Wednesday, September 28, 2011

3 Months

This picture is funnier if you pretend she's flashing a gang sign.

Weight: Five fat rolls on each thigh. FIVE.
 
Length: TBA
 
New Likes:
  • Mortimer the Moose
  • swings
  • mirrors
  • playing peek-a-boo (no object permanence! Mommy just appears out of nowhere! yay!)
  • the toys and music on the bouncy seat
  • being carried in the Moby wrap
 
New Dislikes:
  • bottles (OH THE BETRAYAL WHYYYYYY)
  • people who try to give her bottles
  • milk from bottles
  • anything food-like that is not boob
  • tummy time (OH THE BETRAYAL WHYYYYYY)
 
Still Loves:
  • MILKS!!!11!!1!!! (but not from bottles, YOU JERKS)
  • riding in the car
  • baths
  • her brother
 
New Skills:
  • sleeping through the night, 9:30 PM to 6:30 AM, GLORY GLORY HALLELUJIA!
  • sucking on her hands
  • intentionally grabbing things
  • laughing, except it's more of a drawn-out coo
  • head control when held upright
  
3 Months

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Comparison

Here is a rather unflattering photo of Aerin at nearly 13 weeks:


And here is a rather unflattering photo of Micah at 20 weeks, wearing the EXACT SAME OUTFIT.

Four months

Milkhogs McGee at the top there clearly has the edge in jowls, but Micah definitely has her beat for eyelashes.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Three Years

On Monday, this kid had a birthday.

Mater

Off to play in the rain


Saturday evening, we had a small party with his Aunt Liz, Uncle Josh, Daniel, Alex, Aunt Jessica, Grandmama, and Grandpa.



Baby knows how to party

On Monday morning, we made cupcakes and courted salmonella. Later, Todd and I brought the cupcakes and some watermelon (Micah's favorite fruit) for the afternoon daycare snack. I forgot my camera, so the evidence is in Todd's iPhone, but the kids all had fun.

Making birthday cupcakes

Cupcakes for Daycare

Micah is so much fun these days. He has such an amazing imagination; he's always coming up with new games or funny stories. He talks NONSTOP about EVERYTHING. He can identify and name nearly every piece of construction equipment one might encounter. He loves trucks, trains, and his baby doll. His most important comfort object is Lubby, his half-bear half-blanket, but he also sleeps every night in a twin-sized bed with a stuffed dog named Granite, my old gloworm, a cat beanie baby, Mr. Rabbit, Baby, Tooli the nightlight, and his blue blanket with the ducks. He loves being outside, especially if it involves digging in dirt. He's scared of live bugs. He likes to put his face in the water in the bathtub, but only recently got over a fear of the swimming pool. He can walk a mile and a half before he gets tired. He loves to sing, and can actually carry a tune. He still sings the fourth verse of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" as "Micah diamond in the sky." He can be maddeningly cautious or alarmingly reckless, depending on the activity. He's scared of storms, but loves stomping in puddles. He can navigate the iPad to find his favorite games and is a huge fan of watching truck videos on YouTube. He can finally get on and off the potty all by himself, although he still requires a little help getting down at night. He calls the Huntsville Saturn V "my rocket." He likes to hear the names of the roads we're driving on, and he remembers several of them. He still likes to direct where we're going, and has recently developed the habit of back-seat driving. His launch countdowns for his space shuttle go from 1 up to 13.

I could go on and on, but Aerin's waking up, so I'll just sum it up: this kid is awesome.

On the last day of 2...

And now he's three.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Misery loves company, so CHOMP

A few weeks ago, E and I took the kids to KidVenture, a local indoor playground. We picked a day we knew traffic would be low, packed snacks and lunches, and made a morning of it. The kids had an absolute blast the entire three hours we were there.

Micah at KidVenture

The cousins at KidVenture


Sadly, while they were having fun they also managed to pick up the cold virus from hell. Two days later, they were all oozing, sneezing balls of misery. Then they gave it to E and Todd.

The following Monday, Micah started biting kids at his daycare. It was an awful week, culminating in him actually drawing blood on Thursday when he bit his best friend on the back. Friday, we left for Atlanta where we stayed until Monday morning, and so I was spared a phone call telling me my child had finally snapped and shivved a classmate with a toy truck axle.

This week, I had a Plan to cure Micah's behavior. It involved a chart depicting each metric, spaces for stickers when he did what he was supposed to, and a reward if he went all week in each category. I got his daycare teachers in on it, and we posted the chart on the wall in his classroom under his hook. To my surprise, it actually WORKED. He went the whole week with only one small scratching incident and one kicking episode. For a 3-year-old, that's pretty much above average.

But I still couldn't figure out what had sparked the whole biting spree to begin with. It wasn't until this Thursday evening it finally hit me: what in the past has made Micah turn into a raging asshole with no other discernible stimuli? EARS.

I called the doctor yesterday morning and scheduled an appointment. "Symptoms? Uh, he's being a jerk? Fever, no. Pulling at his ears, no. Told us his ear hurt, NO. He is being a turd. And he's not eating well. Yes, I realize he's three."

Sure enough, both of my symptomless child's ears are infected. He joins the ranks of his cousin, aunt, and father, all of whom also currently have ear infections. Today, after one dose of antibiotics and with a bit of ibuprofen in his system, he's clearly feeling much better. I'm just wishing I'd figured things out sooner. You know, BEFORE he tried to bite everyone in his class. Not to mention the whole suffering-in-silence-for-days thing.

Sitting in time-out at the pool because he wasn't listening to his parents

Anyway, he's on the mend now. I suppose I can cancel that rabies shot I had scheduled for him and return the muzzle. Turns out we won't be needing them after all.