Whelp, as you can see from the distance between the date on this post and the previous post, you might think we just forgot about you, but we haven't. I personally am past feeling bad. However, I will try to do better. I feel renewed in continuing to document, from my perspective, how you are changing every day.
So let's see... you were not quite 2 years old last time I wrote. You're obviously speaking much more, but you're having major problems with multiple sounds. In particular you have issues with F and V sounds (understandable since they're the same mouth shape); you also have issues with TH sounds, and a few others. The worst part is, you substitute all your trouble sounds with the S sound. So you if you say something we don't understand, we have run the sentence through our head multiple times, putting in the various sounds you meant to say instead.
You do love to talk, but I wouldn't say you (yet) that you have the "gift" of gab. I just love it when you tell me about your day, but your thoughts aren't completely organized so you're all over the place; or some little thing you tell in such a way that makes it seem like it's the highlight of your day.
You usually get excited to go swimming or go to the pool, but you're still pretty scared of the water. I can't decide if you're just getting excited because we've made it sound exciting, or if you really want to learn to swim. When it's time to leave the pool, I'll ask if you want to watch me dive a few times and you always say yes. So I tend to think you want to swim, and play, and splash, but I think you're still ruled by your fears. You do practice sometimes in the bath, and you're much better at getting your face wet and dealing with it.
Your current favorite show is Curious George. You like Monsters, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, you love Monster House.
You've really started playing with your toys, you've got some stories goin' on that I can't quite hear. For Christmas you got your first real "play set". It's a castle that came with two nights, a lion, and a "bad guy." You absolutely loved it at first, but as with everything, it's played with less often.
We took you to Elitche's Gardens for your first (of hopefully many) amusement/theme parks. You rode a rocking boat, motorcycles, boats, semi-trucks, and even the Ferris Wheel. In the past two Christmases, we went out of town, to Dillon and Estes Park, and you loved sledding.
It was some time in the last 6 months or so you started showing your ugly side. You have got some anger issues. There are times when you get in trouble and you start growling and punching whatever is close by. I can see in your eyes there is a lot of anger in there, I just hope we learn how to deal with it.
Showing posts with label From dad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label From dad. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
From dad: 04/02/2013
Wow, if I felt bad about skipping two months before, imagine how I feel now; half a year has gone by. So let's see... sometime in the last 7 months I started taking more showers with you. You really hated them in general, which is why we gave you bathes mainly. It primarily had to do with you not liking water splashing in your face, and admittedly it's usually not a pleasant feeling in general, especially when it's just little sprinkles hitting your face. The shower in your mom and my bathroom is a bit shorter than a typical tub and the shower head doesn't face straight down, so there wasn't really much room for you to stand somewhere and not get splashed. But, I started putting you in the corner, sitting down with you and taking the shower head off. I can't really tell if you like showers or bath more; I'll usually ask, as with most questions, you either just say yes (so you're not telling me which one of the choices you want), or you agree to the first choice I present... or you shrug your shoulders and say you don't know.
You're pretty good at pointing out most body parts, hair, ears (which you love it when I do monkey face), nose, eyes, mouth, neck, and feet. You're OK with knees, elbows, and shoulders. You don't seem to be getting chest too well, but you love to point it out once I remind you. When it gets time to get out of the shower, I ask you if we're done or if you want to "cuddle" and you almost always say cuddle (this is a pretty clear answer as you point to my shoulder and you give that answer whether I present it as an option first or second); that is you like lay your head on my shoulder while I hold you and let the warm/hot water run down your back.
You're great at saying "bye" although your mom says you say it all Southern like "ba' ". You sometimes say "hi" (again more like "ha"). You love to wave at me when I get out of the car and go to get you out of the seat; you prefer to get out of the seat and out of the car on your own, but you haven't really mastered getting in your seat yet, let alone getting buckled, although you try sometimes. You're pretty good with "ball". There are a lot of words you don't really use yet, and for some reason you've kind of dropped out with the sign language, so since you're not really talking too much, we're trying to get you signing more. We can look at pictures and you'll usually give the sign to something you know the sign to. You can say "down" pretty well. You seem to like B and D words.
At church there's a "new" girl who's about a month younger than you, her name is Mikayla (though that's probably not how it's spelled); you two usually like to play together when you see each other at church. The other day your step-second-cousin, Dakota, visited. He's almost 2 years older than you, but apparently you two had a good time.
You LOVE to make anything a guitar. Anytime there's music on TV, you run and either grab the guitar Caleb gave you or your toy electronic one and just strum. You don't always hold either one right, and you don't always strum with the correct hand, but you always rock out regardless.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
From dad: 09/18/2012
Shame on me, skipping two months, sorry.
So, I took you to a swimming class. This class was a little odd because it was for 6 month to 2 year olds. It's odd because the average lifespan currently is 78 years, but it's not like the difference (mentally, physically, developmentally, etc) between a 1 and 2 year old is the same as a 65 and a 66 year old. The difference between a 1 year old and a 2 year old is more like the difference between a 20 year old and a 40 year old. Point is, you were the second youngest kid there. Many kids were old enough to maybe talk, but definitely listen; you're still at the point where I'll tell you to do something and you probably won't. I'm not sure if it's because you don't fully understand what I'm asking/telling you to do or if you just don't care yet. But, we had fun none-the-less and you finally warmed up to the water a bit.
It was around this time we finally started giving you baths in the bath tub. The first one or two times, as soon as we put in you the tub you wanted out. But, after that you were fine with it. Now, you don't get all excited about it, but you don't fight it all. You seem to enjoy it when I put you in the tub while it's filling up so you can play with the faucet. We have a 3 men in a tub toy, a red fish sponge, a green soap holding dinosaur, a Dino bowling pin, a blue polka dot rubber duckie, a blue cup, and a little blue boat; you're really intrigued with the cup, more so than the actual toys we have. What you do love is brushing your teeth afterwards; I've never seen you pick up a sign faster than brushing your teeth (which you came up with on your own). So let it be known, there was at least one point in your life when you LOVED to brush your teeth.
