Week in review

It's been 9 days since I've posted! With Easter weekend and a hectic week this week, I just haven't found the time.

Last weekend, my parents came in to watch Grant while Dean and I went to Chad and Kristen's wedding on Saturday. We had such a wonderful time at the wedding (it was beautiful!!), and just getting to spend the day together....it was a long drive up there and back, but it was great getting to talk without having to keep Grant happy in the backseat! And he actually did SO WELL with my parents.....my mom said he never cried the entire time (10am to 4:30pm), and he went down for his naps easily. We've never had anyone else put him to sleep, so this was a relief!

Grant did a little Easter egg hunt in our living room on Easter morning. He loved it! I "hid" some eggs the night before, and he loved finding each one and looking to see what was inside. He got to eat a little bit of candy and a bunch of graham crackers, so of course he had fun! He still doesn't quite understand the concept of finding them and placing them into his basket, though.

On Monday, my good friend Karen came down and the three of us went to Tookie's (a hamburger place) for lunch. Grant did so well! I was surprised when I found that it had table service only (we usually stay away from these places), but we sat next to a window so he could see the cars driving by. He also got a lot of attention from some girls sitting next to us. Karen and I actually got to have a normal conversation and he never really got fussy, so that was wonderful! Afterwards, though, we went to World Market, where I wanted to look at some furniture. He doesn't seem to like that place much! Since it opened a week ago, we've been there three times. All three times, he's been a bad boy in there!

On Tuesday, we went to my friend Amanda's house, and Grant played with her 17-month old son Connor. We had a lot of fun.....Connor has a neat red car that they loved to get into and out of. They still don't interact much at this age....but at one point, Connor was sitting in the car and Grant was handing him things and they were babbling to one another. It was cute! But......one time Amanda answered the phone and I showed the boys a book; Connor came over and sat in my lap, and Grant was NOT happy about that! He came and kinda shoved Connor, as if to say "this is MY mommy!" These situations do not bode well for our situation 6 months from now! Anyway, it was so nice to have adult conversation two days in a row!!

Yesterday we had a really fun morning. After Dean left for work, we went to the donut place for breakfast, just for something different (and because I had a coupon!). We ate kolaches and I had a donut too. Then afterwards, we took a walk along Clear Lake City Blvd, where there's a nice sidewalk quite a ways from the street, but close enough so Grant could see all the cars driving by. He loves looking and pointing at cars these days, and it was fun just doing something out of the ordinary.

Today we went to a play place with a group of girls and their kids. I ended up buying a 30-day pass, and I think I should easily get my money's worth out of it. They have a lot of great toys that we don't have, and like I've said, I get so bored being at home sometimes! I think our group will go every Friday, and then Grant and I can just stop by for an hour or so every once in a while.

Whew!! I will post some pictures later....now it's time to lay down (once I give Grant his pacifier.....he's been crying for about 20 minutes and I'm assuming that's why....).

We had a fun day today! Here are some of the things we did:

- We had an Easter egg hunt with my Wednesday morning Bible study group. It was Grant's first Easter egg hunt, and, as I suspected, he didn't really get it! He immediately found an egg, opened it, then dropped his basket and inspected the piece of candy for the next minute or so. Finally I showed him another egg close by, and he did the same thing with that one. Then he dropped the eggs and just walked around with both candies for the rest of the time!

- We went to Jason's Deli for lunch. Just the two of us went; restaurants are VERY hard these days, especially when I go to meet friends. But he generally does okay as long as I can pay complete attention to him (and leave immediately when he gets obnoxious!). He enjoyed the gingerbread and cornbread muffins, and then we got ice cream for dessert. Our last time there was a couple of months ago, before we taught him how to use a spoon, and I've always just given him a few bites of ice cream from my spoon. So I didn't even think to get him his own spoon and bowl. So we shared, and what a mess we made! Of course I filled my bowl full of ice cream, which was a mistake. He'd stick the spoon in, and pull out quite a bit (most of which fell onto his shirt and pants before ending up in his mouth). I had to just laugh at it (and I DID clean up after us.....I imagine those workers get so tired of all the messes that kids make). He also put on a show for a mom and her teen-age son sitting next to us. He loves to get attention from strangers when he's in a good mood!

- We went to the library for a festival. The activities were mostly for older kids, but the most fun part was when Clifford and Lilly the Mouse (I've never heard of her before) came inside and walked past where we were standing. They had been outside taking pictures with kids, and they came in to take a break. Clifford came right over to Grant in his stroller and waved at him, and Grant just smiled and smiled! He bent down so Grant could touch him and stayed there for a while. Grant loved it.....he tried to hug him, and he reached out for Clifford to pick him up!! This was a shock to me. He did the same thing with Lilly, but he definitely liked Clifford better.

With all the difficult times I have with Grant these days, it's fun to have moments like these every once in a while!

