18 month check up

G is a wonderfully healthy 26.6 pounds and 35.5" tall.  He is huge for his age.  He's behind in language but only a little bit.  I'm pretty sure he's going to start spouting off things anytime now, which is why I am trying really hard to eliminate curse words and things like butthead from my vocabulary.  This is not an easy task, trust me.  He got 2 shots and he was MAD.  He turned red and cried so hard he gave himself the hiccups.  The good news is that he doesn't have to have another checkup for 6 months.  He has what the doctor suspects is mild eczema, but I am not convinced - I think it's just dry skin related to the weather.      

According to the handout given to me by the doctor:

Here's what you might see your child doing between the ages of 18 and 24 months. 

Daily Activities
-Begins to eat with fork.
-Enjoys imitating parents.

Motor Skills
-Walks skillfully.
-Enjoys pushing and pulling toys while walking.
-Runs awkwardly and falls a lot.
-Walks backward a short distance.

Cognitive Development (thinking and learning)
-Understands that something can exist even when hidden.
-Can picture objects and events mentally.

Language Development
-Speaks from 3 to 50 words.
-Wants to name everything.
-May use a few two-word combinations.
-Repeats familiar and unfamiliar sounds and gestures.

Emotional and Behavioral Development
-May begin to show frustration when not understood.
-May show strong attachment to a toy or blanket.
-May resist bedtime, prefers predictable pattern of bedtime events.
-May respond with "no" constantly.
-Likes to show some independence (feeds self, undresses self).
-Begins to develop a self-concept.
-Responds to simple requests ("bring me your book").

Each child is unique.  It is difficult to describe exactly what should be expected at each stage of a child's development.  While certain behaviors and physical milestones tend to occur at certain ages, a wide range of growth and behavior for each age is normal.  These guidelines show general progress through the developmental stages rather than fixed requirements for normal development at specific ages.  It is perfectly natural for a child to reach some milestones earlier and other milestones later than the general trend.

ISP Region 2 Christmas party!

Ed, G, and I drove to Lewiston (about 3.5 hours away) where Ed's office is actually located.  We checked into our room at the Red Lion Inn, which conveniently is where the ISPA Christmas party was being held!  I bought a nice new dress (on clearance for only $31.99) and a little cardigan and some sexy earrings, etc and I was excited to get to get away from my G for a few hours.  My Sarah came down from Moscow and spent the evening alone with G (God bless her I don't think she knew what she was getting herself in to) and then stayed in the hotel with us for the night.

I got an iron for Ed so he could iron his shirt and as he was ironing it he found a big grease stain right on the pocket.  "Is it noticeable?" he asks me.  Well, you could say you are lactating and you leaked I told him.  So off we went, with a few hours to the party, to buy him a new shirt.  We got back to the hotel with plenty of time to get ready then.  I ran across the parking lot to Skippers and got dinner for Sarah and G (hey I'm not that cheap it's what Sarah wanted!) and then Ed and I left. 

The party was okay.  There weren't very many people that I know left in Region 2.  Most that I did know didn't remember me, but 3 of them did, so I guess that's better than none.  It has been 7 years since I quit ISP after all.  We sat by Ed's sergeant (and what appeared to be his 16 year old girlfriend but who am I to judge?) who I used to work with and who Ed went to the ISP academy with.  We also sat by Mr. & Mrs. Koopman.  He remembered me, which made my night.  His wife is pregnant and due any day now and she has to have been one of the cutest pregnant ladies I've ever seen.  I did manage to keep away from asking to rub her belly but it was so tempting.  Some days I really do miss being pregnant but other days I'm sure glad that I'm not.  The dinner was great and the conference room we were in was decorated so pretty!!!  Neither Ed or I felt very comfortable or welcome there, it looks like maybe it's a younger group and we don't exactly fit in with that type.  But we enjoyed each others company!  It was a no host bar so we spent $30 on drinks, but it was nice to have a few of those and not have to worry about who would be the designated driver. 

The White Elephant gift game was alright - we took crap to it.  Ed had "won" a door prize at his IARS conference in Boise a few months ago and it was a set of two calculators.  A big one and then one of those that has a paper tape.  Yeah, like we want to keep that around.  So we wrapped that up to pawn it off on someone else.  Unfortunately, it was Ed's sergeant that ended up picking (and getting stuck with) that gift.  Ha!  We walked away with something that we can give to someone else for Christmas this year.  Mark another gift recipient off my list!  There was a lot of alcohol at the gift game and it was a hotly desired item.  I guess Region 2 is a little different than Region 5 which was mostly Mormons who didn't drink.  Ed and I were the minority in Region 5.  Ed and I were back in the room by 9:45 pm and we decided that since G was still awake (and had been a little rough on Aunty Sarah) we should probably skip the After Party (they hire a party bus that takes party goers to all sorts of bars and clubs in Lewiston) so we were all asleep by 11 pm. 

