So much to say

The boys are learning and growing and amazing us every day. I don't remember to update my blog and then I feel overwhelmed by everything I want to update about.

Luke is in quite a strong-willed phase. The other night I finally thought to pray that his independence will serve him well as he grows. But man, right now it's downright frustrating. He's become a very picky eater and prefers crunchy things like crackers and pretzels. He also likes yogurt, applesauce, and mashed-up bananas. It's been a challenge getting him to eat veggies and/or meat. The only way is with babyfood, and even that has been tough. I've been told by several friends that I can't make him eat. My job is to provide healthy options for him, his job is to eat, so I'm trying to remember that. He's also causing me grief with his milk-drinking. He's gone from drinking about 17 oz of milk a day down to around 10-12 oz. For the last 5 nights or so he's only had a couple ounces of milk at bedtime. This is the most frustrating to me because I know it means he'll wake up thirsty/hungry in the middle of the night. There's absolutely no way to force him to drink his milk. (Interestingly, last night he drank 1 oz before refusing any more and then he slept from about 8:15-5:40. He woke up and I offered him the rest of his bottle - I did refrigerate it over night - and he refused for a bit, I put him back in bed, he screamed for 5 minutes and then when I went back in he took the bottle). I'm thinking I'll just do my best to get him drinking plenty of milk during the day, and water, and offer yogurt and cheese daily for the calcium and hope for the best. He's wiggling around during diaper changes and often throws mini temper tantrums until his diaper has been changed. When we unbuckle him from his carseat or the stroller, he shrinks down, sometimes nearly sliding completely out of the stroller. I've discovered he's extremely ticklish under his chin and I just love getting a belly-laugh out of him.





Luke started speech therapy a couple weeks ago. I guess I never updated after their 15 month appointment. The doctor figured we might as well have him evaluated since he only was speaking 2 words instead of 3. My attitude was "Why not?". I wish I'd realized the impact this would have on us, though. We took him in for his eval and he was very quiet and observant. Based on information from me and her interactions with him, she determined he would qualify for services twice a week for 30 minutes. She likes to see the kids separate from the parents so it's taking him forever to warm-up and be comfortable. The therapist was very proud the other day that she got a couple "grunts" from him. Oh if only she knew how noisy he is at home. He jabbers away and is trying out new sounds all the time. He signs "more" on a regular basis at meals, he'll sign "all done" when he sees us demonstrate or if he sees Micah do it. On Friday (2/18) he started signing "please". He also waves hi and bye and blows kisses. He continues to go to physical therapy every other week. He's not walking or standing independently, but he cruises like a pro.



Micah is the signing master. Just yesterday he started signing "fish". Other signs he knows (which may be a repeat from previous posts) are: eat, more, all done, please, shoes, hat, bird, cracker, banana, water, milk, brush teeth, ball. Micah is trying to talk a lot more lately and he'll pronounce the last consonant on many words like up and out. He likes to make animal sounds so he'll meow when he sees a cat, barks like a dog, and moos when he sees a cow. Micah loves playing with Luke. It's so fun to hear them laughing together when it's all be initiated by them.

Micah pretty much likes the same foods as Luke. I don't think he loves crackers and pretzels like Luke does, but he does like them. He's usually willing to try what we give him, but isn't a fan of most new things. He will sometimes eat shredded cheddar cheese, but he prefers string cheese.

Here are the stats from their 15 month appointments on January 26:

Luke: weight - 21 pounds 1 oz (9th percentile)
height - 29.5 inches

Micah: weight - 21 pounds 15 oz (19th percentile)
height - 30 inches

We don't have a lot of confidence in the height measurements. We think there is at least 1 inch difference between the two of them. I didn't get their head circumference measurements, but Luke's continues to be around 95-97%.