After the doctor visit yesterday, we have the following:

Height: 31 3/4" long/tall (50th-75% percentile)

Weight: 25 1/2 lbs (50th-75% percentile, down from the 80th he was in).

Still has the pesky iron issue though, which I can't figure out. He has to go back in today to get it rechecked. I mean, it's not like I feed him McDonalds every day. And he eats two super- nutritious meals at Miss Stacy's house every weekday. And he gets his iron drops every day. So why is it still hovering in the not-quite-normal scale? What am I doing wrong? *frown*

Any ideas? Lemme hear em.

That's really the best way to summarize the latest news in Mikey's life. He's getting to be smarter every day. I don't have measurements right now (I'll have those after the 20th), but there was getting to be so much to talk about, that I figured I'd better do so since I had a rare few minutes to do so.

Sure, the past six weeks has also been a time of firsts for him. Courtesy of his "Gamma" LaVern, Mikey got his first pair of shoes, a pair of Strid Rite Velcro sneakers. It took a bit of getting used to for him, but he figured out that he has better balance in them. And it's extra fun to kick the crap out of people with them on (my shins can attest to that). He also got his first haircut. You see, the top was the first bit of hair to come in, so, of course, it got that much longer that much faster. People kept saying he had a mohawk. Miss Stacie got on us to cut his hair, promising that it would make the rest of his head fill out better. And sure enough, it did. She's so smart! (And also has spaces open at her day care....if you are in need of care, let me know, she can hook you up. She's also doing a candle-selling fund raiser through 9/24. Let me know if you want to help out)

Speaking of Miss Stacie, she taught Mikey how to use light switches correctly. She showed him how to do it once, and since then, he's been a pro at using them. If we pass one, he points and says, "Light!" We have to stop, and let him turn the light on and off a couple of times.

That's a nice segueway into discussing his ever- growing vocabulary. The newest words he uses are the previously - mentioned "light", "book", "bird", "plane", "milk", "burn" (said while pointing to the stove), "juice", "this", "pretty" (even though it comes out right now sounding more like 'birdie'), and "Lurlene" (his name for Stacie's oldest child, Brittney...she doesn't know where he got that one from any more than we do). Oh yes, and much to my chagrin, "bitch". That's right, he called me that a couple of weeks ago. We were playing the naming game, where he says, "Mama", I follow it up with, "Baby", and back and forth. "Mama"..."Baby"...."Mama"....."Baby"....."B itch". I become dumbfounded, while Nathan tries his best not to break down laughing. I was not amused (at the time, anyway....).

Ahh, yes, and "lies!". See, apparently Miss Stacie took him to the park one day, and at the park, there was a lovely little girl that Mikey had eyes only for. When Stacie told this story to Nathan, Mikey kept trying to hush her up by saying, "Bye bye" and telling Nathan to "Go". When he didn't, Mikey pointed to Stacie and said, "Liiiiiiies!"

As that illustrated, he's getting a better grasp at what is said to him, and how to respond to it. For example, he's learning how to tell us he's wanting more food, or when he's done. "Do you want another bite?" "*head nod*" "Are you sure?" "*head nod*" "Ok, here you go. Want another one?" "*Head shake* Nuh uh." "Are you sure?" "*head nod*"

Another time, something with Jeff Foxworthy was on TV. He was asking the audience, "Who here has families?" and some people clapped. Then he asked, "Who here has CRAZY families?" and everyone cheered, laughed, and clapped.....including Mikey. Silly kiddo....

He also has taken to pointing to things and saying, "That?" We tell him what it is that he's pointing to, and he tries to repeat it. Much like the airplane story from last month.

Anyway, that's about it for now (at least, all that I think someone might be relatively interested in hearing about). Leave a comment if you would, please, so I see people are still reading my drivel. New pictures are up at Ofoto; if you want access, you know the drill. After his doctor appointment next week, I'll post his latest stats.

Until then...

Heddo!

First things first.

As you'll notice, this is like 2 weeks behind in me sending this off. I suck, I admit it. Life lately has been getting more and more in the way of quality blogging time, what can I say? So, with that in mind, Nathan and I are thinking of just sending these out occasionally, instead of on a regular month-to-month basis. Any objections? Let's hear em...email them or add them to the comments section. Also, we rebuilt my machine, and silly me forgot to save my Outlook contacts. So I inadvertedly waved adieu to the update distribution list. So if you're getting this, and don't want the email, my apologies, I was just trying to rebuild the list from memory. If you want off it, again, just email me.

So, with that out of the way, on to the stuff you WANT to know about, the adorable Baby Munkey.

The biggest news is that he finally decided to start walking! Just after he turned 13 months, Nathan and I were working with him, and he finally put two and two together and realized that he COULD in fact take more than a step or two and it would help him get places. Once he figured that out, there wasn't much stopping him. He just pops up, and starts walking. He now has been able to go about 20-25 feet before getting tuckered out and flopping on the floor. But he still manages to pop back up and do it again. Pretty cool, huh? He's also figured out he can use those long legs of his to help him climb on stuff. His favorite perching grounds are the shelf by the feet of Nathan's desk, and one of the comfy couches. And the dog, of course; now if he could just get Wrigley to cooperate, he'd have himself a riding pet.

