Elektra cruises

As reported on July 4, Elektra started pulling up consistently. Over this last weekend - a week later - she also started cruising. To boot, this is one brave little girl who has not only started cruising but also lets go... a lot. Talk about needing to be vigilant!! To her credit, she's actually pretty good at standing for being so new to it, but we definitely need to keep a sharp eye on her as she doesn't always manage to sit down safely.

DJ started pulling up and cruising in October 2007, but didn't walk until February 2008 when we went to Charleston, where he got to watch Leo walking/running. I'm thinking that Elektra will have her big brother to inspire her and will be walking in about the same time frame, especially since she seems to have no fear!!

DJ gardening

In my other blog post from today, I described the yard work (read: weeding) I did yesterday. While I was weeding the back bed furthest from the house, DJ was outside with me while Steve watched Elektra.


DJ wanted to help. "DD help Mama!" and "Here, Mama!" were heard often as he picked "weeds" and handed them to me. He also wanted to spray RoundUp... so there will be some dead "spots" where he managed to spray some before I could stop him. LOL

The best part, though, was when DJ decided to run back into the house. I watched him run to the deck, carefully walk up the deck stairs, and run into the house. The next thing I knew, he had come back outside with his toy pliers, saying "DD help Mama!" Steve said he'd come inside the house, ran right to his tool box, picked the pliers out out immediately, and ran back outside to me, saying "DD help Mama!" the whole time. Clearly, he'd seen me using the pruning shears, and wanted do it, too!

DJ also helped me carry sticks to the fence line so that I could throw them over, and was VERY good about staying away from the wild strawberry debris I had laying on the ground. He was such a good little helper yesterday!!

Elektra's new toy - pulling up!

I was home with the kids yesterday (Friday) since Eleanor and Sonny were off for the 4th of July holiday, and I spent time with Elektra trying to teach her how to get her feet under her to start pulling herself up on things. Yesterday, she was still trying to get me to pull her up onto her feet so she can stand. She would get up on her knees, and then I would pull her foot out and put it under her. Then I'd pull her up the rest of the way so that she could see that already being on feet helps her pull up to standing.

Today, she crawled over to the gate between the living room and the kitchen, and pulled herself up!!

The pull-up gate!

She has pulled up on Eleanor's kitchen table (the table supports under the table) once before, and Eleanor had to get under the table to help her get back down. But this time, she not only got up, but she also got herself back down! Two developments in one day!

There is no doubt that pulling up is now her favorite toy, and is trying to pull up on everyone and everything. She has, of course, scared herself, too, and she's fallen, too. It's been quite the day for her!

Crawling to Daddy (and posing!)

Stage 1 of pulling up... grab onto Daddy's shirt!


Stage 2 of pulling up - get her feet under her!


Stage 3 of pulling up - I'm up!!!

Elektra's 9 month appointment

Elektra had her 9 month pediatrician appointment today. Her vitals are:

19 pounds, 3 ounces
28.5 inches
44.5 centimeters head circumference

Her height/weight places her in the 60-70th percentile. As compared to 3 months ago, she:

grew 2 inches
gained 1 pound 7 ounces
grew 3 centimeters head circumference

She grew long, but she didn't gain a ton of weight which explains why she still fits in some 6 month clothes! DJ, at this point, was a full 3 pounds heavier for the same length, and was pushing the envelope on 12 month clothes!

While we waited for the doctor to come see her, Elektra stood in my lap and bounced, and tried to eat my necklace, and tried to reach the pictures behind us... all in all, very busy. The second the doctor walked in, all wiggliness stopped dead. Until the doctor left the room, Elektra didn't break a smile or anything. She just studied that doctor, watching him like a hawk, very serious business!! Only once did she break eye contact to feel the stethoscope while he was listening to her heart. And then she was very happy to gnaw on the tongue depressor he gave her. "A souvenir from Charles Street Pediatrics!"

He asked me the standard questions (sleep pattern, formula vs. breastmilk, mobility and other milestones, etc), and seemed surprised to hear that she's full on crawling. She's got Big Brother to catch now! She has been cleared to eat 3 solid meals a day, just no nuts, wheat, fish, chocolate, honey or eggs.

Elektra is "perfect" he said, but we already knew that. :-)

The nurse came in to administer the one shot she got today (the last dose of Hep C), and Elektra smiled at her. Then quick as a wink, the nurse administered the shot, and was about to put the band aid on by the time Elektra decided that the shot had hurt! She busted out her best boo-boo face + tears, and was over it 15 seconds later.

Elektra napped in the car back to Eleanor's, and then got in the swing on the playset. With her hat on to keep the sun out of her eyes and chewing on the strap, swinging away, she was one happy little camper.

IO is not slow

Not that we didn't know that IO isn't slow, but I have never seen him hit hyperdrive.

This morning, he was all the way on the side of the yard, by the shed when he spotted a squirrel on the far side of the yard. He started to run - at the usual speed at which I see him run, which, to be fair, is by no means considered slow - and then, when the squirrel didn't move, kicked it into hyperdrive. He visibly doubled his speed and covered the yard in 2 seconds flat.

The squirrel, realizing he was now in immediate danger, turned 90 degrees and booked it to the fence. IO managed to make the turn and missed the squirrel by about a snout and a half.

The two of them were in a foot race to the fence first and the squirrel managed to leap and scramble up the fence just before IO ran face first into it. IO did slow down before hitting the fence, but he definitely didn't stop in time. LOL

The squirrel then ran the fence top, with IO in hot pursuit, jumping and barking the whole time until the squirrel launched itself - literally - to a low hanging tree branch. Lucky for the squirrel that the tree branch was on the OTHER side of the fence because when that squirrel caught the branch, its weight made the branch droop all the way down to dog level before it came back up. Had that branch been on the wrong side of the fence, that squirrel was dog food.

It's nice to see that our senior dog is kicking butt and taking names!!

Playing together

Yesterday, at daycare, DJ and Elektra happened to be near the sliding glass door. DJ was playing with the long curtain, and would pull it out and then let it go to watch it "fall" back into place. Elektra was in the curtain's path, and it would "cover" her on its path back to its resting place. Elektra belly laughed at the peekaboo play, and DJ caught on. He started playing peekaboo with her, and they would both belly laugh!

DJ would pull the curtain out, let it go to cover Elektra, and then jump up and down laughing and squealing with delight. Then she would belly laugh and try to pull it off of herself. DJ would then go to her, pull it off of her, laugh some more, and then she would laugh some more. Rinse, repeat.

I had been getting ready to take them home, but that made me stop and sit on the floor to watch them interact with each other, completely unprovoked by any adult in the room. It was AWESOME.

Jeff, Grace's dad, then said, "You can only hope that in 5 years, they play like that!" He is so right!

DJ fix!

DJ fix!

DJ has really gotten into playing with his plastic tools. He REALLY likes his plastic screwdriver, and it's definitely his current favorite toy. At first, he would "fix car" and would flip a toy car over, whether a Matchbox car or a big plastic car, and put the screwdriver head to it. Then he'd turn the screwdriver and pretend to fix it. Now he tries to "fix" everything. He's even tried to use the wrench to "fix" the refigerator door. He's been playing with his workbench, which allows him to put screws and nuts together. Maybe it's almost time for a toddler-sized erector set?

Finger foods

Elektra has now started to eat various finger foods. Her favorites include the all-time leader, Cheerios, as well as a few Gerber products: the puffed stars and the wagon wheels. She's also eaten some of the cheese puffs, too.

She hasn't mastered the pincer grasp, so she's still raking the finger foods and tries to stuff her whole hand into her mouth. Therefore, most of what she tries to eat ends up under her chin, but that's ok! It keeps her busy while we get to eat.

Unlike DJ, though, she's much less inclined to just hang out in the high chair for long periods of time. Lately, she's been quite fussy after dinner, leading me to believe she's tired and doesn't really want to play, but go to bed instead. Bedtime has been earlier than usual!!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

On Monday morning, Steve and I were getting Elektra dressed to go to daycare when, while on the changing table, she clapped her hands together! Good girl!! She did it three or four times, and now she does it regularly! Way to go Elektra!!

Elektra wants DJ's toy; DJ vs. the showerhead

We had a couple of interesting kid stories happen over the weekend.

Elektra wants DJ's toy.

DJ was playing with a plastic toy screwdriver. "DJ fix car" and would take the screwdriver to the toy car that he wanted to "fix". He was very diligent, and "fixed" nearly every car in his arsenal.

However, Elektra wanted that screwdriver, too. I don't know if she wanted it because he had it or because she had chewed on it before and knew that it felt good on her gums. Either way, she wanted it, and actively went after it. She would crawl to wherever DJ was, reach for the screwdriver and if she could get a hand on it, take it from him.

In most cases, DJ was so stunned that she took it, that he would simply look at me and say, "DJ tool?" There were a few times when he would gently take it back from here, saying, "No no Ta-ta!", but he usually didn't know what to do about that.

After a few incidents of this, I sat down on the floor with both of them, and although Elektra doesn't know how to share, DJ is learning, so I figured I'd use this as a teaching opportunity. I would take the toy back from Elektra to give it to DJ. The first few times, there was no problem. But there were other times, like when it was getting near lunchtime (so I'm guessing Elektra was hungry and not as even keeled as usual) that Elektra would fuss that I'd taken it from her or that she couldn't reach it to get it from DJ. The first fuss of "I want that!" over one of DJ's toys... and it will certainly not be the last!

DJ vs. the showerhead

A couple of months ago, we had a weekend's worth of incidents where DJ melted down when it came to bath time. This was so odd because he loves baths!! But we can't ignore the phase he's in, so deal with it we do. We've worked through most of those issues, but we had to take it one step at a time. First we had to show DJ how the tub fills with water. Then we had to put him in the tub, and then rinse his hair. Getting water in his face initiated meltdown mode again, so we had to be more careful the next few times.

