New Photos

Alex and Evan

Alex and Evan

Domino in his new chair

Lilly, Alex and Evan

Alex and Evan

Alex and Evan

Evan

Our first kids

Grandma and Grandpa's recent visit highlighted just how much our first kids have been neglected in terms of blog posts and pictures.  So here are a few recent pictures of the first kids.  We love them very much.

They find ways to make themselves comfortable despite Davis' toys:

You can tell this was taken during Davis' nap because Lilly isn't hidding

They are still best buddies

Even though, sometimes they try to eat each other (Domino was actually yawning)

Domino still enjoys sitting on the drying rack.  He has done this since the first or second day we brought him home:

Cool new tricks

I've had this post sitting around for a while, but haven't had the time for energy to finish it.  But, I've got to make my end of the month push to get our blog post quota up.

Davis really seems to be growing up fast.  A few new things he can do and say are below.

Some of the things he can now say that we recognize:

• Dinner - pronounced "ninner"
• Monkey
• Up please (sometimes, usually this is tugging or putting his arms in the air)
• Yes please
• Thank you (not new)
• All right (not new)
• Grandma, Grandpa and Grammie (but not pronounced like that, he has distinct names for all of them and recognizes them all on Skype)
• Sarah, Avi, Lucy (his daycare providers)
• Domino (not Lilly, I'm not sure he knows we have two cats)
• This
• Read this

Some cool things he does:

• Gives hugs and kisses.
• Walks down stairs holding our hands.
• Walks home from daycare, starting from the top of the stairs at daycare.
• Can walk up a step without holding onto anything (just the first one).
• Runs really fast.
• Puts toys away (sometimes).
• Puts sand in his dump truck.
• Builds elaborate structures with his blocks.
• Stands on a footstool to wash his hands and brush his teeth.
• Throws balls really well.  He nailed me in the head tonight from about 4 feet away with a tennis ball.

Some things he likes to do:

• Get each child's lunch box and coat when their parent arrives at daycare.  
• Play fort with mom.
• Be tossed in the air.
• Be tickled.
• Chase around the living room.
• Naked chase in his bedroom after a bath (this doesn't always end well).
• Watch work crews and trucks.  The other day, he got to sit in a big truck on the way to daycare.
• Watch and pet dogs.  Last weekend we went to minuteman national park and he loved the young lab that was running everywhere.
• Pick up domino.
• Pick up leaves.

Some developmental milestones:

• For 18 months, he is in the 95th percentile for height and weight
• Will soon be in size 5 diapers
• Wears a lot of three toddler clothes (see a theme)
• Has at least 12 teeth (its hard to see!)
• Has started to try and get out of his crib.  We might be going to Ikea this weekend for a "big boy bed".

Since he is now migrating into 2 and 3 toddler clothes, we put a bunch of his smaller and summer clothes away.   While doing this, we found his costume from last year and amazingly he a) wanted to wear it and b) it still fit.  Here are the results:

Tidbits about Davis

John does a fantastic job capturing our weekend activities, but I wanted to add some little stories about Davis.

Davis gives kisses
A couple of weeks ago Davis looked at me and then very pointedly turned his head to the side.  I finally clued in and turned my head to the side and he gave me a kiss on the cheek!  Kisses are now a regular visitor in the Naegle household.  Dad is a little sad that they seem to be mostly reserved for Mom right now.

Davis is a total ham
Davis knows exactly when there's a camera pointed at him or someone is looking and he can really ham it up.  When we went to the soccer game on Saturday night, there was a row of teenage girls sitting behind us and he had them wrapped around his little finger.  I couldn't even count the number of times I heard "Look at those eyes", "What a happy guy", "Oh what a smile", or "What cute hair!".  Davis spent most of the time in his seat turned around entertaining them.

Davis has hair (unique hair at that)
We like to joke that Davis' hair growth has been the reverse of male-pattern baldness.  He started out completely bald, and stayed that way for a long time.  Then he started to grow "the ring" of hair.  Right now he has hair on top with a widow's peak that is slowly filling in.  The hair on top is still quite short and tends to stick up all over the place.  When we were grocery shopping this weekend the couple behind us in line asked if his hair stuck up like that naturally or if we styled it like that on purpose.

Davis is resourceful
Davis never ceases to amaze us.  Saturday morning the three of us were in the living room trying to wake up.  Dad was laying on the couch and Davis laid down on the mat that was stretched out on the carpet.  When I tried to join him he pushed me off and said "NO! MINE!".  So Dad was nice enough to give me a pillow and I laid down on the floor next to Davis (but not on his mat!).  Well, Davis decided my pillow looked pretty good so he tried to horn in on it.  In an attempt to teach a lesson, that feels borderline abusive, I said "No, mine.".  Davis just looked at me for a second, turned around and walked into our bedroom, grabbed a pillow off our bed and then walked right back into the living room and laid down with it.  Whatever misgivings I had about showing Davis what it feels like when someone doesn't share, they dissolved when we saw how resourceful he is!

