It's been kind of a hard week....just as I said that Grant has settled into a good nap routine, he's started changing again! Last Tuesday, my parents came down to stay with him while I had a doctor's appointment. He slept 1.5 hours (the entire time I was gone). Well, that was the last day of that! Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he cried a lot before finally settling down to sleep (and Friday he cried in his crib for an hour and never took a nap). I was so frustrated!!! I really don't think this means that he doesn't need a nap anymore....I think he's just being obstinate. One particularly frustrating thing he's been doing the past few days is throwing his pacifier out of the crib just as I leave the room. I think he learned that I'd often come back in after 10 minutes or so of crying, because I had assumed he'd dropped his pacifier (which he usually had if he was still crying). So I think he learned that if he threw it out as I was leaving, I'd have to come back in to give it to him! Aahh!!

We went to Bryan this weekend to visit my parents and to see Rob, Leah and Evan. So this weekend has been a little messed up as far as naps go. We'll see what happens tomorrow....hopefully I can train him to get back on his 1.5 hour afternoon nap schedule again. I am so tired!!

More later about our trip this weekend.

Trying new templates

Inspired by my friend Kristen's new blog design, I am trying out new templates for our blog. I'll see if I like this one for a few days and I may switch it if I find one I like better (if this one becomes hard on the eyes!). The website is pyzam.com....you can find a lot of really cute templates, and they're very easy to copy into your blogger account. It mentioned that pyzam works much better with Mozilla Firefox (internet browser). We always use Firefox anyway, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. Hopefully it will still look the same if you use Internet Explorer or anything else.

Thanks so much, Kristen and Carissa, for your comments about speech stuff!! I think the tendency these days is to diagnose kids with things (and worry parents) before giving the kids a chance to grow up in their own time. It makes me feel better to know that it seems to be fairly common! Carissa, it seems like Logan and Grant are very similar in a lot of ways!! I may be asking you guys for their moms' email addresses if this seems to continue, though. Thanks again!

Here are a few recent pictures. This was on Dean's birthday....Grant loves to walk all over the couch that Corie gave him. He LOVES that thing! He plays on it all the time. Here is Amminadab "reading" the book that Grant got for Dean for his birthday. He just walked up next to it and stood there.....and actually stayed long enough for me to get the camera! More later on Amminadab's surgery some other time....I need to go downstairs soon to hang out with Dean!
A picture of Grant's wispy hair at the park about a week and a half ago. It's not usually like this, but it was particularly full of static that day.
Dean came to the park to meet us (and drive us home!) on his way home from work. The park isn't very far, but it was getting cold fast and I didn't feel like trying to convince Grant to get back in the stroller (not the easiest job after he's been running around for an hour!).
What a cool kid!

15 Months Old!

Grant is 15 months old today! We went to his checkup this morning. He has grown A LOT since his last visit. He's over 33 inches tall (94th percentile) and weighs 25 1/2 pounds (60th percentile). I asked if he weighs enough for his height, and she said that he's fine....he's just tall and slim (although he still does have some baby fat). The one thing that made me a little concerned was his talking; she said that by 15 months, babies should be able to say 5-6 words. All that Grant can say now is "ti ti" for the kitties, and he can "vroom" if you ask him what noise a car makes. He also says "ma" and "di" but he doesn't have any other really recognizable words. She wasn't too worried because he IS talking a little, but she said that if he doesn't have a few more by 18 months that they might refer him to some kind of intervention program. That scares me!

I really do think, though, that he's probably fine and is just taking a little bit longer. He's really not around other kids on a regular basis, and we know that he understands a lot of what we say. We can tell him to clap his hands and he'll do it. We can ask him to bring things to us, and he'll do it. If we ask where his belly button is, he'll lift up his shirt and find it. He dances when he hears music. And if I ask him if he wants a food that he particularly likes (like bananas or cookies), he gets really excited and looks at the pantry. So I do think that it's just a matter of time. It's like he just thinks that we're the ones who are supposed to talk, and he looks at us like we're crazy when we keep repeating words over and over again in front of him!