He's also getting more responsive to what we're saying to him. The newest word in his vocabulary is, "Heddo!" accompanied by a wave and a smile. It's the cutest thing you could possibly ever see. And he's picking up more on what we're saying TO him, and he knows to respond with head nods or shakes, and with the correct word. He also manages to say "whatchadoooin?" to try to figure out what we're up to.

A new thing he figured out is peekaboo. But does he play it like a typical baby? Oh no. He'll either find the closest cloth, and hold it over his eyes until you play along and start asking, "Where's Mikey?" As soon as you do, he rips the cover away with a huge grin, so we can respond, "THERE he is!!" He's just started holding an arm over one of his eyes in true drama queen fashion and peeking at you with the other eye. While he does that, if you don't respond soon enough, he starts waving with that same arm, as if to say, "Here's a hint, I'm right here!"

Another thing he's doing is trying to figure out more about the world around him. If there's something he wants you to notice, he'll grab a handful of your shirt, pull it until you look at him, then point to something. You tell him what it is, and he seems to start processing it. For example, he loves the airplanes that always are flying over our house. He'll grab my shirt, and point to it. I say, "That's an airplane." Then Nathan later on will ask him, "Mikey, where's the airplane?" and he points up to the sky.

He's also trying to figure out on his own how to read. He'll grab a book, look through it the correct way, and babbles as if he's reading it aloud. He also knows what the phone is used for (he grabs it, and says "Heddo!" into it), as well as the remote. Many a time we've been watching a movie, and he grabs the tuner remote, presses whatever button it is he presses, and suddenly the sound and volume sound a million times better.

Speaking of sound, he's trying to start a career as a musician. He plucks at Nathan's guitar all the time, as well as trying to play the keyboard we have. And actually is pretty good at it.

On the health front, his iron levels have finally started to improve with him taking the iron drops every day. The doctor still wants him to keep taking them, though, so that they can get even higher. Good for him and his body, bad for Mama and Dada's sense of smell when changing his diapers. He's also up to 10 teeth now (one of them being a dreaded molar), with the 11th and 12th soon to pop up, I'm sure. Good for his ability to try new foods now, bad for Mama and Dada's fingers

Shutterfly is about to be shut down any day now, so if you want to look at new pictures of him, make sure to look at the Ofoto page. If you need access to it, just let me know. And don't forget to leave a comment here!



Until next time...

Heddo!

(see, because he says that for hello AND goodbye...)

Ali

The stats are in:

Weight: 24 lb, 2 oz

Height: 31"

Damn, no wonder we call him Goliath!

Happy birthday baby Munkey!!!

It's so hard to believe that it's been a full year since that amazing little boy first graced us with his presence. I'm still in awe that one little kid could so drastically change your life (for the better, of course).

He's getting better and better about standing and walking. While holding onto something, he can stand for a long period of time, and walk around where he needs to get to. When he lets go, he only gets to stand for a second or two before he falls, but he's getting the hang of it.

He's adding more and more words to his vocabulary every day. The newest ones are "water", "bottle", "cup", and "Wigley". He's also mastered when to use "dada", "mama", "yeah", and especially "NO!!" He's also working on "love you" and "thank you".

Mikey's ball-playing skills are getting sharper by the day. Regardless of the size, he catches them when rolled to him, and rolls it back with no issue (get your minds out of the gutter, all you 12 year olds...). And, much to Nathan's delight, he is showing left-hand dominance.

His pediatrician appointment is today, so I don't have updated size specs yet. When I get them, I'll revise this...

His whirlwind family visit-filled month went well. He finally got to meet his Aunt Andye and Uncle Tony (Nathan's sister and brother in law) as well as seeing his MeMaw and PawPaw again. He also got to meet his Aunt Jill and Uncle Larry finally. And today is the last day of Lavern's week-long visit.

While Lavern is in town, we get to go out to dinner every night to places we normally wouldn't go to. For example, the other night we all went to a hibachi steakhouse. Mikey thought it was a riot, and ate every single thing in site.

His birthday party last Saturday was a smashing success. To everyone who got to make it there, thank you so much for joining us. To those that didn't, you missed a great time. He had so much fun, and made out like a bandit.

New photos are up at the Ofoto site. If you need access to it, shoot me an email. And since I haven't gotten a chance to finish the conversion from the Snapfish site in full, that one is still active.

Thank you to everyone for sharing in Mikey's first year with us. It's because of you that he has the best extended family that a Baby Munkey could hope for. We love you!

-- Ali

(p.s. - if this sounds like rambling, please forgive me. Ths is the fourth time I've had to type this. Someone kept distracting me, and making me accidentally delete this. Grrr...)