Eighteen Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are 18 months old! The past three months have been a time of great development for you. You are asserting your personality and teaching us who you are. You crave independence and control. You know exactly what you want and when you want it, and when things don’t go exactly as you like, you are quick to total frustration. We’re working on communicating your needs without shooting straight to the full-blown fit. You can point to what you want and shake your head no when the item offered isn’t what you want. You still wave your arms across your body to mean no, also.

Though there does seem to be a lot of whining lately, you are also a playful little boy who loves to laugh. You laugh so hard sometimes that you get hiccups. Still. You’ve been doing this since you were a baby. The way your face lights up makes me so happy. To see that joy in your face makes me feel like bringing you into the world was so absolutely right.

You are mama’s little helper by taking things to the trashcan or the sink. In the morning, you usually go to both sides of mama and daddy’s bed, get the cups we have in there, and take them to the sink for me. You also help us unload the dishwasher, though it does end up taking longer with your help.

Though language development has been a bit of a concern for me, you have recently picked up several new words. I may be the only one who understands you, but you are definitely using words to communicate. You say up, help, juice, cheese, yes, mama, dada, papa (food), car, hat, eyes, hi, quack, and make a monkey sound. One time I swear you repeated goldfish when I asked if you wanted the crackers. You say mama and dada, but you haven’t completely assigned one name to each of us. Dada seems to mean daddy most of the time, but sometimes means me. And mama seems to mostly mean that you want something. We’ll keep working on that.

You feed yourself very well with your fingers, but using a spoon or fork is a pretty messy and inefficient way to get food into your mouth. Sometimes you stuff WAY too much in your mouth, which leads to gagging and spitting it all out. For a while, if we asked you what was in your mouth, you would open your mouth and push it out. I’ve caught lots of chewed up junk in my hand. But that’s ok, it’s one of my jobs.

You are growing and growing. You’re running around and chasing the cat or your daddy. You have been practicing jumping, but your feet don’t leave the ground. It is incredibly adorably the way you crouch and swing your arms and then look so proud of what you just accomplished. I’m sure you’ll take flight soon. You have no sense of danger at this point. You love to climb on anything that sits still long enough. All of this activity means you get tons of bruises. I keep noticing how my little baby is slipping away as you become a kid.

Of course, you still hate having your hair washed at bath time. You throw a screaming fit about water being poured over your head. You basically hate getting your head and face wet at all. After bath time, we put on pajamas, and you suddenly turn back into my baby. After we read books, you curl up on my shoulder while we sing a couple songs. I love how you snuggle up and throw your arms around my neck. Holding you there against me fills up the hole that I often feel inside me.

Watching you explore and learn new things everyday is so completely amazing. Watching how you problem solve makes me so proud. Watching you grow up is both happy and a little bit sad. But no matter what, you are the best thing I ever did.

I love you,

mama

Halloween Dress Rehearsal

We dressed G up in his costume a couple of days early so I could snap some pics. He really didn't want to wear the hat and was not cooperating in general, so I only got a few good ones.

First Serious Injury

Gabriel bumped his head pretty good a couple weeks ago. It was a very scary moment for me as I watched him fall but could not get to him fast enough. You can tell that it swelled up pretty big. He cried a good deal, but after some hugs and kisses, he was smiling again.

And you can tell that it's healing up just fine. Just a little mark where the scab was. And a slight bruising still around his eye. Certainly has not stopped him from doing anything.

Forks are Just Accessories

Bobble Head

At G's 15 month well-check appointment, he was:
weight: 25 pounds 4 ounces (50%)
height: 32.5 inches (85%)
head circ: 48.7 cm (90%)

The numbers make it seem like my child has the approximate build of a lollipop.

Fifteen Month Letter

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Dear Gabriel,

You turned 15 months old yesterday. You are well over a year old now.

Watching you develop is an amazing experience. Right now I am sitting at the kitchen table watching you drink some milk, eat some fruit and peanut butter crackers, and try to feed yourself macaroni and cheese. Those noodles are slippery.

You are the type of kid who knows what he wants and when he wants it. Sometimes you tell me you want food while you’re eating food. And I am to understand that you mean the options before you are no longer acceptable. So we try to find something else, which you also refuse, before you return to the first thing and eat it happily. I’m not always sure of the point of those little treasure hunts. Probably just telling me that you’re in charge.

