Lenore at 16 Months

16 Months Old

Today is Lenore's 16 month birthday, and it dawned on me the other evening that she normally would have to celebrate such an occasion on March 1. Today is Leap Day!

We started the day/week out at the pediatrician's office this morning. I was on the fence about whether to take her in, once I realized her thick, yellow-greenish snot has been around for two weeks. I decided to take her, and it turns out it's just a cold. :( Her ears had a little bit of fluid but no pus, and a strep test came back negative. The doctor said since it's been so long, we could try antibiotics for a sinus infection, but I decided to just wait it out and see if we can clear her up with saline and the NoseFrida (snot sucker). Unfortunately we had to wait in the room for an hour before seeing the doctor, so it's kind of a crummy way to start our week, but oh well.

She weighed 26.5 pounds [75th-90th percentile] and was 31.5 inches tall [50th to 75th percentile] this morning.

What she's been up to:

• She's had this runny nose for a few weeks now, and before that, she was in a lot of teething pain. I still haven't seen any new teeth, but they're apparently on their way. Must be those terrible, awful molars coming through.
• She is sleeping well (probably from feeling crummy). She's still going between one to two naps a day, depending on the day. If we have to pick Lewis up at 12, I keep her up until after lunch. On days when he stays until 2, she'll take a mid-morning nap that is usually 10:30-1:30ish, and that's it for the day. If her morning nap lasts 3 hours, that's all we'll do, but she's had a few days of napping 1 1/2 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. She is clear with communicating her napping needs, way more so than Lewis ever was.
• Her appetite has been a little puny from the snot, but she continues to eat pretty well. She HAS started to throw food on the ground once she's finished, which is super annoying. She has also started gagging herself at mealtimes, which I remember Lewis doing as well. I haven't seen her do it since last week, so hopefully she's forgotten about it.
• At certain times of the day, she might point to a banana, go to the pantry and grabs raisins and bread, and wants in the fridge. All at once, in that moment, she wants it all (though she rarely eats much of it, she is very demanding). She eats way more than Lewis does, overall, though he drinks milk and she still doesn't. 
• She's getting better at feeding herself with a spoon. She's got the scooping part down pretty well, but then she flips the spoon over and dumps out its contents half of the time. She's getting there, though.
• I might have said this last month--she loves to pick up little pieces of trash, dog hair, etc. around the house and take them to the trash. She loves to 'clean up' with a wash cloth or paper towel--she'll wipe her face and her body, wipe off her high chair, clean the floor. 
• She is back to waving. The other day, I was at the computer and she was playing next to me (we were by the front window), and I saw that Kevin was pulling in the driveway. I said, 'Who is here?' She looked out the window and started full-body waving like crazy, saying 'Dadadadadada!' The cutest thing.
• She doesn't say much beyond an occasional Dada, Bubba, or Mama. She has started trying to say Peter and Hattie--she'll point to one and say 'Buttah' for Peter or '___' for Hattie (I forget). She's got shrieking down pat. Otherwise, she gets around pointing and grunting at us. Oh, she also says 'woof' when reading one of her peek-a-boo books. Two cute, little 'boof boof' and that's it. 
• She looooves to play outside. I keep having to wipe down her shoes because they're constantly covered in mud. Or her socks or pajama feet. I did find some outdoor shoes for her over the weekend, so we'll try to keep those as the designated muddy shoes. I'm definitely looking forward to consistently nicer weather because Mama loves being outside, too!
• In clothing, she is still wearing 18 months for the most part (a few sleepers are getting snug). She has a few smaller 24 months/2T pieces that are working, too.
• Current Tooth Count: still 12, but I expect some molars to make their grand entrance soon.

Blackacre State Nature Preserve and Historic Homestead

Earlier this week, we met Tonya and Carlton out at Blackacre for a morning of farm fun. It's only about 15 minutes from our house, but I've never been out there before. I had heard of it, both back in my environmental education days and as I was looking at places to volunteer--I'm really glad we finally made it out there. Next time, we'll have to take some snacks to feed the farm animals. They were sweet, even without treats for them.

