Well, the boys and I have been reading furiously, trying to finish Harry Potter before someone spoils us for the ending. We are about halfway through. Maybe we'll make it this weekend.
I am afraid that I have ruined poor Griffith. He and Allan and I went out in to the backyard to play last night after dinner and before bath time. All last night Griff was restless and kept waking up. He stayed awake from about 4 until about 6 (the second time this week!) and it wasn't until the break of day that we realized that he was covered in bug bites. His right eye has a huge knot and he must has 5 spots on one arm and 4 on the other. I swear I sprayed both of them. Allan doesn't have a single bite nor do I. Either I sprayed Allan twice or Griffith is just irresistible to mosquitos. Who would have thought that he was the sweet one?
Allan is just doing fantastic. His eye still looks great although the plethora of eye drops is a pain in the a** (5 every morning and night plus a salve once a day at the moment). He is heartily irritated with the entire proceeding. And, of course, you need to wait a certain amount of time between each drop. It seems to be working, but, frankly, the whole thing seems a little like voodoo.
Allan is coming on like a little steam engine though. He wants to pull up and stand and will get stiff as a board and resist you trying to sit him down. He sets his little jaw and holds his breath to maintain his balance, but, by golly, he is going to do it. He also has started to buck and jump when he sees Dad come home from work. He loves bath time and has become strong enough that Griffith can't knock him over (very easily) and can't necessarily take away his toys. Allan smiles and giggles a lot these days and it just tears us both up. Edie (his speech/occupational therapist) was so pleased with him this past week. His "core" strength is great and even though he isn't making a lot of sounds for her, she can tell that, organically, there is no reason why he shouldn't. She was trying to get his attention with something (don't ask me what) and he wasn't looking in her direction. I guess she could tell that I was a little distressed at the way he was responding, but she just laughed and said that he was acting exactly as she would expect a one-year old (which he is adjusted) to react. He was more interested in what Griffith was doing than what she was doing and she was just going to have to step it up if she wanted to be the focus. You could tell that she was well pleased with him. It is so gratifying and wonderful to have people who are so committed to our children and who know them, in some ways, better than we do. We spend so much time with them that we don't always recognize what great strides they have made.
We are working on establishing a new routine as part of the whole "break the bottle" endeavor. Between 6 and 6:30 we feed the boys, wipe them down, play with them (one of us does while the other frantically makes a grown up dinner or cleans up after the boys) and then we have bath time (including brushing of the teeth which Griff hates and Allan loves), a bottle for Griff (shut up), a cuddle for Allan and, with any luck, an hour or two for Mom and Dad to pay bills, watch TV, read, do chores, whatever.
No big plans for the weekend. We are simply going to continue to try to impose a Mussolini-type schedule on the boys, at least at night. Cousin Bailey is coming to spend part of the weekend to "help take care of Allan and Griffith" (she's a very grown up four year old who has requested dinner of a baked potato, birthday cake ice cream with sprinkles and balloons). It will probably come back to haunt us, but, really, what is in it for us to deny her? Sprinkles and balloons it is.
We should have a load of photos from this weekend. We'll try to blog, but Harry Potter does take priority!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Allan with a little curl
right in the middle of his forehead. And when he is good, he is very, very good. And when he is bad, he is horrid.
Allan feeding himself
Allan has decided that he likes to be in control of the spoon. The cute shirt is courtesy of Amanda, but I'm not sure it will ever be the same.
Yeah, I ain't walkin'
Griff, lowering himself into a squat. He refuses to walk without holding on to something. Kid has thighs of steel. He can lower himself in to a hover for the longest time and then spring back up in to standing.
Allan brushing his own teeth.
Allan really kind of likes the toothbrush. Griffith, naturally, fights like a wild man. Check out the splashes from the bath on Dad's shirt.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Snippets
Lots of new pictures from the weekend.
Allan continues to do well. His eye was completely healed by Friday and we resumed the wearing of the contact this weekend. His eye still looks really good and the pupil has remained open so we may be on to something. He has been squinting a lot more so we are pretty sure he's getting more light in to his eye than he is used to.
We had company on Friday night. Miss Monica and Cousin Jennifer came over to grill out and we all had a great time on the deck. The weather was beautiful and we thought we had everything taken care of, but Griff still ended up with a bug bite on his forehead. Poor little guy, he is always the one with the bug bites. He must be sweeter and more tender than we give him credit for.
The boys and I went for a long run on Saturday morning. The weather was really cool and we were having a great time. Griff didn't fall asleep until late in the proceedings so we ran an extra mile and a half since we knew that there was no way to get him out of the stroller without waking him. Allan, for his part, did the usual: slept for the first 45 minutes or so and then was wide awake. Since the weather was so pleasant and Daddy has finished the fence in the back yard, we put out the tarp and let the fellows roam. Griff still isn't crazy about the grass, but he hates being out of the center of things so much that he is willing to put up with it, some, in order to keep up with what I'm doing. Allan was content to sit on the blanket and play with his toys. On occasion he would let out a yell just to make sure he knew we were still paying attention.
The boys stayed with Miss Miranda while we went out to dinner. When I got home, she was looking a little worn out. Apparently he kept faking her out -- falling asleep and then waking up and howling if she put him down. It was well past his bedtime, but he wasn't giving it up. He lasted about five whole minutes after I got home and gave him a bottle (don't ask about the giving up the bottle nonsense). Fortunately for Momma, the new Harry Potter had arrrived and so there was a lot to keep me occupied while putting the boys to sleep.