We've moved the baby gate on the stairs up to the second landing; you seem to love being chased up the stairs. I guess you've fallen down at least twice that I personally know of, but I assure you, that has nothing to do with me.
You really want go outside a lot now. I think it's more because you've thoroughly explored what we'll let you explore in the house and you want something new. You usually cry when anyone leaves; at first I thought it was because you didn't want them to leave, but now I think it has more to do with the fact that they went outside and didn't let you go.
You've started using utensils somewhat. Grandma Judy let you go to town on some meat loaf. There's been plenty of times you'll push away food that we offer you, but as soon as we put a spoon or fork in your hand, you want to do it yourself. There's been a few times where you won't eat something, I'll take a bite of it, then you'll eat it.
You've really started enjoying your stuffed toys like Brown Bear, Scout, and most recently your blue bear blanky that you got the day you were born. Some days they get more kisses than I do :-(. Grandma says there have been some times when you play some game (e.g. throwing a ball) with her for a good amount of time. Usually things don't interest you for more than 5 minutes or before you move on to something else, but you've been interacting with people, doing one thing, for a good longer amount of time.
Your mom is worried because she doesn't want the TV to raise you. First off, as of right now anyway, you don't watch TV for more than 15 or so minutes; secondly we're not plopping you down in front of the TV and doing something else. If you're watching TV then we're watching TV too.
I think that's all I can think of for the moment.
So, I took you to a swimming class. This class was a little odd because it was for 6 month to 2 year olds. It's odd because the average lifespan currently is 78 years, but it's not like the difference (mentally, physically, developmentally, etc) between a 1 and 2 year old is the same as a 65 and a 66 year old. The difference between a 1 year old and a 2 year old is more like the difference between a 20 year old and a 40 year old. Point is, you were the second youngest kid there. Many kids were old enough to maybe talk, but definitely listen; you're still at the point where I'll tell you to do something and you probably won't. I'm not sure if it's because you don't fully understand what I'm asking/telling you to do or if you just don't care yet. But, we had fun none-the-less and you finally warmed up to the water a bit.
It was around this time we finally started giving you baths in the bath tub. The first one or two times, as soon as we put in you the tub you wanted out. But, after that you were fine with it. Now, you don't get all excited about it, but you don't fight it all. You seem to enjoy it when I put you in the tub while it's filling up so you can play with the faucet. We have a 3 men in a tub toy, a red fish sponge, a green soap holding dinosaur, a Dino bowling pin, a blue polka dot rubber duckie, a blue cup, and a little blue boat; you're really intrigued with the cup, more so than the actual toys we have. What you do love is brushing your teeth afterwards; I've never seen you pick up a sign faster than brushing your teeth (which you came up with on your own). So let it be known, there was at least one point in your life when you LOVED to brush your teeth.
We've moved the baby gate on the stairs up to the second landing; you seem to love being chased up the stairs. I guess you've fallen down at least twice that I personally know of, but I assure you, that has nothing to do with me.
You really want go outside a lot now. I think it's more because you've thoroughly explored what we'll let you explore in the house and you want something new. You usually cry when anyone leaves; at first I thought it was because you didn't want them to leave, but now I think it has more to do with the fact that they went outside and didn't let you go.
You've started using utensils somewhat. Grandma Judy let you go to town on some meat loaf. There's been plenty of times you'll push away food that we offer you, but as soon as we put a spoon or fork in your hand, you want to do it yourself. There's been a few times where you won't eat something, I'll take a bite of it, then you'll eat it.
You've really started enjoying your stuffed toys like Brown Bear, Scout, and most recently your blue bear blanky that you got the day you were born. Some days they get more kisses than I do :-(. Grandma says there have been some times when you play some game (e.g. throwing a ball) with her for a good amount of time. Usually things don't interest you for more than 5 minutes or before you move on to something else, but you've been interacting with people, doing one thing, for a good longer amount of time.
Your mom is worried because she doesn't want the TV to raise you. First off, as of right now anyway, you don't watch TV for more than 15 or so minutes; secondly we're not plopping you down in front of the TV and doing something else. If you're watching TV then we're watching TV too.
I think that's all I can think of for the moment.
Friday, June 22, 2012
From dad: 06/22/12
OK, big news... we're officially saying you started walking on 05/20/2012. But, even a month later you don't seem to take more than 10 or so steps, and we can't quite figure out why. You'll walk walk walk, step step step, then... just decide to sit. Maybe your legs are tired, maybe you lose confidence, I'm not really sure.
You had your first birthday ever. We took a trip down to Sarasota Florida where much of your dad's dad's side of the family lives, but many of your dad's mom's side of the family came too (so, grandpa Jerry's family and grandma Jeanie's family). During this trip, we stopped in Galveston, TX where your sister Charity took you to see the beach for the very first time; we went to your first water park, Schlitterbahn (I'm not sure I'm willing to say you really experienced this park since 80% of the time you were just in a tube zonked out); we took a day in New Orleans, walking mainly around the French Quarter, but we also took a trip across the Mississippi on a ferry. In Florida you actually went in the water at the beach with grandma and grandpa Powell; you seemed to LOVE the sand in your toes there. You fell in love with a little blue shovel you loved to take with you. We went to Busch Gardens, but of course you were too small to ride anything :-(. Your mom made you both a delicious and beautiful cake, and she also made a little one just for you. So, you got to just make a mess of yourself while 20 or so people all gawked and laughed, you were very entertaining. You took the driving in the car VERY well, your mother and I both thank you greatly for that.
Living in Colorado means swimming opportunities are somewhat limited, especially compared to a state that has both a warmer climate as well as ocean access, so we haven't really had a chance to get you swimming. I really hope you love the water; in fact, just the other day I was thinking you being on a swim team would be a good example of a sport you might do that I could get behind even though it wasn't a sport I participated in (an example of a sport that might be difficult for me to get behind might be wrestling just because it doesn't particularly interest me though I've got nothing against it, but your mom loves wrestling so she could teach me all about it). But this trip showed that you do not like that water. Every time we get you in the water, you get clingy with whoever it is that's putting you in and it's clear you want out.
