Reese's First Year Evaluation

Although Reese turned one in December, we are only now able to look back fully on the year and provide a good sense of how the newest member of Team Bowes is faring. The theme of this evaluation is going to be that Reese is petite, powerful, and independent. She has all the makings of a great Bowes family member. But she is definitely feisty, so don't let the demure picture below fool you.



We can start with the petite aspects. At her one year appointment, Reese came in at a height of 28 inches(15th percentile) and a weight of 17 lbs 4 oz.(below 5th percentile) Her head was at 46cm (62nd percentile). Based on those numbers one might imagine she looked like a bobble head doll. But she didn't. Three months later, at her 15 month check-up, it was clear that the holidays had treated her right. She shot up to 29 1/2 inches (20th percentile) and packed on almost two pounds to weight in at 19 lbs 2 oz.(5th percentile) And her head gained 1 cm in circumference. (75th percentile). One of the main reasons why we like Dr. Warner as a pediatrician is that whenever we bring in our daughters he tells us how beautiful and healthy they are. And this time around, in response to Reese's numbers, he simply said, "She's growing like a Bowes girl. She looks great!" One area in which Reese's numbers are certainly exceeding expectations are her number of teeth. At the moment she has twelve, and even a recent face-first fall onto the corner of her parent's bed frame did not lessen that number, thank goodness.

Just as important, we have not heard anything from daycare about Reese using her chompers on her classmates, or vice versa. Indeed, overall Reese has been having a very good experience at daycare. At the beginning of the year she made the big move out of the busybee classroom and into the waddlers. This transition was apparently more difficult for her parents than for her. And it has also shown us that Reese is either extremely sweet or incredibly strategic. She has quickly developed a special rapport with Mr. Fred, who happens to be one of the owners of the family run business. That relationship makes Fred's wife Pam adore Reese, and in turn their daughter Amy thinks Reese is great. Perhaps by this time next year Reese will have a system in place where she gets the best seat at lunch and first shot at the new toys. We shall see. When it all comes down to it, Reese seems to have a blast at daycare and waves goodbye with a smile on her face every morning.

Food remains an interesting adventure when Reese is involved. She moved from bottles to sippy cups with no problem, and in fact she can even drink milk through a straw out of a cup or a box. This makes going out to eat much easier for everyone involved. Speaking of going out to eat, if you ever have to take Reese somewhere, we highly recommend Chipotle. You have to see it to believe it. She turns into an eating machine and takes down a kids' meal including the spicy corn salsa that even scares away her dad. As far as the rest of her meals, like most kids her age it is touch and go. Yesterdays favorite becomes today's rejected fare. There are a couple of mainstays, including cheese, yogurt, and oatmeal. And she is quickly developing the ability to use a spoon to eat the oatmeal and yogurt. Her father has her on a tight leash though, and she only gets the spoon once the food is on it. Unfortunately we have noticed some potential food allergies, and we might have to start keeping a journal of what she eats to see what causes her facial rashes. Some testing might come into play later. Strawberries have led to hives, and in a blow to omelette lovers in the family, she might be allergic to eggs.

Reese is a very vocal little one, but she has yet to lay claim to a clear spoken word. With that being said it is obvious that she understands what we say to her. In fact, she is very good at following directions, especially when it comes to putting things back in cabinets and closing doors. She has mastered a few of the basic sign language words, like please, thank you, and more. But she has also always been a big fan of responding to pictures of animals and making animal noises. She is particularly fond of elephants. And of course, for months she has enjoyed the game of "Where's Callie?" in which we ask the question and she makes the universal gesture of "I don't know - where could she be?" It's great fun for the whole family.

What Reese may lack in language skills she more than makes up for in her physical mobility. She started walking at ten months and now you can't turn your back on her. She wants to run and she wants to climb. Leave the room for a second, and she has used the stool to climb onto the coffee table. Take a little too long in the kitchen, and she has pushed one of the little chairs next to the couch so that she can climb up there, sit down, and smile proudly at her accomplishment. And John simply shuts the upstairs bathroom door in the morning because every chance she gets she is climbing the stool so that she can hang onto the sink. All of this highlights how she earned the nickname of "Muscle". She is more than willing to push Callie to the side to gain access to whatever it is she desires. And she desires quite a bit.

Our review ends with the all encompassing category of miscellaneous activities and things that come to mind when we think of Reese. She is a hair twirler and a really good snuggler, especially if you want the person you are snuggling with to rub the back of your neck or twirl your hair. She also loves the camera, and is ready with a great big smile whenever we break it out. Over the past several months we have also begun laying the foundation for that wonderful time in the future when she gives up diapers. At least three times a week, and sometimes more if we are really alert, Reese takes care of her business while sitting on the toilet and looking at an animal picture book. It's never to early to start the process of removing diapers from our household, and every success is one less stinky diaper we had to change. Speaking of the bathroom, we should also say a thing or two about bathtime. Reese loves getting in the bathtub, which is great. But she also loves either standing up when she shouldn't or drinking the bathwater, which is never a good idea. It is possible that she takes in a couple of ounces of soapy water a night. Seriously. It's gross.

