Sad, Tiny Little Peanut

Yesterday we took Laura in for her 15 month visit. Mom had HIGH hopes that she was going to be at the 20 lb. mark FINALLY. I generally believe our home scale to be about 5 lbs. inaccurate (allowing me to pretend that I am 5 lbs. less than I really am), and Laura was at about 18 lbs. the other day at home.

Argggh, but no. Laura gets on the scale and the nurse says, "Eighteen pounds." (On the plus side, home scale = accurate) Let's review her last few visits:

February 1: 17 lb. 6 oz.

April 5: 17 lb. 8 oz.

April 20: 18 lb.

July 14: 18 lb.

At this point, she's off the chart (in the negative way) for weight percentile. I feed her stuff all the time, and she's definitely keeping Nabisco and Keebler in business, but the fact is she eats like a bird. The doctor wasn't concerned because she is continuing to grow height-wise and says it's normal for kids not to eat a lot at this age. Although, she did say she might always be kind of a small gal. (Lexi, you can counsel her in the event Laura feels distress over this someday) Any tricks for baby weight gain?! I think we will be trying a little Ovaltine or Carnation Instant Breakfast.

Plus she was the saddest girl ever with the shots this time. Usually she's fine by the time we get out to the parking lot, but this time I had to listen to the hiccupy breathing kids do when they're trying to calm down from sobbing - the entire way home. And then when we got home we had the sad, sad, crying all over again for dad. Oh, I felt so bad for her. We had to do a 4am snuggle and Tylenol hit as well...this morning at 6:50 I wake up to hear her over the monitor, "Num num num." I go in to get her up and she's pointing at the Tylenol (loves it).

Enjoy this picture of the peanut at a happier point in the summer:

Laura is 1 Year + 3 Months!

Laura spent most of her 15th month at Grandma Barb's and Grandpa Glenn's, and had a fine time there soaking up attention from them and Uncle Matt, as well as sneaking into neighbor's yards to enjoy their fun toys! Now we are in our new house and settling in; I think Laura is starting to get used to our new place.

Likes: Airplanes (see her uncle's post below), walking around in bigger houses, pulling flowers off mom's plants, Elmo (calls him Mel-mo), birds, lawnmowers, playing outside/swinging, spitting out milk and juice/throwing food for fun, crackers, sharing morning cereal with someone, wind chimes on Grandma's porch, bubbles, playing with water, her newly rediscovered baby swing and bumbo seat, her baby, pacifiers, ice cream, hiding behind furniture or around corners

Dislikes: Laying still for diaper changes, people telling her "no" or taking things away from her, most foods that are not in the cracker/cereal/bread group (argh, mom is distressed about this), eating substantial meals, mom or dad leaving her, riding in the car

Any new tricks? Laura has said the following new words/sounds but chooses to use them very selectively ("eh eh" whiny sound and pointing is still the preferred method)...Papa (for Papa George), bubbles, Elmo (Mel-mo), cracker (says tah-tah), ball, no (but comes out like the German, nein), Bucky (yes, sorry Gophers...that is for Bucky Badger, she loves him!), puppy, woof, meow, moo, neigh, oo oo ahh (monkey). She's starting to play on her own a little bit with toys, and at grandma and grandpa's house she would "relax" and lie down on a pillow with her arms behind her head. Laura is starting to try and run; she will rock and pat her baby, and she does gymnastic "tricks."















She is endlessly entertaining to us and we love her! Mom also loves being home for the summer and taking care of Laura, although we are sad that she is done at Kimm's for daycare. That is a tough transition and now we have to find new daycare at our new place - how will we ever get as lucky a second time picking someone new? Also Laura and I have been attending a summer ECFE class; I think that will need its own post. I've been learning some really interesting things about her in this class!!

We can't complain, baby hear plane.

Babies.

They can't do much for themselves can they? They can't feed themselves, dress themselves, drive a car, pay the bills or even use the toilet. Sometimes when adults are especially incapable people will say they are "helpless as a baby."

As such it comes as no surprise that there are many day to day things that you and I can do much better than Baby Laura.

But one thing that Laura can do better than any other living adult I know, is detect airplanes.