Maybe it's cold so it's painful to a degree, maybe you're scared of the unknown, maybe you're worried about something, I'm not sure. Eventually you warm up to and you have these spurts of laughter and splashing, but mostly you just kind of zone out; maybe you've given up on trying to get us to let you out, or maybe whatever it was that was giving you problems to begin with go away. This summer I want to take you into the pool more, probably do the baby swim class with you. Even though we're in a land locked state, I still think it's somewhat important that you be a relatively strong swimmer.
You had your first birthday ever. We took a trip down to Sarasota Florida where much of your dad's dad's side of the family lives, but many of your dad's mom's side of the family came too (so, grandpa Jerry's family and grandma Jeanie's family). During this trip, we stopped in Galveston, TX where your sister Charity took you to see the beach for the very first time; we went to your first water park, Schlitterbahn (I'm not sure I'm willing to say you really experienced this park since 80% of the time you were just in a tube zonked out); we took a day in New Orleans, walking mainly around the French Quarter, but we also took a trip across the Mississippi on a ferry. In Florida you actually went in the water at the beach with grandma and grandpa Powell; you seemed to LOVE the sand in your toes there. You fell in love with a little blue shovel you loved to take with you. We went to Busch Gardens, but of course you were too small to ride anything :-(. Your mom made you both a delicious and beautiful cake, and she also made a little one just for you. So, you got to just make a mess of yourself while 20 or so people all gawked and laughed, you were very entertaining. You took the driving in the car VERY well, your mother and I both thank you greatly for that.
Living in Colorado means swimming opportunities are somewhat limited, especially compared to a state that has both a warmer climate as well as ocean access, so we haven't really had a chance to get you swimming. I really hope you love the water; in fact, just the other day I was thinking you being on a swim team would be a good example of a sport you might do that I could get behind even though it wasn't a sport I participated in (an example of a sport that might be difficult for me to get behind might be wrestling just because it doesn't particularly interest me though I've got nothing against it, but your mom loves wrestling so she could teach me all about it). But this trip showed that you do not like that water. Every time we get you in the water, you get clingy with whoever it is that's putting you in and it's clear you want out.
Maybe it's cold so it's painful to a degree, maybe you're scared of the unknown, maybe you're worried about something, I'm not sure. Eventually you warm up to and you have these spurts of laughter and splashing, but mostly you just kind of zone out; maybe you've given up on trying to get us to let you out, or maybe whatever it was that was giving you problems to begin with go away. This summer I want to take you into the pool more, probably do the baby swim class with you. Even though we're in a land locked state, I still think it's somewhat important that you be a relatively strong swimmer.
Friday, May 18, 2012
From dad: 05/18/12
Wow, I really dropped the ball on staying up-to-date. Six months have gone by and not a word from me; you've doubled in age since my last post. A few things have happened; I started a new blog for a different purpose and this was turned into a blog (originally I just had this down as a document) and your mom and I decided to do this one together. However, apparently I wasn't clear on what exactly she was expecting this to be. I had just copied all the entries I had made and post-dated them. Your mom wasn't happy with it, at least the first post, and we haven't really talked much about what she was wanting this blog to be. I've been waiting a little to talk to her about it before posting more, but things are really busy right now and the longer I wait to make an update, the more stuff I'll have to remember and will probably ultimately miss.
So let's see... I've gotta look back on previous posts. I banged your head when tossing, but I've only done that once. That's when I learned that the ceiling in our bedroom is slightly lower than the rest of the first floor; I'm thinking that's because that's where all the air ducts are. You gave me the look like you had no idea what just happened, but you knew you didn't like it. You only cried a little for about ten seconds. No tears. There's been a plethora of times where you'll fall, throw your head back, something and bang your head; you rarely cry for more than seconds or so. I don't toss you as much in general simply because you don't react to it as much as you used to. You still seem to love it (usually) when I grab your legs and hold you upside-down. Usually I'll then put you on my head (which you usually squeal with laughter, I think because my pointy head pushed into your stomach), then move you to my shoulder and hold you like a bazooka (I call it my babe-zooka, though I've never figured out which end is the more deadly... I suppose it depends on what you've eaten).
Bath time doesn't seem to really do much for you one way or the other. You're just sitting in the sink now, but we'll be moving you to the bath tub pretty soon here. Sometimes you like to play with the water as it comes out of the faucet, but I can't really tell if you "like" it or "dislike" it, or maybe you're just intrigued by it. You usually like to hold your blue rubber ducky, but sometimes you'll hold on to your blue cup. In the past month, you've gotten very interested in... a certain body part. Maybe you just discovered it, maybe you're intrigued by the feelings since it's one of most sensitive parts of your body. Generally speaking though, you put your hands down there which makes changing your diaper messy sometimes.
I didn't document the first time you crawled, but I marked the video as the end of March, so it was a little earlier than that you started crawling. We were a little "worried" for a while because you didn't crawl, you did like your daddy did and did the "army crawl." But you put your own twist on it; you did this wounded army crawl thing where it was like your right leg was dead and you were always pulling yourself forward with your right arm. But we all worked hard with, trying to put you in the crawling position, letting you watch me crawl around (you always seemed so interested when I crawled, so I think you were taking pointers), etc. I wasn't too worried because I supposedly never crawled myself, but you were also still so focused on standing and walking. I find it interesting because once you started crawling, you seem to become less interested in walking. I mean, you still stand and scoot yourself around by hanging on to things, but before you could crawl, you would always put your feet down to stand if we put you near the floor. Now that you realize you're mobile and there's a different way to get around, sometimes you don't want to stand (which is normal, but you didn't start doing this until you started crawling). You've stood a few times by yourself, ranging between 4~10 seconds. I've seen you take 2 "falling" steps (they were more like shuffles, and by the second step you were more falling into the chair that you were heading to). You seem pretty reluctant to let go of things to try and walk towards us, but I've seen you transfer from one item to another without holding on (e.g. you'll let go of both hands that were holding onto the ottoman and switch to holding onto the couch).