Allan managed to disconnect his feeding tube some time during the night and so at about 5 a.m. he was a cold, wet fellow, Since there really wasn't any place to put him and he was as cold as a fish, we stripped him, wiped him off, put a clean diaper on him and put him in bed with us. He snuggled up next to his dad and was out like a light.
Griff managed to sleep until nearly 8 and then took a bottle and fell back asleep with Momma on the couch downstairs. We snuggled and snoozed and read Harry Potter while Dad and Allan slept in upstairs. We didn't get a start on the day until nearly 10:30. The fellows all went for a walk while Mom vaccuumed (Griff hates it so much that you can't do it with him in the house). Then the boys lunched, watched some of the British Open and took a dip in the pool. Dad went off to the driving range (presumably to practice for the tour) and God smiled on me by having the fellows sleep for nearly two hours following the excitement of the pool.
Griff spent a fair amount of time the other day trying to reach over and pour his formula all over Allan who was on the floor below him.
Allan has become fascinated with turning himself over on to his belly. He still can't manage to get himself on his hands and knees without assistance, but that is clearly what he is trying to do.
Allan continues to be the vainest child ever. He likes to look at himself in the mirror while he eats. For the longest time, I thought it was sweet and that he just liked seeing that other baby in the mirror, but then I realized that he doesn't smile that way at Griffith. Allan just likes the way he looks.
Griff has taken to saying 'me, me, me' when he is very sad and displeased. Whether he is saying something akin to "poor me" or if he is trying to say "mean" we don't know. Whatever, it is said in the most pitiful, whining little tone. It would break your heart if he didn't do it for everything under the sun.
Anyway, time to get back to Harry Potter. Enjoy the pictures!
Allan continues to do well. His eye was completely healed by Friday and we resumed the wearing of the contact this weekend. His eye still looks really good and the pupil has remained open so we may be on to something. He has been squinting a lot more so we are pretty sure he's getting more light in to his eye than he is used to.
We had company on Friday night. Miss Monica and Cousin Jennifer came over to grill out and we all had a great time on the deck. The weather was beautiful and we thought we had everything taken care of, but Griff still ended up with a bug bite on his forehead. Poor little guy, he is always the one with the bug bites. He must be sweeter and more tender than we give him credit for.
The boys and I went for a long run on Saturday morning. The weather was really cool and we were having a great time. Griff didn't fall asleep until late in the proceedings so we ran an extra mile and a half since we knew that there was no way to get him out of the stroller without waking him. Allan, for his part, did the usual: slept for the first 45 minutes or so and then was wide awake. Since the weather was so pleasant and Daddy has finished the fence in the back yard, we put out the tarp and let the fellows roam. Griff still isn't crazy about the grass, but he hates being out of the center of things so much that he is willing to put up with it, some, in order to keep up with what I'm doing. Allan was content to sit on the blanket and play with his toys. On occasion he would let out a yell just to make sure he knew we were still paying attention.
The boys stayed with Miss Miranda while we went out to dinner. When I got home, she was looking a little worn out. Apparently he kept faking her out -- falling asleep and then waking up and howling if she put him down. It was well past his bedtime, but he wasn't giving it up. He lasted about five whole minutes after I got home and gave him a bottle (don't ask about the giving up the bottle nonsense). Fortunately for Momma, the new Harry Potter had arrrived and so there was a lot to keep me occupied while putting the boys to sleep.
Allan managed to disconnect his feeding tube some time during the night and so at about 5 a.m. he was a cold, wet fellow, Since there really wasn't any place to put him and he was as cold as a fish, we stripped him, wiped him off, put a clean diaper on him and put him in bed with us. He snuggled up next to his dad and was out like a light.
Griff managed to sleep until nearly 8 and then took a bottle and fell back asleep with Momma on the couch downstairs. We snuggled and snoozed and read Harry Potter while Dad and Allan slept in upstairs. We didn't get a start on the day until nearly 10:30. The fellows all went for a walk while Mom vaccuumed (Griff hates it so much that you can't do it with him in the house). Then the boys lunched, watched some of the British Open and took a dip in the pool. Dad went off to the driving range (presumably to practice for the tour) and God smiled on me by having the fellows sleep for nearly two hours following the excitement of the pool.
Griff spent a fair amount of time the other day trying to reach over and pour his formula all over Allan who was on the floor below him.
Allan has become fascinated with turning himself over on to his belly. He still can't manage to get himself on his hands and knees without assistance, but that is clearly what he is trying to do.
Allan continues to be the vainest child ever. He likes to look at himself in the mirror while he eats. For the longest time, I thought it was sweet and that he just liked seeing that other baby in the mirror, but then I realized that he doesn't smile that way at Griffith. Allan just likes the way he looks.
Griff has taken to saying 'me, me, me' when he is very sad and displeased. Whether he is saying something akin to "poor me" or if he is trying to say "mean" we don't know. Whatever, it is said in the most pitiful, whining little tone. It would break your heart if he didn't do it for everything under the sun.
Anyway, time to get back to Harry Potter. Enjoy the pictures!
The squatter
Griff refuses to launch on his own, but will stand and then squat and drop in to a crawl.
Bath action
If you look close you can see that Griffith is flinging water and Allan is trying to catch his hands and stop him.
Also, check out the definition on Allan's bicep!
Allan and the pool toys
Allan, gathering all the floaty toys and trying to keep them from his brother.
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