First stop, of course, was the old blue tractor:

The very sweet baby horse saying hi to Lewis

The more timid baby cow 

Checking out the waterfall

 This pond will come back into play...notice Lewis' clothes now vs. later in the visit. :)

 Up into the hay loft

Lewis was a bit scared of climbing back down the ladder, understandably! This old barn reminded me of when I was a kid, playing at my friend Ellie's grandparents' farm, in their hay barn. So many fun memories. :) 

 The goats were a little less willing to hang, since we offered no treats. :)

A plane!

 Best buds

I am cracking up at how dirty Carlton's pants are--he found every mud puddle. :)

'Fishing' in the pond

A few minutes after this, Lewis stood up on that rock, verrry slowly and dramatically lost his balance, and went head over feet into the pond. He was noooooot happy about it. Thankfully Tonya had brought a fresh change of his clothes (from falling in mud at their house the last time we were out there). So it worked out! He did have to put his water-logged boots back on, but he was okay with wet feet.

Playing with Lewis' toy tractors

From then on, we stayed off the rocks and just hung around the perimeter. :) And Carlton lost his pants at some point because of how wet they were. Oh, boys. :) 

 Back to the tractor

Lewis was yelling out, 'I need a trailer!' and 'I need somebody to get the gate!' That might have been what Carlton was doing in the picture above...maybe? Who knows. (He's barely there on the left, messing with the gate.)

Saying hi to another sweetie--she was a very big/tall girl and very sweet (and slobbery) :)

It was a great morning with perfect fall weather. We'll have to go back on a weekend, too, when they are open for tours (I think Sunday afternoons, only). Lew would be happy just going back to play on the tractor, I'm sure. :)

Out and About in August

This week has been one of those hot/humid weeks that makes me want to stay inside, but we did get out and about some over the past few weeks. Lewis went to space camp this week (last session of the summer), so I've been trying to get some projects done around the house with him gone. Next week is free, and then he starts back to school 3 days a week the week of Labor Day!

One rainy day a few weeks ago, he asked to go the bouncy house. I decided to go to open gym at All About Kids where he could play on the inflatables and have some time on the gymnastics equipment, too. It was really busy that day, so we didn't stay as long as usual--he sufficiently ran around the entire time we were there, though, and I remember he took a very good nap when we got home. :)

 All by himself on the beam

We've signed him up for gymnastics this fall through his school, which I'm hoping he will enjoy. We had hoped to do yoga again, but the teacher got a full-time job elsewhere. He certainly likes tumbling and jumping and balancing, so I think gymnastics will be right up his alley. Maybe we'll continue yoga at home since he really likes doing it.

We met Carlton and Tonya at the sprayground/playground last week for play and a picnic. The boys ventured down to the creek to see the fishies:

:)

And, finally, one day last week, Lewis and I headed to the zoo. Rather than do the whole loop and all of the hills, we managed to just stay at the top of the loop and still saw and did a-plenty. Of course, our first stop was to ride the train:

Toot-Toot!

 This is the first time he's attempted this particular part of the playground, and he handled himself really well. Careful movements and no falls.

 Checking out the giant ants on their ant hill

 Climbing around the Gorilla Forest 

I want that funnel!

 I can almost reach it! 

 So happy in the VW van :)

He'd probably be happy playing in that van the entire time without seeing any animals.

He was a big fan of the baby goat. :)

 Hello, up there!

 Last stop, the carousel!

It was a very uncrowded day at the zoo, which was very nice. JCPS started back last week, so I'm guessing most places we frequent will slow down now.

Playing Outside in the Unseasonably Gorgeous Weather and Carlton's 3rd Birthday Party

Just as I got all caught up on blogging, the rest of July happened! To be fair, we also got a new computer (because ours started revving up and sounding like it was going to explode), so I've been slow to warm up to the change of figuring out the new one. We've been busy with Lewis at camp, going out to play in this g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s weather, planning a big 60th birthday for my mom (last weekend), and visiting with my sister, niece, and nephew who are in from Boise. This morning, I had a volunteer event, so Lewis is off on a caving adventure with Grandma and Grandpa T. (that I can't wait to hear about). I'm finally sitting down to try to catch up (again).