You've got a total of 7 teeth (one was just discovered about a week ago). You've got 4 on the top, two on the bottom, and a molar has popped through on the top on your right side.
Let's see, anything else... you're eating real food now, but still plenty of bottle (though your mom says that's going to stop in about month, when you turn 1). You love Goldfish and Cheerios, but I refuse to let them become your "chicken nuggets" (there's kind of this... fad now where there are a lot of kids who only eat chicken nuggets and/or mac 'n cheese; your mother and I are firm believers this has more to do with the parents not forcing their children to expand their horizons). You say "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da" regularly, but it never seems like you're calling us, or referring to us, so they're just sounds really. Every once in a while you do this buzzing thing. I don't know if you're just playing, experimenting, or maybe it provides some degree of relief to your mouth.
I think that's all I can remember for now. I'll try to talk to your mom in the mean time to decide what's suppose to be here, and next time there won't be such a span between updates.
So let's see... I've gotta look back on previous posts. I banged your head when tossing, but I've only done that once. That's when I learned that the ceiling in our bedroom is slightly lower than the rest of the first floor; I'm thinking that's because that's where all the air ducts are. You gave me the look like you had no idea what just happened, but you knew you didn't like it. You only cried a little for about ten seconds. No tears. There's been a plethora of times where you'll fall, throw your head back, something and bang your head; you rarely cry for more than seconds or so. I don't toss you as much in general simply because you don't react to it as much as you used to. You still seem to love it (usually) when I grab your legs and hold you upside-down. Usually I'll then put you on my head (which you usually squeal with laughter, I think because my pointy head pushed into your stomach), then move you to my shoulder and hold you like a bazooka (I call it my babe-zooka, though I've never figured out which end is the more deadly... I suppose it depends on what you've eaten).
Bath time doesn't seem to really do much for you one way or the other. You're just sitting in the sink now, but we'll be moving you to the bath tub pretty soon here. Sometimes you like to play with the water as it comes out of the faucet, but I can't really tell if you "like" it or "dislike" it, or maybe you're just intrigued by it. You usually like to hold your blue rubber ducky, but sometimes you'll hold on to your blue cup. In the past month, you've gotten very interested in... a certain body part. Maybe you just discovered it, maybe you're intrigued by the feelings since it's one of most sensitive parts of your body. Generally speaking though, you put your hands down there which makes changing your diaper messy sometimes.
I didn't document the first time you crawled, but I marked the video as the end of March, so it was a little earlier than that you started crawling. We were a little "worried" for a while because you didn't crawl, you did like your daddy did and did the "army crawl." But you put your own twist on it; you did this wounded army crawl thing where it was like your right leg was dead and you were always pulling yourself forward with your right arm. But we all worked hard with, trying to put you in the crawling position, letting you watch me crawl around (you always seemed so interested when I crawled, so I think you were taking pointers), etc. I wasn't too worried because I supposedly never crawled myself, but you were also still so focused on standing and walking. I find it interesting because once you started crawling, you seem to become less interested in walking. I mean, you still stand and scoot yourself around by hanging on to things, but before you could crawl, you would always put your feet down to stand if we put you near the floor. Now that you realize you're mobile and there's a different way to get around, sometimes you don't want to stand (which is normal, but you didn't start doing this until you started crawling). You've stood a few times by yourself, ranging between 4~10 seconds. I've seen you take 2 "falling" steps (they were more like shuffles, and by the second step you were more falling into the chair that you were heading to). You seem pretty reluctant to let go of things to try and walk towards us, but I've seen you transfer from one item to another without holding on (e.g. you'll let go of both hands that were holding onto the ottoman and switch to holding onto the couch).
You've got a total of 7 teeth (one was just discovered about a week ago). You've got 4 on the top, two on the bottom, and a molar has popped through on the top on your right side.
Let's see, anything else... you're eating real food now, but still plenty of bottle (though your mom says that's going to stop in about month, when you turn 1). You love Goldfish and Cheerios, but I refuse to let them become your "chicken nuggets" (there's kind of this... fad now where there are a lot of kids who only eat chicken nuggets and/or mac 'n cheese; your mother and I are firm believers this has more to do with the parents not forcing their children to expand their horizons). You say "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da" regularly, but it never seems like you're calling us, or referring to us, so they're just sounds really. Every once in a while you do this buzzing thing. I don't know if you're just playing, experimenting, or maybe it provides some degree of relief to your mouth.
I think that's all I can remember for now. I'll try to talk to your mom in the mean time to decide what's suppose to be here, and next time there won't be such a span between updates.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
From dad: 11/30/11
11/30/11 - 5 ½ monthsI skipped a month, OOPS. The big oops is because shortly after writing my previous entry, I tossed you for the first time and you LOVED it. And you were strong enough to hold your body straight (there was a very unfortunate fad at the time called planking, look it up and you’ll know what you were doing), so I could do “airplane” with you (even though you weren’t really putting out your arms). I would hold you above my head, make the airplane sound, then I’d do a machine gun and lightly shake you. You loved that machine gun too; you’d squeal when I did that. But I would also toss you above me. As of the time of this writing, I haven’t banged you against the ceiling, or any other object yet; I barely let you out of my hands, just enough to give you a moment of free fall without being what I consider too risky (e.g. if you balled up when I let go of you, I could still catch you, but I might not be able to if I tossed you too high).
You still love your baths (usually), still love to stand, you love to smile... like, a lot. Grandma Jeanie came to visit you during Thanksgiving. We went up to Estes park and actually had our big dinner on Wednesday. Grandma Jeanie was very relieved to see you weren’t fat. From the pictures she gets every day from Grandma Judy and the video chatting, they saw your cheeks and were worried you were one of these blobs of a baby; but she was glad to see it was just the cheeks, the “biggest cheeks in the world” she said.
