We were on the morning news this morning at O'Dark Hundred (seriously, we got up at 4:00am), to do a brief update with the reporter who interviewed us years ago.
Here's the clip. I keep thinking of things I could have said differently, better, or more clearly, but overall, I think it went well and I hope we did right by Matthew, by Beau and Sheila, and by EA :)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
12 Months Update
I updated y'all on Matthew's birthday party, but I wanted to document his 12 months progress, too!
Weight (on his birthday): 21 pounds. Yesterday, at his checkup, he was 22 and some change, but it was also right after his lunch. So I'm sticking with the 21 pound one, which was two weeks ago, on an empty stomach. This puts him in the 10-25% mark, where he's been for the last however long.
Length: 31.75"!!!!! We had a little playdate the other day with his friend who is three months older than him and he towered over her! This puts him at 93% for height!
Head: 18.75" putting him in the 75%...also not a surprise, considering he's been in a hat size 12-24 months since he was around 9 months old.
So, he's my little stringbean!
Current Skills:
He can now stand for a few moments, unassisted. He can't stand up on his own (meaning he still needs to pull up on something) but once he's up, he will stand alone and is starting to feel more freedom in doing so.
He loves to climb. We were at the park the other day and there was a short little structure and he just kept climbing over it (usually diving head first), turning around, and climbing/diving right back over again. There are a few stairs at church that he loves to try to climb on. Thankfully, he can't or hasn't thought to try to climb on the furniture here at home yet.
Tunneling is one of his new things. His exersaucer has the activity area where he sits, and then the legs holding that part up are attached to a disc. He loves to crawl between the legs, under the seat, and into the disc. One of the toys he received for Christmas is a two-tiered type toy too, and he loves to crawl between the tiers, and then under his activity table. My mom gave him a tunnel for his birthday and he went through it pretty quickly. I can't have it out all the time due to room but when it's out, he likes to go through it.
Dancing is still his favorite activity. I like to rotate his toys around between storage, his bedroom, and our living room. His big jungle toy that my brother gave him for Christmas is his favorite music maker and I had put it away for a couple of weeks. I brought it out again this morning and he went over to it and boogied his little heart out. He LOVES to dance. It's so ridiculously cute, I can't even tell you! But I can show you! (I tried to post this video before, but I guess it didn't work for everyone)
He has started to play ball interactively. I'll sit on the floor and roll the ball to him. He'll get it and either roll, throw, or give it back to me. It's really neat to see.
Along the same lines, he's also starting to share a little, or rather, invite you to play with him. If he has a toy or a snack in his hand, he'll come over and put it in your hand. He wants you to give it back pretty immediately, but it's still sweet. Along the same lines though, he's also getting more into taking. It used to be in the nursery at church that if someone took a toy from him, he'd go find another one. Now, he's a little thief along with the rest of them, and is much less likely to just let you take what he has. Ah, independence....
He's starting to love books, too, which just melts my heart. We've always read to him but until recently, he's been too impatient to sit still for story time. Now, often, I'll find him sitting and "reading" one of his books. Or, he'll bring one to me to read to him. At story time, he'll happily sit through 3 or 4 books. I really hope that a love of reading stays with him.
As I mentioned, he's growing more independent. He's growing more opinionated about what he eats, what he does, what he wants or doesn't want, etc. That has its challenges as you can imagine, but I love that he's learning his own mind and learning to express himself.
His favorite food is now cheese. I didn't think anything could eclipse chicken in his little mind and he wasn't sure about cheese at first. But now, it's his #1. It's so funny--I can fix a meal for him of 3, 4, or even 5 different things all torn up and mixed together on his tray, and he'll pick out his favorite thing first, and eat most or all of that item. Then, he'll pick out all of his second favorite item, and so on and so forth until he's done. There's no fooling him. Even if I give him food that is all the same color, texture, and/or size as each other, he knows which item is which. He's also decided he wants to have what we're having, which is fun but also means we do a lot of our eating when he's asleep or otherwise occupied, out of sheer self-preservation. Little mooch will devour your whole sandwich/burrito/bowl of oatmeal if you let him, even if he has the EXACT same thing on HIS tray! His favorite food list is rounded out by chicken, yogurt, pineapple, mangoes, and recently, pancakes (he had them for the first time last week and loved them and enchiladas (see the "little mooch" comment--dude tried to polish off all of one of mine! Oddly enough, it's the same enchilada that was about the only thing I could keep down for part of my pregnancy, so I guess he decided a long time ago that he likes them).
