More of the same....

These posts are going to get old for those of you reading who are not....well...grandparents. Or my husband. Wait, nevermind- he doesn't read this. At the risk of losing my readers....all 5 of you....I need to do some more bragging about my brilliant son.

Have I written about how I get Colby to sit quietly in the jogging stroller? I don't think I have. Well, he doesn't like it in there too much, so I found a solution that's working out really well. I put his favorite nursery rhyme CDs on Lee's Ipod, connected it to portable speakers, and blast the music from the stroller as I jog down the trail. I do get looks, laughs, and many blank expressions....but who cares. I'm getting my run in, and Colby isn't crying. I have my own Ipod, so luckily I don't have to endure the Itsy Bitsy Spider for the whole 45 minutes.

Anyway, I was jogging along this morning, and I looked down, and Colby was hitting himself on the head with his hand. I didn't think much of it, and then he started waving his index finger back and forth. I took my headphones off, and much to my surprise, the song "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" was playing....he was doing the motions! I play the same CD in the car and I do hand motions to the songs, but I never really knew if Colby was paying attention. Now I know he is! (this is my sign to stop flicking off other drivers) The head thumps were for when the monkey bumped his head, and the finger back and forth was my own creation for when the doctor said "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" Isn't he the most amazing baby ever??? I'm calling Letterman.

My friend Claire told me that between the ages of 12 and 18 months, Colby would really start doing new things on a daily basis. It is so true! I am surprised by him every single day.

My readers are definitely going to dwindle.

Let me brag for a minute....

It doesn't take much to make me beam with pride. But lately, I am just amazed by what Colby eats. I wrote on the "one year stats" post that his least favorite food was tomatoes, but I'm retracting that because now he is eating them. Honestly, and I can't believe I'm saying this....we have not found a food he won't eat. He loves EVERYTHING. We keep putting new foods on his tray, and he keeps shoveling them in. Just some examples: Indian food, Thai food, Mexican food, all vegetables (as long as they are seasoned), all fruits, hummus, all cheeses, all meats. It's amazing! The ironic thing is that tonight I gave him macaroni and cheese for the first time, and he skipped over that to eat chicken Parmesan, tomatoes and avocados. Wow!

After his dinner...(if you click on the picture and zoom in, you can see his new molar on the bottom right!)


You can almost *hear* this picture.

Progress!

We have 2 sets of stairs in our house, which means we have 4 baby gates....and inevitably, one of us will leave a gate open by accident at least once a day. (ok, it's usually me) There is nothing that will propel me out of a chair faster than hearing the pitter patter of little feet and hands on the stairs when I'm not expecting it! Colby has been going up the stairs very well now for about a month, but going down is a whole different issue. The times I have let him try, he instinctively wants to do a nose dive. So, we've been working hard the past week on learning how to turn around backwards. He gets confused and still wants to go down head first, but he's starting to catch on. Sometimes he does a few full 180 circles before he gets positioned the right way. Here he is this morning, perfecting his new skill. (please ignore my voice)

Feeding the addiction

Colby outgrew his jumparoo about 2 months ago, but we still have it sitting in our family room because he loves it so much. He doesn't get to jump in it, but he pulls up on it, plays with the toys, and just looks at it lovingly. Maybe I don't have enough going on in my life, but this makes me sad! I know he is dying to jump in it and just doesn't understand why the fun has ended so abruptly.

So....like any responsible and good hearted mother would do, I bought him the next best thing. A baby trampoline, of course. Now, I realize there is a fine line between providing for your child and spoiling him, but I like to think that this is meeting a need. Yes, that is what I tell myself.

So here's a little clip of Colby on his new favorite thing. It doesn't get more exciting as you keep watching, so don't hold your breath waiting for the climax.

White Boy Dance

Despite the Herpangina (see previous post), Colby is up to his old antics. After a bite of turkey and a few sips of water, Colby felt energetic and refreshed enough to do a bit of dancing. He loves to dance on this zebra, which bounces and plays music. Notice his hand going up towards the end...he does this all the time! I think he's trying to "raise the roof" but I'm not sure.

Turning one has not been fun

Since Colby has turned one, which was only a few weeks ago, he has contracted one funky virus after another.

First, it was the stomach flu. Which I posted about.
Next, he started throwing up randomly a few days later.
The next week, he had a high fever, bad cold, cough, and an ear ache.

And NOW.....

*********drum roll***********


He has Herpangina. What is it?
It's a form of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, where they get sores all over their lips, tongue and mouth, and run a high fever. This is by far the worst thing we've ever been through. The throwing up was scary, especially for me, but this was more serious because he's in so much pain he went almost a day without eating or drinking. We couldn't get anything to cross his lips yesterday until about 4pm, when I practically gagged him with a Popsicle while distracting him with a Baby Einstein video. He is MISERABLE. The good news is that it's not serious (as long as you can get them to eat and drink) and he's had a few sips today.

All of these funky viruses correspond suspiciously with the gyms and gym daycare centers I have been trying out. I've only been 3 times, but it has only been in the past 3 weeks, and always a few days before he gets sick. I have yet to find one that I like....and have now decided we aren't going anywhere near another one. If it's this bad now, I can't imagine what it would be like in the winter. I do realize he could pick these things up anywhere, but the timing is just too ironic. Plus, most of those places are pretty gross, even in the nicest gyms. Just too many kids and too many germs. One place actually had 90 kids between the hours of 10 and 11!!

So, Lee and I have decided to look for someone to come to our house a few days a week so that I can go to the gym. I have not joined a gym since Colby was born, and I really miss it. I was hoping the gym daycare center would be a great solution, but obviously, it isn't!

Now, as far as finding that person....well, that will be the hard part. We've never even left him with a babysitter, other than family, so this will be a challenge. In theory, the whole idea sounds great, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to trust a total stranger. We'll see!

Words

Lee just got back from being out of town for 2 weeks, so maybe I'll find the time and energy to start posting again! Colby said his first word (that we could distinguish) other than mamma and dada. It was cat! We were at Mindy's house, and he was fascinated with her cats...chasing them around, giving them forehead butts, etc. He must have said it 7 or 8 times. The first time, Mindy and I just looked at each other surprised, wondering if it was a fluke, but it wasn't! He's also trying to say Georgia, and this has probably been going on for longer than we realized.
Not much else too exciting going on, so here are a couple of pictures.

On his new ride


Chillin' with some Baby Einstein