Steve had installed a removable showerhead (with hose, of course), and DJ wanted NO parts of that, whatsoever. He was very concerned about it. One time, I asked him if I could turn on the shower. He said, "No! No! No! Shower off!" Ok then, shower off. And he repeated "shower off!" multiple times, proving to me just how flipped out he was about it. The showerhead has been installed for months now, and we hadn't used it, except to wash the dogs (so much easier!).

Last night, I had taken Elektra into the bathroom to give her a bath, and DJ said, "See Baby!" Steve brought him in just in time to see me use the showerhead on Elektra. DJ watched everything I did, and eventually said, "DJ turn?" Yessir, your wish is our command! I quickly got Elektra out of the tub so that Steve could take advantage of this opportunity.

Not only did DJ not fuss about the tub, he let Steve use the showerhead on him. Way to go DJ!

Personal Blog

Welp, I've decided to dedicate this blogsite to the kids and general family stuff. When I decide to post stuff for me, whether as an update to my personal well being, a rant, or a need to be creative, I will be posting it to verve94.blogspot.com. I haven't deleted the posts from this site that I will copy to the new site just yet - tomorrow's task. But posts like refereeing and my braces and things I've already posted here will move there. I'll also post a link to this site to my personal blog and vice versa.

The Toddler Bed

Thanks to the generosity of friends of ours we met through autocrossing (and our willingness to help them empty their basement - ha ha), we have acquired a toddler bed in the shape of a VW bug, with sunroof!. The link I've posted is to a review site that has a picture because the bed is no longer sold by Step 2, so I can't get an original picture. To gauge its size, the best thing I can tell you is that it's designed to fit a crib mattress.

It's been in DJ's room since early March, and DJ has been very interested in it. "DJ car?" He likes to sit in it to read books and climbs in and out of it regularly. But since we only have one mattress, he can't lay down in it without our taking the mattress out of his crib.

However, we've noticed that DJ has been thinking about climbing out of his crib, though he hasn't done it yet. Thus, we decided to try having DJ nap in it on Saturday.

First, we re-toddler-proofed his room. Second, we let him play in his room and get used to being able to lay down in the car, stick his head out the "sunroof" which led to an incident of bumping his chin on the sunroof while "jumping on the bed, and generally crawl around and get the novelty of it out. Then we made sure he was tired. At that point, I took him into his room, laid him down on the bed, gave him his blanket, Binky, Tiger, and a book. I laid down on the floor next to him, and hoped he'd follow my lead.

Yeah, no. Who was I kidding?

After 10 minutes of DJ trying to play hide and seek with me, I had to lay down on him, for all intents and purposes. He was laying on his belly, so I put my arms across the backs of his thighs and my head on his back. He settled down, and soon enough, he was asleep. He had a really good nap - 3 hours!

That night, we tried putting him to sleep in the toddler bed again. After reading books with Daddy, he laid down in the bed, blanket over him, with Tiger, a book, and Binky. As we shut the door, he was still laying there. We turned to each other, and crossed our fingers...

It wasn't 5 minutes later that we heard, "Daddy? Nat-na?" (Daddy open?) just inside his door. Yeah, it would figure. Upon investigation, Daddy found that DJ had not only gotten out of the bed, but had also tossed Binky into the storage box on his dresser, and was ready to play. So we let him come back into the living room to play for 5 minutes with Yiayia and Papou (they had come over for dinner) while we switched the crib and the toddler bed, say ni-ta-ta again to everyone again, and we put him in his crib. From what we can tell, he fell right to sleep.

Although his nap on Saturday proved that he could sleep in the toddler bed without falling out, we're thinking he still likes the security of his crib. And that buys us more time with him in the crib. Everyone who has had kids has told us to keep them in the crib as long as possible, and the experience on Saturday proved how sage that advice is!!!

A Fuss with syllables

As I was getting ready to leave daycare with the kids, Elektra started to fuss. I had already strapped her in the carseat and usually she calms down in it once she's moving. Today, she wanted no parts of it. As she started to wail she also started to say "ba ba ba" DURING the fussy wail. It sounded more like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ba ba AAAAAAAAAAHHHH" It was hilarious!

Rough Day for DJ

Yesterday was not DJ's best day.

First, he scraped his knee on the sidewalk because he let go of Eleanor's hand. The scrape is barely visible but to a toddler, any fall of any kind = wailing.

Then he was on the glider swing, and he let go. Well, imagine his surprise when he went flying into the bushes! At first, he didn't even cry. I think he was so surprised he didn't know what to do. Then he started to HOWL, and understandably so. He has some nice scratches down the side of his face from the bushes. To his credit, he stopped crying fairly quickly, and got back on the glider! Hopefully he learned that letting go is BAD!

Finally, last night, DJ managed to bump his eyebrow into the corner of the couch and now he has a little red spot there, too. Naturally, he wanted no part of the ice pack, so we're figuring he'll get a black eye eventually.

DJ, you need to stop leading with your head!!

Teething

Both kids are teething; there is no question that's what's going on for them right now. DJ has his fingers stuck in his mouth all the time, and Elektra is drooling like an open faucet.

I got enough cooperation from DJ that he let me feel in his mouth for those 2 year molars that have been taking forever to break through the gumline. I can confirm that all 4 have at least broken a point (or more) through, so DJ will be done soon enough!

Elektra, on the other hand, has no hard spots where teeth might be coming. She's gnawing on everyone and everything she can, no matter what the body part or item. If she can slime it, she will!!

Both kids got teething colds, too. They had mild (low 99s) fevers, and both have runny noses and coughs.

YET, despite their misery, both kids are playing hard and are relatively happy. We are so fortunate!

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore

Today's adventure took us to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. We met with Damian, Jenn, and Leo, and they showed us the ropes.

The zoo is a very nice place in a not-so-nice part of town, but thankfully it seems the locals leave it be. The zoo's exhibits are habitats, not just oversized cages, so this makes the zoo enjoyable. Plus, a lot of the zoo is shaded by tall trees... what a wonderful nature walk.

Today, we saw lots of creatures, including one of the polar bears swimming! DJ was fascinated by all the water exhibits ("see water!"), and he got to see lots of animals including giraffes, elephants, penguins, the aforementioned polar bear, a fox, lots of different water fowl, monkeys, a cheetah, a tiger, antelope, a kudo, turtles, snakes ("sssss!") and the standard farm animals in the petting zoo. DJ brushed and pet a number of goats today, too!

We also ate lunch together in the makeshift refreshments area as the permanent area is still under repair.

DJ walked nearly the entire zoo while we had Elektra in the stroller. By the end of the zoo's exhibits, he was so tired that he was laying his head down on our shoulders as we carried him. Both he and Elektra fell asleep in the car on the way home. DJ is currently napping but Elektra has decided that the half hour catnap is enough for her to have a second wind so she is crawling around the living room floor as I write this. Maybe you'll take a nap soon, Little Girl???

All in all, it was a very nice outing, and we may invest in a zoo membership to do this again.

Elektra Crawls FORWARD!

Over the weekend, Elektra began to go from being on all fours to sitting up regularly. This, of course, means that she has a new springboard of sorts to crawling forwards instead of backwards. She crawls backwards fairly quickly, so she is most certainly mobile. We have seen sparks of forward motion every once in awhile... our time of a non-mobile baby... has ENDED!!! SHE TOOK TWO CRAWLS FORWARD AS I WRITE THIS!! The motivation was to get to Daddy's laptop power cable - which Daddy promptly moved out of reach when she obtained the prize.

Congratulations Elektra! Your adventures are going to expand rapidly!!!

She has also broken her second bottom tooth through as of 2 Fridays ago, and that pearly white is starting to be noticeable without having to look hard for it. She's drooling like a fiend right now, so I wonder what tooth is coming next! I don't feel any hard spots, so we'll see.

Elektra is no longer staying within the confines of the sleep positioner, so we took that out of her crib. For the most part, she still sleeps on her back, but we've been finding her on her side and belly more often as the days go by. She's moved into a fairly regular sleep pattern - a short cat nap in the late morning and a long nap in the afternoon. She goes to bed between 7:30-8:00pm, and sleeps until at least 6:30-7:00am. She sleeps fantastically.

We have also seen evidence of Elektra pulling herself up on her knees, so the days of keeping the crib rail down are going to be ending soon enough as well!

The last thing Elektra has been doing as of late is saying Da Da Da. This makes Daddy very happy. :)

Time for dinner... one of DJ's favorites...pizzaaaaaaaa!!

DJ > Thomas the Train

When we got home today, DJ saw that my laptop was open, so he asked to see Thomas. The Thomas the train website has videos on it, and both he and Grace like to watch them.

As my laptop started to wake up, he saw my wallpaper which has a picture of both DJ and Elektra.



He said, "DJ!" and pointed to himself. Then I pointed to Elektra and asked him who that was. On cue, he said, "Ebaby!"

So I loaded the Thomas website, and then DJ said, "More DJ." So I minimized the website so that he could see the wallpaper again. He laughed and was all proud of himself. I brought the website back up, and he watched for 2 seconds and then asked for "More DJ". Our little Narcissus!!!

DJ do it!!

Yep. You read right. We're in trouble.

I received an email this morning from Eleanor that DJ was saying "DJ do it! DJ do it! DJ do it!".

He learned it from Grace, for sure. So now we have to adjust to Mr. Independent!

Other kid updates

On Tuesday, Steve let Elektra feel the sand in the sandbox with her feet. Didn't phase her one bit. Good girl!

DJ went down the slide by himself on Wednesday. He's such a cautious boy, and so this is a milestone for him.

As of Wednesday night, Elektra has been sleeping in her crib at home without a sleep positioner. I expected her to roll over onto her belly but she hasn't these past two nights. I found her on her back or on her side in the morning. We took most of the toys out of her crib though, and will put them back when she gets better at rolling around.

Elektra's favorite stuffed toys are a little white plush rabbit and her pink My First Doll that Eleanor and Sonny gave her for Christmas.

