Catching Up

It’s been way too long since I’ve written anything. I was considering stopping the blog but I decided that when I was trying to fill out Luke’s baby book that I found myself using this blog to look up events that happened and I think I’ll continue (even if they are more random postings) just for my own record of how Luke’s growing. And because I think Grandpa Rakshys likes reading it sometimes too. :)

My last post was about switching nannies and as many people may already know, well, that didn’t go so well. We started with our new nanny, L. The first day we were so happy and she seemed so full of energy and the boys loved her and we both thought this was a great switch. Then… we were less than happy. I won’t give too many details but it just wasn’t a good fit and she is probably better suited for older kids who don’t get into as much – or have as many specific needs right now. For example (ok, I have to give a few examples) the first week she was watching him he got a huge, I mean HUGE goose egg bump on his forehead. Now, I know boys fall and I’m not upset about the accident. (well, ok, maybe a little) but she never called us to tell us it happened and this HUGE goose egg is still apparent almost three months after the incident. Three weeks after the incident (on his first birthday party) he still had a huge red raised bump which had then drained and given him two black eyes. Awesome. My poor baby. And I won’t even begin to describe the stares I received from strangers who probably think I beat my baby. Ok, so that’s strike one. Then the next week we had told her we have not introduced Luke to peanuts yet (that includes peanut butter in case you’re wondering) and one morning, the other mom even reminded L that we have not given Luke peanut butter yet. Yes, he was a year old but Pete is sensitive to peanut butter so we wanted to wait until we were prepared in case something happened. Well, I picked up Luke and L told me he loves peanut butter. I told her we hadn’t given it to him yet and she nodded and said he liked it. (obviously a communication breakdown here because she didn’t see anything wrong with this) I think I must have looked at her rather quizzically because she then told me she knew what to do if he was allergic. And I thought…oh, really? You know what to do if a one year old experiences anaphylaxis? If he has swelling of the mouth or throat, hives, vomiting, loss of consciousness….? And you’re going to somehow manage to take two one year olds to the emergency room? So, I told her I wasn’t happy she did it, but it was done. So that was strike two. Then the rest was just a multitude of various small issues and if one of these things happened in isolation, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But when you combine everything together all four parents were feeling quite anxious having L as our caregiver. There was no doubt that she cared for the boys but we had issues with what she was feeding them (totally separate from the peanut thing), how often she was feeding them, their safety and general care as well as the fact that things seemed more chaotic when she was around – which was the opposite result of what we were looking for in a caregiver. It was a difficult decision but we had to let her go. We had started the new nanny search while she was still working for us and that was also stressful but we all got through it. Our new nanny is working out great and we are very happy with her!

Finding the right care for Luke was hanging over our heads for awhile and I didn’t feel comfortable writing about it on the blog but now that it’s in the past and the new nanny has been with us for several weeks, I feel ok writing about it.

In the last few months Luke has been growing and changing like crazy!

He got his first teeth…and then four more and it seems like they all came in at once. He was pretty cranky and I don’t blame him. So he has 6 teeth now and we think some of his back molars are coming in. At least that’s what I’m blaming the excessive drooling and super crankiness the past week (plus he’s had a little cold too).

He’s been toddling around and walking around furniture and using his little Lion walker toy and his Bumper Car toy (which he uses to walk instead of ride) and basically turn any toy into a walker toy. Then I got the best Mother’s Day gift ever and he took his first unassisted steps to me. Seriously, is that kid good or what??? He’s born on my birthday and takes his first steps on Mother’s Day. My guess is he will say “Love you Mama” on June 23 (our anniversary). Ha ha. So now he’s Super Walker. Or Walker, Baby Ranger.

He still loves to spin things but he’s also a big fan of bubbles and playing ball. He’s got a great arm (but he’s not great at catching yet…I’ll give him some time). Some of his favorite toys right now are still the rotary dial pull toy phone and his baby cell phone and his baby camera. Also his bead maze (those wooden based toys with the swirly metal and the wooden beads of different sizes) and baby basketball and he loves to beat up the penguin. The shape sorter toy seems to never ever get old with him. He gets frustrated when he can’t get the yellow lid on just right and he’ll bang it a few times, get frustrated and throw it. He now has a little scratch on his face from one of these incidents. He does pretty good getting the circle, triangle and square in the holes but that cross and star really throw him and his solution to this is to calmly open the lid, put the shape inside and close the lid quickly. He also likes to collect as many toys as possible and just put them in the bucket. I’d like to try to get him to start picking up his toys but I don’t know how successful that will be.

Bob is still his favorite stuffed animal (other than the lullaby ones he goes to sleep with) and he loves his doggy toy too. One of my favorite pictures of Luke with Bob the monkey is when we visited Arizona and we have Luke with Uncle Bob and Bob the monkey.

Luke is getting curiouser and curiouser. We put cabinet locks up months ago but he still tries to open them. He wants to play with the stove knobs and the oven timer. The toilet looks fascinating to him. He would empty out an entire box of Kleenex if I let him. The dog’s water and food are the most interesting thing ever. (I hope poor Samson doesn’t get dehydrated as we try to remember to put his water back when Luke’s not around.)

He’s been a great eater but lately he’s been fussy. I’m going to try to blame it on his cold and teething. Lunch is always his best meal but dinner time has been so difficult. He used to eat his whole dinner in like 15-20 minutes. He’d eat a protein, some vegetable, some grain and fruit. It was great. Now it takes about 20 minutes for him to stop crying over whatever it is I’m trying to feed him (even if he’s eaten it before and loved it). We’ll get through it. He’s definitely testing his limits and will throw food on the floor after we tell him No. He’ll look at us and do it again. And when I try to take the food out of his hand as he’s dangling it over the edge of the tray he screams like I’ve just ripped off his toe. He’s been hitting Pete lately. We tell him No and he cries. Then he looks at each of us and then does it again. And he just started hitting me this week.

I don’t want to end this post on a negative note and I don’t want him hitting me to be the last thing I write!

He’s gotten more snuggly lately with both Pete and I. I love when he snuggles – maybe more than ever because he looks like a little boy now and not just a baby. Pete and I comment on how he looks like a baby when he wears footie fleece pajamas but he’s a little boy when he has on the two piece pajamas. I’m going to keep putting overalls on him too because a) they’re cute and b) he looks like he’s still my baby.

He’s still a great sleeper and we are lucky that 90% of the time he wakes up babbling to himself – not crying. And he knows when it’s the weekend and usually sleeps in until 7:00!