Junior figures things out very quickly. He literally studies things. And he never gives up. Never. There is a cabinet that he is not supposed to open. It has dvds inside. He will saunter on over there, open the cabinet and then turn around and smile at you like he knows that he has done exactly what you don't want him to do. As soon as you spot him, his smile grows even bigger because he knows he was right. If you tell him to close the cabinet, he will. And then he will open it again. Then you tell him to close it, and he will. And then he will open it again. The cycle will continue forever unless you physically remove him from the cabinet. If you don't tell him to close it, then he will reach in and take out as many dvds as he can until you move him.
He got a little kitchen for Christmas. It has a little oven that makes sounds when you open and close it. He will take play food, open the little oven, put the play food in, and wait for the toy to say that the food is ready. Then he will open the oven, laugh, take the play food out, and show you the food he has just prepared. He will do this over and over again.
He loves to climb the stairs. Of course he does. Do you know why? Because he isn't allowed to. He will climb about three steps and then look at you with the knowing smile, just waiting for you to tell him to get off of the stairs. When you tell him to get off the stairs he will laugh and slide down on his belly. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the whole process starts over. It's almost as fun as the cabinet. If you don't tell him to get off the stairs then he will continue climbing until he reaches the top of the stairs.
He is also mostly walking now. He can take over 20 steps in a row, balance himself, stop in the middle and start over again without falling over. Sometimes he chooses to crawl still, but it's either for efficiency or for a game. There is always a reason for what he does. He does things with purpose. When he crawls, he likes to tuck his head underneath him and go as fast as he can. It's his game just to see what he will run into. He laughs when he hits something.
Junior and Handsome are almost inseparable. When I took Handsome to play with friends and Junior didn't come, Handsome almost couldn't bear it. He didn't want me to put gas in the car because Junior wasn't there to sit in the car with him. When we got to his friends, he didn't want to go play because he said we had to go home and get Junior because Junior needed to be there with them. With Junior, I tried to give him a bath without Handsome (we usually bathe them together). It was when Junior had a fever and I wanted to get the fever to go down. Junior typically loves his bath. His favorite part is to splash the water, of course, to see the reaction that Handsome will give him. On the day Handsome wasn't in the tub with him, he was fine until he looked over to where Handsome was supposed to be and didn't see him and looked out the door and saw that Handsome wasn't coming. He started wailing and would not stop throughout the entire bath.
Junior has also almost completely given up nursing. The only time he will nurse is in the middle of the night. The past three nights he has slept through the night so he hasn't even gotten those feedings. It may be the end of his nursing very soon.
Showing posts with label walking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walking. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Brace yourself. It's a long one.
I've been busy. Really busy. Can't think straight busy. And that's my excuse. It's valid. I promise.
Junior still isn't sleeping through the night. We took him to his nine month appointment and he hasn't gained weight since he was about four months old. I knew he skinny so I was expecting this. I was actually bracing myself for him having lost weight. He is now in the 20% for weight and 50% for height. He was fine for everything else at the doctor. He actually didn't cry at all - even for a heel prick - until right after they gave him his shot. And then he didn't cry for very long. Handsome was with us though and he did cry even though we told him it was Junior's appointment and not his. I don't know where his fear of the doctor came from.
The day after Junior's appointment we started him on formula. The doctor told us to try milk based formula first and just see if he had a reaction. He seems to be doing ok with it. Diapers are SO much more stinky now. I'm so glad I was able to nurse exclusively for as long as I did. He has been taking the formula without any fuss, but that's how he normally takes food. Food to him is more of an obligation than a pleasure. It's almost as if when you show him food he remembers that he was hungry so he eats just until the hunger feeling goes away and then he's done. He doesn't really care what he's eating so long as it is edible.
Being able to use formula has really reduced the amount of stress I have. Pumping at work has been hard. It's time consuming and it's so frustrating when I only get a couple ounces from an entire work day. Now I'm only pumping once a day. I love that.
I think Junior might just be done nursing too. He doesn't have the time for it. He is too impatient to wait for the let down and is distracted by everything. I will continue to offer for as long as he wants but I don't think it's going to be much longer before he decides that he is done.