You’re walking like a semi-pro now. You still stumble occasionally, but you are right back on your feet. Crawling is no longer your mode of choice. You’re gaining other motor skills, too. You’re great at taking things out of containers and putting them back in. You’re starting to stack things and then knock them over. And you love to ride your little car and push your little cart. You are basically all over the place these days. Nothing is safe.

You’re not talking yet. You use a few signs pretty routinely: You can ask to be picked up, you can tell me you’re hungry, you can tell me no/stop it/I don’t want that, you can signal that you’re done eating and want to get down, and you sometimes use the sign for more. You point at things and can generally get your message across through some combination of gestures and sounds, but it will be really nice as we add more words or signs to your vocabulary.

You still love music. You don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the television when it’s on unless you hear a song. I often turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while we get ready in the morning, and you light up when they start the hotdog dance. Sometimes when you get fussy in the car, I turn on a kids’ music CD. That usually calms you down quickly. I suppose your love of music was inevitable, but it still makes me and your daddy happy.

We found out a couple of weeks ago that you break out in hives when given amoxicillin. And we were giving you amoxicillin because when you get mosquito bites, they get big blisters on them. And then they pop. And some of them get infected. So now your legs are covered in scabs.

But even scabby legs don’t change how wonderful you are. You are the main thing that keeps me going, baby boy. Your beautiful smile and joyous laughter are the fuel I function on. So keep smiling and laughing, my love.

I love you,

mama

Freckles and Moles

Gabriel has sprouted a brand new freckle/mole. It is a strange thing to know for certain that there was no little brown mark on his leg one day and then find a permanent speck on him the next.

Of course, with the number of freckles and moles on each of his parents, it's no surprise that he would have them, too. But the way they just pop up out of the blue (brown?) is very weird.

I just spent 10 minutes reading about freckles and moles to make sure I categorize the spot correctly. I guess it's really a non-raised mole. And I suppose that's what most of my spots are, too, though I've spent my entire life calling them freckles.

I'm never too old to learn something!

Yum!

This is the face of a very, very happy kid.

Donut holes are AWESOME!

Gaining Independence through Yogurt

Gabriel has started grabbing the spoon or fork from me to try feeding himself. He's not usually terribly successful when we're eating rice or peas...but this time he tried doing the yogurt by himself. A surprising amount actually made it into his mouth. But as you can see, a good deal was also on his face, arms, hands, and really just everywhere.

At least he cooperates when it's time
to wash hands after dinner.

Swingin'

Daddy hung a swing outside for monkey. Monkey loves it!

Olympics

Gabriel got to see a tiny glimpse of the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics. We had a special shirt for him to wear. And as you can see, he practiced some important moves.

Top left: shot put practice?
Top right: Disgusted with the judges' scores
Bottom left: Looking to coaches for advice
Bottom right: Appealing the scores...(learned that from the gymnasts!)

Walking Practice

Gabriel has been practicing walking behind a push cart for a while. He just recently took interest in doing it for more than 3 or 4 steps at a time.


This has sound, but it's just the background television noise. There is nothing important to hear.

Catching Up

I have a bunch of stuff I've been meaning to post, so I'm going to play catch-up this week.

Here are some recent photos.

Black beans are the bomb.

Running away with the circus

Already driving

Bonham and Dallas

Gabriel, Grammaw, and I went to visit lots of our extended family in July. Our first stop was Bonham where I lived when I was little. Gabriel got to meet his Great Grandmother "Mom" while there. Mom is called Mom by all of her grandchildren. There a story of how the name originated, but at this point, I just like to think of it as a way to honor the matriarch of the family. She's sort of the original Mommy from whom the rest of us received life and love.

Gabriel and Mom
You can see Jim's name embroidered
on the blanket thrown over
the back of the chair.
I like that he is in this picture, too.

While visiting Mom, Gabriel also met my Aunt Beth, my cousin Kelley, and Kelley's daughter Lily. Lily was a big, big help in entertaining and caring for Gabriel while the big people visited.

