I love how little kids think, it's completely out of the box. Usually it's just funny and cute, but every once in awhile they come up with a legitimate idea worth trying. Julia did this the other day while we were watching the news. What made it even better was that her great idea was followed by a completely random, yet legitimate, alternative that reminded me she's still a little girl.
Overnight we received a decent amount of snow, so this morning I had to go outside and shovel our long driveway and sidewalk. Even though the snow was very dry and light, it still took me about 45 minutes to clear the entire area. By the way, a dead giveaway that you're not originally from the front range is if you own a snow blower. I'm not going to explain why - those who have lived here long enough know what I mean. Anyway, both kids kept their noses pressed against the sliding glass door, watching me as I shoveled the snow away.
Later that day I turned on the national news when I got home from work. Julia had apparently never seen a snow blower before, so when they showed a clip of people in the Midwest digging themselves out from the same storm I had to explain what she had just seen. I explained I don't have a snow blower, so I have to do it by hand with a shovel. Her response was, "but Dad, you have a LEAF blower. That could work!". I was very impressed with her idea, so I told her that I would give it a try the next time it snows. If the snow is as dry as it was this morning, a leaf blower might actually work.
After I praised her and told her that I would try it the next time it snowed, she came up with a backup plan. If the leaf blower didn't work, I could simply buy a bulldozer and use that to remove the snow. She had also seen that on the news. She assured me it would be OK since I could just park it outside. However, the model I purchase would need to have windshield wipers on it so I could see what I was doing.
19 December 2011
16 December 2011
Bon Voyage Daddy
Every morning Julia and Jonathan give me hugs and kisses before I leave for work. Just like his sister, Jonathan loves to stand at the sliding glass door in the kitchen and wave goodbye as I back out of the garage past him. Then, when I'm out of sight, he runs as fast as he can to the front of the house to wave goodbye from the window next to the front door. I usually have to wait for several seconds in the middle of the street for him to make it to the other side of the house.
This morning I got ready a little bit faster then usual, so I decided to head into work a little bit early. It was still dark outside when I left. As expected, Jonathan stood at the side of the house and waved goodbye. I backed out into the street and sat there for a few seconds waiting to see if he would make it to the front door window. Eventually I saw the blinds moving and light coming from inside the house. As I mentioned, it was still dark outside so I couldn't make anything out other then what was farther inside the house then where Jonathan was standing. As he pulled the blinds back from the window, all I could see was a dark, round shape that looked like the very top of his head lingering above the window opening and a silhouetted little hand waving goodbye back and forth in the shadows. The back lighting in the house perfectly outlined his little hand flip-flopping back and forth in the air, wishing me a good day.
This morning I got ready a little bit faster then usual, so I decided to head into work a little bit early. It was still dark outside when I left. As expected, Jonathan stood at the side of the house and waved goodbye. I backed out into the street and sat there for a few seconds waiting to see if he would make it to the front door window. Eventually I saw the blinds moving and light coming from inside the house. As I mentioned, it was still dark outside so I couldn't make anything out other then what was farther inside the house then where Jonathan was standing. As he pulled the blinds back from the window, all I could see was a dark, round shape that looked like the very top of his head lingering above the window opening and a silhouetted little hand waving goodbye back and forth in the shadows. The back lighting in the house perfectly outlined his little hand flip-flopping back and forth in the air, wishing me a good day.
15 December 2011
Second Opinion
This week we had Jonathan's 18 month check up. Unfortunately, his pediatrician was slightly concerned about the progress made on his weight. He weighed in at about 18.5 pounds, not much more then he was two months ago at Dr Yazdi's office.
We thought we had been making good progress on his feedings, but our journal didn't back that up. I went back and averaged the calories he's been getting over the past 45 days and it was on the low side of what he needs for his current weight, let alone growth. Past trends showed that we would do great for a week or two and then not so great for another week or two. Overall, it's not been quite good enough though.
The reason why we haven't been able to consistently get enough through his system is because he's been sick a lot. It seems that any time he gets a sniffle or a bug, like all of us, his system slows down and he doesn't want to eat as much as he normally would. The issue we see is that he always seems to catch something and that it seems to take him longer then normal to get over whatever he has.
We're to the point where we can't do much more considering his response to feedings when sick. So, we've scheduled an appointment in January with another Peds Gastro from Denver for a second opinion. We hope that a fresh set of eyes will reveal something we haven't explored yet. At the very least, we'd like to have her run some of the tests a second time to validate the first set of results. Maybe there is something else going on that is also impeding our progress and his growth.
We thought we had been making good progress on his feedings, but our journal didn't back that up. I went back and averaged the calories he's been getting over the past 45 days and it was on the low side of what he needs for his current weight, let alone growth. Past trends showed that we would do great for a week or two and then not so great for another week or two. Overall, it's not been quite good enough though.
