Friday, March 26, 2010

Frustrations of a Mommy

Well, here I am again. It seems like it's been a long time since I've updated, and I have a little bit of time, so here's my chance.

I really can't think of anything new and interesting that's happened recently. Noah hasn't hit any milestones or anything. Oh, here's something new- We've decided to try to teach Noah to sign. He doesn't seem to feel the need to actually talk, so we're going to try the sign language thing. I can't help but worry a little bit over his lack of language. I mean, he really doesn't say a whole lot. He had his first word, "cat," at 10 months, and here I thought he was going to be a somewhat early talker like I was, but it's been slow going since then. When we had a bunch of dogs around us on our trip to GA at Christmas, he threw "gog" into his vocabulary and a few days later, "gog-gee", but since we're not around them anymore, we only get the occasional, "gog" when reading stories with dogs in them. He used to say "cuh" when he would get "stuck" with his walker, but he doesn't use that anymore since he started walking, so he doesn't use that word a whole lot anymore. He won't even say "Dada" or "mama." Oh, he did start trying to say "flower" a couple days ago since I planted flowers on our patio, and now he started making sounds for "again" even though it seems to be the same word he uses for a lot of things- "ga." He knows when he should talk, he just doesn't. He points at things and makes noises until we get whatever he's pointing at, or makes the same "ga" when he's trying to give us something, or like I said before says "ga" when he wants to do something again, but he doesn't seem to want to go beyond the non-words. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing something wrong...like, maybe since I'm quieter in general I don't talk to him as much as other moms talk to their kids. Or maybe I'm not talking to him the right way, or reading him the wrong books or something. I have such a hard time not comparing other kids to him. It's especially frustrating when kids who are a lot younger than him talk a lot better than he does. It's frustrating. :-/ He does know what lots of things are, like, when we're reading a story, he'll point out all of the balls in the book. Or, cows, or fish, or birds....cats....dogs, and last night we started pointing out pigs. He points out all the lights in a room, weird I know, or Daddy in all of our pictures, so it's not a problem of not knowing what words to use, it's just SAYING them that's the problem.

So, signing it is. He usually picks up movements really fast, so hopefully he'll figure out what we're trying to get him to do relatively soon. We're starting with "eat" and "drink" and next is "help" and probably "outside" since he's a HUGE fan of "outside." He would spend every waking minute on our patio if we let him. When I get him out of bed and set him down on the floor, he walks straight to our sliding door to go outside and starts making noises. Yesterday he even started pulling my shirt while I was on the couch trying to get me to open the door for him. Anyways, enough of my whining.

It's time to go get Noah up from his nap and get him ready to go have lunch with Daddy today.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The small goings on at home

There hasn't been a whole lot happening in the Brahm family the last few days. I got my new dining room table, and I LOVE it. It's so pretty, and sturdy. Our last table was so wobbly it drove me nuts. That one is now out on our patio since I think that's where it was always meant to be. Our new one is counter height and it's fun to watch Noah just walk right under it. :)

My latest idea has been to find a way to make Noah's little play area more fun looking. I finally found a way to do it, so I ordered the stuff I needed online, and then a couple days ago I put everything where it's supposed to be. I'm very happy with the result. I don't think he really cares, but now it looks more "kid-like."

Eh, he'll eventually appreciate it. He's more interested in his
books right now though. That's not a bad problem to have though.


I thought that was an appropriate quote to put there. :)

Playing with his Christmas present from Great-Grammy and Papa.


He saw the camera and started making weird faces at me.
Definitely his father's son. I think this might be
the worst picture of him ever taken.


Yesterday we took him to the little playground near us since it was so nice out. He LOVED going down the slide. Daddy took him up the the top, and he slid down, and Momma caught him. He would grin and squeal as he was going down. It was just about the cutest thing ever. We didn't have a camera with us though, so there aren't any pictures. Next time we'll take the camera with us.

Saturday was the Fresno Walk For Life, so we were out at the park for the first half of the day. Noah was very good considering he didn't get his morning nap, and his afternoon nap was much later than usual. I did get a couple of cute pictures of him there though.



Friday, March 5, 2010

My new favorite thing

Yesterday I went in search of a booster seat for Noah. We have been pushing his highchair up to the table instead of using the tray, so I thought maybe we could just get him a booster seat to put on a regular chair. So, online I went to look and see what was out there. I found this- the Fisher Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat. Geez that's a long title. Anyways, I LOVE it. There aren't any cushions or crevices for Noah's food to get stuck in, the tray is dishwasher safe, it's got a cover that snaps over the tray in case you'd ever want to use that, it folds up, and it's very portable. I gave him his "second breakfast" with it in the living room today because at the moment, we don't have a table. When our table gets here later today, we'll see if we need to use the tray or not, but I'm so happy to know that's it's not a hassle to clean it even if we do end up having to use it all the time. It's perfect. I'm getting rid of our old highchair, 'cause I'm never ever ever going back. When we have another baby, if Noah is still using this one, I'm totally buying another one. So anyways, just thought I'd share so that if there are any soon-to-be mothers out there, or mom's who will soon have babies eating solids, or other mothers like me who just hate cleaning their current high chair, know that this is out there to make your feedings easier. :) By the way, Target had the best price on it. It was cheaper than Amazon by a few bucks, and I didn't have to wait for it to get here.