Milestone Minutiae

We have a parody of Chicken Little called Chicken Lickin'. It's a cute book with big flaps to lift, and the gang gets away from Foxy Loxy in the end. It's been read over and over. We also have the original Chicken Little story, of course. Luke brought it to me last night to read. You should have seen the look on his face when "Foxy Loxy walked with Turkey Lurkey. Foxy Loxy ate Turkey Lurkey." Wide eyes, mouth open, complete shock. You might think that he would have seen Chicken Little's demise coming after all of the others, but he still looked surprised when the cute little chick bought the farm.

Luke has heard the joke, "Why is 10 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate 9!" There's a song about it on one of our kids' songs CDs that we've been listening to. Today in the car, Luke told me a joke. He asked, "Why was the giraffe afraid of the elephant?" The answer? "Because elephant kangaroo giraffe!" Well, he's got the structure down!

Henry learned the sign for "cookie" in record time. I found that tossing him a couple of animal-cracker type cookies is an effective way to buy a little time while I finish doing something, so I started showing him the sign for "cookie." Typically, he'd be starting to fuss and I would say and sign "cookie." He'd immediately stop fussing and look wide-eyed towards the kitchen counter where we keep the cookies. Sometimes this would happen near the end of a meal, so he'd lean forward and crane his neck to see around his high chair into the kitchen (cute!). Less than two weeks after starting this, we were back in our bedroom and he was starting to fuss. It was close to lunch time, so I asked if he wanted a drink or if he wanted a cookie (including the sign). He ignored me while I was talking about a drink, but the moment the word "cookie" passed through my lips he sat up, looked at me, and signed, "cookie."

Today the internet was out and I was trying to get it working for Luke, so I said, "Cross your fingers!" Puzzled, he stuck out both index fingers and made an "x."

Henry has been getting frustrated lately. It's like he's finally realized that there are things he wants to do, and if he can't he'll yell and thrash about. During a fit he doesn't want to be held, but he doesn't want to be put down, either. I try to hold on to him to keep him from hitting his head on things, because he has no clue that thrashing could lead to hitting his head on the chair, or floor, or whatever else is near. Henry's new realizations about the world have made music class a little challenging - we often get out shaker-eggs, balls, or other instruments, but just for one song and then we put them away again. So class today featured two tantrums as toys were put away. I was feeling pretty secure as he squirmed around on his belly yelling (the big trouble is if he's sitting up and flops backwards, thumping his head). But then he pulled his head back and threw it forward, bashing his face on the floor. And that is the story of Henry'

The second ice skating lesson went great for Luke. He looked at his teacher! Maybe next week he'll talk, or take her hand? More importantly, though, he figured out how to push his walker around on the ice, and got very comfortable getting up after falling. He scooted all over the rink, and each time he fell he'd throw his head back and yell, "I'm okay!" and pick himself up. Emmett took his second skiing lesson last weekend, and hit two milestones - they took of his tip-clamps, and he went down his very first blue run! He's not doing parallel turns yet, but he is skiing back and forth across slopes (rather than just going straight down in a big snowplow, which is what kids tend to do at first), David skied his first black diamond, too, so it was a milestone-packed weekend.

Henry started standing up without holding on to anything today. It seems like he's having fun doing it, because now he's doing the "stand up then plop down on his butt" game, but without holding on to things. Walk, baby, walk!

I know, he'll be 11 months in just a couple of weeks, but I found these numbers in a pile of papers and wanted to post them so they'll be here later when I'm looking for them. A little out of place, but here. Height: 28 3/4 inches Weight: 19 pounds, 10 ounces Head circumference: 47 cm He's one inch and two pounds smaller than Emmett at this age, and his head circumference is just a half-centimeter behind. Strangely, I cannot find Luke's 9 month info (though to be fair I haven't looked that hard). So he's not quite the bruiser that Emmett was, but a decent sized kid nonetheless.

Henry has such strong legs and has been standing for so long that we thought he'd easily break Luke's record of walking at 11 months. He still has a few weeks so he might make it, but he's not walking yet. He does love standing up, and he pulls up on things that are pretty wobbly at times (like grabbing my pants instead of my legs). He also enjoys standing up on unstable surfaces, like mattresses and the couch. On the mattress, Henry makes a game of standing up, letting go with his hands, holding still for a few seconds, and then plopping down on his bottom. He'll do it over and over, having a great time. Walk, Henry, walk!

(subtitle: Emmett is naturally cautious with his body so learning new physical skills can be a challenge. Luke is wary of people until he knows them pretty well. ) Last week David took Emmett to Brighton for his first ski lesson. Emmett had a great time, telling me exactly how many times he went up the lift (5 times with his class, 3 times with dad). His instructor said he has very good speed control , which is the nice way of saying he's so careful that he never goes fast. I'm sure speed will come with confidence, so we're on the right track. This week we started ice skating lessons at the Olympic Oval . We had gone skating once before, and it took us more than an hour to go around the oval one time . With all three boys, there's no way I can take them skating until Emmett and Luke are able to skate independently so we decided to get lessons. Emmett did great today - he's not exactly gliding on ice, but he's not afraid anymore and he's willing to sh

From playing video games, Luke knows all about earning extra lives. Recently he asked me, "How many lives do we get?" I was confused, but after talking with him a bit it was clear that he was talking about real life . I told him we each get one, and that right now he's little and he's going to live a long long time. The next day he mentioned it again, so this is clearly something that's on his mind not just flashing through. In other "worrying" news, Luke has been noticing fire extinguishers all over the place when we're out and about. And he's also interested in the fire hydrant that is between our house and the neighbor's. He doesn't seem as worried, though. He mostly seems pleased that he's figured out that fire extinguishers are all around.