Just a few days before Junior turned nine months he started taking steps. He took four steps in a row the first day he tried. Yesterday he took about twelve steps in a row. I love watching how each boy learns. They are such individuals. Junior is very calculated in everything that he does. He will take one step and then balance himself again before he takes the next step. Handsome just leaned forward and took as many steps as he could before he fell on his face. LOL. Handsome was also encouraged by cheering and yelling for him. Junior will stop moving if you start to cheer too loud. He prefers a quiet encouragement while he focuses on his steps. I love it. I love both of them and how they are each their own person.
Talking about love, Handsome will randomly come to wherever I am and tell me that he loves me. Melts my heart every time. Now he will occasionally also say he doesn't like me but that is just to see what reaction he gets. He likes to try on emotions and just see what happens. We read a book at night called "The Pout-pout Fish." He loves it because at the end the fish kisses everyone. He always tells DH to "kiss his baby" so DH will come kiss me. :)
Handsome loves his school. He loves the extra stimulation it provides with toys and learning and friends to play with. There is a book fair at the end of the month and he is very excited about it. He loves books. He brings home his minimally colored worksheets and proudly points out the sticker or the stamp that the teacher put on his paper for completion. He has learned how to write his name and can recognize all the names of the kids in his class. Watching news one day there was a sign for Peyton Manning for something football related. Owen stands up and yells, "Peyton, Mommy! Why do they have Peyton's name?!" I thought, "My child is a genius!" until I remembered that there is a Peyton in his class.
Reading. Owen is starting to read. We have the Bob books and he has read five of them. We only do a couple reading activities a day because he gets bored easily and I don't want reading to be a chore to him. We have read the first books many times and the last ones only a couple times. He's a champ at using the pictures to help him out. We also have cards that my mother made for him. They each have one word for him to read. We do some of those each day - or when we remember.
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Junior. He is me. A male, younger me. I would like to say that he is more stubborn or he is more persistent but really, he is me. God is seriously testing me with Junior. Yesterday he had my temper raging. It wasn't all his fault as there were numerous other aggravations along the way, but he was testing me yesterday and I failed. He knows exactly what he shouldn't be doing and that is exactly what he wants to do. I didn't think a nine month old could be so focused, but apparently they can. I would continually remove him from the situation (e.g., climbing the stairs, opening the cabinet, banging cans on the table, banging the toys on the wall, grabbing the wires) and try to distract him. I would hold him or tickle him or give him a different toy or try to get him to practice walking and nothing worked. If I held him he would scream his angry scream and kick his legs until I let him down. As soon as I let him down he would go right back to what he was doing before. If I stood in front of the stairs or in front of the cabinet so he couldn't climb or open the cabinet, then he would knock on the wall or knock on the table or find a wire. When I walked over to take the toy out of his hand or get him away from the wire, he would go right back to the stairs or cabinet. Food is not a distraction because he doesn't care about food. He'll take a bite and then go right back to doing whatever he wants to do. At one point I took him and Handsome outside to clean up after the dog. He has to see what I am doing so he leans forward and pushes off of me to see all that he can. As a result my wrist hurts from pushing him back constantly and making sure he doesn't fall. (I admit I should have just stuck him in my carrier so I wouldn't have to worry about it but he's not a fan of the carrier because he can't see everything so he screams his angry scream.) HE NEVER GIVES UP.
It's a complete battle of wills between us. I am admittedly stubborn and I can push through a lot of crud to get to where I want to be, but good golly this child is testing me. God is testing me. I'm failing. I was so angry yesterday I just wanted to scream. I wanted to put Junior in his crib, Handsome in his bedroom and just scream and run. I couldn't be patient anymore. On most days I just sigh and redirect Junior for hours. No exaggeration, it's hours. He is incapable of being distracted. He will only move on to something else if it actually peaks his interest more and that's hard to do. I think the only person who can consistently redirect him is Handsome.