After our visit in Bonham, we left for the Dallas area. We visited with Grammaw's brother and his wife for a little while. Gabriel was lucky enough to get a few little gifts from them, but the highlight of that visit was climbing the staircase!

So glad we don't have stairs at home.

We had to come back down the stairs in order to make it to the family reunion of all kinds of cousins on Justin's side of Gabriel's family tree. There were too many people there to name, but it was fun to see cousin Easton who is just 9 days older than Gabriel.

I was reminded that trying to sleep with Gabriel in my bed is not a good plan. We tried that for a few hours one early morning while in Hobbs, and I tried it again in Dallas. He was really upset and couldn't get back to sleep in his playpen, so I tried to cuddle with him and get him to settle down next to me. But mostly I got kicked and flopped on while he fussed and cried for about 3 hours each time. He hasn't slept in my bed with me since he was 4 months old, and even then he was on my chest, not next to me. I won't soon try that again.

Gabriel was a very good traveler. We were in and out of the car quite a bit, going to a lot of different places, and sometimes driving for a long time. By the end of this trip, he had pretty much mastered drinking from a straw.

Raised on decaf non-fat mocha fraps with whip
and cherry limeades, all because of straws.

New Mexico

Gabriel racked up a whole set of firsts last week when we went to New Mexico to visit Aunt Lydia's family.

First trip out of state
(I barely caught the New Mexico sign.)

First long car ride
(About 8 hours each way.)

First stay in a hotel
(We had all this plus J's golf clubs, a stroller, a backpack full of toys, and my purse.)
(For a three night trip)

First time to meet cousin Hunter, cousin Easton, and uncle Ryan
(Easton was born 6 days after Gabriel.)

I think it was also his first Wendy's chicken nugget, his first McDonald's chicken nugget, and his first Dairy Queen blizzard, but I didn't get pictures of those.

It was definitely his first trip to a zoo when we visited the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. I can't be trusted to get the camera out, apparently, but we saw a bald eagle, prairie dogs, a sleeping bobcat, bison, and elk as well as various snakes and native plants. Hunter's favorite part was the "bomb cat." Gabriel's favorite part was the Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers.

One Year Letter

Dear Gabriel,

We just celebrated your birthday. You are officially 1 year old. How on earth did this happen?!

Your dad and I have watched you grow so much over the past year. We have loved every smile and every laugh. We’ve listened to every coo, cry, and babble. We’ve encouraged you to wiggle, roll over, crawl, and now stand up and cruise along the furniture.

I remember standing over your tiny body and craving the day when you would reach for me to pick you up. And after that, I anxiously awaited the time that you would throw your arms around my neck to hug me and hold me. Now that I have those moments to treasure, I look forward to hearing you call me mama, to you telling me you love me, and to you running from across the room to jump into my arms. I won’t wish your life away, but know that I look forward to every milestone, big and small.

You are an observant little boy. You watch everything, soak it in, and dissect it. Then you apply what you’ve just learned and practice it until it’s right. You will be the child who takes apart the DVR or the microwave just to understand how it works. You’re not really interested in walking yet, but I’m convinced it’s because you won’t try it until you know you’ll be successful. That’s pretty much how you started rolling and crawling.

You are smart and curious. You put small things inside bigger things, you understand how to open and shut drawers and doors, and you try to put your socks and shoes on your feet. You play peek-a-boo with blankets and with your hands. You like us to take turns putting on sunglasses or hats. You laugh when dada throws a ball up in the air. If you want to give me something, you grab my hand, turn it palm up, open my fingers out, and put the thing in my hand.

You are opinionated. You know what you want, what you don’t want, and when you do or do not want it. You learned early on how to push something away from you when you didn’t care for it. And you completely understand and exercise the connection between crying and getting someone to pay attention to you. (Your dad says I give in too much…)

You are a blessing in so many, many ways. But a big one for this mama is that you let me sleep every night. I give you your last bottle and rock you and sing to you, and then it’s into bed. You sit up for a bit and listen to your glowworm play a song, and then you go to sleep for 10-11 hours. I do not miss the days of listening to you cry when we put you in your crib for bedtime. It is glorious to kiss your sweet head, tell you goodnight, and leave the room without any fussing. But I do miss the extra long cuddles we used to have in the rocking chair. These days you are more comfortable in your crib than on my chest. So for those few moments when you lay your head on my shoulder, close your eyes, and get your body settled for the night, I drink in your smell and your existence. I think that’s what fuels me for another day.

