Griffith spitting beans

Griffith, startled by the beans.

Griff got to try green beans today, too. He liked them better than Allan did although that isn't exactly a rousing endorsement.

Green beans

Griffith, having sprayed green beans all over.

Making a break for it

Griffith has had enough of the green beans.

Griffith - kinking up the line

Griffith - putting a kink in the line

Unfortunately it is Allan's oxygen.

I am done with that.

And that was pretty much it for the green beans. Maybe I'll let Flora try.

What is this stuff?

Allan, exploring his food.

Allan, trying green beans for the first time

Green beans may take a little getting used to.

Griffith and the carrots, smeared

Griffith is not a big fan of the carrots.

Griffith and the carrots

Part of the continuing battle to convince him to eat something other than formula.

All made up.

They seem to have sorted it all out.

And another thing....

Allan telling his brother to back off.

Griffith, checking Allan out

What could go wrong?

Griffith and Allan wrestling

Or maybe he is just checking out his teeth. Hard to tell.

The boys are having a pretty good weekend. A little disappointed at the result of the UK-Florida game, but encouraged at the same time.
Allan ate a mess of carrots yesterday and I managed to slime a fair amount on to, around and possibly in to Griffith, too. He really is not interested in eating from a spoon at all. Bottles are easier, I guess.
Griffith keeps reaching out with one or the other of his hands as he is balancing in pre-crawl position. Unfortunately his balance isn't very refined and he keeps toppling over and bonking his noggin on the floor. If he doesn't get this sorted out soon we may have to get the kid a helmet.
Have I mentioned that Allan has two more teeth? The top two have now come through. He isn't going to let Griffith catch up with him on that. Allan is like one of those Mexican wolf babies -- all hair and teeth. (A very cute Mexican wolf baby.)
It is going to be a big week for Allan. Tomorrow he meets his speech therapist (to help with his feeding issues mainly.) Tuesday the physical therapist comes to evaluate him and develop a plan of action. Wednesday, both boys go back to the pediatrician to have their RSV shots and get weighed and measured.
Oh, and the guys are going to be the March of Dimes Ambassador babies for the local campaign so you may see them in the paper. They are going to lead the walk on April 28th. Once we know more, we will be contacting many of you about walking/running, getting a team together. What have you. If we are going down, we are taking as many of you with us as we can.

Allan seems to have recovered nicely from his little adventure earlier this week. His belly is a little sore, but, other than that, he is none the worse for wear.
Griffith has chafed his knees with all of the rocking back and forth and not-crawling that he has been doing. He has graduated to trying to hop forward with both knees and, on occasion, raising up one knee and then the other, but he still can't quite get it. Yesterday as I was leaving, Flora was "helping" him. I told her to STOP, in no uncertain terms. She says she can't wait for him to crawl, but, for the life of me, I don't know why. A mobile Griffith will be a force to contend with. Why make life harder on every one? Really, he'll figure it out soon enough.
When I got home last night, Griffith had finally decided to take a nap (he's been considering them optional for the last week or so). Allan and I got to open the package from Cousin Bailey and we were very pleased to have new pillow slips. Allan picked the one with little red whales on it which means that Griffith gets the one with dancing frogs. We also read the two Valentine's Day books about Elmo that Bailey picked out for them. We read them before Griffith woke up and, then, as you can see from the pictures, Griffith decided he would read them all by himself. And chew on them. Just a little.
The boys spent a cozy night at home, watching the UK game. As you can see, they ended up holding hands. This was after we had to separate them. Griffith rolled over on top of Allan and had him pinned for a few minutes. Boys will be boys, I suppose. Or bear cubs.

Now wait just a minute

Allan, making a point.

The boys

Holding hands and watching UK defeat South Carolina.

Allan's two teeth

A little out of focus, but you can clearly see both of them.

Griffith the reader

Turning the pages of his new Elmo book.

Allan pouting

I'm not sure what he is displeased about, but he isn't trying to hide the way he feels.

Elmo loves Allan

Griffith and Elmo's Valentine

Griffith and his Valentine book about Elmo.