G slept terribly, waking up screaming at 1:30 am.  I got him back to sleep.  Then he woke up screaming bloody murder at 2:30 and I couldn't get him back to sleep.  I could tell that he had pooped, which is unusual for him to do at night.  I got his diaper off fast but sure enough his tushy was all burned in that dang diaper rash that keeps creeping up on us.  His pj pants were leaked on so I just took those off and I made Ed wake up and go get us a wet washcloth to wipe G's poor ouchy bum.  While I was doing that it hurt so much that G pee'd all over himself.  So I stripped his shirt off of him (thankfully it absorbed all the pee and didn't get the bed) and wiped him down with a clean wet washcloth.  I got his butt gooped up and laid him down between Ed and me and finally got him back to sleep.  I feel sorry for whatever patrons were near us in the hotel because he screamed like he was dying for almost 10 minutes.  I eventually got sweated out by G and Ed so I crawled into bed with Sarah and got some sleep there instead. 

Ed woke the 3 of us up at about 8:30 am the next morning!  Eep!  We hurried up and packed our things after showering and all that jazz.  G was a terror though - he was whiny and crying and throwing temper tantrums the whole time.  At one point Ed and I both went out to the parking lot to load stuff in both cars (ours and Sarah's) and I came back in maybe 5 minutes later.  I was walking down the hallway and saw two housekeepers peeking their heads into a room down the hall and saying something like, "can we help you with him?"  I didn't pay much attention to it because I just assumed it was someone in a wheelchair or who had fallen or maybe had a dog that wouldn't come out from under the bed.  I opened the door to our hotel room and immediately noticed that it was quiet...too quiet.  I walked in further and no one was there.  That's when it dawned on me...I opened the door and started down the hall towards the two housekeepers and sure enough, there was Sarah and G.  G had opened the hotel room door and he ran off!  Poor Sarah had just one of her boots on and she tried to catch him!  G thinks everyone wants to play chase with him so that's what they did.  She chased him around and around a housekeeping cart while he pulled toilet paper rolls off of it, then he darted into a room that housekeeping was cleaning.  Yeah, that's my boy.

We took poor Aunty Sarah out to breakfast and then sent her on her way back to Moscow.  We headed back up the river and saw that plenty of snow had fallen!  We saw 3 bald eagles and 4 cow elk on the way back up.  When we got home we found that it had snowed about 12" while we were gone.  It continued throughout the day and night and we now have a total of about 18-24" of new snow.  More on that later... 

Firm & gentle discipline

So, either I'm not firm enough or I'm too gentle, but this approach is not working.  G runs right over the top of me and I don't want a child like that.  He doesn't care when I say no, he goes right back to doing whatever it is I'm telling him not to do...repeatedly.  I can redirect him 20 times and every single time he goes right back to doing whatever he wants.  What is working?  A swat on the butt and me putting him in his room.  But then he comes out and does it all over again.  The time out in his room is to keep me from exploding most days.  He doesn't listen to a word I say to him. 

He gets into everything and anything you can think of.  He has a ridiculous obsession with the dog food (oh yes he eats it every chance he gets) and the toilet plunger.  I had to take away all his fridge magnets because he decided that they shouldn't really be sticking to the fridge but should be housed under the stove and the fridge.  Tonight he pulled so hard on the cabinet doors on the entertainment center that he managed to pop off two of the child locks.  I will take him down from something and he will immediately go back up to it and climb up.  He shuts off the TV and turns it on whenever he wants to, he opens his diaper bag and empties it, he tries to pull ornaments off of the Christmas tree, he takes utensils out of the child-locked kitchen drawers (he reaches his hands in just enough to get to them and pull them out), he throws clean laundry around like it's confetti, and probably most irritating of all, he throws a full on screaming tantrum when made to stop a bad behavior.     

I'm sure it has to do with his age of course but I think more than anything else he is just really frustrated with his inability to communicate.  I think he's on the verge of a language explosion of some kind and I don't know whether to be worried or excited that it's coming!  He was such a mellow and sweet little boy so I don't know if its frustration or boredom or something else - but I need to take a new approach because this isn't working for him or me.  I don't want to spank him and I don't want to yell at him every time I turn around but I also don't want to have to be a step behind him at all times. 

I'm not feeling like a very good Momma right now.

he stood still!!!

He is so gorgeous.  I can't help it.

"Find the green frog!"