Last night, Steve was feeding Elektra her baby cereal. Until she figures out if she wants what you're feeding her, she only opens her mouth a little. Once she decides that she wants it, she opens up. She was opening up for the baby cereal (Oatmeal with bananas!) but when steve didn't put the loaded spoon directly into her mouth, she stuck her tongue out as far as she could go to try and touch the food with her tongue. It was a total Gene Simmons.

She loves touching things with her tongue....If she can put her tongue on it first, she will. She enjoys a game I play with her where I touch her tongue like I'm lightly rubbing the end of it with the pad of my finger.

DJ and Elektra "talk" to each other in the car in the mornings when I'm taking them to daycare. Elektra will squeal, and DJ will squeal back. And they go back and forth. It is so cute!

Elektra will hold Baby Evan's (Grace's little brother) hand when she's near him. And she's very interested in watching him, as if she's knows he's her size. But she also watches DJ like a hawk, and cranes her neck around to see what he's doing almost at all times.

Meanwhile, DJ wants to eat everything out of a bowl. He's becoming Mr. Independent! He's also starting to ask to eat what's on our plates. The other day, he tried a leaf of spinach that Steve was eating, and he ate half a NY Strip!

Words words words!

A few more words from DJ:

cream - for diaper rash cream
shower
hotshoe - the word I used for someone who drives fast
noise
moon - comes out as "mohm"
tar - "star"
Be - his name for his Toby the Totbot toy
all of the numbers from 1 - 10

Sonny!

Sunny? Sonny? Both??

Yesterday afternoon, on the drive home from Sonny and Eleanor's house, DJ had the sun in his eyes - the first time we've seen the sun, in what, 10 days due to the immense amount of rain we've had?? - and out of nowhere said, "Sunny? Sunny?" When I realized what he said, I confirmed the word for him and praised him. Then the question mark left his voice, "Sunny! Sunny!"

I called Eleanor and Sonny's house while I was driving us all home, but I got voicemail. When the beep beeped, I said into the answer machine, "DJ, can you say sunny?" "SUNNY!"

Now I wasn't really sure if he meant sunny - as in, "the sun is shining" or Sonny. I thought my question was answered when we got home, when he pointed out a beam of sun on the floor and said, "Sunny?" We confirmed that he was using the correct word.

But DJ surprised me this morning while I was getting Elektra ("Ebaby" as DJ calls her) ready. DJ was in his crib, talking away, and I heard a very emphatic, "SONNY! NORY!" Nory is what he calls Eleanor, and therefore, it was confirmed. He knows the difference between "sunny" and "Sonny".

So when we arrived at Eleanor's, I pointed to Sonny and said, "DJ, who's this?" And right on queue, he said, "SONNY!" The look on Sonny's face was priceless. It turns out that Eleanor and Sonny hadn't heard the message on their answering machine, so this was a complete surprise.

And just like that, DJ made Sonny's day.... probably his year, really. :-)

Words!

DJ's busting out the words/phrases/sentences even faster now... I wonder when I'll be posted nearly daily!!

Our favorite right now is his name for Elektra. When we ask him "What's the baby's name (pointing to Elektra)?" He says, "Ebaby." This is an interesting little word since he knows that she is "baby" and her name is "E" (just like his is "D"), so he put them together for Ebaby. So Elektra has her first nickname from her brother... Ebaby. How appropriate for this day and age... eBaby or e-baby? ha ha We'll tack that onto the list of nicknames for her... Little E, Little Girl (or LG), Bright Eyes, Girlie Girlie, and now Ebaby.

New Words
Man (any toy human action figure)
fall
bus
kiss
zips - the act of zippering something
bass - bass drum

New Phrases
Man fall - the man fell down or the man was dropped)
boo boo kiss - kiss where it hurts (and will kiss his own boo boo if he can reach it!).
Car beep - the sound the car makes when unlocking/locking the doors with the keyfab.

New Sentence
Ney Ney eaty kais. - The horse is eating grass.

Sentences!

DJ is definitely stringing words together to make sentences!! Of course, he'a also added words to his vocabulary. I'll start with the words first.

abookabook - pocketbook
rain
tata - nee tata (a.k.a. a diminuative greek word for night night)
book
on
off
woof - what a doggie says
knee
car
wash
one - the number
eat
sit
bowl
Pooh - winnie the pooh
Elmo
poon - spoon
fohk - fork
ilk - milk

Phrases
Baby tata - Elektra going nee tata
Deej daba - DJ's cup

Sentences
Daddy sit in car.
Choo-choo work? (Does the train work (yet)?)
Wash car.
Eat woof woof. (doggies are eating)
Sit woof woof. (sit!!)

Tinsel E - 10 weeks later

On April 20th, I went for my first appointment for my braces since getting them. It took 7 weeks for all of the pain to go away, meaning I could finally use ALL of my front teeth to bite into something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and not be in any discomfort. At that point, I figured, hey, if I'm not feeling anything, the braces must not be doing anything.

Apparently, that assumption is inaccurate. This new fangled braces technology continues to work even if you don't feel anymore pain. Ok.....

The orthodontist looked at me, and said to tighten the bottoms, between my two incisors. I'll have another appointment 8 weeks later to change the wire entirely to a new wire. The good news about that is that I've made such progress that I'll get to skip a wire which I think means I'm already ahead of schedule. I've got my fingers crossed.....

Rock-a-bye baaaaby....

On Monday night, I came into the living room to find Elektra not just on her belly (no surprise), but on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth. Oh yes, folks, Steve and I are officially in trouble; as soon as Elektra starts crawling, the house truly becomes a zoo. ha ha I predict Elektra will be crawling in 3 weeks, especially since she spent *all* day yesterday rocking back and forth, Eleanor said.

Weekend update

On Saturday, Steve went to FedEx Field to design the course for Sunday's autocross. I took Elektra to Yiayia and Papou's house, and then DJ and I went to the B&O Railroad Museum in downtown Baltimore.

DJ loves trains (choo choo!), but this wasn't just your ordinary day at the B&O... Thomas the Train was there! We caught up Grace and her caregivers (Nadia and Jeff and baby brother Evan) since Thomas is THE biggest thing in Grace's world right now. Thankfully, Grace and DJ recognized each other this time so there was no weirdess there.

We all walked around the museum, looking at all the trains, and the displays. We saw Sir Topham Hat (grace got a picture, DJ couldn't have cared less about him) and Thomas the Engine, life size, with a working whistle, steam, and eye moves. We saw the **big** antique passenger engines (wheels are what, 7ft tall?), too.

DJ and Grace took a ride on a kid-sized train, and DJ cried at the end because he didn't want to get off. He loved it! We took the kids back before we left for one last ride... Grace was anxious and didn't want to wait in line and DJ was so tired that he didn't really care one way or the other.

We also looked at the Lego train garden built by the Washington DC Metro Area Lego Train Club (www.WamaLTC.org). This train garden was huge and it was so incredibly detailed... it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it, and was so impressed. It had a full city scape in addition to a rural scape, too, including the silk stalks on corn growing in a field. Very cool stuff.

There was also a 5ft long lego replica of Thomas, and all of the Duplo Thomas sets in one display.

Meanwhile, DJ was a perfect little angel, holding onto my hand and walking almost the entire time. Grace was ga-ga over all of the Thomas stuff to see.

As the hours passed (we got there when the museum opened), the museum started to get really crowded. There were toddlers EVERYWHERE. It was becoming insanity very quickly. 2 hours after our arrival, DJ was pooped. He asked me to pick him up and he put his head on my shoulder. He was definitely done, but it was clear he (and Grace) loved it.

He took a 10 minute power nap in the car, and then a 3.5 hour nap at home later that afternoon. All that walking wears out a little guy like him!

Sunday, Grandmom's babysitting service came to watch the kids for us while Steve and I went to our autocross. Steve drove better than me (as usual!) as I was driving way to conservatively to ensure that I wouldn't spin the car. I didn't spin the car, but I coned 3 of my 4 runs. ::sigh:: We got home just after 1:30, and relieved Grandmom to let her have an afternoon to herself.

DJ got up from his nap late, so he went to bed late, too, but not after a complete meltdown when it was time to take a bath. Steve and I are clueless as to why DJ is melting down consistently when it comes to a bath now. Last night, he was beyond hysterical. It's really disconcerting and we're trying to wrap our brains around this one because we don't know what's scaring him.

It was a fast paced weekend, but it was also a lot of fun!

Elektra crawls

Yes, Elektra is crawling... but backwards! She's pushing up on her arms, but not getting her legs under her. Then she pushes out with her arms and because her legs aren't under her, backwards she goes. She's actually pretty efficient at getting around for someone who doesn't actually crawl!! She never ceases to amaze us that she got from point A to point B (to get to toy C!).

DJ words (yes more!)

I'm writing down DJ's words as I hear/remember them.

daba - cup
sippy daba - sippy cup
sticky - sticky and stinky (they sound identical)
atdna - garage door
sleepy - sleeping
Biro - Spiro (his cousin)
Daddy base - daddy's bass drum
ball - ball
bicky - binky a.k.a. his pacifier

Easter 2009

This past weekend was Easter for us Eastern Orthodox Christians. On Saturday, I took DJ to church to take communion. He was such a good boy; he wasn't a wiggle worm and mostly stayed quiet (since talking is his new favorite toy) throughout the half hour we were there. He also took communion like a champ. He fell asleep on the way to lunch where we were going to meet with Yiayia and Papou at Bob Evans.

At lunch, DJ saw Papou dipping his fried shrimp into coctail sauce and wanted some. I tried to supplement it with ketchup thinking that he probably wouldn't like the spiciness of the cocktail sauce, but that failed miserably. And as predicted, he didn't like the cocktail sauce either.

After lunch, we went to Sam's Club with Yiayia and Papou to get diapers, formula, and ground beef. DJ had a good time trying to pull down displays and was constantly watching Yiayia and Papou. He was very sad when we had to leave them. Little did he know we'd see them the next day!

