Category Archives: Firsts
Someone likes avocados!
Separation anxiety starts…now.
Tom and I had to run to the store tonight and likely wouldn’t be back by Owen’s bedtime. He has never had any separation anxiety…so we didn’t think anything of leaving and having Grannie and Papa put him to bed.
But apparently tonight was the night.
We got home about 10 minutes past his usual bedtime and he was still up getting a story. And he was crying. Complete with fistfuls of Kleenex. 🙁
Lin said he had been like that on and off all night, saying he missed us and he’d never see us again. 🙁 And then when he saw me he cried harder. Poor kid.
So now we need to try and desensitize him a bit before we leave for four days. 🙁
It’s coming…
Uh oh. Katie is cutting her first tooth! I wonder what surprises we have in store? It could be anything from no sleeping to more sleeping, eating more to eating less, rashes, temperament changes, raised temperatures, or various changes in diaper contents.
Aren’t babies fun?!
Katie’s first boo boo.
So, Katie still falls over once in awhile. This morning she fell backwards and landed on a plastic semi tractor/trailer…but didn’t really cry about it. But I moved the truck and put a cushy blanket behind her so if she toppled again it would be on something soft. So what happens? She moved and toppled sideways so she smacked her forehead right on this corner.
🙁
And she cried…but only for about 30 seconds.
Fast forward a few hours and it doesn’t look THAT bad, but it definitely left a mark! (And isn’t she cute in another new cold-weather outfit?)
Peas!
Today Katie had her first peas at lunch! And she did REALLY well—eating almost a whole jar!
Stinkers—both of them.
It started last night at about 9:45 when we looked on the monitor and saw that Katie had her legs sticking through the crib slats…even though we have a breathable bumper
So I held the light while Tom unstuck her legs and we thought that was that.
Until about 2am when her loud screeching/whining woke us up. I checked the monitor and it looked like she had one leg sticking out again…but then she was quiet so we just left her and went back to sleep. About 3:30 she screeched again… I check the monitor…legs sticking out…not quieting down…not quieting down…okay, settling down…try to get back to sleep. SCREECH! Now she was flailing about on her stomach in her “okay I’m ready to get up” phase. Ugh.
So Tom went and got a bottle while I shut Owen’s door (because Katie was still making a racket). While I was feeding her, I heard a door shut, so thought Tom was just starting his day a little early and taking a shower. Except, no…as I was leaving Katie’s room, I saw that Owen’s door was open again!! Which means the little booger got out of bed in the 15 minutes I was in with Katie (and I heard his door opening, not our door shutting). STINKER!
By this time it’s 4:15 and neither of us can get back to sleep, though we tried. Tom got up at 4:30 and I wrote this blog post. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch maybe two more hours before Owen gets up…
We have a sitter!
She’s a professional sitter now! Once in awhile she falls over or backwards, but for the most part, she has it down. 🙂
Funny faces!
A few seconds at a time.
She can sit up for a bit on her own…only a few seconds but it’s getting longer and more frequent!
Katie’s first puffs
Her first reactions to puffs!
And my favorite! Look—she sprouted three teeth! 🙂
GREAT JOB, OWEN!
So, I’ve forgotten to mention that Owen has been wearing underwear—not pull-ups—during naps and staying dry (which earns him 15 minutes!). Yay! We also tell him that any time he has to pee, he can get out of bed…though he never has.
So after about a week of that, we asked if he wanted to try underwear at night (instead of pull-ups) and he said yes! And so far…he’s had all dry mornings!! So now we really only use pull-ups if we’re running lots of errands or might be in the car for a long time…but even then, we ask him what he wants to wear and he usually says underwear!
So this is all leading up to today, when—during his nap—he actually woke up, went to the bathroom to pee—then went back to bed!!!! YAY OWEN!!! A FIRST!!
Trying bananas
Tonight we tried bananas. Tried being the operative word.
Go on!
