2 Words

I think we just had a first! Bud and BV came to work today for lunch and one of mommy's co-workers gave Bud a Fisher-Price Pop-Onz turtle with motorcycle. They're toys that little kids can join together easily. The turlte was on the motorcycle and Bud said, "Turtle off."

For some reason Bud calls his cousin Colin, Ty-Ty. It's pretty cool that he has a name for him but we have no idea how he got Ty-Ty out of Colin.

Shots, Tree, Sick, Sounds, Elmo

Bud had his 15 month check-up yesterday and it was not a pleasant experience, for any of us! As soon as we walked into the room where they weigh him and check his length he started crying. He was at the office the past three months for shots and can remember everything. I don't think we got a very acurate weight because he kept moving around and trying to jump off, but the nurse got him as being 20 1/4 lbs and 30 1/2 inches long. Then when we got into our room he cried some more, and then even more when the doctor came in. He did not want to be touched at all! But it was cute because he got to wear a blue robe and he looked like a mini Heffner :) Makes me want to get him a bath robe. He got his shots including the chickenpox vaccine, he cried of course, but they're his last shots until he goes to school! The doctor said he's doing very well and even went up a percentile in weight! We also learned that we are the only country to use pacifiers. The baby companies just market them heavily to make more money. The doc said that they are useful in the first 4-5 months for comfort but after that they should be taken away.

The word of the month is tree. The first word out of Bud's mouth when he wakes up from naps and in the morning is tree. We got our tree this weekend and it looks really nice. Bud didn't get to help decorate it because he just wanted to get into everything, but maybe next year he can help out.

Last week he had his first illness complete with getting sick to his stomach then he got a cold. He still has the runny nose but so far it hasn't gotten into his lungs.

Remember the guy in Police Academy and Space Balls who mimics every sound? That's Bud right now. He likes sounds and will try to make them himself. For example, I cut his hair last night and he was making a sound like the sizzors did as I cut. And he loves making car nosies while he plays with his cars and trucks.

His favorite toy to carry around right now is a little plastic Elmo figurine. BV and him watched Seasame Street the other day and Bud recognized Elmo. Last night we couldn't find Elmo and Bud just kept repeating Elmo, Elmo until we found him. He was holding Elmo when he went to bed and I didn't dare take it away from him. He knocked his pacifier out of bed but woke up holding Elmo.

New Things

Bud just keeps surprising us with new things! Last week we were playing with his wooden stacking rings and when he pulled the yellow one off he said "purple." Everytime BV and him play with the rings BV tells him what color each ring is, and it's starting to stick in his brain that the colors have names. Also, one night I showed him how he can stack one block on top of another and he did it himself!

He's walking almost full time now and is getting so comfortable with it that he carries stuff around. One day he carried his Fisher Price school bus down the hall and into the kitchen. We bought a package of diapers last night and I set them on the floor at the end of the hallway and he picked them up and carried them all the way down the hall and into his room, then carried them back to the kitchen! When we visited Zach & Nicole last weekend they had a disposable camera that Bud was walking around with and he would put it up to his eye (while walking) and pretend to take pictures. Bud and Colin play really well together now (Bud doesn't hit Colin near as much as he used to). It's really cute because Colin follows Bud around everywhere he goes and watches him very closely.

The best new thing of all happened this morning; I was leaving for work and told Bud goodbye and said I love you - and he said I love you back to me! We've been trying to get him to say love you for awhile now but he doesn't say "l" words very often. He repeats what we say often and I hope this one sticks in his vocabulary! Another of his new words is "pretty;" I had my socks off the other day and my toenails are painted and Bud pointed at my toes and said "pretty." We visited my parents last weekend and my Mom keeps trying to get Bud to say Grandma. Then we asked him to say Grandma T and he now calls her "ah T", like ma T without the "m" sound.

We're also finding it difficult to get Bud to stop doing something that we don't want him to do. We tell him "don't pull Mommy's hair" or "don't touch the VCR" (we have it barricaded but he's tall enough now he can reach it) but he keeps going back to whatever it is we don't want him to do. When we get mad at him he just laughs, which either then makes us more mad or we just chill out because it's hard to take him seriously. One day Bud was resisting his nap and was just chatting away in bed. BV went in and said, "Shhhh!" and Bud just scrunched up his nose and said "Shhhh!" right back at him. We think Bud knows what things he's not supposed to do because as he's reaching for something he'll say, "No, no, no." We try not to use "no" a lot but obviously we said it too many times that he learned the meaning.

I think I have given enough of an update for now. Happy Thanksgiving!