16 Months

Grant is 16 months old today....wow! Here's a picture from last week....we bought some sidewalk chalk because Grant has really become interested lately in carrying his crayons around and trying to mark on random pieces of paper. He doesn't have much patience yet for sitting at his table and coloring in his books, but he'll color as long as he can walk around and do it! So I figured he may enjoy some sidewalk chalk. Doesn't he have good handwriting??!

He likes the chalk okay, but he still mainly just likes to walk around with it! As you can also see from the picture, he also likes to reach into our potted plants and pull out the bark, then throw it on the ground! He knows this is wrong, so if we catch him, he usually comes over to hand it to us. Sometimes he'll put it back if we ask him.

Some stats about Grant at 16 months (forgive me- some of these are just to help me remember in the future/compare Grant with future children!):

- He now has all four front bottom teeth, and also one molar on the left side. On the top, he has all four front teeth, and in the past two weeks two molars have poked through, one on each side.

- He has outgrown (finally) all of his 12 month pants, but can still wear some of his 12 month shirts. He mostly wears 18 month clothes, though. He's taller than 95% of all boys his age, so it's surprising that he could wear those 12 month pants for as long as he could.

- He still doesn't say real words. It's easy for me to start getting worried about this, but he talks all the time, and points to things and babbles, so I really think he's just taking his time. He has said a few words in the past, but doesn't use them much anymore. He understands a lot of what we tell him, and can follow commands, so I know he's a smart kid!

- Some of his favorite foods are cheese, bananas, grapes, bologna, and sweets of any kind! He also LOVES his milk now....he will drink an entire sippy cup in a few minutes, if he really wants it! He likes scrambled eggs quite a bit, and quesadillas (we make these a lot). One thing I think is interesting is that he doesn't care much for pasta (macaroni and cheese, lasagna, etc). I thought all kids liked those things! One other thing he REALLY likes recently: I bought some cinnamon raisin bread from the Mrs. Baird's outlet store last week (that place is great and SO CHEAP, for those of you in Clear Lake), and he loves that bread! He will eat one piece of it after another. One thing, though.....we are having problems with him throwing his food after he's done eating, or he'll throw food on the floor that he doesn't want (like his peas and carrots). I always take his tray away when he does this, but it doesn't seem to stop him from doing it the next time.

- Like most toddlers, he loves going outside. If I let him out the front door or through the garage, he will take off and never come back! Yesterday we took a walk, and he walked (ran) all the way to the end of our street, then took a left and ran to the next street! He's pretty good about not trying to go into the street, but it still kinda makes me nervous because he's so fast. Thankfully we live at the end of a cul-de-sac, so there's not a lot of car traffic coming in front of our house.

- A couple of cute things he's recently started doing: when I ask him if he wants to go play outside, go for a walk, or if I ask him if he wants something to eat that he likes, he'll lift his eyebrows and make this high-pitched "ya" sound, almost like he's saying, "yeah." I'd say this is a word although I think it's just his way of showing his excitement. It's really cute, though! Also, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that he was turning around in place. I asked if he was spinning, and he kept doing it. Now, when we ask him to spin for us, he'll usually do it. I just have no idea where that came from.....I guess it shows that kids pick up things that you don't purposely teach them!

First, a few promised pictures from our trip to town last Wednesday:

Eating in his stroller as soon as we got there; he took a 2 hour nap on the way up to town, so I was able to sit in the car and read some of 1000 Places to See Before you Die (I had just rented it from the library that morning). I used to run along this stretch of Allen Parkway all the time before Dean and I got married, so it brought back some good memories being there again.Running in the grass:
This is my favorite; I love seeing all the buildings in the background. Who says Houston can't be pretty???
Posing next to a tree:
Showing me his belly button. He loves to do that these days (and he will lift up our shirts and point ours out too!).
Poor baby, Grant has caught a virus called Adenovirus. It's pretty common among little ones. He had a fever on Monday evening and hasn't felt well or eaten much since then. He threw up on Tuesday but hasn't thrown up since, but he's just been acting fussier than normal and it's hard to keep him happy. He'll get down and play one minute, then start crying and want to be picked up. Today he kept grabbing his mouth, and he'd wince, then start crying. This happened out of the blue a few times, so I made an appt to see the doctor. I thought it may just be teething but decided to take him in. As soon as the doc put the flashlight thing into his mouth, I immediately saw a cold sore under his tongue. I asked Dr. Quillin if he saw it, and he said, "you should have seen the two or three huge ones in the back!" Oh no! Grant was actually eating a graham cracker when Dr. Quillin came in, and he was surprised he was able to eat that.

Since it's a virus, there's nothing we can do except wait it out. The doctor said basically to let him eat anything he wants, so I went and got him a Frosty from Wendy's on our way home (this was his suggestion). Grant slurped on it a little bit with a straw tonight, and he ate a piece of cheese, but still doesn't have much appetite. I just feel so bad for him....he'll be just fine one minute, then start crying in pain the next.

We went to a playhouse with some friends of ours last Friday, so I'm thinking that's probably where he picked it up. Who knows!?

10 Week Update- What is a Kumquat, anyway???

How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.