Posted by Katherine on August 9th, 2009
Since Pat’s monthly post last week, Ted has added “Zoe” and “kitty” to the six words he was saying last month. He says Zoe clear as day. He seems to be starting with the harder words first… He could say teeth before he could say mama. And he says, “ticka ticka ticka,” while tickling his own belly.
He is also starting with the harder, more obscure animal noises, llama, monkey, donkey, and of course sheep, but he finally says, “moo!” I mean to me, moo seems way easier than hee haw. For the rooster he says, “cock-a.” He doesn’t quite have the -doodle-doo yet. And occasionally he will tell me that the dog says, “arf, arf, arf.”
He will tell you that a car says, “beep beep” and the train says, “toot toot.” He loves pointing out cars. I took him to Marbles Kids Museum, which is in downtown Raleigh and let me tell you- there are a lot of “cars” in the city.
He also loves playing the drums and loves drumming all over the house with anything that resembles a drumstick. Or his bare hands if a drumstick isn’t handy. I don’t know if it is just an intense phase or if he is going to be a musician. Every time he hears a bit of music or someone says the word “dance,” he starts dancing.
Also new this week, he knows where his knees are, as well as my knees. And when I pointed to my arm tonight and told him the word he repeated it like three times, trying to get the sound right. I didn’t add it to the list of words he knows because that was the first time he said it and sometimes he will just say a random word once and never repeat it.
His newest sign this week is “help.” Unfortunately he mostly only does the sign when I say “help” instead of just making the sign to actually get help. Hopefully he will figure it out quickly that signing help is going to get me to help him much faster and happier than his previous method of whining in frustration.
Another thing Ted loves is feeding Zoe cat treats. We had to put a child lock on the drawer where we keep them. He will give her a whole bunch and we will tell him she is all done, but he keeps signing, “more, more.” Zoe is definitely enjoying this new skill. Also Ted seems to know that they are just for the cats and never tries to eat them himself or feed them to Pat or me.
Lately I have been looking at our cookbooks, Deceptively Delicious and The Sneaky Chef, just to get ideas for healthy things I could cook for our family. Really Ted loves vegetables and fruit, so right now I don’t have to worry about hiding them in other foods… its the other foods he is more suspicious of. One of the key ideas in both books is that toddlers don’t like trying new foods. I decided I had better start upping Ted’s variety now, while he is still accepting of them, so that there will be less “new” foods for him when (and if) he hits that phase. So this week he had olives, summer squash, quinoa, salsa, zucchini, and whole wheat crackers with cheddar cheese.
Posted in Accomplishments, Cats, Week-iversary |
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Posted by Katherine on March 30th, 2009
Ted had his first drink of milk this Monday! He liked it.
On Tuesday, March 24th he took his first unassisted steps! This last week of his first year has been very exciting for sure! After taking those first steps he didn’t really want to do it any more. Lots of videos of him about to take a step then getting down on all four and crawling over with a big smile. Then on Saturday at the airport waiting for the aunties, Uncle Josh, and cousin Jack to arrive he walked quite a distance while totally distracted, looking at a brochure he was holding in both hands.
Posted in Accomplishments, Baby, Ted, Week-iversary |
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Posted by Katherine on March 23rd, 2009
Ted is a wild man. He is full of rambunctious energy and is almost constantly moving at full speed. His first step on his own will probably be a sprint. These days he is doing a LOT of walking with us holding his hands. He will occasionally walk if you are just holding one hand, but he is always angling to get you to take that other hand. We have been walking around the yard a lot and he is very good on the bumpy and hilly terrain. In the house he walks from one side of the room to the other pushing his shopping cart. He definitely has the skills to walk on his own, just not the confidence.
He does the signs for “more,” “book,” and “drink” and occasionally even uses them when he wants more or is reading a book. When Pat and I work out on the weekends we put Ted in his Jumperoo and let him watch a sign language dvd. Since we are not actually watching the dvd with him we are a little afraid he is using all kinds of signs that we don’t know yet! When Auntie Kristen comes this weekend they will probably have all kinds of secret conversations!
He is so funny. If Dad gives him a high five he HAS to get a high five from Mom. If he sneezes and Dad says “bless you” he turns to me and has to get a “gesundheit” from Mom.