New Discoveries

Yesterday BV and Bud were playing with an empty veggie puffs container (tall cylindrical shape). BV started putting some toys in the container and took them out. Bud was very interested in this and started putting toys in and taking them out. BV said Bud kept trying different shapes and sizes of things to see what would fit. He even figured out that the giraffe could only go in one way. This went on for 1/2 an hour. Once Bud learns something new he wants to master it right away; he's so determined. He also learned yesterday that he can put Cheerios down the vent :( And he figured out how to open the laundry/furnace room door (a bi-fold door on a track) :( Now we need to find a lock for the door. It was a major day of learning and discovery for him! At bedtime I started picking Bud's toys up and asked him to put his stuffed animals back in their crate - and he actually did it! Of course he had to take some out and practice putting them in a few times and ultimately I had to put them in the crate, but it's a step in the right direction.

He's definitely getting taller and heavier and should be 20.5 pounds by now, so it's time to turn the car seat around, yippee! Hopefully this will make long car rides more enjoyable for all of us :)

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet...

We had a good time trick-or-treating with Aunt Nicole, Uncle Zach and Colin the Hershey Kiss! We went to Uncle Andy and Aunt Jess' house and got to play with Maggie and eat yummy candy. Then we went to BV's Uncle Leon and Aunt Mary's house and Uncle Don, Aunt Shirley, Chad, Linda, Morgan, Harrison, Scott, Melissa, & Jack showed up, too! Morgan was Spiderman, Harrison was Superman, and Jack was a cowboy (how fitting since Bud was a bull calf). The kids were all very cute and we got a picture of all of them together but I've yet to obtain a copy.
BV shared a sucker with Bud later that night and Bud giggled after every taste he got - soo cute.

Earlier that day BV and I joined Christ the King Lutheran church here in Iowa City - we're so glad to finally have a church community to attend regularly. We hope to have Bud baptized around Christmas time when our families will (hopefully!) be around.

We plan to go to Guttenberg this weekend to help Ben's parents put a new roof on the porch and we'll definitely be at the Thanksgiving/Christmas get-together for JoAnn's side of the family on Thanksgiving day.

Talk to you all soon!

KV :D

More walking, New molar, New words, Fun weekends

Bud is taking more steps every day! He's trying so hard to walk, he is now taking off on his own without us having to coax him to let go and walk. I think the most steps he has taken is about 8, and you could tell he was really concentrating on his balance! Most of the time he gets so excited he takes a few steps and leans forward and falls.

He started getting a new molar behind one of his 12 mth. molars and was in quite a mood Sunday night. But after some Tylenol he was fine, went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 9:45 Monday morning! Plus he took his two normal naps at 11 and 3. It's getting harder to put him to bed because he doesn't have a set bedtime right now. We've been letting him stay up so that when the time changes he won't be going to bed at 7:00. I try to put him to bed at 9:00 but he isn't sleepy and starts to wail so we play some more and then I try again at 9:30 and it still takes at least 15 minutes of crying and more milk for him to fall sleep.

Bud is up to 24 words/sounds. The newest words are night night, wa wa (water), E (eat), and TD (name of stuffed football guy that uncle CPT gave him), and as of last night uh-uh (as in what mama says instead of no).

We plan to trick-or-treat at family members' houses Sunday night and Bud is going as a bull calf. We don't have our pumpkins yet so we'd better get on that this week. We went for a drive and took pictures at a park two weekends ago and this past weekend we celebrated Bud's great-grandpa's 80th birthday so we'll have new pictures up soon. Bud had a good time meeting and playing with his 2nd cousin from Florida. We hope they can play again at Christmas!

A couple more

Tuesday night bud took at least 2 more steps, it may have been 3 or 4. I got him to let go of what he was holding onto and he ran at me! He went so fast I couldn't count his steps. Last night he had been holding onto me and let go and just stood there, then squatted down - he did that twice. I think he is learning a little more independence every day.

One Step at a Time

On Friday BV was able to get Bud to take one step without holding onto anything!! He did it for me when I got home too, and will still take the one step and then lunge at us. As soon as he gets his balance down he'll be taking more steps.

Already October

I can't believe it's October already and Bud will be 13 months old in a few days! We went to the apple orchard again this year and Uncle Zach, Aunt Nicole and Colin joined us. The boys had fun playing with the apples and we got their picture on a huge pumpkin. We look forward to picking out pumpkins at a patch in the next few weeks. As of now Bud is going to be a cow for Halloween. Grandma accidentally grabbed the cow costume and not the dalmation, but Bud makes a really cute bull calf so we might just keep it!