On Easter Sunday, we packed the car with all of our child paraphenalia and headed up to my sister's house in Lancaster, PA. We were hoping to get there early so that DJ could settle in and then take a nap. However, because of his hour nap in the car and all of the activity at my sister's, DJ wanted no parts of a nap. Instead, he played with the sliding glass door and the pocket door almost the entire time we were there. However, he did take time out to watch his cousins Spiro and Sophia run around, and was saying "Biro!" to call for Spiro. DJ was very excited to play with his cousins.

Elektra, on the other hand, stay home with Steve on Saturday. During that nap, she rolled over onto her belly (despite the sleep positioner!), and slept that way. Upon waking up, however, she realized she was on her belly and yelled!!

On Sunday, she took an unusual hour-long nap in the morning, and then slept in the car on the way up to Lancaster. Elektra decided that Yiayia was her favorite person on Sunday, next to DJ. She hung out with Papou, too, but she was all smiles for Yiayia. Meanwhile, Papou was holding her, and she cuddled up with him, stuck her thumb in her mouth and started to fall asleep. I took her upstairs to the pack-n-play (which we'd set up for DJ), and she fell asleep almost immediately. She rolled over onto her belly and slept like that for over 2 hours.

Upon waking up, though, she was not happy... despite a bottle and solids, she was still very fussy. I figured out that she was teething, so I gave her some motrin. Half an hour later, she calmed down. Thia Athena rocked her in her car seat until the motrin kicked in, and she was happier.

Both of the kids fell asleep on the ride home, and neither child woke up when we transferred them to their cribs. They were beat! Before he fell asleep, DJ was waving out the window and saying, "Bye bye Biro! Bye bye Biro!" Cute!!

Meanwhile, dinner was delicious, the company was fantastic, and a wonderful day overall.

Christ is risen!
Que Pasca.

More DJ words!

Almost every day, now DJ busts out a new word or phrase...

toes
foot
mommy hair
circle
star
daddy car
diaper

Words are tumbling out!

DJ is just busting out the words left and right! Just in the last week, we've heard a score of new words such as:

zipper
sky
wall
ceiling
apple
walk ("alk")
car
buckle
t-shirt
light ("ite")
milk ("ilk")
beak (as in a bird's beak)

Keep those words coming, DJ!

LOTS of phrases!

DJ decided to talk more this weekend! He's really starting to put words together!

1. Mommy Sit.
On Friday night, he told me to "sit" and pointed at my chair (the banana chair). By Sunday, the phrase had changed to "Mommy sit" and point to where he wanted me to sit.

2. :person's name: Bye Byes.
Not this past Saturday, but the Saturday before, we were leaving for the grocery store, and DJ said, "Daddy Bye." It wasn't until Tuesday when I heard "Nory bye byes" from the back seat on the way home from Eleanor's house (Nory = Eleanor). This Saturday, DJ said "Daddy bye byes" and yesterday, he said, "Papou bye byes."

3. :person's name: Alk.
Steve figured this out. Alk = Walk. So when DJ put together "Daddy alk", Steve was compelled by the cuteness to go out for a walk with DJ.

4. More.
If DJ wants more of something, he's either used his sign for it or since the last what, month and half, he's been saying the word "More". So now he's compounded the phrase with someone's name e.g. "Mommy more" (to keep pushing him in the swing) OR he's adding a word at the end e.g. "More Nana" (more banana) or "More kwacker" (more cracker).

I'm trying to think of what the others are now, but I'm drawing a blank.

Elektra's first tooth!

I think it's here! Her first tooth is through! We've been on tooth watch for at least the last week, as we've been able to see this thing from under the gum since Saturday. This morning, I felt it again and finally, I felt a little sharpness instead of the usual hardspot. I suspect her chewing on toys today will bring it out further and she'll be a happier camper.

DJ's first real phrase

DJ and I were walking out the door yesterday to go to day care when he pointed at Steve's shoes in the corner and said, "Daddy shoes." Boy did he get a big kiss and lots of praise for that!

An Apple A Day...

... doesn't keep the doctor away from scheduled visits!!

DJ and Elektra had their milestone appointments today: DJ's 2 year and Elektra's 6 month.

DJ weighed in at 28 pounds 12 ounces, 34.25 inches tall, and that equals out to about the 65th percentile. Clearly, he has slowed down and is starting to average out. His head circumference is 44.7cm.

That means he grew 1/2 an inch, put on a pound and a quarter, and his head grew 1.2 cm since his 18 month appointment.

Elektra weighed in at 17 pounds 12 ounces, 26.5 inches tall, and that puts her between the 75th - 80th percentiles. She has slowed down a little, too. Her head circumference is 42.5cm.

That means she grew an 1.25 inches, put on a 1.5 pounds, and her head grew 1 cm since her 3 month appointment.

To compare with DJ at his 6 month appointment, he was 19 pounds 13 ounces, 27.5 inches tall, and a had a head circumference of 44.7cm. Doing the math, he was 2 pounds heavier, an inch taller, and 2cm in head circumference. As the doctor said it today, "Viva la diference!"

Actually, the doctor said that in response to their behavior. DJ is very much involved in doing stuff whereas she wants to be involved with people. DJ, at 6 months, was crawling and sprouting his first tooth but not talking whereas Elektra is still only rolling over from back to belly (and that's it), sprouting her first tooth and talking up a blue streak.

But still... Viva la diference!

Both children are reaching appropriate milestones and are healthy. Elektra gets to have 2 solid meals a day now, and I can expand her palette, too. Bring on the peas and green beans (pureed, of course). DJ, well, we just get to fight the terrible twos food war. ;-)

DJ started saying "Bye Byes" (with an S) on Saturday! And he even combined a "Daddy bye byes" when we were leaving to go to the grocery store. This tells me that phrases will be coming soon as he starts to get his babbling under control.

DJ is also very boy. He received a new construction truck toy from his godparents and his cousin Eleni, and he insisted not only to take it to his room when it was time to get changed for bed, but he insisted on taking it to bed. When I went in to check on him before I went to bed, he was clutching it tightly in his hands. It was very cute.

Also this weekend, we noticed Elektra's first tooth is soooooooo close to breaking through. We can see it through the gum it's so close. She is gnawing on anything she can get her mouth on, particularly our fingers. She also ate a metric ton of food on Sunday. Growth spurt anyone??

Happy 2nd Birthday DJ!

DJ turned 2 years old today! Our toddler is now a preschooler... and has quite the stubborn/independent streak. ;-)

When we got to daycare this morning, Sonny and Eleanor started singing Happy Birthday to him. He wasn't quite sure what to make of all the fuss, but he was grinning from ear to ear nonetheless.

Happy Birthday Little Boy! We love you very much!

Items of note about the kids

Elektra has not only discovered her feet, but she's discovered that she can get her feet in her mouth! That happened this morning on the changing table!

Yesterday afternoon, DJ was "counting" soda 2 liter bottles... two, teee, two, teee (notice, there is no one or four, LOL). We got him to say 'four' once, but we'll have to wait awhile until we hear that again.

And today is Elektra's 6 month birthday! I can't believe it's been 6 months already... where has the time gone??

DJ's 2nd Birthday party

Yesterday, Steve and I threw a birthday party for DJ's 2nd birthday. The usual suspects were present (the grandparents, the Schrammies, Marty, the Doyles and Andy Leeds) plus some new ones! DJ's buddy from daycare, Grace, and her family came to celebrate with us! Yaay! She was in an adorable little pink dress with layers of ruffles, white tights, and patent leather shoes. She was adorable! What was hilarious was that DJ and Grace didn't even acknowledge each other for the first hour, as if they didn't recognize each other outside of daycare. Eventually, they figured it out. ;-) And baby Evan effectively slept through the whole party in Daddy's arms. I tried to give them a break by offering to take Evan for awhile, but Daddy bogarted the baby. Foiled again! LOL

DJ spent most of his party going up and down the deck stairs (like a big boy!), snatching Wheat Thins off the plate, swinging on his swing, and running around outside. He finally saw the presents in the living room, and promptly decided that they needed to be ripped open. Grace wanted to help, especially when she saw Thomas The Train stuff to be had! When DJ would open a gift of clothes, he'd scrunch up the tissue paper and fling the clothes behind him. If the gift was a toy, he'd want us to open it on the spot for him. How do they know at age 2?? Wow.

DJ got some cool presents, like the toddler-sized picnic table that Marty made for DJ, cardboard blocks that he loves to play with from Leo, and activity books from Grace. He also got lots of necessary clothes from various people as he's outgrown everything from last summer already!

We sang Happy Birthday for DJ and he got another handful of cake in the process of blowing out the candles. Once his hand got dirty, he didn't know what to do. So I put his fingers in his mouth which, at first, he didn't want to do, but then realized that it tasted good. We washed his hands and he had some cake. It wasn't long thereafter that he went down for a nap... he was beat!

Elektra was being passed around between the grandparents and my sister. At one point, Elektra got ahold of Papou's thumb and was chomping on it because clearly, someone else's thumb tastes better than her own... She also barely napped, as our little Social Bug insisted on being in the middle of all the racket at all times. She was wiped out by the end of the day!

It was a long day (got up at 6:30 to start cooking!), but it was worth it. DJ seemed to have a good time overall, except when Napoleon stole the cracker DJ was eating. To be fair, DJ dropped it, but DJ doesn't know the difference. We also broke a drawer in the kitchen and dog poop was tracked in the house from outside, but oh well. It was fun to have everyone over on such a nice day!

Elektra milestones

This past weekend, Elektra did a few things!

First, she rolled over the other direction... from left to right as opposed to her normal right to left. She still prefers right to left but if that path is "blocked", she will roll the other way.

She also started grabbing her feet! I know my mother loves this stage, so I hope she saw Elektra do it on Saturday when she and my dad babysat the kids.

The last thing she started doing is sucking on her lips. She'll get a good suction going and then POP! She lets go.

The weekend was GORGEOUS. The weather was as perfect weather can be. DJ and I were outside most of the weekend, and DJ would fuss if he had to come inside. He was exhausted from all of the activity; he took a 3.5 hour nap both Saturday and Sunday, slept 12.5 hours overnight and went to bed early on Sunday. Busy boys make for tired boys!