On Father's Day, myself and my beloved domestic partner Kaitlin went down to Eagan to hang out with the family...and of course with Baby Laura. During the course our visit, I daresay Laura detected at least 17 airplanes. When she heard one, she would raise her eyebrows, declare "Oooh," leave her mouth in the shape of "Oooh," and make "touchdown" with her arms. She would then scan the sky to try and find the plane and finally look to everyone else to make sure that we too were aware of the plane.

This became even more impressive when I realized that she was indicating "airplane" before any of the adults had even realized there was a plane overhead. It's true that when you live in Eagan you get desensitized to the sound, but Kaitlin and I don't and she still caught them before we did. This to me indicates two things:

1. Adults will tune out outside sounds when they are focused on something else and as a result can be caught unaware of what's really going on around them.

2. Laura can probably hear better than we can. Possibly many of her senses and reactions are sharper than ours because they are all brand new.

Isn't that cool? I think so. I'd really like to experience my current existence with the senses of a 1 year old.

Oooh.

Why No Posts?

Why haven't we posted in awhile?
The best way to describe our life right now is to say that we are in transition. At least for me, that makes things chaotic.

In April, we put our townhouse up for sale and it actual sold in 20 days! Sure, we took a beating in the sales price but an upgrade was needed.

Soon after "the sale," Mom and I looked for two weeks for a new single-family home in the Prior Lake/Savage school district. Why Prior Lake? This was a tough decision. We couldn't look past the elimination of Mom's commute and Laura growing up through the same school system as Mom.

Mixed during the new home-looking, I went on a work trip for a week and ran the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. Meanwhile, Mom took care of Laura, made sure the house was clean for each showing, and focused on wrapping up the school year.

A few weeks ago, we found our new home and will move in on June 21st. Where are we now? We are living at Grandma Barb and Grandpa Glenn's house. They have been great hosts and in turn have had plenty of "Laura-time."

As soon as we are all moved in, we can get back to this blog!

1 yr. + 2 mos.

Height:

Weight:

Likes: Crackers, pacifiers, everyone paying attention to her at grandma and grandpa's house, her new backyard swing and blow-up pool, screaming, walking everywhere (or just in circles around the house), books/magnets/photos of people or animals with sunglasses on, corn on the cob (but off the cob)



Dislikes: Unfamiliar guys, grass, meat, being denied snacks


Any new tricks? Um, yeah. Month 14 was like a new trick every day. She wants to walk all over the place now and is getting proficient at making U-turns and walking with objects in her hands. She knows the following body parts: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tummy. Laura can say mama, daddy, bapa (grandpa/apple), "dis" and "dat" which she says when she points at things. She is finally starting to use the sign language we've been doing since she was about 8 months old - eat, all done, more - and has her own signs for glasses/sunglasses (tap top of head where mom wears hers) and outside. When we ask her what a chicken says, she quietly whispers "ba ba ba" to herself for "bock bock bock."

Walk'n

If we don't watch or beg Laura to walk, she will. A couple days ago, our daycare provider said that Laura walked across the room. Funny, she never did that at home. The next day, she did it again at daycare. We were told that if you don't make a big deal out of walking, she will try to do it.

Last night, we put that theory to the test. Mom and I were talking in the living room while Laura played by the couch. We kept our conversation going but slowly moved our eyes toward her. Just enough were she didn't think we were watching. Sure enough, the little bugger stood up and took a few steps!

Sneaky girl!

1 year + 1 mo.

Whew! This has been a crazy month and I have a feeling that May is going to one-up April in the busy factor. Luckily Laura has been handling our wild schedule all right. Our home has been on the market for a month and we have a positive deal in the works but I don't want to jinx anything by giving more details! Needless to say, attempting to keep a house perfectly clean and being ready to up and leave at the drop of a hat for showings does not work easily with a one-year-old.

Laura is thinking so hard every day about life and figuring things out; you can just see her little brain working and it is so interesting. She continues to be playful and funny. Her communication skills are improving but she's only increasing her "nonsense words" vocabulary right now. She is more confident on 2 legs - not afraid to stand on her own but only likes walking with us or her "car."

Height:

Weight: Don't even ask. When I put her on our scale at home I swear she still hasn't hit 18 lbs. yet.

