On Saturday Doug, Adin, Zane, Grandpa & I went to Remlinger Farms in Carnation. Adin absolutely loved it – he rode on a steam train ride first and then explored the bus, fire truck, train cars and tractors that were open for the kids to play with. We visited with the animals in the barn – chickens, rabbits, goats and a donkey. There were some vending machines with food for the animals which Adin was interested in and playing around with. He managed to got some food from it and gave the food to me so I could feed the goats – they were a little intimidating for Adin since they were climbing up on the fences of their pens & poking their heads out as far as they could. Adin thought it was pretty funny when I fed the goats so he found some more food for me to do again and then he got bold enough to put some food into one of the goat’s feeding trays. Next Adin rode on some more rides - he went on canoes which went around the water and the Ferris wheel. He went on those rides by himself, there weren’t many kids on the canoe ride so he got to go around in the canoe several times and he had a long Ferris wheel ride since he was the only one on at the time. Next up was the flying pumpkins – Adin had never been on any rides like these before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I went on the flying pumpkin with him & he absolutely loved it. When it was time for us to get off he said that he wanted to do it again and kept trying to climb into another pumpkin instead of exiting the ride. I explained that we needed to get off the ride since other kids were waiting but that we could go get in line again. Adin asked Doug to go with him this time and again had fun flying in the pumpkin. After that turn Adin had said he wanted to go on the roller coast which he saw nearby so he went on that with Doug & Grandpa. Adin loved the roller coaster too and asked to go on it again. While Adin was on the rides one of us sat on a bench with Zane. He was perfectly content to observe everything around him and here we thought that he would be bored! After the roller coaster ride we walked over to the antique cars which went around on a track – Adin sat in the front of the car driving and Doug, Zane & I sat in the back. Adin wanted to ride that one again too so Grandpa went on it with him. We all took one last ride on the steam train before heading into the restaurant for lunch. After finishing up lunch we decided to pack up & head home since it was already 2:00 pm and the boys were getting tired. Adin protested about leaving and said he wanted to go on more rides. We told him that we would come to the farm again another day and he seemed somewhat satisfied by that answer. Both boys were sound asleep 5 minutes into our drive home. It was a truly wonderful day with the family!
Adin went to camp today for the first time. He was very excited about going & was talking about it last night and again when he woke up this morning. This was the first time that we had ever dropped him off somewhere on his own before so this morning I think I was more anxious & nervous than he was! I drove Adin to the camp this morning and when we arrived I needed to sign him in and fill out some paperwork that they didn’t have on-hand for us. While I was doing that Adin went off & started playing with a garage and some cars. I spoke to the teacher for a few minutes and then went over to say goodbye to Adin. He couldn’t care less that I was leaving!
I arrived to pick Adin up at noon and all the kids were in the wading pool. Adin didn’t see me at first so I stood watching him for a few minutes. He started looking around at some other mothers that had arrived so I walked over to him and when he saw me his little eyes lit up and he gave me a big smile which made my heart melt a little bit. He reached his arms up toward me and I asked him if he wanted to get out of the pool. He said yes because he was cold so I met him at the steps. The teacher saw me getting Adin out of the pool so she came over to talk with me about the day. She said that everything went well except when they went out to the playground Adin had cried a little bit, it didn’t last long as they were able to distract him & get him involved in playing with the other kids.
While we were walking back to the locker room Adin told me that he was so happy to see me and that he did cry on the playground because he missed me. He asked if I missed him too and I said that I did but it didn’t make me sad because I knew he was having fun at camp & that we would see each other soon. We talked a little more about camp while we were in the car and again while we had lunch with Daddy & Grandpa. Adin was very honest about his feelings, that he had fun when he first got there but when they went outside he felt a little bit sad because he missed mommy so he started to cry. I reminded him of his Llama-llama book where the baby Llama felt the same way & just like in the book I came to get him at the end of his day. I’m very proud to see how well he handled his first experience of being dropped off and equally as proud with his abilities to share his thoughts & feelings about that experience with us.
Arriving for first day of camp!
In swimming pool at camp
At 7 months Zane is doing great! He has really been enjoying eating solid foods and so far has eaten carrots, spinach, peas & pumpkin. He has liked all those veggies and as a result of eating he is reducing the amount of formula that he drinks by an ounce or two each feeding. It seems that he would much rather have solid food than drink his bottles now. The reduced formula could also be a result of his desire to interact & observe what is going on while he’s drinking from a bottle. Gone are the days when he was happy to lay back in our arms and calmly drink from his bottle!
Zane is sitting up well on his own now but does still occasionally topple over. He gets pretty upset when he falls over, I think he is still trying to figure out what happened & what he can do about it. Zane is also really enjoying his Jumper-roo. We put him in it for the first time last week and he loved it. He was giggling & laughing like we’ve never heard him do before.
