Snowman Pj's

I think it's safe to say that Gavin's favorite pajamas are his snowman pj's.  If he sees anyone else wearing them, he wants to and he'll ask for them quite often even if no one else is wearing them.  Last night he asked for them when he saw me wearing mine, but I told him they were dirty.  So, he did something new: he asked to wear Daddy's pajamas!  Philip was at work still, but didn't think he'd mind, so I went and got him Philip's pj top.  I had to roll the sleeves up, but it worked as a nightshirt!  He even asked for the bottoms, but I knew there was no way that would have worked!  I remember a couple of times wearing my dad's t-shirt for a nightgown when I was a kid.  I thought it was really cool, so I thought Gavin would probably enjoy it, too,and went along with the idea.

Shoes!

Colin is learning a lot even though he may not always let on.  Just before these pictures he'd been holding his shoe to his foot.  I think he probably wanted to put it on, but he can't yet (not to mention the fact that he is already wearing shoes).  He'll do the same thing with socks or he'll hold up his feet to help me put them on. 

Cheese!

Singing!

Gavin was singing about trains while looking at a train book to the tune of If you're happy and you know it.  I thought it was too cute!!!  Gavin didn't realize I was filming him, so this was how he really sang it.  I chose this clip because Colin was trying to get in on it and he even belted out a couple of notes... I thought that was adorable, too! Notice how Gavin takes it in stride now when Colin tries to take his book...

Finger Painting

I think that Colin likes to ooie gooiness of the paint on his hands, but I think he has no idea what I want him to do when I try to get him to paint.  He seems okay with me trying to get his hand prints now, though.  He will even open his hand for me so we can make one.  He doesn't get it when I  try to get him to color with crayons, either.  I have big fat weeble looking crayons that are supposed to be for little hands, but he seems not the least bit interested in making scribbles on the page.  Scribbling is one of the things that the physical therapist wanted me to introduce him to.

Sometimes I wonder why I buy toys.  They seem to be satisfied with old fashioned and or inexpensive toys (or even things that aren't "toys").  Colin likes this music box and can do it himself (even though he tends to try to turn the crank the wrong way).

Despite my efforts to get a video right after I took the picture, I didn't get one until a few hours later.

Yum!

I bought some suction cup dishes to keep Colin from throwing his dishes: he tends to throw his food on the floor when he is finished.  I will keep working with him with the sign for all done...

Misery loves company?

Gavin doesn't really like me brushing or combing his hair, but he wanted to do it to his brother!  Colin looks happy in this picture...

But he doesn't like it for long.

Feeding the ducks!

I took Gavin and Colin to feed the ducks the other morning.

Colin liked going down the slide with my help.  I was having him practice the sign, "more" to ask for it again.

Gavin wanted to get in on the action and go down next to Colin.

Balloon Fun!

The grocery stores love to give our kids balloons!

I have a video of Gavin playing with a balloon just like this, so I had to make a quick one of Colin!

Scissor Practice

Gavin has been practicing cutting with scissors using a workbook.  This particular page is a bullet train! He cut it apart and then I taped it for him to form a long train.  One of the things that I have Gavin do while I make dinner is scissor work or another workbook. 

It's chore time!

I have been eyeing chore charts for a while that I have seen at the store and I finally decided to do it!  This is a dry erase one with magnets that they put when the chore is done.  Right now we will obviously only be using it with Gavin, but there is also the option to choose a color of star for each child and writing the name of the child in the square for the chore that is theirs.  For now Gavin puts a star for each chore he has done and I drew pictures since he doesn't read yet.  I like the chart so far for one kid, but I'm not sure how I will like it for more than one, although I will probably have different chores for each child at that point, instead of writing out the very basic things like I did.  Although I could split the chores in half and have Gavin's on top and Colin's on bottom, but I guess we will see what happens.  So far on the chart there is (in case you don't understand my crude drawings) putting clothes in laundry, putting dirty dishes in sink, brushing teeth, and putting toys away (represented by his favorite toy: the train).  So far so good on the chores.  I can now tell him he won't get a star if he doesn't do what I ask and it seems to help a little.

