Glee!

As Fred turned 13 months, we took him on a big trip up to Philadelphia. It was the annual University of Pennsylvania Glee Club’s spring show, and it was high time that he was exposed to some fine choral singing. It was also Great-Grandmom & Pop-pop’s anniversary on Sunday, and we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with the whole Jauss family as well.

My boys

While we all miss Furley, it seems like Roper and Fred are finding their own rhythm together.

Will you be my Valentine?

We’re now celebrating holidays a second time for Fred, and this Valentine’s Day was really fun. For most of the party that we attended, Fred was the lone boy among 5 girls! Another boy and his sister were there for a short while, but hey, still good odds for the boys…

After being cooped up in the house for snow for almost two weeks, it was fun to get out and see friends. Fred’s all about pointing and saying “This?” to learn names for everything. He also presses buttons on his toys to make music play so that he can dance. It’s pretty adorable…

Every day there is something new to discover, and everyone is impressed at how alert and smart he is…but that’s no surprise to us!

Snowmygoodness is winter over yet?

In the last two weeks we have gotten over 40 inches of snow through a number of snow storms big and small. Enough already! We’ve been in the house since Friday night (today is Thursday) and it was high time to get out and about. The blizzard ended overnight the night before and luckily we’ve actually been plowed already. The storm from Saturday didn’t get us plowed until Monday.

Fred’s been on the move though. He is pointing when he wants something, be it food, a toy, or to ask what something is. We were surprised though, when he grabbed his winter coat and pointed to the front door! After December’s experience with snow, we weren’t sure what he’d make of all we’ve accumulated. His smile said it all, though.

First Birthday party…kinda

We had a wonderful first birthday party last Sunday, and this Sunday we’ll be digging out of 25″ of snow. We had a professional photographer for the party, so we don’t have that many pictures to share yet. Here are a few that we have so far…

1 year stats

No 11 month stats, I know. What can I say, we were very busy with the holidays and Fred’s amazing walking skills.

Today we had his 1 year well toddler (!!!) visit, and as usual he was stellar. He did happen to put out his bottom lip and pout when the doctor tried to look in his mouth, but other than that, was his charming self.

Stats:
Height: 30.5 inches – 75th percentile
Weight: 22lbs 2oz – 40th percentile
Head Circumference: Yeah, I’m saying she measured wrong because it isn’t smaller than it was at 9 months. His shirts tell us that.

From What to Expect:

90% of babies can:

• Walk holding onto something. Clearly.
• Use a few gestures to get needs met. He can sign for milk and “all done” and does a lot of pointing.

75% of babies can:

• Play patty cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye. He loves to clap and waves when Dad leaves for work.
• Drink from a cup independently. He prefers his straw cup, which is fine with the pediatrician and fine with us.
• Pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger. Oh yes, not a problem for him.
• Stand alone momentarily. Duh.  Of course then he is off and running after.
• Say “mama” or “dada” discriminately. Yep.
• Say one word other than “mama” or “dada”.  He’ll repeat the words “cheese” and “all done”, though he doesn’t offer them up without prompting.

50% of babies can:

• Play ball (roll back to you). He started doing this about 2-3 weeks ago.
• Stand alone well. Stand. Run. Climb…
• Use immature jargoning (gibberish that sounds as if baby is talking in a made-up foreign language). Yep.
• Walk well.  I’d say extremely well.

25% of babies can:

• Say three words other than “mama” or “dada”.  I’d say we’re at three only if you count “All Done” as two words and not one word in his own mind, along with cheeeeeeese.
  
• Respond to a one-step command with gestures. He’s very good at handing us something he is holding or going to get something for us and bringing it back.

Other accomplishments:

• He is totally off of formula and drinking whole milk.  None of us are quite ready to totally give up bottle snuggle time yet though, and since it’s only twice a day for a few minutes, the doctor isn’t at all concerned about that.
• Food time is independence time – he always wants to feed himself these days, including dipping his spoon in his yogurt to feed himself.  He’s a hot mess when he does it with yogurt, but he is great with finger foods.  Of course, he loves to chew things a few time, stick them out on his tongue, and then eat them again.  Such a boy, that one.
• Some of his latest eating accomplishments: Peanut butter bagels in the morning (look ma! no allergies!), oranges, ice cream, cake, chocolate, steak, chili…you name it, he’ll eat it.  I don’t think we’ve found anything he outright won’t eat, it’s more that he needs to be able to do it himself.
• If we say “kiss”, he’ll purse his lips and stick up his chin for a kiss.  He’ll then keep doing it for a few minutes, and we keep kissing.  He’s very kissable.
• We also have his “sleep sheep” which is a giant stuffed sheep that he will pretend to sleep on.  We’ll point out sleep sheep, and say “FLUMP” and he falls down onto him and closes his eyes and giggles.
• When someone says “good job” he’ll clap.  He’ll raise his hands if you cheer yay, or play the Steelers’ fight song. He also claps to music in the car.
• Now that he really walks and almost runs, he loves his walking popper toy, and uses it like a vacuum.   His almost-2-year-old friend Smooch (another boy known for his kissing talents) taught him that one.
• He has eight teeth – four each on top and bottom.
• Definitely mimics what we do.  If we are at a store, he will look at things the way we do, sorting through items and pondering them seriously.
• When we read books, he points along with us.  He loves to bring us books to read, and when his bedroom door is open, he’ll run in there and start pulling them off shelves and flipping through pages.
• He loves to climb into things, especially the laundry baskets.
• He is getting much better at petting Roper, and laughs heartily when he gets kisses from him.  Though Furley had a quick illness and had to be put to sleep last week, Roper has been stepping up and being very sweet with Fred.
• When other kids are around, he’s actually been pretty good with sharing.  He only puts up a small fuss if he can’t get to a toy he wants, but will often bring another toy for a kid to play with in order to trade.
• That being said, if you value your electronics, don’t show him that you have a cell phone or remote control.  He loves them and will get very loud if you take them away.  Just like mom and dad!
• All in all though, he does enjoy the company of other children, though I think he prefers the older kids to ones his age.  They do cooler things.
• We have a small bus that sorts shapes on top and a trunk that opens to let them out.  We showed him how to put the shapes in, and then asked him to try.  He is obviously too young to get the concept of shapes, and couldn’t get them to fit.  However, our smarty pants then opened the trunk, looked at the shape in his hand, and threw them all in the back.  He was quite pleased with himself for outsmarting us.

So much more that he does, but with all of the growing up he does daily, it’s hard to keep track.

O-Man Comes to town

So much is going on with our man these days, it’s hard to keep track. He’s signing for milk, and “all done”. He walks 90% of the time, and if he’s happy and he knows it, he claps his hands.

We’re lucky enough to have our good friend O-Man, his mom JJ, and Dad Mook in town for the week. Such a treat to see them – especially since all the guys have birthdays within a few days of one another.

Lots of pictures to come this week for sure, as we get closer to the big 1 year mark.

11 Months Old!!11!!1!!

One month to go until the big day is here, and as everyone says, it has gone fast. The holidays were so much fun, and had us visiting with tons of friends and family.

First, Grandmom & Grandpop came up to visit and drop off some wonderful gifts including a John Deere tractor & trailer that will serve him for years to come:

Next we drove up to visit with Great-Grandmom & Pop-pop, Great Aunts & Uncles, & cousins Tori and Zachary. Then it was up to New York to visit with college friends Ron & Stacey, and their daughter, the cheerful and giggly Sophie Ella. After a quick overnight stay, it was off to Grandma & Grandpa’s to see their newly renovated house, complete with nursery for the little man. He had tons of fun there, especially meeting his cousin for the first time.

Lizzie is only a few hours older than Fred, and it was fun to see how similar and different they each were. Fred loved her hair while Lizzie was fascinated by Fred’s walking skills. Granted his skills were tested on the hardwood floor as he lost his footing and collided with a small table, giving him quite the shiner. Mom & Dad were more upset than Fred, who didn’t seem to care at all! He’s 100% boy, for sure.

We hit the road a few days after 2010 began and hit Fred’s first Penn Basketball game. Sadly, they are so bad that not even Fred’s great sports luck could help them pull off a victory. Finally, we returned home, where Fred was beyond excited to see Roper and Furley.

A stats post will follow shortly!

Let it snow!

Chanukah and Christmas have come and gone in these parts, and our gigantic snowstorm is getting washed away by the rain. Here are some pictures and videos of the last few weeks of fun we’ve had.

First, Chanukah at Auntie Mel & Uncle Josh’s house:

Then we went to Zoolights at the National Zoo the night before we got two feet of snow!

Last but not least, Fred’s first Christmas. We spent Christmas eve at Ella’s house with her parents, friends, and family. Christmas Day arrived with gifts, and most importantly, our day together as a family.

At first Fred didn’t quite know what to do with the unwrapping, but he got the hang of it pretty fast.

Then we took a short ride on his new sled. The snow was still a little deep to move, and Fred didn’t get why jostling along in the cold was fun. We bet that next year he’ll be the hit of the neighborhood.

Excuse me sir, I think you have my bucket.