Friday, January 29, 2010

From Bottle to Cup

5 months ago, this was going to be a snap. Switch Christopher from the bottle to the sippy cup? No problem? A few months before he turned one year old, we'd begin and it would be easy.


First, I went out and bought something similar to this.
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It is orange and says "Christopher". What a great way to start! He'd love it. No... not at all. He did this:


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So I thought, hmmm, maybe a different sippy cup. I heard about another type and went out a bought another sippy cup. He didn't really like it, plus it didn't hold milk very well. Bad cup. I bought two more before I just went and bought the tossable one's that match his bowls.


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Like this. Cheap... and he loved it.


And now he's back to his original Christopher cup.


I can't win... but all that matters is that he drinks his milk, it doesn't matter which of these cups he uses. He is much better and is 95% off his bottle at this point. Not too bad. When he was sick we took a few steps back since we just wanted to get fluids in him, but he's back to where he was and doing great.

Mr. Piano Man

Thanks to his Grandfather, Christopher loves to play the piano. Well, "play" being a completely vague idea at this point.


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Video 1



Video 2



Our little piano man... I love it :) You have to watch the videos if you are getting this on email!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Independence

Now if Junior could just learn to change his own diapers, we'd be set.





Just kidding. We've been working on the self feeding for a little bit. I just picked up these really cool bowls that suction to his tray so he can't move it off his tray. It worked great and he's on his way. I know this is only going to get messier... fun times!

We have a climber!

This is how I found Christopher after lunch yesterday.


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I didn't know he could do this (Not that it's that difficult) but he appears to be proud of himself :)


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Or scared to let go, I'm not sure.


Here he's raised the bar, he's up there backwards!!
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Giving kisses to Cookie Monster
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Christopher gives these open mouth and wet kisses. He has now learned that kissing is associate with a "kissy sound" and occasionally when he wants to give a kiss, will stick his lips out at you and make a kissy sound. It's adorable. Much better than the open mouth kisses (which are still around though too).


Christopher is also a busy guy and has to keep in touch with his peeps on a regular basis. To do this, he uses his Elmo phone.


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He walks around saying "hello?", "good", "bye".


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Christopher playing..

In trying to make up for my complete lack of photos for the last month, I tried to get quite a few yesterday. Junior was in a great mood. He has a little rash from the Amoxocillin he was on for his ear infection but it doesn't seem to bug him. He's a tank :)


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The "Mom, I'm playing, I don't have time to stop for photos" smile.


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Playing with his Michigan State ball. Go Spartans! Yes, we are a Green house :)


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Turning on his music to play.


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Stacking toys with mommy.


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Being a goof-ball.


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Playing with his new toy from our friends Bruce and Claudette. He loves the piano, the phone and the laptop on it. He dances to it on a regular basis.


And a video of him playing. There are a few more but they didn't load. Maybe later.




Mr. Potato Head

Christopher received a huge Mr. Potato Head for his birthday from David and Jackie (and their two little ones) and he LOVES it.


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He loves playing with the pieces, then cleaning up. In the process we made Mrs. Potato Head.


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I think her eyes are upside down but shhh... don't tell her...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

15 Months Old.... really?

Wow, Junior turned 15 months old  last week. I can't believe he's almost 1 1/2 years old. Crazy how fast time flies! He had his 15 month check up yesterday and here are his stats.

21lb 11oz
32 inches tall/long
19" head circumference

According to the growth percentage calculator at Baby Center here his percentages are below.

Length = between percentile 50 and 75%

Weight = between percentile 10 and 25%
Head Circumference = between percentile 75 and 90%

As the doctor said, "looks like he's going to be tall and skinny with a big head".... oh, just like his daddy was growing up.

His weight seems to have stayed the same a bit since we took him off milk and switched him to rice milk. Not as much fat in it at all so we have to try to subsitute with other things like beans and black olives. He doesn't seem to like avocado which is odd, he likes everything else.

What can Christopher do?

