Nine Month Check Up

weight 23 pounds, 4 ounces (up 4 pounds 4.5 ounces)
height 30 inches (up 2.5 inches)

Letter To Santa

Karina's first letter to Santa (as scribed by Aunt Beth)

So Sick And Skinny!

These last few weeks have been really tough on Karina. As I mentioned a few entries ago, Karina, Tommy and I have been throwing around a virus or two, but little did I realize that much worse was still to come...especially for Karina! The poor dear had already had some minor illnesses and then the night before Tom left for Las Vegas for 4 days, she woke up crying at 12:30am saying, "Mommy, my neck hurts!" which I interpreted to mean she had a sore throat. My mom always told the story about Quentin saying this exact phrase as a child when he had sore throat! Anyway, she was sick and ended up having a pretty good fever for the next two days.

Watching TV with a fever

The only "good" (and I use the term loosely) thing about Karina getting sick when she did, was that she didn't make it to school for Father's Visitation Day, which Tom had to miss because of his trip to Las Vegas. We'd both been feeling badly that he wasn't going to be there and Karina would have to be father-less when all the other daddies were at school with their kids. Since she wasn't even at school, she didn't have to feel different from the other kids, without a Daddy at school. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, her appetite was significantly decreased with the fever and took a few more days to return.

Napping with her kitty, Bart

Then about a week later, Karina had a date with Opa to go out for lunch and then to the movie "Ice Age II." According to Opa, Karina spit up at McDonald's...into his hands of all places...but he thought maybe she was just anxious because she said she felt okay. So they went to the movie, but halfway through the movie Karina asked to go home. We didn't make too much of the afternoon's events until that night when she began vomiting. Luckily, it didn't happen more than once and she slept through the night, but it was definitely not just "spit up!" She had only vomited one other time when she was a lot younger and she didn't seem to remember it, so this was pretty upsetting to Karina. She didn't have an appetite for a couple of days, but woke up the second morning saying, "I feel all better, Mommy!" She may have felt better but she was still weak and repeatedly told me, "I'm so tired!" The next day was Tuesday and Tom, Tommy, Grandma and Opa went to Bella's for burgers and ice cream, for which Karina said she was "...so hungry!" but when it came time to eat she only cried because she was afraid to eat and said, "I might spit up again!"

Karina looks so skinny and this was before the vomiting!

The next day, Karina mentioned that her throat felt scratchy, and I was worried that she was getting sick again, but luckily it didn't end up being anything and she finally felt safe enough to

eat a week after the vomiting. We went to Bella's again, just for her, and she happily ate her cheeseburger and hot fudge sundae. Thank goodness, because it was bringing tears to my eyes to see how weak and skinny my normally big strong girl had become!

Oh My, The Things Tommy Can Do!

Playing with Opa

Tommy continues to be a very active and good natured little boy. He's really trying to get on the move and has begun creeping along the floor using his arms to pull himself and his toes to push himself. He doesn't really get very far when he's on the carpet, but when he's on the hardwood floor he can cover some distance. Like his Uncle Quentin, Tommy seems to do the same "one-armed army crawl" (as I call it) that we have a movie of Uncle Quentin doing when he was a baby. Instead of using both arms and legs in opposition to wriggle low along the ground, (like they always show in movies when depicting military personnel in boot camp training) both Quentin and Tommy use(d) primarily their right arm and legs to propel themselves forward a little bit and then use(d) the right arm to drag themselves a foot along the floor. Last week when I got home from work in the evening, Tommy was so excited to see me he used his arms to pull himself across 15 feet of hardwood flooring just to hug me! It was so sweet! Talk about feeling missed and loved!

Tommy's also been working hard on standing without holding on to anything. When standing next to a couch or chair, he's able to let go and keep his balance briefly, but doesn't seem to grasp that if he'd lean into the object he wouldn't have to keep his balance the whole time. If I'm not there to catch him, he eventually falls backwards! But just two days ago, he was standing at the high chair, holding onto the foot rest which is at waist level, focusing on something in his hands and without realizing it, he was standing there for a few seconds all by himself! We both became aware of what he had just done! I gasped and Tommy laughed! I was surprised that he seemed to be as excited about his accomplishment as I was!