Way back on July 15th, according to my camera, we went out to Carlton's house to play for the morning. We played with Carlton's new train table, on the swing set, and on ride-ons. Lewis took off on this tractor/trailer combo, but he couldn't keep up with Carlton who had a super nice (and fast!) tricycle. Through a combination of Mama helping push while he steered, we made it down the road and back.

 Wait up, buddy! I'm a-comin'!

 If you look closely, Tonya and Carlton are waaaay down the road.

Another morning, just Lew and I went to the park (Hounz Lane) for the playground and the creek. He spent most of the time walking along the banks of the creek and down under the bridge:

 Hello, down thar!

I was on the bridge above him. :) 

Whee! 

He did play at the playground some before it started raining. He and a little girl were chasing each other down the slide and back up around the stairs. I'm not sure if Lewis knew he was playing a game with her, but I sort of egged it on. I giggled at her every time she came down the slide, and she ran like she thought he was chasing her. :) She was adorable.

That weekend was Carlton's big 3rd birthday and party:

 Lewis ran upstairs and found the tractor and tiller from our previous playtime that week.

 Helping Carlton open his gift

Lewis wanted to go to Carlton's party for days before, simply so he could give him the gift and play with it, himself. :) He (Lew) had trouble understanding that the toy was for Carlton, so at one point, we had to take a break outside for him to calm down. He did and was happy going back to playing with the tractor.

That's a nice segue into the next set of pictures. Lewis didn't nap that day, and the party was right at his prime 'meltdown' time, so please enjoy:

:) I forget now what we were saying/doing/singing that set him off. I thought we were singing Happy Birthday, but then Tonya posted a video of that, sans Lew freaking out. I was laughing too hard to remember now.

Happy birthday to Carlton!

By the end of that and singing, it looked like Lewis was the one blowing out the candles (which he did help Carlton with). Carlton really likes to sing Happy Birthday, so I think that's why he's clapping (after the song ended).

We had a very nice time at the party, and Lewis slept very well that night. :)

Summer Snapshots

These are mostly pictures from Kevin's phone that I've slacked on posting:

 Packing himself and his toys up in his suitcase :)

 Lewis' First Corn on the Cob

I know, it seems he should have already done that, huh.

 Dad and Lew Time at the Playground

 Lunch w/Dad at Firehouse Subs

I forget what I was out doing, but I remember that I wrote back, 'Is he in pain?' :) He was just stuck in a mid-Cheetos/cheesing-it smile.

 Mmmmm, Blueberry Pie

With the first round of blueberries I picked

Lew's new thing--Laying ON the Baby

Yesterday was one of those air-so-thick-you-could-cut-it-with-a-knife kind of hot and muggy days (my very least favorite). Thankfully we had some storms last night to clear things up and cool things down, but this was the dirty, sweaty Lew that emerged from the garden yesterday afternoon. He'd been digging in the dirt with his tractor and dump truck, and the dirt just stuck to him and mixed with the sweat and ew. Needless to say, he had a pre-dinner bath last night.

Happy as can be :)

Do I have something on my face?

The last few pics are from this morning (Lewis is taking a good, long nap today, so, for once, I'm caught up on blogging!)--we went over to the playground at Cherokee Park to enjoy this GORGEOUS weather. I chose that park because I thought it might have a nice number of kids, but not too many. We pulled in to see two buses of YMCA campers playing, too, which almost scared us away, but I'm glad we stayed. We ended up having a really good morning, and the kids he played with were really nice to him. Shortly after we arrived, they broke up for lunch and hikes and other activities, so we were left at the playground with just 30ish kids (vs. 100+ kids when we first got there).

This was his first time on the zipline--I wasn't sure how he'd do, but he held on for a good while until it slowed to a stop (then dropped to the ground).

The video is from another turn when he didn't stay on for quite as long. You'll notice he is wearing one green Croc and one orange one. That was his doing--I told him to get his shoes on while I was finishing getting ready, myself, and that was what he chose. :)

Enjoying our picnic in the shade

I actually got CHILLY for a few minutes, which was absolutely fabulous. Thank you, Canada and Japan, for altering our weather pattern.