G'n'R Out West

Yesterday Adelle drew a picture and it looked like this:

Today she drew a picture that looks like this.

Both pictures are of people.  Amazing.

She always tells us what her pictures are of.  The ones this morning were 1) Adelle as a baby, 2) Me giving birth (apparently the picture was anatomically correct), 3) Greg sleeping.  Funny stuff.  It was interesting.  Before I even said anything to her about the picture she pointed out to me that the circle was for the head.  Not only had she made the connection of attaching specific shapes to her pictures…but she was able to verbalize to me that she had done this.  Very interesting. 

What a difference a day makes.

Simon is a regular grown up kid now.  He loves the park.  They have a big tunnel at one of the parks we go to, and Simon, LOVES to crawl through it.  What a smarty pants.
 

Simon has been cruising the furniture for quite some time.  Today he found the laundry basket and discovered it was his ticket to freedom!  He was so focused.   He really stuck to it.  I think he walked for about 10 minutes or so.  Towards the end he was getting very frustrated whenever the laundry basket would hit the wall.  It was as little tragic.

We’ve had a great weekend.  It was spent quietly trying to catch up on our life.  Summer is always such a busy time and it was nice to have a weekend at home.  I managed to sneak out to the mountains  with a friend of mine (usually Greg is the one who gets this honour)…and our baby boys.  Adelle had a great time with her dad on a special dad and daughter day, while I had the freedom of a hike without a three year old.  It wasn’t a long hike, but it was so wonderful to be in the mountains on a hike and not being forced to practice my patience while gently trying to keep Adelle engaged in the hike…or at least moving forward!

Adelle learned a very valuable lesson today. ..

At 8:30 this morning she was upstairs playing in her room.  Suddenly she was screaming.  I ran up and she told me she put a bead in her nose!  I couldn’t see it, so I decided we needed re-enforcement.  Luckily our doctor was able to see us immediately.  She found the bead at once.  It took a good 15 minutes of fishing around in there until she got a good grip but our brave little patient held her head very still and remained calm the entire time. 

Then the doctor had a good talk with her in regards to orfices…and objects.  I think it is unlikely she’ll be trying anything like that again any time soon.

Simon also had a trip to the doctor today.  We got some test results back and his iron is still low…and the last round of stool samples had one positive result for blood.  ARG.  I haven’t been being quite as careful when I am out – so I likely just had some milk in something without realizing.  Since I hadn’t seen any blood in months, I was getting a little laissez-faire about it.  I was feeling pretty confident that he was getting better.  Anyway….back to being more careful.

Apart from the low iron levels – he is growing well (just above the 50% percentile).  In terms of development he seems to be meating all the milestones…and if anything is a little ahead on the walking front…so the iron levels certainly haven’t hurt him.  But we still need to figure it out.  We’ll be back at the doctors again in 3 months and I guess we’ll re-evaluate at that time!  I’m a bit frustrated, but now I have renewed energy to work on getting those iron levels up.

Nine months old already.  I feel like he is just growing too fast.  Soon he’ll be a year and then I can’t call him a baby anymore. 

Sleep:
What’s that now?  I don’t know if it is all the teething, a cold or just plain old trying to drive us crazy – but the little guy does not like to sleep.  He is usually down for the night sometime around 8pm and is ready to get up at around 5am (but I can usually fight him back to sleep until 6:30).  Lately there has been at least 2-3 wakeful hours during the night where Greg or I fight with him to keep him sleeping.  We are tired.  I am trying my hardest to remind myself that it is just a phase and it too will pass.  Good thing we were so well rested from the first few months…so we aren’t that worn down just yet. 

Napping …I’m not sure Simon really knows what this is.  He typically naps 1 or 2 times a day for about 20 min.  I think if I laid down with him to sleep he’d have a great sleep.  Unfortunately, Adelle doesn’t allow that sort of nonsense.  So I am trying, and failing, in the napping department.  Oh well…this too will pass. 

