Milestone Minutiae

Henry isn't walking yet

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:18:00 +0000

Henry has such strong legs and has been standing for so long that we thought he'd easily break Luke's record of walking at 11 months. He still has a few weeks so he might make it, but he's not walking yet. He does love standing up, and he pulls up on things that are pretty wobbly at times (like grabbing my pants instead of my legs). He also enjoys standing up on unstable surfaces, like mattresses and the couch. On the mattress, Henry makes a game of standing up, letting go with his hands, holding still for a few seconds, and then plopping down on his bottom. He'll do it over and over, having a great time. Walk, Henry, walk!

Fighting their true nature

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:00:00 +0000

(subtitle: Emmett is naturally cautious with his body so learning new physical skills can be a challenge. Luke is wary of people until he knows them pretty well. )

Last week David took Emmett to Brighton for his first ski lesson. Emmett had a great time, telling me exactly how many times he went up the lift (5 times with his class, 3 times with dad). His instructor said he has very good speed control, which is the nice way of saying he's so careful that he never goes fast. I'm sure speed will come with confidence, so we're on the right track.

This week we started ice skating lessons at the Olympic Oval. We had gone skating once before, and it took us more than an hour to go around the oval one time. With all three boys, there's no way I can take them skating until Emmett and Luke are able to skate independently so we decided to get lessons.

Emmett did great today - he's not exactly gliding on ice, but he's not afraid anymore and he's willing to shuffle around. We did a little roller skating in the past week and I think that helped his confidence, and maybe a little with skating skills.

Luke's class focused on learning how to get up off the floor in skates, first on the floor and then on the ice. He pretty much won't look at his teacher (and actively looks away if she talks to him), but he did stay near the class most of the time. During the practice time after the lesson, he practiced getting up off the floor with me, and then he did it once on the ice all by himself! That's no easy feat for a little kid - remember what Bambi looked like on the ice and you'll have some idea of what it's like for Luke.

The short-term goals are for Luke to be willing to talk to his teacher (I'll settle for looking at her to start!), and for Emmett to get comfortable enough skating that a family trip to the oval during the public skating times is possible. Here's hoping!

Extra lives

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:55:00 +0000

From playing video games, Luke knows all about earning extra lives. Recently he asked me, "How many lives do we get?" I was confused, but after talking with him a bit it was clear that he was talking about real life. I told him we each get one, and that right now he's little and he's going to live a long long time. The next day he mentioned it again, so this is clearly something that's on his mind not just flashing through.

In other "worrying" news, Luke has been noticing fire extinguishers all over the place when we're out and about. And he's also interested in the fire hydrant that is between our house and the neighbor's. He doesn't seem as worried, though. He mostly seems pleased that he's figured out that fire extinguishers are all around.

Signing for sure

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:50:00 +0000

Yesterday while we were out at an indoor playground, Henry signed "milk" to me twice. I returned the sign, asked him if he wanted milk, and told him he'd have to come to me to get it. Both times he came over and nursed a little bit right after.

This afternoon, Henry was crawling around while I cleaned the kitchen. He signed "eat" to me! So I gave him some finger food, and he ate it. When he decided he was done, swiped his arm around his tray sending bits flying off to an eagerly awaiting Jenny! (this is a standard routine around here - thank you Jenny for keeping the floor clean-ish.)

To sum up - Henry seems to sign sing, milk, more, all done, and eat.

Worry

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:15:00 +0000

Sometimes I wonder what's going on in Luke's head. A few days ago, he told me (with great emotion in his voice) that if I was cooking and someone was going to try to push me, he would stop them!

He's also been talking a bit about fire - Emmett gets Highlights magazine, and there was a cartoon about a family having a fire drill. So we talked about how rare house fires are, and how we'd get out and call the fire department from a neighbor's house, etc. A couple of days later, he mentioned fires again, and when I asked, said he was worried about it. Emphasizing how rare house fires are, I showed him where the fire extinguishers are in the house. So far he says he doesn't want to have a fire drill, and I wonder if doing that would relieve or intensify his worry. I remember having similar worries as a kid, because we learned at school that every family should have a plan for fires, but we never had fire drills at home. My fears were pretty mild and I didn't think about it often - I hope it's the same for Luke.

Brothers

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:06:00 +0000

Today while I washed dishes, all three boys were playing near the kitchen. After a few minutes they had all gone down the hall and it was relatively quiet, so I peeked into my bedroom to see what they were up to. All three boys were playing happily on the twin mattress next to our bed - Luke bouncing (but not too aggressively), and Emmett and Henry crawling around. They were all happy and having a good time, so I crept away. They played like that for a few more minutes before coming back out.

Practice standing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:05:00 +0000

Henry is getting much bolder about letting go of the things he's using to steady himself. Several times a day I'll notice that he's let go of me and standing unassisted, at least for a couple of seconds before he slowly bends his knees and sits down.

He seems to especially like standing on the mattress next to our bed - he'll let go of the bed, bounce his knees once or twice, and then quickly fall / sit right down.

Signing update

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:05:00 +0000

For the first time, Henry gave me the "all done" sign without prompting. Usually, when he seems done I'll ask, "Are you all done?" and show him the sign. When he is done, he'll sign it back to me. But finally, when I was still trying to feed him (and he hadn't eaten much so I wasn't thinking he was done!), he signed "all done" to me.

The only other sign he's using reliably is "sing." He loves it when we sing, and he's constantly asking us to.

Emmett carries Henry around

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:02:00 +0000

Emmett has gotten big enough (and Henry's gotten sturdy enough) to carry Henry around. Emmett grabs him under the arms and can pick him up easily. Emmett has even figured out how to safely get him off the bed. Henry doesn't seem to mind much, as long as Emmett puts him down again pretty quickly. And sometimes Emmett twirls around which Henry loves. His little legs fly out, and it's pretty cute to watch.

My protector

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0000

After dinner tonight we were sitting around the table making Valentines. For no reason I could gather, Luke said, "Mom, if you're ever cooking and someone tries to bump into you, I'll protect you." That alone is pretty strange, but when he said it his voice was full of emotion like he was maybe going to cry. I hugged and thanked him, he didn't cry, and the conversation moved on.

Deja vu

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:24:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:48:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:41:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:09:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:29:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:43:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:02:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:58:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:51:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:53:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:51:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:56:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Ozenne) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:53:00 +0000

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.