Likes: pulling books off the shelves, going outside, crackers, peas, anything with spaghetti sauce on it, throwing things, reading stories, sunglasses/glasses - on other people, opening and closing doors, animals, burping (she laughs at herself), eating snacks, pacifiers, swinging at the park, sitting underneath the end table, Elmo cd and open-the-flap books

Dislikes: people leaving, strangers, laying still for diaper changes (super annoying)

Any new tricks? Lots - knows about noses & can point to them, signs for "hat" and "sunglasses on head", uses "eat" sign instead of "milk" sign now when she wants food, makes cow and monkey sounds, says "doh, doh, doh" (not sure what this means yet), using "da da" more frequently, can squat to pick up objects and stand back up, constantly pointing at things wanting to know what they are, offering to share a snack and pulling it away at the last second to put it in her mouth

Twins Game Recap!

The Main Entrance to Target Field

The view of downtown Minneapolis from our seats

Mom posing with her Twins garb

Dad posing sans Twins garb

Dad thinking about a particular $7.50 beverage

Mom and Dad standing in the sun

Grandma and Grandpa relaxed in their upper, upper deck seats

Mom went to field level during batting practice far from any of Nick Punto's hits.

A picture from first base line looking toward left-center field

Just a couple of specs from this distance!

Mom snuck up to the Twins dugout looking for Cuddyer

The Opening Day sign

Mom's Twins boyfriend being introduced

A gigantic flag unfurled for the National Anthem

Twins take the field!

Baby Jesus on first base and Morneau-for-four batting

Jason Kubel is the first player to hit a home run

The sign lit up (but I missed it) after Jason Kubel's homerun

Dad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa after a Twins victory

Down at field level after the game

Watched Bert do the post game show. I should circle you.

One final picture to remember this fun, memorable, historic event!

Twins Home Opener!

Celebrating the Opening of Target Field

Little Laura is donning a Michael Cuddyer shirt given to her from Grandma Barb. April 12 is Twins' day and Laura is sporting Mom's favorite Twins player.

This afternoon, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa B are going to the 2010 Twins home opener. Laura, this is not your typical home opener. No, we are going to the first official game at the new Target Field. The first time any of us will experience a Major League Baseball game without of roof over our heads! By the time you read this, the Metrodome will be a thing of the past.

This very fortunate opportunity could not be possible if it weren't for Great Auntie Sue and Uncle Scott. They have been on vacation the past two weeks and can not make it to the game tonight. Somehow the tickets landed in our lap!?! "Thank you," from all of us.

Easter and Other Business

Easter

We had a busy Easter weekend, with trips between our house and the grandparents' homes, plus a birthday party to attend for cousin Lilly! Laura was thrilled to see some kids again; I think she was missing her buddies after a week off of daycare. Laura is a good guest once she arrives, but the car trips are getting a little dicey now that she has opinions (such as, "I don't want to sit in this car seat for 45 minutes."). She tried ice cream for the first time this weekend - yum! She makes the "num num" sound when she eats it. The Easter Bunny was very nice to Laura and she had a pretty Easter dress to wear.

Smarty Pants

I had a conversation regarding Laura at Lilly's party with another of her cousins who is around kindergarten age.

Cousin: Is she smart yet?

Me: Well, she's getting smarter every day because she keeps learning new things.

Cousin: Oh. [Thinking] So she's going to be smarter tomorrow than she is right now.

And it's true! It is crazy because it seems like she is soaking up new things so fast. I love that we can look at her face and practically see the wheels turning in her head. Just in the last week, she holds her hand up to her ear like a phone whenever she hears the phone ringing. She makes a car noise whenever she sees vehicles or other machines that make noise/have wheels (including pointing at wheelchairs in church on Easter and making the car noise). Whenever she sees me pull together a purse, diaper bag, or coat she starts waving bye bye. It's so funny and we are getting a lot of amusement out of this at home.

Other Business

At the doctor's office today, we found out Laura has gained exactly 4 ounces in three months. Arggh, we had high hopes she would have gained some weight. This drops her to something like the 3rd percentile for weight. Our doctor was not nervous since her height is increasing, but it's something we'll watch. Dad thinks that now Mom can ease up on her restrictive cracker eating rules and Laura can have more than 2 crackers at a snacktime! She is a decent eater though so it's all a little perplexing. And the shots were a whole different ballgame this visit than they were at any previous one - Laura was mad, mad, mad and not afraid to let us know.

Here's Laura on a happier day enjoying a ride in the swing: