Holy cow! Is Grant’s second birthday really only a
month away? I am happy to say that his
invitations got dropped in the mail along with Christmas cards. Because of his love of Goodnight Moon we are opting for a Goodnight Moon themed pajama party.
I will say it will not be nearly as over the top as his first though!
Growth: According to our
home scale, Grant is weighing in at 26.6 lbs… that is up almost another pound. According to his growth chart he is measuring
in at roughly 35” so that puts him up about 1 ½” in the last month. Some of his 18-24 month pants are becoming a
little short while some 24 month are still way too long. Otherwise he is still wearing some 18-24
month shirts, size 6 shoes, and size 4 diapers.
Teeth:
Those 2 year old
molars haven’t popped through yet but I can feel them just below the
surface.
Language/Comprehension: We
have heard Grant count to 10 on his own without any mistakes but he still isn’t
very consistent. He also still switches
between English and Spanish counting.
Color recognition is so so and he seems to be the most consistent with
orange, red, and yellow. We have been
working on enunciation with Grant and saying word correctly since his
vocabulary is doing so well. He loves to
emphasize
his k sounds for truck and milk for instance.
The why why why phase has definitely kicked in. We amuse him and answer the first couple of
why’s but that is it. Matt likes to turn
the table on Grant and ask him why and Grant will say “no why!” It seems like he doesn’t like a taste of his
own medicine. When you ask Grant a
question, he will use yes and no in the proper context whereas in the past the
answer was always no.
Grant
can also be very bossy. The other day I
started the pellet stove and we have been working on keeping Grant away. Well I stood close to warm up he told me “no,
mommy hot!” He also scolded Bucky the
other day when he was drinking from Monty’s water dish and told him “no Bucky,
that’s Monty’s.”
Some
favorite words/phrases this month:
Santa, Christmas, snowman, Matt (which sounds more like map), help me
please, big pumpkin went bye bye, where’s the other one, Santa says ho ho ho!
Mobility/Coordination: Grant
loves to race and says ready, set, go.
He goes up the stairs on his feet and not his hands and knees anymore
but he still likes to go down on his belly because it is much faster. We brought his tricycle in the house the
other day and his feet now reach the pedals but he doesn’t exactly get the
concept of pedaling yet.
Potty
Training: We have had a
couple more potty incidences on the toilet at home and Grant doesn’t know it
yet but he is getting underwear for Christmas.
It is my hope to have him in underwear the week between Christmas and
New Year’s when I am off of work and really push for some hardcore training and
see how he catches on. If he is ready
then great and if not we will wait a little longer.
Grant-isms: Loves to “cheers” us with his milk at meals ~ Dislikes ketchup and
most dips but will drink ranch directly from the dipping cup if you allow him ~ If you take a picture he says cheese and then says “I see ‘em” because he needs to see it ~ He likes to
hide before dinner and stands in a corner and said “hiding” over and over
Things he likes: My
hair! Grant has never been much of a
puller or tugger on my hair but he loves grabbing handfuls and running his
fingers through it lately.
He loves all
of the Christmas lights and points out “Christmas lights” and “more Christmas
lights” and “Christmas tree” and “another Christmas tree” as we are riding down
the road. It is like a play by play.
He loves his vitamins, green
beans, the Robot Movie, the book The
Night Before Christmas aka “the Santa book”, giving hugs, and singing!
Not
too long ago Grant saw Jesus in a picture and said “Jesus!” And then sang Jesus
Loves Me doing the motions. It has
become one of his go to songs of choice.
Other
songs of choice…
“Oh
Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, I love you Christmas tree”
Happy
birthday to anyone and has been singing it to Jesus lately
Jingle
Bells
The
“deer song” aka Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
Funniest moment(s) this month: His
new favorite phrase is “Aww Nuts!” which I guess is much better than some
things he could be saying!
When baby sister’s
bedding arrived we were unpacking it and Grant picked it up, hugged it and said
“I love you sissy.” It was so sweet!
Biggest change(s) this month: Grant
is doing much better in his toddler bed and most nights doesn’t get up after we
put him to bed anymore.
Firsts:
We took our 1st
trip through the park for Christmas lights and to watch the light show. Grant loved it!
When my mom was
in town, she also took him to the horse stables that she worked at as a
teenager. She said at first he wasn’t
too sure what to think and didn’t want to be put down but warmed up quickly and
pet a couple and loved the donkey.
We cut down our first Christmas tree.
We also went to breakfast with Santa at a local restaurant. Grant didn't cry or freak out but he wasn't too sure about Santa and Mrs. Clause.
 |
| Grant and Kylie at breakfast with Santa |
Illnesses: Just
another minor cold/cough with no fever so it has been another quiet month!
C Diff update: I
am happy to report that Grant is still absolutely symptom free. Since his surgery we have been in touch with
the hospital because they have expressed interest in reaching out to various media
outlets with Grant’s story. This all would
have happened much sooner but the doctor’s involved in his case first wanted to
submit an article to a medical journal and the story was embargoed until
everything could be published. Grant’s
case has since been published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. He is officially the youngest ever to receive
the transplant. The hospital is now
working on reaching out to the Chicago Tribune and a couple other media outlets
in Chicago as well as the local Fond du Lac Reporter. The Tribune will be including portions of his
story as part of a larger microbiome story they are writing and the Reporter
has expressed interest as well. We are
just happy to hear that even more people will hear about additional options out
there and hopefully it will prevent others from the long journey we had.
