One-Year Milestones

I've been thinking about the milestones that occur around one year old, since Nick is 11 months old on Saturday. This is the list I came up with: [updates in red, since he has  now been 1 year old for two days!]

Switching to cow's milk
-----we already do half formula/half cow's milk out of necessity, with good results
-----low iron at his check-up :(, doing vitamins in his milk
Walking
-----pretty much there, posted about it previously
-----a pro, except now it's injury time
Switching to independent playtime in his room instead of his playpen?
-----I haven't made up my mind to do this quite yet
-----not going to do this until he shows me he is completely ready for it; he likes independent play in his playpen right now
One-year molars
-----please, no!
-----I don't know, he's had a cough for a month that I attributed to teething; his right incisor has popped out a little bit and I might be seeing white spots on his lower gum, too; he puts his finger all the way back in his mouth for comfort
Baby's first haircut
-----don't know why I was thinking one year here, it's whenever the parents want, I guess; posted about this already
-----had his first haircut and now he's looking shaggy again; it's gotten kind of hot with summer and I may start to agree with Erik about the buzz cut
Okay to introduce honey and citrus and possibly eggs
-----but I've already given him eggs with good results
-----we had already been doing some eggs and peanut butter with no problem; now I will think about honey graham crackers and citrus fruits--but not while his split lip is healing!
Switching to a front-facing car seat
-----thinking about putting Xander in a booster seat and Nick in Xander's convertible car seat (Nick will not overheat as quickly and may be more content in the car)
-----done; Xander loves it and Nick has become fussier--even spit up twice; we'll see what happens when we drive to Tampa later in the month and use the DVD player
One-year birthday party

-----not exactly a milestone but definitely an event in the parents' lives; we do this party game at one year where we lay down a pencil, paintbrush, ball, tool, and maybe a doll and an animal, too...and let the baby loose to see what he picks up first, which "predicts" his future occupation
-----we forgot to do the game, though he loved the balloon and all his toys (bouncy ball, foam letters and numbers, stuffed knit penguin, plastic farm animals, musical book, interesting cards); will do the game sometime soon if I remember


Life has gotten more hectic again. It was already a bit challenging with a baby and a preschooler; now they are both old enough to give me more of a run for my money. I will go Cathy on you and say "Aaaaacckkkkk!" until further notice.

Appreciation

I'm still feeling a little weak today from whatever my illness was, but getting better all the time. When 11:30 rolled around and lunch was over, I decided I would rather face doing errands with the boys than try to entertain them at home, indoors. It has gotten too hot to have them outside at noon. I had Nick out in the back yard for under five minutes yesterday and he was already sweating. He gulped down a lot of water and later I saw that he had a heat rash. Today he sported a onesie and he might do the same for bedtime. Xander's in the tank and shorts I laid out for him instead of those hot dinosaur pajamas he's been choosing and declining to take off. Time for short-sleeved pajamas, poor red-cheeked Xander!

So we got some essentials at the grocery store - coffee, diapers, toilet paper, and toothbrush, in order of importance - and picked up treats for Xander's teacher's Teacher Appreciation gift. Apparently, according to a blogger who is incredibly on top of holidays, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Xander really does appreciate his teacher, Ms. Nokosha, and he is old enough to be super excited about giving his teacher a gift. Even though he only sees her one morning a week. So why not? We kept the cost down thanks to some things we had at home and a really great gift idea from the same blogger (Secrets of a Super Mommy). If you look at her blog, do NOT spend too much time there. I find a peak a week is enough. Anything more and I feel like exploding from the anxiety of not keeping up with fun holidays - let alone keeping up with someone like her! Ridiculous! Yet fascinating! And she really gives people some awesome ideas. I'm just saying, be careful when you view it.

We are using her idea of a Movie Night gift. We already had a small plastic popcorn holder, which I filled with a movie candy box of Starburst, a single serving microwave popcorn, a small cylinder of M&Ms which Xander picked out all by himself, and an envelope with a Redbox logo glued on it that holds three dollars. This is of course swiped straight from Super Mommy's post. Then we have a 20-oz. Sprite (because there was a sale at Blockbuster where we bought this stuff) and a note attached to it with a gold thread tied in a bow. The only thing I changed from Super Mommy's idea (other than the cuteness factor - mine is always going to be way down there) was the size of the soda, the type of ribbon, and a couple things about the note. The words are pretty much straight from the blog post: "Superman, Batman, pick one to see. You're a Super Hero to me! I'm "soda"lighted you're my teacher." I added Ms. Nokosha on top and Xander wrote his X at the bottom. Then I cut out the words in a word balloon comic-book style. My one splash of creativity. We have yet to give it to her, so we'll see how it's received, but Xander will definitely enjoy giving it to her. I like how he was so excited to go shopping for her treats even though there was no mention of anything for him. Our Teacher Appreciation gift cost us $8.

While we were out, he got some surprise treats. He remembered to correctly identify a quarter, so I gave him one to put in a gum vending machine. He had his first chew of gum ever! I gave him instructions and he did fine with it. It is now in the trash where it should be. :) While we were at Blockbuster, I let him choose the free rental we get from returning one of our online subscription rentals to the store. With a little help from me, he chose Night at the Museum. He saw and loved the sequel during Mom's visit when she recommended it. I showed him where the movie was on the shelf and he said, "That was just what I was thinking of!!" Ahh, the magic of Mommy-mind-reading. The third treat of the day was when I said he could watch it in his room, on the portable DVD player, for rest time. I'll post a picture of him enjoying this heady treat.