You know the story, toys are really alive and just pretend to not be when we humans are around.  We've all seen it, in fact G loves watching all the Toy Story movies.  I am not a fan any longer.  The other night (late late late Tuesday night) G was sound asleep in his bed, the dogs were curled up on their bed and Ed and I were curled up asleep in our bed.  I thought I was dreaming at about 11:30 when I heard someone talking in the living room.  I ignored it for a few minutes but it didn't stop.  I woke up startled because, truly, there WAS someone talking in the living room.  I nudged Ed and asked him if he heard something.  He just grunted and started snoring again.  "Did you leave the TV on?"  He kept snoring.  I got up and followed the noise and stood in the middle of the living room until I figured it out.  I heard, "No, that's a number, find the green frog."  Oh geeze - not that damn Leapfrog train thing.  I got it out of the toy basket and hit the "off" button which also happens to be the "on" button.  I put it on the coffee table and went back to bed. 

Six hours later I was woken up by "Find the green frog!"  WTF?  This time Ed got up since I just laid in bed and groaned.  I heard him pushing the "off" button and the toy kept saying, "Find the green frog."  After about the fifth time of the possessed toy saying, "Find the green frog!" I thought for sure I was going to hear the front door opening and I would find it buried in the snow in the front yard but when I finally did get up that morning I found it on the kitchen counter, sans batteries. 

I don't like possessed things in my house.  It's creepy to be woken up like that!

He said Momma!!!

As of Saturday the 5th G now says Momma regularly and knows that it's me he's talking about!!!  He spent a few hours with my Mom and when I woke up (she was visiting and let me sleep in) she said, "Hey Garrett, who is that?" and he said Momma!!!

He also says:
Shoe (and he tries to put it on)
Dada (he's been saying that one forever now).
Ouch (and he puts his hand on his head)
Uh oh (after intentionally doing something)
Doggy
Taser
Num Num (which is anything edible but not necessarily boobuh)
Eye (and he points to it)
Two (and he holds up two fingers)
Hi (accompanied by a wave of course)

When I think of the rest I'll just update this post.  I was just excited to finally hear him say Momma and mean it!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Ed let me sleep in this morning and when I woke up it was almost G's naptime.  I put him down for his nap and Ed took off to find us a Christmas tree.  G and I would have gone with him but we are having a crazy cold snap and we didn't want to take G out in it if we could help it.  Ed returned and G woke up from his nap and we put the tree up.  We have to put it in the "dining room" because we don't have room for it anywhere else.  There is a crappy light fixture hanging in front of it, but oh well.  The tree that Ed got was probably about 10 feet tall but very pretty.  He had to cut some off the top and some off the bottom before it would fit into the stand.  We gave away the majority of our Christmas goods so that we wouldn't have to move them and I'm afraid to say we probably gave away more than we should have!  We had two sets of lights and some ornaments and that was it!  Oh and of course my Beartivity, because that's not leaving me until I die.  Maybe next year we can expand on our collection but for now it's good enough! 

We put the wooden gate up to block G from the tree but he can still reach out and touch it.  I'm taking bets on how long it will be before he manages to pull the whole kit-n-kaboodle over.  While we were working on getting the tree in the stand I said, "Um, where did he go?"  Come to find out, G somehow made it out the backdoor and I busted him in front of the house.  In a t-shirt, pants, and socks.  In 7 degree weather.  And he laughed and ran away from me as fast he could (on snow packed ice).  This kid is going to give me gray hairs long before my time!

 

 

With the wooden gate now being used to rope off the dining room, G has free reign of the kitchen again.  So we spent the majority of the evening keeping him out of the dogs food and water dishes before we gave up and put them on the washer and dryer.  Why is it that the boy loves kibble so much?  He hardly eats any other food.  He was walking around carrying a pretzel (he was sharing snacks with Daddy) and he went over to the dog's water dish, dipped his pretzel in it, said "Num Num!" and ate it.  Um, EW!  He also gets down on all his hands and knees and licks out of the bowl.  Now the dogs have no escape from G.  This should be interesting.  He was insane though, pulling all his magnets off the fridge, pulling stuff out of baby locked drawers and cupboards (thank you Safety 1st for your crappy products), and tormenting the dogs.  I have got to figure out a way to get him to listen to me when I say no!!!

To My Parents on Their 60th Anniversary:

I can only hope that I can give my son an example of a good marriage.  Ed and I don't always get along but we never fight in front of G.  We are physically affectionate, which is one of my favorite parts of us.  My parents' marriage taught me that no marriage is perfect but a good marriage is worth fighting for.  There were plenty of times where we figured that Mom and Dad were fighting and the older we got, the more of that we witnessed, but what really mattered was that they loved each other and we knew it. 

So, thank you Dad for teaching me that my marriage and love is worth working and fighting for.  You were such a beautiful counselor and somehow you are still teaching me even though you aren't physically in my world.  I miss talking to you.

