Sibling Love (and War)

Every month Lucas is getting bigger, more independent and, to Elise, more fun. It is an absolute joy to watch the two of them playing together, something they do more and more often these days. Their favorite joint activity (for the moment) is Dance Party. Yes, almost every night our living room magically transforms into a discotheque and our kids laugh and laugh as they boogie down together. Both kids absolutely love to dance (see previous post) and there is nothing more enjoyable than watching them get down.

They also love to play hide and seek, as well as any chasing/tag game. Of course Lucas still doesn't really get the concept of real hide and seek, so it's more like hide your face behind something (glorified peek-a-boo) but both of the kids think that it's hilarious. Often times, it is just simply running from room to room following each other which proves to be the most fun for them because they run and giggle and fall down and get up for more giggling and running and falling.

Of course it's not all sunshine and rainbows between these two and that is also becoming more apparent. Lucas is less and less interested in just going with the flow of whatever Elise is doing - which creates lots of drama when Elise is trying to drag him in the direction he doesn't want to go or force him to do something he doesn't want to do. And unfortunately this is a nearly constant occurrence, as she tends to be rather bossy (perhaps a better way to put is managerial?). On the flip side, Elise is also less and less interested in Lucas playing certain things with her (like Little People or My Little Ponies) because he usually just wants to throw things while she likes things to be very orderly.

The scariest thing about this is that Lucas, at 15 months, is already recognizing how much it upsets Elise when he messes up her perfectly set up toys and finds it hilarious to get a rise out of her (and it always gets a dramatic reaction). He very deliberately wanders over to where she is playing, and then stares right at her with a smirk on his face as he messes up her system. I have a feeling that this is only going to get worse as they both get older and perfect the art of annoying one another.

Last weekend, Elise and I went out of town for a few days, leaving the boys at home. When Marty and Lucas met us at the train station upon our return, the pure joy and excitement both children showed at seeing one another again was just awesome. No matter how much they annoy one another, hopefully they will always love and miss each other more.

Boogie Down!

We went to a community kids concert this weekend and our little ones thought the music was too groovy not to get up and get down on the sidelines. I had to post it - it's too cute. They are dancin' fools! I love it!

This, Not That

One of the toughest things about the transition from infant to toddler is the extreme difficulty with communication during this awkward phase. At this age, kids begin to realize that there are a lot of things they want and a very distinct preference about the specific item/need but they just don't yet have the ability to get those burning desires across to someone else. This is incredibly frustrating for the child. It is also incredibly frustrating for the parent, who is trying to respond to the grunts, points and screeches or trying to figure out why the child is cranky/ angry/ insane, but doesn't ever seem to be able to decipher the exact thing that all that screaming is about.

In the case of our little boy, Lucas' frustrations with communication have mostly come out in the form of hitting, which has been somewhat of an on-going disaster. So I am happy to report that things are really picking up in the communication department! On the vocabulary front, he says a handful of words on a consistent basis these days: Mama, Dada, ball, baby, hi, bye-bye, night-night, nana (banana), Elmo (he actually calls him Bobo), uh-oh and hat. He also has said many other words one time or a few times, but doesn't say them consistently enough for them to be in his full-time repertoire: Opa-pa, map, cheese, Dora, milk, bath, nose, book, up, more.

Of course none of these words really add up to stellar communication, but really the huge growth we have seen in communication in recent weeks is his ability to answer yes or no questions with a very firm and clear "yes" or "no". That may sound silly and obvious but this has seriously been life changing for us. He will tell you through these two simple words exactly what he wants - the trouble at this point of course is that you have to ask the right question because you can get 50,000 nooonooonoo's before you hit the bulls eye. However, it is so helpful to be able to actually know what your child wants. For example, if he's acting cranky and I say "Lucas are you tired? Do you need a nap?" he will actually say yes! And then nap when I put him down even if it's not even really nap time yet! Like I said, life changing.
Lucas and his cousin Eamon
He has also gotten really good with sign language. He knows and uses the signs for hungry, thirsty, more, diaper change, please, milk, and all done. These things alone have been really helpful with communication. Formerly the king of the grunt and point, he is finally able to communicate somethings without always just pointing (perhaps he's now just the Prince of point and grunt). He can also identify all of the features on a face (nose, mouth, teeth, etc) and many of his body parts too. In the last month or two he has learned quite a few animal noises.

Lucas is also doing a good job with following complex directions (i.e. go pick out a book and bring it to me and I will read it to you). I have a feeling that the words are going to start coming with a fury in the next few months. But in the meantime, we are making great progress and keeping the lines of communication open in lots of different ways. Unfortunately, he is still hitting when he gets frustrated about things, but it is not happening nearly as much as it was a few weeks ago. Steady progress!

In other news, I took Lucas in for a wellness check up a few weeks ago and he's now in the 50th percentile for height (31 inches) and 25th percentile for weight (23lbs). He is on track with everything and was given a clean bill of health. And then I think he picked up some virus at the doctor's office because he got a terrible cough/cold/fever illness about three days after his appointment.


Elise showing off her new scarf. Thanks Rachel and Nate!

Reactions

Between our children's sensitivity to lotions, creams, soaps, detergents, and fabrics, their food allergies and crazy reactions to both hot and cold weather, neither of them have ever had what people refer to as baby-soft skin. Both of them have some sort of eczema patch, rough bumps, rash or scaly thing somewhere on their bodies at all times. We have pretty much given up on determining the culprit behind these things - you can play the "what did he/she eat/do/wear" game all day and never really figure out the source behind the rash or gross rough patch.