He is still a good sleeper and is being pretty consistent with having both a morning & afternoon nap. Some days he has a shorter morning nap if he is out & about with Doug and Adin but if he is at home he’ll sleep between 1 to 2 hours in the morning and then has a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Zane has been getting up earlier than when he was an infant, he usually wakes around 6:30. We leave him in his crib for a little while to ensure he doesn’t actually want to sleep more and occasionally he will fall back to sleep (Thursday morning he slept in until 9:30) but most days he’s ready to get up. He always has a big smile on his face when we go into his room & say good morning. Zane’s bed time is still between 7 – 7:30.
Zane’s disposition is still the same – calm & content. He talks up a storm and is experimenting with different sounds. He reaches for everything in sight so we need to be mindful of his surroundings and are trying to teach Adin to do the same.
Zane had his first solid food today – carrots. We fed him some carrots in the morning & again at lunch time and he really seemed to enjoy them. He didn’t make any funny faces, he opened his mouth wide for the spoon and watched us intently for the next bite. Adin enjoyed watching Zane eat for the first time and thinks that we should give him some pumpkin next.
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On Friday Zane went for his 6 month well child visit. His height is 27.75” (75 – 90 percentile), weight is 18 lbs. 12 oz. (75 – 90 percentile) and head circumference is 18.25” (<97 percentile). Everything went well with the appointment and by all accounts Zane is a healthy little boy. He had a vaccination at the appointment and didn’t even cry. He was, however, a bit out of sorts on Saturday so we think it may have been due to the vaccine. Zane has a rash on his chest that is caused by his propensity to spit up & drool so his doctor recommended covering with a band-aid which has been helping. Last Tuesday we had our first home visit with the physical therapist that will be working with us to build up Zane’s right neck muscles. She gave us quite a few ”exercises” to do with Zane like lying him down on his left side when picking him up, placing toys on his left side when he is on his tummy and bouncing & leaning him slightly to his right side so he uses his right neck muscles more. Over the last couple of weeks (even before we started his physical therapy) it seems that he is tilting his head to the left less frequently though he still does tilt his head toward his chest especially if he has been sitting up for a long period of time. Zane is sitting quite well on his own now though he does still topple over when he tries reaching for something that is too far out of his reach. He’s also been enjoying playing in his excersaucer - he likes to jump in it so I think we’ll get out the jumperoo soon and see how he does with that.
After a unusually cold & wet Spring we finally had some warm sunny weather this weekend. Temperatures finally got into the 70s over the weekend so we spent lots of time outside. Adin & I went to Idyllwood Park on Saturday morning to play on the playground and dig in the sand. Over the last few months we’ve visited the park on several occasions and Adin has usually been the only child there but this weekend there were lots of families out enjoying the sunny weather. After nap time all of us went outside and Doug & Adin worked on planting our veggies in the garden boxes. Now that the evening temperatures are staying close to 50 degrees they should be safe from the weather. We are all looking forward to harvesting the veggies in a few weeks & enjoying them in a meal.
On Sunday Doug took Adin to swim class and then they head to Magnuson Park in Seattle for an event called Touch a Truck. There were about a dozen different trucks there that were opened up for the kids to explore. Adin got to sit & climb on quite a few different trucks like a garbage truck, fire truck and big rig. The event was crowded and there were lines to get into each truck but Adin waited patiently for his turn. Zane & I spent the morning at home and he took a much-needed 2 hour nap in the morning. After Zane’s nap we played for a little while inside and then we went out for a walk in the Bjorn. I decided to head over to Ardmore Park and walk on the paths in the woods. Zane really seemed to enjoy it, he was looking at all the trees & flowers. Several times he looked up at the tall trees and especially enjoyed when we crossed paths with a bird. After our walk I fed Zane & he took another nap. Zane slept until Adin woke up & started talking outside of his door. Zane seems to be more sensitive to noise now and tends to wake up when he hears us talking so we’ve been trying to quickly usher Adin past Zane’s door when he’s sleeping.
Adin has been quite defiant over the past week. He wants to squabble about every little thing – he doesn’t like what we make for him to eat (even when he’s specifically requested said food item), he has been aggressive especially towards me with lots of yelling & hitting and says he won’t listen to my words when I’m explaining that it is wrong to yell & hit, he’ll purposefully knock something over & then doesn’t want to help clean it up and the list goes on and on. We hope that this phase passes quickly.
Everyone is slowly getting back to full health. Adin is mostly over his cold though each day he does say that he is still sick. It has become a favorite excuse for why he cannot do things. Fortunately Zane’s cold did not worsen and he’s only dealing with a occassional runny nose. I’m on my second round of antibiotics since my ear infection has not cleared up. It’s been 3 weeks now that I’ve not been feeling well & it’s getting old!
Here’s hoping that our warm weather stays and we don’t have anymore 50 degree days until the Fall.