Allan and his new pillow and Valentine book

Allan got a new pillow slip, too, little whales. And a book about Elmo and Valentine's Day. He looks like he thinks we are going to take it away from him.

Dancing frogs -- part II

Griffith and the dancing frogs

Linda made new pillow slips for the boys. Griffith is checking the frogs out.

Griffith - stuck again

This time under the chair. He doesn't know where he is going. He's just going there backward.

The peg

The balloon goes inside Allan's belly and is filled with water. It is about the same diameter as a quarter. The part to the left is like the valve on a beach ball and is what is visible on his belly.

Allan - snuggled down.

Kind of like Randy in A Christmas Story -- he lay there like a like a slug. It was his only defense.

Allan in his snowsuit

On his way to the hospital this morning. It was the coldest day of the year -- 4 degrees.

Toothless no more

In all the excitement I forgot to mention that Griffith has finally sprung a tooth on the bottom right (same one that came in first on Allan). It is just barely poking through, but is clearly there. Of course, he jerks his head back and forth violently when you try to reach in there to feel it so I don't anticpate any photos any time soon.
Griffith also got in to his first heated discussion on Saturday night. Alan and Michele came over for spaghetti and Griffith took exception to Alan's tone or the content of his comments and he (Griffith) began to "gack" at him with a very serious expression. And he didn't let up. He wasn't crying, he wasn't scared. But he was quite clearly telling Alan that he had crossed the line, thank you very much.

The boys had a good weekend. Griffith has decided that napping is optional, however, and that isn't suiting any of us. Griff is a high-intensity little fellow and we all need a little break from that on occasion. He even finds being himself exhausting and turns in to a bit of a whiner by the time night falls. So far the only solution that we have found is to hold him while he sleeps. This is not a long-term option, however.
We had a little excitement this morning. Allan managed to pull out his peg some time between 6 a.m. when Jay did his meds and 7 when I picked him up to get him ready to greet Flora. I'll try to post a picture of the peg and balloon contraption later today. Anyway, although it isn't a life-threatening dash to the ER, it is something that has to be addressed with a certain degree of speed (For one thing, he doesn't eat enough orally. For another, the digestive tract begins to heal right away. Like, no, really, right away.) Dad was already on medical duty today because Griffith had a hearing test scheduled for 9 a.m. (He did great. Clear as a bell.) So I had to take Allan to the hospital outpatient area and Dr. Joe came up and put another one in. Poor Allan, always making it hard on himself.
Griffith gets a gold star this morning, though. We were busy trying to get Allan straightened up and headed to the right place and calling doctors, etc., and Griffith woke up, sweet as an angel, and didn't make a peep the whole time. Just entertained himself and watched what was going on. He is a high-intensity little fellow, but he also knows when to rein it in.

Dad made it back late last night. Griffith, the little angel, slept all night through for the first time in several weeks. (Allan sleeps through the night nearly all the time, bless him.) All the flirting with Lynn last night must have worn Griffith out. They giggled and tee-heed for hours. He did all of his tricks for her -- rolling over and back, pulling up and standing, almost crawling. Very impressive. She swears that his is the best baby laugh she has ever heard. It is pretty contagious. Allan had his time to shine, too. He doesn't waste time with all of the tricks. He goes right for snuggling and batting his lashes at her. Whatever works.

The boys and I are hanging out on another cold winter's night. Dad has been gone since Monday, but Allan and Griffith have held done the fort (with the help of Kim and Markus and Jennifer and Eric and Lynn, but who is keeping score?).
Things went relatively smoothly until last night when Allan decided to keep me up from midnight until 2 and then Griff woke up (as his now usual) at about 4 for a Scooby snack. We will all be glad for Dad to hit the door.
Allan is paying a lot more attention to Griffith these days. Don't know if that is a good thing or not. Last night they were lying on the bed beside each other and Griffith got to howling about some perceived slight from me. Allan watched him and became visibly more distressed until he joined in the chorus. Great. That's all I need. Both of you squawling. Where is your father any way? Ah, yes, eating a 'lovely' filet at Ruth's Chris and having a nice glass (or two) of wine. Yeah, enjoy it. You'll pay for that later, buddy. Not enough boxed wine in the world will make it okay for you to gloat.....
Speaking of howling, Griffith has just started again, so it is time to sign off.

