Writing

R's new thing is writing. She loves writing and lately has been sounding out words and writing out sentences. Here is one of her latest. I want to emphasize that she did this with zero help or input from anyone else: she is sounding out and writing down the letters she wants to write.

Her class has been talking a lot about healthy bodies and related to that theme, doctors and nurses and other health care professionals. Today at school they worked on making eye charts, and this is what she drew on the back of her eye chart.

If you look closely, the sentence she said she wrote was, "There are so many eyes you can't even count them." The sentence starts with TAR and ends on the next line with AOT TM. Click on the picture to make it bigger and easier to see the letters.

Look what RUS can do!!!!!

RUS's new skill!

I've posted before about how RUS doesn't really say an "o" sound. He JUST learned how to do it, and now he does it all the time. It's so cute. Here's a video.



Transcript: About 1 second into the video S says "Can you say 'ohhh'?"
RUS: ohhhhhhhhhh (flops over onto couch)

RUS's 18 month appointment

23 lbs 13 oz
32 inches

Everything looks and sounds great as far as his growth and development are.

The bad news is that both kids (yes, R had to go, too) were wheezing and got another round of oral steroids apiece along with more breathing treatments, and we had to keep them home from school today. Sigh.

What's missing. . .

from this picture?

Yes, this is RUS's room. Where his crib would normally be, you see the toy bin that had been in his closet. Where is his crib? Disassembled and in the basement. But where is he sleeping now? In his bed.

It's pretty simple, really. I awoke to the sounds of him banging One Fish, Two Fish, Three, Four, Five Fish on his door this morning. So no more crib. Wish me luck so that I might get some sleep tonight.

RUS's Words

Dog – “da”

Door – “doh”

Hat - "at"

Knock – “Na”

Bath – “baht”

Milk – “meh”

Mommy – “mymy”

Daddy – “Dada”

Bird - “bir”

Truck – “tuck”

Helicopter - “brrrrr”

Car – “cah”

Ball – “bah”

Lion – “yion”

Eye – “aye”

Nose – “noh”

Mouth – “ma”

More – “mo”

Banana – “Nana”

Night night – “Ny ny”

Bye bye – “Bye bye”

Hi – “Hi”

Uh oh - “Uh oh”

Mine – “my”

Stuck – “duck”

Duck – “duck”

Fireball – “Faba”

Elmo – “emmo”

Bubble -- "bubuh"

RUS took his first two steps today!

It's been coming--we've been saying for a couple weeks now, "any day now, he's going to take that first step!"

Today, it happened! and J and I both saw it. RUS was holding on to J's hands with both hands, then J let go and he stood alone for a moment and then definitely moved both feet, one foot and then the other, and moved forward maybe half an inch. It counts, though!

RUS has been getting more and more confident with standing without holding on to anything, and I've seen him stand independently for 30 seconds or more while playing with toys in both hands. I wonder how quickly it will be before he really starts trying to walk!!

Here's a photo of him looking at our Christmas tree with Grampie at our holiday party:

RUS's 9 month visit to the doctor's

RUS had his 9 month appointment at the doctor's. He is growing well, 19 lbs 5 oz. and 28 1/2 inches long (just for comparison, R was 19 lbs 2 oz and 27 3/4 inches at her 9 month appointment).

The milestones are coming fast and furious now!

RUS is just working like crazy on his physical milestones. Exactly one month ago, he was barely scooting.

A week later, he was zooming across rooms by pulling his body by his arms after anything that caught his interest.

Within another week, he'd developed a caterpillar crawl, in which he'd get his knees almost underneath him and then pull his body forward.

A few days after that, he was getting himself into the crawling position from sitting (previously, we would have to lay him on his belly in order to see him moving around the room).

And now, in the last 9 days, he's developed both

the ability to get back into a sitting position from all fours/being on his belly

AND the ability to crawl on all fours, although he still only does this for a few steps until he starts pulling himself by his arms again.

I swear I don't remember this happening so quickly with R!!!

ETA: I forgot to add that he is also pulling himself up on things into a standing position, although not cruising yet.

I Cried at Day Care on Friday

Yes, you read that right. I cried at day care on Friday. R has been gradually transitioning into her new preschool classroom at day care, with a new teacher and a new set of classmates, although some of the children in her new preschool class were previously in her toddler room with her. She started on Wednesday, and both Wednesday and Thursday she was in her toddler room at the end of the day. So when I went in Friday, I was surprised to see that she wasn't in the room. And all her stuff was gone. Everything got moved over--she's now fully and officially in the preschool room. I burst into tears. I didn't know I was going to be so emotional.

