Fun with Family, More Milestones - September 10 - September 23, 2011

We've been REALLY busy around here (thus the reason this is a two-week update, rather than a one-week update!) lately with lots of family visiting and with getting used to having Baby Sister Grace around!  I'm proud to report I've been VERY VERY good with Baby Sister Grace and am learning that she's not all bad.  In fact, every time she cries, I crawl over to her bassinet and try to look into see her.  And then, I sign "baby" to let Mom or Dad know that she's crying.  For whatever reason, they don't seem to be as alarmed as I am!

I mentioned that we've had a lot of visitors and boy, have we!  My Uncle Kevin was here until the 11th and then we've had my Uncle Allan come visit, then my BROTHER, Brian came at the same time Mommy's aunt and uncle (my GREAT-Aunt Jean and GREAT-Uncle Alan) came to visit!  It's been LOADS of fun playing with all these people.  They also like to hold Gracie, but I get to play a LOT with them!

Uncle Kevin - Diaper Fairy!

Baby Sister Grace - relaxing in her bassinet

Uncle Allan meets Gracie for the first time.

Brian and Gracie

The big news for me this week is a MAJOR milestone.  I am WALKING behind a walker!  It's taken a long time and I've been working very hard at this.  While I'm pretty comfy walking with people holding my hands, I have really not been that comfortable walking by myself behind a walking toy...they move pretty fast, you know!  I have FINALLY decided that maybe these toys aren't so bad afterall!  You see, I really like walking.  But I'd rather RUN, and walking toys let me go FAST!!!  I first did it at school behind a shopping cart, and now at home, I'm all over the place with Nester, my dinosaur!  In addition to walking behind my toys, I'm getting brave and have taken one step by myself from the couch to the coffee table!  My Great-Aunt Jean and Great-Uncle Alan got to see that and were VERY impressed.

My shopping cart at school

LOOK AT ME!  I'm SOOOO proud!

I love to walk!

In addition to my fancy new walking techniques, I have been going gangbusters in trying to learn new signs.  I have four signs I that I do pretty consistently:  "more" "eat" "all-done" and "baby".  I also have done a two-word sentence:  "more eat" (can you tell I love food?).  We started speech therapy with Miss Erin this past week and she said I'm doing pretty good!  She will help me with more signs and more sounds so that eventually I'll be able to turn my incessant talking into something Mommy and Daddy can actually understand!

I've had lots and lots of fun playing in the last couple of weeks.  I got a new toy - a rocking horse, and I LOOOVE it.  Plus, I've gotten to play in my pool (it's been really nice here) and have done a ton of art projects at school...

Riding on my new rocking horse and playing with Daddy

Pooltime!

Playing with flour at the sensory table at school  (I ate some :))

Potato/paint art (I ate some of this too :))

My parents have a strange fascination with comparing babies to objects when we are small.  When I was little, you may recall, they did this with me.  Well, Baby Sister Grace is not going to get out of being a baby without the same treatment!

Baby Grace and the TV remote... (note, she does NOT like tummy time the way I did!)

Baby Grace and Daddy's shoe!

I had two doctor visits in the last week - one to Dr. P for my 15 month appointment and one to the GI doctor to talk about my puking issues.  The visit to Dr. P went well - I am 23 lb 14 oz and 31" tall with a  17.25" head circumference.  I'm about 40% in height, 60% in weight, and 5% in head...overall, Dr. P says I'm doing really well!  At the GI doctor, Mommy and Daddy told her that my daily Miralax regimen is not really doing much to help in the poop department.  So, I am taking Senna every other day now.  Also, the urping hasn't really changed that much.  In fact, last week, Mrs. Linda had to put me in a high chair for an hour at school while all the other kids were playing so that I was restrained and they could control the urpage cleanup area.  Mommy and Daddy don't want that to have to continue, so next week, we're going to do a "Gastric Emptying" study where they'll check to see how fast (or slowly) I digest my food.  From there, we'll make some further determinations about what to do for me to relieve the urping.  In the meantime, we'll just keep dealing with it...with a smile! :)