The reason why we haven't been able to consistently get enough through his system is because he's been sick a lot. It seems that any time he gets a sniffle or a bug, like all of us, his system slows down and he doesn't want to eat as much as he normally would. The issue we see is that he always seems to catch something and that it seems to take him longer then normal to get over whatever he has.
We're to the point where we can't do much more considering his response to feedings when sick. So, we've scheduled an appointment in January with another Peds Gastro from Denver for a second opinion. We hope that a fresh set of eyes will reveal something we haven't explored yet. At the very least, we'd like to have her run some of the tests a second time to validate the first set of results. Maybe there is something else going on that is also impeding our progress and his growth.
10 December 2011
07 December 2011
Biker Chick
Julia was given a new bike for her birthday this year. This one is a little bit bigger then the Strider she's been learning on, plus it has pedals, brakes, and training wheels. She was pretty excited and hopped right on while we were still inside. She pretty much figured it out by riding back and forth on the wood floor only minutes after being on the bike. I think it helps that she's a quick learner and coordinated, but everything but pedaling she had already learned on the Strider. We went outside a did two quick trips down the sidewalk before heading back inside. We'll have plenty of warm days over the next few months for her to ride around the neighborhood.
06 December 2011
Bud The Builder
Jonathan wasn't forgotten on Julia's birthday. Papa and Nana also gave him a present. You can't go wrong giving a little boy building blocks! The set is special since the container lid is also a hardhat...
05 December 2011
04 December 2011
Happy 4th Birthday Julia!
Today we celebrated Julia's fourth birthday. Although her actual birthday is on Wednesday, today was a good opportunity to reserve the entire day to celebrate since it was a weekend. Stacey woke up at 4:30 a.m. and had the dining room decorated and presents wrapped before anyone else woke up. Julia was very excited when she saw the room, even if she was still waking up from sleeping. When Jonathan finally realized that the room was different he came to a full stop (he was running around the dining room like he always does) and was also very excited. He let us know with a lot of words and pointing that he really liked the balloons.
The family came over at noon and we all ate homemade pizzas and cupcakes. Julia only ate the frosting from her cupcake because she wanted to move on to opening presents as quickly as possible. According to her, we were on a time schedule since Jonathan was taking a nap. Although she loved all of her gifts, to include lots of play-doh and a new bike, her reaction to opening a little white baseball cap was probably the most memorable. She was so excited and let out an "awww, Mom" and gave Stacey a big hug when she realized what it was. For some reason she really wanted a hat of her own, probably because we've been talking about getting her one for a long time and always have said how cute she is when she plays with one of mine.
She pretty much learned how to pedal her new bike after a few trips up and down the hallway on the wood floor. At one point we dressed her up in her hat and new pink vest and let her have a few runs down the sidewalk. Unfortunately, this weekend has been the coldest one this winter, so we had to go back inside after a few minutes. We all took video of her riding her bike down the sidewalk which I'll post over the next few days. After watching her ride the bike and dressed in her new clothes, we realized just how big she really is. She's still a little girl, but every once in awhile we see things that make us realize that she is growing up right in front of us.
The thing about Julia is that often she communicates exactly what she's thinking. It's as if she sometimes has no "inner monologue". I don't know if it's just because she's young or if it's because of her advanced verbal skills. After we went inside she played around with a few more toys and then sort of hit the end of things to impulsively play with. Others were talking, so I don't know if anyone else caught this...but she started to walk around the room for a few seconds and then said exactly what she was thinking. In a pondering sort of way she said out loud, "hmm, I wonder what else I can do that is fun?", as if she already knew today was her birthday party and that it MUST be filled with non-stop playing and entertainment.
That's when we broke out one of the play-doh stands. She made ice cream cones and sundaes for about two hours, with company there and after they had all left. She only stopped because it was time for dinner and was hungry. She was super-sweet and so happy to have been the center of attention, been given new things to play with, and to have played the entire day. When I tucked her into bed, I told her that I wanted to sing a song for her instead of a story. I quietly sang the Happy Birthday song one more time, much to her delight.
I can't believe that she is already four years old - time is flying by.
The family came over at noon and we all ate homemade pizzas and cupcakes. Julia only ate the frosting from her cupcake because she wanted to move on to opening presents as quickly as possible. According to her, we were on a time schedule since Jonathan was taking a nap. Although she loved all of her gifts, to include lots of play-doh and a new bike, her reaction to opening a little white baseball cap was probably the most memorable. She was so excited and let out an "awww, Mom" and gave Stacey a big hug when she realized what it was. For some reason she really wanted a hat of her own, probably because we've been talking about getting her one for a long time and always have said how cute she is when she plays with one of mine.
