Another Day at the Playground

Today was another unseasonably warm day--they said on the news this morning that it was supposed to be 65 and partly cloudy. I heard the 65 (Wow!) and partly cloudy (Yay!) parts and must have missed the part about it being windy/breezy and there being a chance of rain. We still went and were fine in our light jackets, but we did get sprinkled on a few times (which I'm not complaining about--it was fun playing in the rain!). Lewis didn't seem to mind one bit.

 Roar!!!

1) These are awesomely cute dinosaur pajamas Aunt Adie and Uncle Ben got for him that I haven't taken a picture of yet, and 2) they remind me of naps which reminds me that we are finally back on schedule with sleeping. He had some earlier-than-normal-morning-awakenings (5am), later-than-normal-naps, and not-as-long-as-normal-naps at the end of last week and into the weekend, and by yesterday he, Kevin, and I were all struggling after he awoke at 5am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Every other morning he's gone back down after I nursed him, but yesterday he was mad so we all got up. Luckily today he slept until almost 7am and took two of his best naps ever. Hopefully we're back on track.

And now, to the park!

 Having so much fun...

 Until I realized that the tube ends/drops off! Kerplunk.

Luckily he was unaffected by the faceplant.

 Such a big boy. :)

Seriously big boy. And so brave! He climbed the steps/platforms to the top of the main structure again, and I usually pick him up at the top and put his butt on the slide and let him go down. Welllll, instead, when he got to the top platform, he just kept going towards the slides. He crawled right on, face first, and down he went! It all happened so quickly!

 Wild Man!

Hmmm, that was fun. I think I'll do it again!

We went back around so that I could try to video him climbing to the top, but halfway up is when it started to rain. And then he seemed like he was going to charge me (via a step down that he isn't at all skilled at), so the video got cut short. 

Starting Him Early, Silly Dogs, and First Playdate

These are just a few pictures from over the weekend. We stayed around the house mostly but Kevin's parents did come over to babysit on Saturday for a few hours (thanks, J&S) so that we could go out to lunch and to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. 

First, Kevin was sweeping dog hair, and Lewis tried to 'help' by snatching the dustpan when Kevin put it down. One day, we'll have to use this interest in the dustpan to our advantage and put him to work on the ongoing and neverending Dog Hair Eradication Project.

  So helpful. :)

And here, Kevin captured Lewis' new CHEESE face and motion. He puts his whole body into it, while walking, eating, bathing, getting his diaper changed, etc. He just stops mid-action and throws his head back and grins and chuckles to himself. He's a nut.

And a few pictures of the dogs, being their weird selves. We have rearranged the furniture so that the front windows are semi-barricaded in order to keep the dogs away from the front windows some. Reason #2 is to provide a little buffered area out of Lewis' reach to keep the laptop, a bowl of cereal, cups of coffee, etc. 

The dogs, of course, have found ways to still look out to see/bark at the mailman, other dogs walking by, etc. Here are just a few of their latest smooth moves.

 The Half On/Half Off

Hattie usually sneaks down into that little piece of floor space, but Peter is apparently too big to go all the way. :)

This is Peter's 'usual' spot, atop the chair cushions. He'll pull the blinds back with his snout and then Hattie fills in below in that spot I mentioned above (as noted by the obscene amount of black dog hair on the side of the chair--oops, we live in filth). :)

Speaking of Queen Hattie...

Atop her throne (on top of the back of the couch)

She posed/looked straight on at the camera! She's never done that before, my sweet girl. Usually she turns to the side when I try to take a picture of her. Emily, you'll appreciate this: She had a gnarly, thick whisker that was sticking off her muzzle (literally) 6 inches the other day, so I had to attend to that. I thought about plucking it, but I decided to just trim it in half so that it was the same length as the rest of her beard (in case it served a purpose i.e. a navigational tool...don't cat whiskers do that? Or am I thinking of a rabbit?).