So we were watching this…
…and Owen was on the floor playing. He looked up and says “Go. No.”
Wait. What?
Me: Owen, what did you say?
Silence.
Tom rewound it.
Me: Owen, what does that say?
Owen: Go no.
Me: Owen! You just read your first word!
Owen: Can I have 15 minutes?
So…yay! He read his first word. But…boo! He’s switching letters (he also switches numbers).
Santa’s Treats
This is the first year we’ve left treats for Santa!!
Hummus!
I had pita chips and hummus on the table. Owen wanted a chip and he’s never had those, but it’s a chip so he was eager to try it. Then I pushed the hummus toward him and asked if he wanted to try it.
Owen: Is it peanut butter?
Me: It’s like peanut butter.
He dips a chip and eats it.
Me: Do you like it?
Owen: Turning the hummus around to see the label… No, it’s tomato. (It’s Tuscan Herb so the picture shows a tomato and basil.)
But I rewarded him 10 minutes for trying a new food!
Owen: Mom, what are these chips called?
Me: Pita chips.
Owen: Mmmmm. I like pita chips.
He continues eating chips.
A few minutes later he’s eyeing the hummus. I ask if he wants more and he says yes.
Wait, what?
Okay!
He dipped a few and ate them…so I asked if he liked it and his answer was still no. 🙂
Then he took the chips (and his milk) upstairs. About 10 minutes later he comes down—carrying the bag of chips—saying he needs “this” as he grabs the hummus, putts the top on and carries it off.
I texted Tom (who was upstairs with him) asking if he sent Owen down for it and he said no—“He wanted it. Said it is his lunch!”
Amazing!
Now…if only he likes it on another day!
O-W-E-N spells Owen!
So Tom was watching football, I was at the computer, and Owen was sitting on the couch playing games on the iPad (and lest you think I forgot Katie…she was napping). Owen starts saying “O-W-E-N spells Owen. O-W-E-N. O-W-E-N spells Owen.” Tom finally looked at what he was doing…and Owen had created a new profile for a game and had typed in o-w-e-n! 😯 He’s seen me do this before and I’ve showed him how to find the letters on the keyboard, but this is the first time he did it himself! Totally on his own! Tom and I were floored.
Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’!
Katie has started rolling over! It started a day or so ago when she was on her belly when we got her up in the morning—one day happy, one day screaming (when she can’t flip back over). Owen did the same exact thing but got over it in a few days.
So last night we put her to bed—minus the swaddle so she’d have use of her arms to flip herself over if necessary—and hoped for the best. I was just a bit nervous because I was watching her sleep on her stomach—which I know is okay (she’s napped that way before) but it’s still a little nerve wracking thinking about it being the whole night. But it was cute (though we’ve got to get the video camera closer to her to get better pictures like we got with Owen!).
And then tonight I finally caught her actually rolling over!
Look who’s a big girl!
Holding her own bottle! She grabbed it right out of Tom’s hands!
Today’s parenting fail.
Katie just fell off the couch. From what I saw rushing into the room from 10′ away (I was in the office and she was on the couch), she landed face first on a blanket so wasn’t hurt and only cried for about five seconds (I think of shock more than anything) but of course now I feel horrible. She’s just getting too wiggly/mobile to leave alone—even propped up/locked in with pillows.
Diagnosis: Pink Eye
Yep. Owen has pink eye. 🙁
We noticed his left eye looked a little bloodshot Saturday but didn’t really think much about it. We noticed it Sunday as well…and this time there was a little extra “sleep” in the morning. I watched it all day and it wasn’t getting better—but he wasn’t itching it and he didn’t say it hurt and there wasn’t any discharge. Until this morning. His eye was pretty crusty and there was discharge. Ugh. We got an appointment at 2:15 where pink eye was confirmed by a lovely PA.
The poor kid looks so pathetic (I told Tom his eye looks drunk) and he HATES the eye drops (I wish he could understand the drops are the lesser of two evils—the cream would be even worse to apply) but he’s a trooper.