Nevertheless, Reese has been a joyful addition to our family. She is adored by her sister and can bring a smile to the faces of her parents in an instant. And Reese has not only had to take on the intense love of her sister, but also of the older kids at daycare and at church. She is a tough cookie and tolerates being lugged around by six-year-olds quite well. But she also is quick to let you know when she is done with it. In short, she's a keeper. We love her immensely and are lucky to be her parents. We can't wait to see what this year brings and are happy to recommend her promotion to year two.

Callie's Fourth Year Evaluation

What can we say? The crazy year that was 2011 has managed to fully overflow into 2012. There are simply no signs of life slowing down for us. All of that is our way of apologizing for the fact that Callie's annual review is a little over five months late. And the saddest part is that somewhere in those five months some of Callie's paperwork must have been misplaced. We do not have any record on Callie's height or weight in terms of numbers and percentages. Looking at her, she is still both tall and thin. But what is especially apparent is that Callie is no longer a baby or a toddler - she is clearly a little girl.

And what kind of a little girls is she? Let's start with something illustrated in the picture below. She has a tendency to be shy, especially when she doesn't want to do something. This picture definitely highlights that aspect of her personality. We have also been lucky enough to experience this shyness/attitude when interacting with dentists and doctors. But what is even more fun is when we have a little girl who does not respond to our friends saying hello to her or trying to interact with her in any way. It's never good to start off an evaluation on such a note, but this is an important area in which she will need to improve as she approaches her fifth birthday.



One of the biggest changes in Callie's life this past year was the entrance of her sister. As we have stated so often in previous posts, Callie has exceeded expectations in her big sister responsibilities. The intensity of her love and concern has not diminished. If anything it has increased. For example, it made her extremely happy when Reese no longer took a morning nap, because it meant she would have more time to play with her. Indeed, she has taken to referring to Reese as "Boo" and does everything she can to help her little sister out.

The love for her sister is only one part of her greater interest in and love for her whole family. Sarah is her "Best Mommy" and John is her "Best Daddy". These are titles we accept with great pride, knowing it can't last forever. Who knows what will happen once she gets tenure? Amazingly enough she has an incredible ability to remember all of her relatives on both coasts and talks about them constantly. It probably helps that we have spent a lot of time traveling to see those folks this past year. At random moments she will refer to something Grammy has done or Nana Banana has taught her. It's fun to talk to her about stuff like that.

All of the travel and the general craziness of our lives has also made Callie a trooper who has the ability to turn any unfortunate situation into an adventure. Let's do a quick review. From the time she turned three to now she has - eaten a waffle after midnight at a Waffle House in northern KY while waiting for a tow truck and a taxi, she has slept on a bag of dirty laundry in the Las Vegas airport during the course of a 21 hour journey home from a trip to California, and she has made a flight out of LaGuardia after arriving at the rental car drop off site 45 minutes before take off. And these are just the major things we can remember. Indeed, she now gets a little upset if we are going to have an ordinary day in which she just comes home, has dinner, takes a bath, and goes to bed. Apparently she needs a bit more excitement in her daily routine.

Another significant development this past year was Callie's venture into the world of dance. She has taken dance lessons once a week since August and it has become one of her favorite days of the week. She is currently preparing for a recital in June that will be held at the Lexington Opera House. She loves to dance and at times interrupts her dinner so that she can step away from the table and spin a few times. However, if she doesn't do something about the shyness we mentioned above, her first recital could be interesting. We hope the confidence that she has when she requests us to introduce her as "Callie Alexis Bowes from Kentucky (or Alabama, depending on her mood)" will carry over into the big performance.

When Callie is not dancing, she is often singing. On Wednesday nights, as part of a weekly program at our church, Callie takes a music class. As a result of this class we have been introduced to an incredible number of songs. Callie loves to sing them all, and we are so grateful to Matt and Christi Gabbard who have passed along this love of music to her in the weekly sessions. It's pretty safe to say that few four-year-olds are able to serenade you with a pretty good version of Dona Nobis Pacem.

When she's not traveling the globe, dancing in her class, or singing at church, Callie is at daycare, where she continues to develop a variety of skills. Callie has two particularly strong loves at daycare. The first is, always has been, and always will be her friend Maddie. They continue to be inseparable, which is fun. The second love is for her teacher, Miss Michelle. Although Callie has learned a lot, her favorite activities to also do at home are cutting with scissors, spelling her or her sister's name, or doing small number math. It is clear that Miss Michelle makes a point of keeping her charges active and engaged.

Overall, Callie is a wonderful little girl with a great sense of humor and tendency to be goofy at the drop of a hat. In other words, she fits in very well with this family. She loves her friends from daycare and from church. And while we knew it was likely to happen but didn't want to admit it, our four-year-old girl loves princesses. She also loves her babies, and spends a lot of time making sure Bitty Baby, who has finally received the illustrious name of Harper Reese Vixen Bowes, is taken care of well. We sincerely hope that the inspiration of the doll's name is a combination of Callie's sister and one of Santa's reindeer. We don't want to think of the alternatives.

Although there are still a few areas that could be improved, overall Callie has once again exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds. And we mean that quite literally, because she spends a lot of time jumping around the house. Often when she is "resting" for 40 minutes on the weekends when her parents just need a break. We have very strong feelings about this little girl, and fully expect that she will be a part of this family for a long, long time.