"Uh Oh!" (First Word?)

The week before Thanksgiving, while Karina, Tommy and I continued to pass around the sniffles, Tommy had his first experience with a fever. He got up to 102 degrees, which in babies is not actually that high but still high enough to make a little boy feel terrible! While I was at work it hit Tommy really hard in the evening and he cried inconsolably for 25 minutes with Daddy before I came home. This is not our Tommy, who like Karina, really hardly cries at all and certainly not for 25 straight minutes! Luckily, the acetaminophen and ibuprofen worked wonders and Tommy was able to sleep without major disruption overnight and awoke happy and laughing! Thank Goodness!

"Peekaboo!"

As I stood over him with a pile of clean laundry I dragged a quilted sheet over Tommy. I covered and uncovered Tommy's face, saying "Peekaboo!" He was in hysterics! He also thinks Karina is hilarious! She makes funny faces and noises while I'm changing Tommy's diaper up on the table, and Tommy just laughs maniacally! This seems to be especially common in the evening when we're all a bit slap happy!

Super Sweet Tommy

11/18 putting things in his mouth--swallowed a sticker 11/18 and a plastic confetti flower 10/09
seems to like sleepsacks since he can roll over-seems to roll over more easily
11/25 uh-oh first word?
11/23 eating puffs 11/28 eating cheerios
11/29 ah-tee, ah-tee for kitty

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tommy The Turkey and Tommy

The whole grandkid gang at Opa and Mary's

The little ones displaying their talent at sitting up!

Playing Around In The Foyer

Just experimenting with some video taken with our camera. The battery usually runs out before I stop filming...as it did in this video.

...And Here They Are!

Headline: "Tommy's First Two Teeth Captured On Film!"

Another Tommy's Teeth sighting...and notice that the drool continues to flow!

Creative Karina

Tommy and Karina

Karina continues to work really hard at school and has made obvious improvements in things like holding her utensils and writing devices. She's still very creative at home, but this has been more fun for her now that she can color and draw more easily. One afternoon she wanted to trace Uh-Uh (at school they trace things before they punch them out). I helped her get Uh-Uh laid out on the paper, but she did the tracing herself (she wanted me to do it a couple of times because she was upset that hers wasn't as perfect as she wanted...but it looked good in my opinion). Then she colored it in ...staying quite well within the lines compared to a few months ago...and decided that she wanted to give it to Chloe and Brianna, the girls next door. We got on her cute fall vest and went outside to bring it next door. She looked so grown up I had to stop her and take a picture!

Karina carrying her Uh-Uh coloring wearing her cute vest!

Karina and Aunt Beth make all sorts of things when I'm gone at work and sometimes they save them for me to see. This was a robot they made.

The Fall Marches On

Tommy looking a bit forlorn...consistent with the way the three of us have been feeling lately...sick and worn out!

Unfortunately, what's been going on with us lately has primary been just trying to keep our heads above water! As soon as one cold has passed, it seems another cold starts up and all three of us bat it around for another 10 days and then we start all over again! In the midst of these mild illnesses (at least we don't seem to be getting fevers!), Tommy finally got his second tooth! This is exciting because he's closer to eating grown up food, but also painful: for Tommy (the teething itself); and for Mommy and Daddy (less sleep!). The weird thing about this second tooth, which is the other middle bottom tooth (just like Karina), is that we've been waiting for a month for it to come in, blaming every fussy moment on, "Well, he's about to get that other bottom tooth. I can see it through the gum, so it's gotta be coming in any day now!" Karina got her first two teeth with in a week of each other, so I foolishly assumed Tommy might get his in similar fashion. He did not. But anyway, I guess it's in now...and who knows what to expect for the next ones!

Tommy seeming to be feeling around in his mouth with his tongue, sporting a drool moistened shirt.