Davis has a special spot in the living room
There's one spot in the living room that Davis will always go to for the following things:

• To put sunscreen on (you can usually get sunscreen on three limbs before he starts to run around)
• To put shoes and socks on
• To give the kitties treats
• To do the "bicycle"

Today, as I was getting ready in the bedroom for the bike practice we went to, I said to Davis "I'm going to ride a bicycle, do you want to ride a bicycle?".  Davis immediately ran to his spot, laid down on his back, and bicycled his legs in the air.

Davis has many words and phrases
Davis is clearly understanding a lot of what we say now.  However, I have learned it's important to realize the gaps in what he understands.  For a while we have been struggling with him throwing his food at meal times (dinner especially).  It's been getting a lot better, mainly John and I think because we have greatly de-emphasized our response to it.  A few nights ago, Davis had a great dinner with no food throwing.  I said "Davis, wow, THANK YOU very much FOR not THROWing FOOD".  Davis immediately, in short order, threw the two strawberries and the eggplant on the floor and against the bookshelves.  That folks was entirely my fault since I now see that what he heard are the capitalized portions of the sentence.  Here are some words and phrases Davis is saying a lot now:

• No, wait
• What's that?
• No way!
• Thank you
• Stop
• Outside
• Truck (by far his most used word it seems)
• Socks (sounds a lot like truck)
• Shoes
• Toes
• This
• More
• Mine
• No
• No, Mine!

Davis can play follow the leader
We have great fun playing follow the leader with Davis.  We can stand on one foot and he'll stand on one foot.  We can lay down on the ground and bicycle and he'll do that (sound familiar?).  He's great with songs too like "Head, shoulders, knees and toes".  Some things he's learned at daycare are "Cheers", high fives, and fist bumps (called "pound").   Another game Davis loves (particularly while naked after a bath) is chase. 

Davis loves music
Davis continues to love music of all sorts.  Anything from the ice cream truck to grammie's cell phone ring can elicit a dance.  Dad found a great musical set at a garage sale that has been very exciting for Davis (probably less exciting for our downstairs neighbors).  He loves to drum and play the recorder.  He also enjoys taking the recorder apart as well as using it as a drumstick.


Davis loves Domino
Davis and Domino continue to have a pretty close relationship.  We still spend most nights chasing Domino out from under the crib at bedtime and letting him in the room first thing in the morning.  One morning last week I was getting his lunch ready when I decided to peak in on them and found Davis carrying Domino.  Domino looked less then enthusiastic about it, but just hung there like a limp rag doll until Davis put him down, at which time he bolted from the room.  You'll notice we never mention Lilly and Davis' relationship.  Lilly keeps a large distance between them unless Davis is helping us feed them.  Davis is a great counter and table sentry.  Whenever the cats are somewhere they shouldn't be, he lets us know.

That is some good walking

It seems I am forever composing blog posts in my head, but rarely do they make it into writing.  I hope to do a better job of that in the future, but below are some disconnected thoughts and updates regarding the last couple of weeks.

Davis is a walker!  A couple of weeks ago, he took his first steps, and he has been exponentially improving on those first steps.  For the first week or so, we could get him to walk if we sufficiently motivated and distracted him.  However, he mostly felt the need for the safety of an object to hold onto, despite whether or not it actually provided him any support.  This last Friday, for the first time, while we were playing in his room, he stood up and walked to me!  John and I are amazed at his ability to learn things so quickly, from a few steps to crossing a room in the matter of a couple of weeks.  John has just posted a video. 

One of Davis' favorite things continues to be books.  However, we do a lot less reading of the books these days.  Mostly Davis enjoys pulling the books out of the book box and handing them to us.  Then we open the book and Davis turns the pages until it's time to move onto pulling the next book in the box.  During one of these sessions, Davis saw me put something in his laundry basket.  He then took everything out of the book box and put it in the laundry basket.  This makes us realize that we need to be VERY careful about what we do and say in his presence, it doesn't take much for him to pick up on things.

Kellie, one of the daycare providers, told me a story this last week when I picked Davis up.  Apparently, he likes to pull every single car out of the box of cars they have at the daycare.  He methodically pulls one out at a time and places it on the ground.  When he finally gets to the last one, whatever one that is, he runs off to play with it.  Davis and his partner in crime, Roxie, can take apart the daycare in a matter of minutes.  In exasperation, Kellie told John yesterday that they will be working on the skill of putting things away soon.  John suggested they pull out a laundry hamper.

