Justin at 15 Months

Is still such a baby to me. Perhaps this happens with the second (and subsequent) child(ren)?

He surprises me each day. Learning new things, playing and interacting more. The child seems to have his own little language. His words are few: mama, dada, ight, da (dog), titi (kitty), A-ugh (amen), ah duh (all done).

Justin wakes up happy…..until his diaper is changed. He’d much rather be roaming around on the floor. He seems very content crawling and cruising around on things. We work with him everyday on pushing things around and he’ll do it – just to pacify us. He couldn’t care less about walking.

As a parent of a child born with clubfeet, I can honestly say that I didn’t know if he would be doing what he’s doing now. Speaking of pulling up to stand and cruising around, I can’t be more proud of the progress he’s made. This kiddo was in casts for the first 3 months of his life, then in braces full time for the next 3. Of course he still wears his braces at night. It’s become a way of life for us. No, it isn’t my favorite thing to do and I’m sure he’d be happier without them but he knows no different and is happy nonetheless.

Okay, so he’s still sleeping through the night. In his mouth are 4 teeth on the top with two chompers on the bottom. And, I felt 4 molars in the back. Considering his first tooth came in at 11 months, he’s also tolerated teething quite well! A few random nights he did fuss but nothing to cause us any concern. He eats like a champ and is generally a loving child.

The most recent development is an attachment to his Mother! Where did this come from? He loves to lay his head down on ones’ shoulder and tuck his arms underneath his little body while being held. But, he loves his mother so much! Gotta admit it’s not something I push away from, instead I welcome it with open arms.

He admires his brother. His brother – the one who runs everywhere and is high strung. Yep, that one. If Justin hears Troy running down the hall, Justin takes off in the opposite direction and is so excited when Troy “catches” him. I can see the sweet bonding taking off right before my eyes.

Although not the most flattering picture, you can see J’s long face here. He still has the dimple in the middle of his nose. It makes him, well, Justin! He has large feet for a clubfoot child with big hands and long fingers. He also has puffy lips which are just precious.

On his right foot, one toe overlaps the other. It’s ever so slightly now. Used to be more pronounced. When he stands, all toes are flat. I suspect this is a temporary overlap.

Stats:

24 pounds (might be closer to 25) – 75th percentile

32.2 inches – 85th percentile

Head – 18 inches – 20-25th percentile

Precious in every way!

Troy at 15 Months

Where do I begin? So much has changed since this little boy turned a year old. Says about 30 words and the list is growing daily. His mind is like a sponge and he’s so curious. “us dat?” (what’s that) is a very frequent question. When we say what something is, he tries repeating it. “ooze dat?” goes along with him wanting to know someone’s name. He has begun putting two words together as well: “dat’s mommie”, “dat’s daddie”, “dat’s guk” (that’s milk), “dat’s Abbie” (for the cat), etc. He seems to know exactly when to say “pees” (or please) and it works quite well. “Up pees” is very hard to resist. He tries so hard to communicate with us. I’m working on him saying “help” when he wants something. Help sounds a lot like “up”.

Brian puts him to bed at night and during December, usually would read to him “A Charlie Brown Christmas” followed by a reindeer story (complete with a reindeer finger puppet), sometimes another book and ends with a “Jesus Loves Me” book. Brian sings along with the book. The other night, Brian told me that Troy pointed to the book and said “bibul” at the same time. He doesn’t say this to any other book. Brian claimed he was singing along with the book. Of course I had to make sure he knew what he was talking about. It is the sweetest thing, my little boy calling this little book about Jesus a “bibul.” And, trying to sing “Jethus, Jethus, bibul…soooo”. He now sings it at random times, often in his highchair. Sometimes he throws in a little “ABC” along with it but I think it’s darling.

“No” has become a favorite word at times. Just as he was saying it quite often, we started encouraging him to say “no thank you” and now it is “No dadu” although not quite as sweet as it may sound! Every child or infant is called a “bebe” – too bad he isn’t speaking French, right? Also, he loves his bath and says it just right. That is the same with book and up. Other words: “da” (down), adur (water), duk (duck), tuk (truck), ca (car), baw (ball), choo choo . There are more, I wrote them down (of course) and cannot find them (naturally!).

