Holt is 4 Months!!

Another month has flown by.  You are transitioning quickly out of the infant stage and into the baby stage.  You don't just lay still anymore.  You have not rolled over yet but you are getting very close.  You notice everything around you and will reach out to grab it or touch it.  It's becoming very fun because you will play with toys now.

You have lost a lot of the hair you were born with.  We used to be able to style you in a mohawk but that is no longer possible.

You weigh 14.2 lb (30th percentile).  You are 25.5 inches (75th percentile).  And your head circumference is 44.5 (90th percentile).  Don't blame me about the head, that's all your Daddy's fault!

You still have an enormous flat spot.  Dr. Owen still doesn't seem to be concerned.  He says as you start to roll over and sit up, it should correct itself.  And he says it won't be noticable once your hair grows in.  But rest assure, if it doesn't correct itself, your Momma will get you a helmet to fix it.  One day, your football team might shave their heads for a big game and then everyone will discover your lumpy head.  We can't have that!

You have finally outgrown some outfits.  You wear mostly 3-6 months clothes but the really cute 0-3 months outfits that I can't bear packing away yet, I still squeeze you into.

You are still toothless but you drool a TON!!  And you're very talented at blowing bubbles with your spit.

You will sit happily in your Bumbo for 5-10 minutes  now.  You still tend to lean a bit but not nearly as bad as you used to.

You are becoming extremely spoiled.  We have noticed that when you are awake, you want to be held.  And that's usually what you get.  Houston is a really big helper in this area.  He will sit and hold you while watching TV.  You don't seem to mind Nickelodeon one bit!

Your bedroom is still the living room since Hawkins has been sick for nearly a month.  One day, you guys will share a room.  You've only slept in your crib once and that was for a morning nap.  One day, hopefully soon, you and Hawkins will be roommates.

Huey-ism: Evil Toys

The boys were playing in their room tonight.  Suddenly, the house was resonating with sobbing.  Adam went back to check on the situation.  It was Hayes (as if we really expected it to be Houston).

Adam:  Hayes, what's the matter?
Hayes:  <still sobbing>  Houston...<sob, sob>...squeezed...my arm!
Adam:  <looking at Houston> Is that true?  Did you squeeze his arm?  Hayes said you did.
Houston:  <He shrugs his shoulders and puts on his innocent eyes.>  No, Jirachi was doing his attack!

That Jirachi sure does look like an evil and highly dangerous Pokemon character!

This reminded us of another time where Houston's toys were the evil culprit.
Houston was around 2.5 years old .  He was newly potty trained and loved saying the potty words.  He would just repeat them over and over.  Then, Hayes would begin to chime in.  We deemed those words "bad words" at our house.  Consequence = spanking.  One day shortly after we had remedied the foul words from our home, I once again heard Houston saying, "Poo poo.  Poo poo." in the back of the car.

Me:  Houston!  Are you saying potty words again?
Huey:  No, Mommy.  <He holds his toy up.>  It was "wobot" (translation = robot).
Me:  Oh.  Well, we can't have robots at our house that say bad words.  Hand him to me.

Then, I chunked him out the window.  Yeah, I know.  I probably scarred him for life.

Spring Is Near

I guess it is safe to say that Spring is right around the corner.  Today I received my first hand-picked bouquet of flowers of the season courtesy of Hayes and Hawkins.

Hayes-ism

Tonight, the Wii ticket was potatoes.  My kids hate. hate. hate. potatoes!  The only form of potato they eat is french fries from McDonald's.  I can't even comprehend it.  I grew up on potatoes.  I would have starved as a child without potatoes.

Adam gave them a spoonful of his potatoes that had been dredged in butter, smothered in cheese, topped with bacon, and coated with salt and pepper.  Who wouldn't like that?!

Houston stared as his portion for a good five minutes before braving the bite.  Hayes ate his right away.  He snickered for half a second at first.  Seeing the half-smile, Adam encouraged Hayes, "See, potatoes are good!"  Once Hayes had swallowed them, Adam asked him if he thought they were good.

Hayes answered, "Yes.  But I almost threw up in my mouth.  I mean, I did throw up in my mouth.  Throw up came up, but I swallowed it."

Bike Breakthrough

Sunday night, I pushed Holt in the stroller while Houston rode his bike beside me.  We went 2.3 miles.  I found this to be an amazing accomplishment for all three of us!  Tonight, all six of us headed out for another walk/bike ride.  Hayes, once again tried everything to not have to ride his bike.  "I just want to walk, Mom.  I really want to walk."  "Can I just ride my scooter?"  Adam and I both agreed that he needed to ride his bike.  Shortly into our walk, Hayes misjudged the driveway and curb and crashed right into the curb.  Adam gave him a pep talk and he mounted his bike once again.

A quarter of the way into our walk/ride, I actually caught a glimpse of a smile.  Perhaps that crash was exactly what Hayes needed all along.  We were so busy protecting him from a fall that it turned into what he feared most.  Once he fell and realized he could survive, it boosted his confidence.

We went around the block and as we began getting close to home, he asked, "Can we do that again?!"  That was about the halfway point (almost a full mile) where Adam and Hawkins went home.  I was going to let Hayes go home as well, if he wanted.  "But i still want to ride my bike." he protested.

We made another lap around a different block and neared home once again.  "But I don't want to go home.  I want to keep riding my bike."  So we pressed on.  There was a time where he had stopped and was having some difficulty starting again since we were on a slight hill.  I went over to help him and he politely told me that he did not need my help and he could do it on his own.

We wrapped up our 2.3 miles around 8:10pm on a school night and I explained that we had to go home and brush our teeth.  Time for bed.  He was upset that we had to quit riding.  I promised him that he could ride his bike after school the next day.  "Okay, i want to ride my bike as soon as we get home tomorrow!"

Belated Valentine from Hayes

Once a week, Hayes' teacher sends home a blue folder stuffed with a medium sized tree's worth of papers.  Seriously, the environment wouldn't be in such grave shape if there was no kindergarten. All the paperwork and artwork that Hayes has completed in the last week or more gets jammed and crammed into the folder.  I rummaged through all the papers and discovered a Valentine's card that he had made.

I grinned as I looked it over.  My heart began to melt a little as I surveyed it, thinking that surely it was going to be addressed to me.  I began to take a closer look...

This is the inside.

The love letter was addressed to "my dog".  I was a bit puzzled since we do not have a dog.  When he returned home, I asked him about it.  "Hayes, what dog are you talking about?"  I thought perhaps he was going to say Blue, since that is the stuffed animal that he asked Santa for and he is quite fond of.  No, that wasn't the dog.  "Tiki" he replied.  So let me get this straight, you wrote a valentine's card to a dog that hasn't lived with us in nearly a year and when he did, you hated everything about him.  Huh.

Huey-ism

Houston almost always wakes up in a grumpy mood on a school day.

Huey:  <insert badittude> I can't wait until I have graduated college.  Then, I'll be done with school!
Me:  Well, you'll still have to get up early because then you will have a job.
Huey:  <after a moment of silence>  Well, I'm gonna get a job in science!
Me:  And why is that?
Huey:  So I can just sleep as long as I want in the morning and do science from home.
Me:  Well, sweetheart, you can't do science from home.
Huey:  <utter silence and the grumpiest expression imaginable>

At least he knows he's gonna go to college!