One Year Old!

Indigo turned one last week. She is such a big girl! She started walking just a few days before her birthday. Today we bought her first pair of shoes. I didn't feel weepy about her turning one, but the shoes have me tearing up a bit. Here are some photos of Ms. Personality. Dress by Grammy.

Unfortunately, I have no photos from her birthday party, as I was wielding the cake. Granna will have to fill in the photo documentation. I made a kitty-cake from an Applesauce Cake recipe, but had a near-disaster with the icing. I was rescued by Jeff who begged new icing bags from the Alberston's bakery. As I said, photos of the Thoroughly Iced Kitty Cake will be here soon!

Indigo's Affections

At 10 months, Indigo has developed a myriad of kissing techniques.

We have:

1) The nose kiss. She basically gives a raspberry using her nose. Sometimes there is an inhale with the nostrils attached to your cheek, and almost always, there is an exhale. With her current cold, I am enjoying this display of affection less and less. And my throat is starting to hurt. Darn petri dish children!

2) The real deal: This kiss is so sweet, she is trying to pucker her lips. So there is a suction sound as she makes an O shape with her mouth and touches it to my cheek.

3) The Lick: This kiss was an early form for her, and is becoming more rare as she gains skills. I'm starting to miss it. (weird I know)

4) The Head Butt. Just today I noticed her attempting to bonk people and things with her head. She mostly uses her forehead, but there was a reverse throwing-herself-backwards maneuver today that was a backwards head butt for sure.

Other milestone updates: She has FINALLY managed to say Mama. It's good to hear it. :) She is trying to walk. Using laundry baskets and toys for support, she is beginning the cruising stage. She will walk with me for a few steps with hands held.

Today also marks Ryan's Half Birthday. His big news is that the #2 training is going VERY WELL. It has been more than a week since his last party foul. He will be rewarded soon with a date to the new Cars 2 movie. My dad made him a fabulous potty chart to keep track of it all. We filled in spot 9 of 15 today!

6 Month Old!

Indigo is just a sweetie. Her personality blossoms more everyday. The clip below shows her temper, but she has that sense of humor with it. I can't help but laugh at the raspberries when she gets really upset!

She is sporting one tooth and a swollen spot for #2 on the bottom middle already! I haven't been bitten...yet. She has several nicknames: Tiddle Widdle, Baby Bird and Baby Buh-lee (sp?) bestowed by her brother, and Milk Breath, from Mommy Dearest. She flaps her arms like wings when she gets excited, the more excited, the faster they flap.

She rolled over a couple of times for her Granna this week, she gets really mad when on her tummy-still.

Indi has started reaching for me when someone else is holding her. We will be dealing with separation anxiety soon. She squirms with excitement for Daddy too and kicks her little legs very fast.

The bald spot is disappearing from the back of her head, but I've also found that all of her long hair is centered like a faux hawk down the middle of her skull. It's long enough to get in her eyes, so barrettes are becoming more of a necessity than just a fashion statement.

She's up from Nap #2, time to wrap it up!

Testing Two

Ryan won't be 2 years old until 2 months from now, but he is trying out some two-year old moves already, and they aren't all pleasant.

1. We have a new game where he likes to make Mommy sad by taking away her blankie, and waiting for the pouty lip to come out. He then gives it back and says, "feel better, nice". It's sweet that he is starting to tune in to the emotions of people around him.

2. Tantrums. We've had two this week. One was over moose jammies, there is a general aversion to jammies lately, but it is too cold to allow him to sleep in a diaper only. This is a battle we have to fight.

3. Language, vocabulary, words! We started at a new daycare this month, and they are blown away with the vast knowledge of our boy and his grasp of language and meaning. Of course, Jeff and I think that he is advanced with language, but validation that your child is a boy genius ALWAYS feels good. :)

4. Ryan is excited at the idea of playing and watching hockey. We went to a WHL game last week, and he got his debut on the Jumbotron doing the chicken dance! Whenever he sees hockey on TV, he says, "play 'ockey". His daddy is very proud and excited to get him on the ice soon.

I'll get some new photos up here when I find the stupid cord to download them! Grr.

New Favorites

Ryan is developing his own sense of taste. His latest phrase is: "I no yike it." Even when he does. Go figure. Here are some of his favorite things of late.

Firetrucks. He gets to visit the firehouse when he potties like a big boy. We've been twice :)

Dinosaurs. We bought a Halloween costume of an alligator that looks rather Dinosaur-esque.

Fave movie: Monsters Inc. - A recent replacement to Finding Nemo. What a relief. And he's not scared by any of it.

Fave character: Roz. Go figure. He calls Randall a snake.

Food: Edamame. (so glad it's a vegetable- he calls it beans)

Book: Everyone Poops (hidden due to repetitive readings) or Where's the Poop? - the latest book purchase by mom. Also How Do I Love You? (this is a book that Granna bought a LONG time ago, but Ryan has only recently started wanting to read it.) He's really into most books lately.

Song: to sing- Twinkle Twinkle. I tried to capture it on video, but my performer is not well versed in the art of staying away from the camera. We'll try again soon.

