He's Getting Too Smart

I have a list of entries to write on here: Ammon growing up, my birthday, Christmas, puppies, humidifiers, Ammon dancing, swimming, and so on but I have to write this down before I forget it all.

Ammon is growing up so fast! Every day he surprises us with new intellectual growth. I think for now he's stopped growing physically-thank goodness! Last week Steven was changing Ammon's diaper, and out of nowhere Ammon started tickling Steven and saying in a growly monster voice "tickle tiggle tickle!" He even did that to my pregnant belly in the grocery store! Now he'll run up to us randomly and tickle us and then run away.

I can't believe how many words Ammon understands! Here's a list:

-"Diaper change!" He'll waddle towards his room saying "dipa-da! dipa-da!"

-"Go down the slide!"

-"No touch!" We say this like a million times a day...usually he listens but he's still fascinated with the fireplace and blinds

-"Let's go downstairs"

-"Is Daddy home?" He'll run to the backdoor and open the door for Steven

-"Where's daddy/mommy?"

-"That's a no-no!"

-"Where's your puppy?" He'll go find his puppy and bring it back

-"Bouncy-bouncy!" He just did this a few minutes ago since he discovered he could jump in his crib. Silly baby!

-"Where's Jesus?" He'll point to the picture of Jesus on his wall

-"Kisses?" If he's in the mood he'll come over to you and open his mouth on your mouth.

There's so much more but all I can really think about is his sign language. We've taught him a few words: milk, food, drink, i love you. Just those few words has saved our lives and his.

Ammon: (screaming)

Mommy: What do you want?

Ammon: (points to his mouth)

Mommy: Do you want food or drink?

Ammon: (points to his mouth and tilts his head back for drink)

Mommy: Okie-dokie! Let's get you some juice!

He knows lots of signs to songs we sing:

-"The Wheels on the Bus"

-"Open, Shut them, Open, Shut them..." a song about hands that Lita taught him

-"Intsy-wintsy spider!"

-"Popcorn popping!"

-"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!"

Speaking of juice, we can't say the word "apple" in our house. Ammon loves his apple juice and apple sauce...apple slices he just spits out but he loves pears and clementines. We usually just spell it out: "Ammon ate all his dinner. Should we give him a-p-p-l-e-s-a-u-c-e?"

Here are words he can say...sorta. At least they are words we can both identify and communicate with.

-"apple" He'll say this for any fruit.

-"up-up-up-up!" He says it so urgently and never once, always in fours

-"buh-buh" Bye-bye

-"mama" and "dada"

-"puppa" puppy

-"hup! hup!" Which means help! He usually says this when he gets stuck in his toy bucket and can't get out. If he's whining about a toy he can't figure out we won't help him until he says "hup! hup!"

-"buh-buh" is for button

There's tons of stuff for Ammon to learn and improve on-like waiting 45 seconds for his milk to warm in the microwave-but he's just 15 months! We can't wait to see what new surprises will happen tomorrow!

September 2011

Ammon turned one in September! Yay! I can't believe we made it a whole year. It's amazing how fast he grew. Once he was a blob that did nothing except cry, eat a lot, and not sleep a whole lot either. Now he's a monster who plays with toys, cries occasionally, still eats a lot, but sleeps for 12 hours at a time. I'll have to find his stats somewhere...

One happy one year old!

Ammon thinks he needs to be serious because he's so old now.

"Get that camera out of my face. I'm not a baby anymore!"

Ammon sorting the clothes for me. I hope they taste yummier than they smell.

Ammon's attempt at using a spoon. He'll get the hang of it someday....

August 2011

Thank goodness for Lita and Lito for saving Ammon from Mommy's morning sickness. I didn't take one photo this month so these were all provided from Steven's parents. Yay!

Ammon's new car. He just sits on it and rides down the driveway. It makes this loud clicking sound so I hope our neighbors weren't too annoyed. At least Ammon had fun!

What a lovely face. He really did have fun at Lita and Lito's house...honestly!

He is so proud of himself for climbing up on the table.

Lito and Ammon watching the train. Ammon now loves trains.

"Look what I can do!"

Ammon destroying Lito and Lita's little farm house.

Ammon on the phone with me. "Mama, I'm never coming home!"

July 2011

Here are some pictures from July. I have a lot more pictures but they are on Steven's phone but we have yet to extract them.

10 months old! I have it written down somewhere how much he weighs. Let's just say he weighs a lot!

Mr. Chunkers!

Ammon the Intelligent!

Ammon the....weird.

Where in the heck did we go?