Well, speaking of, it's way past lunch time, I have one more enchilada leftover from dinner, and he's sleeping, so I'm going to go enjoy lunch in peace.
Toodaloo!
Weight (on his birthday): 21 pounds. Yesterday, at his checkup, he was 22 and some change, but it was also right after his lunch. So I'm sticking with the 21 pound one, which was two weeks ago, on an empty stomach. This puts him in the 10-25% mark, where he's been for the last however long.
Length: 31.75"!!!!! We had a little playdate the other day with his friend who is three months older than him and he towered over her! This puts him at 93% for height!
Head: 18.75" putting him in the 75%...also not a surprise, considering he's been in a hat size 12-24 months since he was around 9 months old.
So, he's my little stringbean!
Current Skills:
He can now stand for a few moments, unassisted. He can't stand up on his own (meaning he still needs to pull up on something) but once he's up, he will stand alone and is starting to feel more freedom in doing so.
He loves to climb. We were at the park the other day and there was a short little structure and he just kept climbing over it (usually diving head first), turning around, and climbing/diving right back over again. There are a few stairs at church that he loves to try to climb on. Thankfully, he can't or hasn't thought to try to climb on the furniture here at home yet.
Tunneling is one of his new things. His exersaucer has the activity area where he sits, and then the legs holding that part up are attached to a disc. He loves to crawl between the legs, under the seat, and into the disc. One of the toys he received for Christmas is a two-tiered type toy too, and he loves to crawl between the tiers, and then under his activity table. My mom gave him a tunnel for his birthday and he went through it pretty quickly. I can't have it out all the time due to room but when it's out, he likes to go through it.
Dancing is still his favorite activity. I like to rotate his toys around between storage, his bedroom, and our living room. His big jungle toy that my brother gave him for Christmas is his favorite music maker and I had put it away for a couple of weeks. I brought it out again this morning and he went over to it and boogied his little heart out. He LOVES to dance. It's so ridiculously cute, I can't even tell you! But I can show you! (I tried to post this video before, but I guess it didn't work for everyone)
He has started to play ball interactively. I'll sit on the floor and roll the ball to him. He'll get it and either roll, throw, or give it back to me. It's really neat to see.
Along the same lines, he's also starting to share a little, or rather, invite you to play with him. If he has a toy or a snack in his hand, he'll come over and put it in your hand. He wants you to give it back pretty immediately, but it's still sweet. Along the same lines though, he's also getting more into taking. It used to be in the nursery at church that if someone took a toy from him, he'd go find another one. Now, he's a little thief along with the rest of them, and is much less likely to just let you take what he has. Ah, independence....
He's starting to love books, too, which just melts my heart. We've always read to him but until recently, he's been too impatient to sit still for story time. Now, often, I'll find him sitting and "reading" one of his books. Or, he'll bring one to me to read to him. At story time, he'll happily sit through 3 or 4 books. I really hope that a love of reading stays with him.
As I mentioned, he's growing more independent. He's growing more opinionated about what he eats, what he does, what he wants or doesn't want, etc. That has its challenges as you can imagine, but I love that he's learning his own mind and learning to express himself.
His favorite food is now cheese. I didn't think anything could eclipse chicken in his little mind and he wasn't sure about cheese at first. But now, it's his #1. It's so funny--I can fix a meal for him of 3, 4, or even 5 different things all torn up and mixed together on his tray, and he'll pick out his favorite thing first, and eat most or all of that item. Then, he'll pick out all of his second favorite item, and so on and so forth until he's done. There's no fooling him. Even if I give him food that is all the same color, texture, and/or size as each other, he knows which item is which. He's also decided he wants to have what we're having, which is fun but also means we do a lot of our eating when he's asleep or otherwise occupied, out of sheer self-preservation. Little mooch will devour your whole sandwich/burrito/bowl of oatmeal if you let him, even if he has the EXACT same thing on HIS tray! His favorite food list is rounded out by chicken, yogurt, pineapple, mangoes, and recently, pancakes (he had them for the first time last week and loved them and enchiladas (see the "little mooch" comment--dude tried to polish off all of one of mine! Oddly enough, it's the same enchilada that was about the only thing I could keep down for part of my pregnancy, so I guess he decided a long time ago that he likes them).
Well, speaking of, it's way past lunch time, I have one more enchilada leftover from dinner, and he's sleeping, so I'm going to go enjoy lunch in peace.
Toodaloo!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Pro Life News Update
Update 2/3/12: Susan G Komen has reversed their decision and will continue to fund Planned Parenthood. Thus, I reverse any statements of support I made in regard to Susan G Komen.