Elmo-mania

Max has finally discovered Elmo and has gone totally Elmo crazy! He spots him on commercials, web sites, and TV and excitedly yells "Eh oh!" When he gets up in the morning, one of the first things he asks for (after more oatmeal) is "more Eh oh." I'm still not sure what it is about Elmo that turns little kids into rabid Elmo devotees -- is it the crazy red fur, the squeaky voice, or the Rachael Ray-esque perma giggle? I suppose I'll never know. Whatever it is, it's eerily effective -- Max went from Elmo ignoramus to the World's Biggest Elmo Fan in about 30 seconds.

These are Max's two new favorite "videos" to watch -- I've had the Goo Goo Dolls song stuck in my head for days -- I thought you might want to share my pain. :)

Elmo and Andrea Bocelli



Elmo and the Goo Goo Dolls



Of course, I've discovered that after all these years, I STILL like Sesame Street myself -- it never fails to make me laugh. You have to appreciate kids' shows that throw a little humor in there for the adults (since, after all, we end up watching the darn things too!).

Favorite Things

Even though Max and Molly each have their very own "paper" baby books, I have yet to actually write anything in them. So far, all of their milestones, stats, funny stories, etc. have been carefully recorded electronically (on this blog, on Max's original Care Pages site, and in my own personal baby "journal"), but I haven't written a single thing in the actual books. I keep meaning to do it, but never quite find the time -- I figure as long as I capture all the information and save all the momentos, I'll get around to it eventually (stop laughing). With that in mind, here are a few of Max and Molly's favorite things:

Max (30 months)

Favorite Song: "Hush Little Baby," although "All the Pretty Little Horses" is a close second
Favorite Toy: Aside from the phones and the computers (which he can't play with), Max loves balls of any size. When I take him shopping with me, I have to be careful not to park the cart too close to the produce section. If Max sees any roundish fruit, he'll grab it, yell "ball," and then throw it on the ground.
Favorite Food: Lately oatmeal ("oh!") and hot dogs ("ha dah") are big favorites
Favorite DVD: Although originally he was a Baby Einstein guy, Max went through a Blue's Clues phase while he was in his cast, and his new favorite is Sesame Street, especially Elmo ("eh oh").
Favorite Activity: Going for a walk, followed closely by going for a ride and taking a bath.
Favorite Animal(s): Dogs ("dawh") and bunnies ("munnies")
Favorite Place: Outside ("ahside"), especially the park and the walking trail behind our house.
Favorite Color: Orange ("eeeeyn")
Favorite Snack: "More cookies!" (not that he gets them often)
Favoite Word(s): More and No
Funny Thing: Recently, Max has taken to announcing he is finished with his meal by pushing his plate and his cup away from him and saying, "More cookies!" He always seems disappointed that he doesn't get cookies after eating his breakfast ...

Molly (10 months)

Favorite Song: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
Favorite Toy: Whatever Max has! When Max isn't around, she really likes to play with stacking and sorting toys.
Favorite Food: Cheerios and cheese
Favorite DVD: The first couple of seconds of the intro to the Baby Einstein DVDs -- when she sees the caterpillar inch across the screen she squeals, claps her hands, and bounces in place.
Favorite Activity: "Molly Hour" -- the one-on-one time she gets with Mama when Max is still napping. She's also big into bouncing -- she likes to stand up, hold on to things, and bounce up and down or bounce her bottom up in the air while she's crawling.
Favorite Animal(s): Dogs by default -- loves to crawl over and pester our dog.
Favorite Place: Wherever Mama is
Favorite Snack: Mama's milk
Favorite Word(s): "Dada" *sigh*, although at least "Mama" is now a distant second.
Funny Thing: When Molly gets really ticked off and starts to cry, she doesn't just yell, she complains loudly as she screams. It's funny - it sounds like she's really chewing us out.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads in our life.