In Estes park, you hit two big milestones. Your mom and I were slightly worried that you hadn’t gotten the hang of rolling over; the only times you did was either with a little bit of help or out of pure frustration. But in that condo we stayed in, you rolled over, and you did so every time we put on your stomach. You rolled over both ways; you didn’t always immediately roll over and you still would get somewhat upset because you just don’t like being on your stomach for the most part. I was a very late walker, Grandma and Grandpa Powell were worried something was wrong (they’re still worried... they’re pretty sure actually, but not about walking), but when I did start walking, I was very good at it; Grandpa Jerry seems to think I was practicing in my crib. I say all that to say, maybe you were practicing too, though I don’t know when; Grandma Judy watches you during the day, you’ve got us in the evening and your “crib” is in the bedroom with us. But once you started, you were doing like you’ve been doing it for month.
You also got your first tooth on this day. Between the last writing and this one, you enjoyed chewing/sucking on my finger occasionally, with gusto. Sometimes you’d be fussy and we couldn’t quite figure out why, thinking maybe you were teething. So at Estes park you seemed to be a little in that mood so I offered my finger and you greedily took it. That’s when I felt it; the inside of your mouth used to be all gummy, now there was something sharp. So, it was mom who put you on the floor and was paying the most attention to you when you rolled over (I saw it out of the corner of my eye), and it was me who discovered you got your first tooth.
Grandma Judy had mixed feelings, vastly joy. But, there was a twinge of sadness because she had been working so hard with you, especially rolling over. That sadness was overcome with happiness because Grandma Jeanie got to see not one, but two firsts.
In case things have changed, your mom and I have a deal with Christmas. She likes white lights, with red decorations, especially outside,but also inside, and a fake tree. I like colors everywhere, silly ornaments, and a real tree (I want things to be as festive as possible). So, we decided that every year, one person decorates the outside, the other gets the inside. So, this year I got the inside; since I got the inside, I decided to get a train to go around the tree. I set up the train because this was my first train and I had just bought it; I wanted to see how it works and whatnot. During the test, you were entranced by it; it could’ve just been a moving object that moved in a repetitive path, or maybe it was the choo-choo sounds it made, but you could barely take your eyes off it.
Grandma Jeanie is absolutely over the moon about you. Everyone says how lucky I am because you are such an easy baby and happy guy in general. You being my first and only, I can’t truly be grateful since I have nothing to compare it to, but I am as much as I can be.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
From Dad: 09/21/11
09/21/11
Three months old, fourteen weeks tomorrow. You are smiling a lot, and you’re starting to actually laugh, vocally; your mom loves it when you do your fast breathing thing because you get so excited. You really love bath time now; you didn’t initially like it too much. Some of that may have been because A) it was a new thing, and 2) we may not have had the water temp very good. You’re still too small to really be in the big tub without constant supervision, but you’re almost too big to be in the baby tub. You love to splash your legs alot, maybe you’ll be a runner or something. Since you can’t sit up on your own yet, we can’t really put you in anything that’s too big or deep. I can’t wait until you can really start “playing”.
Your Grandmother Judy has been doing a wonderful job taking care of you while we work. I can’t predict what kind of relationship you’ll have with her when youlre older, I hope it’s an excellent one; but regardless you should always be thankful for the love she so freely pours out. I’ve seen you reach for an object which is a pretty decent milestone. There’s more form when you try to roll over, but you seem to be forgetting about your arms, or maybe they’re not that strong. Maybe all your strength went to your legs.
When you try to roll over, you seem to try rolling over your right arm. You’ve got it straight and pretty much under your head, and you’re twisting your legs to try and get your center of gravity moved, but you’re not pushing with you left arm.
We can’t quite figure out if you’re left or right handed yet. A few weeks ago, we both agreed you’re probably right handed, but I’ve seen you do things recently that’s given me pause. I can’t give any specific examples. Maybe you’re ambidextrous, or maybe your mixed handed like Promise.
I think I’ve found two “magic” spots that help you calm down and/or go to sleep. One is when your car seat, you love to be swung; oddly the swing chair doesn’t have nearly the magical effect. I don’t think I’ve ever had you cry if you’re being swung; maybe you’re just too busy dealing with that funny feeling in your stomach to cry, or maybe you just really like it. When it’s too difficult to get you in your car seat, you like to be held as if your breast feeding, even if it’s me holding you (and no, as of the time of this writing, you haven’t tried latching on to me). I can’t tell if it’s because maybe I hold you slightly differently when your head is in my right arm or if it’s because you prefer to be on your right side, but you seem to prefer to being held in my left arm. Both your mother and I prefer holding you this way, so maybe it’s a consistency thing.
This past month, you’ve been doing this thing where you constantly look back and forth. The first time you did this, your mom and I had you on the bed and we were on each side of you, so we thought you were just looking back and forth between the two people who love you the most. But you do it every so often even if I’m on the only person anywhere in your vicinity. I’ve said that, for all we know, babies can see different wave lengths, or on a different plane than we do; so maybe you’re seeing the angels fly around. Your mom thinks maybe they’re playing tennis, I say it’s ping pong ‘cause you can’t fit a tennis court in our house.
Three months old, fourteen weeks tomorrow. You are smiling a lot, and you’re starting to actually laugh, vocally; your mom loves it when you do your fast breathing thing because you get so excited. You really love bath time now; you didn’t initially like it too much. Some of that may have been because A) it was a new thing, and 2) we may not have had the water temp very good. You’re still too small to really be in the big tub without constant supervision, but you’re almost too big to be in the baby tub. You love to splash your legs alot, maybe you’ll be a runner or something. Since you can’t sit up on your own yet, we can’t really put you in anything that’s too big or deep. I can’t wait until you can really start “playing”.
Your Grandmother Judy has been doing a wonderful job taking care of you while we work. I can’t predict what kind of relationship you’ll have with her when youlre older, I hope it’s an excellent one; but regardless you should always be thankful for the love she so freely pours out. I’ve seen you reach for an object which is a pretty decent milestone. There’s more form when you try to roll over, but you seem to be forgetting about your arms, or maybe they’re not that strong. Maybe all your strength went to your legs.
