Friday, December 21, 2007
Let there be light
Today Levi learned to turn the light-switch on. He has been able to turn it off for about a month now.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
More new observations
This photo is from my company family dinner on Monday night (12/17) Santa was a very soft spoken man with genuine clothing and leather boots with bells, a real beard and blue eyes. I think Corey did a wonderful job. Levi, however, was not so sure about this strange man holding him. At one point Corey talked to him and Levi looked up at him and that would have been a cute photo but the photographer did not catch it. So this is the best shot we got.The past two nights Levi has assisted me in taking some of the dogs out about 9 pm. We look up in the sky and he points to the moon and I tell him what it is. Then he looks up and points to the stars and I talk about those too. Well tonight it was cloudy and he was looking for the moon and stars but they were no where to be found.
We have started a night time ritual (finally) for Levi before bed and I give him a bath and read to him. The book we like the best is "A crack in the track" and it is a Thomas the tank engine story. At certain parts I make a chugachuga sound and put up my hand and Levi will tuck his hand inside mine and we pull down for the train whistle. There is also a page where Bertie's driver gets out of the bus and stands in the road and puts his hand out to stop traffic for the great green toad. Well last night Levi started turning right to that page and holding out his hand to mimic Bertie's driver. It is really fun to see him doing things to mimic what is going on around him.
We opened his presents last night from the grandfathers at Christmas and he got from Grandpa Patton a cute little barn with four little animals inside that each make a sound and have the name of the animal embroidered on the side. A cow, a duck, a rooster and a pig. He also sent a push-along duck which BeBe tried to take on when she saw his little rubber feet slapping the floor. Well Levi thought that was a riot and laughed pretty hard. Grandfather Shackley sent Levi a large conatiner of stiff foam blocks for stacking and building and we are very thankful for that too. He spent a good hour playing with them last night.
Saturday we are traveling over to Portland to have a little family Christmas with brother Wes and wife Joanie and grandma KP. Then Sunday we fly to Fresno to visit with Susan and Richard and Amber for the holiday.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
December 12 2007
Today Levi is 17 months old and Christmas is just around the corner.
Last night we had a dinner with the model train club and Levi had fun exploring the steps to the stage, climbing on "fake" presents and pulling ornaments off the tree. He also made friends with the Elk head mounted to the wall, as the dinner was at the Elks club building downtown. A very kind hostess gave Levi a stuffed duck which he looked over and promptly handed back to her. He then went for her neck pin so she gave him that too. She informed me that the duck was from her, not the Elks, and that is something special she does for kids that visit.
Tonight Larry came over and took some photos of Levi for stock for the database. You never know when you might need a photo of a child sucking their thumb, or sneezing, of which we got both.
His leg is looking much much better, the ointment for the rash has helped so much.
Matt will take him by the hands and run him around the house and then let go and Levi will try to run by himself and while it isn't as fast, it is faster than his walk and he is quickly getting better every day with his balance.
Last night we had a dinner with the model train club and Levi had fun exploring the steps to the stage, climbing on "fake" presents and pulling ornaments off the tree. He also made friends with the Elk head mounted to the wall, as the dinner was at the Elks club building downtown. A very kind hostess gave Levi a stuffed duck which he looked over and promptly handed back to her. He then went for her neck pin so she gave him that too. She informed me that the duck was from her, not the Elks, and that is something special she does for kids that visit.
Tonight Larry came over and took some photos of Levi for stock for the database. You never know when you might need a photo of a child sucking their thumb, or sneezing, of which we got both.
His leg is looking much much better, the ointment for the rash has helped so much.
Matt will take him by the hands and run him around the house and then let go and Levi will try to run by himself and while it isn't as fast, it is faster than his walk and he is quickly getting better every day with his balance.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
December 8 2007
Today was brisk and snow was on the ground so we went out after lunch to try for another Christmas card photo. We are quite happy with the results, although the focus on this image was soft, Levi's expression was priceless.
Yesterday Warren was kind enough to take our portrait in the snow as well, but it was too close to nap-time and Levi had his thumb in his mouth in most photos, and Matt was wearing a short-sleeved shirt...which just seemed wrong given the temperature outside. :)
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
December 4 2007
Today Levi had a doctors appointment to have a rash on his leg looked at. The following is Matt's account of the day.
We arrived at the doctors office early, gave them our information, and then went to the waiting room. In the waiting room, Levi started playing with the little blocks in the play room. Some little boy came up to him and starting playing, and Levi did alright, looking at me, but still curious about his new friend. The boy got called in, so we played for a minute, and then we got called.
We followed the nurse back to the room (to the right instead of the left for Tom). After we went into the room and were asked about our reason for visiting, the nurse had me weigh him, little jogger jacket and all. His weight was 22 lbs. 7 oz. We didn't measure his height.
Back in the room, she had me remove his pants and wait for the doctor. As we waited, I held Levi up to the mirror so he could see how silly he looked. He enjoyed that for about a minute, and then wanted to crawl around on the floor, which I didn't think was a good idea. There was some abstract rendition of a horse framed and hanging on the wall, and once Levi noticed it, he'd look at it, point, and make his clicking sound. I tried to read him a book about being happy and knowing it. He got through clapping your hands, and was curious about taping your feet, but the significance of wiggling around was lost on him. He didn't care much for the Cheerio's™ counting book once he figured out that the cheerio's in the book weren't edible. He kept muttering something about corporate propaganda and obsessive consumerism. Sunset magazine didn't work either, if you can imagine that.