But it kind of snuck up on me-- I was expecting the transition to take longer. Like a week, or maybe two weeks, or something. Especially because Ms. W and I had had a couple of conversations about how R is a very cautious child and tends to be slow to warm up to new things, even when a familiar person is with her. So I figured a few days of afternoons, gradually stretching things out.

But she ended up staying there most of the day on Thursday. And Friday J and I were late taking R to day care because we took her cherry picking with us (more on that in an upcoming blog post!) and her toddler class was on a trail walk, so we went straight to preschool. She never ended up going to her toddler class on Friday.

I still feel a little bit in shock about the whole thing. I'm sad to say goodbye to the toddler room, even as I'm really excited about the new preschool room. R had been in that room since she started at this day care last February, so 16 months. She's pretty attached to Ms. W and Ms. S and to her friends in that room. I know she'll adjust just fine, but it's still a little sad to think we won't be seeing Ms. W and Ms. S every day.

I've been reminiscing a bit about the last 16 months at day care and remembered this story that I never wrote about on here.

Ms. W shares a name with a very well-known fast food restaurant. One day when I was pregnant with RUS, I had a sudden and inexplicable craving for a spicy chicken sandwich, and so J and R and I all got into the car and headed out for an adventure. We told R we were going to Wendy's to get dinner for Mommy. She was SO excited! She often gets excited about going places or having little adventures with us.

We got there, got our food (in the drive-thru), and headed home.

When we got home, R burst out crying. She was SO sad! She kept saying, "I want to go to Wendy's!" and J and I explained we'd already gone to Wendy's, and showed her the bag of food we'd brought home. But then we figured it out: she thought she was going to see Ms. W at Wendy's. We laughed and laughed, and then we comforted R and explained that Ms. W doesn't actually live at Wendy's.

Every Day It's Something New...

Now that RUS has mastered army-crawling, he is literally doing something new mobility-wise every. day.

On Tuesday (that is, 4 days ago) for the first time we saw him getting up on all fours by himself and rocking. He's now getting up on all fours pretty consistently while army-crawling--he pulls his knees under himself and pushes up with his hands. Then he lets go and launches himself forward a bit. So it's not army-crawling like he's pulling himself along with his arms as much--he's using his legs so much more. We've really seen improvement every day in his skill and ability with these movements.

Today for the first time he's been able to move himself to a crawling position from sitting. He did it once almost by accident this morning when he was trying to reach a toy that was to his side. Then by afternoon he was doing it on purpose, just leaning to the side so that he could more easily get that inside leg tucked underneath.

J and I HAVE to get moving--STAT--on some additional babyproofing!!!

He is definitely mobile!

It's wild. He's gone from barely scooching forward an inch to moving all across the room, every which way. It's all army crawling, though-- he doesn't get up on all fours yet. But STILL! Nothing is safe anymore!

We Got a Letter From Day Care Today

"It's always fun to be able to inform a family on the positive progress of their child's development. R has done a wonderful job in her classroom of building relationships with teachers and friends.

"We feel at this time R is ready to move to the preschool program. She will be enrolled in Preschool Class X with Ms. N. . . .

"We are confident that R will have a smooth transition and thank you for your cooperation and patience as we go through this process. [R's current teacher] Ms. W will be available to arrange an opportunity for you to meet Ms. N and to answer any questions that you may have during this transition process."

This letter almost makes me feel faint. I'm at once giddy with excitement and freaked out that R is growing up so quickly.

Little Miss Independent

Yesterday morning R got up, used the potty, wiped herself off and cleaned up, and then went into her bedroom and got dressed, picking out her own outfit (including underpants and socks!) ALL BY HERSELF!

Granted, she put her shirt and skirt on backwards, but this feat was very impressive.

All the more so because getting into her underwear and sock drawers requires that she pull her vanity stool up to her dresser so that she can reach them.

She is allergic to having her picture taken so this is the best one I got of her outfit. We ended up having to persuade her to put a different shirt on because it's a little hot for long-sleeves these days (it's been almost 90 just about every day this week).

I Love This Stage!

RUS is at the stage where he is really enjoying being on his tummy and moving around to get things. Of course he sometimes gets frustrated but mostly you put him down on his tummy and you can just watch his wheels turning as he tries to figure out how he can get that book or block or other brightly-colored plastic toy. It is so much fun. He is really persistent, too!

This evening J was reading him a board book and he had a second board book next to him. RUS wants everything in his mouth, so of course he was reaching for the book J was holding and you know, hitting it, grabbing it, trying to get the edge of it. Then, in the course of his reaching, grabbing, pulling, etc., he twisted just enough to realize there was a second book right next to J on the couch.