Eating:
Simon has a relatively healthy appetite.  He doesn’t seem offended by anything we put on his plate, but he certainly has his favorites - among them are: blueberries, raspberries and watermelon.  He’d stay in his high chair all day for those treats if we let him. 

Getting Around:
Simon can crawl like nobody’s business.  It is pretty impressive to see.  He went from nothing to the perfect crawl so quickly.  I think he has overpowering legs, and here is my evidence:

1) he learned to crawl forward so easily (instead of getting stuck in that backwards crawl so many babies do)
2) he crawled up a slide at a play place (obviously wasn’t watching him close enough…oops, and very impressive)
3) daily he crawls in such a way that his legs push past his arms and he face plants (usually on tile).   

Simon has also mastered the stairs.  I helped him up them the first 2 times and then he just figured it out.  He can get up there in about a minute.  I now have to be much much more careful. 

Although, very talented at crawling, he has little time for it (although he is slowly getting more patient).  Simon still prefers to walk.  He wants a hand or a leg, some furniture or even just a piece of wall.  He has on two occasions taken steps without support.  Both times a lapse in judgment on his part, and both times resulting in major face plants…both times he was carrying something heavy…sad…but a little bit funny.  

Hair:
Still short, but growing and filling in.  It is very straight and quite light…not quite blond, but very light brown.  

Eyes:
Browny green.

Language:
He recognizes the milk sign, eating sign, and all done.  I thought he did the milk sign the other day, but I think it was just waving.  I haven’t been signing with him all that often because when he isn’t climbing all over me, usually Adelle is…so it doesn’t allow for a much free hand movement! 

He is doing a little bit of ‘talking’.  He has a few consonant sounds.  But in general he is pretty quiet.  

Personality:
Simon is cuddly and quiet.  He loves other kids and if he can get close enough he just wants to touch them.  Adelle is his favorite, and although he is at times scared for his life, nobody lights up his eyes the way that the sound of her voice does.  When he first hears her voice in the morning he looses his mind in anticipation of seeing her.  I think that is my favorite part of the day. 

Simon’s latest hobby is taking stuff out of other stuff.  He is really dedicated and can empty a book shelf in about 2 minutes.  He is a steadfast and diligent worker.  It is very impressive to watch.  He’s only just picked it up in the last few days, but I suspect the house will be much more difficult to keep in order – as pretty soon he’ll be able to work faster than I can clean up behind him!

Stuff that happened this month:
- at long last he cut his first tooth…and now he has two (bottom middle two)
- he got his first nosebleed (after face planting mid crawl) and now seems to get them with some frequency…yippee

Yikes, three already!  Seems like this year has been full of growing up.  Three is a year Adelle has been looking forward to for quite some time.  Sure, she was excited about the birthday party itself, but she was also excited that three means preschool and unparented ballet.  I must say, those are 2 things about three that I am looking forward to as well. 

We had Adelle’s Godfather, John, and his wife Angela, over for Adelle’s actual birthday supper.  She was very excited to have them over to sing to her and then share her now traditional birthday blueberry pie!

Sleep:
It is a little silly even writ ting anything about this anymore.  But I guess we had some changes this year – so they are worth remembering.  Adelle is a great sleeper and sleeps though the night.  Occasionally she wakes up extremely upset about something, but typically falls back to sleep once the problem is solved…or often even without solving the problem.  Every now and again in the wee hours of the morning she’ll sneak into bed.  I really love those early morning snuggly sleeps.  They are few and far between, but special…those times when she comes in the wee hours and isn’t into sleeping I could certainly do without!

In the last few months she has become really attached to one particular blanket (known as her special blanket).  The special blanket appears to fix almost all woes…sleeping and otherwise.  Makes life really easy.  It is a staple in her bed.  Other bedtime accessories include (but are not limited to): a spongebob square pants little toy, no fewer than 10 books, a pile of dolls or stuffed animals (never both) and her funniest pillow (a raggedy ann and andy pillowcase from my childhood).

