Milestone Minutiae

Deja vu

2010-02-01T09:24:00.001-08:00

When Luke was born, I knew there were lots of milestones that I'd get to experience again - crawling, walking, talking, etc. And now that Luke is three and having trouble with his temper and getting frustrated by some of the things that he can't do yet, I remember Emmett going through the same things.

There's at least one repeat I wasn't expecting. Luke has started asking us to guess things, like which hand he's going to open. Or he'll put something behind his back and ask you to guess which hand it's in. Of course, he brings it forward with the hand you don't pick - you can never win these games. Strangely enough, Emmett played similar games with us when he was about 3 1/2!

The best part, though, is that Luke is mostly playing these games with Emmett. And Emmett gets annoyed, because he can never win. I thought I'd have to wait for Emmett to have kids of his own for that!

Luke and letters

2010-01-25T21:48:00.001-08:00

Luke is starting to read. A few months ago I realized that he knew most of the alphabet, so I started paying more attention to letters with him. He now has the alphabet down pat (except for some of the lower case letters, especially those like g that look very different in books than when written by hand).

He's also starting to sound things out. Typically I'll tell him the sounds and ask him to "mash them together" and figure out the word, which he can sometimes do. Today while reading "Go, Dog, Go" I was having him hunt for words on a page. After reading the page, I'd tell him which word to find and spell it for him. He was having a good time finding "tree" and "dog" and "sun."

Pincer grasp

2010-01-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

Henry is working on his pincer grasp. His prior method of sweeping food into his palm with all of his fingers has been replaced with his thumb and forefinger in almost all cases.

Henry and the Panda

2010-01-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

Henry has one of those toys where animals pop up when you flip the switch in front of each of them. There's a giraffe, elephant, panda, lion, and monkey. Henry isn't really hitting the switches yet, so it's a collaborative toy - one of us pops the animals up, and then Henry pushes the doors closed again.

Weeks ago, Emmett was telling me that Henry hates the panda, because he always closes it first. "Yeah, right," I thought. This from the boy who told me that flipped coins always land on the opposite side from what was up at first because it happened twice in a row.

Since then, I've payed close attention to how Henry interacts with the toy, and Emmett was right. No matter how many doors are open, the panda is always the first to be closed. Even if you re-open the panda before he closes all the doors, Henry will come back to the panda and close him up immediately. Maybe he really doesn't like that panda.

Music Class

2010-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'm on my third time through the CD rotation in Music Together, so I the songs are well known. Some have made it into regular use (usually with altered lyrics) during diaper changes or bathtime, etc. There's one song in this collection that lends itself to peek-a-boo, and Henry knows it because I've used it a lot at the changing table. When we started singing it in class, his face lit up smiling. He clearly recognized it and started signing "sing" to the teacher.

More signing

2010-01-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

Henry is using more signs in context, at least some of the time. He's also clearly signing for "sing" and "more" has turned into clapping. Unfortunately, his sign for "sing" looks just like his sign for "all done" at this stage. So does he love or hate my singing?

Anticipation

2010-01-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Before the pitter-patter of little feet comes the determined thump-thump-thump of the army man crawler chasing me around the house.

Brothers and bravery

2010-01-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

After too many days cooped up inside the house, the boys were leaping from the furniture, running around, and shrieking at bedtime last night. Having resolved to tire them out today, I took them to Classic Skating, a place with inflatable slides, a skating rink that the boys can ride scooters on, and a bunch of other fun stuff to do.

Emmett is now big enough that he can pretty much pick Luke up and toss him into inflatables that Luke can't get into himself, which makes things much easier for me! Emmett is also great about helping Luke get over obstacles that are a little too big for him. Today, there was a very tall, very fast slide that Luke really wanted to go down. It took a little brain power, but Emmett and I figured out how to get Luke through one obstacle - it took all three of us! Then all that was between Luke and the slide was a long, steep climb up. He had trouble getting started at first, and when he came over to me complaining that he couldn't do it, I realized that he was now in a part of the structure where I couldn't reach in and pull him out. (uh oh!) I told him the climb was the same as the one he'd done earlier, just taller. He went at it again and made it to the top with Emmett chanting, "Go, Luke, Go!" the whole time. (whew!) It was a really great slide - fast and fun!

Three hours later, they were indeed tired.

Music Man

2010-01-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

Piano lessons have so quickly become a part of our routine that I'm not sure if I've even blogged about it. Emmett is loving it, and doing pretty well. He is good at learning the songs (it's a program with memorization and playing by ear at first), and enjoys practicing. Although he doesn't always sing in tune, he's able to hear it when he hits a wrong note and quickly corrects himself. He likes making music so much that we got him a guitar for Christmas, and he's eagerly learning how to play it with help from his dad.

Footsie

2010-01-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

Henry is still enamored with his feet. They're the first thing he'll grab for when he wakes up, and even sometimes when he's crying in the evening (having woken up in bed), I'll find him holding his feet. I don't think any of my other boys had such a long-term fascination with their feet.

Definitely babbling with signs

2010-01-03T14:51:00.000-08:00

Henry is signing "milk," "eat," "more," and "all done" but not always in context. Sometimes he seems to use "milk" to let me know he's done eating - I do wipe his hands and get him out of the high chair before offering him milk.

He's also standing a lot. He'll even try to let go with his hands, but he pretty much just falls over when he does that. He stood for about two seconds once after David helped him get his balance and waited for him to be still before letting go of his hands.