I swear, I literally saw the lightbulb go off above his head. Ding! "There's another book! If Daddy's holding this one, he won't be able to stop me from eating that one!" and he instantly started going after the book next to J, ignoring the one J was holding.

When J finished the one he was holding, he switched books. I thought RUS would be interested in the new book for a bit, but nope. He still went after the one J wasn't holding. Reaching for it, picking it up, trying to maneuver it over J's arm in order to put it in his mouth. I was very impressed!

It's funny because seeing RUS hit all these milestones and start really actively, purposefully doing things, I keep thinking back to when R was this age (and wishing I'd started this blog by then so that I could really look back and see when she was doing what!).

According to my memories, which may be somewhat faulty--so feel free to add in things in the comments if I'm forgetting them here--is that R did not really push herself forward much to reach for toys and the like when she was this age. With R, I distinctly remember the "downward dog" stage, where she would push herself up on her legs and stick her butt straight up in the air. I also remember her pushing herself backwards around the house before she figured out how to go forwards. I don't remember the getting-on-all-fours-and-rocking stage much, really.

I do, however, remember the "I want to eat that book!" stage. I think it was awhile before she hit the "I want to touch and feel the book" stage-- I remember that we specifically picked up a bunch of touch and feel books at the Goodwill because they were among the first books I really enjoyed actually reading to her, like talking about the pictures and all, because they captured her attention long enough with the different textures and things to feel on the pages. I just wish I could remember when that was!

He Scoots!

RUS is officially "scooting"! He can move himself forward a few inches by trying to pull his knees up underneath himself and pushing his torso forward. He doesn't get up on all fours, but that has to be close behind. I saw him almost army-crawling this morning, too!

Yet another milestone...

RUS's sitting skills have advanced to the point that I feel comfortable setting him on the floor with the boppy pillow (or another soft surface) behind him and running really quickly to another room to get something. It's like a whole new level of freedom!

He Babbles!

I've been a little worried since I read a month or so ago in my What to Expect During the First Year book (which I have not consulted since, strangely enough) that during the sixth month my baby will "probably" be able to begin putting consonant-vowel combinations together.

RUS really wasn't doing that at all, though. He would say "AAAAAA" or make other vowel sounds but he never said "ba-ba-ba" or "eee-b, eee-b" or any of those sounds. Occasionally he would say "mmmmm" but not in combination with a vowel sound or anything. I was spending an embarrassing amount of time just looking at him going, "Can you say ba? ba-ba-ba?" "Boo-boo-boo!" etc.

But finally! It's only been in the last few days, but RUS has finally started doing what I would call "babbling"! He says, "muh-muh-muh" maybe 4 or 5 times in a row. We've tried to get it on video because it is completely adorable but haven't been successful yet. I think Grampie might've been the first to notice it, on Monday.

Sitting!

RUS's sitting abilities have been improving exponentially. He is exactly 5.5 months in this picture, which demonstrates pretty much what he does when we put him to sit. He loves to grab at toys placed near his feet. Or at his feet, especially if he has socks or a sleeper with a face on the feet. He can -- not all the time, or even perfectly, mind, but he CAN! -- move from leaning forward to sitting up straighter without falling over. It doesn't take long, though, before he's shlumping to one side or the other, so you do have to be vigilant and right there to prevent him from banging his head on the floor.

I have to say, I'm pretty excited about this milestone. It will be nice to be able to put him on the floor without having to lay him down on his back!

First cereal

Last week, when my folks were in town, we tried a little bit of rice cereal for RUS in the morning. He was hungry at the time and though he didn't mind it too much, he did run out of patience and started fussing for his bottle before too long. So we waited about a week before trying again.

Last night I pulled out the rice cereal again. It was right after dinner. R, S, and I were all eating a simple cous cous dish I pulled together and RUS was watching every bite we all took, and would bring his hands to his mouth and chew while we chewed our food. He was ready.

He did spit some of the food out of his mouth - generally whenever I got the food in front of his tongue instead of on top of it, he would push it out. But then he started playing with it in his mouth before spitting it out. And then he seemed to get the idea that he could move it around with his tongue and then suck it down. This all happened in a matter of a dozen or so spoonfuls.

Tonight he was a pro. He was reaching for the spoon to pull it in, biting down on the spoon, sucking the cereal off. His first bite he made a funny face that I attributed to not warming up the milk before mixing it, but after he got used to it, he was lunging for the food every time I got it near him.

So in the end, not too much food missed his mouth. There were a couple of incidents involving the blowing of raspberries with cereal in the mouth that got Daddy in the face, but quite a bit of the food was actually eaten.

And yes, we are thanking our lucky stars that he's been such a good baby! Night time sleeping, taking the bottle, and now eating his cereal. I just won't mention the nap thing. . .