Robbie Meets a Ferret

We always try to expose Robbie to new experiences and give him new opportunities and this is one of the most unique ones we could find.  Our nanny, Sallia, has a ferret, a very cute one at that, and had to bring him by on the way to her mom's recently.  She brought Zeus inside, and Robbie pet him a little.  Then, they both became interested in other things, which made this picture a little blurry.  Zeus was all for exploring the house and the cats and they got along without too much trouble; we just didn't want to run the risk of anything happening.  Robbie helped Sallia take the ferret to her mom's and he got to meet some pretty nice dogs as well.  Who knows what cool animal he will meet next!  

New Milestone

Robbie started standing up and walking by himself from the middle of the floor.  From what many parents have told us this is when kids can really get into trouble, so far he's been his normal good self.  Luckily at this point his walking speed isn't too fast, but that will probably change soon.  I'm sure before we know it he'll be running and into something he's not supposed to be before we can stop him.  I suppose that he's being slowed down a little by the fact that he's dragging an assortment of toys with him, specifically his toddler lawn chair.

15 Month Appointment

Robbie had his 15 month appointment yesterday, and he's starting to understand where he is and he doesn't really like being at the doctor's office.  He is now 25 lbs and 8.1oz, 50.5cm head circumference, and is 33" long.  So that puts him in the 70th percentile for his weight, and the 90th for his height.  The nurse was quite amazed that he had grown 2" in three months, and his head has finally slowed down in growth which is probably a good thing.  Robbie did not like Dr. V touching him at all during the exam, he came close to crying just from the doctor using the stethoscope.  Lucky for Robbie he only got one shot this time, and he took it pretty well only crying a little bit.

Robbie Chases The Cats

Yesterday after I got home from work Robbie was in a mood to terrorize the cats.  I'd hear him squeal and then I see Tolkien and Willow run followed by Robbie as fast as his little legs could carry him (with out falling) carrying a cat teaser toy, repeat.  I finally got the video camera out and took this video.

Outdoor Fun

With all the nice weather we've been having Robbie got to enjoy some time outside much earlier in the year than I would have thought.  Of course now he is constantly pointing to go outside.  The top video shows Robbie playing in a rocking car at the play ground near city hall.  Below shows him playing with a ball that seems like it would be too big for him (no we don't normally let him walk on the concrete without holding one of our hands, we don't need him falling on that).  I enjoy going outside with Robbie, the problem is most of the time he wants me to carry him and take him where every he points and grunts to.  He's slowly getting better at actually walking on the grass with someone holding his hand, so I don't have to carry him quite as much (which is good he's heavy).

 

Spring

Robbie got to enjoy a beautiful first day of spring with his grammy.  However first Robbie decided he must eat his foot for breakfast before he could enjoy the weather.  He and grammy got to go for a nice walk and he played quite a bit outside, he also tried to look cool wearing grammy's sun glasses.  He finally decided he was worn out and it was time for a nap.

Big Boy

As you all know Robbie is and has been big for his age.  Well we finally had to change his car seat from rear facing to forward facing because his feet were hitting the back of the seat.  He really enjoys being able to look forward and see more than he could in the back of the seat, plus he likes it when we reach back and tickle his feet.  He seems happier and is more entertained by the cars going by and the different sights and sounds.  It also makes our job easier to give him food, drink or toys and to take them from him as well.

Our pediatrician told us the APA recently changed the guidelines so that children under the age of 2 should be rear-facing, but car seat manufacturers have not caught up with this guideline yet.  He suggested leaning the seat as far back as is safe and when the child's feet run out of room then turn the car seat forward.  Guidelines for you other parents out there!  We wish he could stay rear-facing longer, but he would be hitting his knees on his head soon!

Imitation

Robbie has been imitating people quite a bit lately, took this video of him helping mommy hang pictures.

A walk in the park

We went for a nice long walk in the Brecksville metro park today.  First we went on the swing where there was a little girl the same age, but much smaller, she said bye-bye to Robbie when they left.  We don't normally go for walks where there are this many people so it seemed a little surprising to me how many people basically gawked and made googly eyes at Robbie, saying how cute he was.  Especially when he got tired of the stroller and walked for a short bit.  Maybe lots of kids get that, I'm just not used to getting so much of it on one trip.  Here are a couple cute pictures worth sharing of Robbie on a stump.