She made the transition out of her crib this year…I still shudder at the 2 hour bedtimes.  But things are wonderful now.  Every now and again she likes to give us a bit of a fight, but more often than not she is really happy and comforted by our routine of stories, song and a few minutes of cuddling.  She is usually awake when we leave and usually falls asleep reading or talking to her dolls and stuffed animals.  It is pretty precious if you are lucky enough to catch her when she doesn’t know you are watching.

The naps are done.  It is liberating to have no naps.  I used to love the naps…now I love the freedom of a no napping schedule.   We can do so many fun things in a day without naps.

Eating:
Her appetite isn’t quite as surprising as it was in her early years…but she can still polish off a steak if the mood strikes and her breakfast appetite rivals mine at times, but mostly she just eats well.  For the most part she’ll eat what is put in front of her, although, if she feels stubborn she can easily go without. 

Language:
She speaks very clearly.  She still mixes a few things up.  Mostly Vs come out like Bs.  Adelle Berena is her name.  She has a few little cute habits that I have a hard time correcting her on, as I will be sad when they fall out of her vocabulary (beans (instead of beads), Maddy (instead of mummy or daddy, there are so many more, I just can never remember them). 

She just loves to talk, and talk and talk.  Sometimes she talks so much I think my head might explode.  Often I get quiet and try to regroup…but then usually she says ‘Mummy, just talk to me’.  So I have to suck it up and remember she is just learning and needs to know EVERYTHING. 

Personality:
She is a lot like me, only shorter.  She loves to make lists and organize.  She spends hours taking care of her babies and stuffed animals.  She loves being around other people.  Adelle isn’t exactly a wallflower.  She LOVES other kids and I often worry about her getting hurt feelings.  She has no desire or requirement for personal space and so I think sometimes other kids find her a bit invassive.

She has really gotten excited about having friends.  She talks about them all the time.  She loves to take them up to her room and close the door.   More often than not they pretend together.  It is pretty beautiful to see.

She loves reading and can spend a lot of time either listening to books or just reading them herself.  She is pretty good at remembering all the important ideas from a story after reading it only once or twice.  I wish I had more time to sit and read with her. 

She loves knowing things and has started getting embarassed when she gets things wrong.  Yesterday she called the ‘cash register’ the ‘calabaster’.  I was caught off guard and laughed…it hurt her feelings.  It can be a bit heartbreaking to be a mum. 

Teeth:
She has them all…and I guess now we are waiting to start loosing them!  She has had her first trip to the dentist.  She was exstatic about going and was really excited to have him look in her mouth and count all her teeth.  Her favorite part was the new toothbrush.  The dentist told her we should start flossing her teeth…she was thrilled by the news (I guess she feels mature) and now happily sits while we floss.

Bathroom:
She has been toilet trained for a number of months now.  There is still the odd accident, but they are so infrequent I don’t even really think about them anymore.  The process felt painful to me, but we got there.  So many people said she’d just get it one day.  But for her it seemed like she just had to make the switch to underpants and then agonize over weeks and weeks of accidents… each week marginally better than the previous week until it was all over.   We haven’t started talking about night time yet.  She hasn’t been interested and her diaper is almost always wet in the moring.  I’m in no hurry so we’ll wait for her lead. 

Other stuff:
- She still loves to cook and clean.  She hates that I put limits on what she can do.  She is just dying to get her hands on the toilet brush….hmmm…wouldn’t it be wonderful if she took over cleaning all 4 of our bathrooms one day?
- she might be the dirtiest kid out there.  If there is a mud puddle, she is in it.  If there is dirt she is rubbing her hands all over it.  No matter how much grass she will always find the flower beds and dig.
- one of her favorite things to eat is toast…but she always asks for it un-toasted.  We try to correct her, and let her know she is eating bread, but she is certain it is still toast.