I guess we had our first official playdate last week! My friend Rachel came over with her son Abram, and I forgot to take any pictures until the very end and didn't get any of them together. However, here is Abram relaxing on his mom at the end of a fun couple of hours:

Being a kid is exhausting. :)

They played very well together (and it was great catching up with Rachel), and we look forward to the next time!

Oops, and here is a video from the playground early last week of Lewis' much-improved walking skills. He'll be driving before we know it. :)

Toy Storage, the Park with Papa, and a Bit of Trickery

In scouring Pinterest and other blogs for good age-appropriate activity ideas, a friend recommended How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way (Seldin), so I ordered a copy for Lew as one of his birthday presents and have started flipping through it. One of the things it touched on was providing child-level open storage for toys so that things have a place to be picked from and put away. 


It dawned on me that we just happen to have two bookshelves with the bottom two levels of cubes empty (to keep Lewis away from our books), so this was an easy, duh-that's-much-better-than-throwing-all-the-toys-into-a-cluttered-bin, task. It makes it easier for me, too, to tidy up after he plays because it feels like things have a 'place' to belong (and eventually Lewis will be able to do the tidying up himself). And anyone who knows me knows that I appreciate when things have places. :)


So here is our first attempt at incorporating some Montessori into our lives. I tried to keep the heavier items on the bottom level and lighter stuff up top:

 The dogs seem to like the openness of it, too. It allows for better sniffage. 

 I caught Hattie (twice) cruising along the shelves and trying to snatch this orangutan from Uncle Dave and Cookie Monster from Kevin, so I've since slid them back to the back of the cube. While I do let Lewis play with some of the dogs' forgotten toys, I don't want Hattie to rip apart Lewis' stuffed animals.

Lewis and Kevin went to the park the other day (must have been Sunday?), and here are a few pictures. We probably have 10+ pictures of Lew swinging on these same swings, but he loves it! So here's another. :)

  "Now you listen here...this is the situation."

I included this one because I think it reminded me that he's started talking with his hands (gesticulating, not to be confused with genuflecting [which I kept saying incorrectly] which is the deep knee bend you're supposed to do at the altar at church) the past few days. Not 'talking' I guess, but expressing himself. One hand will get going like a little old Italian grandmother or something. It's pretty cute.

And, lastly, I found this remote control for him at Goodwill the other day. He is constantly grabbing our real remote and putting it in his mouth (and almost breaking it as Kate and I discovered last week). A friend of mine had mentioned getting one for her son around this age, so I've been on the lookout. 

Pretty similar! Good job, Sesame Street design team!

Hopefully he likes his remote as well as he likes the real one.

Just a Catch-Up

This is just a catch-up post with pictures from the past week.

Here is Kevin Lewis (I thought it looks like such a Kevin expression) the other day. The drum set and dog bed are there to keep him from getting to the cables (the ones he is holding in his left hand). Our cable runs from the cable box (in the upper left corner) through that little closet along the right side. He crawls under the drums and (obviously) can stand up behind them now. I guess we'll need to find a way to rearrange things so the cables are less of an issue. Somehow, I think he'll still find a way to get to them.

Oh, and I found his BabyLegs the other day! I'd bought a few pairs on clearance last year, Emily had bought him a pair, and I'd made 4-5 pairs, and they'd kind of been forgotten in his bottom drawer until now (I thought of them early on but they were too big then). Our basement is (as anyone who has ever slept down there knows) a bit colder than the rest of our house, so I'm thinking these will be great for when we're playing down there pants-less (as he is most of the time) and for naptime (so he doesn't have to sleep in bulky jeans or khakis).


While trying to get him ready to go out the other day, I couldn't find one of his shoes. I'd let him down to play in his room while I was putting laundry away, so I figured he must have moved it. After a few minutes of searching the likely places, I looked in the diaper pail, and bingo.