Summer Days

Although it isn't technically summer until next week, the weather sure has been nice and summery lately! We've been taking advantage of the nice weather by going for lots of walks. When I get home from work, one of the first things Max says to me is, "Mama, walk!" He'll also run over to the patio door and beg to go "outside, outside!" So, weather permitting, I try to take the babies for an evening walk (or ride, since Molly either takes a spin in the stroller or rides in the Babyhawk sling). I've discovered that Molly likes to swing as much as Max -- I put them both in the baby swings at the park and Molly shrieks with glee. Max enjoys exploring on his walks -- he likes to pick up sticks and pebbles and has discovered the joy of scuffing his feet through crinkly dead leaves. We actually flushed a deer out of our little neighborhood woods the other day and Max was totally amazed (although he thought it was a really big "munny" (bunny)).

To mark the start of the big kids' summer vaction, we all walked to the neighborhood ice cream shop for some celebratory ice cream. It has to be at least a mile, round trip -- Max walked virtually the whole way there (until I sparked a tantrum by putting him in the stroller, because we were near a busy street) and helped me push Molly in the stroller all the way back. The kid has some stamina! Max really enjoyed his ice cream -- when asked if he wanted chocolate or vanilla, he promptly replied, "banilla" (although I don't think he really knows the difference). I had to help him with his ice cream and he kept asking me for "more banilla ... peese!" Molly looked mournfully at us as we ate our ice cream -- I think she was hoping for a taste! Since we had just started introducing a little dairy in her diet (yogurt and cheese), I didn't think she was quite ready for ice cream yet.

Molly is loving her finger foods -- Cheerio-like cereal is her new favorite thing to eat. I thought she might have trouble eating some crunchy food for the first time, but she gobbled it up like an old pro and yelled for more. We also discovered something that she definitely does NOT like -- I pureed some white beans for her the other week, thinking she'd really enjoy them (Max always loved beans). When Mama persisted in feeding her beans, in spite of the "yuck" faces Molly was making, Molly demonstrated her displeasure by forcefully spitting them back out. I thought it might have just been a fluke, but every time I tried giving her beans, Molly sprayed them all over. So, we'll just put that batch of baby food near the back of the freezer and try again later!

Molly is still cruising all over the place and even standing unsupported from time to time. She isn't interested in taking steps (she just does a forward free fall until you catch her), but she's definitely building up strength. We're in trouble when she really does learn to walk, because she can already get into everything. One of her favorite things to do when she's crawling is to bounce up and down -- she pushes with her toes until her legs are straight and her bottom is way up in the air (Molly as a triangle). She also likes to do the king cobra move she's been making since she before she could crawl -- she gets up on her hands and knees and waggles the front half of her body back and forth like she's getting ready to strike (with a big grin on her face the entire time). She's been a big mimic lately and likes to copy any movements or sounds you make. I must tell her "shhhhh" a lot (since she likes to squawk extra loud when her brother is sleeping), because she's started saying "shhhhh" back to me.

Dad put up our giant, inflatable pool this week. Although the thing is a terrible eyesore, the kids have so much fun in it. I took Max out for his first dip tonight and he thought it was the greatest thing ever. He didn't want to come out of the pool ("more bath, more bath!") and was laughing the whole time. He seems to have overcome his dislike of showers, because the after-swimming rinse off went smoothly (he didn't want to come out of there either). It's supposed to be very warm here tomorrow, so hopefully Molly can put on her bathing suit and make her swimming debut. Heck, since I'm not stuck on bedrest this summer, I'm looking forward to spending some time in the pool too!

Just a Boy

Max had his two year (and change) developmental clinic visit today (they go by adjusted age for the developmental follow ups). I'm very happy to say that Max has been officially discharged from the program! As per usual, the took all his vitals and his measurements. He weighed in at 30 1/2 pounds and was 35 inches tall (about 60% for weight and 35% for height), so he's still creeping up on the growth charts. They were happy with his development and he was doing everything he should be doing for his adjusted age and almost everything for his actual age (except using pronouns and another similar language skill). The developmental doctors decided it wasn't necessary to run him through the baby psych test again, since he had done so well on the previous one. As it stands now, his only lingering "issue" is some very mild tightness in his hips/legs/ankles, but the doctor said it shouldn't present a problem for him at all, especially as he gets older. Of course, he was being a total ham throughout the whole appointment and put on a good show for his doctors.