She pretty much learned how to pedal her new bike after a few trips up and down the hallway on the wood floor. At one point we dressed her up in her hat and new pink vest and let her have a few runs down the sidewalk. Unfortunately, this weekend has been the coldest one this winter, so we had to go back inside after a few minutes. We all took video of her riding her bike down the sidewalk which I'll post over the next few days. After watching her ride the bike and dressed in her new clothes, we realized just how big she really is. She's still a little girl, but every once in awhile we see things that make us realize that she is growing up right in front of us.
The thing about Julia is that often she communicates exactly what she's thinking. It's as if she sometimes has no "inner monologue". I don't know if it's just because she's young or if it's because of her advanced verbal skills. After we went inside she played around with a few more toys and then sort of hit the end of things to impulsively play with. Others were talking, so I don't know if anyone else caught this...but she started to walk around the room for a few seconds and then said exactly what she was thinking. In a pondering sort of way she said out loud, "hmm, I wonder what else I can do that is fun?", as if she already knew today was her birthday party and that it MUST be filled with non-stop playing and entertainment.
That's when we broke out one of the play-doh stands. She made ice cream cones and sundaes for about two hours, with company there and after they had all left. She only stopped because it was time for dinner and was hungry. She was super-sweet and so happy to have been the center of attention, been given new things to play with, and to have played the entire day. When I tucked her into bed, I told her that I wanted to sing a song for her instead of a story. I quietly sang the Happy Birthday song one more time, much to her delight.
I can't believe that she is already four years old - time is flying by.
01 December 2011
PreSchool Christmas Concert
The entire family headed over to Julia's school in the middle of the day to see her perform in the Christmas program. Earlier in the week she had told me that she only wanted her family to be there - no one else was apparently welcome.
She seemed fine when she walked into the sanctuary with her class. She looked around for us and waved when she finally spotted us in the crowd. Her class walked on stage in single-file, which made the gap between Julia and the child in front of her very noticeable. She wasn't even looking at where she was slowly walking - she focused entirely on the massive crowd of people that were sitting in the room below her.
We all know she can be very shy, especially with new people and in new situations. This was definitely one of those times. Her group sang a handful of songs, but she just stood there eyeballing everyone else. She didn't move and she didn't sing. Every once in awhile she would lip sync a word or two. As you can tell from the pictures below, she wasn't exactly having a good time. All of the other kids were singing or moving - she just took it all in and anxiously hoped it would end as soon as possible.
Personally, I'm not that surprised. This is the same little girl that from two months to almost a year of age would cry if anyone other then Stacey held her. She knows everything that's going on around her...
She seemed fine when she walked into the sanctuary with her class. She looked around for us and waved when she finally spotted us in the crowd. Her class walked on stage in single-file, which made the gap between Julia and the child in front of her very noticeable. She wasn't even looking at where she was slowly walking - she focused entirely on the massive crowd of people that were sitting in the room below her.
We all know she can be very shy, especially with new people and in new situations. This was definitely one of those times. Her group sang a handful of songs, but she just stood there eyeballing everyone else. She didn't move and she didn't sing. Every once in awhile she would lip sync a word or two. As you can tell from the pictures below, she wasn't exactly having a good time. All of the other kids were singing or moving - she just took it all in and anxiously hoped it would end as soon as possible.
Personally, I'm not that surprised. This is the same little girl that from two months to almost a year of age would cry if anyone other then Stacey held her. She knows everything that's going on around her...
30 November 2011
Rest And Relaxation
A few weeks ago I made a post about how easily Jonathan goes down for bed. Now, at 18 months of age, he's asking for a nap when he gets tired.
Last night he tossed and turned a lot. I could hear him on the monitor making noises around 2 a.m and it didn't stop until he woke up around 6 a.m. He seemed tired the following morning. Around 10:30 a.m. he was really dragging and decided it was time for a nap. He went over to the stairs, pointed up towards his room and made sounds. Once he and Stacey made it upstairs he headed straight for his room and turned on his fan and his heater (we turn them on for sleeping). The crazy part was that he then tried to climb up and INTO his crib to take a nap. What child does that? Usually with children it's the other way around.
Last night he tossed and turned a lot. I could hear him on the monitor making noises around 2 a.m and it didn't stop until he woke up around 6 a.m. He seemed tired the following morning. Around 10:30 a.m. he was really dragging and decided it was time for a nap. He went over to the stairs, pointed up towards his room and made sounds. Once he and Stacey made it upstairs he headed straight for his room and turned on his fan and his heater (we turn them on for sleeping). The crazy part was that he then tried to climb up and INTO his crib to take a nap. What child does that? Usually with children it's the other way around.
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