Finally, Dr. Jennifer Buldoc made her grand entrance. Levi's little legs were already showing, and she spotted the problem right away. I laid him on the exam table, and he didn't seem too happy. She told him that it was alright to look to daddy, which he kept doing with a worried look on his face. Then she told me that I could just hold him on my lap. So, I grabbed him up, sat on the table, and then plopped him down in my lab. That seemed to ease his fears. The little stool that she sat on was the perfect height to see his legs (probably intended to put her on the children's level), but it made conversation with her a little awkward because I felt like I was talking down to her. I started out by pointing out that he'd had some problems with little bumps that come and go, essentially since birth. She told me that this was plytoezeemialotosicularconosis (or something like that), and that it wasn't anything to be worried about. Apparently it's genetic. Anyhoo, she looked over his legs, and her guess was that the rashes were eczema, with a small possibility of ring worm on the one spot. She didn't seem to concerned, and wrote out of list for several possible scenarios, and the prescribed treatment. And that, was that.
Later this very same day, Levi and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather. At about 3, I hiked him up on my shoulders, plugged in to my trusty iPod, and we took a walk. On the way back, the sun was in the poor boys eyes, so I took him down and carried him in my arms. As soon as I did, he noticed that I had headphones in my ears, and took them for his own purposes. The entire walk back, he held my headphones to his ears so he could listen to my totally awesome music.
Back now to Shana as the author...
Levi is wanting to take charge and feed himself with utensils now and isn't half bad if its a fork and an object food that he can poke and lift. He is still pretty messy with anything needing a spoon. Tonight when I was feeding him bits from my plate, he would get impatient and open his mouth really wide, tilt his head and say "ahhhhh!!" Just like a hungry baby bird. Too cute. He is gaining confidence and walking farther today as well. He is standing in the bathtub without holding the edge, and helping me put his toys away when we are done in the tub. So many achievements lately it is hard to remember to write them all down.
We arrived at the doctors office early, gave them our information, and then went to the waiting room. In the waiting room, Levi started playing with the little blocks in the play room. Some little boy came up to him and starting playing, and Levi did alright, looking at me, but still curious about his new friend. The boy got called in, so we played for a minute, and then we got called.
We followed the nurse back to the room (to the right instead of the left for Tom). After we went into the room and were asked about our reason for visiting, the nurse had me weigh him, little jogger jacket and all. His weight was 22 lbs. 7 oz. We didn't measure his height.
Back in the room, she had me remove his pants and wait for the doctor. As we waited, I held Levi up to the mirror so he could see how silly he looked. He enjoyed that for about a minute, and then wanted to crawl around on the floor, which I didn't think was a good idea. There was some abstract rendition of a horse framed and hanging on the wall, and once Levi noticed it, he'd look at it, point, and make his clicking sound. I tried to read him a book about being happy and knowing it. He got through clapping your hands, and was curious about taping your feet, but the significance of wiggling around was lost on him. He didn't care much for the Cheerio's™ counting book once he figured out that the cheerio's in the book weren't edible. He kept muttering something about corporate propaganda and obsessive consumerism. Sunset magazine didn't work either, if you can imagine that.
Finally, Dr. Jennifer Buldoc made her grand entrance. Levi's little legs were already showing, and she spotted the problem right away. I laid him on the exam table, and he didn't seem too happy. She told him that it was alright to look to daddy, which he kept doing with a worried look on his face. Then she told me that I could just hold him on my lap. So, I grabbed him up, sat on the table, and then plopped him down in my lab. That seemed to ease his fears. The little stool that she sat on was the perfect height to see his legs (probably intended to put her on the children's level), but it made conversation with her a little awkward because I felt like I was talking down to her. I started out by pointing out that he'd had some problems with little bumps that come and go, essentially since birth. She told me that this was plytoezeemialotosicularconosis (or something like that), and that it wasn't anything to be worried about. Apparently it's genetic. Anyhoo, she looked over his legs, and her guess was that the rashes were eczema, with a small possibility of ring worm on the one spot. She didn't seem to concerned, and wrote out of list for several possible scenarios, and the prescribed treatment. And that, was that.
Later this very same day, Levi and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather. At about 3, I hiked him up on my shoulders, plugged in to my trusty iPod, and we took a walk. On the way back, the sun was in the poor boys eyes, so I took him down and carried him in my arms. As soon as I did, he noticed that I had headphones in my ears, and took them for his own purposes. The entire walk back, he held my headphones to his ears so he could listen to my totally awesome music.
Back now to Shana as the author...
Levi is wanting to take charge and feed himself with utensils now and isn't half bad if its a fork and an object food that he can poke and lift. He is still pretty messy with anything needing a spoon. Tonight when I was feeding him bits from my plate, he would get impatient and open his mouth really wide, tilt his head and say "ahhhhh!!" Just like a hungry baby bird. Too cute. He is gaining confidence and walking farther today as well. He is standing in the bathtub without holding the edge, and helping me put his toys away when we are done in the tub. So many achievements lately it is hard to remember to write them all down.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
December 2 2007
Look who's walking! Today Levi has taken off, walking every chance he got. During this particular sequence Levi was crawling towards me and I told him to "stand up and walk over here!" and he did. Then he started showing off. We're in trouble now :)
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