St. Patrick's Day

**UPDATED

St. Patrick's Day was a pretty busy day.  Kelly really wanted to go down to the parade, but she had to work.  We did however get something green from grandpa, a green riding mower (it was actually for daddy but he looks cuter on it).  I also spent time helping fixing a laptop for one of Kelly's former co-workers.

** I almost forgot that Kelly found a four leaf cover right next to where Robbie was sitting in the grass that day, I had never found one before so I found it really cool.

We later went on to our friend's restaurant Eddie's Pizzeria Cerino which had a St. Patrick's Day special going, where we also enjoyed some Irish ale, and Robbie enjoyed some pizza.

Water baby

Robbie really enjoys taking his baths, when he does he splashes and plays with his duckies.  He likes it so much that he tried to take a bath in the family room with his clothes still on.

More OCD . . . ?

This is too intriguing not to share.  Last night shortly before bedtime, Robbie pulled some crayons out of their container and started playing.  I told him to put them away, and he one by one put them back!  He then of course wanted to pull them back out again, so I guess he's not too weird.

Is Robbie a Baby Einstein?

No I'm not referring to the video series, it just amazes both Kelly and me how much Robbie seems to be ahead of the curve.  He has gotten quite good at putting his animal puzzle pieces where they are supposed to go.  He may not be able to get them in the correct orientation very often, but he knows where they are supposed to go.  He really is just a little sponge and wants to know what everything is.  He even seems to be analyzing the child safety locks we have on some of the cabinets.

It also amazes us how smart he is with his food.  He will not eat it unless he has a utensil to use.  He also knows how to feed the fish and insists on doing it every night.  He found a piece of cat food on the floor recently and instead of putting it in his mouth like most kids his age he picked it up and put it in the cats' food bowl.  I'm still trying to figure out how he knows the right combination of buttons to push on our universal remote to watch a DVD.  He is very mechanically inclined - like me I guess.  

Robbie's OCD

Also known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Kelly and I both have a little of it in our own way.  Robbie has apparently inherited some of it as well.  He is very particular as to how things should go.  Some specific instances include when he was about nine months old he took all his stuffed animals that weren't bears off one shelf and put all his pooh-bear stuffed animals from another shelf on that shelf (all the other stuffed animals were on the floor).  He can reach a shelf that has our coffee mugs on it so recently he rearranged them so that they were in a straight line.  We went to Olive Garden a few weeks ago later in the evening and one of the employees was cleaning with one of those broom like vacuums that you just push (non-electric), he wanted it so she gave it  to him and he must have pushed that thing around for about five minutes (pic below), got some funny/smart comments from the other employees.  Robbie just the other night wanted to play with our broom and was "sweeping" for quite a while before we got the camera out.

Are you home yet?

Friday night I got a call from Matt just before I left work.  Robbie had been in Matt's arms, and kept pointing around.  Matt was a good chauffeur and took him where he wanted to go.  Well, he wanted to go to the door. Then Matt asked him what he wanted at the door and apparently the response was "Mommy".  He knew it was time for me to come home from work and couldn't wait any longer to see me!  

Working these long hours during tax season does not make it easy on any of us but it makes me appreciate the greatness of my family even more.  The hours and minutes I do get to spend with them take on special meanings and make me want to cherish everything and not miss a minute!  A little over a month and things will be back to normal... I hope.  

Footsie

I really love it when I'm sitting at the table eating and something brushes up against my feet, I can't help but laugh.  Whether it's a kitty tail, or daddy's leg or foot; I just start laughing.  Daddy took this video of me laughing when his foot touched mine, I found it hilarious.  Do it again, Daddy, do it again!

Peek-A-Boo

Robbie really loves playing peek-a-boo.  Just  moving my head from one side of the bed post to the other can get him giggling.  He really loves it when I play it with him around his "work bench".   I look at him around the side then look at him through the window and he just laughs like crazy.  He gives himself the hiccups quite often when we play peek-a-boo there (picture below).  Here's a video we took of Kelly putting a blanket on him and him pulling it off.

