Visiting the Man in Red

Yesterday, we kicked off the holiday season with a trip out to a Christmas train exhibit at Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. I'd always wanted to go out there to explore, but never had. Kevin found this event, and he apparently knew that Santa would be there (which I did not know until we got there). It was a rainy morning, but Lewis was happy to watch the trains (inside) for over an hour while we waited for Santa to arrive.

 There he is!

We both wondered how close Lewis would get--I took the kids to an event a few weeks ago, and Lew wanted nothing to do with Santa. I honestly think it was because that Santa was wearing brown boots. Lewis commented that Santa was supposed to be wearing black boots, so I think he thought the guy was an impostor. ;)

 

 Alas, he walked right up to him all by himself this time!

 Lenore was not a fan! 

S: What would you like for Christmas? L: A digger. S: A yellow one? L: Yes.

I was so proud of how clearly he spoke to Santa. 

Lenore at 13 Months

13 Months

Post bath (because it was spaghetti night and she was a mess!)

I was debating on whether to stop these monthly posts, but (for now), I'm going to do an abbreviated version and see how that goes. It was a relief to make it to a year with her, just with how busy everything is lately. I'm not going to do her measurements because that's gotten increasingly difficult to accomplish with any accuracy. I will still do a picture because that's fun to look back on.

At her one year check-up last month, she had another ear infection. That was the 5th of the year, so we had to go back and have her ears rechecked last week to make sure it went away. Thankfully, her ears look great! Our doctor has a rule of six in a year, four in a season, or one that just won't go away--if we hit any of those, we would talk about tubes for her ears. For now, we are ok, though. She also had low iron at her one year appointment, so they rechecked that as well--unfortunately, it is still low, so we have to start iron drops and will recheck at her 15 month appointment. Finally, she had a flu shot at her one year, but she had to get the booster the other day. Hopefully we get to stay away from the doctor for a few months!

What she's up to this month:

• She is wild and happy. Some days wildly happy, some days happily wild. Like when we're at a restaurant waiting for food or when we're at Target and she's riding in the cart. Inevitably, she ends up getting fussy and/or squirrel-ly (e.g. figuring out a way to stand up in both a high chair and shopping cart, even with the belt on its tightest fitting). I get so mad at both high chair and shopping cart designers/quality control people. They do not contain the beasts!! And/or the buckles are crap and are broken on 90% of the high chairs. Come on, people!
• Her hair is getting longer and is so adorably curly (when it isn't a matted mess in the back).
• She is walking, running, and climbing things. She has advanced to climbing on things (e.g. Lewis's step stool) to reach higher things (e.g. the island), which keeps me on my toes. She's very good at pointing out to me what is not child-proofed yet. :) We used to have a big plastic storage tote and a big metal can at the bottom of the stairs (because I couldn't figure out how to install the baby gate at the bottom of our particular stairs), but now she climbs over the tote and up the stairs. As of a few weeks ago, we have the big metal can and tote with a newly placed laundry basket on top that will hopefully deter her for a few more months.
• She says Mamama, Buh-buh-buh (Bubba), some version of Hi, and Kevin thinks she's saying 'I love you, Dada' at night as he hands her off to me from bath to bedtime. She's definitely saying something that sort of sounds like that, if you listen really closely. ;) She also cracks up and plays along to Peek-a-boo--even though she doesn't say it yet, she mimics the motions. She loves to wave and say Bye-bye-bye. She's been picking up my phone and saying something like 'Hi' followed by some other words.
• Sleep is still developing. She has been taking good naps (one in morning, one in afternoon), but overnight has had some hiccups. Around her birthday, she had two of her bottom molars coming through, so there were around three nights with wake-ups and Motrin and Orajel. Then we had a week or two of good nights, until two of her top molars started coming through. Again, there were about three nights of 1am and 4am awakenings, but things are better again now. She has been waking up somewhere between 5 and 6, so the past few nights, I've gotten up to nurse her and put her back down, and she's slept for a little bit longer (an hour or two).
• As it gets close to nap time, she will sometimes throw herself down on her belly and kick and fuss, which is something we never saw with Lewis.
• We are still plugging along at nursing. (Lewis weaned at 13 months.) She's not much into drinking milk out of a sippy cup at mealtimes, but we're working on it. Currently, I'm nursing her first thing of the day, before each nap, and at bedtime (so four times total). I'm going to try to cut out the nap time feedings since those are usually after breakfast and lunch, and she eats a LOT of food. I still don't think she's met a food she doesn't like.
• She's very anti getting her finger/toe nails cut.
• She loves books! She will bring you one, hand it to you, and then put her arms up so you can pick her up read it to her in your lap. :)
• She also loves music! Her teacher takes her down to sit in on the older kids' music class sometimes at school, and she says she bounces along to the music. She especially likes it when they sing a song and insert her name. They are working on a school-wide Christmas program, and Lenore and her two baby boy classmates will be the reindeer--can't wait to see that! 
• She has been getting into Lewis's toys more and annoying him. 'Mom, she's walking towards my train tracks!!' 'Mom, she's looking at my planes!!' She loves to pick up a toy/car/play food/etc. in each hand and walk around. Then she drops those objects down, only to pick up two more objects to carry around the house. One day, Kevin came home and commented on how he could follow Lenore's path through the house that day. They do have their moments of playing together, but for the most part, there's always some fussing by someone and the house is generally a mess.
• Current Tooth Count: 10