We've been counting the number of words he knows and the number is around 20. Most of the words he pronounces pretty accurately, except diaper is sometimes di di and bottle is ba ba. He can even say Cheerio! He's also very good at sharing things with us, but almost always expects us to give the item back :) And about once a day he stands unassisted but hasn't taken any steps, yet.

He has been playing with cousin Colin a lot lately and they do well together. Bud occasionally runs Colin over, but is getting better at just patting his head instead of hitting. Colin is crawling and pulling himself up now so he'll follow Bud around; it's so cute. Zach and Nicole babysat Bud the other night and the boys just played independently.

We are finally joining a church! If it all works out we will have Bud baptized around Christmas when our families will (hopefully) be in the Midwest.

Bud is also starting to have some separation anxiety. Monday when I left for work he was sobbing and crying out "bye!" which actually sounds like die, so it was kind of a dramatic scene. And when BV left him with Aunt Nicole Bud went to the door, cried a little and patted the door and said Dada. But within a few minutes he's okay.

I should get back to work now, I think that about does it for this update. Later!

KLV :D

One Year Check Up

Bud had his check-up today and he weighs 18.5 lbs. and is 29.5 inches long! He's still in the 3 percentile for weight and 50 percentile for length, but the doctor said as long as he doesn't dip below these percentiles he's okay. She said he's just a little peanut and is doing great. He got two shots and did not like that at all and he had his finger pricked to get a blood sample to test for lead (even though he's not at risk) and to test for anemia to make sure he's getting enough iron in his diet. He didn't even flinch when his finger was pricked but he did NOT like having his finger squeezed to get the blood out. He was very mad about that but when I talked to BV at 2:00 he said Bud had been sleeping since 11:30. I guess all he needed was a long nap!

We're just so amazed at how many words Bud tries to say. At the doctor's office there is a big turtle on the wall and I pointed it out to him and told him what it's called and he said turtle!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Bud can climb up on the couch now and he'll sit for about a minute and watch tv with us. It's so cute because he totally reclines and gets comfortable. And of course he crawls back and forth across the couch and thinks that's so much fun.

I'll write more when something new happens!

KV :)

Birthday Boy

Well we survived the first big birthday bash! Bud had a good time playing with all of his new toys as he opened them and played all day Sunday and Monday. It's so nice that he has toys he can interact with! We had tons of fun watching him slide head first down his slide without fear! And we can now add the word slide to his vocabulary.

Besides all of his presents he's also getting 3 teeth for his birthday! Last week BV discovered a molar about half way back on the bottom and yesterday I could see the teeth next to his two front teeth starting to show. I hope they don't start cutting through on his bday tomorrow :(

Belly Balancing

Just this week Bud has been leaning against things with his belly and letting go to play using his hands! We also started him on whole milk last week and he hasn't had any problems with it. We're so glad to be off of the formula! We're feeding him more non-baby jar foods and he likes most everything, especially stuff he can feed to himself.

If you didn't notice, I added a new page to his site entitled Close Encounters. I'll try to keep it updated with new stuff that he "encounters."

He tries to say new words a lot, for example the other day I gave him a piece of toast and told him what it was and he tried saying it, only it came out toas, he couldn't get the st sound out. And he says bye only it sounds like dye; not the best farewell greeting but he'll figure it out soon!

KTV :D

Shake n' Cruise!

Not a lot has happened since I last posted, but Bud has started cruising while holding onto the furniture. And over the weekend he started doing what I call a chimpanzee crawl - he crawls with his hands and his tip toes! It's hilarious! I wonder if he thinks that is closer to walking than crawling? Let's see, vocabulary...he said the word shake yesterday! When I make his bottle I hold and bounce him and say "shake, shake, shake" while I shake the bottle. Well yesterday he said "shake, shake" before I even started shaking!

Sorry there aren't any pictures on the August page, they're all still on my camera! We'll be in D-port this weekend so we'll get some with my mom's digital and I'll get those posted ASAP.

KV :D

Past Few Weeks

I didn't complete my update from when we were on vacation...Bud learned to point while we were gone - he was pointing at the hummingbirds at Grandma and Grandpa V.'s house and he has pointed at the neighbor's dogs and said doggies.  He has become a pro at standing up and then sitting back down.  Only occasionally will he bump his face.  He hasn't started "cruising" around the furniture but that will come soon.  Also, he now has his top two teeth!  We'll be able to give him more chewable foods and get him off the baby food jars.   We've started planning his birthday party already -It's hard to believe that he's almost a year old!