Weekend Update

And not with Kevin Nealy. I'm not nearly that talented.

First, DJ said "More" yesterday. We both heard him, but he didn't say it again the rest of the day. Today, when we were in the grocery store, he received a piece of cheese from the deli lady and asked for "More" which I rewarded with not just cheese but lots of praise and kisses. We practiced "More" at lunch and dinner as well as during post-dinner activities.

Meanwhile, Elektra started blowing raspberries today! She sat in her swing and blew raspberries at the tv for 20 minutes at one point. Right now, she's enjoying her exersaucer immensely and is beginning to become quite adept at it! We tried the Johnny Jump Up yesterday, but she wasn't so sure about that, even though she's been kicking her legs these days.

Marty came over last night for dinner and hung out with us. Otherwise, Steve and I did very little; it was nice to have a quiet weekend at home.

Home again

We made it home from Charleston, SC, with fairly little stress... except for the small detour on 395 through DC... ugh. That was all me. Missed the exit from the HOV lanes to 495...But DJ did great, and Elektra was an angel. The only time she fussed was when she blew out a diaper and was uncomfortable. DJ fussed when he was hungry; this year we must've had enough toys on hand to keep him fairly well occupied.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time again with Damian, Jenn, Leo, Andy and Mike. We stayed at the same ocean front beach house on the Isle of Palms as last year, but this year with one more occupant! Elektra slept in a pack-n-play in our room in the corner. DJ's pack-n-play was in the walk in closet again. It was funny to listen to him wake up in the morning and start banging on the shelves like drums and also push on the french doors that separate the closet from the rest of the master bedroom. And unlike last year, I didn't need earplugs to sleep as both kids slept very well at nights.

DJ loved having Leo around, and was trying to say his name by the end of the week. It kind of sounds like E-O, but hey... it's an effort! We also think that he made more effort to speak words because Leo speaks so well. We think "ka-coo" is trashcan, "bwaba" is bottle (or his cup), "shoos off" for taking his shoes off, and the letter F is now something he points out along with the letter D (sometimes he says E).

DJ also tried to imitate Leo whenever he could. Leo would jump on the couch, and DJ would do his darndest to launch himself on to the couch. Leo would get jello legs (and not walk) and now DJ does it. That said, Leo started squealing like DJ does when he's excited, much to Damian and Jenn's chagrin.

Damian and Jenn are trying to work on Leo's manners (please, thank you, you're welcome), and Leo had plenty of opportunity to practice. One time, DJ gave back one of Leo's toys to Leo - unprompted by any of us - and Leo was so stunned that DJ gave him back one of his toys (to a 3 year old, there is no giving up a toy that you have in your possession!) that he needed to be prompted to say thank you. Leo did very well using the magic word during the week.

We went to Patriots Point again, to see the USS Yorktown. The kids walked tons of stairs. They were so tired that they neither wanted a decent lunch and both napped really hard that afternoon. It turned out to be a gorgeous day, with temps in the mid-60s.

We also took a trip to the Charleston Museum one day, and we ran errands another day. On Friday, I took DJ out to the College of Charleston's athletic fields (which are next to Patriots Point) to run out some energy. We also walked out to the beach even though it was really cold with the wind whipping off of the ocean. The day before, Steve had taken him out and shown him that it's not ice he's walking on but sand. Steve picked up a shell, scooped some sand, and let it fall out of the shell. Well, DJ picked right up on that, and insisted on picking up sand every 2 steps until they got back to the house. When I took him out the next day, I showed him a shell, and he remembered exactly what Steve had shown him (every 2 steps...). DJ also wanted to run out into the ocean, which I stopped him from doing. He stood there and watched as the waves came in, and the foam would gather at the water's edge. He's going to LOVE the beach when we go to Wrightsville in August.

Most lunches were eaten out (Chick-fil-A FTW), and most dinners were eaten in. Kudos to Andy and Steve for being our grill masters. We have learned that if you're going to light a charcoal grill on an ocean front deck and expect it to stay lit, then you need to pour 1/2 a bottle of lighter fluid on the coals. On the other hand, if you take said charcoal grill out of the main path of the wind, make sure it's not near the house's dryer else the laundry room and master bedroom smell like lighter fluid. ;-) Andy and Steve cooked marinaded london broil twice and chicken breasts once to perfection. The garlic bread, on the other hand, wasn't so garlicky... (need to add garlic next time!). The toaster settings are in minutes, not in a scale of dark to light so 5 != medium. Instead 5 = minutes... yes, Mike learned that the hard way for the rest of us when his toast came out unrecognizably black. And it can't be vacation if you don't set off the smoke alarm at least once, in our case, the morning of departure. ::snork::

Although the drive is brutal, we look forward to doing this again next year! Back to unpacking...

DJ words

Dj has been pointing to things and trying to name them more often without prompting. Some of the words we've heard from him lately include:
Meow, sssss (what a snake says), ney (what a horse says), sish (fish), kwaka (cracker), shoos (shoes), baby, DEEEE!!! (DJ's name), TEEE!!! (three), ock (rock), moo, ooooo (what an owl says), grrr (what a tiger, lion, and bear say), vroom (what a truck and car say), beep (what a car does, but this one is hard to elicit when you try to prompt him for it), mama, daddy, ayia (yiayia), papou, we think he said Leo's name, keys (both what's on a keyboard and the items used to unlock/start things), wawa (we think this is water), nana (banana), here-oh (here or here you go), eye, ice (current favorite word), eeaf (leaf), coo (cool or cold), bawa (bottle - which we think he means as his cup), choo choo (train), twa-ka (we think this is a new word as of today for trashcan), hi (and we think he's starting to learn how to use it correctly), and tick-toc (what a watch or clock says). At least that's all I can think of right now.

Elektra the Steamroller

It's official! Elektra is rolling over! And of course, she couldn't roll over the easy way (belly to back). Oh no. She had to go from back to belly. I was out with DJ at the Charleston Museum (first museum in the country - established 1773) while Steve stayed home with Elektra and I got a text that she'd rolled over. Sure enough, after I got home with DJ, I watched her do it with my own eyes. It's still effort for her, but clearly, we can no longer just leave her on the changing table!!

Our kids seem to reach a milestone every time they come down to Charleston!

Posted pictures

As promised, I posted a picture of Elektra eating solids and one of her bath experience.

Happy happy joy joy!

DJ hadn't seen Grace in a week and a half, at least. Either he was sick or she was sick or something.

Yesterday, they finally got to see each other again, and DJ made it very clear how happy he was to see her. He hung onto the gate, jumped up and down excitedly, squealed with glee, and shook his head in outright crazy happiness. Eleanor said it was really cute to see him so happy to see Grace. Clearly, he missed her.

Elektra's first solid food

Last night, Steve and I fed Elektra her first spoonfuls of rice cereal.

As to be expected, just about none of it stayed in, and she pushed the spoon out of her mouth with her tongue to boot. In fact, I am not convinced she swallowed any of it. But she sat in her high chair like a trooper, had pictures taken of her, and got all around messy. It was great!

I'll post pics when I download them from the camera. (edit: done!)

However, at 2am this morning, she was awake with gas. Was it from the rice cereal? Not sure. But I changed her diaper, gave her a 4 ounce bottle and just as she finished that, she had a poopy diaper. Changed her again, and found that it was quite the poopy diaper so she must've been feeling better after that. I put her back down in her crib, and she went to sleep almost immediately. I, on the other hand, was awake for at least another 20 minutes. Ugh.

DJ, our little Curt Schilling

DJ has reached the Throwing Stage. He's throwing everything. Not only is he throwing everything, he's throwing things at people as well as onto the floor. Elektra has been his favorite target so far, but Grace, Steve and I have not been overlooked.

And of course, as one quickly discovers, one cannot reason with a toddler. I put him in timeout over the weekend when he hit Elektra in the head a couple times, and he thought I was playing. I used my sternest Mama Voice, and even that didn't work. Clearly, this is for attention, but I'm failing to see how, even when I'm playing with him very specifically, it's not enough attention for him not to throw things.

Yesterday, at day care, he threw something near Elektra, so I put him in my lap, told him he should say "sorry" to Elektra (he can't say that yet, but may as well start having him hear the word) and give her a kiss. Oh he didn't want to do that. It took my asking 3 times for him to finally give Elektra a kiss.

He also threw a book at Grace and konked her in the head. I took him to Eleanor's couch, sat him down, he fussed to be let go, and Grace came over to see what was the fuss. I told him, again, that he needs to say "sorry" to Grace and give her a kiss. At least the kiss to Grace was more easily extracted as I only had to ask once. ;-)

At some level, it seems like he's trying to give these things to people, but he's launching them instead of giving them. There are other times when it's clear he's doing it for attention. I'm not sure how to tackle this yet, but hopefully, we'll get through to him soon before he hurts someone.

Humpty Dumpty...

...is now DJ.

Yesterday morning, Steve and I went into DJ's room to get him ready for day care. Steve put down the crib rail, and I turned my back to figure out what DJ was going to wear. Steve left the room to go make his coffee.

At this moment, DJ decided it would be a good idea to see how far down the outside of the crib he could reach. Sure enough, he reached... and reached... and reached... until he literally flipped over, head over heels to the floor out of the crib. I heard a boom which made me immediately turn and look, and I saw DJ on his back on the floor starting to cry.

I immediately picked him up as he's wailing, and Steve came in grinning. GRINNING! Dude! Our toddler just fell out of the crib!!!! This is no time to be grinning!!! Apparently, Steve saw the whole thing happen. DJ only fell a foot and a half, and he landed on his back, not his head. So clearly, DJ was more scared than hurt, but he let us know he wasn't happy for a good 5 minutes.

Then there was the, "You were in the room with him!" "I was picking out something for him to wear!" "Ok, no more leaving the crib rail down, though you'd think he'd have learned his lesson... maybe." HA!