A few extras:

My pretty girl

 Lew wanted in on the pictures, too. :) They're smiling at someone (Kevin), but not me!

Lenore, From There to Here

A few days old, freshly home from the hospital 

(Oh, I still remember what a tired, hormonal mess I was and how much pain I was in...)

 One Month

 Two

 Three

 Four

What a little chunk!

 Five

 Six

 Seven

 Eight

 Nine

 Ten

 Eleven

Twelve

Lenore at One Year!

One Year!!

Her stats (from the pediatrician, percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 30 inches [in 75th percentile]
Weight: 23 pounds, 13 ounces [ between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 18.74 inches [between 90th and 95th percentiles]

What she's doing this month:

• She is learning to communicate her needs/wants more and more, either with a calm yelp or a loud scream. She is pretty vocal (and always has been), even if she isn't saying many words. She still says Hiiii, Bye-bye, Bubba, Dada, and maybe an occasional Mama. Hi and Bye are the biggest, along with her sweet wave. She'll wave side-to-side, and then she also waves kind of touching her mouth and waving outward, I guess like she's blowing a kiss. (Did we teach her that? I don't know.)
• She still is nursing every 3-4 hours and taking her 4 oz. at bedtime (after she nurses). She can hold the bottle herself and chugs the formula down.
• She is still an enthusiastic, non-discriminating eater. 
• She had started drinking from Lewis' Camelbak water cup, so I bought her a couple of straw cups to try out. She has figured those out, so I'll give her some water at mealtimes, which she seems to enjoy. For her birthday, I've gotten her a couple of non-straw sippy cups so that she can work on tipping the cup up to get a drink.
• She was finally sleeping consistently overnight for a little while there, and then she got a molar! That caused a couple of rough nights (up at 2:30, 3, and 4:30 one night, what what??), but we are through that now. There were some residual wake-ups after the teething nights from busting our routine, but she has been better again the past few nights. Fingers crossed that she'll stay that way. Mama hit a rough patch there for a little while.
• She is napping twice a day, unless we get out of routine, and then it's once a day. She typically goes down around 9:30 or 10am and 2:30 or 3pm, and she will sleep around an hour and a half or two hours each.
• She's walking all over the place!! Last Wednesday (October 21), she started putting around 10 steps together, and she has gotten more steady and ventured further each day. In her attempt to stay balanced, sometimes she almost gallops to get her feet quickly under her body. She's a hoot and is into absolutely everything.
• She also really loves to be carried on my hip, and she always has. Usually in the afternoon after nap, she'll be a little clingy, so I'll throw her on my hip and start dinner or clean or whatever I need to get done. I started thinking back, and I remember her falling asleep in that position when she was really tiny--I'd put her on my hip and walk around and watch her eyes quickly get heavy and close, and I guess that movement is what is comforting to her. (Maybe due to her crazy sideways antics while she was in my belly!?) Even now, she is totally content to just hang out with me while I work. My arms, on the other hand, get a little tired!
• Her hair is starting to get curly in the back where it is the longest.
• She is finally clapping and thinks it's hilarious when we clap for her/at her.
• She is getting into mostly 18 month clothing. There are still a few 12 month pieces that fit, but it won't be long.
• Current Tooth Count: 7 (2 upper middle, 4 lower middle, and 1 molar on lower left)

A few outtakes:

  Hello, old tattered friend.