To listen to- Hey Hippopotamus by Justin Roberts.

Color: Green-everything is green when you ask what color something is. Ryan really has no clue what color anything is. Jeff asked me if he could be colorblind. I really don't know how to figure this one out without him having a baseline knowledge of colors to work with. I remember in Jr. High we did a test for color blindness where we had to read a word hidden with pointillism within a picture. No hope for that one soon. :)

With Ryan being so advanced on saying ABC's and counting to 10, I feel like he is behind on colors. I know this is silly, but I'm admitting it publicly here.

From Baby to Little Boy

We finally did it. We had Ryan's first haircut last weekend. The curls had become too matted, and he had hair in his eyes at all times. Below is a before and after shot. We also have the BEST CURL PRODUCT EVER!! It's called Ring around the Curlies, and it is an all organic leave in conditioner/styling product and we LOVE it. No more matted back of the head baby. Just sweet, lovely locks of curls. Just because we got his hair cut, doesn't mean we went SHORT. He could still be considered a hippy baby when caught in his tie dye shirt. :) (for some reason blogger is putting his AFTER photo first, but you get the idea)

I saw this in the paper..

And it made me laugh out loud. 

We live in a small city north of Seattle, known for the abundance of elderly residents. The local weekly paper tends to be a bit "granny-ish" in its reporting of police news. This report is just skirting on gossipy. It is so exacting in standards, calling the cars "units", but instead of mentioning that the people involved were spouses, it HAD to say the passenger in one vehicle was the wife, which implies some sort of affair.  Too funny!  The following is directly from the paper.

"Accident. 23000 block of Highway 99.  Unit #1 was traveling southbound in the center turn lane of Highway 99, and Unit #2 was traveling southbound in the left turn lane of the same.  Unit #1 intentionally steered to the left and impacted Unit #2.  Unit #2 came to rest partially in the center turn lane and the left southbound lane.  Both drivers are known to each other, and the passenger in Unit #1 is the wife of the driver in Unit #2."

In other news, CJ and I celebrated our 3rd wedding Anniversary last week, we had a night out over the weekend. And Ryan took 3 steps on our anniversary, his gift to us. He's still wobbly as heck, and reluctant to go more than 13 steps at a time (yes, I counted) but he will be running around next week for sure. 

12 Months, 18 Days

Yesterday was Ryan's 1 year check up the doctor. He weighs 19 pounds, is 29 1/2 inches tall, and his head was 46 (cm? not sure there). Anyway, this means he is holding steady at the 5-10 % point. No need to worry, because Jeff and I are petite people, therefore it would be worrisome if our son was some sort of BABY GIANT. Ryan took his shot like a man (crying, no screaming, and the binky helped), and the appointment was over!

The weirdest new thing about my almost-toddler is that he LOVES cooked onions. I had some on my plate that I cooked with chicken to give it flavor, but I was not planning to eat. He started pointing at them and signing for more. He had just eaten a whole banana, so I gave him a small bite of onion just waiting for the look of disgust at the mingling of those flavors. It did not happen. He gobbled up the onion and began signing for more. So now I won't waste my cooked onions in the compost bin, they are going through my baby bin instead. :)

Ryan's vocabulary is changing everyday too. Here is a list of current words-phonetically spelled : Claw (Claudia-our cat), key (kitty), momma, daddy, tay-too (thank you), zam (Shazam!- while pointing drink stirrer/imaginary magic wand), boo (moo-means cow, or what it says, not sure there), guh (grandma or pa-works for either), and Ahhh (noise made whenever someone is enjoying a refreshing beverage). For other communication he signs "more" by clapping his hands really hard and grunts and points to get his ideas across. He is also really good at pushing away his tray when finished eating.

Ryan's favorite things: Claudia, playing with the cat with a "kitty stick" (fishing pole type cat toy), moving all of one object to an area (animals from farm into silo or puzzle pieces into his easy chair), and taking a bath.

Due to my insane diligence of the past week, the boy has done both #1 and #2 in his potty chair. I was very excited but I don't think poor Ryan had a clue what was happening. I don't think cleaning poop out of a training potty is any less disgusting than changing a diaper, so we won't be pursuing that one again for a while. For now he is content to sit on the potty fully clothed while I do other mommy related bathroom business.

New Skills

So, some hardcore bloggers out there are doing one post a day for the month of November. My underachiever arse will be lucky to get 2 posts done the whole month!

Ryan is in a metamorphosis as the calendar trudges onward toward his first birthday and toddlerdom awaits! Here is a summary of new skills and ways to manipulate Mommy.

• Say momma momma momma momma over and over again, even when prompted to say dadda.
• Says Clau? (with a lilting questioning tone) which means Claudia (our cat). I use the same tone to call her. He's a freaking genius!
• Has 8 teeth in various stages of growth and sharp jaggedness. I just noticed teeth marks on the remote control! GA!
• Stood up like a phoenix amongst the rubble of toys and family members all by himself the other night! Stood for a whole 5 seconds before returning to the rubble.
• Eats Cheerios like they are going out of style.
• Mooches food like a starving pet. Especially when it is something that he CANNOT have yet. (chocolate, ice cream, salty chips)
• He claps his hands! So sweet. He does this after simple things, or when he enjoyed what just happened to him. When blow-drying my hair, I give him a little bit of air too, and he clapped to show his appreciation!

