15 Month Checkup

The boys had their 15 month check-up on Friday. The doctor said they are looking great. She seemed very impressed with their development considering they were preemies.

Their stats:

Eli: 20 lbs, 31 inches long: 5th percentile on both height and weight

Nate: 19 lbs 5 oz, 30 1/4 inches long: also 5th percentile on both height and weight

Eli has officially taken Nate in length and height. We figured he had - but never had the stats to prove it.

Also, here's the kicker: although Nate is only 5th percentile on height and weight - his head circumference is 75th percentile - yep - 75th! What a huge noggin!!! I hope it's just full of brains.

We're getting a referral to either an ENT or plastic surgeon about a superficial protrusion on Nate's neck, too.

Oh, and we were supposed to get shots but they would have cost us 600 bucks because my insurance doesn't cover any immunization - so I declined and made an appointment w/ the health department for next Friday where it will only cost me 10 bucks.

We make our trip to Children's Hospital in Little Rock this Wednesday for Eli's eye. I'll be sure to post updates when we get back. (My mom and dad are coming up to go w/ me and Eli. Nate will be staying at his Grammy's).

Weekend in Shreveport

The boys and I got up early Friday morning and headed to Shreveport. We came to see Emily and Mitchell Dunlap and to have a Garage Sale with my mom. I don't exactly live in the best garage sale location.

We had a great lunch w/ the Dunlaps and Mary Alice. It was great seeing them.

I made 75 bucks at the garage sale. The boys really enjoyed themselves playing outside all day.

Late Mother's Day post...

I haven't had an oppurtunity to post for a bit, so I never commented on Mother's Day. I had a good one. I had to work - but Andy surprised me with 2 rose bushes and 2 cards - one from each of the boys. It was a pretty good day.

Things they can say!

The boys are finally getting some words! Here is what they have in their vocabulary so far:

1. Bye Bye (while opening and closing their hands) **not always said w/ appropriate timing
2. Bite (sounds a lot like bye bye - but singular)
3. UH OH! (also not said w/ appropriate timing always)
4. Mama (actually more like mamamamamamamama - and not really directed at me)
5. Dada (definitely clear about this one - they get quite excited to see Daddy)
6. MOW (this is supposed to be MEOW when asked "what does a kitty cat say?")
7. kika (some form of "kitty cat")
8. HI! (also said while opening and closing hands )**also not always said w/ appropriate timing
9. Guh (This is GUS, our great dane)
10. seuhs (not quite sure how to spell this, but this is juice)

So, TEN words, not bad so far. It's fun to see their little personalities really start to come out!

Aggressiveness in one years olds?

Eli has emerged as quite an aggressive little man lately and it really makes me nervous. He seems to get frustrated very easily and when he does - he shows it in the form of aggressiveness usually towards Nate. If Nate is playing with something Eli wants - Eli will just crawl over and yank it out of his hands. If Nate is riding one of their toys and Eli decides it's his turn...he will crawl over, stand by it for a short while, and if Nate doesn't get off - he will reach out, grab him by the collar and pull him to the ground. If he doesn't feel like Nate has gotten the picture he will kind of lean into him hard and kind of yell/grunt. His new thing is biting. As soon as he gets aggravated w/ Nate he will lean over and bite him - sometimes on the arms - but usually on the face.

All this is very concerning for me. I've looked up "aggressiveness in one year olds" on the internet and it seems to be a fairly common problem - but that doesn't change the fact that it's bothersome when it's happening with your own child.

How are we dealing with it? Well, as of right now, it's really difficult because they have no reasoning skills. So, what I do when I witness Eli doing something aggressive is go over and intervene immediately. Tell him "NO" and "we will not " and "we will be sweet to brother" then put him in a "pack and play" in the spare bed room. I only keep him in there for about a minute or so. Then I go and get him out and explain (as well as you can explain to a 14 mo old boy) what he did wrong.

I'm hoping I'm handling this the correct way.

I try to rationalize this with humor. I think with his double vision - he's like "holy crap there are two of him and they NEVER go away!!!". I think that's really why he's so ticked off. I mean, I would be.