Becoming a Bookworm

On Thursday, Sept. 10, Kevin and I dropped off Harmon in his new classroom for the first time. He’s transformed from a Lightning Bug to a Bookworm now at Annie’s Children’s Center and being a Bookworm is serious business. When we went to orientation in August, his teacher busted out the workbooks and we were like WTF! Neither of us (or our siblings) ever went to daycare or preschool so this whole thing is foreign to us. But, we’re all in so we got him some workbooks for home too.

We’re not exactly sure when we’ll start him in kindergarten (his birthday is JUST before the cut-off date so it’s up to us) but we’re determined that he be at least academically ready (if you can use the word “academically” when referring to kindergarten).

All this workbook talk is a bit of a change for him after his summer of hot lunches, field trips (Mill Pond Park, Timber Town Park, Kerrytown Bell Tower, etc.) and being the big man on the playground (he was the oldest in his class this summer as the handful of kids older than him made the move to the Bookworm room in June). He was fine his first day and was excited about it beforehand, noting with excitement that his NEW room has computers. It also helps that he “visited” a few times over the summer months. I’m sure he’ll be fine as he usually adapts pretty well to new situations. And, we’re excited about all that he’ll learn in this new environment, even if it does put him one step closer to “real” school.

Simon @ 9 months

We had Simon’s 9-month appointment on Sept. 4 and, after the weigh-in, our doctor declared him “mega baby.” While we’re fine with our big, healthy boy, we couldn’t help but think back to his first week when we had to wake him to eat so he wouldn’t keep losing weight!

He is a big boy – 23.5 pounds and JUST shy of 29 ¾ inches – although STILL not as big as Harmon at the same age (25.3 pounds and 30 ½ inches). While he may be smaller than his big brother, he definitely beats him when it comes to cuddling. He loves to snuggle up to you when you’re holding him and he’ll just lay with you and reach for you the time and again. He doesn’t like it at all if you get too far from him. He’s such a good baby – we’ve so far been blessed with two of them – and he really only cries when he wants his food. He has six teeth now – top front, bottom front and one on each side of the bottom fronts – and you would never know he cut them, unless you measured the amount of drool that flows from his mouth.

He wakes up so happy, after going down between 8:45 – 9:15 p.m. each night (I know, I know, our boys have late bedtimes compared to most). While he’s not too active in his sleep, he has figured out how to successfully sleep on his side, which is adorable. Just like his big bro, he prefers to roll rather than crawl to get where he needs to go. He is developing quite a repertoire of words, which sadly still does not include “mama!” I honestly feel like he’s holding out on me on purpose, especially after my parents have sworn THEY’VE heard him say it. He says dada, along with baba, rara, wawa and what sounds like an “h” sound. He’ll probably say some version of Harmon before he says mama! He also loves to make this teeth-sucking sound and is interested in any mouth noise you can make.

He eats a ton and is getting new and different foods all the time, with yogurt and a few different kinds of dry cereal being the big highlights. One of his favorite things to do before he eats is to kick the tray off his high chair. I think this may signify that we’re just taking too damn long to get his food ready!

He loves his toys, loves going to “school” and especially loves his big brother. At times, Harmon can get him to smile or laugh even when we can’t. Now that Simon is a little bigger, he and Harmon are starting to play together a bit and it’s great to see (and will be for many years to come).

His eyes are still blue and they don’t look like they’re changing anytime soon. Still baffled by this, I spoke with my Dad a bit about his family background. After thinking about it a bit, he remembered that his Uncle Johnny had blue eyes and blond hair. So, assuming someone in Kevin’s biological family has blue eyes, this might explain it. I also learned that my great Uncle Johnny was a minor league baseball player so maybe Simon will inherit his baseball skills too (note: my Dad was a not-too-shabby baseball player too). Genetics are amazing!

Running the bases

We took the boys to their last Tigers’ game of the season on Sunday, Aug. 30 (um, happy birthday, Kevin). The Tigs won (we got ANOTHER Verlander game), which is always a good thing, and Harmon tore up the base paths after the game. His first year, I had to hold him and run with him. His second year, he was very hesitant and was kind of scared. This year, wow, he flew and had so much fun with it. Check him out:

Newt Pneumonia?

After Harmon was diagnosed on a Monday, Aug. 24, we tried like hell to a) keep them apart (yeah, right) and b) disinfect the entire house but, as the end of the week approached, I feared that Simon had pneumonia as well. So, we hightailed it back to East Ann Arbor General Pediatrics. After a quick listen to his little lungs, he also was sent for an x-ray. Let me just say that a 9 month old getting an x-ray is a pathetic sight! He sat on the same “seat” as Harmon sat on but they had to strap his arms up with four different Velcro contraptions and also had to put some kind of plastic strap contraption under his chin so he would not look down and interfere with the x-ray. Of course, he was perfect throughout the whole thing – he didn’t make a peep. While we waited for the x-ray, Simon received his first Albuterol treatment via the nebulizer, which seemed to help. The doctor then came back and informed us that Simon DID NOT have pneumonia but advised us to keep up with the treatments for a few days and just to keep an eye on things. Over the weekend, he improved a ton and by the time he had his scheduled 9-month appointment, he was just fine (thankfully)!

‘Nator Pneumonia

A few weeks ago, Harmon wasn’t feeling well. He was coughing a bit so we suspected just a summer cold but it turned out to be a little more than that. On Sunday, Aug. 22, he was having a tough time breathing. He would play a little and then crash on the couch, which never happens! And, when we ventured out to the U-M Football Fan Day, he couldn’t walk more than 10 feet or so without stopping to rest. So, the next day, we went to the doctor and he was diagnosed with pneumonia in his left lung. The highlight of the doctor’s visit (besides his stats – 41 pounds and 40 ¾ inches) was his x-ray. We told him he had to get a picture taken so he was smiling big when they were taking his x-ray! The doctor started him on some antibiotics and we continued with the breathing treatments we usually do when he gets a cold and he felt better right away. He got a little winded for a week or so but otherwise he was back to normal quickly.

FOLLOW-UP: He had a check-up at Simon’s 9-month appointment (on Sept. 4) and was given a clean bill of health!