Lewis the Truest, XXII

We were driving home from a day of running around at an orchard, on a day when Lewis was also overtired from a few nights of later-than-normal bedtimes. He was going on and on in the car, nonstop, as we got to the pizza place to pick up dinner:

Lewis: What's that? Where's the ___? Who's making our pizza? Why?
Me: Lewis.
Lewis: Is that enough?

I usually say, 'Lewis, that's enough.' Apparently, I can get the point across now just by saying his name in a certain tone. 

----------

I was in Lenore's room, feeding her after a nap one day. Lewis was in my/Kevin's room with the dogs, doing who knows what. I heard a loud thud and an actual cry coming from Lewis, so I knew he did something beyond his normal level of bouncing about:

Lewis: (in tears) I hurt... my brain...and...my belly!
Me: (holding back laughter after he said he hurt his brain) You did? What happened?
Lewis: I ran into the door.
Me: Oh, oh dear. 
[I checked him out, and he was fine, but still upset for a few minutes. Then, after calming down...]
Lewis: Or maybe I jumped off the bed and hit the door?? 

Again, I had to stifle the laughter. He so sweetly presented the truth to me as a question.

----------


One weekend recently, we were discussing what to do for the afternoon/evening, and we settled on going to a park to play and have a picnic for dinner:

Me: Ok, so I'll run to Kroger and get food for the picnic.
Lewis: I know what I want!
Me: Ok.
Lewis: Bananas.
             Apples.
             Cucumbers.
             Hot dogs with ketchup and mustard.
             Grilled cheese.
             And spaghetti.
Me: (jotting everything down) Ok, is that all?
Lewis: Yes.

I don't know where he got such a list! First of all, he's never eaten a hot dog, and I'm not sure if he's had cucumber. I'm wondering if he saw a super elaborate picnic on Curious George or something? He was so sure about it, too. So funny.

----------

We are still working on Lewis being a willing participant in our dinners. It is like the last thing I want to do at the end of the day (argue with him about eating what I cooked), but we are trying to be more diligent about it. One night, we had asked him to take 3 bites of his meal. Later, he asked for privacy so that he could go to the bathroom. When Kevin went back to help him clean up:

Lewis: I had 3 poops. 3 poops, 3 bites.

Very matter of fact, our Lewis.

----------

Sometimes, Lewis fends for himself while I'm putting Lenore down or working on something around the house. I think I was coming downstairs from putting her down for nap one day, and I came upon him sitting at the dining room table:

Lewis: (sitting with a jar of peanut butter, jar of jelly, bread, knife, spoon, and train cookie cutter--for train-shaped PB&Js, of course)
Me: What are you doing?
Lewis: Making a peanut and butter jelly sandwich. I need some help. (And he says sandwich as swam-wich, which I love.)

He had the sweetest tone to his voice, like he was so proud for gathering all of the ingredients himself.

Lewis is a Train

Many months ago, Lewis declared that he wanted to be a train for Halloween. Halloween is still weeks away, but we had a couple of events at the beginning of the month that merited a costume, so I had to get to work on it early.

This is the very intricate/fancy train at the zoo that is his inspiration (there is also an orange one). He also wants a toy version of one for Christmas, which I think I'll have some wiggle room with (as long as there is some orange and some blue on it). I forewarned him that I would do my best to make him a blue and orange train, and so far he has simple tastes (thank goodness).

