Friday, October 10, 2008
One Year Doctor's Visit
So we went to see the doctor on Wednesday for Brian's One Year Old visit. The doctor said that everything looked great and that Brian seemed to be ahead of the curve developmentally.
Brian weighed in at just under 21 pounds (20 lbs and 14 ounces). That put him in the 20% for his weight. His height was measured at 30.5 inches which puts him between 50% and 75%. Who would have thought he was tall and skinny?
The doctor reported that Brian's heart murmur was still present and she even felt that it had gotten louder. Most likely this means that the hole has gotten smaller. (A smaller hole creates more turbulent blood flow which presents as a louder murmur.) We never got around to going back to the cardiologist because of insurance problems, but we should be able to go before Brian turns 2 (we have to be on this insurance a year before we are covered). Anyway, it's nothing to be concerned about at the moment.
Brian got three immunizations and they had to draw his blood too to check for anemia and lead levels. He was a trooper. Cried his little heart out during the shots, but was fine as soon as everything was finished and I picked him up. We have to go back in a few weeks to get three more immunizations and we also need to get his flu shot done too. I hate doing all this to him, but I would much rather put him through this now than have him get really sick later.
Wednesday evening (after his horrible day of torture), Jason and I took Brian to a new park I found by my school. He had a blast and we got a few cute pictures I will try and post later.
I am also working on getting pictures posted from Brian's birthday party. I am also trying to get out Thank-You cards. It has been a long week with an exam and quite a few quizzes.
We are all going to go to the Fort Worth Air Show this weekend and also try to go to the Texas State Fair. I will try and get pictures posted from that too as soon as I can.
Brian weighed in at just under 21 pounds (20 lbs and 14 ounces). That put him in the 20% for his weight. His height was measured at 30.5 inches which puts him between 50% and 75%. Who would have thought he was tall and skinny?
The doctor reported that Brian's heart murmur was still present and she even felt that it had gotten louder. Most likely this means that the hole has gotten smaller. (A smaller hole creates more turbulent blood flow which presents as a louder murmur.) We never got around to going back to the cardiologist because of insurance problems, but we should be able to go before Brian turns 2 (we have to be on this insurance a year before we are covered). Anyway, it's nothing to be concerned about at the moment.
Brian got three immunizations and they had to draw his blood too to check for anemia and lead levels. He was a trooper. Cried his little heart out during the shots, but was fine as soon as everything was finished and I picked him up. We have to go back in a few weeks to get three more immunizations and we also need to get his flu shot done too. I hate doing all this to him, but I would much rather put him through this now than have him get really sick later.
Wednesday evening (after his horrible day of torture), Jason and I took Brian to a new park I found by my school. He had a blast and we got a few cute pictures I will try and post later.
I am also working on getting pictures posted from Brian's birthday party. I am also trying to get out Thank-You cards. It has been a long week with an exam and quite a few quizzes.
We are all going to go to the Fort Worth Air Show this weekend and also try to go to the Texas State Fair. I will try and get pictures posted from that too as soon as I can.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Love and Kisses
Just quick little story...
This morning after letting Brian play in his crib for about 15 minutes (his normal routine when waking up) I went and got him out. I changed his diaper and headed toward the kitchen (with Brian in my arms). On the way to the kitchen we ran into daddy and so I stopped to let Brian say good morning to Jason. While we were all three standing in the middle of the hallway Brian forcefully spit out his pacifier, made a kissey sound with his mouth, and leaned in and gave me a huge kiss! I melted! It was wonderful that he voluntarily showed his affection to me. Usually I have to ask for kisses. I ate it up. What a wonderful way to start my day!
This morning after letting Brian play in his crib for about 15 minutes (his normal routine when waking up) I went and got him out. I changed his diaper and headed toward the kitchen (with Brian in my arms). On the way to the kitchen we ran into daddy and so I stopped to let Brian say good morning to Jason. While we were all three standing in the middle of the hallway Brian forcefully spit out his pacifier, made a kissey sound with his mouth, and leaned in and gave me a huge kiss! I melted! It was wonderful that he voluntarily showed his affection to me. Usually I have to ask for kisses. I ate it up. What a wonderful way to start my day!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Walking, Talking, and Signing
So it's been quite a while since the last time I updated, but that seems to be the trend with my busy schedule. I will do my best to quickly get everything up to speed.
