Category: Uncategorized

  • Jacob pulls himself up and out of the tub and other updates

    Yesterday Jacob pulled himself up while inside the tub bathing and tossed himself over the side on to the floor as I narrowly missed catching him.  That was a fine time to learn to pull himself up. 

    Today he pulled himself up on the coffee table.  He is cruising side to side better. 

    Today while I was on the roof washing the siding he clapped his hands together telling me "More" – meaning "Dad, I want some food.  Will doing this sign language help get some food?" 

    He tries to say "All done."  He has a nice Chicago accent with a drawl of an a sound. 

    Ryan to us at breakfast when the babysitter put him down to sleep, "You guys were gone a long time." 

    When I went into his room he woke up one night, "Fanny the fox was already sleeping" meaning he was projecting his own sleep on to the stuffed animal.   

    Similarly, he said tonight, "I am not sure what to do tonight.  I guess I will do whatever Brachiosaurus wants to do." 

    After sleeping past 8 am for the first time ever and contemplating his digital clock, "Where did the seven go?"

    When he gets in trouble for say knocking Jacob over taking a toy from him, Ryan has been exclaiming non sequiturs like, "No one knows my name" or "I'm not a good singer anymore" or "I'm not a good hitter anymore."  We have tried to psychoanalyze and probe whether there is some substance behind these expressions of inadequacy / self-doubt but at this point we are chalking them up to being poorly articulated expressions of remorse for being caught doing something wrong. 

    Ryan wore his knee pads (the biggest accomplishment) and learned to ride his two-wheeler bike with training wheels down the driveway.  He also with my spotting/gently pushing rode the bike for 10 minutes in a row yesterday. 

    We have new sleep schedule (i.e. we are recommitted to it). 

    Both wake up 7:00 am
    Jacob nap 9:00 am
    Both nap 1:00 pm .  Ryan gets woken up at 3:00 pm.
    Bedtime 8:00 pm

    Of course it is never that simple but that is the idea. 

    Ryan still can't put on his underwear and shorts or socks and shoes
    though he can take them all off.  That should probably be pursued soon.
      

    Amy has Jacob weaned down (skipping the dinner nursing) to just wake up, lunch and bedtime.  Lunch is the next to be eliminated. 

    Ryan loves red raspberries (and blueberries if they are sweet).  They both like Life and Shredded Oats cereal.  Jacob loves cheese.  They both like meat (chicken and steak).  Ryan also loves peanuts and cashews.  Ryan likes baby carrots.  Jacob will eat broccoli.  Jacob tosses things he doesn't like overboard. Both will eat sliced cucumbers.  They both eat pita.  Ryan and Jacob love
    yogurt – why not with all the sugar is what I say.  Jacob can eat a
    whole meal by himself but he still likes baby food served up on a spoon.  Ryan loves to
    dip everything – ranch dressing and BBQ sauce and syrup being the most
    frequent.  Of course peanut butter and honey on multigrain bread is a favorite for both boys, we try not to have it everyday at lunch.  Jake loves whole milk (cold) in a sippy. 

    We didn't know you were supposed to teach kids to drink out of cup without a lid but apparently it is better for their mouth development to do so thus both Ryan (3) and Jacob (11 mos) are on the cup regimen.  Jacob can do it (even one-handed) in his high chair though he is sloppy so we take the cup when he has had a few sips. Plus, he ends up burping a lot later.  Ryan is worried about spilling on the carpet, "It will make a stain!"  he says (which causes Amy to glare at me that Ryan knows this).  Ryan openly wonders what it would be like to pour it over Jacob's head. 

  • But we need to practice!

    Ryan grabbing Jacob's feet as Jacob tries to crawl away: 
    Me: Ryan, we do not touch people who do not want to be touched. 
    Ryan: But we need to practice!

    Ryan kneeling with his face to the ground: 
    Amy: You need to go to the bathroom. 
    Ryan: But I am praying to God! 

    Ryan on seeing lots of toy tanks at a friend's house: 
    Ryan: Brian Williams on Nightly News has a matching set of army tanks.  But he only has four or five. 

    Jacob started cruising tonight.  

  • Jacob crawled around 11 months

    Jacob has started crawling in the last week.  He turned 11 months yesterday.  He had been scooting on his bum for a while but then started crawling more and more at Miracle Camp.  See my mom's explanation about her breaking her femur on the blob at her post Busted

    Jacob is also saying "all done" a little but it isn't very clear.  He is also starting to point a little.  I think now is the time we should probably start working on the sign language. 

    We also got a lot of clothes from Dan and Kim's boys Andrew and Kyle, which we sorted out and put away yesterday.  We also put all of the baby stuff in the crawl space (jolly jumper, baby seat, baby tubs, baby island/exer-saucer, pack 'n' play change table, bottles).  Jacob never drank from a bottle.  He just went from nursing (which he is still doing) to sippy cups. 

    Ryan continues to say interesting things.  Of course I forget them if I don't write them down immediately but he said this morning that he was setting up "barricades."  His l's aren't pronounced all that well – more like w's.  "Wook at that!" is a common phrase.  I don't know anything about basic speech therapy to work on that.  We'll see. 

    Jacob is crawling around now following Ryan as he plays with toys, which of course makes Ryan frustrated.  Every time Ryan goes to the bathroom or sits at the table he frets about what Jacob might be doing to the toys.  He has taken to hoarding and hiding, which we are trying to stem. 

    Ryan really likes jumping on the bed but my brother's root canal as a kid are causing me to start to want to limit that. 

    Our neighbors gave Ryan a bike with training wheels and then yesterday knee pads, elbow pads, a helmet and gloves.  He still prefers his big wheel but he is trying the bike a little. 

    At our time at Miracle Camp, Ryan grew to "love golf."  He goes and puts the ball an inch from the hole and then knocks it in.  Almost all holes in one for him.  There is no convincing him to take a tee shot. 

    Ryan also went tubing with me once at about 1 mile per hour.  But most of the time at Miracle Camp, he of course just played in the sand.  There is a song called "Tropical Sand" on our Sandra Boynton Rhinoceros Tap: 15 Seriously Silly Songs (Book & CD), which says,

    "I got the sand in my toes and the sand in my nose, the sand in my ears and the sand in my clothes.  I got the sand in my hair and the sand in my face.  I think I got the sand most ev'ry place."

    This song is often appropriate at our house. 

    In other news:
    We enjoyed watching bits and pieces of the Olympics and watching the online highlights.  I am hoping Barack Obama picks Tim Kaine as his running mate.  John Edwards admitted an affair.  Russian invaded Georgia but say they are going to return.  My courses begin a week from tomorrow.  I need to review my German and I have a bunch of projects around the house I would like to do.  Amy is gearing up for the start of children's ministry this fall at the church.