It has been quite a while since I have had a chance to update the blog, but we are finally back from our summer vacations and settled into our normal routine. I have been trying to catch up on everything that we have been up to over the last 6 weeks, but instead of waiting to post until I am caught up, I decided to jump right to the present.
Look for catch-up posts in the future about our vacations in Europe and Boston, an update on Graham’s leg, birthday celebration fun, Graham’s first visit to Master’s Swimming, and lots of fun 'cute antics' and 'noteworthy tidbits'.
The big news from the past few days is that we have officially taken away Graham’s pacifiers (lovingly referred to by him as his pa-tatas). We tried taking his pacifiers away a little while ago and it went so well, we decided to give them back because we were convinced it would be really easy for him to give them up when we felt it was time. Since our initial experiment, we noticed Graham growing a much stronger attachment to the pacifiers. Every nap, night time, or ride in the car or stroller, the first thing he would do would be to request his pa-tatas (with growing urgency if they were not given to him immediately). I keep referring to the pacifiers in the plural sense because he always have one pacifier in his mouth and one in each hand.
Even though Graham was seeming to become more dependent on the pacifiers, I wasn’t worried. I liked that the pacifiers offered him comfort (he doesn’t use blankets or stuffed animals in his crib, so holding on to his pa-tatas is his only comfort) and I felt like the pacifiers helped him sleep longer and exercise more patience during long rides in the car or stroller.
A few days ago, our happy co-existence with the pacifiers changed when Graham started purposely dropping one pacifier after another out of his crib until they were all out of reach, then he would stand up crying for his pacifiers until we went in to his room and gave them back to him. Not what Mommy and Daddy wanted to be doing when Graham was supposed to be sleeping.
Last night when Graham dropped his pacifiers out of his crib for the third time, a sad and resigned Mommy went in and told Graham it was time to say “bye bye” to the pa-tatas. Graham dutifully said his goodbyes and just like that, every pacifier in the house, car, and stroller was packed away:
Things appeared to be going fairly well until I noticed that every time Graham tossed in his sleep, he let out a whimper (not loud enough to wake him up but loud enough to wake Mommy up, all night long). When Graham started to stir in the morning, he didn’t have the pacifier to sooth him back to sleep, so our normally 8-8:30 raiser was wide awake at 6am.
A very tired Mommy and Daddy are thankful for the three-day-weekend and committed to permanently saying “goodbye” to the pa-tatas. Wish us luck! Hopefully it will only take our little champ a few more days to forget that they ever existed.
Bye Bye Pa-Tatas. Thank you for many, many, wonderful months of service!
And a few recent Cute Antics and Noteworthy Tidbits:
- Graham is continuing his piano lessons with Daddy and can now climb up on the piano bench, open the lid to expose the keys, and ‘play’ as he sings his ABC’s or Do-Re-Mi (19 months, 21 days old):
- Graham still rarely eats vegetables (only those mashed up in a squeezie) so I had to take a picture when he was loving a meal of pasta, corn, and peas (20 months, 9 days old):
- Although he doesn’t like to eat vegetables, he sure likes to watch Mommy preparing them. When the stove is too hot (which Graham will loudly announce over and over), he gets banished from the kitchen. Look how cute he is with his little face peeking through the door (20 months, 5 days old):
- Graham has solidly introduced his first adjective into his vocabulary. Now everything is BIG. Big truck, big plane, big noise, etc.
- In addition to his ‘antics’ with his pacifiers, Graham has started playing other mischievous tricks on Mommy and Daddy. He will open a drawer, quickly swipe his hand along the inside of the drawer, stick his hand in his mouth, and then look at me while chewing. Then he laughs and laughs when I freak out and run to see what he put in his mouth, just to find that it was all an act and there was nothing in the drawer to begin with.
- The love laps are back! One of the things we missed most while Graham was injured were his love laps before bed (running up and down the hall with pauses for big hugs). I got a video of some love laps (although Graham is somewhat distracted by the lights and door). He is getting a hug every time the camera loses focus. I love his little noises while giving the hug and we are just so thrilled to finally be hearing the pitter patter of little feet again (20 months, 10 days old):
- Graham has been obsessed with his shoes lately. He runs to get a pair of shoes from his closet so I know he wants to play outside and he is so, so proud when he can help clean up by putting his shoes away. He was very pleased with himself when he found an old pair of slippers to prance around in (20 months, 10 days old):
- We may be getting close to the end of the bottle. Graham still drinks his milk out of a bottle, but when he starts to fill up, he loves to squeeze the nipple and squirt milk all over his face, clothing, and highchair. Hum, once we get through pacifier withdrawals, we may need to tackle the bottle next.
- On a recent trip to Costco, Graham and I spotted a Minnie Mouse that we knew his friend Penelope would love. After a quick exchange with Penelope’s mama (Laurie), I had the go ahead and take the Minnie home with us and Graham and I had a ball, taking pictures to show Laurie the progress as Minnie Mouse made her way from Costco to her new home with Penelope (20 months, 10 days old):
- Graham learned how to play a ukulele at his Yellow Bird music class this summer. Now, every time he sees someone playing a guitar he calls out “lele” and he requests his lele every time he gets in the car. While Mommy drives around, Graham strums his ukulele.
- Graham has never been terribly fond of wearing hats (although he tolerates them now) but he absolutely loves to wear Mommy’s hat. He will search through the diaper bag until he finds it and then run around the house with the hat on. It is so cute, but I’m forced to take it away when he starts running into things because the brim falls down and covers his eyes. I got a video (no sound) and picture of his last play session with the hat (20 months, 4 days old):
Looking forward to catching up and sharing many more fun adventures from the past 6 weeks of our little guy's life.
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