We already had a couple of train whistles and conductor hats, and, as things have a way of working themselves out, I stumbled across a conductor's jacket in his size at Goodwill for only $1.50. I saved up some diaper boxes in anticipation, and I was able to use duct tape leftover from last year's cardboard airplane costume. The plane just got smashed in our move, so I was able to remove and reuse the webbing (for shoulder straps). We did have to go to Home Depot to pick out spray paint (and primer), which was fun. Lewis wanted an 'orange and blue train' like the train at our zoo--I think it wanted it like half orange and half blue, but I explained that would be challenging to do neatly with spray paint. We settled on a blue train with orange accents. We had looked at some ideas on Pinterest, and he liked one that had a '4' on it because he is 4. Although, eventually, he decided he wanted a 4, 5, and 2 for reasons unknown to me. And he declared that he wanted to wear one blue glow bracelet and one orange one as part of his costume. He had/has it all planned out this year, let me tell you!! We also bought a headlight for the front, which I attached with Command velcro strips and a touch light from Walmart.

 Can you see the vision of the train??

 I scored and bent the box flaps to build the front cylinder (and added a piece of cardboard to the front to enclose it)

Primed

 The steam pipe is an empty duct tape roll tube that happened to come available as I was making it

 I expanded the box flap holes on the sides so that they were big enough for Lewis's arms to go through them to help take the weight off of his shoulders a bit (it's kind of heavy!)

 The conductor with his train :)

 I think he's happy about it!

 #2

 #4

 #5

 Taking it out for a spin at Creasey Mahan's Haunted Hike

We were at the zoo the night before, but the train stayed in the car while we trick-or-treated in raincoats and under umbrellas.

We don't have another event until Halloween weekend--he has a Trunk-or-Treat at his school, plus trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Hopefully we get good weather for both of those!

Lewis the Truest, Vol. XXI

After throwing a football around with Kevin in the basement for a good five minutes, Lewis proclaimed he wanted to 'take a rest,' as he does when he's tired. Then, after about 15 seconds of resting on the couch beside me:


Lewis: (shrugs) I still have some energy. (in the most defeated tone possible) 
                             Do you still have some energy, Dad? (again, sounding so pooped, but                                                       wanting to get rid of that last little bit of energy he had left)

If only we had as much energy as Lewis does at any given moment of the day. :) (At least that's how I feel.)

----------

We went to two events last weekend where there was trick-or-treating, so Lewis has amassed a small collection of candy that he keeps sneaking into.


Lewis: (whispering) Mom, I have a surprise for you.
Me: Oh, you DO?
Lewis: Yeah, it's in my pocket.
Me: Okaaay.
Lewis: (hands me a candy bar)
Me: Oh, thanks, buddy!
Lewis: No, it's mine. OPEN IT!

He must have sensed that I was mildly disappointed about the candy, he said, 'Oh, let me get another one for you!' and quickly ran into the other room and grabbed another. I was not his first thought, but that's okay. ;) It was sweet, even after the fact.

----------

We have a behavior chart on the fridge that we have not been very consistent with. It started out of Lewis wanting a toy at the store--I was getting sick of him throwing a fit and wanting a toy every time we went to Target, so I told him maybe we could 'earn' a toy through good behavior. 

Again, we haven't been consistent with it, so I'm sure the point will be lost on him. Regardless, we have a chart, and he has been working towards a Piston Peak Air Attack Training Set (from Planes: Fire and Rescue) for months now. He has to earn 15 stickers from having a good dinner (staying in his seat, eating well without a fight, etc.).


Lewis: Can I get the Piston Peak Air Attack Training Set?
Me: Have you earned all of your stickers?
Lewis: No.
Me: You need two more stickers, right?
Lewis: Yeah, let's go put those on there (in a really sneaky whisper of a voice).

Like, your point, Mom? Let's just put the stickers on, and BAM, the toy is mine. It's as simple as that, Mom.

----------

I put Lenore to bed while Kevin puts Lewis to bed, and Kevin has very sweetly started to have an end-of-the-day conversation with Lewis to recap their days. Like, 'How was your day?' and 'What did you do?' Kevin said Lewis is slowly starting to give more information. Tonight was the best yet:

Kevin: Did you get to play outside?
Lewis: I played on the playground with Koko.
Kevin: Oh, yea? What did you play?
Lewis: Married.
Kevin: Oh yea? (cracking up on the inside) Did you hold hands?
Lewis: Yea.

I can just imagine the tone in his voice. Part serious contemplation/part mild defeat (like she made him play). Koko and Lewis have been in the same class for two years now, and I guess they are getting closer. Last year, he was pretty close with Lily, but she's in a different class this year.