The doctor was impressed with his mobility as he can:
- Walk very well
- Can bend over to pick up a toy without losing balance
- Can squat and play with toys without losing balance
- He hasn't actual had a spill from walking in a few months as he's much steadier **knock on wood**
- Understands so much. Things like "take your socks off", "sit down", "lay down". We try to talk to him assuming he understands and out of the blue will do what we say and show he understands.
- Can say Mama, Dada, Dog, Woof, Sock, that, this, light, duck, up, tuck (tucker the dog). There seems to be more that I can't think of but he understands much more than he can say which is normal.
- He knows a lot of animals and things and can point them out in books if we ask. Things like dog, horse, pig, cow, duck, elephant, baby, book, ball, and on and on. It's really amazing how quickly he picks these things up. And he's learning the sounds of the animals. It's really cute to hear him say "woof". He's started calling the dogs with a loud "woof!".
- He's starting to feed himself with a spoon. Can do it if we put food in and hand it to him and he's just learning to fill it from bowl. He knows how to wipe his face with a towel. It doesn't really do anything, he's too dainty when he does it, but it's cute and a good thing to learn.
- He's eating just about anything (besides cow's milk and peanuts). LOVES cherrios, bananas, beans and olives.
- He's loving daycare and is growing so much each day as he learns more there. The kids love him and there are a few that don't let him leave without a hug.
- He's on a wonderful schedule for bed time (has for a long time). We start bedtime (bath or stories) at 7pm and he's out by 7:45 (earlier if he is tired) and will sleep through the night till 6:30-7:30am. His nap time has been great, he goes down about 9:30/10am for a 60 - 90 minute nap. He then takes an afternoon nap for about an hour sometime after 1:30pm. On the weekends he's pretty flexible with us if we go out to costco or shopping and can stay up till as late as 3:30pm for his nap with out any fussiness.

Christopher is overall an easy and happy baby. Even right now as his baby molars are coming in on the bottom, he's good.

I'm hoping really to get more photos up soon, promise.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Long Time, No Post...

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I've pretty much have been at home recovering from my surgery. Everything is okay, just some "repair work" from the birth of our one and only. It was very invasive though so I will be out of commission for a total of three weeks. Next week is my last week off and I'm just now starting to move around a bit more. David has been great on picking up ALL of the slack with the house, Junior and me. I think he might need a vacation when I go back to work :) So this is has been our new year... starting off slow, and trying to start off right. I hope to get the camera out this weekend and maybe get a shot or two of our munchkin who just turned 15 months old! Can you believe it? It's crazy how fast this all goes! It really seems like just yesterday he was 8 months old. Oh well... signing off for now...

Alexis

Sunday, January 3, 2010

It is what it is...

Life is what it is... I guess. We have ups, we have downs. Some more than others. Is tomorrow the begining of an up or a down. I guess depends on how I look at it.

David is taking me up to Good Samaratin Hospital in Los Gatos (1 1/2 hour north) tomorrow. I have surgery at 7:30 am on Tuesday. This will be the second time I've had this surgery (yet this time there is a bit more to it). I had the same surgery last January 23rd. So two in a 12 month period. What is the surgery for? Nothing major, let's just say it's some clean-up from when I brought my son into this world. And apparently I haven't found someone who can do it right the first time. Sigh... oh well. It is what it is. I guess, in the hopes that this is the last time I have this procedure done, tomorrow is the begining of an up. 

So Christopher is staying with my parents Monday night, then I'm in the hospital overnight Tuesday (where no kids are allowed) and will be home sometime Wednesday night. Two nights away from my little man. Sigh...

I'm not happy about the surgery, but at the same time, I'm glad it's getting done... by a specialist... done right... and for the last time (**crossing fingers**). So my "new start" for 2010 really is a new start.

Thinking back to this time last year, I wish I could take back what I said. You always wonder what the new year will bring, if it will be better or worse, eventful or boring, different or the same than the year before. 2008 was hands down our most amazing year in our "almost" eight years together. Yes... eight... We got pregnant, we bought a house, we had Christopher, we had wonderful jobs... I remember thinking that 2009 was going to have to be pretty spectacular to beat that. Well, it was spectacular all right, but a bit more in the opposite direction. Not a great year, but still much better than some. Well, this year. No anticipation to how much better 2010 will be, no being nervous it could be worse (**knock knock)... it is what it is. I think that will be my saying for o' ten :) "it is what it is". Not to sweat the small stuff, to let drama roll off my back, to be positive in the face of negative. If you know me, this is no small feat. But... it is what it is.

2010... will be what it will be...