Because I recognize so much of myself in Junior, I can empathize. I know how he will feel about what life throws at him. I know the hurts that he is going to encounter. I know that he will likely choose the hard road. When someone tells him he can't do something, he will do it. When someone tells him no, he will figure out how to change the answer to yes. He will do whatever it takes to get to where he wants to be. I know the sacrifices that he will make to get there. I know how high his ideals will be. I want to comfort him and tell him he doesn't have to be so stubborn, but I know it won't change anything.
What I can do is hope. I can hope that having Handsome so close and staying home with DH will help him to adopt some of their characteristics. Both Handsome and DH are highly distractible and just take things as they come. I can hope that Handsome and Junior will be support for each other as they are exactly what the other needs.
I love my boys more than anything. They force me to look inside myself. They force me to become a better person. Their love is priceless.
Junior still isn't sleeping through the night. We took him to his nine month appointment and he hasn't gained weight since he was about four months old. I knew he skinny so I was expecting this. I was actually bracing myself for him having lost weight. He is now in the 20% for weight and 50% for height. He was fine for everything else at the doctor. He actually didn't cry at all - even for a heel prick - until right after they gave him his shot. And then he didn't cry for very long. Handsome was with us though and he did cry even though we told him it was Junior's appointment and not his. I don't know where his fear of the doctor came from.
The day after Junior's appointment we started him on formula. The doctor told us to try milk based formula first and just see if he had a reaction. He seems to be doing ok with it. Diapers are SO much more stinky now. I'm so glad I was able to nurse exclusively for as long as I did. He has been taking the formula without any fuss, but that's how he normally takes food. Food to him is more of an obligation than a pleasure. It's almost as if when you show him food he remembers that he was hungry so he eats just until the hunger feeling goes away and then he's done. He doesn't really care what he's eating so long as it is edible.
Being able to use formula has really reduced the amount of stress I have. Pumping at work has been hard. It's time consuming and it's so frustrating when I only get a couple ounces from an entire work day. Now I'm only pumping once a day. I love that.
I think Junior might just be done nursing too. He doesn't have the time for it. He is too impatient to wait for the let down and is distracted by everything. I will continue to offer for as long as he wants but I don't think it's going to be much longer before he decides that he is done.
Just a few days before Junior turned nine months he started taking steps. He took four steps in a row the first day he tried. Yesterday he took about twelve steps in a row. I love watching how each boy learns. They are such individuals. Junior is very calculated in everything that he does. He will take one step and then balance himself again before he takes the next step. Handsome just leaned forward and took as many steps as he could before he fell on his face. LOL. Handsome was also encouraged by cheering and yelling for him. Junior will stop moving if you start to cheer too loud. He prefers a quiet encouragement while he focuses on his steps. I love it. I love both of them and how they are each their own person.
Talking about love, Handsome will randomly come to wherever I am and tell me that he loves me. Melts my heart every time. Now he will occasionally also say he doesn't like me but that is just to see what reaction he gets. He likes to try on emotions and just see what happens. We read a book at night called "The Pout-pout Fish." He loves it because at the end the fish kisses everyone. He always tells DH to "kiss his baby" so DH will come kiss me. :)
Handsome loves his school. He loves the extra stimulation it provides with toys and learning and friends to play with. There is a book fair at the end of the month and he is very excited about it. He loves books. He brings home his minimally colored worksheets and proudly points out the sticker or the stamp that the teacher put on his paper for completion. He has learned how to write his name and can recognize all the names of the kids in his class. Watching news one day there was a sign for Peyton Manning for something football related. Owen stands up and yells, "Peyton, Mommy! Why do they have Peyton's name?!" I thought, "My child is a genius!" until I remembered that there is a Peyton in his class.
Reading. Owen is starting to read. We have the Bob books and he has read five of them. We only do a couple reading activities a day because he gets bored easily and I don't want reading to be a chore to him. We have read the first books many times and the last ones only a couple times. He's a champ at using the pictures to help him out. We also have cards that my mother made for him. They each have one word for him to read. We do some of those each day - or when we remember.