It's so interesting to me that his sense of humor is maturing bit by bit. He thought the scene of Ben Stiller's character singing in to the museum's sound system was really funny. Before it was usually him fake-laughing along with the adults whenever we laughed at something, but this was something he decided was funny all on his own.

We finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was perfectly on his level. I read a list somewhere that said that was a grades 2-7 book, so I looked at the other books listed at that age level. For our next chapter book, I gave him a choice between Sir Pants and Sir Reddy (the one I wrote with him and Mom illustrated), The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, and Prince Caspian. He chose Sir Pants and Sir Reddy. Next time I may add Stuart Little to the choices. I know there are still some fantastic picture books out there for his level, so maybe we will save chapter books for bedtime and picture books for before rest time, or vice versa. Right now he is also enjoying How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? and the book I picked out for Nick, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? so his range of book interests is very wide.

As for Nick, he is much happier these days. Instead of screaming and crying out in frustration, he is down to one short yell before he starts to help himself out. He can pull himself up and walk a little ways with no problem. Like Erik and I suspected, this skill has almost eliminated his discontent.

Baby's First Haircut

During Nick's bath this evening I snipped some hair for his first haircut ever. It was as piecemeal a job as you would expect from someone working solo on a pre-toddler in a bathtub, and I'm sure his dad will help me finish the job sometime soon. But it's cute. We did Xander's first haircut when he was 10 months old and used the clippers. He was a mini blonde G.I. Joe. Nick still has a little baby curl when his hair's wet, so mama's happy.

Erik, sorry I didn't wait for you if you wanted to be part of the first haircut. Nick took naps really early today, so I found myself with a three-hour stretch to bedtime and most of the usual things done. :-0

That last photo is intriguing, right? It's just fast hands in front of a wavy plastic strap of a lullaby music box. This is by far the best photograph I've gotten of Nick in a long time using the laptop.

Xander the paleontologist-to-be is watching a dinosaur special on TV.

Ambitions

Nick has been able to take one step on his own for a while now. Around Friday he started taking three steps in a row. By Sunday, he took six steps in a row, and then had tons of fun practicing all day long. He should be walking around by himself very soon.

He is four days away from being 11 months old, so he did reach this milestone before Xander. I wondered if he would or not. He seemed to have the skills sooner than Xander did, but he's more cautious than Xander was, so he wasn't in a hurry to move on to walking by himself. Xander started walking at 11 months--I don't remember what part of the month it was. ;)

In the same time frame, Xander decided he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up. His aunt Leslie got into a conversation with him that prompted his new idea. Later when we went to visit friends, he told them his ambition. They even understood him after only two tries.

Water Table

What We Do With Ourselves

We are deep into the hectic phase with Nick. I remember this in Xander, too. He had a really easy period around 3 and 4 months old; other than that, Year 1 and half of Year 2 were just busy and breathless. I am having flashbacks to all that now. The good news for me is that the first year is almost over. Soon he will be walking (maybe? he has all the skills but hesitates to do it on his own) and even though that is exhausting, it will be exciting.

Nick is also going through a want-Mommy, want-Daddy, want-Xander phase. Everyone else makes him a little leery these days. Today he actually had fun playing with toys...because he was sitting on my lap. I believe he even said "dog" several times as we picked up his Little People dog! The other things that have made him happy in this fussy, screamy time are playing with Daddy, watching/helping Daddy play guitar, listening to music in general, and having Xander carry him or take him down the slide. (I "help" by doing the almost all of the holding during these activities, and had a little talk with Xander about what he cannot do with Nick by himself.)

This afternoon, Xander told me he was tired and needed to go to sleep. So I carried him to bed and he is sleeping. This is about the third time in his life he has EVER told me or admitted to me that he was tired. I think it's a sign of maturity. :)

We tried to go on a little walk before nap. I pushed Nick in the umbrella stroller and Xander took his scooter. Xander had to get used to steering the scooter and got tired out within a quarter of a block because of all the energy he used to do the scooting. He just needs practice. Luckily we left it on a positive note. Nick was jealous of the scooter, meanwhile, and tried to fall out of his stroller. We stopped in at a neighbor's house, the older couple a few houses down, when she flagged us down. They really love seeing the kids, especially the baby. Nick cried when she wanted to hold him and the rest of the time went after their breakables. Xander showed off a little bit, sensing he had a friendly audience. I think the couple enjoyed it, though. They say hardly any of the neighbors even say hello.

Speaking of neighbors, we also went across the street and played with the just-3-year-old Mason and his mom last week. We'll probably do the same this week. It's so convenient and at this time of year we can just play outside. (Their house smells plastered with cigarette smoke.) I can't remember Mason's mom's name right now but she was very pleasant and put out baby toys and blanket for Nick. Which he got dirty and she insisted on cleaning up for us when we left.

Dinosaur Details

I CANNOT STOP WITH THIS! I am amused to no end. Xander brought out a pair of dinosaur pajamas that he's been wearing for over a year. The shirt shows two dinosaurs facing off--a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Stegosaurus.

Xander asked, "Is that a Hollowed Rex?"

I said, "It's a T. Rex, isn't it?"

He said, "But a Stegosaurus can't fight a Tyrannosaurus. Only a Allosaurus."

I said, "Well, just because you haven't seen it in a picture doesn't mean it didn't happen."

He said, "Triceratops can. A orange Triceratops attack a blue Tyrannosaurus Rex. His head is killed. Is it killed?"

He's on a new kick where he tells me something and then asks me to confirm it. "Probably" or "I'm sure you're right" or "I don't know" just do not cut it as responses around here.