When you try to roll over, you seem to try rolling over your right arm. You’ve got it straight and pretty much under your head, and you’re twisting your legs to try and get your center of gravity moved, but you’re not pushing with you left arm.
We can’t quite figure out if you’re left or right handed yet. A few weeks ago, we both agreed you’re probably right handed, but I’ve seen you do things recently that’s given me pause. I can’t give any specific examples. Maybe you’re ambidextrous, or maybe your mixed handed like Promise.
I think I’ve found two “magic” spots that help you calm down and/or go to sleep. One is when your car seat, you love to be swung; oddly the swing chair doesn’t have nearly the magical effect. I don’t think I’ve ever had you cry if you’re being swung; maybe you’re just too busy dealing with that funny feeling in your stomach to cry, or maybe you just really like it. When it’s too difficult to get you in your car seat, you like to be held as if your breast feeding, even if it’s me holding you (and no, as of the time of this writing, you haven’t tried latching on to me). I can’t tell if it’s because maybe I hold you slightly differently when your head is in my right arm or if it’s because you prefer to be on your right side, but you seem to prefer to being held in my left arm. Both your mother and I prefer holding you this way, so maybe it’s a consistency thing.
This past month, you’ve been doing this thing where you constantly look back and forth. The first time you did this, your mom and I had you on the bed and we were on each side of you, so we thought you were just looking back and forth between the two people who love you the most. But you do it every so often even if I’m on the only person anywhere in your vicinity. I’ve said that, for all we know, babies can see different wave lengths, or on a different plane than we do; so maybe you’re seeing the angels fly around. Your mom thinks maybe they’re playing tennis, I say it’s ping pong ‘cause you can’t fit a tennis court in our house.
Friday, August 12, 2011
From dad: 08/12/11
08/12/11
You’re eight weeks old yesterday, but not quite two months ;-) (Don’t you just love the Gregorian calendar). You’re definitely smiling more, and at appropriate times, but not as often as I’d like to see, though I’m sure you’re still deciding whether you like it here. You seem to like to stand a lot, but that could be a discomfort thing and you’re just flexing your legs.
One of the new things you did around this time was you started to “squeak”. I don’t think that’s the most accurately descriptive word, but it’s how your mom and I refer to what it is you’re doing. You just sort of do this... thing where you’re not quite whining or crying, it doesn’t even seem like you’re trying to get any one's attention (though you do because we do our best to be attentive to you, especially your mom). You’re just sort of saying “Eh, eh eh, eheheh... eh.” Maybe you’re practicing your vocal chords; maybe you are in some kind discomfort but you don’t want to bother anyone (that would truly prove you’re my son despite your dashing good looks). My vote is that you’re in discomfort for being in a body smaller than you want so you’re trying to make it grow, and maybe you’re a little frustrated because you don’t have control over this too small body.
It feels to me like you’re trying to go somewhere or do something, but you’re limbs aren’t cooperating and your muscles tire out way before you want them to. That’s just the impression I get.
You’ve rolled over from your stomach twice since last time, one time was pretty official (every time before this, you were on a cushion-y object that someone else was on too, so you could’ve just been rolling “down hill”). I think you rolled over out pure frustration and possible spite. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t pleasant, and you haven’t regularly and calmly done it since.
You’re still waking up 3~4 times a night, but your mom was doing such an amazing job of not only giving you what you need, but also being considerate of what she thought I needed too (i.e. sleep), so you might be waking up more than that. For about a week before this writing we had started a night time routine of giving you a bath and putting you in PJ’s. This has helped me get more of a routine as well, which I desperately needed. Once school starts for your mom, I hope to get into even more of a routine in the morning.
You’re eight weeks old yesterday, but not quite two months ;-) (Don’t you just love the Gregorian calendar). You’re definitely smiling more, and at appropriate times, but not as often as I’d like to see, though I’m sure you’re still deciding whether you like it here. You seem to like to stand a lot, but that could be a discomfort thing and you’re just flexing your legs.
One of the new things you did around this time was you started to “squeak”. I don’t think that’s the most accurately descriptive word, but it’s how your mom and I refer to what it is you’re doing. You just sort of do this... thing where you’re not quite whining or crying, it doesn’t even seem like you’re trying to get any one's attention (though you do because we do our best to be attentive to you, especially your mom). You’re just sort of saying “Eh, eh eh, eheheh... eh.” Maybe you’re practicing your vocal chords; maybe you are in some kind discomfort but you don’t want to bother anyone (that would truly prove you’re my son despite your dashing good looks). My vote is that you’re in discomfort for being in a body smaller than you want so you’re trying to make it grow, and maybe you’re a little frustrated because you don’t have control over this too small body.
It feels to me like you’re trying to go somewhere or do something, but you’re limbs aren’t cooperating and your muscles tire out way before you want them to. That’s just the impression I get.
You’ve rolled over from your stomach twice since last time, one time was pretty official (every time before this, you were on a cushion-y object that someone else was on too, so you could’ve just been rolling “down hill”). I think you rolled over out pure frustration and possible spite. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t pleasant, and you haven’t regularly and calmly done it since.
You’re still waking up 3~4 times a night, but your mom was doing such an amazing job of not only giving you what you need, but also being considerate of what she thought I needed too (i.e. sleep), so you might be waking up more than that. For about a week before this writing we had started a night time routine of giving you a bath and putting you in PJ’s. This has helped me get more of a routine as well, which I desperately needed. Once school starts for your mom, I hope to get into even more of a routine in the morning.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
From dad: first entry
07/13/11
On Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 your mom went in for her weekly check-up. I had been telling people she was prepared to take Dr. Uyemura by the lapels and threaten his life if he didn’t induce by the following day. Your mom says she didn’t have to convince him at all, that he wanted to induce that day, but whatever happened in office I got a call around 10 o’clock that day from your mom saying she was being induced.