A little smile from Allan

So much for the long winter's nap...

Griff just howled and woke his brother up. Fortunately, Allan woke up happy.

Griffith - action photo

Unfortunately the action is toppling over as he tries to figure out crawling.

Allan - settled in

Allan, ready for a long winter's nap.

Griffith - stuck

Stuck but not unhappy about it.

Griffith - stuck again

Griff can manage backward, but gets stuck under the coffee table, the couch and the armchairs.

Allan and his carrots

Savings bond mystery

If you sent the boys savings bonds, please identify yourself. The bonds arrived, but there is absolutely nothing showing us who sent them. We really appreciate it and would love to send a "thank you" but are stumped.

Cheryl and the carrots - part iii

Cheryl and the carrots - part II

Cheryl and Griffith - eating carrots.

Allan and his cords (II)

Looks like he is ready to change the oil.

Allan in his cords

Griffith - big, wide grin

Griffith in the new bouncy seat.

Warm as toast

Well, we are all snuggled in tonight after a cold and snowy day. Pork tenderloin is cooking in the oven. Dad is preparing to boil the life out of some carrots. And then smother them in butter. Why do the British hate vegetables? If it keeps him amused and out of my hair, I guess I shouldn't complain.
The big news is that Allan laughed out loud for the first time today. He smiles and laughs, but, until today, hasn't made a true laughing sound. He has been vocalizing a lot more in the past couple of weeks (so long as doctors and PTs aren't watching). He really seems to hit his stride from about 8 p.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. That's usually when we play rock-a-baby and act like we are going to run, run, run away and play like we are riding a bike. (Our own version of physical therapy.) Today, though, we were watching UK beat Tennesse and playing with some silly Leap Frog caterpillar that sings songs and, for whatever reason, two little butterflies and three little bumblebees struck him as very funny. Next thing I know I see a big, wide smile and hear something that isn't a 'gawk.' I would have thought that I imagined it except that he repeated it several times before it wasn't funny any more. The best part is that he sounds EXACTLY like Griffith when he laughs. Sort of a silly heh, heh, heh kind of chuckle. Very Beavis and Butthead. We hope that Allan decides that life is as funny as his brother finds it because Griff laughs all the time. Except for when he is howling in protest.
Griffith continues to be a whole lot of fun. Yesterday he learned to make a kissy face which amused him greatly. (What doesn't?) His girlfriend Caitlin came to visit and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Flora came to help yesterday because I needed to work in the morning and she is going to be off on Monday. She was so jealous that she wouldn't leave. She just sat and watched Caitlin and Griffith and resisted (just barely) snatching him back from her (who knows what would have happened if I hadn't been here?) The boys and I had a good long walk yesterday afternoon while the sun was out and it was warm. It is a good thing we did, since, by 4, it had turned bitter cold and has stayed that way.
On Friday we met with the lady from First Steps which is a program to coordinate different types of services for little guys like Allan. We are going to have someone come in to consult for speech therapy (because he still isn't very interested in feeding from the bottle) and physical therapy. Griffith was almost beside himself twisting around and trying to get the girl's attention. I am very afraid that we have quite a flirt on our hands.

Alice and Allan (II)

Alice and Allan, bonding.

Allan snuggling with Alice

Allan had to get his loving, too.

Alice and the boys

Griffith entertained Greg and Alice for dinner last night. He and Allan had formula (naturally) and we had sushi.

Preparing to launch

Griffith just hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate arms and legs. Thank goodness.

Preparing to launch

Griffith just hasn't quite figured out how to coordinate arms and legs. Thank goodness.

Allan - going bananas

Allan wasn't sure that the bananas were what he wanted for breakfast.