Amidst all of the aches and pains, Tommy continues to be a generally sweet and easy boy. He travels really well, virtually never complaining when we're transporting Karina back and forth to school and doing other errands. He still loves milk (formula) and although he eats lots of baby food and cereal, it seems like he'd be just as happy if he just drank from his bottle and nursed. The nursing part is really nice, because he continues to be very easy to get to sleep...just put him to the breast and he's asleep in 15 -30 minutes. Even the bottle works well to get him to sleep at night for Daddy the rare time Tommy wakes up in the middle of the night. He isn't so easy, we hear from Aunt Beth, Gammy and Grandma, to get to take an afternoon nap sometimes, but it does seem that if he's tired he'll stop crying quickly and if he's not tired he'll keep screaming until you get him up.

Having some fun in the exersaucer!

He's pretty easily entertained and is not a clingy boy, but he is challenging because, like Karina, he is curious and resourceful! I can't comprehend when other mothers say, "My kid has never tried to open a drawer...isn't interested in things on the counter or in my hands...doesn't put anything in his mouth."! Tommy has already smashed his finger in the bathroom drawer, gets quite upset if I'm holding something he wants and won't give it to him and tries to taste everything! I can only imaging how bad it will be when he can crawl and walk! At least for now I can occasionally contain him in the exersaucer...although we haven't been able to use the jumper like we did with Karina because he doesn't like it that much and Karina always harasses him. It ends up being more trouble to protect him and scold Karina than it is beneficial to have him contained!

The latest Tommy and Karina photo

Happy Halloween!

The "German Boy" and princess fairy

Karina initially wanted to be a ghost for Halloween, but it ended up that most ghost costumes are not child friendly...they were very scary...kind of "Scream" type costumes. So it ended up not being a very good idea. She had lots of other ideas ranging from a clown to a princess to a ballerina to a turtle. In the end she decided to simply wear the costume she got as a gift from Elsa which was I believe actually a fairy, but Karina liked to call it a princess fairy because then it seemed like she was two of the things she wanted to be at once! She and I went trick or treating around the neighborhood and although it was freezing (Karina wore her winter coat over her costume the entire time) she had a lot of fun saying "trick or treat" and getting lots of candy. After that we drove over to Aunt Beth's to go around her neighborhood with Elsa, who was dressed as a witch. They had a good time and got a lot more candy!

Tommy was much simpler because I dressed him in the same "German Boy" costume that he wore to Oktoberfest. He could have borrowed Karina's old lamb costume...Karina insisted we try it on him one time before Halloween and it fit and he looked really cute...but since he had another option with the costume lederhosen, I decided to go with that one. He didn't sample the actual trick or treating (it was too cold) or the candy (he really wasn't interested in it, so why give him such unhealthy stuff if unnecessary), but he seemed to love to play with the decorations and look at the lit candles!

Beautiful Karina

Our beautiful Karina

Karina has been having a tough time adjusting to "childcare" at school. Her normal weekday, except for Tuesday, consists of school from 8am to 11am and I pick her up at 11:15am, but on Tuesdays she stays for lunch and plays with the other kids until Daddy picks her up around 5pm. She says she misses us and that's why she doesn't like childcare. But the other day when Daddy picked her up, she announced that, "I love childcare!" We were so happy to hear this, and hopefully it is a sign of adjustment, but unfortunately her "love" didn't seem to last and she's already been anxiously inquiring, "Do I have childcare today?" and when I answer in the negative, she says, "Pheww!" as she wipes the back of her hand across her forehead. Never lacking with the drama, my little girl! We'll see what she says about childcare this week!

Karina has been into using the computer and iPhone applications for awhile now, but she's really gotten very good at using the mousepad. She plays educational games on a couple of websites, including PBS.org and a Nick Jr website. She can play for hours...I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I've let her play that long (only a few occasions!)...and usually requires my help every 5-10 minutes because she's accidentally hit a link that opens another window and she can't get back, or she's inadvertently scrolled up or down so she can't see the game anymore and can't fix it. I have taught her how to find the "back" arrow so she can sometimes get herself back to the right screen as long as she hasn't opened a new window. I'd like to find some other sites even more focused on learning, but it is nice for her to do a sitting activity when I need to feed Tommy or fold laundry, etc.