By the time I got him dressed, the tears were dry and DJ was smiling and laughing. I'm sure that's not the last time he's going to fall out of the crib....

Elektra's 4 month pediatrican appointment

Yesterday, I took Elektra to see her pediatrician for her 4 month appointment. She weighed in at a hefty 16 pounds 4 ounces and 25.25 inches long. That puts her in the 90-95 percentile. Interestingly, she's nearly a full pound and a quarter inch smaller than DJ was at 4 months. Yet she feels longer to me than he was.

As it turns out, she wanted no parts of the exam. She was starting to get ansy before the doctor came in, so I'm wondering if she was hungry and the exam just made it all the worse. She fussed and cried even swatted at the instrument he used to look in her ears ("Good motor skill development!" he said).

She's been cleared for solids, too. Rice cereal and the yellow vegetables until she's 6 months old.

After all that was done, she got 5 vaccines, and she really cried at the technician then. By the time we left the office, she was calm and quiet and checking out the world around her. She fell asleep in the car on the way back to Eleanor's. So was she hungry or just exhibiting her personality, no idea....!

Elektra's 1st bath

She hated it.

She was fine with being naked. That was all fine and good. But being laid down in the infant tub was a whole other story. She started to cry... not fuss, cry. I quickly put warm water over her, and although she stopped crying, she still fussed. We didn't have her in the tub 5 minutes and she'd already started crying again. :-( Yep, she hated it. And of course, we have pictures. ;-)




We'd been able to get away with not giving her a full out bath for this long because she's been a really clean baby overall. Little sponge baths have been more than plenty for her.

Then, this morning, I spilled an entire bottle of milk on her. I had to change her outfit and wipe her down with a wipe all over so she wouldn't be sticky. Then, I got a call from Eleanor that she'd blown a diaper up the back and spit up down her front at the same time so she was in yet ANOTHER outfit.

So much for having a clean baby. No more baths any time soon if this is going to be my luck!!!

DJ update

DJ went to the doctor yesterday. While in the waiting room, DJ enjoyed watching the fish and the bubbles in the fish tank, and he'd also say "rock" which came out as "ock". He also watched all the other kids intently, especially the ones who were causing a ruckus, looking at them with studious concern. Despite being so incredibly tired because Steve had to wake him up from a nap to bring him to the doctor, he was a very good boy while we waited.

Once we were called back and DJ was weighed (29 pounds, 13 ounces!), we let him run around the examining room to his heart's content. When the doctor came in, he was fine until it was time to look in his ears and mouth. That's when the tired DJ came out and he did all he could to keep the doctor from getting a good look.

Dr. Nguyen said she didn't see any signs of infection, so no antibiotics for him, though clearly he's fighting something off. This is a good thing as he's building antibodies. She said that she's been seeing a lot of what he has, a fever for 3-5 days, and then potentially break out into a rash when the fever breaks. Apparently, it's a baby/toddler thing, and even my dad had mentioned it on Sunday night that this might be what would happen. We are to keep giving him Tylenol (and we get to up the dosage since he weighs 30 pounds effectively) to help keep him comfortable more than anything. Besides, we think he's also teething his last teeth, his 2 year molars, so the Tylenol will help with that, too.

Since he effectively had no afternoon nap, he went to bed at 6:30pm, and slept 12 hours. He woke up crying once or twice in the middle of the night, but went back to sleep pretty quickly. I got up at 2:45am to check on him, and he wasn't exhibiting any signs of a fever. So I didn't wake him to give him any Tylenol then.

This morning, he still didn't feel warm to me, though the thermometer said low 99. I gave him some Tylenol and took him to day care because I know he'd love to see Grace. Naturally, with it snowing today, schools are closed, so Jeff kept Grace home with him. At least DJ gets to play with his favorite Sonny and Eleanor. I'm hoping he naps a couple of times today because he still looks very tired, and is still a little fussy and willful. He was eating a good breakfast and sucked down his milk so I think that'll help his mood, too.

Feeling hot hot hot

Saturday night, Steve and I went to the WDCR Awards banquet for the 2008 racing season. It's always a good time, getting back together with friends we haven't seen in months, talk racing, and get excited for the upcoming season. Plus, with my being a member of the Board of Directors for the region, I have some politicking to do (shake hands, kiss babies, as it were). This would be impossible to do if we brought either (or both) of the kids. Thankfully, Grandmom came to the rescue! She came over at 3:30, and watched the kids for us while we were gone.

At 9pm, the banquet ceremonies had just ended and steve got a text from his mom... Call now. Uh-oh. DJ had a fever of 100, and he was wailing. We left immediately. By the time we got home, the Tylenol must've kicked in because his temperature was reading normal and he was back to sleep. Whew. Tyelnol FTW.

DJ slept the rest of the night but Sunday when he woke up, he had a fever near 100. Administer the Tylenol. Check. DJ ate a good breakfast, and played for a little while. But then, out of seemingly nowhere, he melted down. He was inconsolable. After about 5 minutes, I picked him up, and carried him to his crib. He laid down, and we didn't hear another peep out of him for an hour and a half.

He woke at noon unhappy. We tried giving him some lunch, no go. Fever was back up to 100, administer Tylenol. Steve put him back down for another nap. He lay in crib for probably half an hour and then wanted out. We let him play until around 3, and then put him back down for another nap. He slept until 6:30pm.

At that point, he was burning up. There was no mistaking that he had a high fever. Sure enough, it was in the high 102s. Administer Tylenol, now now now. Cool washcloth to his forehead. No panicking yet, it's not 104. Called Dad... do I need to panick yet? No, not until his fever hits 104. Try giving him a cool bath. Good idea! So after dinner, DJ got a cool bath. That brought his temperature down to normal. So we let him play for an hour, and he was clearly feeling better. His temperature was back up to 100 when we put him to bed, but I think that was because he was climbing on and off the couch during that hour of play.

I checked him at 11, before I went to bed, and no sign of a fever. Whew. Set an alarm for 2:45am. Checked him, 101. Dangit. I woke him up to give him Tylenol and being the good little boy that he is, took it and went back to sleep.

At 5:45am, he felt fine, but I didn't take a reading. At 7:15, he still felt ok. But we decided to keep him home from day care, much to Grace's (and Eleanor and Sonny's) disappointment because she didn't get to see him most of last week.

Steve is home with him right now, and he had a temp of 99.8. Tylenol. Check. I called the pediatrician, and he's supposed to go at 2:50 today. I was concerned as that's right during his normal nap time, but.... Steve already texted me to tell me that by 9:15, DJ was already back in bed and napping. Poor little guy definitely isn't feeling well.

Roll roll roll your boat....part 2!

Elektra was getting some all-important belly time on Sunday, watching DJ play in front of her and, as always, keeping an eye on the TV whenever she could. Then, all of a sudden, she rolled over from her belly to her side in one fell swoop! I was surprised that *she* wasn't surprised to find herself in a different position. In fact, she just continued to play, reaching out for a toy and trying to put it in her mouth.

I put her back on her belly to see if she'd do it again, but no go. By that point, she effectively face planted, being tired from the amount of belly time she'd already gotten.

As I mentioned in an earlier post about baby rolling, it's no surprised she rolled from belly to back first as it's easier for the baby to tuck their shoulder under the from that position to start the roll. Yay Elektra!

Laughter!

Last night, while I was changing Elektra to get her ready for bed, I tickled her under her chin. I was rewarded with a full on laugh!

One, two, TEEEE!!

Eleanor has told me in the past that DJ likes to count 1, 2, 3, but I didn't hear it for myself until a couple days ago. They were walking down the stairs together and Eleanor would count each stair, "one... two..." and DJ would squeal in delight, "TEEEE!!!!!" So now we count 1, 2, teeeee! whenever we can.

Last night, I taught him what a watch says. Tick tock! :)

Tis the Season for sickness

It is most certainly winter, and that means sickness. The whole family caught something ugly and passed it on to both the Boyers and the Cheevers.

DJ and Elektra started with colds last Monday. That Tuesday, I caught a 24 hour stomach bug (evil!) and by this past Sunday, both DJ and Steve had caught it, too. DJ must have felt better the next morning because he was happy, energetic and had good color in his face. Steve, on the other hand, was laid up on the couch the entire day, sleeping close to 18 hours. As for Elektra, you'd have never known she wasn't feeling well because she was a happy girl no matter what. She slept a ton over the weekend, but she's still a little stuffy. I still have a cold and my appetite hasn't fully returned, but I'm definitely past the worst of it.

Then I found out yesterday that on Monday night, Grace caught was DJ had the night before and then gave it to her mother. I feel badly for Nadia... expecting to deliver her baby any day now and vomiting.... ugh! That's horrible. And to top it all off, DJ and Sonny caught the rest of the stomach bug yesterday and Eleanor caught it last night. DJ was so worn out yesterday, apparently, that he curled up in Eleanor's lap in the morning and fell asleep in her arms. And then he took an afternoon nap later. He hasn't taken 2 naps in 3 months! Despite all that sleep, he was rubbing his eyes during dinner, so I gave him a long hot bath, and he went right to bed. He woke up 12 hours later.

I hope we all get past this ugliness soon... makes for misery!!

DJ and the Munchkin and his hat

On January 3rd, we celebrated Dave's 40th birthday with quite the bang. In the morning, we attended a brunch at my mother-in-law's house and that evening, we feasted on some of the best crabs I've had in a long time at Uncle Kenny's. Many thanks to Yiayia and Papou for watching the kids while we feasted at Uncle Kenny's! There's no way we could have picked crabs and kept up with kids!

While at Carole's, Elektra was immediately scooped up by someone to be held while DJ started wandering. The next thing I know, I saw DJ holding something in his hand. It looked like a ball, a white powdery ball. Hmm. I went to investigate. I discovered it was a powdered sugar Munchkin (from Dunkin' Donuts), and DJ was carrying it around like one of the plastic balls from his ball popper toy at home.

