Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ok, so it's been a month...

Yes, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I was insta-swamped at work (typically when I blog) upon return from vacation, and it really hasn't slowed down until recently. I got my one project for the year into production (all my other projects were canceled or put on hold until next year), helped with one other project and wham-o, that's all she wrote. Anyway, have lots of updates....

DJ has done lots of things over the last few months, including saying his first few words. "Na na na" = banana. That has evolved over time to "Ana na na". We thought "awa" or "awer" = Flower was his first word, but everything lately has either been "ba ba" or "awa" (ceiling fans and lights are "awas" right now). He's also said "a play" = airplane though I haven't heard that again in a long time. It's interesting. He seems to say words once that sound REALLY close to the right word, and then we don't hear it again for forever. For example, he said "eh nor" for Eleanor, "ba ba" for baby, "abbi" for rabbit, etc. Now he has said "moooo" pretty consistently when you ask him what a cow says or show him a cow. And we think he's said "woof" when he hears/sees a dog.

Even if he can't say a lot of words, he knows a lot of what you're telling him. "Want to go bye byes?" and he goes right to the door. Asking him to blow a kiss will usually prompt him to put his hand to his mouth and actually send a kiss in your direction. "Where's (insert name of person... Mommy, Daddy, Eleanor, Sonny, Grace, Grandmom, Papou, etc)?" and he will look for the person. What really cracks us up is when the person isn't in the room, and he gives you a look of, "I don't know....". "Do you want (insert meal name)?" or "Are you hungry?" elicits an immediate run to his high chair. In fact, he'll go to his high chair if he wants something completely unprompted, too. He'll also give you his shoes if he wants to go bye byes or outside unprompted. And of course, there is always pointing as he will point to what he wants as well.

His coordination has clearly improved as well. He's almost running, and he's putting Duplos (legos) together with ease now. You only need to show him how to do something once or twice, and he remembers how to do it. He buckles his carseat, is starting to feed himself with a spoon (yes, it's a mess, but he's getting pretty good at it!), and is a master climber - if he's tall enough.

DJ has also been very sweet with the dogs. He's very gentle 99% of the time he interacts with them. He generally doesn't pay them much mind, but he's always entertained by them.

Speaking of being entertained, he will sit and watch - without as much as a wiggle - Steve fly his remote control planes and drive his remote control cars around. He'll point to the plane and "name" it as it flies by, too. Steve pulled out a Lego train today and DJ barely moved from my lap watching the train go around. He would talk to it and wanted to put stuff on the cars to have the train carry around the track. I have some pictures, so I'll see if I can post them soon (DJ is up from his nap, so I need to go get him momentarily).

DJ also still loves to open/close doors. He likes to put things in/out of boxes and other containers, and he still loves being outside. He claps when he's proud of himself for doing something, and waves bye bye when an electronic toy turns itself off and says "bye bye". Hilarious!

On another note, baby #2 is 3 weeks (or less?) away. I'm definitely ready to start the next phase (labor, delivery, post partum healing, lack of sleep, and eventually have my body back) to get through it already. But I'm not sure I'm quite ready yet for the seemingly enormous change of family dynamic that a second baby will bring.

This pregnancy really hasn't been any harder than DJ's pregnancy was, thankfully. My lower back gets sore fairly quickly, which I don't remember from DJ's pregnancy, and the doctor attributes that to it simply being my second pregnancy and my muscles and such are not as strong as in the first pregnancy. Laying down relieves that soreness so that's good. I'm also carrying the baby a little differently than DJ. This baby seems to be sitting a little lower in my abdomen which has allowed me to sit on the couch (instead of the glider chair) comfortably, even now. When I stand up, gravity pulling the baby down reminds my bladder that it's full. This actually is a real boon... I can sleep through the night still which I couldn't at this stage with DJ.

And this baby has been *feisty* in utero. Feisty!! The wiggles have been exactly that, wiggles, not kicks. DJ kicked, this one wiggles. So we'll see how feisty a personality this baby has! This baby has also gotten the hiccups a lot more often in this last month than over the whole course of the pregnancy. Wonder what's up with that!

So if I don't blog again any time soon, you know it's because I'm caring for a newborn! Can't wait to meet you, Little Wiggle Worm! ;-)

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