More treasures found in amongst Dad's stuff

Awesome find!!!

This article is in the August 1960 edition of the J. Neils Lumber Company newsletter.  I'd never seen it before we found it in some of Dad's paperwork.  It slays me to read how little was known about OI even back then.  A calcium deficiency that he should outgrow by age 7?  Ha!  It surely makes me glad for modern technology.  I would have loved to have known/been around my Dad when he was a little boy - I bet he was a hoot.  If he's anything like his mini-me Ben, I would have been head over heels in love with him too!

Dad's message to us...

Mom and I found 4 copies of this same cartoon in amongst some of Dad's paperwork.  He always told me that us kids were his greatest accomplishment in life and that all he ever wanted to be in life was a Dad.  He was everything that the word Dad entails and even more.  He was not perfect but he was/is still my parenting hero. 

Happy Birthday Dad

Dear Dad,

I know you don't technically get to celebrate your 54th birthday today but I celebrated you in my heart.  Mom came to visit and I think maybe to escape just a little bit.  I'm so happy to have her here with me today.  I miss you.

what a difference a year makes!

Holy fast growing baby Batman!  These Santa pictures are almost a year apart to the day.  Santa didn't bug G last year and he didn't bug him this year either.  Last year his picture was taken in Pocatello and this year it was taken in Missoula.  This years Santa was pretty darn authentic - which is probably a good thing because last year G almost ripped the fake beard off.  This year he was a little more leery (sp?) and he was much more interested in the fake gingerbread house that was sitting to Santa's right.  It had big gumdrop looking things around the doorway and G managed to tear 2 of them off before Santa's helpers got to him.  Bwahahahaha!  The helper led G by the hand to Santa and G immediately sat down on the floor and looked at Santa like he had two heads.  I just scooped him up and plopped him in Santa's lap.  He just sat there looking at me and the helper while she tried to get him to smile for the picture.  I guess it wasn't fair of me to forget to mention that he won't look at a camera because there is one in his face all day every day (uh, me).  I did bring my camera with me but there were no less than 4 signs all over saying "no personal cameras."  It cost $15 for ONE 4x6 photograph but I figure it's just one of those things you gotta do.  Anyway, back to Santa, we couldn't get G to smile and I saw that his eyes and nose were turning red and I knew he was about to blow.  Just then Ed jumped out and started to act like a dork and that's how we got G to smile here. 

My baby is growing up so fast!!!

Daddy rocks G's world

Unless he's tired or not feeling good and needs Momma snuggles and booby - life is all about Daddy.  They play horsey all the time, and chase (G's favorite).  They play dinosaurs and trucks and sometimes Ed reads to G!  When Ed goes to work G cries (just a little until he realizes its not SO bad with Momma around) and when Ed comes home from work G utters an excited, "DaDa!"

I love seeing my two guys together!!!

 

hunting

I bundled G up the other day and sat him on his sled and we took off from the house in search of a Christmas tree!  We didn't find one but I did get a few cool pictures...and then I saw wolf tracks and heard what sounded like a wolf howl.  Siren & Taser seemed like the were on high alert so I decided that it was time for me and G to head home.  Just as we were coming out of the woods into the yard Ed pulled in, coming home from work.  You should have seen the fit that G threw when he realized that he had to come inside with us.  Oh Em Gee the temper tantrums have started something fierce!

 

 

 

 

Ah yes, the acrobatics of a little boy!

He keeps me hopping, that's for sure.  I need to start lifting weights to strengthen my arms before he gets much heavier! 

17 months of booby

It's a beautiful gift to him, and with a face (and eyes) like that, it's a beautiful gift for me too.  I never thought I'd last this long, but I'm proud to say we are on 17 months of breastfeeding success!  Pumping was the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do, but I am so proud of myself for getting through it for 7 months before I got to stay home with him full time.  Now he crawls up into my lap and pounds on my chest with one strong finger as his signal for booby.  He's been asking a lot more lately which makes me wonder if doing baby-led weaning is going to happen anytime soon.  Considering he hardly eats solid food now it makes me feel good to know he's at least getting some nutrients from booby and it's great that when he does get sick (knock on wood, only once so far this cold/flu season) I'm providing that to him as well.  I just wanted to share a sweet picture :)

the moon

On our way home from town tonight (we left at 10:30 am but that's a whole other story) we were accompanied by a full moon.  It's beautiful how it lights up everything!  I kept thinking there was a car behind us and I'd look in the rearview mirror and realize it was just the moon shining, again.  G woke me up about an hour ago (it's 0415 right now) and when I opened the door to his room I was shocked that his room was almost completely lit up...from the moon just outside his window!  GORGEOUS!  I can just imagine how much the animals must be milling around out there in the trees!!!