So I picked him up, showed him the "ball" in his hand, and told him to take a bite. He looked at me, confused, like "Why would I take a bite of a ball, Mommy?". So I told him to take a bite again. He slowly put it to his mouth and then got a taste of the powdered sugar. YUMMY. He quickly took another bite and shortly thereafter, the ball was gone. And there you have it, DJ's first donut.

This morning, it was very cold outside... 18 degrees or something ridiculous like that. Ok, so Minneapolis had it way worse, like -40 degrees or something but for us, 18 degrees is as cold as we usually get with no end in sight. DJ doesn't know that it's cold outside. But he asked for the red cap with the pompom on the top that his cousin Spiro gave him. He pointed at it and talked to it. So I confirmed, "Do you want to put on your hat?" DJ got excited, his sign for "Yes!" And on it went, and it stayed on the entire car ride to day care. I thought that was really cute that he wanted to wear the cap. :-)

Squeal!

During dinner, while DJ is in the high chair, Elektra is sitting in the swing facing him. Last night, DJ was squealing and lo and behold, Elektra would squeal back!! I couldn't believe it!! She was really trying to communicate with him!

You can tell that she's matured because behind those bright eyes of hers, you can see that she's so much more aware of what's going on around her and wants to absorb it all (as well as be involved in it!). She's also trying to grab things that are hanging in front of her and her intensity while doing so is really impressive. She was very busy trying to grab at stuff when I went to pick her up from day care today; she was doing that for at least 20 minutes and she still wasn't done playing with that when it was time to go. Good stuff!!

Roll roll roll your boat....

Elektra has been working on rolling over this last week. I noticed it on Sunday while we were watching the football game. She was on her back, on the playmat, with her head on the playmat's pillow. Next thing I know, she's nearly on her side, but not quite.

Eleanor and Sonny both said that she was trying to roll over at day care yesterday, too.

This morning, she had her neck craned to look behind her at the light near the changing table. In the process of doing that, it nearly put her on her side again.

Typically, a baby learns to roll from tummy to back first because it's easier. This little girl has no interest in trying to roll when she's on her tummy, at least she hasn't so far! Either way, at least she's trying! Hooray for a developmental milestone on its way!

Sucker!!

Ok, so that title sounds much more sinister than it's meant to be.

Last night, Elektra slept in our room in the pack-n-play and DJ slept in her crib so that he could get a full night's rest. At 3am, we woke to the sound of fussing and then mumbled fussing. Steve was concerned at the second sound and relaxed when I said, "She's sucking her thumb." It's actually to the point where she really doesn't want the pacifier, she wants her thumb instead. She woke up again around 5:30am, no fussing, just thumb sucking. Unlike DJ, she'll probably be able to put herself back to sleep without my needing to go into her room. We'll see.

On another note, she fussed about going to sleep last night. At first we tried feeding her. Nope, wanted no parts of the bottle. Then we tried the swing in front of the tv. Nope, wanted no parts of that either. Laid her down in the pack-n-play, was fine until we left the room. So I picked her up, and sat down on the living room couch with her, with her facing the tv. Insta-quiet. In fact, she fell asleep within 10 minutes. So she wanted to watch the tv, but she wanted to be held by one of us. Go figure!

Happy 2009!

Holy moley, it's 2009 already!

Last night, DJ went to bed early. With no nap, he was a really tired boy. I didn't even get a fuss of protest when I left his room. He actually got to sleep in his room because Dave and Nancy went to a friend's house in Annapolis to spend New Year's Eve, and they stayed there overnight. If he didn't sleep there, he was going to go in Elektra's crib because there was no way he was sleeping in our room again, Mr. Oh Look, Mommy and Daddy Are In The Room Now So It's Time To Play!

Elektra, on the other hand, wanted no parts of going to sleep. At least not at 8pm. Or 9pm for that matter. Finally, I decided to put her in the swing so she could watch some tv (college basketball). She spent the first 20 minutes talking to it, and then out like a light! She woke up for some reason about 40 minutes later, talked to the tv again, and then out like a light, again. The transfer to her crib was uneventful.

We were in bed before the new year rang in, though we were sure to know it was 2009 with our next door neighbor, Steve, blowing off fireworks in style. He's hilarious when it comes to fireworks. A complete pyro!

I woke up at 7:30 (so much better than 6!), and DJ was already squealing his head off. Time for me to go get him and start his day, I suppose. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be a healthy and happy one!

Dave and Nancy are here!

The East Coast Steaks welcomed the West Coast Steaks yesterday! They are here for the week and we're happy to have them here with us! We're sorry they couldn't bring Brillo. He would have given our weather wimps a run for their money!

I picked up Dave and Nancy from the airport after work. Carole was already at the house and Don arrived right after we did. I immediately started preparing the big old chicken I had bought for dinner while everyone else helped to watch the kids.

As the chicken finished roasting, many renditions of Rock Band were played. Steve and I had downloaded a compilation of The Cars tunes, but I think it's time to download some more fun stuff. What a ball!

We didn't eat until after DJ went to bed at 7, and that was after putting him in the pack-n-play in our room so that Dave and Nancy could have his room. I feel bad... I'm not convinced that air mattress is all the comfortable, but we gave the bed set to Carole so that DJ could have his own room... Oh well.

We opened gifts after dinner, and hit the hay at midnight. We had just settled down to fall asleep when we heard... rustle... rustle... stand up... Daddy!

Oh boy. Literally.

So Steve picked him up and laid him down in the bed between us even though we know this doesn't work, ever. DJ lay there quietly with us, occasionally kicking me gently and sucking on his pacifier. Then I felt his little hand reach for mine. I held his hand until he pulled it away to then start tapping Steve on the shoulder. Tap... tap... tap tap... tap tap... tap... tap...

Although amusing, it was time to put a stop to this. "DJ, it's time to go nee-ta-ta (night night), so Daddy is going to put you back in your crib (well, pack-n-play), ok?" I gave him some time to absorb that, and told him again, just to emphasize it. That's when he rolled over and decided it was time to play. Yeah... no.

Steve laid him down in the pack-n-play, and we got resettled under the covers. Rustle... rustle... rustle... stand up. Of course.

We try to stay very still hoping that he might decide to go back to sleep on his own. Then I feel him start patting my feet and he said, "Mama." How did he know those were my feet?! He repeated this a number of times trying to get my attention. I didn't react and eventually he laid back down on his own.

But then he started talking. It figures. "Daddy do." "Mama" and a whole lot of babble. Eventually he fell back to sleep and we finally got to sleep. I have no idea how long that was, but I definitely got less than 6 hours of sleep last night!

Look who's talking!

Elektra!

The Little Girl has been sleeping a ton lately, and I figured it was just a growth spurt. It still may well be, but yesterday she broke through with making noises with various pitches in one string.

She talked a ton yesterday, trying out her new "toy" and boy did she get a reaction from me. And in return, I got tons of smiles and talking.

AND, the best part, Ii heard a laugh!! She hasn't laughed again yet, but that was a preview of what's coming!

Christmas 2008

It's come and gone in a hurry. I swear it was just yesterday that I was still shopping. Oh wait, I was....not for gifts but for sugar.

I knew I had to make two desserts for each of the houses that we'd be visiting on Christmas, Yiayia's marshmallow cake and baklava. I had the butter out to soften for the cake and I started to measure out the sugar for the baklava syrup. That's when I realized I might not have enough for both desserts. Uh-oh. Even if I had figured it out Christmas Eve, no one was open after 6pm, so I'd have been in the same bind.

So DJ and I went out in search of sugar. I knew the Kleins Supermarket would be closed on Chrismtas Day but I thought that maybe the Safeway might be open for a few hours. No such luck. But sometimes, a 7-11 has odd things other than snacky-snack-type foods, and our local 7-11 had a few boxes of sugar. Perfect. The men that were hanging out in the 7-11 were drinking coffee, shooting the breeze, and all marveled at DJ's hair wishing they all had hair like that and reminiscing of the time when they did. All in all, pretty hilarious. 7-11 FTW on Christmas Day.

When we got home, it was time to open gifts. DJ hasn't quite figured out what opening gifts is about, so I spent time trying to show him that he can rip the paper off. He did enjoy taking the tissue paper out of the gift bags and then stuffing it back in them. ("What has baby found? Another piece of tissue paper! Wave it all around! " from the Wrapping Paper Romp book) On a side note, DJ also knows that Santa says "Hoooh!", and we read a picture book about Christmas a number of times this month. I'm hoping that he'll get what gifts mean by his birthday in March but I think he'll be all about Christmas in 2009.

Elektra, meanwhile, hung out in the swing watching us open gifts. Steve spent most of his time taking DJ's toys out of the packaging. What is it with packaging these days that requires brain surgery to extract the toy?? Didn't the old addage use to be that the choice words were dropped in toy assembly, not toy extraction from its packaging?

After toys were unwrapped, we watched Wall-E on blu-ray. Boy is Pixar making a statement with that movie but very good nonetheless! Anyway, DJ sat, literally sat on the floor, and actually watched the first half an hour of Wall-E. He never has an attention span for TV, so this was quite remarkable! During the parts of Wall-E I had seen, I prepped the baklava and after the movie was over, baked the cake.

Both DJ and Elektra had lunch and went down for naps early. I finished the cake and the baklava and sat down to take a breather before all the real craziness would begin. Sure enough, DJ woke up early from his nap, so let the craziness begin.

We got to George's house an hour late. This was after the baklava leaked on me in the car. ARG! I had wanted to drop it off to Tim's on the way to George's for exactly that reason, but we couldn't reach Tim by phone to confirm that we could do that. At least it was a tasty ride to George's.

George had a great feast prepared. Deep fried turkey (which was prepped in a brine the night before), spanakopita, ham, new england clam chowder, salad, Greek potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus, bread and Greek stuffing, and hors devours, including garlic stuff kalamata olives. Awesome! Everything was delicious, especially the deep fried turkey! YUM! Dessert included pumpkin custard, marshmallow cake and assorted cookies.