Brian took his first independent step on August 2. He was just over 10 months old. Within 2 short weeks he was independently taking 5 to 10 steps here and there, but still preferred crawling to walking. By the end of August Brian was walking all over the place and preferred to walk much more than crawl.
With the walking came LOTS of climbing. Brian will climb anything and everything. At about the same time, he also figured out how to open all the cabinets in the kitchen. He also loves to open and close doors around the apartment. He is too short still to reach the door-knob which is good and bad. It's good in that he cannot "escape", but it's bad because he very often closes himself into rooms and then cried until someone comes and lets him out.
Also around the beginning of August, Brian started using sign language pretty regularly. His most prominent sign is 'please'. He will sign it when he wants something, most of the time food. There was a night when it was about 15 minutes past his normal dinner time and he was whining and I asked him what he wanted and he signed 'eat' then 'please'. I was so excited!!!! He know (and uses) 'please', 'eat', 'all done', 'milk', and 'more'. He can also claps to say 'yay' and waves for both 'hello/hi' and 'bye-bye'. We are working on adding to those. Right now it is a slow process - he wants to use the same sign for everything. It won't be long.
It is amazing to me how everything seems to happen all at once. Practically overnight, Brian started communicating on a regular basis. He can already speak probably 15 to 20 words. He will bring toys to me if he wants me to help him and he will wait for me to follow him so he can show me what he wants (if he wants something). He can say (and knows what it means): mama, dada, nana, papa, bye-bye, baby, bear, duck, dog, car, moo, whoa, uh-oh, night-night, book, and several others that I can't think of right now. He also now understands and follows simple commands. I can ask him for a kiss now and he will give me a kiss - I LOVE IT! I can tell him to go get something and he will look for it and if he finds it he will get it and bring it to me. It is so fun watching him learn and communicate.
Brian is also starting to imitate behaviors. He 'talks' on his toy phone all the time and loves to give me or Jason the phone and have us talk on it too. He also knows what a brush and comb are for and tries to brush his hair and my hair. He sees Jason and I put things in the kitchen trash can, so he tries to put things in the kitchen trash can. We really have to watch him on that one. I am sure we have lost at least one pacifier that way. He also recently figured out how to work all the light switches and always wants us to pick him up so he can the lights on and off. I never know what new thing he is going to learn today.
His development is just starting to take off and I love it. I love being able to communicate with him and I love that he is learning to communicate with me instead of just crying or whining. It is so fun watching him learn new things and to see his little mind put all the pieces together. His world is just growing and growing and I am loving every second of it.
I will post details, pics, and maybe video from his first birthday party later. He also has his 1 year doctor check-up next week and I will do my best to let everyone know how that all goes.
Brian took his first independent step on August 2. He was just over 10 months old. Within 2 short weeks he was independently taking 5 to 10 steps here and there, but still preferred crawling to walking. By the end of August Brian was walking all over the place and preferred to walk much more than crawl.
With the walking came LOTS of climbing. Brian will climb anything and everything. At about the same time, he also figured out how to open all the cabinets in the kitchen. He also loves to open and close doors around the apartment. He is too short still to reach the door-knob which is good and bad. It's good in that he cannot "escape", but it's bad because he very often closes himself into rooms and then cried until someone comes and lets him out.
Also around the beginning of August, Brian started using sign language pretty regularly. His most prominent sign is 'please'. He will sign it when he wants something, most of the time food. There was a night when it was about 15 minutes past his normal dinner time and he was whining and I asked him what he wanted and he signed 'eat' then 'please'. I was so excited!!!! He know (and uses) 'please', 'eat', 'all done', 'milk', and 'more'. He can also claps to say 'yay' and waves for both 'hello/hi' and 'bye-bye'. We are working on adding to those. Right now it is a slow process - he wants to use the same sign for everything. It won't be long.
