Ralph: Celebrating 32 months!

I tried most of the day to take a good picture of Ralph. Unfortunately he was most cooperative at bath time, please excuse his lack of clothing.

Ralph has not quite adjusted to daylight savings time yet, at least I'm hoping that's the issue. He is up everyday at 6 am, you can almost set a clock. We are trying to get him to bed earlier so he can get a little more sleep. He could sleep at least another 45 minutes before we'd have to wake him to get ready for 'school'.

He isn't saying "owie" as much as he had been but he still has his moments. My suggestion of feet stomping never caught on, thankfully?!

It has been fun to watch Ralph's imagination and pretend play grow. His latest is handing out communion wafers, cutting hair, and cooking chicken nuggets. He also likes to line up his various cars for car shows. He seems to be better at peddling his tricycle but considering he is trying to peddle on carpet there is still a little bit of a challenge.

Ralph likes to try to be funny . . .ask him where he goes to school (Fingerprints). His replies vary from Handprints and Thumbprints to Footprints. He still continues to call his friends names in an attempt to be funny - not in a mean way, at least he doesn't think so. Mostly nonsense words - pee wee, moofy, ooogie, etc. that have no meaning.

Ralph seems to have a great memory and attention to details. He can tell you his Uncle Nick lives in Minneapolis, what street he lives on, and he likes quizzing you on people's name (the name of the nurse that gave him a shot (flu mist) today, the lady that cut his hair a few weeks ago, which person gave him a certain gift, etc). He continues to ask the never-ending question "why"?

Ralph has been good with Henry lately - educating him on how to use a sippy cup, sharing puffs and crunchies with him, and covering up the faucet in the tub when Henry gets to close . . though he still likes to grab whatever Henry is playing with.

You can't see me!

In the spirit of hunting season, we fitted the boys with their camo outfits. Ralph routinely asks to wear his "Grandpa Deer shirt" - and Henry is just starting to fit his camo gear.

When Ralph was younger we used to tell him "we can't see you" whenever he wore camo. He thinks its funny and will now remind us that we can't see him.

Henry: Celebrating 11 months!

As follow-up to last month, Henry has experienced his first pinched fingers . . . thumb in the lazy susan. Unfortunately he didn't learn a lot from that experience as he continues to gravitate to the lazy susan and drawers. I think he has gotten a finger or two in the drawer but nothing that causes him to complain about it.

Henry is getting more mobile. He can crawl up the stairs by himself. Once he was up on the 3rd stair before we realized where he was . . might be time for the baby gate. We've caught him standing by himself for seconds while playing, he is so absorbed in the play that he does not realize what he is doing. He continues to love to walk behind anything that he can push - and if he runs into a roadblock he'll just try to keep pushing to plow through.

He has had two teeth break through in the last month - the other front bottom tooth, and just today, the top right tooth. He is not started making any new sounds purposefully. In the last few weeks he has started waving - hand opened wide; arm goes up and down. I've been trying to teach him the sign for "more". I think he is starting to get it; if he is in the highchair and claps I'm taking that as his version of "more".

Henry has started trying some 'big kid' food at daycare and is starting to sample table food more. Today he tried macaroni and cheese. He has also tried mandarin oranges, bologna, and chicken. He also switched to formula at daycare about a week and half ago but is still mostly getting breastmilk at home.

Henry has had to stay home from daycare a few times in the last month. Once for an unexplained fever that lasted 3 days and just this past week with pink eye. We returned to the doctor's office to get his booster flu shot. The tech was so quick he didn't have a chance to cry.

On Monday he'll officially start in the Infant 2 room at daycare. He visited off and on most of this past week. I think he'll do fine with the transition.