A couple of weeks ago marked an increase in fussiness for Davis.  We believe it's a combination of him being sick at the time as well as his increasing frustration at not being able to communicate.  Who knows what it really is, but we have noticed that Davis is getting very good at communicating to us what he wants recently.  We have attempted using a few signs with Davis in the hope of giving him some tools before he's verbal to aid in his communication.  His sign for 'more' looks like clapping and tells us that he's ready for more food at the table.  However, when combined with his refusal of one type of food and his insistence for 'more' we've been able to figure out he may not want cereal, but he definitely wants the pancake sitting in front of Mom.  He is also able to clearly tell us when he wants to be picked up and when he wants to be put down, when he wants a book read to him, and when he wants you to play peak-a-boo.  It's such a joy to see him turning into a person with real preferences.  Current preferences include blueberries and tofu.  We've watched him eat a half pint of blueberries in one sitting and pick around everything on his tray to eat every morsel of tofu, and ask for more. 

Domino is not nearly as enthused as we are at Davis' newest form of mobility.  Davis continues to treat Domino like his stuffed animals, which entails throwing his arms around him and tackling him.  Sometimes if he can't get close enough for a tackle, Davis settles for a head butt.  Domino continues to be amazingly calm around Davis and I've only once had to deter Domino from nibbling Davis after a particularly rough tackle.  We continue to monitor their interactions closely and lock Domino out of Davis' room at night since we know Domino lacks the better judgment to not go in there.  Despite all of his overly-enthusiastic attention, Domino continues to lavish attention on Davis.  The moment his door opens in the morning Domino races into the room.   One morning when Davis woke up late, Domino paced outside his room for about an hour.  Our night time ritual includes chasing Domino out from under the crib.  Someday they will be the best of friends.  Lilly continues to claim safe harbor, far away from the reaches of Davis.  The only exceptions to this rule is if she is forced to choose between a room with a baby and a room with a vaccuum or when there is a particular bit of enticing food on the highchair tray.  Davis is more than happy to share food with Lilly.

I am extremely busy and quite overwhelmed at work.  I have had some great results recently, and although I know I will wrap this work up, the idea of wrapping it up in time for my final committee meeting (now less than two weeks away) is a bit of a shock.  This is in addition to submitting an abstract for one conference and preparing a poster for another.  I think underlying all of this stress is the idea that in less than two weeks I will be away from John and Davis for a full five days!  This conference marks the end of breasfeeding for us.  I think it's a natural ending for it anyway, but it's still an ending to what has been a large part of my relationship with Davis.  A couple of weeks ago I discontinued pumping at work and we began introducing formula to Davis.  Today, we cut out one feeding, leaving just one last feeding.  This one will be the hardest to break since it's the most emotionally-tied one for Davis.  After a long and exciting day at daycare, Davis nurses as a way to reconnect and to calm down.  Some nights this ends in a quick catnap before dinner.  We'll be dropping this feeding when I leave and I'm not sure John is very excited about the potential reprocussions.  Our hope is that out-of-sight, out-of-mind will apply in this case and it will be the easiest way to wean.  If we are wrong, well, let's just say I'm glad I won't be around to find that out.

John had his six-month post-radiation checkup yesterday where he had a chest x-ray and some bloodwork done.  We will find the results out later this week.  His cancer and treatment have been on my mind a lot lately.  Someone we know is battling breast cancer and seeing her go through surgery and treatment has brought all the history of John's own fight to the forefront again.  It's a strange feeling that I can't explain or shake, but seeing someone else battle something more aggressive makes me feel like we got off almost too easily this time around.  Comparing aggressiveness of John's cancer with someone else's makes about as much sense as what we heard multiple times during his diagnosis and treatment, which was "Testicular cancer is extremely treatable, if you were going to pick a cancer to get, this is the one to pick".  Clearly, this isn't how it works, but yet people feel compelled to tell us that, much like I feel compelled to worry more now than I did since seeing someone else go through something harder to treat.  I am consistenly thinking of her and hoping for the best, but like John, I know only time will tell.

Cat Photos

I took these the other day after finishing up taking portraits. I was playing around with using our telephoto with the flash. The results weren't great, but they weren't bad.

Its been a while since Domino and Lilly have been featured in the blog, so here you go:

Lilly Forgives

After 6 weeks, Lilly seems to finally be forgiving me for bringing home Davis. Yesterday we had a monumental cuddle and John documented it. In order to understand the significance of this cuddle you have to understand the modes of Lilly's affections.

Lilly's affection in ascending order:

1. I don't know you, and so you won't be seeing me while you are here.
2. You may look at me as I walk past.
3. I will stay in the same room with you.
4. You may pet me as I walk by or sit in one place.
   
5. I will ask for a cuddle by laying on my back and rolling.
6. Our cuddle will consist of me standing on you while you pet me and I rub my nose against something.
7. #6 + I will kneed and lick your arm.
8. #7 plus I will turn upside down (as seen in photo).
9. I will sleep on or with you.

Lilly and I were at #9 (and she was only at #8 with John ever) until the baby came home and then she bumped me down to a #5 (grandma's and close friends are at #5). So you can see how excited I am to be back to a #8 and maybe #9 will come again.