He's been doing this--putting things into things--lately. Like he'll put a small toy (like a Mega Block) into a plastic cup and carry it around, eventually dumping it out. Then repeating. I should have known to check the diaper pail first because his favorite thing to do is close and open the lid (it's similar to one of his toys).


These next few pictures we took for Auntie Em of him wearing his vest for the first time! It's very warm and very cute. And apparently turns him into an ornery-faced monster.

Stinker Face

Yesterday afternoon, Kevin, Lewis and I went back out to the petting zoo. It was supposed to be in the low 40s, but when we got out of the car, there were ever-the-slightest bits of snow falling and it was cold! So we saw the animals, handed out a bag of carrots, and headed back home. I'm glad Kevin got to see the animals, though--there were a few new ones who I didn't see last time. Two donkeys, an additional zebra (so two total), another cow/bull type, and we were able to see one of the camels a little bit more up close then last time. He/she was still behind a few gates, but it was still pretty neat.  

Hello.

Zebras and Goats

 This cow/bull/whatever-it-is was in with the Scottish Highland Bull.

So that's what we've been up to this past week or so. I'm starting to work out the details of his first birthday party now (just a small family gathering), which is just a few weeks away! We're working on the menu, and I have a few decorations and a gift to make, so I should be staying busy during naptimes between now and the big day!

A Quote

I came across this a few weeks ago and just wanted to post:

If I had my child to raise all over again,

I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.

I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.

I would do less correcting and more connecting.

I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.

I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.

I'd do more hugging and less tugging.

- Diane Looman


I, of course, like the part about running through more fields and gazing at more stars. And just taking a step back, in general.

Eleven Months Old

Eleven Months Old

His stats (from BabyCenter):


Height: 31 inches (between 75th and 90th percentiles)
Weight: 24 pounds (between 50th and 75th percentiles)
Head Size: 19.5 inches (above 95th percentile)


So he stayed the same on head size and height and dropped a pound this month. It must be all of the walking/running he's been doing lately!


What he is doing this month:

• He walks! He still falls, but he is getting more coordinated and is able to 'correct' himself more and more. In correcting himself, he sometimes breaks out into almost a run. A very wobbly and funny-looking run.
• He seems to be 'getting' his toys more lately and is figuring out how they work which has been fun to watch. For instance, he already knew how to push the lever on his gumball machine to make the gumballs drop out (toy gumballs, not real gumballs), but now he has learned how to reload it so that the fun can continue on. He's learning to push buttons to turn his musical toys on/off, and he is figuring out the pop-up toy that has a switch, slide, button, key, and toggle switch on it. He still prefers closing all of the trap doors on that, but he has learned how to open a few of them.
• He is sleeping well at night, except for the past few nights! His 8th tooth popped through the other day but has since disappeared, so it is teething and possibly a growth spurt. He looked bigger to me yesterday! I have gotten up and nursed him three nights this past week, I believe, and he has gone right back down, thankfully.
• As for naps, he remains steady on the good morning nap (an hour to an hour and a half) and crappy afternoon nap (30 minutes). I read, though, that he still needs that 2nd nap, so I'll stay the course for now. I guess some rest is better than no rest. He has taken two fluke 1-hour afternoon naps over the past few weeks, but the 'norm' is 30 minutes. He wakes up very cranky after the 30 minutes (but will not go back down--I've tried waiting it out), so we've been taking that time to snuggle down in the basement under a blanket until he feels up to playing again. Although I hate that he doesn't sleep long enough, I do love the snuggling.
• He is nursing 4x a day now. I had dropped it from 6 to 5 because he'd started biting me (Homey don't play that.), then from 5 to 4 when his lunch became more substantial. We are also trying to get him proficient at using a sippy cup for water, gearing up for the transition from breastmilk to cow's milk sometime after his 1st birthday. He drinks fine out of a sippy cup, but we still have to help him tip it up (he's more interested in chewing on the spout).
• As for solids, we are slowly moving away from the purees (2nd foods). I still add in some fruit puree with his cereal/yogurt in the morning or vegetable puree with his cereal/meat in the evening, and then we offer either fresh soft fruit or steamed vegetables with his meal, too. His favorite fruit is blueberries (I've been buying frozen and thawing as needed) and his favorite vegetable is parsnips (I cube and steam a batch every few weeks and thaw as needed). I am still introducing two new foods a week, and he's been pretty agreeable until this past week when we introduced cantaloupe. He would put it in his mouth but then a few minutes later, the pieces were finding their way back out. Not as puke, just on the tip of his tongue. Like, 'Eh, I changed my mind.'
• Last week, Kevin got home from work, and Lewis very clearly said, "Hi, Dada!" Nothing since, but very exciting to hear that first clear phrase (or so it seemed). :) His only 'words' are Dadadadada (Dada), Mamamamama (Mama), and Dududududu (Dog), but he doesn't use them indiscriminately yet.
• The changing table has become a Mama/Dada vs. Baby Lew wrestling match. He has started flipping over, getting on his hands and knees, and then sits on his butt. He seems to realize the danger of going off the edge and is cautious about sitting up, but it makes diaper changes and dressing pretty frustrating at times. We try to distract him with his hairbrush, lotion, orajel, shoe, sock, etc., but he inevitably wants to get upright and get the one thing we haven't already handed him (i.e. his vitamins...he likes to chew on the bulb of that bottle). We are hoping it is just a phase and will pass soon.
• He goes through periods where he points a lot or waves a lot. He'll also high five pretty well when asked.
• Current Tooth Count: 7 (4 up top, 3 on the bottom...4th on the bottom was visible for a day but has since disappeared)