There are so many signs that you are growing up…that you are not the tiny newborn baby we brought home from the hospital. That you are growing to be strong and smart and healthy. That’s what I want for you. You make me happy and proud. Your smile brightens my world.

You are beautiful.

You are my baby.

I love you,

mama

Happy Birthday!

At G's 12 month well-check appointment, he was:
weight: 23 pounds 4 ounces (60%)
height: 31 inches (80%)
head circ: 47.2 cm (70%)

Gabriel's first birthday party had a rainbow theme. I made various rainbow-colored decorations for the inside of Grammaw's house, and Grammaw hung up twirling sparkly decorations from the ceiling of the deck. Aunt Jordan made THE most AWESOME birthday cake ever to top it all off.

Here are a few pictures of the big day.

Obligatory birthday hat

Grumpy clown

Hesitantly testing the smash cake

Enjoying the cake once he figured out what it was

The awesome 7 layer rainbow cake made by Jordan

Inside of the rainbow cake

A slobbery birthday kiss from cousin Easton Graves (9 days older than Gabriel)

Eleven Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are now 11 months old. This means that your 1 year birthday is constantly on my mind. I’m thinking about the details of planning a birthday party for you, but it’s not just to follow the ritual…It’s because I am so excited to celebrate your first year of life!

You have changed SO much, even just in the past month. I had been trying to get you to clap your hands for a long time. You would often pick up two toys and bang them together, but you wouldn’t do it with your hands. Then one day last week, you started doing it! Now you clap all the time!

You also started playing peekaboo. I noticed one day in the car that you were playing with a shirt that Elizabeth sent home from daycare. You kept putting it on your head and laughing. I couldn’t figure out why you thought a shirt was so funny. Then when we got home, you started doing it with a blanket, and I could tell that you were hiding your face and then uncovering it. We, of course, make a big deal about this and clap and praise you for how clever you are.

I noticed this week that you have two more teeth through the gum. They are on either side of the two middle top teeth. It’s kind of crazy for me to think of you with a full set of teeth! Your little grin with two on top and two on bottom is so adorable. You’re really learning to use your teeth, too. You bite Cheerios in half and take bites of crackers. Last night you bit the spoon I was feeding you with and wouldn’t give it back. You tried out your bite while nursing the other night, too…which was NOT COOL.

Your adjustment to formula during the day went very smoothly. And you’re getting pretty good at holding your bottle or your sippy cup by yourself. This month Elizabeth is starting to transition you to whole milk so that you can be done with formula when you’re a year old. I don’t have a real plan as far as how long to continue our morning and bedtime nursing…I think we’ll just play it by ear. It still works for both of us right now, so we’ll keep on.

You’ve been trying lots of new foods. You love French fries and sweet potato fries. You eat cooked baby carrots, banana, strawberries, peaches, and graham crackers. You like the small bites of cake or brownie that I give you. And you learned to drink from a straw because you apparently like root beer, sprite, and cherry limeades.

Your ear tube surgery is proving to be the good decision I thought it would be. You had a cold this past month that surely would have become an ear infection without putting the tubes in. It’s encouraging that you’ve been able to go over a month without any antibiotics. We have had to coat most of your body in Lamisil for the past couple of weeks, though. You picked up ringworm somewhere, and instead of having one spot, you had spots on both legs, your back, sides, and tummy. I’m just thankful that it didn’t get on your face or scalp.

While inspecting your skin for ringworm spots, I noticed that a small little freckle has appeared right in the crease of your right leg where it meets your body. I keep watching for more little freckles to pop up since both your dad and I have quite a few. Who knows where the next one will be?!

This past Sunday was my first Mother’s Day. We spent the day with Grammaw, aunt Jordan, and cousin Will. It was a wonderful, happy day, and it makes me feel blessed to have brought you into this family. I feel blessed that you are here in my life. You make this a beautiful life.

Thank you for making me a mommy,

mama

Clapping!

Please oh please ignore my voice. We don't realize how silly we sound when talking to children.