So when the daycare called on Wednesday to ask about a rash that Elise had on her back, arm pits and buttocks, we were both fairly nonchalant about it. It is no exaggeration that Elise almost always has a rash. What's new, Lady? But the more we thought about it, we realized that she has never had a rash so big and gross looking that the daycare actually called to find out if we'd had it diagnosed (and to make sure the other kids weren't going to get it). And she's had a lot of big, gross looking rashes. We thought long and hard about what could possibly have caused a rash so terrible (since we are relatively careful about staying away from foods that give her bad reactions) when we realized that she was just coming to the end of her bought of antibiotics from her ear infection. Marty is allergic to penicillin (and Elise is allergic to so much of her own stuff) that it wouldn't be out of the question that she'd have a reaction to the the anti-biotic.

We took her into the doctor who told us that it did appear that her very big, angry, disgusting rash, was in fact a reaction to the amoxicillian, but she labeled it as a "medicinal"reaction, not an allergic reaction. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that it is completely safe for us to give her antibiotics when she needs them but we should just expect that she will always get this big gross rash on her back, butt and arm pits. She's gonna love that when she's 13! Lucky kid! Let's just hope she stays healthy.

Speaking of reactions, Lucas has a new favorite word of the week: "Uh-oh!" This usually comes right after he has thrown something on the ground, usually from his high chair although it's certainly not limited to that. He also enjoys pushing things onto the floor that were on coffee tables, pulling things out of other people's hands and throwing it onto the floor, pulling things out of drawers, and even getting the step stool, moving it to the nearest kitchen counter and pulling down anything his hands can find. Uh-oh is right! He was into this action-reaction phase several months ago, but the addition of a word to go with it seems to have breathed new life into the "throw stuff on the floor" game. Lucky us!

Christmastime at the Beach

Our Christmas Beach Vacation with Aaron (aka Uncle Wolfe), Kate, Eamon, Oma and Opa was special and exciting for a lot of reasons. First of all, it was great to be able to spend some extended time with my brother and his family who we don't get to see too often. It is priceless for our kids to get some quality time with their cousin Eamon (who is just three months younger than Lucas) to really get to know him and also really get to know their Aunt and Uncle, all of whom they usually only see a few times a year for two hour stretches. Secondly, when my brother and I were kids we went on vacation to Ocean City every year with our cousins, aunts and uncles and that's how we all got so close. It's exciting to think that our kids will be able to form that bond with each other too. And the fact that it's the same place where we have so many wonderful memories makes it even cooler. Next, it was also exciting to be able to celebrate Eamon's first birthday with him - it was something we wouldn't ordinarily have been able to do because of the distance, so it was fun to be able to share in the excitement of Eamon's first birthday and first cupcake experience! And finally of course it was great for the kids to spend extended time with their Oma and Opa, whom they absolutely adore.

However, as mentioned in the previous blog, the Christmas Beach Vacation did not start off as wonderfully as we'd hoped. Elise had a horrible and fitful first night at the hotel and Marty and I got up the next morning exhausted and frustrated, having gotten no explanation from Elise about what was happening or why she had such a hard time sleeping. After lots of poking, prodding and cuddling we finally got it out of her that her ear hurt. On Christmas Eve morning, she'd actually mentioned that her ear hurt too, but she was also complaining about a million other things because she was in a horribly foul mood so I didn't think much of it at the time. She's never had an ear infection before and I'd always thought that this was the age you started outgrowing them, not getting them for the first time so it didn't occur to me that it could be a real problem.

After a long, grumpy morning, we gave Elise some Motrin and she perked up almost immediately so she had obviously been in pain. Since all the health centers were closed for the holidays, we ventured to the hospital after lunch to get that ear checked out. Turns out it was, in fact, a nasty ear infection (thus explaining her behavior the last few days) and we got some antibiotics (her first ever I think) and some pain medicine and after a bit our little girl was on the mend and finally back to her old self. We could proceed with vacation fun!

And what fun we had! Christmas at the Beach may sound a little chilly (and it was) but there was actually lots of fun stuff to do. The hotel had an indoor pool and an ice skating rink (as well as great people watching, a model train and a really exciting glass elevator in the lobby) and we took advantage of all the amenities. Elise had her first ever ice skating experience, which she absolutely loved. She was a natural on the ice! It didn't take long for her to get the hang of it and become an old pro. It's not anything we would have thought of trying had it not been in the hotel, so I am glad that we had the opportunity to do it. Eamon demonstrated to Lucas how fun the pool is, and while Lucas was very skeptical at first, he eventually came around (a bit) and didn't hate it. Elise turned out to be as much of a water baby as Eamon - she had a blast at the pool and I had to eventually drag her away when I was too cold and pruned to take it any longer. We may have to get a pool membership somewhere next summer!

On the warmer days, we went for a walk on the Boardwalk, Opa and Ellie walked on the beach and collected seashells and we all went to a Festival of Lights extravaganza one night that probably displayed more Christmas lights than any of the kids had ever seen combined. The vacation did not end without incident - Marty woke up one morning feeling terrible enough to take himself to the emergency care center and was diagnosed with strep throat. We were pleased with all the good emergency care in Ocean City considering how much we had to use it!

Most importantly, Elise and Lucas got a chance to bond with their cousin Eamon (Elise mothered him and Lucas mostly bullied him) and they got a chance to get to know their Aunt and Uncle and hang out with Oma and Opa so I'd say the trip was a success. We are already looking forward to doing it again next year!