Jocelyn and Perry Olum at 36 months

Jocelyn weighed 35.2 lb. (87th percentile). Her recumbent length was 36 1/2" (37th percentile) and standing she measured 37" (43rd percentile). It does not seem to us that Jocelyn is shorter than the average three-year-old. Perry weighed 41 lb. (percentile 98.5) and measured 38 3/4" (75th percentile) lying down and 38" (65th percentile) standing up.

Both children have been in good health. Perry had an ear infection (which he was able to tell us about) but it cleared up rapidly.

Perry eats most things. Tofu and applesauce and cottage cheese are probably his favorites. Jocelyn is pickier. Her favorite is pizza, but she is also fond of tofu, and noodles dipped in tomato sauce.

Perry has given up napping entirely, except for occasionally falling asleep in the car. Jocelyn naps most days for anything between 45 minutes and 2 hours, but occasionally goes without. They go to sleep typically between 10 and 11 p.m. Jocelyn gets up around 7 a.m. and Perry around 8:30. Jocelyn usually nurses to sleep, but not always. Perry does only occasionally. His usual way to go to sleep is to run excitedly upstairs, flop on his bed, and fall asleep without moving again.

Jocelyn normally goes to sleep in her own room (the library) but then most of the time goes in with Valerie sometime during the night. Perry sleeps in Valerie's room because he doesn't care and he is such a good sleeper that there is no reason to move him elsewhere.

Jocelyn mostly has her pronunciation straightened out. "L" and "R" are still hard. She can say an unvoiced "TH" if she tries very carefully. Perry has more mispronunciations including sometimes "ZH" for "Y". Both of them use very complex language. They know thousands of words.

Perry has lost his ability to memorize large volumes of material, but has become much better at communicating. One's chance of having a sensible conversation about his preferences is much higher than it used to be, although is still sometimes impossible to find out what he wants.

Jocelyn is entirely potty trained during the day. Perry shows little inclination to use the potty.

Perry and Jocelyn play together more and more. They make up pretend games and interact with each other and sometimes fight about the things that they have made up. Still, the majority of their play is separate. They argue about who gets what ("I want all of them") and sometimes we have to intervene.

Jocelyn is very aggressive about trying to get what she wants and being a part of any activity. Perry is often willing to change his position to accommodate Jocelyn, although he is getting more likely to stand up for himself and Jocelyn will sometimes give in.

Jocelyn is "spirited". She will sometimes scream for half an hour if she doesn't get her way about something, even something trivial. Sometimes she rallies and doesn't get into such a state or gets out of it quickly. There doesn't seem to be a correlation between the importance of the issue (as judged by adults) and how upset she is about it.

Jocelyn has just become shy, even of people she knows fairly well. She hides behind her parents or turns her head away. After people have been around a little while she usually warms up to them.

Perry does not like transitions unless he is prepared for them. If he's doing something and you ask him periodically if he is done, he will not be ready to leave what he's doing, sometimes for a long time. But if you say "3 more...and then we'll.... 2 more...and then we'll.... 1 more...and then we'll...." he will then excitedly go off to the next activity.

Perry does not like things to change. He cries if the furniture is rearranged.