In the photo below, I was in the office working (we were without a sitter for 2 weeks – ouch!). T cannot stand to be away from me while I’m in the office. Here he was trying to “sneak” in. That look on his face is of uncertainty – he knew he wasn’t supposed to be coming in.

Stats:

Weight: 31 pounds (90th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (80th percentile)

Head: 18.75

He is ALWAYS on-the-go, too! You’d think with his weight, he’d be a still, quiet child. Quite the opposite! He’s only still when sleeping, sitting in his high chair (although he wiggles his feet and toes) and occasionally when he reads a book. Maybe he thinks he’s going to miss something? I don’t know.

He is HEAVY, especially for me who is packing on an extra 20+ pounds with this pregnancy so far….and still have a couple of months to go. That’s over 50 extra pounds to tote around. Am I whining?

Troy's latest words

My one year old thinks he's communicating. Seriously. I need to get his random babbles on video and post something. But, for now, when he wakes up in the morning, he plays his music, then starts out with "mommie, daddy, mama, dada, dis-statata, dissss-dadadada, bububu, ladada" and on and on and on.

Last night, while sitting in his high chair, it went like this:

Me: Troy, what does the tiger say?
Troy: aaaggghhh
Me: What does the cow say?
Troy: Mmmuuuuu
Me: What does the dog say?
Troy: burf, burf, burf
Me: What does the kitty cat say?
Troy: mmeeeeooo

In the bathtub:
Me and Brian: Can you say bubbles?
Troy: Bu-buul-s, bubu, bubu

That was the first time he has responded on demand to all of them. He did it again this morning.

Troy is still a mover and a shaker. Literally. He walks constantly and rarely stops, he likes to shake his head, shoulders and hips - music or not. Every now and then he will pick up a book, put it on the ground and look at it. Otherwise he's walking around the house with the book while he tries to thumb through the book - mostly running into objects/walls along the way. If we ask him to give us a kiss, about half of the time, he'll walk up to us and give us an open-mouth kiss and say "ahhh" at the same time. It's very sweet but also slobbery and gross.

He enjoys saying "uh oh" and fake sneezing. He will put his hands behind his head and say "achoo!" over and over and over. He likes doing this in Target. I have to thank my nephew, Jake, for teaching him this trick. Troy laughs at himself after he does it, too. Must be pretty funny.

Other words: "wow", "tadu" (thank you), "t-ta" (tick tock).


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Troy is Six Months Old

So when you think of a human being at 30 years and 6 months, it isn't a big deal, right? Or, someone at 19 years and 6 months. 5 1/2 years old (by the way, when did we stop saying we were x-and a half years old?)...I now know that 6 months is a big difference from, say...6 weeks. A person changes more in the first year than any other year of their lives. Amazing.

So our little, or rather chunky, Troy is 6 months old. Below is a photo of his amazing, wonderful HALF birthday! We celebrated with pureed carrots - yummy. It's much more difficult to photo him....I hear it gets much, much more difficult. I made this little outfit with the bubble gum machine applique. It is also reversible. It has a giraffe on the other side. I thought I ordered a crocodile. I figured I might as well use it anyway. Oh well!

Here are his stats:

Weight: 20 pounds (90th percentile)

Height: 28 inches (90th percentile)

Head: 17.2 inches (50th percentile)

He's a ham STILL. He still loves to smile, he's learned to "tap" as we call it but it's more like hitting. Not sure what to do about that yet. He puts everything in his mouth, including as much of a person's face, hair, etc. he can fit in his mouth. He's started saying 'ba' and I just heard him say "DA" tonight. It's about time. We've been saying 'da da' to him daily for at least a month. Of course "mama" is his favorite and he seems to say it mostly when he's hungry. He sits up pretty good for several minutes, rolls over like crazy, loves his jumperoo and his Lamaze butterfly.

He sleeps about 10-11 hours at night. As I am typing this, he has discovered the keyboard and wants to type. If only I could take a picture of me restraining him with my elbows as I type and he puts his mouth on my arms...I think that's it...

I've been busy sewing. The outfits he is wearing (minus the Auburn one) are ones I've made recently. I just love sewing for him! Or maybe it is that I love sewing, I don't know. I'll have to post some photos of what I've made recently. Selfishly, I've made things mostly for Troy. There are babies born who I want to make things for but haven't made the time. I will one of these days. After all, most of the things I make aren't for newborns anyway!

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I hope this video works!