Monday, June 28, 2010
A week away
Just thought I'd put up a post while Dane is MIA. He's spending the week with the Andersons in Madison, letting us finish up all the last stuff with our old apartment. We have a ton of painting to do, which would be near impossible with him here. I know in my head it's good for all of us to spend time apart, but as Dane gets older, it only seems harder to be away from him. He's right on the verge of walking, and I'm so nervous I'm going to miss those first steps. Reading with him first thing in the morning is one of the sweetest parts of my day; he's always cuddly and goofy. It's one of the only times he'll sit still. We know he's in good hands, but even hearing things like he has a mild fever makes me want to be with him to comfort any pain or fear he has. Being a parent is such an interesting thing. It sounds cliche, but your heart keeps growing to fit the person your child becomes. While I was afraid I wouldn't know how to love Dane before we had him, with our next little babe, I no longer have that fear. I know that she'll become so much a part of my heart it would be impossible not to love her. We really are blessed, and while it's great to have a break from all the chasing this week, I can hardly wait to see that three-toothed grin again.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
First self portrait
Dane was goofing around with Photo Booth while we were on the computer today and took his first self portrait. All by himself, without breaking the computer! I think he's a prodigy. Albeit, a slightly snotty one. Way to go, techno toddler!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Milestones during the marathon
The last two months have been extremely intense for our family, including Dane's second surgery, a move to a new house (with yardwork!), and Mark working nights, not to mention my many OB appointments and doctor's appointments for Dane. Whew. We're all beat and hence, haven't had much time to update the Dane Blog. However, I wanted to mention some of the more exciting milestones that have happened during this super busy time.
Dane spent the week with my parents and came home with a new love for any kind of dog, including his first stuffed animal buddy, the NIU husky. To this point, stuffed animals have held no real interest for him, so it's really fun to see him hugging and trying to feed his buddies. In the morning, he doesn't like to leave his crib unless "DOG!" is with him.
He finally learned to crawl! Like super speed crawling! It just needed to happen on his schedule. One more thing off the PT/OT checklist.
He's starting to try and stand/walk by himself; we're praying it'll happen before Dos comes along. I don't think I could handle two non-walkers by myself!
His language skills are increasing every day. He loves to imitate us, his favorite words being "boom" "ow" and "ah ah ah" (like the Count from Sesame Street). He's so proud of himself when he successfully masters an action or word we say. Very fun to see!
Despite the challenge that feeding time has become over the last couple weeks, just today, he used a fork all by himself for the first time. He got a bite into his mouth and looked over at me with the biggest grin on his face. He hasn't shown a ton of independence yet, so it's good to see him starting to try and master skills like that.
He's also become a stair machine since we moved into the new house. The house is split level, so it has 6 steps up and 4 down, perfect for learning about crawling. He's got up covered, but down is still confusing, most often ending in a face-first dive, to be caught by whichever one of us is guarding him:)
Challenges lately include his mealtimes; he's stopped eating pretty much at all during the day. We can still get him to drink a smoothie in the morning, but as for anything pureed or fed from a spoon, he's not interested. I get so worried he'll be malnourished and Mark tries to remind me that when he gets hungry enough, he'll eat. *breathe, larissa* Another challenge is that he's started to have temper tantrums when he doesn't get to do what he wants. Not fun. Related to that is just keeping him busy without breaking things. He is SO curious and active! Finally, he's started waking up every morning between 5 and 6 am. I'm pooped and these early mornings are starting to take a toll! We're hoping it has to do with the fact that he's had 3 teeth for about a month. That 4th has to be on it's way, right?!
Dane is still a joy around others, making friends and hamming it up everywhere he goes. He makes us laugh every day, and we can hardly wait until he begins to talk so we know what's going on behind those huge grins.
Dane spent the week with my parents and came home with a new love for any kind of dog, including his first stuffed animal buddy, the NIU husky. To this point, stuffed animals have held no real interest for him, so it's really fun to see him hugging and trying to feed his buddies. In the morning, he doesn't like to leave his crib unless "DOG!" is with him.
He finally learned to crawl! Like super speed crawling! It just needed to happen on his schedule. One more thing off the PT/OT checklist.
He's starting to try and stand/walk by himself; we're praying it'll happen before Dos comes along. I don't think I could handle two non-walkers by myself!
His language skills are increasing every day. He loves to imitate us, his favorite words being "boom" "ow" and "ah ah ah" (like the Count from Sesame Street). He's so proud of himself when he successfully masters an action or word we say. Very fun to see!
Despite the challenge that feeding time has become over the last couple weeks, just today, he used a fork all by himself for the first time. He got a bite into his mouth and looked over at me with the biggest grin on his face. He hasn't shown a ton of independence yet, so it's good to see him starting to try and master skills like that.
He's also become a stair machine since we moved into the new house. The house is split level, so it has 6 steps up and 4 down, perfect for learning about crawling. He's got up covered, but down is still confusing, most often ending in a face-first dive, to be caught by whichever one of us is guarding him:)
Challenges lately include his mealtimes; he's stopped eating pretty much at all during the day. We can still get him to drink a smoothie in the morning, but as for anything pureed or fed from a spoon, he's not interested. I get so worried he'll be malnourished and Mark tries to remind me that when he gets hungry enough, he'll eat. *breathe, larissa* Another challenge is that he's started to have temper tantrums when he doesn't get to do what he wants. Not fun. Related to that is just keeping him busy without breaking things. He is SO curious and active! Finally, he's started waking up every morning between 5 and 6 am. I'm pooped and these early mornings are starting to take a toll! We're hoping it has to do with the fact that he's had 3 teeth for about a month. That 4th has to be on it's way, right?!
Dane is still a joy around others, making friends and hamming it up everywhere he goes. He makes us laugh every day, and we can hardly wait until he begins to talk so we know what's going on behind those huge grins.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Comment of the Day
The Dane bug is staying with my folks this week, and healing up from his last surgery. Mark and I are in Wheaton, moving and getting our new place ready to live in. I've had a really hard time being away from Dane, even in the first couple days, and Mark basically summed up how I feel today as we were talking about it.
Me: "Do you miss Dane?"
Mark: "It's fun to have the opportunity to miss him, but it's so fun to like him so much."
Agreed.
(Above, one of the photos from our archive showing how much Mark likes Dane...enough to let him nurse his nose:))
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