The Smith Family Adventures

Elias did much better in the church nursery today. He didn’t cry at all. Apparently he just got a little anxious every time the door was opened. The nursery attendant was very happy because he even let her hold him. I feel so much better when Elias is happy.

But when we picked Elias up from the nursery to come to communion with us, he smelled different. He smelled like the nursery attendant’s perfume! Now I am not angry or anything that she held him. Don’t get me wrong….but I was feeling fiercely territorial. I did not like it at all when he smelled like another mommy.

I washed his hair as soon as we got home so he smelled normal. Is that weird? I don’t know….Nathan says I am like a mother bear. I just can’t help it.

Elias is all bundled up for our walk outside.

Today Elias and I needed a day of rest and relaxation. I was going to try out the “fun for ones” story time at the library, but Elias was napping longer than usual so I figured we just needed some rest. We’ll try it out next week. I decided that we’d just stay home all day to play and rest. But I did decide to get us some fresh air in the early afternoon. Elias and I went out to explore the beginning of the autumn season.

Nathan and I learned at a brain development/literacy session at the library that children learn much much more vocabulary if you just take them outside and talk to them about what you see rather than buying things like flashcards. Language development occurs much easier and faster when you see a real leaf rather than just a picture of one. It seems so simple and so

Elias feeling a leaf.

obvious…right? But it is a bit counter-cultural, I think. Americans want things like flashcards and dvds and computer programs that promise results. Nathan and I are trying to stay away form that kind of thing. Anyway…..I wanted to explore the outdoors with Elias. We started out just exploring the area around our condo. There are plenty of trees and bushes to look at. I let Elias feel some leaves that had fallen and we watched a dog who was playing with its owner on the lawn.

Elias exploring the feel of the pine cone.

Elias loves to touch and feel as I’m sure all babies do. He got to touch a pine cone and some pine needles. He also tasted the pine cone…..I didn’t mean to let him but he’s so quick. At least he didn’t eat any of it. He enjoyed inspecting the different specimens we gathered. But then he thought it would be fun to play a game of “take off my hat in the cold and throw it on the ground.” Because he is getting over a little cold, I insisted he wear the hat…I resorted to distracting him with cheerios. I guess using food like that is not good parenting either. But I had to choose.

Elias squirrel and bird watching.

After gathering the leaves, needles, and pine cones, we saw a squirrel digging in the ground, trying to bury something. Elias really liked watching the squirrel. Then, a big blue bird came and chased off the squirrel. We had some great times together.

Elias playing with some pine needles.

A close up of Elias inspecting some of our finds.

After our walk I put Elias on the ground as I was trying to get the stroller back in the trunk where we store it. I thought Elias was so cute that I'd snap one more photo. He doesn't seem too thrilled about it.

Elias brushing his own teeth after Mommy brushed them.

We have been trying to get Elias to let us brush his teeth. At first we were just using a washcloth, but then we got a baby toothbrush for him from the dentist. Elias’ response was pretty much lukewarm. He would let us put the toothbrush in his mouth…but moving it around was out of the question. It was very difficult to even know if we were touching his teeth or not. Then he stopped even opening his mouth.

In the last few days he has really warmed up to it, however. I started by holding him while I brushed my teeth. He thought it was really funny to try to grab my toothbrush, and he was very interested in watching me move it back and forth. Then I would get his toothbrush and try to brush his teeth and gums.

Today was the first day that we really had much success. After I had brushed his teeth, I let Elias hold the toothbrush. He really enjoyed that.

We call cats “kitties” in our house. I thought it was so adorable a few minutes ago when Elias turned to our cat, Olive, who was walking by and said, “Hi Kit” and waved. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long and healthy relationship between Elias and the kitties. There have been a few rocky moments where Olive has tried to swat him because he won’t leave her alone. For the most part, though, both cats are really good with him.

Elias had the dreaded one year wellness check-up today. Of course…he couldn’t dread it. Because he didn’t know it was coming. But if he knew what would happen, I’m sure he would have dreaded it. He had to get three vaccines and a flu shot…which meant two shots in each leg. As if that weren’t traumatic enough, then I had to take him upstairs to get blood drawn. The poor little guy was so upset. I think he will fear ladies with gloves for a long time now.

To make matters worse, he didn’t take a morning nap this morning so with the little sleep and the scary shots, he crashed on the car ride home. Nothing I gave him could entice him to stay awake. (Including my wallet, cellphone, cheerios, and a very loud singing voice.) Of course then he woke up when we got home and thought that was his nap for the day. I fed him lunch, played with him a bit, but then decided he needed a nap. Battle of wills ensued. I feel like such a bad mommy for making him cry so hard. But he needed it so badly. He is sleeping now, getting the needed rest. But was it worth it? I don’t know. I guess I never will.

Here are his one year stats:

Weight: 21 pounds, 3 ounces (25th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (57th percentile)

His doctor seemed mildly concerned about his weight. She is not concerned about the actual numbers, but the fact that the rate of the growth of his weight is slowing down. At two months old he was in the 81st percentile in weight, and it has gone down each visit since. (At 9 months he was in the 41st percentile) She said that I don’t really have to do anything now, but if at 15 months the rate of growth is still slowing we may have to look into it.

Otherwise, she said he is doing well developmentally in gross motor and fine motor skills as well as cognitively and social/emotionally. So things are looking good for Elias!

I saw the idea of making a Fall “Bucket List” on another blog I read. I thought it was such a fun idea, but I didn’t want to do some of the things that were on hers, so I made my own. You can click on it to make it larger if you want to see. I hope to print it out and display it in our home. Then Elias, Nathan, and I can have fun doing some fall activities together. Most of them are out-of-doors or nature-y kinds of things. There a couple holiday related “to-do’s”. But some are a little more laid back. I even put watching football on there for Nathan! We’ll check off each one as we do it. I think our goal will be by Thanksgiving. Then, who knows! If it is a success, maybe I’ll do a winter one next!

For those of you who have been following our blog, you know that Elias has had some trouble in the church nursery. He doesn’t like being left there at all. Today we have had some success! He still had a big breakdown when Nathan dropped him off, and he was still crying when I walked past the room about 10 minutes later. But when I went down to pick him up and bring him up to the sanctuary for communion, he was happily playing! The nursery attendants said he cried for about 15 or 20 minutes and then was fine. I will be so much of a happier mommy when I don’t have to worry about him being so upset. For now, I’m just happy with this step in the right direction.