This past couple weeks we have kept up the busy pace going to playgroups, group walks, and music classes. The last group walk we went on was a pretty long loop through the woods. Knowing Ted gets kind of cranky when stuck in his stroller for long periods, I decided to take him in the back carrier. I had taken him in the carrier the week before and he seemed to really like it and not get fussy. Well this walk was longer and full of steep hills, but I decided to go for it anyway. It was great! Not that much harder than pushing a stroller and he didn’t fuss at all. Of course the next day my left shoulder was a little sore in the morning when I was working out because he had spent most of the walk leaning over that side, but not too bad overall.
Ted has had pumpkin bread, broccoli, black beans, refried beans, cinnamon bread, blueberry waffles, maple syrup, and pizza. He loves pizza. I was a little surprised that he liked pizza so much, because both Pat and I hated it as children. Of course both our families got pizza with mushrooms on it and we HATE mushrooms.
Posted in Accomplishments, Baby, Outdoors, Ted, Week-iversary |
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Posted by Katherine on March 9th, 2009
Ted and I have been very busy these days. Which is a very good thing. Ted loves getting together with his friends. In his 48th week we went to a playgroup, went shopping with friends, and went to another Movement and Music class. While at the music class I realized that another one of Ted’s teeth is coming in. It is on the bottom to the left of the two he already has down there. So we finally started brushing his teeth. We got him a toddler toothbrush and toothpaste and he really seems to like it, especially when Dad helps.
In his 49th week we hosted playgroups on Tuesday and Thursday for two of the moms groups we are in. Then Friday we went for a walk with friends and then had the kids play at one of the mom’s house. Ted is a little social butterfly following the other kids around and making sure he is in the center of things at all times.
Ted’s latest thing is attacking Zoe. She is a very social cat and likes to be near us. Ted likes to get right up in her face and flail his arms at her. She definitely does not like that, as you could imagine. She still sticks around though, she holds her ground. One of these days she is going to let him have it.
Ted also signed for the first time. He was really good at signing “more” for a day. Now he tends to clap instead. But at least he has inspired me to be better about signing for him. He is also really good at giving high-fives. He has been pointing a lot too. And when we read his That’s Not My Kitten book, if I don’t reach out and touch the textures, he will take my hand and make me feel them. He can stack his wooden blocks four high. He also walks while pushing his Mickey Mouse Plane.
He finds my laptop irresistible. One time I forgot it on my chair while I was making breakfast. When I peeked into the living room he was standing up to the chair gently hitting the keys over and over. So funny. It was making nearly the same noise as when I type.
His latest foods are beef, tomato, and pasta. He is loving fruit salad. Whenever I am eating it he hangs around my seat like a little puppy dog to get bites.
Posted in Accomplishments, Baby, Friends, Ted, Week-iversary |
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Posted by Katherine on February 22nd, 2009
I can’t believe two weeks have already gone by since my last post! I know I say this over and over, but I feel time is passing at hyper-speed.
Ted has figured out how to get down from a standing position. Thank goodness. That is a very important skill. He has become an expert on pulling himself up and does it on everything. He speed crawls around and pulls himself up to the couch or the toy box and stands and plays awhile then gets down and crawls again. He chases me down and we walk around with me holding his hands. He also has figured out how to climb the stairs.
We went to a music and movement class for the first time. Ted loved it. He loves watching the big kids (yes that means 18 months and 2 year olds) and trying to imitate them. He did all the movement with me walking him along holding his hands. He would try to go faster when the the big kids went faster and slowed down when they did. He did mostly just try to eat the noisemakers and other props, but other than that he seemed to really “get” the class. I am considering signing him up for a weekly class once I find out how much it would cost.
We hosted playgroup here this week. Ted did great sharing his toys. There were six other kids here ranging in age from 6 months to 15 months. All but the six month old were either crawling or walking. Pretty crazy sight. I served hot cocoa, coffee, banana bread (with and without chocolate chips) and fruit salad. The other moms mostly ate the banana bread without the chocolate chips so they could share with their kids. I ended up eating way too much banana bread that day. It came out very good.
His latest foods are turkey, spinach, and american cheese. I tried giving him some banana bread and he ate it, but I won’t be doing that again. No pears or bananas for Ted. All baby food mixed fruits are either mixed with bananas, pears, or apples. Ted eats a lot of apples.
Posted in Accomplishments, Baby, Ted, Week-iversary |
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