And he was AWESOME at the clinic. It was a bit of a wait—15m early for new patient paperwork, 30m to get into a room, 30m waiting to see the doctor, and probably another 10-15 with the PA—but he kept busy and was in good spirits. He let himself be weighed without complaint. He let himself get measured without complaint. And he even was pretty good with the blood pressure!
Weight: 56#
Height: 44.75″
BP: 100/65
Then when the PA was examining him, he was great with her looking in his ears, listening to his chest (and taking deep breaths!), and shining light into his eyes. He was SO good he earned a toy!!
Katie’s first rice cereal
We tried with Owen at 4m so we tried with Katie, too. She wasn’t much interested…just like Owen. 🙂
Owen’s Name
Owen wrote his name for the first time today—and if you look closely, you can actually see all the letters! (We were drawing on an iPad app to email to Gramma Jean.) It was a combination of left- and right-handed!
The O is pretty obvious.
The W is good as well.
The E is a little shaky but readable.
The N is… (I did the yellow one as an example.)
Learning to get up
OWEN GOT OUT OF HIS BED TO PEE! It was only naptime and he had only been in there five minutes and his door was open…but it’s a start!
You see, we’ve been trying to teach him that if he has to pee, he can get out of bed…which has been an uphill battle since we kept him “locked” in his room for so long.
And in trying to do so, we’ve actually created a little monster—after we put him to bed, we’ll hear him get up and open his door. He’s not getting up to pee, though—he just goes back to bed. But often whines a little because a cat gets in and bothers him. (He doesn’t want the cat in there but apparently doesn’t understand that the door needs to stay closed to prevent that.)
And then one night last week he was up opening his door at 3am—and crying. And couldn’t tell me what was wrong. I put him back to bed, then did the same thing again at 3:30 and 4:30, when I finally laid with him for a bit.
So today was a good first step with him realizing he had to pee and actually getting up to do it!
High chair girl!
We brought the high chair in for Katie so she can sit with us (and see us) while we’re eating.
More Halloween Katie
How could I have forgotten these pictures? The chili pepper was borrowed from friends and I was planning on having her wear it when we went out to trick or treat—except it was a bit too small and it was a challenge just getting her in it for a few pictures!
Katie Bug
Our little ladybug. Out of about 75 pictures, these are the best. She wasn’t totally cooperative, but there are some cute ones…and a few funny ones like the screaming and the face flop. 🙂
Big boy medicine!
Owen had a bit of a runny nose so I wanted to give him some allergy meds to hopefully dry it up. And if you recall, he does NOT take medicine well…but I wanted to try anyway. I figured he was old enough to drink from the little cup instead of being squirted with the syringe…if only I could get him to do it.
It took some cajoling and a promise of chocolate…but he did it!! YAY, OWEN!
Introducing Katie to Sophie
I figured since she’s been gnawing on her hands for awhile now, I’d introduce Sophie
And then some live action—with some crying, even—just to show you she does get cranky!!
Like mother, like daughter.
This was one of MY shirts back in the day…homemade by my mom! She held onto it for almost 40 years on the off chance I’d have a girl so she could wear it! Also, be warned, this is the first of many hand-me-down outfits to come… And mom? Now you have to search all the old slides and photos to find a picture of ME in the shirt!
I love the belly button showing! Her first belly shirt! 🙂
Dresser climbing, anyone?
While I was outside running the garage sale and Tom was busy inside with Katie…Owen tried climbing up on his dresser and knocked it over!! Thankfully he wasn’t hurt (there’s not much room for it to fall since its super close to the bed) but still. OMGWTFBBQ!!?!? He’s NEVER tried anything like that—ever—so it was a BIG surprise. Ugh. And of course it had a partially-filled humidifier on it…so everything was drenched. 😐
We missed the terrible twos but apparently are getting the terrible threes instead.