EJ - 21 Months

          It's been a long time since I did a detailed EJ update. I like having them to look back on, and this one is long overdue. I'm going to try a new format that will hopefully make it easier for me to keep up with doing them for the boys.

Age: 
21 months. It's hard to believe EJ will be TWO in just three short months!

Stats:
He hasn't been to the doctor since 18 months, but then he was 23.13 pounds (36% regular charts, 51% preemie charts) and 31 inches long (10% regular charts, 33% preemie charts). He's still on the smaller size, but catching up!

Says: 
Probably more words than we can recognize at this point. Mama, dada, Eeee (EJ), cat, dog, woof, duck, uh-oh, icky, that (everything is "that!"), ball, whee!, hi there, no, and more that I can't think of right off. He doesn't talk all that much right now, but he's learning new words all the time and constantly babbling. Sometimes we'll hear a sound he makes a lot, and it'll click that he's saying a specific word and we just didn't realize.

Sleeps:
His sleep was disrupted for a couple weeks when Aaron first came home, but he's settled back down for the most part. He's still a good sleeper. He takes one 2-3 hour nap around noon, and goes to bed around 9:30 and sleeps until 8:30 or 9.

Eats:
Bananas, avocado, grapes, apples, fruit cups, cheese, crackers, granola bars, oatmeal, cereal, smoothies, sweet potatoes, grilled cheese, applesauce... He's a pretty good eater!

Loves:
Books and playing outside. Those are hands down his two favorite things! We finished the library's summer reading program, and how he's about 270 books into the library's 1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading program that we signed up for in June. He loves reading books with us. He also loves coloring with markers, balls, playing in water, being chased, making smoothies, helping in the kitchen, music and dancing, the beach, playing dress up, and his baby brother. He also loves Daddy! He likes to stand on a chair and look out the window to watch for Pete when it's time for him to come home. He also (unfortunately) loves shrieking. Anytime, anywhere. We're looking forward to the screaming phase being over. When he sees something he likes, he does this funny little shimmy. We love it!

Dislikes:
Getting his hair washed, when Aaron gets too much attention, going to bed, and being told no!

Plays:
We've been on a Stroller Strides hiatus while I recover from having Aaron, but EJ's still been having fun. We go to the park to play with his Stroller Strides friends about once a week, and we meet up with his friends Teagan, Ethan, Gavin, and Andrew as often as we can. Since Aaron came along, we've been to two Hullabaloo concerts, the library a few times, the children's museum, the Symphony in the Park, and had a few play dates. We try to alternate getting out of the house one day and staying home the next.  

EJ & Aaron:
EJ had a little bit of a rough time adjusting when Aaron was first born, but overall, he's done a great job. He loves Aaron and is always trying to help. He brings bottles, pacifiers, and blankets to Aaron, and loves to feed Aaron. He tries to share his toys, sometimes a bit too roughly, but it's still so sweet to watch. Every so often we come across something EJ does NOT want to share. He's a toddler. It happens. Overall, he's so kind and sweet, and I can't wait until Aaron's old enough to play with him!

I'm sure I'm forgetting so many things, but the bottom line is that EJ is awesome. He's smart and silly and funny and determined and sweet. We are so proud of how far our teeny tiny babe has come. We love you so much, EJ!

Smiles!

          Yesterday, Aaron smiled a real smile for the first time! He was 5 weeks and 2 days old, which puts him a couple weeks behind EJ's adjusted age when EJ first smiled. We'll cut Aaron a little slack since EJ was technically over three months old at the time. Here are some blurry smiles!

Smiling is exhausting!

One Month

     Technically, Aaron is five weeks old today, but last week on the 8th, he turned one month old! To celebrate, I propped him up in a giant chair. As one does.

EJ trying to get Aaron to smile.

First Tooth

          EJ's first tooth cut through today!  He was nice enough to smile for me so I could take a picture of it.

 Milestone: first tooth

Age: 8 months, 1 week, and 2 days (36 weeks) actual, 6 months (26 weeks) adjusted

Rolling Over

          EJ has been rolling from his tummy to his back for a while now (although he seems to prefer screaming until someone moves him to actually doing so), but he hasn't quite been able to get the hang of back to tummy.  When he's on his back, he's like a little, overturned turtle.  But no longer!  On Monday, he rolled off of his back like it was no big deal.  And diaper changes just got a lot more complicated.  

Milestone: rolling from back to tummy

Age: 6 months 3 weeks 3 days actual (29 weeks 3 days), 4 months 2 weeks 1 day adjusted (19 weeks 3 days)

In case you can't tell, this is the face of a baby who has just tasted sweet freedom.

Celebrating!

With his proud mama.

EJ's First Bites

Rolling Over

Milestone: Rolling Over!

          EJ reached another milestone today: he rolled over!  He's been really close to rolling over lately, so I was prepared with the camera.

Milestone: rolling from front to back
Age: 5 months 1 week 4 days actual age (23 weeks 1 day); 3 months 2 days adjusted age (13 weeks 1 day)

Here are some pictures leading up to the big event.

Hanging out and playing with his beloved plastic links...

At this point, I was pretty sure he was going over, so I switched to making a video.  This is a very thoroughly documented first roll--clearly, he's a first baby. :)

So proud of himself!

Milestone: Smiling

                Yesterday evening, EJ smiled for the first time!  At least we think he did.  He’s been making smile shaped faces for a long time, but they didn’t seem to be actual smiles.  This time, he looked up at his Daddy, and gave a big, open mouthed grin!  Luckily, I was right there to see it, too.  Last night during his 3am feeding, he looked up at me, then off over my shoulder and smiled again!  That one was harder to tell for sure since he wasn’t looking at me when he did it, but the grins were different than the involuntary, closed mouth, half smiles we’ve been seeing. 

                Hopefully we’ll start seeing some more grins and can be more confident that they’re real smiles.  Then maybe we can catch one with the camera!

                We’re very curious about when EJ will hit his milestones, since while preemies are expected to reach them at their adjusted ages, you never know.  We, of course, think he’s brilliant and will reach them all way ahead of schedule. J

Milestone: smiling

Age: 13 weeks, 5 days actual; 3 weeks, 5 days adjusted; 3 months, 4 days

Here’s a (low quality, cell phone) picture of Oliver trying to get in on the cozy spot I made for EJ.  I think it’s safe to say the cats are used to him!