Adelle has been excited about having a birthday since about March.  She has been daydreaming about the Dora cake at the grocery store since she noticed it in April.  I ended up making the cake… from the look on her face, I’m pretty sure I got it right…

Last year when everybody sung ‘Happy Birthday’ Adelle burst into tears, this year she couldn’t have been more proud. 

I think everybody had lots of fun, especially Adelle.  It was really fun planning her party with her this year.  She had so many ideas.  As per her request, she had a Dora party.  I was a little apprehensive to jump on the Dora bandwagon…but she just loves Dora so much I didn’t see the point in denying her.  I expect denying it, would only make her love it more, just to irritate me!!!  She had so many strong ideas.  From the cake, to the balloons to the birthday horns (known in some households as hats).  Although, she wanted everything else Dora, she was certain the horns were not to be.  It was a tight race between Pony and Squongebob Square pants…old Squongebob won.

We got her a special balloon…and she LOVES it. 

Our Friend Roy (and Greg’s old roommate) was in town for the weekend.  Adelle is quite certain he came just to see her.  He was so very helpful before and during the party (as well as a constant source of entertainment for all 4 of us for the entire weekend).  He did however, convince my husband to purchase a very large tv…so it was an expensive weekend!

In other VERY exciting news, my brother got engaged last week. We’ve all known it was coming (as my brother was just a tiny little bit excited). However, his now fiance, Amy was apparently quite surprised.  Soon our kids will have two Auntie Amys.  Excellent news.  The only thing better than Auntie Amy…is two Auntie Amy’s!

We have had such amazing weather this summer for all our camping adventures, and August long weekend was no exception.  We spent the weekend camping in the mountains with Adelle’s best bud Corra and her family.  The girls had hilarious fun. It was such a treat for Adelle to be camping with somebody her age that loves all the things she loves.  They spent many hours imagining all sorts of adventures around the campsite.  It was just beautiful to watch.

Simon had a great time camping too…although, at times a little frustrated that he wasn’t quite old enough to be in the mix with the big kids.   We managed to trick him into staying in  his highchair for a little while when we were setting up camp. I’m pretty sure he thought he was actually setting up the tent…and truth be told he did help out as it would have taken much, much longer to get things organized had he not been in the chair!  Poor Simon…next year will be so much easier..or perhaps more difficult…only time will tell!

The weekend was full of all kinds of adventures.  The area was just crawling with bears (and not so intelligent tourists getting up close to capture a great picture), deer (again not so intelligent tourists putting their children up close to get a great picture) and big horn sheep (we surprised one on a trail and got a great view of the beautiful animal from about 5 ft away).

In other news: Simon has sprouted yet another tooth.  He has both his middle bottom teeth.  They are just poking through and looking particularily cute.  His crawling is becoming very easy for him…but he has no time for it.  It is walking or nothing.   He thinks he is too mature to crawl!

8 months old – YIKES!  He is so big, when he nurses now there is hardly any room for him…let alone his big sister who often insists on getting up for snuggles at snack time!

Sleep:
Sleep is pretty good.  Simon sleeps in his own crib now (sniffle…i miss him in our bed a bit).  He goes down for the night at 7ish, is up usually at midnight, 3am and 6am.  If he only has 2 feeds in the night, or 3 and the last one is closer to 5am, then he will usually go back to sleep until 7am.  If he eats around 6…he’s up for the day.  I’m pretty well rested, because he isn’t much work when he does wake.  There have been 2 nights where he has only woken once, and I was so well rested and felt so good that I was pretty sure I had super powers.  I can’t wait until that becomes more normal.  Of course, by then he’ll probably be moving around more and so he’ll tire me out during the days, so I’ll need the sleep at night!!