Share and share alike

2010-01-01T07:53:00.001-08:00

On the airplane, Henry got his first two suckers! While skeptical at first, he quickly realized just how good they are. He was very tired and cranky, so I cradled him while he popped the sucker in and out of his mouth - I thought he might go to sleep like that. He didn't sleep, but he did start offering me the sucker in between licks. He really wanted to share it with me!

I think we got a good 40 minutes of quiet baby out of those two suckers. Henry and I may have left the plane covered by a thin film of sugar, but at least we didn't become a horror story for the other passengers.

Also on the plane, the flight attendant handed me two pairs of Southwest "wings" that they have for kids. Since Henry doesn't really need them, I asked Luke if he wanted to wear one (that would probably get lost) and keep one for home. He thought a minute, then said, "I want to keep that one for Emmett!"

David and Emmett picked us up at the airport. Emmett had driven from California that day, and had a bag full of yummy treats left from the ride. He immediately began offering them to Luke for our short ride home from the airport!

Huh?

2010-01-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

In the car yesterday, Luke started saying, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" While I wish things went that way, it's not something David or I has ever said, so we asked both Luke and Emmett where they heard that - neither one could remember.

Not a terrestrial baby

2009-12-31T20:56:00.000-08:00

I've been carrying Henry a lot. Today he was hardly on the ground at all. I was sitting right next to him (touching!) and he wanted to climb into my lap. I discovered that he's much more willing to be away from me if he can be standing up hanging on to some piece of furniture. So I scattered a few toys on Jenny's chair and he happily stood there playing with them for a while.

Signing

2009-12-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

I've been signing a bit with Henry since I started feeding him, and I think he may be starting to sign back (or at least babble with signs some). In California at Oma's house, he brought his hands together and then shoved them into his mouth ("more" and "eat") while I was feeding him. Today I think he signed "milk" to me, and at dinner he seemed to clearly sign "all done" when he was finished. It could have been a coincidence, but his gestures seem to be morphing into signs.

Knife!

2009-12-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

Henry was on my back while I made dinner tonight. After a pass through the kitchen, I noticed that he had somehow grabbed a steak knife! I couldn't really reach it, and wouldn't have been able to take it safely, so I yelled to David in a panic. Henry grabbed the knife with his other hand, and David had to carefully extract it, but no one was hurt. Whew!

Good Brother

2009-12-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when the neighborhood kids (Emmett's age) are playing at our house, they call each other names. And sometimes, they call Luke names. So far it hasn't upset him enough to come get me, I just occasionally hear about it after the fact. Fortunately, Emmett intervenes on Luke's behalf. Once they were calling Luke a "dumb dumb" and Emmett suggested they call him a truck instead (he was pushing one around at the time).

We talked about different strategies to use when they name-call, and that of course Luke should come get me if he's bothered. I'm just so pleased that Emmett wants to take care of Luke.

Dreams

2009-12-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

Luke told me that he dreams about David and Emmett being flushed down the toilet. A couple of days later, he told me he doesn't always dream that.

Where are your pants?

2009-12-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

Henry's winter "uniform" when we're inside the house consists of a long sleeved onesie and sweatpants. Since he's crawling around army-man style, he'll often crawl right out of his pants. Good thing it's not that cold in here!

Santa trouble

2009-11-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight Luke came into the kitchen with a very worried look on his face, and asked how Santa would get into the house. I told him it was magic, and that generally people think he comes down the chimney, and asked if he had any worries about that. He wanted to know how Santa got on the roof, so I told him about flying reindeer, and more magic. He wandered out of the kitchen, saying he just didn't want to see it. I assured him that Santa only comes when everyone is asleep, and continued on to say that Santa brings presents, and it's not something to worry about, it's nice!

He returned with a quivering lip and started to cry, so I scooped him up and carried him to the rocking chair. I spilled the beans on Santa, telling him that it's just a game that grown-ups play with kids because it's fun. No one would come into the house, and mommies and daddies put the presents under the tree. He looked genuinely surprised and relieved, and smiled big. We read "The Night Before Christmas" at bedtime, and Luke didn't have any problems with it. I think I'll still be able to talk about Santa bringing presents etc, but I'll certainly keep an eye on how Luke is responding to it!

Henry sits up, and stands!

2009-11-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

Henry climbs on low things (like the shelf under a table or an overturned basket) to sit himself up. He's reasonably competent at sitting - he can sit without the boppy as long as he's on the carpet.

Twice now, he's reached for something a little higher and pulled himself to standing - once on the fireplace and once on the lower rack of the dishwasher. This kid is going to be cruising in no time!

Some time ago, Henry turned 6 months old

2009-11-28T19:45:00.001-08:00

Here are his stats from that checkup (a month ago!):

17.5 pounds
27.5 inches long
17.7 inch head circumference

At this age, Luke weighed 8 ounces less than Henry, but Emmett weighed 19 pounds! Henry's length matches Emmett's, but his head circumference matches Luke's (both 0.5 cm less than Emmett's).

Brain freeze

2009-11-24T22:58:00.000-08:00

While watching TV tonight, I thought I heard Henry crying in the bedroom. Then I realized that he couldn't be, since I was holding him in my arms.

Henry sits!

2009-11-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

Henry is having a great time learning to sit up.

Arrrrrrrrg.

2009-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Pirate Emmett, ready for Halloween, plays piano.