Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Spencer update

Spencer's developmental updates, for journaling purposes



New words or phrases developed in the last 6 months:

"That's cute!" "Truck" "Tractor" "Airplane" "McDonald's" "Snake away" "Elephant" "Owl" "help" "Swimming" "more ba ju" "Baby bear" "Baby Zeke" "Bike" "Book" "Book..ss" "Shark" "Spoungebob" "Turtle" "Shoe" "Sock" "Church" "Night Night for a bit" "Me" "You"- Plus all of those intermingled with "More" and "Please". Also, after learning "Snake away" which I'll explain, he added "away" to other animals he knows.

Spencer is currently picking up on colors. He's had a color poster in his room for awhile now, But is slowing starting to distinguish the colors. He can't say them, or won't, but he can show you pink, blue, red, yellow, and green.

Favorite songs: Wheels on the bus, which has been a fave for a while. If your happy and you know it. Spencer and I go to a movement and music class at the library, and he usually sits there while I do his hands in the hand gestures, but he will always stand up and do "If your happy and you know it." The Choo Choo Soul Theme song if a favorite, also "Hop up, Jump in" from Handy Manny. Those two songs, he can sing a long.

Favorite books: Franklin the Turtle first, then pretty much any book after that.

Favorite animal: He, like most other kids his age, likes animals. Dogs have always been high on the list. He loves watching birds, accompanied with a "quack" sound. Horses, cows, pretty much any animal. He's proficient in animal sounds, even a lion and an elephant. Spencer also loves dinosaurs.

Favorite food: He'd be happy if he didn't ever have to eat. If it were up to him, he'd live off of juice. The minuscule list of foods that he will eat includes: hot dogs, chicken nuggets, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, ramen, water chestnut, peanuts, chex mix, chips, fruit snacks, chocolate, snow cones, cereal and yogurt. And out of that list, it's still hit and miss. Some days, he'll eat great, then the next he won't touch it.

Favorite athletic activity: Jumping. He loves the trampoline, and loves to jump off of about anything. That's all he does right now is jump. Jumps down stairs, off the bed, off the couch, down the hall, basically any time he's on a raised platform of any kind, he'll jump off of it. The other day, we were at a park that had a climbing rock thing, about five feet high...of which he attempted to jump off. Also, he loves to kick balls....must be related to his dad. And swimming...must be related to his mom.

Favorite movie: Harry Potter. Spencer has never been huge on watching shows. He likes them on, in the background, but he will never sit an watch them. There are 2 parts on the 1st Harry Potter that he loves. We have to skip between them, and watch them back a million times in a row. He loves that part in the beginning, where Dudley is having his Birthday at the Reptile house. When Dudley upsets Harry, Harry unintentionally makes the glass between them and the snake disappear. Dudley falls in, and the snake comes out. This is where the phrase, "Snake away" came from..."The snake is getting away." He also does sound effects, and mimics the people screaming as the snake slithers past them. The other part of the show is where he goes through the barrier and sees the Hogwarts Express for the 1st time.

Favorite place to sleep: Still in our bed, no comment.


Other explanations on his phrases: "Baby Zeke" is my cousin's baby. He calls him, "Baby eke." "More ba ju" - "More ba (bottle) ju (Juice)" He's slowly transitioned into a sippy cup bottle, slightly different from a babies bottle. When he wants juice, it's any combination of more, ju, and ba, as fast as he can.

Favorite thing to do: Watch you tube. This is where his phrase, "Baby bear" came into play. One of his favorite youtubes is called "scared panda." It has a baby panda bear....so anytime he sees a panda bear, he calls it baby bear. And pretty much now, every bear is "baby bear."

Favorite you tubes: Baby bear, cat dancing, the winnie the pooh ride at Disneyland, It's a small world Disneyland, Girl Launched to Clouds, and anything with sharks.

Spencer's physical update: Spencer has always been scrawny, due to lack of interest in food. He has always been in the 75% for height and 10% for weight. However, at his last doctor appointment 4 months ago, he fell down to the 50% for height and 5 % for weight. He's ruffly give or take 23 pounds. Spencer had always had skin problems. He was diagnosed as atopic dermatitis. However, we think it is slowly becoming something worse. It looks like a bad case of eczema. He has dry patches all down his legs, his arms, and the top of his feet. It is really bad in creases, such as his wrists, or ankles, and his cheeks. Then everywhere else, just feels dry. We have to lather him in lotion, and steroid cremes, then put long foot pajamas on him, so it can soak in. He hates lotion.

Spencer has always had rhythm. He dances anytime he hears music. He also gets really excited when he sees a truck, tractor, or Spoungebob.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Swimming!!


Yay, the pool is finally open!! I am bound and determined to teach Spencer how to swim this year. Obviously, having a pool in your backyard can be extremely hazardous, so I want him to know how to swim as early as possible. My sisters and I have always been water dogs. However, I was the 1st out of the 3 of us to learn how to swim:) The 1st time I swam across the pool, I was only 2 years old! Spencer will be 2 in August, so if he wants to beat mom, he better get on it. He definitely takes after me, he loves the water...not that Scott doesn't, its just a lot harder for him to swim:) He sinks, it takes a lot of work for him to stay above the water. I was on swim team for years, was a lifeguard for years, been boating for years, anything with water is great. We bought Spencer a pair of water wings this year, and loves them. He can totally kick around the pool without our help. He also loves to jump in without anyone to catch him.


Can't swim without goggles

Monkey Buziness

Boise has a new indoor playground called Monkey Buziness. Always looking for things to keep kids busy, Lindsey and I, along with kids, just had to test it out. It has a portion that is similar to Planet Kids...slides, tubes, ropes....along with 3 huge inflatable slides/obstacle courses. It's not as large as planet kid, but Spencer had a hay day on the inflatable slides. The largest inflatable slide is huge, and so steep; Lindsey, Natalie, and I weren't careful enough and acquired quite the plastic burns while flying down. My problem was I didn't have any socks. It was amazing, I was holding my socks in the bathroom, and from the bathroom to where we put our stuff, they disappeared. I went back to see if I dropped them, or left them in the bathroom, but they were gone; I don't even remember putting them down. So I was trying to go down a freakishly steep slide while holding my heels up, needless to say, my last time down wasn't successful.



This is Spencer, cousin Alex, and myself getting ready to blastoff (as Spencer would say).



This picture was so funny to me. He's getting use to me taking pictures of everything he does..so when I yell his name, he instantly turns, gives the picture smile, and says, "cheese." I can tell when he's sick of smiling for pictures, because I get this face from him.



"Seriously mom, enough pictures....you want me to smile, this is all you get."

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Best Friends


"Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends."
- Anonymous