He usually naps 2 times a day, a short morning nap (about 1/2 an hour) and a longer afternoon nap (1-2 hours).  I’m not gonna lie, I pretty much love naptime.  He still loves to sleep all snuggled up with us.  But he also has gotten pretty gifted at sleeping in his crib.  The swaddle blankets are finally gone, and our little dude is a tummy sleeper…he’s pretty cute when he is sleeping.

Eating:
Simon has really started to love eating.  We’ve learned that he doesn’t really like mushy food.  But if you chop up whatever we are having for supper he’ll eat for quite some time.  He doesn’t even fuss when we put him in the highchair anymore.  His favorite meal is afternoon snack!  He can eat for a good hour sometimes.  He is relatively indifferent to most foods, although he LOVES blueberries.  We have many an outfit stained by those delicious little sugar bombs!

Getting Around:
He’s on the move!  He started crawling a little while ago, but he hasn’t had much energy to work on mastering that craft.  He is just obsessed with walking.  He can pull up on furniture now and has been known to do some cruising for just a few minutes.  He’s getting quite good at it.  Although, it usually ends in tears as his sister is never far away, and she definitely LOVES to ‘help’ him.   He loves to walk around holding our hands.  It cracks me up when he does this because he lifts his feet up so high you’d think he was in some fancy marching band!  He is also determined to figure out the stairs.  He loves working on them…he can get very determined, although, often his efforts seem devoid of any joy…which is a little odd and sometimes depressing.

Hair:
Same old same old, lighter still, he might just be blond in the end.   

Eyes:
Browny-greeny.

Language:
 He is finally making consonant sounds!  Yippee.  Da-da-da was first, he usually says it when he is happy, mamamamama is sort of a whiny wimpery noise he makes.  Occasionally it sounds like he is making some other noises, but they aren’t consistant.

As far as sign language goes.  He certainly knows the sign for food and milk.  He ignores them when he isn’t hungry and gets all squirmy if he is hungry.  I thought he might have made the milk sign yesterday, but when I offered him milk he looked at me like I was from mars…so clearly he was simply opening and closing his hand!

Personality:
Most relaxed baby ever.  He can get frustrated, but it is rare.  He can get excited, but not all that often, mostly he is just content, perhaps indifferent, often tired or hungry.  Simple man.

Stuff that happened this month:
- he pulled up
- he had his first trip to folk fest…well ex-utero anyway
- he learned to crawl
- he tried blueberries for the first time – and they are currently his favorite
- he tried camping, – and he is camping crazy, just like his sister
- he had his first ride in a canoe, exciting and exhausting all at once

Our big boy

Simon finally cut his first tooth.  I am pretty sure it is his bottom left hand middle tooth (I’m not allowed to see in his mouth, so this is based on feel). 

We are pretty impressed.  Yesterday he slept in until 8am  had two enormous naps (close to 4 hours in total), and still went to bed at 7pm.  If that is what it takes to cut a tooth, my friend Simon is welcome to cut another one as soon as he’d like!  In fact, I encourage him to do so.

The kids and I folk fested this year sans Greg.  It wasn’t quite as fun without him…but frig, it was still pretty fun.  Adelle did amazing.  I am so proud of her I can hardly stand it sometimes.  She had a total blast, we got there at 8am…and she was disappointed to learn we were leaving at 9:30 pm.  Although, we left because she was just exhausted and showing no signs of falling asleep. I was starting to feel guilty for keeping her there when she was clearly so very tired.

Anyway, we left on a high note, so I think we left at the exact right time.  Those days when the timing just works perfectly are awesome.

Spiderman made a quick appearance, but then quickly melted away in the heat and the mid-day splash park break.

Simon got so tired, that he was agreeable to sleeping on the ground.  Not wanting to take any risks, and knowing a long afternoon nap would help secure a chance at a fun evening, I quickly borrowed a friends wrap and tied him onto me for a proper nap…I think he passed out for a good 2 hours…didn’t even wake up when some kids splashed water on his legs at the pool.