Max told his doctors goodbye and we walked right out of the clinic and out of the hospital. While we were there, we saw two of the doctors who had taken care of Max (and Molly) in the NICU. We also found out that this is their last month at the hospital and they're both shipping off to new jobs in different states. I don't know why, but I was sorry to hear that (even though if they weren't leaving we probably wouldn't have reason to see them again anyway). I feel like we're losing our "hospital" family. After all, I can't even fathom the idea of only visiting the (regular) doctor once a year for checkups!

It finally feels like we're closing that chapter of his life (as much as you ever can) -- it makes me happy, but a little sad at the same time. Now, according to some of the best doctors in the field, Max has moved beyond his preemie-ness. Now he's just a boy.

Screaming Mimi

Max is becoming pretty good at naming things, family members included. If you ask him who Molly is, sometimes he'll still reply, "It's a baby," but more often than not he'll call her by her name. His pronunciation is still very much that of a two year old, so "Molly" often comes out as "M'wee" or "Mimi." So, it appears that Max has given Molly her first official nickname (aside from all the silly things that Mom calls her) -- Mimi it is!

We're still struggling to improve Molly's sleep habits, especially since she's recently gone from waking up 1-2 times a night, to waking up 4-5 times a night (and not wanting to go back to sleep). I keep trying to blame her poor sleep habits on a variety of extenuating circumstances (teething, reflux, hunger, etc.), but I'm running out of excuses! Molly's newfound ability to pull herself up on things isn't helping matters any -- as soon as she wakes up at night, she pulls herself up in the crib and stands there clinging to the rail and hollering for her Mama. To illustrate what I wake up to several times a night, see the picture above (but imagine it's dark and your vision is all sleep blurred and the oh-so-cute baby is howling like a banshee). Since I have a really hard time letting babies cry it out for any length of time, we're working on a kindler, gentler baby boot camp, so we can get our Screaming Mimi to sleep through the night (and then promptly evict her from our room and send her off to pester Max).

The new rule is that Molly goes to bed at 6:30 p.m. after going through our normal dinner, bath, nursing, story, and song bedtime routine. If she wakes up before midnight (after leaving her to fuss a bit to make sure she really is up and isn't going back to sleep), she can nurse and go back to bed. But, between midnight and 5 a.m. I've instituted a complete moratorium on nursing. I can pick her up and hold her to calm her down or turn on her crib music, but snacking is not allowed. Once Molly is consistently sleeping between midnight and 5 a.m., we'll work on cutting out any other early evening feeds. I did something similar with Max and it worked well, so I thought it might do the trick for Molly.

Molly must not have gotten the memo, because the first night of Baby Boot Camp didn't go smoothly. Molly woke up at 9 p.m. to eat. She woke up again at 11:30 to eat. When she woke up at 2:30 a.m. and Mama didn't immediately offer comforting milk snacks, Molly let everyone know that she was NOT HAPPY. For an hour and a half Mama tried various soothing techniques (short of nursing). I cradled her like a little baby, I held her on my shoulder, I sat her on my lap. I patted her bottom and stroked her belly and rubbed her back. I put her in her crib and turned on her music. I picked her back up and repeated the whole process multiple times. Finally, at around 4 a.m. she was tired enough to pop her fingers in her mouth and fall asleep in her crib. At 6 a.m. she got up and nursed and I had Dad pour me some coffee.

On the second night I put Molly to bed at the normal time and gritted my teeth and steeled my nerves for another early morning battle. Around 10 p.m. Molly fussed a little, but went back to sleep on her own. When Dad and I went to bed just before midnight, Molly woke up and nursed. After I put Molly back to bed, I zonked right out, only to be awakened by my insistent little banshee, who was standing up in her bed, shaking the bars, and proclaiming her hunger. I groaned and rolled over to look at the clock and was delighted to discover that it was almost 5 a.m.! Molly ate and went back to sleep for an hour before getting up for the day. Since that was by far the best she's slept for a few weeks, I'm hoping that my plan might be working.

In other Molly news, my little girl is ten months old today! I can't believe that she'll celebrate her first birthday in two months. In the last few days, she's progressed from merely pulling herself up on things to creeping along the furniture. At the rate she's going, I'm guessing she'll be walking by her first birthday! Where did my little baby go???