Monday, August 26, 2013

4 Months, 6 Months, 4 Years, Preschool and All!

How do I even begin to catch up for not blogging for since April?  Dave Ries teased me that I'd do a few posts when I started blogging then none until Elliot was 10 years old.  Looks like I'm headed that way!  And with photos constantly being posted on Facebook, it seems redundant to put them on here.  However, this is my running record of my children's development and where I will go to pick up details for Leah's baby book, so I'd better get updating!

Photos to come...

LEAH- she's now 7 1/2 months old. Nice and plump- she's a very happy baby (and everyone seems to comment on such!).  She'll grin at anyone passing by, and get a mischievous spark in her eye when she's interacting with people.  She's very much a people person and it is evident this early in her life.  She goes with the flow and gets toted everywhere.

In mid-July (so just over 6 mo old), she started to military crawl across the floor at Grandma and Grandpa Papczun's.  So cool to watch- she'd work so hard to get to whatever toy she wanted.  No teeth as of yet, but she's been gnawing on things for months now as if they are right there, waiting to bust through.

Now we're in late August (7.5 mo) and she's up on all fours, rocking, just on the verge of crawling properly.

Old updates: At her 4 mo check up back in early May, she was 12#15 oz, so very close to 13#, 23".  25th percentile across the board, even with those chunky rolls on her thighs!

6 mo check up in July- she was ??#  and ??" as Pat took them to the apt and I didn't get a proper update!  TBA.  I am going to regret not finding this info and filling it in when it comes time to do her 1-year album!!!

She's fully sitting up now and much more wiggly.  She readily cracks up at comments and expressions, almost always adding a good vibe to this household.  She was very spoiled on vacation a few weeks ago, as we were staying with other people and at any whimper, I would put her on my chest to sleep or nurse her.  Now that we are back home, it's been a week of crying when I leave the room and having to let her cry it out a little in her crib at various times.  She's skipping the early morning (4-5a?) nurse and has been taking it to 7am or so lately.  Happy momma!

This lady still won't take a bottle.  Pat did very well with her while I worked this summer- he had to make it through 7.5 hours with just babyfood.  Most days, she seemed ready to nurse but not crazy mad starving.  The last week, however, she got a bug and vomited, had a bit of a fever, and refused food for that week.  Then, yes, she was crazy ready to nurse!  Luckily it was the last 4 days of teaching.  We fell off even more with the food as we traveled and had visitors, but now I am back to a solid 2x per day, skipping some nursing, hoping to ween a little.

ELLIOT- He turned 4 in July.  We spent his birthday at the water park again with the neighbors and had a great time.  Lots of stuff was going on this summer and he had a peak with the tantrums, after I felt like we were getting over the hump a little and seeing some "growing up" happening.  Two steps forward, one back.
The BM issue has come and gone, over and over.  Right now, we're in a good swing.  The summer has been rocky with any routines, so now we are sitting after every meal and this is helping a lot.  Every time the pendulum swings the wrong way, however, we buckle down, grit our teeth, and do what we can to support him through the setback.  Pat, though, did some tough-loving with making him rewear dirty underwear one time after rinsing it only (he had to wear it wet), I followed through the next time, and it seemed to turn the corner for us.  So hard.

He learned to ride his bike without training wheels a few weeks before his 4th birthday.  Such a big deal- he loves it and has now gotten really good at stopping and starting.  He wants to ride to school everyday!  It's darling to see- he's so little and is a speed demon.

Since mid-June, we've had my sister in from Lebanon with her two kids, along with my mom and brother (all at once!  It really was great!) for 5 days, made two trips to OH to see family, had friends from France stay with us for 2 weeks (very fun- they were very missed!), spend a week in Portland with those French friends at my brother's, hit Missoula for a weekend, and I taught for 5 of those weeks while Pat was home with the two kids.  So yes, I am looking forward to routine this fall.

Elliot started preschool today.  This was the narrative I sent to Pat on email after coming home.  No, no real tears from me, but moments where I just watched in awe as he pedaled down the sidewalk, on his way to school.

Elliot was great all morning. Nice, relaxing, perfect on the timing. He was excited. He was locking up his bike at school and and said he was nervous. I told him you were really nervous too but that it was good to be nervous because that meant you wanted it to go well and cared about what was happening. He kept saying he was nervous. We saw Izzy and her mom waiting, too, and that seemed to ease him a ton.  He took his moose from the bag, showed it off, then kept it close. While we were waiting by the door, he started kissing my leg and counting (we had agreed upon 10 hugs and 10 kisses). I started to say that he didn't have to say bye yet, but he got distracted by 4 or so... He walked/barged right into the classroom when it opened (I just let him go and waited my turn to sign in, etc). After a bit, I showed him where his cubby was, to put his moose in when he was done- he promptly dropped it and ran off to play. Jane asked us to stay and help build their journals- we did so, he drew (scribbled), and was very into it, commenting that yes, indeed, they were already doing fun stuff! He finished, started digging into other things- I asked an aid if this was a good time to go and she said yes. I got E's attention to say bye, "Ok, give me those hugs and kisses!" With attitude, he says, "But I already did!" I told him I was going home and he hardly noticed that I left.

Some friends have said day two is the tell-tale time or next week, once the novelty has worn off.  We shall see.  I do wish it was a little longer- only 2.5 hours, but daily.

The eating is 10x better, but not all that better when our visitors had kids who were better behaved and better eaters!  Again, makes me readjust my goals now that I'm home and routines can happen better.  First- no snacks!  Or very few...

He has fully outgrown his naps.  And with such a full summer, the bedtimes were very late, a lot!  I am sure this aided in his lovely ability to throw a major tantrum and sustain it for a while.