Colin's 15 month check up & feeding himself

At 15 months, Colin is 21 pounds, 13 ounces and 30 1/2 inches long.  I forgot to ask the percentiles, but the doctor said that he went down on the weight and was questioning me to try to figure out the reason for it.  We thought that it was probably because he is moving around more now and possibly because he's gotten slightly pickier.  I can't get him to eat macaroni and cheese (one of my quick and easy options I don't want to lose!) or things that are in pieces are sometimes also a probably (like sometimes he doesn't seem to want beans and will spit them out or string cheese when I cut it into regular pieces--I finally got him to eat the string cheese by giving him half a stick split in half!)  He now can army crawl, but a lot of times will pick rolling over that option since it's still easier to do that for him, although just yesterday he spontaneously army crawled several times without me trying to get him to do!!! He loves to play catch with the ball--we love the Gertie ball he got for Christmas!  It claims to be the most catchable ball in the world--it has and interesting texture that's easier to catch and you can easily make it squishier for the little guys.  He can even grip it in one hand and throw it!  He also will play with the bumpy balls from grandma, too! He is progressing in all areas and seems to be a smart boy, too!  We'll keep him!  ;-)

Colin's physical therapist has been asking me questions along the way where Colin is concerned as well as telling me things to do with Colin that will be help him right now or that he will be tested on when his case is reviewed again.  She will be the one doing the testing, so he will get the highest score possible this next time since he knows the tester and she is familiar with a lot of what he can do.  She asked me if he was feeding himself with a spoon and I said no.  She wasn't surprised, but said that they are supposed to start spoon feeding themselves at 12 months (he is 15).  She said that most parents don't like to do it because it is so messy (so true!) I think I waited until Gavin was 18 months or so before I tried Gavin with his own spoon.  But, since that is one of the things he's going to need to know how to do I sucked it up and did it that afternoon with applesauce! He didn't seem to get it on the first try...

Day 1

He knows where the spoon goes, though! I used my favorite spoon to feed him with, which I think was my mistake.

He decided he liked "finger feeding himself" better!

I switched him to a fat handled spoon on the second day and he got the concept perfectly!  It's not to say that he is eating every time perfectly (because he's not) but I was amazed at how well he did with so little practice.  The physical therapist was right, he was SO ready to spoon feed himself!!!

Day 2

   

Check out the video!  He did a terrific job the second time around, given the right spoon for him!

I don't think that the videos show up via facebook.  If you'd like to see the three videos I posted, check out my blog: http://mydaddytalksfunny.blogspot.com/ My posts are uploaded automatically to facebook.

Daddy and Gavin at the Zoo

Dad got to take the day off so while mommy and Colin had some 

time together we took a quick trip to the Santa Ana Zoo.  

The zoo isn't very large but does have a nice little train that kept Gavin happy. 

We couldn't stay too long but we did walk around and check out the monkeys. 

There was a little boy riding the train with us the second time around that reminded me of the little boy with glasses on The Polar Express.  They would have got along famously with a bunch of trains.

Preschool in January

 

Lots of winter-related projects and they are randomly doing the alphabet. 

Gavin brought this home and wanted to eat it right away, in fact he ate one or two off before I could take the picture!

My Little Readers!

Gavin is reading Shark vs. Train.  It's one of his favorites.

 

One of the things Colin likes to do is look through the books.  He especially likes this book with the flaps. 

Colin!

Thought this was totally cute! He would let me put them on him briefly...the only reason it's staying in the correct spot on his face is that the goggles were resting on his pacifier!

Let Sleeping Babies...sit?

Colin has been refusing to take a morning nap, (so I have given up on giving him one) but in actuality he could really use one.  He has fallen asleep sitting up a couple times!  This first time he hadn't even finished eating his lunch! (It was on a Sunday afternoon and we don't get out of church until 1:00, so I guess it's understandable.)

Love the nodding head!

Colin's Physical Therapy

Colin has now been doing physical therapy (PT) for about three weeks now.  These pictures and videos are from earlier in his PT. 

The first thing we worked on with Colin was getting him to take weight on his knees. When we tried to put him on his hands and knees before he would just collapse.  The way she got him to do it was to use toys to motivate.  She showed me how to do it on my own with him.  Here he is the next day after he started therapy.

The physical therapist also told me that I should try to make sure that doesn't sit with a wide base or to have him sit with one leg bent.  He did this on his own, so I was excited!

He started doing almost an army crawl to get to something he really wanted.   The item has to be pretty much straight out in front of him, though.  If it is to the side of him he will roll to it!

 

This video Philip made of Colin.  Just thought it was cute.

Since these pictures, Colin has learned how to get out of his comfort zones better during his PT.  He can also crawl on his hands and knees with assistance now.  He is making progress little by little!