New Skills

Gabriel's new skills include:

1) Drinking from a straw. Because he wants mommy's root beer or cherry limeade.

2) Standing up in his crib and chewing on the top rail. We find him with little black flakes of paint on his chin sometimes. Awesome. Hopefully it's not lead-based paint...

3) Having ringworm. Which is terrific. Though he doesn't seem bothered by it at all, so that's good.

Ten Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are now 10 months old. Time is flying by more quickly than I ever thought it could.

Since figuring out how to crawl last month, you are now pulling up to standing while holding on to furniture. Today I even saw you take a couple of little steps as you cruised along the couch. You’ll be running all over the place before I know it!

A couple of weeks ago we bit the surgery bullet and had tubes put in your ears. You were on antibiotics for the sixth time in six months, so we decided it was time to do something more aggressive about it. I had a little bit of anxiety about sending you away behind closed doors for a surgical procedure that required anesthesia, but when it came time for the procedure, I was really at peace about it. I know it was the right thing to do for you. The only bad thing about the whole thing was the half hour after the surgery when you were coming out of anesthesia. You really were not a fan of that feeling at all.

Since the surgery, it seems that you are sleeping better at night. Which means your days are a bit better as well. You are playing independently more and are less clingy and fussy overall. I should knock on wood now, because I know as soon as I say these things aloud, something will cause a set back.

We’ve been working on eating more table foods…you still have some texture issues, but you’re really happy when you can feed yourself. You’ve been eating a LOT of Cheerios lately because you love being able to pick them up and put them in your mouth. We also realized that you like French fries, so we’ve let you eat some roasted potato pieces. We’re going to try sweet potato fries and cooked carrots soon.

We started supplementing some of your liquid nutrition with formula this week. I gave myself permission to stop working so hard to pump enough milk for you to have breast milk all day at daycare. The pumping routine takes a lot of dedication, and I found that I was having trouble staying committed to it. The plan is to keep nursing in the morning and at bedtime, but to have formula bottles during the day. I think making it to 10 months without any formula is an amazing accomplishment for the two of us considering that I was worried that you wouldn’t ever nurse properly before the tongue tie was fixed. I am so glad that I stuck with it and provided you with breast milk for almost a year!

You haven’t really picked up any new syllables, but you’ve been playing with spitting sounds lately. And you do this funny thing where you suck your lips in around your gums and then exhale strongly a few times through your nose. Oh and you do this other funny thing with your mouth where you kind of suck your lips around your gums while you babble. It kind of makes it look like you have a beak or something.

You’re just growing so fast. It seems like it’s all happening so fast! At night while I rock you before bedtime, I just stare at your sweet face and try to hold these moments in my heart. I breathe you in and let your existence fill my heart and my soul. It could have been a terrible day in every other respect, but holding your sleeping little body in my arms can heal all of the day’s damage.

You’re like magic.

Love,

mama

Easter 2012

Aunt Joanah took photos of Gabriel and his cousin Will on Easter Sunday.
Thank you JoJo!

Yoga, Spoons, Laughing, and Surgery

We've been trying out bathtub yoga.

We've also been trying to hold the spoon.

And we've been laughing a lot.

And tomorrow we're having surgery to put tubes in the ears. Hopefully we'll have many fewer ear infections after that!

Various Updates

At G's 9 month well-check appointment, he was:
weight: 21 pounds 12 ounces (70%)
height: 29 1/4 inches (80%)
head circ: 47 cm (90%)

Topic 1: Mobility
Gabriel is crawling very well now. He can get into anything he wants to. He pulled all the DVDs off Grammaw's shelves. He's pulling up onto his knees really well now, too. And today, while holding onto mama, he managed to stand up. I'm not sure he could have done it without the little bit of help I gave him, but I imagine he'll do that on his own soon.

Topic 2: Family Outings
We took Gabriel to the park last Saturday to help celebrate his cousin Blake's birthday. He loves being outside, so this was a good day for him. He also got to try out the swings!

