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Showing posts from August, 2007

Video!

Emmett made a contraption yesterday, just after Blogger added video. Serendipity, I suppose. The video is clipped quite short, it seemed like I could get short videos to upload but not longer ones. So it starts and ends abruptly, but I think you can still make out what's going on. The only thing you really miss is the "E" on the flag. I invented the last two links in the contraption to get things started (the flag and the weight that falls to release the flag). Once Emmett saw those, he got into the swing of things and added the first two links - the apple juice can and the pendulum to start the whole thing. He's currently mulling over ideas about how to trigger the first pendulum.

Mama!

Luke's been chasing me around the house today yelling "mamama! ma! mama!" and pointing. :) So I think we'll add that to his word list, which has contained only "dada" so far.

High-Stakes Walking

Emmett has a decent sized pool in the backyard, so of course Luke is interested in being in it too. The water comes up to his knees, so crawling gets his belly wet with lots of splashing for his face, too. He only tried crawling once, the first time he went in. It made him mad, but then he sat up and saw Emmett playing and was ok . Emmett gave him some toys (Emmett is so great with him, most of the time!), and they played happily until Luke looked cold enough that I pulled him out. This morning, Luke wanted in the pool again. He stood up and touched the water with his hands., but each time he lowered his bottom into the water he'd scream and stand back up. Then he'd take a couple of steps to go get a toy, and it was high-stakes walking practice! Sometimes he' d make it, but sometimes he'd fall on his bottom and scream about the cold water while getting back up ASAP. I wonder if he'll want to go in the pool tomorrow.

Luke's current stats

Saw the doctor today, here's where Luke is: Weight: 20 pounds, 8 ounces Length: 28 1/4 inches Head circumference: 48 cm That's between the 15 th & 25 th percentiles for weight and length, but 90-95 th percentile for head circumference. At birth, his weight and length were in the 50 th percentile but his head was just a hair above the 25 th percentile. I guess he's been putting all his energy into growing his head! He's basically caught up with Emmett on head size (Emmett was 48.5 cm at 12 months). Of course, at that point Emmett weighed over 23 pounds and was 31 1/2 inches long.

Hugs!

When Luke wakes up in the morning or after a nap, he usually crawls around the bed. He mostly doesn't fall off, but I do try to keep him near me or I'll grab a foot. To try to get him to come closer to me, a couple days ago I said "Hugs!" and threw my arms out wide. He crawled to me and put his head on my chest, so I hugged him. Another time, he was near an edge and David was nearby, so I said "Hug dad!" He crawled over to David and gave him a hug.

11 months old today!

Where does the time go? Luke will walk 5-6 steps at a time now, or all the way across the house if he's holding your hand. He is still faster at crawling, and crawls much more than he walks. In fact, it seems that he crawls when he wants to get somewhere, and walks mostly for fun.

Chase!

Emmett and Luke have started playing chase while I make dinner. Emmett runs around the wall between the kitchen and living room and Luke crawls along as fast as he can, getting lapped all the time. The two of them laugh and squeal - it's really fun. In other news, Emmett has started picking Luke up! Emmett can't hold him for long, and he can only pick him up if he's standing. But it's cute to watch Emmett grab Luke under the arms and try to carry him around. (So far Luke hasn't been dropped.)

All Done!

I've said before that Luke uses the sign for "all done" a lot. He uses it as a generic "no" or "stop." Yesterday he did it twice to Emmett, when Emmett was bugging him.

Crossing the street

There are kids both next door and right across the street. Yesterday, we went out front so Emmett could ride his scooter with them. We've been working on crossing the street safely, and the distribution of kids out front led to lots of crossings. I sat in front of one neighbor's house, and Emmett did a good job of looking both ways and only making me a little nervous. (Not because he was doing anything unsafe, just because he was crossing the street by himself sometimes.)

Walking update

Luke is willing to take steps on his own, but he's still far faster crawling. So sometimes when I'm holding his hand to help him walk, he'll let go, take a couple steps, and drop to the ground to get where he's going. I've seen him take a few steps, stop, and then take another before sitting down. I've also seen him stand up without pulling on anything. Sometimes when we "practice" he'll just dive towards me, but I don't think it will be long before he's walking for real.

Baby don't do that!

Luke likes to climb on anything and everything. This has included, in the past 24 hours alone, climbing on me in order to reach Emmett's bed and to get up on the train table. And climbing up to standing on a kid-sized rocking chair, holding the back and rocking. And climbing up the front of a stroller to stand in it. And climbing up on Emmett's stool in the bathroom only to be disappointed that he can't reach the sink. And climbing up onto the hearth to crawl back and forth until he flopped off of it onto his back (which didn't seem to bother him at all). David pointed out that it's only a matter of months before he's climbing the ladder on the bunk bed. I thought about taking the ladder down, but I'm sure he'd just climb up the end of the bed instead.

First Steps!

David managed to coax a couple of independent steps out of Luke yesterday. Luckily, he did it twice so I could see it, too. To be fair, we did the same thing with Emmett a couple months before he started spontaneously walking, so who knows when Luke will strike out on his own.

Headbutt!

Luke thinks its fun to slam his forehead into me. He used to just hit my chest, but now he's branched out to include my face, jaw, and forehead. It hurts! And right now, he has three little red circles on his forehead from where he banged into mine. He also thinks its fun to poke my eyes, laughing while I scrunch them closed.

Signing with Meaning!

As of our trip to California, Luke owns "all done." He makes the sign assertively, with his arm straight out and held high, swinging it smoothly from side to side. He sometimes uses it as a generic "no," signing "all done" before having even one bite of a food he's not interested in. At home, he stood in front of the fridge and signed "help," clearly wanting me to open the door. I don't generally let him play in the fridge but it was the first time he'd used the sign correctly, so I had to let him play just a little! Later in his high chair, he signed "down" when he wanted to come down! Looks like it's time to refresh my signing!

Fruit Fiend

Emmett likes to eat the single-serving tubs of peaches and other fruits by first slurping down the juice. After drinking the juice at Grandma's, he continued on eating the fruit right out of the cup without a spoon. Grandma kindly went to get him a spoon, and when she got back with it, Emmett said, "I'm still going to eat this with my face!"

Stair Pro?

Luke is great at going up stairs, and has begun the process of figuring out how to safely go down. He goes down backwards most of the time, but has an unnerving habit of sitting sideways (on his bottom) with both feet facing to one side of the stairs. He's also willing to throw his legs off the bed now and try to get down. He seems to do this only when I'm around to slow the fall off the bed (and prevent him from getting down right on top of Jake). We've got a really tall bed, so this won't be a good technique until he's really good at it.

Just Give It To Me!

There was an auction at the Haussmann family reunion. We put a toy in the auction that Emmett has been wanting for a while so he could bid on it. It was really cute hearing him outbid others, and sometimes himself during the auction. He was on Kerri's lap, and she whispered a suggestion in his ear. Then he shouted "Just give it to me!" So Karen ended the auction, and the beloved toy was his.

More Crawling

Luke likes to carry things with him when he crawls. Sometimes he'll hold an item and crawl more-or-less normally, picking it up each time he moves his hand. But sometimes, he'll slide it along the ground - this allows him to pick up even more speed!

Speed Crawling

Luke doesn't walk yet, but he's fast on all fours. When he really gets going, he lifts his arms high with his hands splayed out, and you can hear the "slap slap" when his hands hit the ground.