Using Mommy's laptop

Gammy comes over to visit and help out almost every Thursday and Karina loves it. They do all sorts of fun activities from art projects to cooking jobs to dancing and music making.

Karina and Gammy

Posing with her baseball bat

Grampa's Birthday Dinner

Karina and the Birthday Boy, celebrating his 73rd birthday!

Uncle Quentin had recently undergone biceps tendon repair surgery, but was feeling good enough to partake in the festivities...even with his bionic-appearing arm!

Gammy and Tommy

The whole gang out for dinner

Outdoor Fun

The weather has been getting colder but we all still like to get outside to get some fresh air. Karina is very athletic: good at throwing, good at kicking; naturally graceful and always the one to do lots of dramatic falling down.

Bouncing the Ball

Tommy enjoying the outdoors

Although Tommy can't walk yet and hasn't actually spent much time in the stroller...especially compared to how much time Karina spent strolling around the neighborhood with me...he was content to sit in the stroller and watch Karina run around. The hardest part was that as soon as I got out the stroller for Tommy, Karina wanted to sit in it and be my "little baby." So I got out the other smaller stroller, even though I was more concerned she'd be too heavy for the little one than the big one, and let Karina sit in it.

Here they are already invading each others "space" and complaining to me about it!

"Mom, Tommy's touching me!"

I foolishly thought I had much more time before any of these age-old sibling squabbles began happening between my little guys!

Sweet, smiling Tommy

Sweet, smiling Karina

My drama queen after "falling" to the ground...from a sitting position, ahem!

Giggling about how silly she is to have fallen to the ground!

Tommy's Standing, Pushing Up, Eating and Sniffling!

"Look at me! I'm standing by myself!"

"See, if I hold on really tight, I can stand up just like Karina! But I have to remember not to lean too far in one direction or..."

"...I'll fall down and go 'Boom'!"

So while, Karina's been busy at school, Tommy's been busy at home! He's got a lot to learn to keep up with her...at least that's what it seems like he must be thinking based on the rate of improvement with manipulating his body. He can sit up like he's been doing it his whole life, able to lean over and twist around...he loves to grab his toes! Like his sister, he loves the TV series, "Curious George" and "Super Why." These both keep his attention and allow me to change his diaper without him squirming, kicking or rolling over! Also, while sitting he really likes to play games, like pat-a-cake and he's learned how to clap and shake his head. He actually seems to understand the words "clap" and "shake", too, because he not only claps or shakes his head to mimic someone else, he'll do it after hearing the words! While laying on his back he loves it when we sing, "Tommy's riding his bicycle, bicycle, bicycle" while we crazily pedal his feet back and forth. And then there's the standing that he's just started to do on his own if he has something really easy to grab, like the gate above. He keeps his little butt stuck out for balance, isn't able to move his feet yet, and still has a hard time standing at something without handholds, like the sofa or ottoman. But he's standing up and I'm sure he'll progress rapidly! Nothing motivates him like her!

"Hi! These are my toes!"

Tommy looks so small next to the big TV!

Tommy has learned to roll over and over as a means of locomotion, sort of like Karina did, but he doesn't seem to be as partial to it as Karina was. Now Karina didn't really roll to get somewhere until she was much older than Tommy and she did it because she couldn't crawl. So although, Tommy certainly can't crawl yet, he seems to be less inclined to roll around the house at this point. I think this is because Tommy doesn't really need to move to get to entertainment the way Karina did, because Tommy's entertainment comes (running!) to him! In fact, I have a hard time keeping Karina away from Tommy most of the time and even though she often makes him mad, he's still not bored and looking for places to go! We'll see if he rolls to ambulate more and more or if he'll learn how to crawl (I'm betting on the latter!)

See how high he can push up on his tummy!
And see his cute naked butt! I couldn't resist the shot!

