Nature, Too, Celebrates his Birthday!

It's very sad that I haven't written about Evan lately. Last time I wrote, he was mobile. In the last couple weeks, Evan has gone from mobile to ridiculously mobile. He stands up against furniture, cruises along said furniture, and generally just flies from place to place. If he sees shoelaces, he'll beeline for them. If he sees the gate to the steps open, he'll beeline for that. If he sees an electrical cable, such as a laptop power cord, he'll beeline for that. If he sees the kitchen, he'll beeline for that. If he sees air, he'll probably just try to chase that down too.

On Tuesday, he made it through his (and my) first moderate earthquake. Our region got hit with a 5.8 earthquake on Tuesday (see here), and it was pretty funky. The ground shook, floors got wavy, and things fell from places. Evan's only fright was when some books fell from the bookshelf and hit the floor. The noise startled him, but he was fine because he was on the main floor.

Today was his first birthday party. Today is also the day we're getting hit with hurricane/tropical storm Irene. Nature's had a fun time with us this week, eh? Since Evan LOVES the Muppets, and specifically Animal, Jung (awesome Jung) made him not one, but three Muppet-related cakes. One was a yellow Miss Piggy cake, one was a Carrot Kermit cake, and the last was (wait for it) a chocolate Animal cake! Jung is awesome. And thanks to everybody who braved the hurricane to come out and be with him for his birthday.

And the Sippy Cup Milk Stout I made for the party guests was pretty friggin phenomenal. One day he'll get to enjoy that. In the meantime, he gets to learn to crawl, walk, talk, eat, and generally just doesn't have to have a care in the world, which is pretty OK.

He's MOBILE

Evan is an awesome little kid. He's now got crawling down pat. That, by the way, is a fantastic father's day present to receive. On father's day, he pretty much just shot up onto his knees and started crawling. He's been going ever since, and now we have to keep a constant eye on him.

He has also developed a very unusual set of interests. A small set of objects will get him crawling across the room. In no particular order, they are:

• The car seat strap
  
• Dad's hair
  
• Any cable or wire
  
• The strap to mommy's camera
  

He is also not a fan of diaper changes anymore. Well, that's not entirely true. It's not that he particularly dislikes them, except that we need him to stay still and not roll over, and he needs to not stay still and must roll over. So, he goes scooting off all the time, and if we're lucky he's got half a diaper on his little butt. If not, then it's bare-butted crawling action all the way across the room.

He's also beginning to learn yoga :-) Specifically, the downward facing dog. He stops crawling when he needs a break, sticks his head to the floor, and pops his butt up in the air. Look ma! No hands!

Getting Older

Well, the little guy is getting a bit older. He's a day shy of nine months, and he's learned a few things lately. Specifically, within the last three days, he has learned to army crawl and, much to our surprise, sit up in his crib. Friday, when I got home from work, the Girl said that he had been crying and that, when she went in there, she found him sitting up in his crib, crying. It's now Sunday, and today was the first time I saw this for myself.

The crawling thing is pretty awesome, too. Prior to figuring out the army crawl, he would make one move with his arms, then put his head down and "head sled" his head along the floor, with his hind legs running and his little butt sticking up in the air. It's cute. :-)

Our little guy is getting older, and learning very quickly the last couple days.

Soccer Day

Today was exciting for me. The tykelet, who rolls over like a champ and laughs all the time, got to see the first soccer game he's gotten to see since he has been able to see more than six feet in front of him.

He's also really close to crawling, but he hasn't quite gotten the arms down. He likes to get up on his feet and stick his cute little butt up in the air, but then he just commits to rolling over. And then he laughs and kicks and laughs and kicks some more.

But, he got to go to my soccer game today, and he would have, had he been able to comprehend things, seen me score a goal! And since he missed that, he's seen about the same number of my goals that my wonderful wife has. :-)

A Tiny Milestone - Front to Back

This is a quick update, but an important one. According to my sources (*ahem* Jessie *ahem*), the little tykelet rolled over from front to back today. Apparently, though, he immediately realized that the reason he hadn't done so prior is because he no longer likes to be on his stomach. So, smart child that he is, he just rolled over again from back to front, completing the circuit.