We talked a bit about what I should do, if I should continue working or head over to the hospital right then. We decided it might be some time before the drugs even took effect, let alone when you’d actually arrive, so I finished out the work day. Grandma Judy was contacted and immediately headed to our house.
It wasn’t until 4:30 pm that the Dr. said your mom “entered” into labor; I arrived shortly after labor begun then. So then we waited; we watched TV, I did my best to make sure your mom got anything she needed, the nurses did the same (arguably better) including getting the room ready for your inevitable arrival. For the next 5 hours we waited patiently and at around 10:00 pm your big sister, Charity, got there where we waited a couple more hours. Between Charity getting there and the epidural, the Dr. broke your mom’s water.
At around midnight the epidural dude arrived and 20 minutes later you mom started feeling tired and was pain free enough to get some sleep. It was suggested by everyone that we all try our best to follow suite. The room had a chair that could pull out into a bed of sorts; I thought it was best for Charity to have that since it fit her better than myself. I headed down to the end of the hall where there was a family lounge that had a too-small couch.
Some time shortly after 3:00 am, Charity walked in and woke me up. She says she was very surprised by how immediately awake I was. We headed back to your mom’s room where she’s fully awake and experiencing some much more intense contractions. The Dr. had been called but he was still about 15~20 minutes from arriving. After about 15 minutes after my arrival, your mom announced that she felt like she had to push.
It seemed like she held off a little bit since the Dr. wasn’t there, but 2 minutes later she couldn’t hold it anymore. Right then the Dr. walked in, quickly assessed the situation, your mom said she had to push, the Dr. said, “All right, then push, let’s get this baby out.” A new look came on your mother’s face; I had been watching her go through bouts of pain for the past 11 hours, the worst being when her water was broken. But this look, this was new, and probably a look I’ll never see again. It could be a look God reserved specifically for birth. It’s indescribable and it scared me a little only because it was a look I had never seen.
Your mom is the only one who can tell you whether the breaking of the water or pushing you out hurt more, but based on her face and the sounds she made, giving birth was at the very least a unique pain. She didn’t scream, I would say she wailed. Of course, I’ve never really heard her scream before either; I’ve hear her “yell” at your siblings (as you’ve probably witnessed first hand by now ;-) ), but not scream. So maybe a mommy scream is what I call a wail, I don’t know.
But it took three or four good pushes and at 3:41 am 06/16/2011 you were out. From the time Charity woke me up to the time you arrived was less than 30 minutes, so it happened pretty quickly. The nurses didn’t even have time to properly break down the bead to make way for a proper catching. The Dr. pulled you out and used the aspirator to clear your airway. You gave a little cry, just letting us know that “yeah yeah, I’m here, can you get some clothes on me or something?” They took you over to the warming table and cleaned you up, the whole time you were very quiet. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out your part reptile; the whole time you were on the warming bed and regularly for the next week or so, you stuck out your tongue a lot as if you were smelling the air with it or something. There’s video of this, so if you haven’t seen it already, be prepared to be embarrassed by it in front of your wife or something.
I was fully prepared for you to be ugly. I don’t mean an ugly baby, as some baby’s are, I mean I was ready for you to be this gooey, deformed, wriggly mass of bones, blood, and flesh. But you were surprisingly clean, other than some stuff I call cheese, and the only thing about you was that you had a bit of an Alien head. I’m talking about James Cameron’s Alien; it tapered in the back. So much so, we had a hard time keeping a hat on you, it would just slide off very easily. One of the things I really loved about you was the sound you made when you did your tongue thing. Don’t ask me, it was just a pleasing sound.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, one thing you’ve learned about your dad is that I’m fairly easy going. I know I may harp on you from time to time, but it’s only because I want you to be the best person you can be; much better than me at least. Also, if we hadn’t already mentioned at some point in your life, we didn’t have any Lamaze classes. The most we had was a 1 day class encompassing everything about childbirth. Your mom indicated to me shortly before I started writing this that she noticed how quiet I was during your birth; A) as you should already know, I’m pretty quiet as it is, 2) this was her 4th time and my first so I was somewhat at a disadvantage, III) the nurses were awesome. I’m saying all this because mainly I don’t want you thinking I wasn’t excited for you to join us out here. I pray you’ve already come to realize that I tend to show my love mostly through works (providing you with a good home, taking you to places, letting you do the things you enjoy, etc.) and to a lesser extend giving you gifts. I’m sure I’ve told you I love you from time to time, but I hope I’ve more than shown you that.
Over the next few weeks, your mother and siblings have said many things; you like this, you don’t like that. I get the impression that your mom thinks you cry more than average, I don’t know what’s average so I don’t know. She seems to think you’re hungry ALL THE TIME, I think it’s just kind of what babies do. I’ve seen some smiles from time to time, but they don’t seem to be on purpose; I’ve seen you roll over from your stomach three times, but every time could be attributed to you being on an incline.
You seem to have a really good grip; I can almost pick you up just from you holding onto my fingers. Your legs are strong enough to hold your own weight; particularly when you cry, you straighten your legs and if I put you vertical, you actually stand up (though you have no balance). I was impressed by how soon you were picking your head up, but for all I know that’s normal.
There are a lot of things that your mom and siblings are attributing that I’m not comfortable doing yet. You always cry when you take a bath... but you’re always crying before you start. Your mom says you just like to be around us, that you start crying when we put you down. But you’ve screamed your head off while we’re holding you, and you’ve been quiet as a mouse when we put you down. Your mom feels like you’re hungry all the time, I’m open to it being any number of things (e.g. gas, allergies, ready to poop, etc); I think feeding you either takes your mind off those other things or at the very least suppresses them. Either way, it doesn’t change that you might be crying for something other than you want to eat. But, your mom is around you 24/7, and I’m gone for 9 hours out of the day, plus she’s done this three times before, so what do I know.
On Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 your mom went in for her weekly check-up. I had been telling people she was prepared to take Dr. Uyemura by the lapels and threaten his life if he didn’t induce by the following day. Your mom says she didn’t have to convince him at all, that he wanted to induce that day, but whatever happened in office I got a call around 10 o’clock that day from your mom saying she was being induced.