KV  :D  

Relaxation

Our vacation was awesome, very relaxing but we also got some exercise by hiking and canoeing.  We also got quite a few mosquito and fly bites - the only uncomfortable part of the trip.  It was so nice not having a schedule and doing things when we felt like it.  I should get some pics on Kodak's website tomorrow. 
Bud had a ton of fun with his grandparents - he laughs more now!  And one of his top teeth came through!  He must be working on the other tooth because he's been very crabby since we got back to IC :(  Speaking of Bud, he's taking all of the CDs out of the tower so I've got to go!

Vacation!

BV and I are long overdue for a vacation so we're going camping in Minnesota Wednesday-Sunday! Bud is going to have his own vacation with both sets of grandparents. It's actually good timing for us because he's getting his top two teeth and has been crabby :) While we're going to miss him (we've never been away from him for more than one night), we need the rest and relaxation!

We think Bud tries to say doggies, but it comes out augies, and we know he understands what clap means because he'll clap when we ask him to and he claps to pat-a-cake when we sing it to him. He's also started being shy around people - he'll turn his head away and hide in our shoulder, it's so cute! He also finds it amusing to look at the world upside down. Last night he had a few giggle fits when I was letting him bend backwards while holding him.

Thank you to everyone who has ever bought Bud toys, but we're sorry to say that he hardly plays with them! He would rather pull all of my socks out of their bin and throw them around (I now have a pile of socks just for him to play with) or play with paper. Have I mentioned how determined he is? He is determined to get to the things that we don't want him to play with (cords, swinging closet door, the panel on the dishwasher, the greasy sliding door track). We can pull him away and tell him not to touch and he just keeps going back until we get a barricade up. I have started a first birthday wish list on amazon.com and put more challenging toys on it for him (stacking toys, trucks, etc.). But he may have more fun if you just give him a box of socks and some paper. :)

I'll write another update when we get back from vacation to tell you how much Bud enjoyed the time with his grandparents.

:D

More Firsts!

Holy cow, we can't believe how fast Bud is starting to learn things! Last night we both saw him go from laying on his back to sitting and then later in the evening he pulled up on the coffee table to standing! He hadn't pulled up on the coffee table before because it's kinda high. He's definitely going to be a lot harder to handle now that he can get to more things!

His word of the week is "Hi" and we think he actually understands it because he says it at the proper times and waves sometimes when he says it. :)

We had him weighed yesterday and he has gained 12 oz. in 3 weeks, so hopefully he'll start gaining one pound a month!

Today is his 10 month birthday - only 2 more months til his first bithday, it's so hard to believe!

:D

Uh-Oh!

BV just called to tell me Bud did something new today - he climbed a stair. BV was in the laundry room and heard Bud saying, "eh, eh, eh," he turned around and there was Bud up on the bottom step. He couldn't go up anymore and he couldn't get down. It's kinda funny and a milestone, but of course we know it's dangerous, Mom, and we'll be buying a gate this weekend. :)

Another "new" this week, and not so dangerous, is that he's clapping! He had kinda been moving his hands together last week but not making contact. Grandma T. was babysitting Tuesday and evidently played a lot of pat-a-cake 'cause when I got home Bud was clapping!

Pulling Up

Thursday night Bud had another first! He was laying on his tummy and I was up on the couch. I put a block on the edge of the cushion and with a big grunt he pulled himself first to his knees then stood up!

I posted new photos again today - Bud with some puppies and Bud with BV on Father's Day - they're very cute!

KTV :D

Updates to the Site

Hello everyone!

I have updated a few of Bud's pages with some new photos. Not a lot is new with Bud this week - he's self-feeding with finger foods pretty well and waving more often. One thing he's doing that we're not crazy about is pinching and hitting our faces when he doesn't want us to hold him-and it hurts! Over the weekend he crawled up on his knees about five paces, but otherwise it's still just the Army crawl. I discovered our tent is a really good place to read a book while spending time with Bud. We camped out at Grandma & Grandpa V's house last weekend. I took Bud out to the tent so I could read Harry Potter and so Bud couldn't get away from me. We both enjoyed it very much!

KTV :D

Welcome!

Welcome to Bud's blog! Hopefully we'll keep this up to date on what's going on in his life. We had his 9 month check up yesterday and he weighs 16 lbs. and is 27 1/2 inches long. He has been learning a lot of new stuff in the past few weeks. Besides Army crawling all over the house, he recently started waving and giving kisses - it's so sweet! We're starting to move away from the bottle and jarred baby food and give him his sippy cup and table food more often.

That's all I have for now, blog you later!
KTV :D