Phew! So that is Lewis at 11 months!


He was especially cheesing it up this morning for his monthly photo, so here are a few outtakes:

To the Park!

We had another beautiful weather day yesterday, so Lewis and I set out for the playground down at the waterfront again. This time was especially fun because his walking has improved so much since we went with Em, Joe, and Juni after Christmas and because of how gorgeous the weather was (and the absence of cold water on some of the equipment). There was another mom there with her two kids who I chatted with and who Lewis played with--we had a great time!

 Just my size

He climbed all the way to the top of this playset on his own (it has 3 or 4 more levels that aren't pictured). I made sure he didn't slip through the gaps, but he was an old pro. And then...

 Whee!

When he got to the top, I thought "Well, crap, what do we do now?" I went ahead and let him go down by himself (it was only about 4 feet tall), and he did great!

 Lots of tubes to crawl through

So much to explore

I know I said it once, but I'll say again how much I love that it is all his size. And on a safe, spongy, and solid (not wood chipped) surface.

Pirate L.P. Thompson

Look out, world, here I come!

Wild Man Lew

These are some pictures and videos from over the weekend of us playing in the basement. Now that Lewis is strengthening his walking skills, he is even more of a wild man and bounces happily around the basement from one toy to another to another. 

My haircut is not so bad after all. :)

His favorite toys right now are his activity table (a gift from Uncle Scott), his teepee (a gift from Auntie Em), and the pilates ball.

And over the past week, he has started standing up from a sit using his massive quads (instead of us, a table, etc. to pull up on), so that has been fun to watch!

After giving his hair about 24 hours to settle, I tackled it again with a much more even result. :) I trimmed it all over instead of just trimming the length, and that made it blend a lot better. It still looks jagged around the ears and back, but the whole toupee look/floating hair look has gone away. 

Next time, just give me a buzz cut, Ma.

Lewis's 1st Haircut

Lloyd Christmas
(from Dumb and Dumber)

That just about sums up how Lewis's first haircut went this morning. :)

By the end, I decided it wasn't that bad and put my scissors down. However, after his bath it DRIED and it seems to have gotten progressively worse as the day has gone on. You know how haircuts are--you have to let your hair remember how to lay 'normally'...maybe it's just temporarily bad. Or maybe I'll be trying to fix it tomorrow. Either way, at least I know it will always grow back.

