February Summary

February has been a very cold and snowy month here in Michigan. It has also been characterized, for our family, as one of substantial change—especially Jameson. We all had some colds this month. Jameson’s was particularly bad—I remember one night I was up every hour (or so) with him because he couldn’t breathe while laying down. He became quite adept at avoiding the “nose suction” tool—making it hard for me to clear out his nose!

We started the month in Dayton, where I was attending an Air Force class. The boys and Stefan had a great time hitting numerous museums in the area. We also got to see many family and friends. We’ll end the month in the Washington, DC, area. I’ll be accompanying some cadets on a base visit, and then the boys and Stefan will fly in so we can visit family and do the tourist thing.

Alex
Alex, as usual, has been a great trooper this month. He continues to adore his younger brother (much to our delight!). Although he can be challenging for Stefan sometimes during the day, they seem to have a great time together. Yesterday I came home to find that they had made sundials. Another day I came home to find a “Black Sea” inhabited by pirates in our living room (black blanket laid down with all of his pirates gear out on it). That was great fun for a few days, until Jameson started to get a little mobile and it has to be moved to higher ground. He has gymnastics on Monday and swimming on Friday.

One day, Stefan started a “points” system with Alex. He gets points for doing good things (picking out his breakfast without fussing, helping clean up, looking after his brother, etc) and sometimes he gets negative points when his behavior could have been better. It’s proved to be an amazing motivator! Even better, he has yet to ask what the points mean, or if he gets to “cash them in” for anything. Alex also takes his snow board (which he bought this summer for a dollar at a garage sale) to the science center. He cruises down the snowy hill on it and then comes in to the nature house for some hot chocolate.

Jameson
Jameson has grown an amazing amount this month. In the beginning of February, he was perfecting his method of sitting and playing. Day-by-day he motor abilities improved. First he learned how to move from sitting to laying… then from laying to sitting. I personally think he got his technique down in the tub—the water provided a buoyancy that helped him learn how to do it! Speaking of the tub—Jameson experiences absolute joy in the water. His delight is phenomenal to watch—and is contagious! Alex comes in the bathroom with me to watch him and then takes his own bath afterwards.

After he learned those skills, he started to work on crawling. He is now moving with a combination of crawling, scooting and pulling himself along. Watch out, house! We have a baby on the loose! Then, as if that wasn’t enough development for a month, he started pulling himself up to standing. Wow! Now he is obsessed with perfecting this and does it everywhere… on furniture, in the tub, onto us, in his crib (we had to move his crib down to the lower level), onto his brother—anywhere he can.

He has also had some emotional milestones. He now understands “object permanence” and complains (sometimes quite strongly!) when things are taken from him. He is also expressing—for the first time—a little bit of stranger anxiety.

Since the cutting of his second tooth, we have taken away his pacifier. At first, he was very unhappy when settling down for naps, but he has adjusted and is doing quite well. His food intake continues to increase, and he has started to be able to feed himself crackers and other hand-held food. So far, he has been impressed with nearly everything we’ve fed him and (thank goodness!) has shown no signs of allergies.

So although this parenting thing can be exhausting and difficult at times, we are having a great time watching the boys learn and develop and change!