Yesterday I asked my son where his nose is. He pointed to it and told me what it is. I repeated the question with his ears, eyes, mouth, tummy, and toes. He told me what they all were and pointed to them all. To make the game even more fun, I asked him to point to Mommy's eyes, nose, ears, and toes. He pointed to them all, even getting up and walking down to where my feet were and grabbing my big toe. He's growing so fast!
He also escaped the nursery at church on Sunday morning, but that's a whole other blog post.
The strangest thing I noticed this morning though is that my son is left handed.
This came as quite a surprise since I'm very right handed and Nate is ambidextrous but writes with his right hand. 2.0 is definitely left handed though. He will start eating with his left hand and switch the utensil back and forth between his hands. He high fives with his left hand, tries to brush his hair with his left hand, sleeps on his left side, tries to put his left shoe on first, and pushes his left arm through his sleeves first.
Nate noticed it too this morning and then revealed to me that when he was younger, he also was left handed but was forced to use his right. Well that information would've been good to have before. I was just starting to think that our son was special...
I'm excited to watch him develop more dexterity. Nate asked me if I would force him to use his right instead of his left and I just don't think there's a reason to do that. Besides, geniuses are left handed. :)
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
2.0's Fishy
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| Those are GIRAFFES! |
2.0 also loves his furry sister. When he came home from five days at Grandma's house, he wasn't happy to see me or his daddy. He wanted to see the dog. He follows her around and walks into my bedroom in the morning to sit by her kennel and wait until I let her out. 2.0 takes her toys and runs around the apartment with them so she'll chase after him. It's so funny to watch.
The natural progression to this fascination with animals was to get him a fish.
Nate and I had talked about getting a small fish tank for 2.0's bedroom to replace the water fountain that's starting to wear out. It has a night light on it and 2.0 really seems to like it. So we found a fish tank with lights in it and naively purchased fish and gravel and additives for the water and all that, brought it home and set it up.
Then slowly the fish all died. It was a horrible disappointment.
Upon speaking with people who actually knew what they were doing (thank you Petsmart!), we cleaned out the tank, added the right water treatment, and purchased a betta fish.
It's still alive!
It's red and blue and 2.0 loves to go into his room, climb up into the rocking chair by his crib, and stare at the fish tank. He lays in his crib at night and watches the fish swim through the bubbles from the airstone and the patterns from the light in the water dance on his ceiling. He's sleeping well through the night since the 'fishy' came.
I don't have any pictures of the fish yet (as we are waiting to make sure it survives before we get attached to it), but it's a very nice fish. I'm so happy that my son loves animals!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The 18 Month Well Kiddo Visit
I love well kiddo visits. It's nice to see the doctor when nothing's wrong. The only down side to well kiddo visits are the shots, but those are unavoidable.
2.0's well kiddo visit went well. He's 34 inches tall, just shy of that elusive 3 foot mark. That put him in the 90th percentile for height. That wasn't a surprise. His father is 6'4" for goodness sakes and I'm 5'10". The kid's going to be a beanpole. His weight seems to be catching up to his height finally. He's just shy of 28 pounds, weighing in at 27 pounds and 12 ounces and hitting the 75th percentile for weight. After watching him hover around the 45th percentile in weight, it's nice to see him putting on a little bit and still not be considered fat.
He was also screened for autism, which he doesn't have. He's meeting all of his milestones at just the right time, even exceeding some of them. He's talking and walking and running and climbing. His lungs sounded great and his ears and eyes were in good shape. That just left the shots...
2.0 got a flu shot today, along with a Dtap and his Hep A. I don't want him to get the flu, especially after being diagnosed with asthma in May.
Speaking of his asthma...we haven't had to treat it since May. Now the nurse told us to keep an eye out for problems since fall is when kids have problems with asthma. It was nice to have the heads up since we haven't had a problem in so long.
Next well kiddo check is in February, right after 2.0 turns 2. I can't believe that's getting closer.
2.0's well kiddo visit went well. He's 34 inches tall, just shy of that elusive 3 foot mark. That put him in the 90th percentile for height. That wasn't a surprise. His father is 6'4" for goodness sakes and I'm 5'10". The kid's going to be a beanpole. His weight seems to be catching up to his height finally. He's just shy of 28 pounds, weighing in at 27 pounds and 12 ounces and hitting the 75th percentile for weight. After watching him hover around the 45th percentile in weight, it's nice to see him putting on a little bit and still not be considered fat.