Topic 3: Ears
This little monkey has been fairly plagued by ear infections. He has been on 5 rounds of antibiotics since November. So, today we met with an ENT to discuss what we should do about it. The doctor could see some fluid in each ear, and a hearing exam confirmed that the fluid is preventing his ear drums from vibrating quite as well as they should. He has some very minor hearing loss from that. That in itself is not too concerning, so we are not pursuing PE tubes immediately. We settled on a moderate approach of checking his ears again in a month to see if his body naturally resolves the fluid in his ears. We're also keeping in mind that we are coming out of cold season, so hopefully his likelihood of ear infection is decreasing. If he still has the fluid in a month or so or if he gets another ear infection in the next two months, we will most likely choose to be more aggressive and have surgery to put in tubes. I just want him to stop getting these back to back to back infections that we can't seem to get rid of. Whatever that takes.

Crawling!

He did it!

Crawling, Day 1

Crawling, Day 2

Crawling, Day 3

It's a whole new world. For baby. For mom and dad. For the cats.

Nine Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are 9. Months. Old. !!!!

I truly thought you were trying to make your mama into a big liar this month. I kept saying you were going to be crawling any day now…any day now…any day now…and you kept getting up on your hands and knees, and rocking back and forth, and reaching for something in front of you, and then sitting back up. Last Friday your dad and I were watching you do this over and over again when I turned to him and said, “I know it will open up a whole new set of problems, but I want him [Gabriel] to crawl SO BAD.” And then within half an hour, you did it.

You finally figured out how to put your little gears into forward…and now you are getting into everything imaginable. Seriously. It’s a whole new world for you now, and you want to put your hands (and your mouth) on all of it.

You’re also working on ‘g’ and ‘k’ sounds when you babble. You’ve had ‘m’ and ‘d’ and ‘n’ and ‘b’ for a little while. You repeat ma-ma-ma, da-da-da, na-na-na, and ba-ba-ba all the time. None of your sounds seem to have meaning yet, but we’re trying to get you to associate mama and dada with your parents.

These developmental milestones are accompanied, unfortunately, by yet another ear infection. You were given your fifth round of antibiotics last week, and when those weren’t cutting it, you got antibiotic shots in your little thighs. We’re calling the ENT on Monday to make an appointment to talk about PE tubes. I hate that you keep getting sick!

I started trying to introduce a few finger foods to you, but you aren’t very keen on the textures right now. I tried some beans, a banana, some peaches, and some pears. You make an ugly face and spit it right back out. I found out today that you like wheat bread a lot, though. So…we’ll start from there.

No new teeth...still just the bottom two. Your hair grows fast, though. You’ve had three haircuts in your short nine months. The most recent one was at a children’s hair cut place. A professional cut! I really should learn to do it myself since after only a week and a half your hair is already starting to grow over your ears. Good grief.

We’ll get official height and weight measurements at your well check this coming week, but I know you’re at least 21 pounds now. You’re wearing 12-month clothes very well and will probably outgrow them sooner than I want you to.

You’re my amazing little boy.

I love you,

mama

Camera found!

The camera was located under Grammaw's guest room bed. Somebody (me) let it roll under there last time we stayed the night. Whoops.

In the meantime, Monkey got his first pair of soft-soled shoes. They are, of course, monkeys. He's not walking, but he spends time in the jumper or the walker on the sidewalk...and it was starting to tear up his socks.

We also got our first haircut at a kids' cut place. He was looking pretty shaggy.

But now he's extra handsome.

The woman who cut his hair had a hard time believing he was on his third haircut and only 8 months old. I told her he was born with enough hair for an adult. And also, please take care of his hair helmet.

She did a great job. :)

Sitting Strong

Gabriel has been able to roll over for a while now. He's been sitting up unassisted for a good while as well. In the past couple of weeks he's been getting better at moving from sitting up to a lying down position. But then he would be stuck on his belly or his back and be stuck. But! In the past week or so he has figured out how to get back into a sitting position from being on his belly! This has led to fewer fits and more enjoyable play times.

I mentioned to Justin last night that we probably ought to lower the mattress in the crib because G was figuring out how to sit up. If he were to sit up in his crib, he might start to pull up and that would lead to the potential for toppling out onto the floor. Then I went to get G out of bed this morning, and there he was sitting up. Better lower that mattress tonight!!

There has been a lack of photo posts lately because our camera is MIA. The search party is lazy, so we'll see what they can turn up.

Update: Here's a picture taken on my phone.