------------------
Junior. He is me. A male, younger me. I would like to say that he is more stubborn or he is more persistent but really, he is me. God is seriously testing me with Junior. Yesterday he had my temper raging. It wasn't all his fault as there were numerous other aggravations along the way, but he was testing me yesterday and I failed. He knows exactly what he shouldn't be doing and that is exactly what he wants to do. I didn't think a nine month old could be so focused, but apparently they can. I would continually remove him from the situation (e.g., climbing the stairs, opening the cabinet, banging cans on the table, banging the toys on the wall, grabbing the wires) and try to distract him. I would hold him or tickle him or give him a different toy or try to get him to practice walking and nothing worked. If I held him he would scream his angry scream and kick his legs until I let him down. As soon as I let him down he would go right back to what he was doing before. If I stood in front of the stairs or in front of the cabinet so he couldn't climb or open the cabinet, then he would knock on the wall or knock on the table or find a wire. When I walked over to take the toy out of his hand or get him away from the wire, he would go right back to the stairs or cabinet. Food is not a distraction because he doesn't care about food. He'll take a bite and then go right back to doing whatever he wants to do. At one point I took him and Handsome outside to clean up after the dog. He has to see what I am doing so he leans forward and pushes off of me to see all that he can. As a result my wrist hurts from pushing him back constantly and making sure he doesn't fall. (I admit I should have just stuck him in my carrier so I wouldn't have to worry about it but he's not a fan of the carrier because he can't see everything so he screams his angry scream.) HE NEVER GIVES UP.
It's a complete battle of wills between us. I am admittedly stubborn and I can push through a lot of crud to get to where I want to be, but good golly this child is testing me. God is testing me. I'm failing. I was so angry yesterday I just wanted to scream. I wanted to put Junior in his crib, Handsome in his bedroom and just scream and run. I couldn't be patient anymore. On most days I just sigh and redirect Junior for hours. No exaggeration, it's hours. He is incapable of being distracted. He will only move on to something else if it actually peaks his interest more and that's hard to do. I think the only person who can consistently redirect him is Handsome.
Because I recognize so much of myself in Junior, I can empathize. I know how he will feel about what life throws at him. I know the hurts that he is going to encounter. I know that he will likely choose the hard road. When someone tells him he can't do something, he will do it. When someone tells him no, he will figure out how to change the answer to yes. He will do whatever it takes to get to where he wants to be. I know the sacrifices that he will make to get there. I know how high his ideals will be. I want to comfort him and tell him he doesn't have to be so stubborn, but I know it won't change anything.
What I can do is hope. I can hope that having Handsome so close and staying home with DH will help him to adopt some of their characteristics. Both Handsome and DH are highly distractible and just take things as they come. I can hope that Handsome and Junior will be support for each other as they are exactly what the other needs.
I love my boys more than anything. They force me to look inside myself. They force me to become a better person. Their love is priceless.
Monday, August 3, 2009
1, 2, 3, 4, 3!!!
We have a little counting book that is really for infants, but Handsome thinks it's funny so we go over it every night. It has five pages and counts - obviously - from one to five. I usually just say the numbers and let him repeat after me, but last week I decided to see if he knew any of them, so I just pointed and waited to see if he said the numbers, and HE DID!!! He went all the way from one to five!!! The following night I brought the book downstairs so that Handsome could show off to DH and he got all the numbers right again! And then I decided to record it for my parents to see, and this is what I got, "1, 2, 3, 4, 3!!!" Over and over again. He thought it was pretty funny. Stubborn child.
Are you ever afraid you won't be able to keep up with your child? Handsome can run. And I mean really run. If he takes off, I can catch up with him, but it takes me a little while. I'm afraid in a year or so that if he gets it in his mind to run, then I won't be able to catch him.
Are you ever afraid you won't be able to keep up with your child? Handsome can run. And I mean really run. If he takes off, I can catch up with him, but it takes me a little while. I'm afraid in a year or so that if he gets it in his mind to run, then I won't be able to catch him.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Waving Hello!
This morning DH decided to teach Handsome how to wave. I'm sure it had something to do with the doctor asking if Handsome could wave at the last doctor's appointment. We hadn't been waving to Handsome so he didn't have the opportunity to learn it. Well this morning we showed it to him and he instantly picked it up and has been waving to us all morning. Too cute!
His new favorite game is to pick things up and bring them to you. He will hand them to you waiting for you to be excited that he brought them to you. If you are excited about it he squeals in excitement and goes looking for the next thing to bring to you.