He was also screened for autism, which he doesn't have. He's meeting all of his milestones at just the right time, even exceeding some of them. He's talking and walking and running and climbing. His lungs sounded great and his ears and eyes were in good shape. That just left the shots...
2.0 got a flu shot today, along with a Dtap and his Hep A. I don't want him to get the flu, especially after being diagnosed with asthma in May.
Speaking of his asthma...we haven't had to treat it since May. Now the nurse told us to keep an eye out for problems since fall is when kids have problems with asthma. It was nice to have the heads up since we haven't had a problem in so long.
Next well kiddo check is in February, right after 2.0 turns 2. I can't believe that's getting closer.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
The Cry It Out Argument
Recently a study was published by pediatricians about the effects of letting our children cry themselves to sleep at night. In this study, five year olds who were allowed to cry it out were compared with five year olds whose parents had 'camped out' to help them sleep at night. The study showed that there were no detectable differences between the children who had cried and the ones who hadn't.
Now that made my husband look over at me with a smug grin on his face because he's been telling me for about a year now that 2.0 can cry himself to sleep without any emotional damage done to his psyche.
Yet here we are with an 18 month old who doesn't always sleep through the night and I still go in and soothe him. I haven't done cry it out and don't plan to.
When you have a newborn baby in your house, you don't want to let that baby cry his or herself to sleep. Newborn babies need to be held and cuddled and comforted. They're probably crying because they are either hungry or wet anyway. Newborn babies are incapable of emotional manipulation.
I understand that I don't have a newborn in my house right now. I also understand that my 18 month old little boy just might be manipulating me to come when he cries. I just don't think that's the case.
2.0 goes to bed at night awake. We have an established bedtime routine that we follow at roughly the same time every single night. When that routine is finished, he goes to bed and he falls asleep within fifteen minutes to half an hour at the longest. He takes two naps per day when possible (and when he'll take the second one since he likes to fight it for the last few days) to prevent him from being overtired.
Yet just about every night for the last two weeks, he's woke up in the middle of the night. Sometimes two or three times even. Do I let him cry? No.
However, the speed of my reaction to his cries depends on what kind of cry it is. If he screams in the middle of the night like he's having a panic attack, then I'm up and moving right away. If it's a whiny cry...well Mama may stay in bed for a little while longer to see if he'll put himself back to sleep.
I don't think there's anything wrong with comforting your child when he cries in the middle of the night, no matter what his age is. I don't mind the lack of sleep, in fact I'm used to it by now. I get up for five minutes even when 2.0 doesn't wake in the middle of the night. While it's good to know that letting him cry won't hurt him emotionally or psychologically, I still prefer to answer his cries and comfort him.
But I do miss sleep every now and then.
Now that made my husband look over at me with a smug grin on his face because he's been telling me for about a year now that 2.0 can cry himself to sleep without any emotional damage done to his psyche.
Yet here we are with an 18 month old who doesn't always sleep through the night and I still go in and soothe him. I haven't done cry it out and don't plan to.
When you have a newborn baby in your house, you don't want to let that baby cry his or herself to sleep. Newborn babies need to be held and cuddled and comforted. They're probably crying because they are either hungry or wet anyway. Newborn babies are incapable of emotional manipulation.
I understand that I don't have a newborn in my house right now. I also understand that my 18 month old little boy just might be manipulating me to come when he cries. I just don't think that's the case.
2.0 goes to bed at night awake. We have an established bedtime routine that we follow at roughly the same time every single night. When that routine is finished, he goes to bed and he falls asleep within fifteen minutes to half an hour at the longest. He takes two naps per day when possible (and when he'll take the second one since he likes to fight it for the last few days) to prevent him from being overtired.
Yet just about every night for the last two weeks, he's woke up in the middle of the night. Sometimes two or three times even. Do I let him cry? No.
However, the speed of my reaction to his cries depends on what kind of cry it is. If he screams in the middle of the night like he's having a panic attack, then I'm up and moving right away. If it's a whiny cry...well Mama may stay in bed for a little while longer to see if he'll put himself back to sleep.
I don't think there's anything wrong with comforting your child when he cries in the middle of the night, no matter what his age is. I don't mind the lack of sleep, in fact I'm used to it by now. I get up for five minutes even when 2.0 doesn't wake in the middle of the night. While it's good to know that letting him cry won't hurt him emotionally or psychologically, I still prefer to answer his cries and comfort him.