Wow. It's been more than six months...SIX MONTHS! Don't worry, we didn't die. We just got insanely busy. Well, first I got insanely sick in July...from morning sickness!!! Yep, we're expecting again in three months. Steven and I knew we wanted to start trying again but we didn't think it would happen in one month. It took a few years and months with Ammon, so we figured it would take forever for the second one. Hmm...nope. This pregnancy has been different from the beginning, especially with the morning sickness. I can't even remember August except that I threw up a lot. Whenever I would gag I could hear little gags coming from Ammon. Aww, he was sympathy gagging with me. My tears of anguish would startle him though so I had to keep the crying to a minimum while I puked my guts out. I have amazing inlaws (excuse my lack of a dash...I spilled soup on my laptop and killed the dash button and number five button. Anyway!) What was I saying? Oh! Steven's parents are AMAZING! They took Ammon for a week and a half and gave him a little vacation. Again, I can't remember what I was doing so just imagine a lot of sleeping, a lot of tv watching, and a lot of puking. Meanwhile, Ammon was playing with Lito and Lita and being spoiled. Wait! I remember something that happened in August: school started! Steven and I went back to school for the semester. He took a computer programming class while I did a US history class and meteorology class. I lost my butt somewhere in the middle of the semester due to the history class. Oh my gosh! It was very time consuming. I had to read five thick novels, do a 10 page research paper on women's advertising in the early 1900s, and study for two inclass essay exams. It was ridiculous but I learned a lot. I could only study at night when Ammon was asleep so my house's cleanliness suffered at the behest of my education. But we made it through and I'm pretty sure I got As in my classes. I'll have to ask Steven how he did in his computer class.

So, we're back now and I'll be updating regularly until this little one arrives, who by the way is a little girl! So far, she doesn't move around as much as Ammon did and I hardly look pregnant. I'm almost 26 weeks and I'm still carrying petite. One of these days I'll get a belly picture up. It's so sad that I haven't taken one yet compared to how many pictures I took with Ammon. Oh well! Now that school is done with I'll have more time to focus on this baby girl.

Holy Moly!

Like always, it has been too long since I've last posted. But don't blame me. Blame the little monster who is out of control with energy. Ammon is on the move now. He started crawling at 7 and a half months in mid April and he hasn't stopped since. Steven and I say that 7 months was his intellectual growth spurt. He went from a whiny spud (he'd just lay on the ground and cry until someone came to pick him up or move him around) to a crawling machine. And with crawling has come getting into all the cupboards, pulling down all the books, eating the forgotten stale cereal lost in couch cushion crevices, and splashing in the toilet bowl water. Hide your kids, hide you wives, hide your husbands 'cause he's crawlin' on 'erbody round here.

It's been hard for me to do anything on the computer with Ammon around. Everywhere that Mommy goes, Mommy goes, Mommy goes; Everywhere that Mommy goes the Ammon is sure to follow; He follows her into the office, into the office, into the office, He follows her into the office and pulls down all the books/eats all the envelopes/licks the computer chair/opens and closes the desk drawer/noms on a rock....etc. etc. I can't type for too long lest Ammon's ravioli hands creep up and start grabbing at the keys. What a goofy baby!

7 months: 22 pounds, five ounces. The average 12 month old is 21 pounds.

8 months old: 23 pounds. Crazy. I'm glad I don't gain weight like Ammon does.

Nom nom

Guess who started eating solids! In January, just hours after getting the okay from Ammon's pediatrician, we started feeding him solid food (even though the rice cereal was more soupy and solid.) He sure liked it! Look at the boy--he loves food! All the weight he's gaining now is from all those solids. He still likes mommy's milk but he also loves anything you give him from the spoon. January and February was all about introducing him to new solids like rice, barley, oatmeal, apples, bananas, peas, carrots, squash, blah, blah, blah. I diligently pumped every day so I had milk to mix in with the grains. Now fast forward to March and April, and I've practically given up pumping. It was just too much work to pump two ounces...every...single...day. I'd rather save that milk up to nurse him like an hour later. I don't think he's noticed or cares that much-just as long as he gets food! I nurse him through out the day and he gets his one meal in the evening: some type of grain mixed with some veggie/fruit. He likes veggies more than fruit, especially when it comes to juice. I give him a little bottle of baby juice in the afternoon. He loves the carrot juice (with some mixed in fruits like a V8-Splash) over just plain fruit juice. And it's good juice for him with hardly any sugar so he's not buzzed or anything. I look forward to every afternoon when I give him his bottle. He just lays in the middle of floor quietly and happily sucking away and I get at least fifteen minutes of quiet time for myself. I'm so thankful that Ammon has been doing so well with foods and he has no allergies...that we know of. This is a blessing that I am grateful for each day that I can nurse my baby and give him yummy solid foods.

4 months old...January 2011