He's awake from his nap now, but I will try to write later today about our poor kitty and his declawing experience this weekend. :(

Ant bites and a funny story

Last Friday, Grant and I were out running errands and it was beautiful outside. So I decided I'd try out a new park near our house and let him run around before coming home. We had only been there 15 minutes or so when he climbed from the playground area up onto the grass (about a 6-inch step). He used his hand to help him with the step, and when he stood up, he started shaking his hand. It looked like there was a lot of dirt on it, but when I looked closer, I could tell they were ants! I shook his hand and had to pry a few off of him. I was standing right there and I know they couldn't have been on him for more than 5-10 seconds. So I figured he maybe got a few bites, but he went on his way after that as if nothing was wrong.

Well, a few minutes later I looked at his hand, and it was pretty red, with tons of little white dots all over it! I got a little worried and put him in the car to leave, when I saw a girl I worked with at our church before Grant was born. She has 3 kids of her own and told me to just get some Caladryl for it. So we went to Randall's on our way home and bought some. But I never had to use it....his hand looked awful for a few days, but he never tried to scratch them and it never seemed to bother him! I tried to count once, and I got up to 25 bites before he grabbed his hand away. There had to have been about 30 or so....ouch!!

Kinda hard to see, but you can see his red hand and some of the white dots if you look closely enough:
Later that night after dinner, when all the bites had turned to the normal red color:
Not related to the ant bites, but here he's studying his foot before putting it into his mouth!
Ooh, yucky! That didn't taste very good!
Also.....this is just kinda funny. Yesterday up at church (for our weekly mom's Bible study), Grant and the other kids in his class were taking a buggy ride (where they sit in three rows, two in each row, and are wheeled around the church). First, let me say that I feel SO sorry for the teachers in Grant's class.....there are four babies in there (one being Grant) who have a VERY hard time with mommy being gone, and they all feed off of each other's cries! Every time Grant and I walk up, we can hear the other kids in his room crying from down the hall. So at least I know that Grant isn't the one causing all of the others to start! The teachers say that the kids do pretty well in the buggy ride....they just don't like being in the classroom.

So anyway, they were going for a buggy ride yesterday and Jacob (Sierra's 10-month old son) was sitting next to Grant. Apparently, Grant was eating his biter biscuit and Jacob grabbed it from him and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth! The teachers didn't know what had happened until Grant started crying. Then I guess a few minutes later, Jacob tried to steal Grant's pacifier (Sierra says that Jacob doesn't even use a pacifier, but for some reason kids always try to take other kids' pacifiers....not sure why!). Well, everyone has to draw the line somewhere, because Grant fought back and wouldn't let Jacob have it! A biscuit is one thing, but nobody better mess with Grant's pacifier! That is serious business! I can just picture Grant giving him a nasty look and trying to defend his stuff.....babies are so funny!

This week has been a little better.....thanks to those of you who responded and emailed about all of these discipline issues. I went to my girls' Bible/book study on Tuesday night and Grant did great with Dean.....they played and had a lot of fun together. This week has definitely had its trying moments, but I'm trying to be much more stern with him.....it's just hard not to completely lose my temper when I get so frustrated with him!

Today we planned on going over to Sierra's house for a potluck Valentine's Day lunch with a few other girls. I said I'd bring the main dish (a casserole, which I prepared before Grant woke up this morning). When I went to get Grant out of bed, he had a yucky yellow runny nose. Yes, another month has passed, so it's time for another cold! Anyway, I didn't want to let them down and not bring the main dish (and give them such short notice), so we went over there to drop off the casserole. I waited to give Grant a nap until we got in the car...he fell asleep on the way, so I was able to go inside and talk for a few minutes. Then after he woke up, I brought him in for a few minutes before everyone got there, and he surprisingly let me hold him so I could keep him a few feet away from Jacob.

We left as they were about to eat, and Grant and I went to the League City park (close to Sierra's house)....it's a beautiful park with pretty flowers and a few nice fountains. Grant ate lunch there and loved running around. As we were about to leave, he kept standing a little too close to the water (I was getting nervous even though I was holding onto his hand), so I finally pulled him away. This started a tantrum....I know Grant well enough to know when he's going to react poorly, so it's frustrating to see it coming and not be able to do anything about it!

Anyway, we finally got into the car (after a few smacks on the hand) and came home, where he crashed again for another 1.5 hours. For Valentine's Day tonight, we made omelets and Dean just put Grant to bed for me. These days, I need more help than I used to....Grant wears me out during the day!!