But I do miss sleep every now and then.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A Brilliant Mimic
When 2.0 was born, I wondered what his little voice would sound like once he started to speak to me. What would he say? I have to admit that I thought I'd have this little person who spoke with perfect grammar right away and could articulate his thoughts to me eloquently. After working with toddlers in the past, you would think I'd know better.
Yesterday 2.0 and I were watching Finding Nemo. He loves the bright colors and the fish. I wonder sometimes if he thinks the television is an aquarium when we watch that movie. As we're watching, I ask him if he sees the orange fish. Out of nowhere, he squeals "Fishy!". He's never said that before. A little while later, as we played with his new Hot Wheels cars (because suddenly he loves those little cars), I pushed the car around making a 'vroom vroom' sound and he copied me exactly.
He's starting to put words together with what he wants and I'm loving and hating it.
"Nathan, do you need a nap?"
"Yeah."
"Nathan, do you need a new diaper?"
"Yeah."
"Nathan, do you love Mommy?"
"No."
*Sigh* That is exactly what I was waiting to hear.
When he gets up in the morning, I hear "Mommy! Mommy Mommy Mommy!" When he goes into the bedroom to get his father up, I hear "Coco! Coco Coco Coco!" when he finds the dog is still sleeping. He says "Daddy Daddy Daddy!" when we're going to pick up Nate from work. Right now he's mimicking the monkey sounds his daddy is making with one of his toys.
Now that he's mimicking everything we say...I guess I need to make doubly sure that there are no swear words dropped in his presence. I don't want to have to explain that to anyone.
Yesterday 2.0 and I were watching Finding Nemo. He loves the bright colors and the fish. I wonder sometimes if he thinks the television is an aquarium when we watch that movie. As we're watching, I ask him if he sees the orange fish. Out of nowhere, he squeals "Fishy!". He's never said that before. A little while later, as we played with his new Hot Wheels cars (because suddenly he loves those little cars), I pushed the car around making a 'vroom vroom' sound and he copied me exactly.
He's starting to put words together with what he wants and I'm loving and hating it.
"Nathan, do you need a nap?"
"Yeah."
"Nathan, do you need a new diaper?"
"Yeah."
"Nathan, do you love Mommy?"
"No."
*Sigh* That is exactly what I was waiting to hear.
When he gets up in the morning, I hear "Mommy! Mommy Mommy Mommy!" When he goes into the bedroom to get his father up, I hear "Coco! Coco Coco Coco!" when he finds the dog is still sleeping. He says "Daddy Daddy Daddy!" when we're going to pick up Nate from work. Right now he's mimicking the monkey sounds his daddy is making with one of his toys.
Now that he's mimicking everything we say...I guess I need to make doubly sure that there are no swear words dropped in his presence. I don't want to have to explain that to anyone.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
In Which We Talk About Loss
I'm a part of the club no one wants to be a member of. I've watched the candle being blown out too soon. I've had dreams squashed and seen potential fade away before it truly even began. I've lost children and I think I can now be very frank about what happened.
In April of 2002, I experienced an unforgivable trauma that resulted in my first pregnancy. I knew from the time I saw the plus sign on the test that something was very wrong and I wasn't sure how to handle the situation. The circumstances of that child's conception were not the fault of the child and I'm very prolife, so I didn't consider terminating the pregnancy. I just didn't know how I would raise a child in the midst of what I was dealing with. God knew better than I did and that child went to heaven when I was 6 weeks pregnant.
December of 2007 was a much different circumstance and a much more joyful conception. Nate and I were thrilled when we found out. Just as we were about to tell our families and friends about our wonderful news, our pregnancy ended at 11 weeks. I was devastated, feeling like I was looking at my dream house wiped out by a tornado and leaving me with not even a foundation. Wouldn't you know my miscarriage happened the day before Valentine's Day? I was completely broken.
Now, keep in mind that when I was eighteen I had been told I would never have children of my own. I was starting to believe I would be able to get pregnant and never give birth.
Then suddenly I had my miracle. Just like sunlight through a hole in the clouds, my son arrived. I have found that there's nothing more wonderful than him. He is proof that God is good and God is faithful. I prayed, sometimes so angry with God that I couldn't understand why I was even speaking to Him, and I received exactly what I asked for. Right down to the color of his eyes and the sweet temperance of his personality; he is completely and totally what I begged God for.
