It's been a busy week . .

. . and its only Wednesday.

Monday brought the 18-month well child check up. Everything was fine in the waiting room until Ralph heard his name called. One would think getting measured and weighed was the worst thing in the world. Everything checked out well. Found out that one more ear infection this season will earn us a trip to the ENT. We got the typical question about whether Ralph eats as he should since his weight is in the 10-25% . . .as he is eating a container of cheerios.
Height: 32 3/4" (50-75%) Weight: 23 lbs 4 oz

Tonight brought Ralph's first haircut. His hair wasn't terribly out of control yet but some areas were getting a little long and I wanted to get him cleaned up for his upcoming pictures. I didn't trust us to cut it evenly so we visited a salon. The stylist knew some of the tricks of the trade. Ralph wasn't brave enough to sit my himself and had to sit on my lap but he was cooperative after that. The stylist put a spiked in his hair towards the end just before she blew out the loose pieces. He thought the spike was funny.

Celebrating 18 months!

Ralph and Daddy have started a new habit of playing outside after supper until its time to get ready for bed. They have ventured to the mailboxes where Ralph was fascinated with one of the keys left in the bigger boxes, they have seen puppies, and they have played on the playground behind our house. Ralph has mastered two of the slides on the playground. I don’t think he’ll like be ‘trapped’ inside during the cold months.

Until this morning we thought the tooth count remained at six but we discovered two more top teeth have broke through. More should be on their way soon.

Some nights are easier to go to bed than others but luckily he is content to play by himself for awhile in the mornings. He still seems to wake up about 1.5-2 hours after going to bed more times than not and usually needs some attention before going to back to bed (maybe it has something to do with the recent breakthough).

Ralph recently gave up his lion and tiger imitation, we thought for good. Its was kind of sad – we kept trying to encourage him but he just shook his head no. Ironically tonight, we were reading a book and came across a tiger. He reached his arm out and growled.

Ralph is able to say more than 50 words and will try to repeat most words. Unfortunately, many of them sound similar to each other. He is able to identify most of the popular Sesame Street characters which is funny because I don’t think he’s ever seen Sesame Street but know he 'reads' plenty of books with the characters and some are on his diapers.

We've been cautious with feeding him, probably cutting up foods more than we should to try to prevent any choking. Unfortunately it doesn't matter how much we cut up some foods - he'll just stuff more pieces in his mouth. It's surprising how much he can put in his mouth at one time. I did give him a whole (uncut) jr cheeseburger today and he nearly ate the whole thing by himself - until he stuffed the last bit in his mouth at once (probably the equivalent of 3 bites), decided it was too much and spit it back out. Last week he enjoyed some of a whole pear himself.

Big Kid Swing

Ralph and Michael ventured out to the play area behind our townhouse on Sunday. After a trip down one of the slides they tested out a big kid swing (unfortunately they don't have any infant swings). This is a short video but Ralph did a great job of holding on and even kicked his legs a few times in an effort to make it go.

A boy and his best buddy

Ralph received Eeyore for a baby gift (Thanks, Davi Ann). He has taken a strong liking to him in the past couple of months as we finally allowed him to have things in the crib. Sometimes Ralph calls him "e"; sometimes "eeyoreeyoreeeyore". This morning Ralph and Eeyore had quite the conversation before breakfast. It was kind of entertaining.

He can also pick out which Winnie the Pooh books contain Eeyore.

Go Huskers!

Knowing Ralph won't make it inside Memorial Stadium for a few years, we decided to hit a few pre-game activities today. After a stop at a cousin's tailgate party, we visited Husker Nation then stopped for a few photos outside the Stadium.

Visting Abe

Last February Ralph visited (and sat by) a miniature bronze of Abe Lincoln, today we had a chance to see the life-size bronze in downtown Lincoln.

Rockin' Ralpher

Ralph got a "new" toy from craigslist last weekend. He was starting to get bored with his other toys. He was really rockin' on the Little Tykes rocking horse at daycare one day so I thought he'd like this one. He hasn't tried it out to much yet but will rock on it.

Sunday marked day two of a cold/fever and the start of a long week (notice the water eyes and runny nose). By the afternoon he had also developed pink eye and continued to have a fever off and on. Thinking it was clear he went to daycare Wednesday morning, only to be sent home in the afternoon. We made another trip to the doctor's office Thursday morning to be diagnosed with a double ear infection. He seems to be over the worst of it now but did get a little spoiled this week.

Hopefully all will be well by Tuesday morning for daycare!