BEFORE

 Check out my awesome sideburns and bangs, dude.

 It is time. Enough of the over-the-ear shag.

 A big party in the back.


AFTER

 Getting my hair cut makes me CHEESE!!

(And see my 7th tooth coming up on the bottom, there?)

 Hack Job

 What are you, Ma? Some kind of amateur?

 Looking very handsome afterwards, until...

It dried funny. :) Like Lloyd Christmas. Oops.

Here is some video Kevin took:

In case you can't understand me, I said "That's going to take some cleaning up" after I attacked the back. Most definitely. Kevin also pointed out that he captured the exact moment when the Hack occurred--right before the 0:40 mark. :)

Into the Wilds (of Oldham County!?)

UPDATE:
When I say Water Buffalo, I mean Scottish Highlands Bull.
When I say emu, I might mean ostrich.
When I say llama, I could mean alpaca.


It dawned on me this morning that my whole plan for weekly nature outings totally got shoved to the wayside in the pre-holiday preparation shuffle. I had such great intentions, but somehow we ended up (almost daily) at Goodwill or Target instead. Enough of that! 


Today, we went to Henry's Ark Petting Zoo out in Oldham County (the county next to ours). It only took about 10 minutes to get there, and what an amazing find! In the midst of all of the really, really nice homes that the county is known for, there is a little winding country road with farmland all around, and then BAM! I spotted a camel. And some deer. And emus. And freakin' water buffalo. I could hardly contain my excitement as I pulled in and parked. I got Lewis situated in the stroller and grabbed our carrots (I'd read on their facebook page that you can bring carrots to feed the animals).


By the parking lot is a pasture with llamas and emus that we stopped to see first. Then the main pathway takes you through pastures with deer, a whole variety of goats that I couldn't even begin to name, a zebra, a pot-bellied pig, 2 camels, an elk (Joe B., I petted the elk!!!), sheep, emus, swans, Canada geese, a peacock, roosters, water buffalo, rabbits, and other random ducks. I think that is all. We fed carrots to the elk, deer, goats, and one of the two water buffalo. He was my favorite.

 Sweet Emu, that I most definitely thought was an Ostrich until I read a sign.

I'm still not sure what the difference is.

 Llama

 I could just snuggle that sweet little face. :)

 Swan on frozen pond

Carrot, lady?

 

Deer who were in with the elk (there were many deer and just one elk)

 Mr. Elk, who loved carrots

(I gave him small pieces at a time, not 2 whole ones at once as this picture illudes.)

Can I please have just one more?

Roosters - So THAT's what they mean when they say 'Shake yo' tail feather'...

 

 A roaming emu we encountered (not behind any sort of fence)

 One of many varieties of goat

 Another carrot-lover, carrot-stealer in the goat pasture -- Anyone know what type of animal this is?

 Water Buffalo #1

(at least I think that's what it is called)

 Water Buffalo #2

This is the one I got to feed.

 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

I was trying to throw pieces of carrot out to the different goats, apparently not paying attention,  and when I looked up, this big guy was at the fence, wanting a treat. (I'd just taken his picture, far, far away.) He was very fast. And stealthy. And huge. And so sweet and ugly. I loved him.

It was so neat. I just kept saying 'Wow' and 'This is so cool' and 'Oh my goodness' over and over to myself. There was a gentleman and his granddaughter leaving as we were arriving, but otherwise we had the whole place to ourselves. There were two 'farm dogs' who walked with us part of the way (and who Lewis laughed at and said 'Dah-Dah' for Dog, I think?).


I can't wait to go back so that Kevin can see how neat it is. And it's free (next time I'll bring some cash to put in their donation boxes). A great way to break up the week and get out and enjoy this beautiful weather.