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December 6, 2008
Yesterday, Cory stayed at home with Daddy. They raked leaves- and tracked them all over my house. They did some laundry. I came home and we took of for Cory’s appointment. We had Dr. Kirby. We hadn’t seen him before. Our visit was much longer than we had hoped we just barely got home in time to feed Cory dinner. All in all, Cory’s a healthy little boy. He’s in the 30th percentile for weight and height and has a huge head still. I just point to his dad to give the picture that it won’t change. Gail’s new baby looks like he’s gonna have a big head, too! He’s 24.6 lbs (gained 1 lb), 30.5 in (gained 3.4- more likely one inch), and his head is 19 .5 in (about half an inch). He shared with the doctor how he knew his body parts and was talking. He wasn’t very cooperative for sitting down or being held down or having things shoved in his mouth and ears. He even screamed in his stethoscope- ouch. Eventually we did get home with all our recommendations for potty training, food aversions, switching to a toddler bed, and what to expect up until his 2 year check up. Auntie Jenn came over and thought she was supposed to be here to take our Christmas pictures while we decorated on Friday, but we agreed on Saturday. She stayed and hung out for a while and then was very tired and headed home. She’s coming over after Cory’s afternoon nap to take pictures while we decorate. We thought those would be better more sentimental pictures than the posing family portrait pictures. We’ll see what comes out! So we’ll head out this morning to get a tree and then clean and pull stuff out during his nap. I’m kind of excited about it. Maybe it’ll get me more in the mood for Christmas instead of just tired. On a great note, I lost 5 lbs. I couldn’t do the no carb thing, I got sick and dizzy. Instead I just cut out a lot of snacking and sugars. I’m sure it’ll get harder to loose. Those first five are always easy. The next five aren’t too bad, but the last ten are always impossible without exercise. Jenn said she got a membership to a gym and wants to drag me along. So hate exercise. Maybe it’ll be good she’s dragging me along.
Thanksgiving pic:
Filed by meg at December 6th, 2008 under Daily Entries
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December 1, 2008
It was a nice Thanksgiving even though Cory had a tough time napping with all the excitement. I have to say, I never thought Thanksgiving as an exciting holiday. I’m sure seeing his cousins and all the people are exciting, but it isn’t typically a holiday you attribute to high energy. In fact, I consider it just the opposite. In any case, now that we got him napping again with everyone back home, we’re back to the eating fight. Cory eats some things well. He’ll eat most things when he’s hungry, but he definitely doesn’t try new things well. E-noni brought some tricks. First we tried deep frying veggies. He wasn’t interested. She offered eggs with cheese. It took some convincing. He slung his new fork and spoon around because he was mad the food was sticky, but then it got on his fingers. He tasted them and then thought, “I could eat this!” He finished the whole bowl of cheesy eggs. Next we tried butter and sugar on veggies. He never touched them. Of course, they looked the same. Last night, Jay and I went out for dinner and then coffee while Auntie Jenn babysat. He finished some green beans for dinner! Seems some butter and a sprinkle of sugar really does help the veggies go down! I’m glad he’s trying new things.
He also picked up some other tricks from e-noni. Now we are climbing on chairs, finding things to push over to climb higher on things, saying “hi” and “bye bye,” and made cookies. Of course, he mostly ate the cookie dough and sprinkles, but it was fun. We all love all the dramatic faces he makes and seeing him grow so much in blinks.
I’ve decided to start a diet. I know I know, I don’t want to hear about it. I did well on the South Beach before, so I’m going to try that again. Tipping the scale at 173 is a little scary especially when the new pants I bought in a 12 are starting to get snug. I don’t think I’m eating more, but it is the holidays and there’s so much food about. The first two weeks are tough, then it’s just small portions and the like. We’ll see how I do. I’m not looking to be skinny, I’m just looking to fit back into my clothes! Besides, It’s really not too bad. I like salads, fish, mushrooms, veggies and hummus, eggs, cheese and meats, beans, yogurts and puddings. I just have to ditch the grains and fruit for two weeks. That’s the hard part. No fruit! Two meals down, 40 to go.
Filed by meg at December 1st, 2008 under Daily Entries
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November 25, 2008
This is like a huge stepping block! 18 months, a year and a half of Cory. I haven’t written in a while, but the dramatic changes are so much less than the weekly changes he’d have as a newborn. More than anything his independent play is blossoming. He has ideas of what he wants to do and sometimes it doesn’t happen or things get taken away and tantrums start. If he’s tired or wakes up from a poor nap, he can be quite difficult to consol. He will throw himself around and refuse to eat or drink. All in all, Jay and I put him on the floor, leave a snack out and ingore him or leave the room. It tends to be worse when we’re there. He’ll stop and sniffle and look back at us to see if we’re watching. He’ll be worse for me than Jay. Probably because most of my life my whole mind has been written on my face. I’m an easy target for jokes and crying toddlers. I maybe concerned, but I can be firm. His favorite things now are books, blankets and pillows, anything with buttons, and balls.
