18 months- Petite La Tete

Rowen had his 18 month appt this Monday after we returned from Cleveland. I will load pictures soon from our visit.

Rowen appears to be just beyond "on target" for 18 months. We answered YES to all almost the questions about milestones- walking, knows several words, holds pen/crayon, throws ball, and stacks blocks. When asked, does he use a spoon- we said yes and a fork. A "fork"- Oh My!! Apparently that is advanced! And he knows his numbers! Oh, My!!

He is not undressing himself- which, I guess he should be doing soon.

We also got some advice about managing Rowen's more spirited moments (AKA Tantrums).

When it came to measurements Rowen was 22.5 lbs. He is 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. However, he has "fallen of the curve" for head circumference, meaning his head is smaller than <3% of children his age. Dr. Maughan and I discussed me talking with a child neurologist. I spoke with Dr. Rust in my department. He was very reassured about Rowen's normal developement. He did not recommend any other testing. He did suggest that Bryan and I measure OUR heads.

Daddy = > 3% for adults his age/height
Mommy => 3-5% for adults here age/height

Good news- Rowen appears to in fact be our off spring.
Bad news- We both have REALLY small heads.

Big things, small packages and all that- I guess.

In other news- tonight, Rowen put his first two words together aside from up-please and thank-you (which he has been saying for the past several weeks). Tonight he said, while watching Bryan mow the lawn- "Bye Bye Daddy".

Whistle while you work....

Rowen went on a cleaning frenzy tonight after work. It all began with him throwing his food on the floor. Or as we refer to it in our house- "bad behavior". After this, I was cleaning the floor with a sponge and Rowen came over to help. He took the sponge from me and spent the next 15 minutes cleaning the floor, then the high chair, then the couch, table, my jacket, my pants....in fact- every surface of our house received a little Rowen scrub. He was very diligent while working and could not be distracted by an annoying Mommy- as witnessed in the below video. Here are some pictures of the many surfaces that are now perfectly clean!

In other news- Rowen is a genius. He is now able to almost reliably identify his numbers. If you ask him to point to a number 1-9 he is able to pick them out. Just yesterday, while walking up to the house- he pointed to the numbers on the house post and said, "two". Of course- our house number is 28. Genius, I tell you- GENIUS!!!

In the wise words of my sister Whitney, "he must get that from his father!"

Attempted multiple times to load video...Unsucessful.

Please enjoy the pictures!

Water is FUN!

Rowen now tries to repeat everything we say. When I came into the kitchen and said Hello- he said "hello" right back for the first time (video below). Bryan said, "Uh Oh- now we have to be really careful what we say!" Amen to that!

Rowen's new favorite activity is playing in the sink, turning the water on and off. This was one of those moments where it seemed like a good idea at first and now one week later- we are thinking to ourselves, perhaps NOT playing in the sink - would have been a good idea. Every time, I just keep thinking how much water does our well really hold??!!??

Good morning and HELLO!!

More spiders please!

On Saturday we were outside and over by our fire pit- Rowen saw a spider crawling along. When the spider moved away he said, "Bye Bye".

On Monday, when we went out after work he walked straight over to the fire pit and signed, "more". He wanted more spiders!! We found another and he was very pleased. "Bye-Bye". "More". "Bye-Bye".

I have become quite the spider hunter!

It was really neat to see his little memory at work.

Many apologies for the hiatus!

Many apologies for taking so long to update the blog. As many of you know, our lives have been beyond hectic. Of course Rowen was in the hospital at the end of March, but is now back to his busy, adorable, amazing self. I lost both my nurse and my partner went out on bedrest. So, I have spent much of the last 4-5 weeks doing the job of 3 people. It has been super busy and difficult. But, it makes my moments with Rowen all the more precious!

Rowen- WOW! So much to say. He is doing great and growing in leaps and bounds.

Rowen is motoring around everywhere now. He is completely proficient in walking. He has even been known to RUN! Well sort of, run. He is climbing up and down off of everything. He loves to climb up on the foot stool and slide off. Then climb up and slide off, over and over and over. He is unable to spend time doing any single thing for very long. He is always on the move, heading to the next activity.

Rowen wants to understand everything. He is seen below trying to unscrew the sprinkler. He wants to explore everything thing, bang on it, turn it, look at it, take it apart and put it back together. He is endlessly curious about HOW the world works.

Rowen has acquired countless words. He is able to tell us what most animals "say" including - monkey, elephant, lion, birdie, doggie, kitty, pig, lamb, chicken, and of course- Dino! He is able to say up please and down (sort-of). He says please and thank-you well. He will try to copy most works that you say.

He is a dancing Machine. Whenever he hears music, his body just starts to move. He will find any surface available to test its suitability for drumming!

We are very excited take to the road this summer and visit everyone!

Here are a few pics from today and some sprinkler fun!

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!

Love to everyone- Myla