He is also getting into putting things in containers. We got one of those jars that you put shapes into for his birthday and he loves it.
Yesterday I took Handsome to a mother's meeting with a bunch of other kids. They were supposed to dance, but there was very little actual dancing going on. There was a lot of playing though. They had colors out and a bubble blowing machine. I was impressed with Handsome. He is typically very shy and doesn't want to go beyond arms length when we are in public. Well yesterday after he ate his yogurt and cheerios he started walking all over the place to even corners where I couldn't see him anymore. (It was a closed room so I didn't worry about him getting away or anything.) He would try to follow the other little boys that were running around. He looked so independent. My little shy boy was out there trying to make friends and just explore.
I'm so proud of my little boy. He's growing up so fast.
His new favorite game is to pick things up and bring them to you. He will hand them to you waiting for you to be excited that he brought them to you. If you are excited about it he squeals in excitement and goes looking for the next thing to bring to you.
He is also getting into putting things in containers. We got one of those jars that you put shapes into for his birthday and he loves it.
Yesterday I took Handsome to a mother's meeting with a bunch of other kids. They were supposed to dance, but there was very little actual dancing going on. There was a lot of playing though. They had colors out and a bubble blowing machine. I was impressed with Handsome. He is typically very shy and doesn't want to go beyond arms length when we are in public. Well yesterday after he ate his yogurt and cheerios he started walking all over the place to even corners where I couldn't see him anymore. (It was a closed room so I didn't worry about him getting away or anything.) He would try to follow the other little boys that were running around. He looked so independent. My little shy boy was out there trying to make friends and just explore.
I'm so proud of my little boy. He's growing up so fast.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I saw walking!!!
Last night when I got home I was greeted by a walking baby! DH was holding his hands and they were walking together and then Handsome saw me walking in the door. DH let go of his hands and Handsome squealed and took four little steps towards me before he fell. It was too cute!! Then after I picked him up to say hello, I wanted to set him back down to push my luck and see if he would walk again. It was already past his bedtime, so I knew he was going to cry as soon as I let him down. Well, luckily the crying led to an extra zeal to get to me and he took six steps to get to me! Yay!
Then this morning he walked twice before I had to come to work.
This walking thing is so exciting!
Then this morning he walked twice before I had to come to work.
This walking thing is so exciting!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Handsome walked!
Ok, Handsome has been taking steps here and there for a few weeks now. The most I've seen is two steps. He does it when he has the confidence that he could just reach out, but he gets lazy to put his hands out, so he takes the two steps that it takes to get to the bed or table he wants to get to.
I just got a call from DH. He was all excited because Handsome walked!! He said he took about four steps just out in the open complete with his thumb in his mouth trying to get to a toy on the floor. He fell down when he realized he was walking.
Handsome took four steps all by himself!
I wish I was there.
I just got a call from DH. He was all excited because Handsome walked!! He said he took about four steps just out in the open complete with his thumb in his mouth trying to get to a toy on the floor. He fell down when he realized he was walking.
Handsome took four steps all by himself!
I wish I was there.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Walking with Mommy's hands
We are getting so close to walking!! Previously if I wanted him to walk while I was holding onto his hands he would have to kinda be tilted to the side to kinda lose his footing and move. Last night I was just holding him up to make him stand and he started walking towards me! Granted I was still holding onto his hands, but minus that it was walking! He has figured out exactly how to put one foot in front of the other to get where he wants to go. There was actually one time that I kinda want to call his first step, but I'm a little hesitant. He climbed up on DH who was lying on his side and then stood up and stepped towards me so that I would hold him. But between him standing up on DH and getting to my hand he was all on his own. So he kinda took his first step yesterday.
He looks so grown up when he walks like that!!
When I came home last night he saw me and started squealing and crawling like speedracer to get to me. There was a gate in the way, but he got to that gate faster than I've ever seen him move. Too cute!
He looks so grown up when he walks like that!!
When I came home last night he saw me and started squealing and crawling like speedracer to get to me. There was a gate in the way, but he got to that gate faster than I've ever seen him move. Too cute!
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