Terrible Twos

Robbie had one of his temper tantrums last night.  He was getting a snack before bed and he wanted to eat it in mommy's lap.  Well he started in her lap and grabbed her sandwich, and started eating it (a whole sandwich). After about two bites he was put in his high chair. Well, he wasn't having any of that and started screaming and crying, red face and everything.  We figured he would work it out fairly quickly, but after a couple of minutes we decided ok fine and put him on the living room floor.  He crawled and cried, it was actually a little amusing when he would crawl with his head rubbing on carpet in full cry mode.   He finally calmed down after a couple of minutes and started playing with his toys.  We've been pretty lucky I guess, Robbie hasn't had too many tantrums and they usually don't last that long.  They all seem to involve either food or mommy or both.

Lucky mommy.

What's this thing Mommy

Robbie has been pointing a lot recently, and not just at things that he wants.  He wants to know what things are called.  He'll point at the clock and we'll tell him what it is and then he'll point at something else.  He usually ends up going back and points at the same things again and again, trying to learn what they are.  My favorite is when he points at the different animals on our Old McDonald See and Say.  He doesn't understand the correspondence of the arrow to the animal it's pointing at yet, but he likes to pull the lever and dance to the music.  The hardest one to figure out is when he points out the window, does he want outside or want to know what something is, don't know that one yet.

Shoes

Robbie has been walking on his own for a few weeks now, and we've already had people say that he should have shoes on.  Kelly and I both disagree with this.  There is growing research showing that kids should be barefoot or socks (but what kid keeps their socks on) as much as possible.  The bones in kids feet at this stage are not bone they are just cartilage, and putting shoes on their feet will deform them.  Allowing kids to go without shoes allows their feet to grow naturally as they were intended.  That being said we both know there are times and places where Robbie will need to put shoes on, when it's snowing for example.  We of course would not force Robbie to go barefoot, it would be his choice.  We have tried to have Robbie walk around with his shoes on, and he simply can't walk in them right now.  He's used to being able to feel the ground.  I liken it to trying to learn a fine motor skill with your hands while wearing thick winter mittens, it's not easy.  I'm not trying to preach to anyone as to what they should do, I'm just trying to get people to understand why we are doing what we're doing.

Kelly and I are both avid barefooters.  We wear shoes as little as possible, that includes sandals.   We do this for various reasons.  Our main reason we started was pain.  I was having bad pain in my feet and started doing research on the matter.  I found a lot of sources saying that just wearing shoes less often could alleviate the problem.  So before I paid money to see a podiatrist I thought I'd give it a try, and it worked great and I haven't looked back.  Kelly on the other hand has fibromyalgia and arthritis in basically all her joints, as well as one leg being about 1/2" shorter than the other.  She had tried many different things, including seeing specialists and rheumatologists, trying to help reduce her pain.  She followed my lead and found that going barefoot as much as possible helped tremendously with her pain.  We even went barefoot hiking when we went on vacation last summer, which was very enjoyable (you can look it up it's growing in popularity).  Here are a couple of pictures from that trip:











I know many of you are thinking to yourselves that's dangerous or gross all those germs.  Well it really isn't very dangerous, your feet toughen up pretty well and neither of us have had a bad injury.  Only small cuts or scrapes, which in our opinion is worth it since we are living with less pain.  Regarding germs, you are exposed to even worse germs in your shoes, the ones that cause your feet to smell, and athletes foot needs a warm moist environment to grow (as in shoes).  Anything else you may have heard as a danger is also overblown.  I could go into it but don't want to on this blog, trust me I've done my research.

Here are some informational links, some of the comparisons are on the extreme end but they are just trying to make the point that shoes are bad for foot health:

Children's Shoes Cause Health Problems Later In Life
Parents of Barefoot Children
Nature's Child Blog
Society For Barefoot Living
Americaspodiatrist.com
The Primalfoot Alliance

We hope that you will support us or at least understand our reasons for going barefoot.  Who knows, maybe you will one day too!