Cousin Lena came to visit and we were there to greet her at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Poor Lena barely got used to the place and Cory hugged her and hugged her and hugged her. Maybe we need to work on personal space! I’m hoping they’ll play more over her visit.
We took Cory to a free session at Gymboree. He really liked it, but it was obvious that other children there knew the routine and what was to play with and Cory did fine playing, but wasn’t willing to share the clown Gymbo. I was a little embarassed, but no one made a big deal. He seemed to like the parachute for a while also. I liked it was age appropriate and that only kids his age were in the group so he didn’t get trampled. We’re leaning towards no Gymboree enrollment cause of the cost and distance. We may try and get a play group going instead. Find some neighborhood kids who want to play.
We’re discussing potty training. We know he’s not ready yet, for lots of reasons. We may try during Easter break closer to his birthday. We did get some potty books. I notice when he knows the words and understands better how things work, he’s more willing to do it. Like using forks and spoons. Of course now, he just wants to use real forks and spoons and drink from our cups. Wants to be like Daddy. Sometimes he eats at his play table, too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrishel/3058055319/
We visited my friend Natalie and her children and she gave us one of her kids old power wheel 4-wheelers. Cory can’t quite steer yet, but he sure liked using the button.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrishel/3058888704/
Filed by meg at November 25th, 2008 under Daily Entries
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November 8, 2008
Cory doesn’t have that “uncle” that comes over frequently to hold him upside down, give him rasperries, spin him in circles, and find other ways to wind him up and irritate him. Instead, we have Jenn. She vists and plays all of Cory’s favorite chase games and run around games and plays with all the toys he wants to play with. As opposed to Mommy and Daddy who are tired lumps at the end of the day and serve better as floor mats. Jay went out with friends, so it was nice having a “sister” around to help with bedtime and dinner.
Filed by meg at November 8th, 2008 under Daily Entries
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November 6, 2008
Play time is more interesting with Cory. He can hide and loves peek-a-boo. He can name all his animals and bring them to you. He loves to play chase or roll around with a ball. I can still remember when he was about four months old and kicking a balloon around and watching fans was fan-tastic. Now he’s grown so much in motor skills that I’m considering that he needs some structured playtime as suggested by Babywise. I agree with Babywise in the fact that they say children need routine to eliminate disruptive behavior. That’s what I do all day long in my classroom. The less down time we have, the more structure and less behavior problems we have. However, aside from the fact that I’m supposed to be a say at home mom working on my third child, and have dinner ready when Jay comes home from work and toys picked up and a house clean- there are points of merit in Toddlerwise. I’m not so sure I’ll be able to organize “blanket time.” Here you are supposed to use a time to train your toddler from 14-20 months to sit on a blanket and play independently and not get up. My toddler spends about 14 hours a day sleeping an hour a day eating and the rest of the day running. Cory isn’t a boy who sits to play. He doesn’t sit and stack blocks or build. He picks stuff up and runs around with it. Occasionally he’ll sit near a corner and play with something quietly, but it’s rare. The closest I get to blanket time is Cory grabbing a blanket from the couch and laying on it pretending to sleep and then jumping up waiting for your reaction- sometimes he forgets to close his eyes.
The book also suggests having the whole day organized in blanket time, structured time, video time, room time, as well as the meals and naps. Our bedtime routine is pretty strong, but the day isn’t. He’s at a sitter where a tv is on all the time and Cory does his normal run around in circles unless they have errands to do. I do think I will start some structured time. I also think we need to work with Cory learning to help pick up toys. We have video time after dinner with Sesame Street or Elmo’s World or Pocoyo or BabySigns. I think the structured time will be things that Cory and I can sit and do together. Such as coloring, painting, “cooking.” It should be something he sits and does with me that I direct. He doesn’t go to preschool or a daycare, so I think this will be a great way to start training him for what he’ll do for at least 15 years of his life in school! Plus it would give me a break from running after him cleaning up his messes as he terrorizes the living room.
I like how Montessori takes interests of a child and builds from it. Such as: a preschooler is showing interest in apples as they are growing from the summer and being picked in the fall. A teacher can: take the child to pick apples, taste different apples, take apart the apples and name each part, make things from apples, paint different kinds of apples, see if apples sink or float, practice writing the word apple, go shopping in a market for apples, make up describing words about apples (shiny, smooth, sweet, crunchy) . A child should have a whole experience about an apple as opposed to coloring pictures of Johnny Appleseed. I’m clever enough to come up with activities with things he’s interested in to have some structured time. I even thoug
ht that with the few friends that Cory made from trick or treating (the 1-2 year olds) they could come over and I could have some structured time with the three-four of them over the summer. I could have a morning of an hour or so each day with whoever would like to come. Of course, I know my mother would tell me not to be taken advantage of- it should be something all the parents are willing to take a turn doing. That would mean I’d need to get to know the families and trust them. I’m just so used to being the teacher!
Filed by meg at November 6th, 2008 under Daily Entries
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