to the Austin Zoo, where we had a picnic in the car after visiting all the animals, and to the restaurant Kerbey Lane. She spent some time with us so Mom could work and did some cool crafts with us. We made animals out of clay and painted them after they dried. We had a tough time when she left. Hazel cried almost the whole way home.

We had a blast this weekend. Dad had a 4-day weekend since it was the 4th of July, and we made the most of it. Saturday we had some friends over for lunch and to play in our sprinkler. Sunday we went to a friend's birthday party at Pump it Up, a place where they have lots of inflatable bounce houses and slides. Hazel went down a slide so big, Mom said she'd have been too scared to go down it. We can't believe how fearless Hazel is -- she is like this at the park too. She will only go down the biggest slide she can find. Meanwhile, I've been pretty sensitive to noise lately and didn't love playing at the party but it was fun eating cake at the end.

Sunday night we went to a neighbor's house for a barbeque. We had a blast playing with the other kids in their pools, on a slip n slide, and in their sandbox. Mom and Dad were happy to meet our new neighbors and agreed that they are all very nice and welcoming. Hazel, Turner and I are happy there are lots of other kids around who are good at sharing their cool toys.

Hazel's really been using the potty a lot lately. She even used it at the party Sunday and where we went Monday morning, the blood bank where Dad gives blood. We're all super proud of her.

Today we headed South to San Antonio. I have been telling anyone who will listen for the past few weeks that I wanted to go to back to the San Antonio Children's Museum, and finally Mom and Dad took us down there. We spent a lot of time in the big grocery in the basement, had fun on the airplane and played with about a million Legos before heading back to Austin. Anytime Hazel got on a vehicle, like a boat, train, car or plane, she told us she was going to Costco. We really like the food samples there.

Here's hoping things slow down soon and we can post blogs more regularly. To check out our photos from the past month, click here.