We talked a bit about what I should do, if I should continue working or head over to the hospital right then. We decided it might be some time before the drugs even took effect, let alone when you’d actually arrive, so I finished out the work day. Grandma Judy was contacted and immediately headed to our house.
It wasn’t until 4:30 pm that the Dr. said your mom “entered” into labor; I arrived shortly after labor begun then. So then we waited; we watched TV, I did my best to make sure your mom got anything she needed, the nurses did the same (arguably better) including getting the room ready for your inevitable arrival. For the next 5 hours we waited patiently and at around 10:00 pm your big sister, Charity, got there where we waited a couple more hours. Between Charity getting there and the epidural, the Dr. broke your mom’s water.
At around midnight the epidural dude arrived and 20 minutes later you mom started feeling tired and was pain free enough to get some sleep. It was suggested by everyone that we all try our best to follow suite. The room had a chair that could pull out into a bed of sorts; I thought it was best for Charity to have that since it fit her better than myself. I headed down to the end of the hall where there was a family lounge that had a too-small couch.
Some time shortly after 3:00 am, Charity walked in and woke me up. She says she was very surprised by how immediately awake I was. We headed back to your mom’s room where she’s fully awake and experiencing some much more intense contractions. The Dr. had been called but he was still about 15~20 minutes from arriving. After about 15 minutes after my arrival, your mom announced that she felt like she had to push.
It seemed like she held off a little bit since the Dr. wasn’t there, but 2 minutes later she couldn’t hold it anymore. Right then the Dr. walked in, quickly assessed the situation, your mom said she had to push, the Dr. said, “All right, then push, let’s get this baby out.” A new look came on your mother’s face; I had been watching her go through bouts of pain for the past 11 hours, the worst being when her water was broken. But this look, this was new, and probably a look I’ll never see again. It could be a look God reserved specifically for birth. It’s indescribable and it scared me a little only because it was a look I had never seen.
Your mom is the only one who can tell you whether the breaking of the water or pushing you out hurt more, but based on her face and the sounds she made, giving birth was at the very least a unique pain. She didn’t scream, I would say she wailed. Of course, I’ve never really heard her scream before either; I’ve hear her “yell” at your siblings (as you’ve probably witnessed first hand by now ;-) ), but not scream. So maybe a mommy scream is what I call a wail, I don’t know.
But it took three or four good pushes and at 3:41 am 06/16/2011 you were out. From the time Charity woke me up to the time you arrived was less than 30 minutes, so it happened pretty quickly. The nurses didn’t even have time to properly break down the bead to make way for a proper catching. The Dr. pulled you out and used the aspirator to clear your airway. You gave a little cry, just letting us know that “yeah yeah, I’m here, can you get some clothes on me or something?” They took you over to the warming table and cleaned you up, the whole time you were very quiet. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out your part reptile; the whole time you were on the warming bed and regularly for the next week or so, you stuck out your tongue a lot as if you were smelling the air with it or something. There’s video of this, so if you haven’t seen it already, be prepared to be embarrassed by it in front of your wife or something.
I was fully prepared for you to be ugly. I don’t mean an ugly baby, as some baby’s are, I mean I was ready for you to be this gooey, deformed, wriggly mass of bones, blood, and flesh. But you were surprisingly clean, other than some stuff I call cheese, and the only thing about you was that you had a bit of an Alien head. I’m talking about James Cameron’s Alien; it tapered in the back. So much so, we had a hard time keeping a hat on you, it would just slide off very easily. One of the things I really loved about you was the sound you made when you did your tongue thing. Don’t ask me, it was just a pleasing sound.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, one thing you’ve learned about your dad is that I’m fairly easy going. I know I may harp on you from time to time, but it’s only because I want you to be the best person you can be; much better than me at least. Also, if we hadn’t already mentioned at some point in your life, we didn’t have any Lamaze classes. The most we had was a 1 day class encompassing everything about childbirth. Your mom indicated to me shortly before I started writing this that she noticed how quiet I was during your birth; A) as you should already know, I’m pretty quiet as it is, 2) this was her 4th time and my first so I was somewhat at a disadvantage, III) the nurses were awesome. I’m saying all this because mainly I don’t want you thinking I wasn’t excited for you to join us out here. I pray you’ve already come to realize that I tend to show my love mostly through works (providing you with a good home, taking you to places, letting you do the things you enjoy, etc.) and to a lesser extend giving you gifts. I’m sure I’ve told you I love you from time to time, but I hope I’ve more than shown you that.
Over the next few weeks, your mother and siblings have said many things; you like this, you don’t like that. I get the impression that your mom thinks you cry more than average, I don’t know what’s average so I don’t know. She seems to think you’re hungry ALL THE TIME, I think it’s just kind of what babies do. I’ve seen some smiles from time to time, but they don’t seem to be on purpose; I’ve seen you roll over from your stomach three times, but every time could be attributed to you being on an incline.
You seem to have a really good grip; I can almost pick you up just from you holding onto my fingers. Your legs are strong enough to hold your own weight; particularly when you cry, you straighten your legs and if I put you vertical, you actually stand up (though you have no balance). I was impressed by how soon you were picking your head up, but for all I know that’s normal.
There are a lot of things that your mom and siblings are attributing that I’m not comfortable doing yet. You always cry when you take a bath... but you’re always crying before you start. Your mom says you just like to be around us, that you start crying when we put you down. But you’ve screamed your head off while we’re holding you, and you’ve been quiet as a mouse when we put you down. Your mom feels like you’re hungry all the time, I’m open to it being any number of things (e.g. gas, allergies, ready to poop, etc); I think feeding you either takes your mind off those other things or at the very least suppresses them. Either way, it doesn’t change that you might be crying for something other than you want to eat. But, your mom is around you 24/7, and I’m gone for 9 hours out of the day, plus she’s done this three times before, so what do I know.
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