It is amazing to me how everything seems to happen all at once. Practically overnight, Brian started communicating on a regular basis. He can already speak probably 15 to 20 words. He will bring toys to me if he wants me to help him and he will wait for me to follow him so he can show me what he wants (if he wants something). He can say (and knows what it means): mama, dada, nana, papa, bye-bye, baby, bear, duck, dog, car, moo, whoa, uh-oh, night-night, book, and several others that I can't think of right now. He also now understands and follows simple commands. I can ask him for a kiss now and he will give me a kiss - I LOVE IT! I can tell him to go get something and he will look for it and if he finds it he will get it and bring it to me. It is so fun watching him learn and communicate.
Brian is also starting to imitate behaviors. He 'talks' on his toy phone all the time and loves to give me or Jason the phone and have us talk on it too. He also knows what a brush and comb are for and tries to brush his hair and my hair. He sees Jason and I put things in the kitchen trash can, so he tries to put things in the kitchen trash can. We really have to watch him on that one. I am sure we have lost at least one pacifier that way. He also recently figured out how to work all the light switches and always wants us to pick him up so he can the lights on and off. I never know what new thing he is going to learn today.
His development is just starting to take off and I love it. I love being able to communicate with him and I love that he is learning to communicate with me instead of just crying or whining. It is so fun watching him learn new things and to see his little mind put all the pieces together. His world is just growing and growing and I am loving every second of it.
I will post details, pics, and maybe video from his first birthday party later. He also has his 1 year doctor check-up next week and I will do my best to let everyone know how that all goes.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Finally...
... a new post and an update...
Well the last time I updated Brian had just started crawling. I will do my best to hit the highlights of his growth and development. He is changing so much and so fast.
He now crawls like a pro and is pulling up on everything. He will stand for a few seconds on his own, but still likes the security of something to hold onto. He will walk holding on to someone (or something), but still has not taken any independent steps.
He is into everything. He is so curious and I love watching him study things. He notices every little detail it seems like. His favorite games right now are 'hide-and-seek' and 'spin around'. In 'hide-and-seek' I will go into the next room and call his name. He will start to laugh and crawl toward me. When he gets into the room where I am I say 'boo' and he just laughs and laughs. He thinks it is great fun. For 'spin around' he sits in our small desk chair and I spin him. After I stop spinning him you can see his eyes moving back and forth from being so dizzy, but he just laughs and starts trying to spin the chair more. It's pretty funny. He is going to be a thrill seeker like his dad and me.
Brian has FINALLY started sprouting his teeth. About a week ago I was feeding him with a 'real' spoon and I heard it click in his mouth. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but then next time he took a bite I deliberately tried to click the spoon and whad-a-ya-know it clicked! I couldn't believe it. (He was almost ten months old at this point, a little later than most babies). I could feel the tooth in there, but couldn't see it. The next day, Jason felt another tooth right next to that one. They are both on the bottom in the middle. We still can't really see them unless he is screaming, but they are there. He is noticing them too and has been playing with his tongue a lot on his new teeth.
He eats anything and everything. We are slowly moving away from jar baby food into more table like foods. I haven't really found anything that he refuses to eat. He loves food. He drinks well from a sippy cup and we are also going to be going to milk soon instead of formula.
He is starting to sign. He waves 'bye-bye' and signs the sign for milk if he wants something. He also just recently began signing the sign for more. He uses it if he wants more food or if he wants me to do something more/again that I have been doing. He recognizes probably 20 signs or so and I bet it won't be long until he is using a lot more of them.
Just last week he began shaking his head 'no'. At first I was pretty sure he didn't know what it meant, but he proved me wrong. I had a bottle, a sippy cup, and a snack on the table and Brian was signing for something that was on the table. I didn't know what he wanted so I handed him the bottle - he shook his head no! I thought it was a fluke until I handed him his sippy cup and he did it again. When I handed him his snack he began signing again and got all happy. It is more of a game to him than something he uses to communicate, but he does shake his head no if we tell him 'no' about something. It is kind of cute. I am just glad he hasn't figured out that he can tell us no yet!
Brian is trying to talk. He can say ma-ma and da-da and we are pretty sure he knows what they mean. He is also saying 'dog', 'frog', duck' and 'uh-oh'. We don't know for sure if he knows what these mean, and they don't sound exactly like they are supposed to, but they are the same word every time so he is saying them.