Gifts were exchanged by all and then Steve and I were off to Tim's house with the leaky baklava and all. Unlike George's, Tim's house was a zoo of people, as to be expected with this family! DJ and Elektra got tons more gifts! By 9:15pm and 4 million flights of stairs later, DJ was exhausted (but he still wanted to continue to climb the stairs!). We packed the kids in the car and headed home. Both children went to bed without nary a fuss, and both were still sleeping when I left this morning. I hope they're being good for Steve today!

The day was exhausting but wonderful. Merry Christmas!

Reaching, grabbing, and laughing?

Last week, I heard the toys on Elektra's car seat toy rattle. Since the carseat was sitting still on the kitchen table, I assumed that she was waving her arms around and haphazardly hitting the hanging toys.

Well, you know what they say about assuming. ::sigh::

It's clear now that she's *trying* to reach and grab for stuff. We saw it when she was in her carseat, but we've also seen it when she's in her crib. There are toys hanging from the crib rails that she can reach. When she goes to bed at night, she's not always asleep when we lay her down, so we'll hear her rattling the links until she goes to sleep.

We also think that she's trying to not just make cooing sounds to get our attention, but she's trying to have a conversation with us. She's already trying to imitate how our lips move and make noise at the same time. To boot, she's close to laughing. Laughing comes around the 4th month, so it won't be long before she not only smiles at us but also laughs. Can't wait!

Overall, this little girl has been so incredibly pleasant. She rarely fusses unless she's beyond hungry or wants help getting to sleep. Her "I want attention" fusses are little short "bwah!" sounds, and they are quite cute.

DJ still loves his little sister. "Baby" as he calls her, is very much on his mind. The first word out of his mouth in the morning when I go to get him out of his crib after "Daddy" is "Baby". He doesn't pay attention to her that much when he's playing with his toys but if she fusses, he'll come over to see what's wrong. He'll also give her some of what he's "cooking" to taste if he's being a chef. Meanwhile, she loves to watch him. Her eyes follow whatever he's doing if he's close enough for her to see him. She's been smiling at him unprompted. It's very cool.

BIG Train

Today, I met Damian, Jenn, and Leo at the B&O Railroad Museum. DJ was quite wide eyed at first and then I heard "ooo ooo!!" like the sound a train makes. Good boy, DJ!

The B&O had a nice train garden, sponsored by two local model train groups, one setting up a large train display and the other setting up an "N" scale train display. Both were very large in the amount of track they laid out and the settings they created. DJ watched both very intently.

We also walked around to see the historic trains. I don't think DJ really understood the scale of what he was looking at, but he had happy feet nonetheless. There were some very old and VERY big trains there... it was neat. I know I've been to the B&O museum before, but I'd forgotten how big the trains are.

We also took a ride on a train down historic (not necessarily scenic!) track. They had 2 engines, one on either end of 2 cars of a marc train, to go down and come back on. DJ was standing on the seat, looking out the window at the world passing by (and not strapped in a carseat). So both DJ and Elektra had their first train ride today. :-)

Toothbrush != Hairbrush

The last time we went to the pediatrician, he told us that we should be introducing DJ to the toothbrush. Needless to say, we forgot until sometime last week.

I pulled out a small toothbrush for him and showed him that it goes in one's mouth. I gave it to him, and he tried to brush his hair. I grinned, and tried to move his hand towards his mouth, but he turned his head away and tried to brush his hair again. So then I showed him that he can chew on it, but he'd have none of it. I tried to get him to put the bristles only on his front teeth, but that must've tickled because he turned his head away upon contact.

He knows to comb his hair with a comb, but the brush? He'd never seen that before and yet knew that a brush can be used to brush one's hair. Smart little boy!

Elektra has found her thumb!

Over the last few days, Elektra has been stuffing her hand in her mouth fairly often. I think she's been looking for her thumb and I think she found it today! She still takes the pacifier fine, but she's also looking for (and finding) her thumb more regularly. DJ is a pacifier boy when we were convinced he'd be a thumb sucker. Will we have a thumb or pacifier baby in Elektra? Time will tell!

Elektra's first snow

Yesterday, the first snow of winter fell, and Elektra got to watch it fall from the sky. She looked out the window from the kitchen for a few moments. Of course she has no concept of what she was seeing but hey... it's her first snow nonetheless!!!

DJ's Words

DJ is definitely starting to vocalize more. Sometimes he says the same words consistently, and other times it seems like he tries to say the word and then doesn't say it again for a long time. We (Steve, Eleanor, Sonny and I) have heard him say a whole slew of words. The ones he says consistently are:

Daddy, Baby (for Elektra), fish, shoes, ding (as in, the toaster's done), moo, Yiayia (comes out as Ayia or Yiayia... depends), grrrr (his favorite stuffed tiger says grrrr), uh-oh, and cracker.

Other words in his vocabulary that he's said but doesn't repeat often or on demand: Mama, Papou, Eleanor, Sonny, sun, hi, woof, vroom (as in, a car goes vroom), beep (as in, the alarm system on a car goes beep).

Also, we've heard him string a couple of words together. They aren't perfectly clear, but we think we've heard: "Daddy look!", "Daddy do.", and "Here you go."

He also communicates with signs. Pointing, of course, being his primary sign of what he wants, but he'll make a sign for "more", "wash hands" and to play the drums (his current favorite activity with Daddy).

Our little boy is communicating, for sure!

First night without baby

Last night, we decided to put Elektra in her crib in her own room to sleep. We moved the baby monitor out of DJ's room into Elektra's room as well as all the blankets she has. We put her to sleep in there at 9:30pm, and I heard her via the monitor about 2:30am. I got up to feed her, and put her back to sleep in her crib at 3am. Usually she's awake for a little while after she eats, and she makes noise which keeps me awake. With her not in our room, I got to go back to sleep fairly quickly and didn't wake up again until Steve's alarm went off about 3 hours later.

This is a milestone for us... no more baby in our room. I'll pack the Pack-n-Play today so that we can reclaim the space in our room. We booted DJ out of our room at 8 and a half weeks, and apparently, without really thinking about it, we did the same with Elektra. Now we just need Elektra to sleep through the midnight to 6am hours instead of the 9pm - 3am hours!

7 Hours!!!!

WOW!!!

7 hours!!!

In a row!!!

I had forgotten what 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep feels like. The last time I got to sleep like that was sometime in August, I believe. And that was on a good night since I was in my last trimester.

So Little E was fussing by 6:30pm last night, but she had just eaten at 5pm! I put her in the snugli and she calmed down long enough to warm her a bottle and get DJ to bed (Steve did that since DJ hadnt seen much of Daddy all day.

By 7:30pm, I was feeding Little E. By 8:30pm, she'd eaten 7.5 ounces!!! Woah! She usually only eats 3-4 ounces! She had fallen asleep on the bottle, so I put her down in the bassinet.

At this point I thought I'd try an experiment. Usually we wake her up around 11pm to top her off, but I decided to see how long she would sleep instead. I was in bed by 8:45pm and the next time I heard her (she sleeps in our room and I am a super light sleeper) was 4am. Rock on Wayne! Rock on Garth!

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to keep sleeping. But I didn't feel nearly as horrible as I usually do waking up after only 2 or 3 hours. In fact, I actually felt half decent. Of course, I went back to bed after I fed her, and when DJ got up less than 2 hours later, I wasn't feeling so hot.

Makes me wonder, does the number of ounces she eats equate to the number of hours between feedings? Remember, time starts when you start a feeding, not when it ends. So 7:30pm to 4am = 7.5 hours. Maybe there is something to that. I'll have to observe more...

Anyway, I'm not certainly looking a gift horse in the mouth. We're on our way to normalcy... soon.

Sentences for DJ?

We think DJ is starting to string words together!

Both Sonny and Eleanor have heard DJ say what we think is "Daddy look!" Steve and I heard this, too, on Sunday, when DJ came into the bathroom to investigate the noise... my filling his duckie tub for his bath.

We also think he's saying "Daddy do!" when DJ wants Steve to do something. For example, tonight, DJ handed Steve a book and said, "Daddy do!" Steve took that as "Read the book to me, Daddy!"

Way to go DJ!

Elektra's 40 Day Blessing

Yesterday we took the kids (wow, it still sounds weird to say "kids") to church. We caught up with my parents and my sister and her family drove down from Lacaster.

Elektra was dressed in pink so everyone in the congregation could make no mistake that she is a little girl. ;-) DJ was in khaki's and a sailor sweater; he looked quite the toddler.

Steve took DJ to the nursery so that DJ could play for a little bit. Then my father took DJ up for communion. At first, DJ turned his head away from the spoon, but took the communion spoon when he turned his head back. Good boy! Then he stayed with us, with Cheerios being a key factor in keeping him sitting still...

Elektra, meanwhile, slept through the whole thing. She even slept through her blessing. At least she didn't spit up on Father Dean. Poor DJ, he's so doomed to do pennance as an altar boy for that... lol Interesting note, DJ was walked around the altar for his 40 day, but Elektra was not. ::sigh:: someone in the higher ups must have said something to Father Dean about no women in the altar area. Oh well.

So nothing too notable but she's now been blessed!

She's officially part of the familiy

On Tuesday, I had a dinner party to attend and rather than leaving Steve with both kids, I took Elektra to my parents' house so they could get some grandparent time in. During the last few weeks, Elektra has been very needy during the 6-9pm hours, eating almost 9 ounces during that time in small snack-like meals, and she really wants to be held. I didn't want to subject Steve to having to handle both a demanding toddler and the one time during the day when the baby is demanding, too. Besides, my parents were thrilled to watch her.

So when Steve got home with DJ, I had long since left so the house was empty (except for the dogs, of course). DJ came in, and said, "baby", but obviously didn't see Elektra. Then he actually searched the house for about 10 minutes, saying "baby" repeatedly. He was disappointed when he didn't find her!

When Elektra is in the infant car seat, he comes over to her, smiles at her, pats her gently, says "baby", and also lays his head gently against her. It's really sweet!

So it's official: DJ has accepted her as permanent, and actually misses her when he doesn't see her!