Now, maybe one of these days he'll want to be on his tummy so that he can learn to crawl. That's not today, though. Not by a long shot...

Well, Gosh, Kind of a Lot Has Happened Since Then

It's been a majorly long time since either of us has updated here, so I thought I'd take the opportunity. The little tyke just saw his grandparents, and they were very very excited. They got to see him roll over from front to back, which he has mastered. He's nearly, but not quite, sitting up. He is nearly, but not quite, rolling from back to front as well.

We tried out the whole Ferber sleep training thing. We failed that on purpose. I personally can't listen to him scream like that. It just wrenches my heart. Not for us, I suppose. It's awful, though I think most of the people we know did it that way. I don't see how. It's so awful...

Pretty soon, we'll be starting him on solids. He's already been eating rice cereal, and he LOVES the stuff. Seriously, watching him reach his whole head forward with his tongue sticking out is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. But, sometime soon (probably next week), we're going to process some peas and give them to him to see whether he'll like that. I hope it goes better than trying to mix formula with the rice cereal (vice breast milk), because that was a major failure.

Anyway, we are starting to get the sleep thing down, but it's not smooth. We're tired. We'll see if it goes better soon. Still, though, he's the most lovable thing on the planet.

The good hydrocephalus.

Evan has had a large head since birth. Not super crazy large though, I mean, it was "only" 35cm when he popped out which landed him in the 75th percentile. He's been outgrowing the head/neck holes of onesies ridiculously early from the get-go. The pediatrician measured his head every single time we went to an appointment and every single time it remained in the 75th percentile. That is, until the most recent visit at 4 months. It measured 44.5cm which landed him in the 97th percentile. This concerned the pediatrician a bit because the jump from 75% to 97% didn't follow the normal growth pattern. She referred us to a radiologist to have a pediatric cranial ultrasound done to rule out hydrocephalus. After an insurance fiasco forced us to postpone the ultrasound by a week, we finally had it done last Thursday and were told that we'd hear something back in 48 hours. Tuesday morning, I received the results from his pediatrician. Evan has benign external hydrocephalus. She said it was good news. Good because it's external rather than internal. Internal is WAY bad, needs surgery, and can be deadly. External generally fixes itself by the kid's first birthday when the fontanelles close and is nothing to worry about. She also said that it's hereditary and that it's likely someone in the family had a large head as a baby, but in the "old days", they didn't check for it. Still, she referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins to keep tabs on it. She warned us that they're a super crazy busy practice so our visit there may be a month away, but there is no rush because Evan is showing no signs that would indicate a problem. I'm waiting for a call back from them so I can schedule an appointment. Hopefully, that in itself doesn't take a month. Ah...healthcare...

Milestones

Well, we've hit a lot of milestones in the last month. Each one of them seemed really sudden, too, as if he's known how to do them all along and just wasn't showing us.

First, he can lift and hold his head up. I know this doesn't seem like much, but the first time we put him down and he did it, it was a marathon session. He just looked up, held his head there, and looked around. Mostly it was prompted by the Mobi Glomate Jr, an awesome little glowey toy thingy-ma-bob. I dig it, and I recommend one for any child who likes lights and colors.

Then, suddenly one day, fortunately while I was home, tykelet just rolled over. This happened on Andrew's birthday/New Years Eve, which is kind of poetic for some reason. Granted, I don't know what that reason is, but it is. I was so proud. It's amusing, too, because he just kind of rapidly flips himself over. When he wants to do it, it's done. When he doesn't want to, he pretty much lies on his tummy and screams at us.

At the four month well-visit, we found out that we weren't actually participating in a well-visit. Evan had his first ear infection, which explains why he's been cranky for the last several days. So, he's on some meds, and he'll get better, and then he has to get his shots, which is going to suck. We also have to take him in on Friday for a cranial sonogram because his head is growing more rapidly than it should be, and the doctors want to be sure that this isn't a problem. So, we'll find out on Friday!

Finally, today he had his first taste of rice cereal. He appeared to enjoy it, but since mom was giving him a bottle for the first time, he kept turning his head trying to get to the real food. My little boy!

That's all for now.