Wilkerson Weekly: April 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

6 [7] Month Check-Up

Micah didn't have his 6 month check-up until last Friday (at almost 7 months). He was sick at the time that his 6 month appointment was scheduled, so instead of getting immunizations he got a big old shot to clear up an ear infection.

But better late than never. Hear are his 7 month stats:

Height: 27 inches (56%)

Weight: 16 lb 10 oz (21%)

Head Circumference: 17.25 in (39%)

The doctor was a little bit concerned because his weight had gone down a little. I had asked her how much I should be pushing solids, and she told me to continue with rice cereal and fruit/veg once a day but to stick to breast feeding beyond that, since breast milk is more calorie rich, until his weight picks back up.

I asked about his late motor skills as well. She told me about an organization called CDR: Child Development Resources that have specialists who can come to our house and do an evaluation and teach me some exercises to do with Micah if need be. So we have an appointment set up for next Wednesday. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Isn't he just too cute for words???

Bath Time Giggles

It Was a Hit!

Shout out to Aunt Jenn, Grandma Debbi and Grandpa Terry!

Thanks for the great Easter package!

(Ignore my talking in the video. I'm supposed to be playing What is it doing? and What am I doing? and What are you doing? games with Luke all the time, so that's why I'm asking him those questions.)

My favorite was of course the horse basket. It looks great on the dresser! It is the cutest wipe/ desitin holder of all time. I looove it!

Can't wait to see you guys!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Easter Celebrations

On Saturday (while most of the hubbies were studying) the mommies met at the park to have an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. After playing for a bit a few moms hid the eggs on one of the play grounds while the rest of us kept the kids (mostly Luke) from running off.

They're off!

Luke took off running with everyone else and climbed right up onto the gym, so I thought he got the idea. But he ran right past all the eggs and went to the slide.

He got a little bit interested once I showed him the eggs had candy inside. He was really happy with this one-- M&Ms-- his favorite.

But then he found one with jelly beans. He took one bite, spit it out, and went back to the slide.

But he was happy, so if he preferred the slide to egg hunting, that was fine.

Here's a picture of all the kids who were there. There are a lot of law school kiddies. And not all of them were there either.

My dad always did an Easter jelly bean hunt for us kids. It was so fun! We would wait in the kitchen or outside while my dad hid jelly beans in the living room and dining room. It could have gone into more rooms, but I mostly remember crawling around under the dining room table. Afterwards we would sit in a big circle and trade to get the colors we liked best and divvy up the beans so that we had an equal amount. So this year I had a mini hunt for Luke. I hid the beans in his bedroom. There was no divvying up afterwards because Luke won't eat jelly beans, so he found them and Jared and I ate them. Yum!

He did try one or two before he decided that he really would rather just find them.

The Easter bunny did leave a few toys for the boys: Luke got a cookie sheet and shaving cream, shoelaces and beads. Micah got a new chew toy because I lost his favorite elephant and some new summertime onesies.

On Sunday evening we were luckily invited to join a friend's family feast. I had forgotten all about Easter dinner and had been planning on leftovers. So that good meal was greatly appreciated.

At the meal I realized that we hadn't done anything to celebrate the true reason for the holiday except have a short talk before church about why Easter was a special day. Next year I want to do much better and do an Easter eve program much like we do on Christmas Eve. We will read the resurrection story and find some way to act out/represent the empty tomb. I would like to get pictures of some of our ancestors and talk about how they will live again. I definitely want to make it more special and meaningful. After all Easter is really more monumental than Christmas and should be treated in a special way to remember why we celebrate.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Few of our Favorite Things

The best thing about having a late developing baby is that you can use the expensive little baby toys a lot longer. Micah still loves his swing. Our swing has an adjustable seat, so we could change it to an upright position. Micah likes to hang out in there and watch Luke play. He also likes to sit in the Bumbo, lay on his kick mat (mobile gym), and jump in his jumperoo.

Micah's absolute favorite thing to do is nurse. Don't worry. There's no picture. He also loves to chew on his toy elephant and his monkey blanket. I think we have another Linus in our future because he sure loves his fuzzy monkey blankie. He smiles when we cover him with any blanket, but he gets downright giggly with his favorite one. Micah likes being outside. I am so glad we got the Baby Bjorn! We go on walks quite a bit, and Micah just looks and looks around. One of his favorite times of the day is bath time!

Both of the boys like to help me practice piano. I prefer to practice alone, but don't often get the chance. Luke discovered a key on the keyboard that makes the notes sound like animal noises. He pushes it repeatedly, so I usually practice during nap time.

Luke love his baby brother! He often asks to snuggle hug Micah. He will even let Micah touch the sacred Blankie. That's true devotion!

So clearly his Blankie is still one of his favorite things. He has this specific giggle that he only uses when he is smelling his Blankie and carrying it around. Seriously when I hear him laugh like that I know I will turn around to see him standing in the hallway with his blanket just smelling it and laughing! When he gets home from school he runs to his room to find his "Silly Blankie" and cuddles it for a minute before moving on to other things.

His favorite toys are his karaoke machine, his CD player, the cooking toys, and this broken phone that my friend Amanda gave him. Lately he usually pretends to call Miss Keegan or Grandpa. Luke has never actually spoken to Miss Keegan on the phone, but he copies conversations that he's heard. So when he calls Miss Keegan, he will say, "This is Stacy."

And the blow up mattress rotates between the living room and Luke's room. He loves bouncing and jumping, and it was one of the top 10 activities that his therapist suggested. Well, she just told me that jumping was good for him. She probably pictured a little trampoline, but this is bigger, better, cheaper, and already in the house.

Luke also likes shape, number, and color finding. His favorite colors are green and blue. He is starting to point out letters as well. He likes the letters B, L, W, and Y. At least those are the ones he points out most often.

Last but not least, Luke still loves any kind of Ford. But the SUVs are his favorite.

Peer Pressure

My friend Melissa and I had an interesting conversation yesterday about peer pressure. She commented that we use peer pressure all the time on our little ones.

"Don't you want to wear big boy underwear like______?"

"Caleb eats green beans. Can you eat green beans, too?"

And in our minds we TOTALLY want our kids to be like everyone else. In my instance, I think, "Why can't Luke just play in the water at the beach like everyone else?" "Why can't Luke like the actual bounce house at the bounce house gym instead of just the fans?" and such comments.

We discussed positive peer pressure, and that we DO want our kids to copy good behaviors.

But those teenager years will start and, while we have conditioned our kids to want to be like everyone else, we suddenly don't want them to think that way anymore. Instead we want them to stand apart and be strong-- to NOT drink and NOT have sex and NOT drive crazy and NOT have weird hair, etc.

AND to choose the good things for the right reason-- not just because everyone else is doing it (on the slight chance that every other teenager is living the way we want our kid to live.)

So while this conversation didn't directly have to do with potty training per se, it made me feel a lot better about Luke's not being potty trained yet. He doesn't have to be like everyone else. And I'm going to shut up about wearing the big boy underwear like Caleb. Luke will wear them when he's ready.

Monday, April 11, 2011