After 2.0 was born, I immediately started asking God for another. I had to wait 5 years for a child to survive. I wanted to put my next five years in as quickly as possible. Nate and I were blessed with another child...for a little while.
In June of this year, I took a pregnancy test and got another positive. I was so excited and yet in a state of complete disbelief. How could it have happened so quickly after so much heartache and pain? Was it really possible that I could become pregnant again with such little effort?
A week after our big fat positive, my period arrived. Another loss.
I had a chemical pregnancy in June. Basically the fertilized egg didn't implant correctly in the uterus (sorry for the technical terms. If you feel 'icky' about reading the word uterus then I urge you to have your attack of the willies and move on now) and the egg was lost. But when you believe in life at conception, like I do, that is a child that didn't survive. It's still heartbreaking to think about what could've been and what won't be.
I have three little ones in heaven. I believe I will see them again and that God holds them in His hands. I also know that I'm not alone in my losses. There are women out there who will never know my pain, but they can imagine it. There are women who know my pain many more times over. It's something that, as a mother, I never want to experience again and I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I now choose to look at it all in a better light. I ovulated. That's a miracle in and of itself with my medical condition (google PCOS if you want more information). I'm getting healthy now and trying to make my life better.
If you've lost a child, please understand that you aren't alone. There are so many women in this world who understand exactly how you feel. You may not want to be part of this club, but you have lots of sisters who will hold your hand and cry with you when you need us and we will rejoice with you when you finally get that baby in your arms.
In April of 2002, I experienced an unforgivable trauma that resulted in my first pregnancy. I knew from the time I saw the plus sign on the test that something was very wrong and I wasn't sure how to handle the situation. The circumstances of that child's conception were not the fault of the child and I'm very prolife, so I didn't consider terminating the pregnancy. I just didn't know how I would raise a child in the midst of what I was dealing with. God knew better than I did and that child went to heaven when I was 6 weeks pregnant.
December of 2007 was a much different circumstance and a much more joyful conception. Nate and I were thrilled when we found out. Just as we were about to tell our families and friends about our wonderful news, our pregnancy ended at 11 weeks. I was devastated, feeling like I was looking at my dream house wiped out by a tornado and leaving me with not even a foundation. Wouldn't you know my miscarriage happened the day before Valentine's Day? I was completely broken.
Now, keep in mind that when I was eighteen I had been told I would never have children of my own. I was starting to believe I would be able to get pregnant and never give birth.
Then suddenly I had my miracle. Just like sunlight through a hole in the clouds, my son arrived. I have found that there's nothing more wonderful than him. He is proof that God is good and God is faithful. I prayed, sometimes so angry with God that I couldn't understand why I was even speaking to Him, and I received exactly what I asked for. Right down to the color of his eyes and the sweet temperance of his personality; he is completely and totally what I begged God for.
After 2.0 was born, I immediately started asking God for another. I had to wait 5 years for a child to survive. I wanted to put my next five years in as quickly as possible. Nate and I were blessed with another child...for a little while.
In June of this year, I took a pregnancy test and got another positive. I was so excited and yet in a state of complete disbelief. How could it have happened so quickly after so much heartache and pain? Was it really possible that I could become pregnant again with such little effort?
A week after our big fat positive, my period arrived. Another loss.
I had a chemical pregnancy in June. Basically the fertilized egg didn't implant correctly in the uterus (sorry for the technical terms. If you feel 'icky' about reading the word uterus then I urge you to have your attack of the willies and move on now) and the egg was lost. But when you believe in life at conception, like I do, that is a child that didn't survive. It's still heartbreaking to think about what could've been and what won't be.
I have three little ones in heaven. I believe I will see them again and that God holds them in His hands. I also know that I'm not alone in my losses. There are women out there who will never know my pain, but they can imagine it. There are women who know my pain many more times over. It's something that, as a mother, I never want to experience again and I wouldn't wish on anyone.
I now choose to look at it all in a better light. I ovulated. That's a miracle in and of itself with my medical condition (google PCOS if you want more information). I'm getting healthy now and trying to make my life better.
If you've lost a child, please understand that you aren't alone. There are so many women in this world who understand exactly how you feel. You may not want to be part of this club, but you have lots of sisters who will hold your hand and cry with you when you need us and we will rejoice with you when you finally get that baby in your arms.
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