Speaking of crawling, Tommy has really shown a huge amount of arm and upper torso strength in a short amount of time. It seems like just the other day that he was finally able to roll onto his tummy, and now he can roll back and forth and really functions pretty well when pushed up on his hands on his tummy. He loves to try to get away from me during diaper changes (hence the use of coercion with the TV shows "Curious George" or "Super Why"), but luckily he doesn't make a big mess by peeing freely! While discussing diapering issues, I have to mention the cute fact that Tommy has ticklish penis! He still has this huge "fat pad" (that's what the doctor calls what I would just call his fat tummy) above his pelvis which basically causes his penis to be completely enveloped by his gut. Beacuse his penis is usually unexposed to almost any sensation, when I try to wipe it clean once a day and have to "pop it out" (as Karina says, "Pop it out, Mom, pop it out!), he squirms, kicks and giggles! It's really cute, but makes the job really difficult!

"This is how I get away from Mommy when she's changing my diaper! See no diaper! Ha, ha, ha!"

He's continued to try more and more baby foods, and so far seems to have no overwhelming preferences or dislikes. Like Karina, he went through a short phase during which he wanted to hold or grab the spoon (very messy prospect!), but luckily he was able to be taught to just let me feed him...which also goes a lot faster without his hands in the way! Tommy has gotten his own high chair just like Karina's, although Karina never used hers when she was young enough to need the tray and high chair seat. He seems to like it, but we did have to make a safety adjustment by lowering the foot rest because he was using it to stand up in the high chair! The chair has a seat belt, but like any of those belts it's a little difficult to fasten because it's hard to fit your hands near his lap while he's moving around, so it's just been easier to lower the foot rest and leave his feet dangling for now.

Tommy in his high chair before we lowered the foot rest

In general, Tommy, Karina and I have been pretty much sick since after Quentin and Lisa's wedding. I've been going with Tommy (and initially with Karina, too) to the Wisconsin Athletic Club where I've been getting worn out, by my work-outs, and we've all been exposed to a whole bunch of new germs. Meanwhile Karina still brings them home from school, so with the combination of my run down immune system, Tommy's immature immune system and his tendency to put everything in his mouth and then rub his eyes when he's tired and Karina's relatively immature immune system, we have been passing around upper respiratory infection (URI) after URI. Unfortunately for Tommy, he still has a blocked tear duct in his right eye, which makes him predisposed to getting conjunctivitis any time, but especially following a URI.

You can see that both eyes are kind of watery and red around the edges...and that he has another self-induced fingernail gash on the bridge of his nose (poor guy)...but that he is still sweet and smiling!

"Mommy has to keep putting medicine in my eyes...and we keep getting sick...it's been a rough month!"

Parent-Teachers Conference

Today, Tom and I went to our first parent-teacher conference and we couldn't have been prouder. We already had noticed great things at home, but were happy to hear that Mrs. Klein also felt Karina was progressing nicely. She is well-liked by her two teachers, "popular" with the other kids and happy. One comment was about needing to remind Karina to walk through the classroom as she tends to dance her way across the room. We both smiled and said, "That sounds like Karina!"

After the conference we took Karina for her first cup of "coffee" (actually hot chocolate of which she drank two sips)

Mommy's so proud of Karina!

Karina recently has shown maturation and growth in a number of ways, all of which seem to be an effect of being in school. She's learned how to hop, although she stays in one place and so far can't move forward. She can now put on her own coat...they taught her the lay-it-on-the-floor-upside-down technique where she puts her hands in the flat upside-down coat and flips it over her head. She can button her clothes...which is most exciting to Karina because she can button her pajamas, although ironically I think they were working on buttoning especially hard with her so she could button her jacket before going outside and she still can't button that coat because the fleece is so thick around the buttonhole she can't grab the button. It is absolutely precious to watch her work so hard on her pajama buttons. She really focuses hard and will work on it until all three buttons are buttoned, which can take a few minutes time. This is significant for her given she doesn't have a history of showing great patience for lengthy tasks. I think the difference is that she knows she can do it and this makes it much easier to keep at it because she knows she'll be successful...she's not as patient when she's practicing a new task she hasn't yet mastered.

