Martha at 3 years

Martha is now three years old! She has definite likes, dislikes, and opinions. We were noting the other day that the year between 2 and 3 has been quite dramatic in terms of language development.
Among Martha's favorite books are: Camp Granada(which we found on the street), Sticky People, and So Much. She will spend quite a long time listening to stories (we've yet to reach her limit and would probably read to her all day if we were willing) and increasing amounts of time reading books to her various dolls and babies, or to her baby brother.
Her favorite colors? Pink and yellow and red.
Martha's most requested songs are "The Old Man Died" (Grandfather's Clock) and "Oh My Darling" (Clementine). But check her out singing another classic, "Lily the Pink."
Martha's favorite toys are her doll house and her babies, though she sometimes likes to play games such as Match and she claims an interest in her blocks.
Martha prefers pasta, broccoli, chicken, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Martha is quite a good walker and runner these days. We've been taking lots of little hikes in nearby Tilden Park, the Berkeley Marina, and just on the streets near our home, and she can go for almost two miles with only mild complaints. Usually the offer of a game of chase or a strategically thrown/kicked tennis ball will keep her going a bit longer. Martha's also more and more of a climber, and enjoys jumping and dancing.



Here she is running and splashing in puddles;











watching her first puppet show, at Fairyland in Oakland;













pushing her brother in the stroller;










reading with Grammy and Walter









and Daddy, Great Uncle Nev, and Great Aunt Mand;










telling her brother "NO!" and looking forward to sushi;









painting at MoChA;













enjoying the garden;












playing with her alligators and farm animals and













sampling quiche with various Johnstons, also in the garden;






pulling Cousin Noah in the wagon;











running at the Marina;














celebrating at her friend Leah's 3rd birthday party;














opening birthday cards;










and enjoying her backyard birthday party with loads of friends and relatives.

Tom at 8 months

Two months have passed since the last Tom and Martha report, so there are many changes to report as well as numerous photos and videos of course.

Since Martha's 3rd birthday is approaching, we will focus in this post on Tom's development, and leave the updates on M till next month.

Among the developments was the appearance of the First Tooth, which was shortly followed by the appearance of the Second Tooth, both on the bottom so they aren't any use for chewing yet, but are good for nipping Mum.

Tom's also moved into his own room now, meaning he can sleep better, managing 8 hours in one stretch most nights. Having the two kids together in the same room has not been troublesome at all; when one wakes up it does not (usually) disturb the other, despite the screaming. We love to peek in on them as they sleep peacefully a few yards apart. This step also makes their siblinghood more tangible; we can picture them in a year or so, prattling away.




Tom's on the verge of crawling. On quite flat surfaces he can inch his way forward, using elbow, stomach, face and/or buttock to get forward in short "steps" to some desirable object. He's still a way off proper crawling though. He can, however, shift some distance in a surprisingly short time when motivated to do so.

We've got him eating a variety of mushed up vegetables - sweet potato, broccoli, green beans, zucchini - and fruits - bananas, pears, apples all mixed into yogurt or cereal.

Our Martha will be 3 in a few weeks, so there will another report about that then, but here are some pictures of them all taken January to March in and around Berkeley.

Adrian