fantastic! We are spending lots of time outside and enjoying the bright sunshine. The tulip stems have popped up and the kids are having fun watching each day for the flowers to bloom. We are now making daily stroller trips over to the park and both kids are really enjoying the 
backyard sand table. Gavin continues to eat handfuls, and then grimaces and tries to wipe it out of his mouth with his sandy hands - one of these days he'll learn that he is bringing that yucky taste upon himself. Yesterday he nearly ate a tiny spider, and Cassidy was horrified - not out of worry for Gavin, but for the spider. She continues to adore animals of any kind, even bugs, and thinks of them as little friends that talk and play with her.
Cassidy is three months shy of her 3rd birthday, and she is officially done with naps. I tried my best to keep them going, but she is simply not tired enough during the days anymore to get wound down for a nap. We still aim for some "quiet time" every afternoon, and some days are better than others with that. The silver lining of this transition is that she goes to bed at 7pm sharp, and falls asleep within minutes. Before, she would chat and sing and call for us well into the 9 o'clock hour, so it is nice to have a relaxing evening in store every night. But wow, the days are like marathons now, I have to adjust to having no break! Gavin is also gearing up for a nap transition, preparing to drop his morning nap and move to one long afternoon snooze. Probably 1-2 days a week now, he ends up skipping it. I remember Cassie dropped that morning nap at 15 months, so I was expecting it to happen anytime. I actually prefer only 1 nap, since it allows us to fill our morning up with activities!Also, Cassie is making her transition to a big girl bed, and she's very proud to announce that to whomever comes through our front door. The pest control man was asked to "come see my big girl bed!" Thankfully he acted extremely excited about the accomplishment. Right now, we just removed the front of her crib, so she is still on the same crib mattress but she can step right out. Soon, we'll be moving her into a full size bed with guardrails. She's so tall that the crib mattress is nearly too small for her as she moves around in her sleep.
Gavin just had his 1-year doctor check-up and is doing great! He's a lean little guy, only 20.5
pounds (10th percentile) but still fairly tall at 30.5 inches (75th percentile). Ever since around the 11 month mark, Gavin has traded out some fussiness for smiles. He is much more content these days and can even spend 10-15 minutes playing on his own while I empty the dishwasher, fold some laundry nearby, etc. His two favorite activities, by far, are reading books (he's a complete bookworm!) and playing chase around the house. He would do those two things all day if he could! He is still my little snuggler when he's sleepy. He is also still on all fours crawling around, but will walk if someone holds his two hands. I think he's actually capable of walking on his own at this point, but not mentally ready to take it on. I imagine it will be any day now.
Cassidy keeps us entertained nearly every second of her awake time. She loves to tend to her animals (she could play for hours in the stuffed animal vet center at our local kids' museum), play with My Little Ponies, work on crafts, and just have wandering conversations. She likes to ask us to "tell her about the..." Meaning, she'll pick something that has intrigued her lately, and then ask Erik or I to tell her about it (in story form) over and over and over again. This week, that topic is the car wash. She just can't get over the fact that cars go into this giant room with spinning things and take a bath. She could talk about it for hours.
Erik and I got ourselves cleaned up and enjoyed a night out at a new restaurant. Had to take a picture to remember that we actually do enjoy some nightlife from time to time. Ha!
We are looking forward to Easter this coming weekend, and a trip to Brown County, IN in April with my college roommates and their families. Can't wait.