She's been more independent with singing the alphabet song. Although she's been singing it as a duet with me for a long time, she wasn't able to sing it all the way through on her own always getting stuck after, "...L, M, N, O, P..." So I began prompting her with, "...Q, R, S..." and then each time she'd sing it again later I'd sing the same prompt until she began singing it on her own. Then she got stuck at "...S..." So I did the same thing with, "...T, U, V..." until she sang it on her own and got stuck at "...V..." After she made it all the way to Z, she still didn't quite know the ditty at the end, but she improvised and for a few days sang, "...W, X, Y and Z...now I know my alphabet you...now I know my alphabet you." After which we'd both laugh because she knew it wasn't quite right and she knew it made me laugh! A week or so later she began singing even the end perfectly.

At home, she's learned a few things, too. By pure necessity to protect Tommy's expected life span, I taught Karina how to safely lay down Tommy from a sitting position, after observing her for the second or third time "take him down" like a wrestling move, insisting that she shouldn't be scolded because, "Mom, he wanted to lay down!" When I realized that the punishment was not proving to be a deterrent, I decided I could either intensify the punishment (never fun for Mom or Kid) or teach her how to do it safely, which seemed the better idea since she would likely need to learn to do it someday anyway. Happily, she got the technique down after only one or two slightly rough landings for Tommy's big melon head. Now she'll show visitors how to safely lay down Tommy...or her teddy bear or her dolly or whatever stuffed animal is near by. Once she even tried to lay down Bart, but as you can imagine that didn't work terribly well!

She's also done a few thing recently that just make us shake our heads and say, "I can't believe what I big girl she is!" She insisted upon helping me mow the lawn, just like the story of Uncle Quentin as a much littler kid than Karina, by holding onto the lower handle bar. But unlike Uncle Quentin, Karina is so tall she wanted to hold the top with me, and the only way we could move forward was if we each held on one side while I tried to push from one side. It worked okay although we weren't able to go very fast and I did lose her once completely when she was thrown off like a "crack the whip" game when I turned a corner too quickly! Oops...she was fine! After having her finger and toenails painted by me a few times over the summer, Karina painted her own nails today, with a little help from me to get a manageable amount of nail polish on the brush.

Karina's also taken to changing her own clothes randomly in the middle of the day as we've been generally working on dressing and undressing. She seems to have developed her own sense of style (luckily usually pretty good) and a quite mature attitude as exemplified by one day after we'd already been out once, but she'd changed her clothes and we were going out again. We asked her to get on her shoes and gave her the pair she'd worn earlier when she said, "No Mom, I can't wear those shoes." And when I asked why, she emphatically answered, "Because I already wore them once today!"

But just in case we begin to forget that she's still a little girl, she reminds us with the cutest of language errors. We go to a restaurant called "Bella's" and Karina loves to go there and asks if we can go. But for some reason, she has a mental block when it comes to saying the name. It makes no logical sense. She doesn't have trouble saying "B's," the word "bell" or even the name "Belle," when refering her cousin Elsa's dog, but for some strange reason she can only call the restaurant, "Fella's." We have corrected her dozens of times without success. We have practiced saying, "Belle, Belle, Belle...like Elsa's doggie, right?" We'll say, "Karina say 'Buh...Buh...Buh...Bella's'" to which Karina will repeat, "B...B...B...Fella's!" It is mind boggling how she is unable to say the name of that restaurant!

Another adorable mistake was when she was answering my question after I heard her pass some gas. I asked her about it as I have before just to help prompt her to think about the connection of the two, saying,"Karina, do you have to go potty?" To which she answered adorably, "No, that's just my gasoline!" I repeated it as a question, "Just my gasoline?" and we both laughed as she said, "No, that's not right!" as we laughed some more!

First Time In The Dentist Chair

Karina started coming to my dentist appointments before she was three years old, and came along with me to my latest appointment. Having her Opa as the dentist certainly makes it more fun and allows her certain privileges, like getting to raid the toy chest nearly endlessly!

Karina sporting the sunglasses
to fight the glare of the overhead exam light

Having her exam by Opa

She behaved famously throughout the whole exam, getting worked on by hygienist and dentist Opa. The exam mostly consisted of the hygienist putting tools in her mouth and not doing too much to her teeth and of Opa looking at her teeth for anything obvious while he pretended to count her teeth. She came home with new toothbrushes for herself and Tommy, a handful of toys and a whole bunch of stick-on earrings!