Graham turns 3 in October. He has grown into a well- behaved, thoughful, inquisitive, happy boy. He loves to play trains "Mommy build a track," towers (legos), and matchbox cars. He's a lover of books- all books- as many as you'll read. He basically potty trained himself in August, after many months of us pushing him- he just decided he'd do it and that was it. Pooping is a problem still, but apparently I was a bad pooper too (asked for a diaper until I was 6 or something!) He goes to bed about 8:30-9 and sleeps til 7:30-8 and naps from 12-2 or 3. He's a great eater, LOVES a schedule (thanks to his anal mother!) and is really good entertainment for his sister. He says some hilarious things. Here are a few I can think of- in the funny sounds he makes to say them:
-"Take a yiddle walk."
-"I want two both."
-"It's sipcy." (spicy)
-"It's suggee." (scary)
-"Make you sighmul." (smile)
-"Turn the bamm(fan) off, I'm fweezin."
-"You so buuteeful mom."
-In response to me asking if he needs to pee, "No I'm okay- I'm keeping dry."
-Every single day, in response to what do you want for lunch Graham. "I want eeemmeeel and yogurt." (oatmeal)
-"I'm named Joshany- like Bethany." (Bethany is Josh's sister.)
-His prayer each day: "Hevenwy fadder. Fank uu fir dis day. Fank uu fir everfing in r yives. Keep us safe and hewwffy. Bweess dis fooood. Amen."
-"Cool dude."
-"Yuccy." (our dog)
-"Mommy whatcha doing?" Whatcha finding?"
-When we say we're going to a store, he always asks "And buy some.....?" and waits for your response to decide if we should go.
-When asking for more of anything, after I say no, he says"One more, alright, okay, just a mnute."
-He has his own conversations with my mom, whom he calls Baa. He can quite clearly say Grandma Jerri- however he choses to call her Baa?! These are all things that she says and he learned from her. When she's around he drops these words constantly to try and impress her. If she's not around and he drops one, he says "Baa says that," and laughs. Here they are: "You Pistol," "Shoot," "Rats," "Darn it," "Oh man." "NOOOO way."
Grace is just over 7 months. She got ear tubes last week. I'd love to say they fixed her every woe- however that isn't the case! She still has WICKED acid reflux, several food sensitivites (I'm still nursing so that means still restricted diet for mommy!), and torticollis that she's in physical therapy for. She gets neck tape (like ankle tape if you have an injury sort of) at therapy to help her neck stay up. She is the biggest momma's girl you've ever seen. I'm not exaggerating. She won't let my MOM hold her. Ever. I guess that makes it clear to see that I've never left her. Two times since her birth my mom has kept her while I went to a dr.'s appt. And she screams the entire time I'm gone. At the top of her lungs. And never settles down. She will NOT take a bottle. Has never had one. Never had anything but actual nursing. We are working on a sippy with water, a splash of juice so she learns the concept. She'd rather nurse. She's not a great baby food eater -- a few bites here and there. I try every meal. Graham was a great baby food eater, but I'm not stressed about it- I know she will figure it out in time. She's nursing usually 5-6 times a day. She's a very fast nurser. Like done in 10 minutes. I offer her babyfood for sure at lunch and dinner. Still going really slow with what she does eat because of how sensitive her tummy is. She just gets fruits and bland veggies for now.
She is sitting up, scooting around and trying to learn to move- though not crawling or going anywhere yet. Her torticollis does make some of this delayed, but I'm not stressed- she will catch up.
We still hold her upright for sleep. With Graham, this was something I felt the incessant urge to justify to everyone, to explain that my child was miserable and I wasn't just crazy, spoiling him, etc. And I was very stressed that he would never sleep on his own. I didn't get how linked that horrible sleep was to the pain of reflux. HOWEVER, with her- I feel none of this pressure. Graham turned into a wonderful sleeper literally overnight when his reflux improved. I fought and fought and fought to get him there- did NO good. It just eventually worked.
So I try laying Grace down here and there, she takes one catnap a day in her crib. The regurgitation coming up constantly wakes her- the most sleep she ever gets laying down is 25-30 minutes. That doesn't cut it and if I do that- she cries all day, constantly because she's tired- so I hold her upright in a recliner (YES- this is my bed now too- I'm used to it!) or strapped to my chest in a baby carrier. The regurgitation still comes up every 25-30 minutes, but when I'm holding her- I feel it starting to happen and I start soothing her back to sleep before it even happens and she does fall right back asleep. So I accept that this is where we're at- and I do my best to keep her rested, comfortable and happy. If she gets these naps on me (which she does because I never leave her and I go to great lengths to ensure she does!) - then she's pretty okay and we do pretty well! I have her figured out to a T- something I didn't feel so confident of with Graham. She gets up around 6:30-7. Then naps in a carrier on my chest about 9 and we go outside so Graham can play. She sleeps till 10:15 or 10:30. Then she goes back down (on my chest in a recliner) at 12 when Graham does and sleeps till about 2. Then her last nap is a short catnap, 4:15 to 4:45 or so- in her crib. Graham and I usually start dinner then. Bedtime is 7:30-8 -- you guessed it- in a recliner with mom. She does NOT travel well. I don't mean she fusses a little. I mean blood curtling, bloody murder painful screaming. This is also different than Graham. He slept in the car everytime we went anywhere. We liked driving because it soothed him through the reflux and made him sleep. We drove around Ankeny at night to get him to sleep. But not Grace. She is one uncomfortable, unhappy girl in the car. I actually think her neck pain plays into this as well. Despite her struggles, I wouldn't trade a second of it. It's ABSOLUTELY how I want to spend my days and soon I will miss it dearly, I just know it!
This was a long, probably boring post for most of you- but I wanna remember how our days went!!!
Loving the pictures!
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