It is really interesting to me to watch him grow. He has reached a point where he listens to everything. He listens when he hears the fire trucks outside or the big trucks. He listens to music (and dances too - he LOVES to dance). He mostly listens to words. He wants to know what every thing's name is and wants you to say it several times. I just know he is storing all this information for later when he starts talking. He is figuring out too how to problem solve. If he can't around an object or can't get to something he wants he goes at it from a different way. He is starting to interact more. He will give us a toy or put something in our lap if he wants us to do something with it. He loves to read and have favorite books (and toys too). He has his own little ideas and knows what he wants and is starting to express it. I love watching him learn and grow.
Well the last time I updated Brian had just started crawling. I will do my best to hit the highlights of his growth and development. He is changing so much and so fast.
He now crawls like a pro and is pulling up on everything. He will stand for a few seconds on his own, but still likes the security of something to hold onto. He will walk holding on to someone (or something), but still has not taken any independent steps.
He is into everything. He is so curious and I love watching him study things. He notices every little detail it seems like. His favorite games right now are 'hide-and-seek' and 'spin around'. In 'hide-and-seek' I will go into the next room and call his name. He will start to laugh and crawl toward me. When he gets into the room where I am I say 'boo' and he just laughs and laughs. He thinks it is great fun. For 'spin around' he sits in our small desk chair and I spin him. After I stop spinning him you can see his eyes moving back and forth from being so dizzy, but he just laughs and starts trying to spin the chair more. It's pretty funny. He is going to be a thrill seeker like his dad and me.
Brian has FINALLY started sprouting his teeth. About a week ago I was feeding him with a 'real' spoon and I heard it click in his mouth. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but then next time he took a bite I deliberately tried to click the spoon and whad-a-ya-know it clicked! I couldn't believe it. (He was almost ten months old at this point, a little later than most babies). I could feel the tooth in there, but couldn't see it. The next day, Jason felt another tooth right next to that one. They are both on the bottom in the middle. We still can't really see them unless he is screaming, but they are there. He is noticing them too and has been playing with his tongue a lot on his new teeth.
He eats anything and everything. We are slowly moving away from jar baby food into more table like foods. I haven't really found anything that he refuses to eat. He loves food. He drinks well from a sippy cup and we are also going to be going to milk soon instead of formula.
He is starting to sign. He waves 'bye-bye' and signs the sign for milk if he wants something. He also just recently began signing the sign for more. He uses it if he wants more food or if he wants me to do something more/again that I have been doing. He recognizes probably 20 signs or so and I bet it won't be long until he is using a lot more of them.
Just last week he began shaking his head 'no'. At first I was pretty sure he didn't know what it meant, but he proved me wrong. I had a bottle, a sippy cup, and a snack on the table and Brian was signing for something that was on the table. I didn't know what he wanted so I handed him the bottle - he shook his head no! I thought it was a fluke until I handed him his sippy cup and he did it again. When I handed him his snack he began signing again and got all happy. It is more of a game to him than something he uses to communicate, but he does shake his head no if we tell him 'no' about something. It is kind of cute. I am just glad he hasn't figured out that he can tell us no yet!
Brian is trying to talk. He can say ma-ma and da-da and we are pretty sure he knows what they mean. He is also saying 'dog', 'frog', duck' and 'uh-oh'. We don't know for sure if he knows what these mean, and they don't sound exactly like they are supposed to, but they are the same word every time so he is saying them.
It is really interesting to me to watch him grow. He has reached a point where he listens to everything. He listens when he hears the fire trucks outside or the big trucks. He listens to music (and dances too - he LOVES to dance). He mostly listens to words. He wants to know what every thing's name is and wants you to say it several times. I just know he is storing all this information for later when he starts talking. He is figuring out too how to problem solve. If he can't around an object or can't get to something he wants he goes at it from a different way. He is starting to interact more. He will give us a toy or put something in our lap if he wants us to do something with it. He loves to read and have favorite books (and toys too). He has his own little ideas and knows what he wants and is starting to express it. I love watching him learn and grow.
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