He will be 11 months old in just a few days. I'm not ready to have a one-year old yet. Can someone please stop time so I can enjoy his babyness just a little bit longer?

Big boys need milk too!

RJ has been drinking breastmilk for his entire life. While in the NICU, they added formula to it for more calories per ounce, which we continued for a couple of weeks after bringing him home. But once he learned to nurse, that's been it.  I had a LARGE stockpile of frozen milk due to his slow start, at one time we borrowed a chest freezer to store it all. Gradually, we have been using that milk at daycare once a week and during his Daddy Fridays.  This last Thursday, I was shocked, saddened, and strangely proud as I pulled the last two bags of frozen milk from the freezer to take to daycare.  I'm still nursing him when we're together, and pumping once a day while at work. I restocked the freezer for next week's daycare, so it isn't the end of things, but the end is in sight and I haven't decided how I feel about it yet. 

RJ doesn't have any teeth yet, we don't know when they will show up! But he has started some bad nursing habits such as pulling, biting, and snacking. So it's nice to know I have formula to fill in when I've had enough abuse. We use formula in the evenings to make him eat enough that we can all get some sleep. For the most part, this works well.  I am proud of myself for giving him the best stuff possible for as long as I can. I don't know when our last nursing session will be, but I know I will miss it.

I'm feeling a little conflicted about my baby growing up. He's been sitting up for a while now, and today I showed him how to pull himself up in the crib. His legs aren't strong enough for him to do it alone, but he got into a weird yoga-type frog-leg pose by pulling up right after I helped him out. This little guy is smart! We're lowering his mattress tonight!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Little RJ is changing SO fast! Today was his 6-month checkup at the Dr. He is finally on the charts for weight and height! He weighed just under 15 pounds and is 25 inches long. Dad took him to this appt, as I had to work. He also got 4 shots and barely cried!

The little guy has started sitting up for several minutes at a time before falling a different direction each time. He just did a face plant! He has discovered his feet and occasionally gets one to his mouth. 

We're expecting the real teething to begin ANY time now. He's making extra drool and biting everything in sight. Also stronger is his pincer grasp, which seems to be advanced for his age. I didn't  know I had so much neck meat to bruise!

We also took a family trip to AZ last week. RJ got to see where CJ and I were married. We stayed at the resort for a night and the baby slept for 7 hours straight! It was heaven. 

New pictures to come soon.

Squeal Little Piggy!

RJ has gone through many changes in the last week! He's now 5 months and 1 week old. He's eaten rice cereal, carrots, peas, and avocado. He can grasp a binkie and attempt to place it in his own mouth. (usually wrong end first--but we're working on it). 

He also has a cute/not so cute habit of squealing/screaming now. He has discovered his voice! His first public embarrassment of his mother occurred at 11:30 this morning, when he screamed announcing our entry into the public library. Needless to say, the little one does not understand shhh, or quiet. 

We attended story time for infants in a not-so-quiet room at the library. RJ participated by reaching out for the puppet that was singing a welcome song to him and by watching the other babies play. I can't believe that very soon he will be mobile like the rest of them--watch out world!

That's all for now, someone is screaming for my attention......

RJ's Four Month Milestones

Mr. Big Boy is 4 months old!! In the last week, he has grabbed at a toy and rolled over from belly to back. At his checkup today, he got 3 shots, weighed 12 lbs 5 oz, and was 22 inches tall. He is finally on the charts for weight, but fell off for length. I told the Dr. to look at what he's coming from, CJ and I are not exactly giants! 

Now we begin the battle of transitioning the boy to sleeping in his crib. I just ended a half hour of screaming by moving the swing into his room and putting him in it for a nap. I thought shots were supposed to make them tired? He is currently swinging away and gnawing on his best friend Soft Bunny with eyes wide open. Occasional coos tell me it ain't going to happen..gotta run, he just crapped himself with one of the loud kind. Sure to be a fun clean up!

Milestones

Today is a big day for RJ. He is 3 months old! He also passed another milestone last night. He slept from 11:30 to 7 AM!! The batteries ran down on the swing at 6:15 (I was half listening from 5AM on) but he managed to stay asleep. I believe that if he hadn't pooped his pants at 7, he would have continued to sleep even longer. We had 7 1/2 hours of sleeping bliss.
RJ has a newfound skill, partial control of the "crazy" arms. He rubbed his eyes yesterday to tell me he was sleepy and has started making the ASL sign for ice cream. Everyone in our family LOVES ice cream, but this is not what he means. He is attempting to suck his thumb. However, he has not yet discovered that his thumb is opposable. He can't extend it to latch on. So, he just licks and gums his fist for now. I don't know if he is producing more saliva in preparation for teething, or if this licking/gumming action is just bringing it out of his mouth more, but the boy is getting a little drooly.