10/21/08

Well Korben has been as ornery as ever. Not a whole lot happened last week besides the normal stuff. Naps are still an issue and now bedtime has become an issue. He refuses to sleep instead he just plays and plays in his crib. It is making me nuts because I know he needs the sleep and he is terribly cranky in the evenings without a nap. I just don't know what to do. At first I thought it was his teething since that is what usually happens but it has been going on too long. I set up an appointment with his dr. for tomorrow to have his ears checked out. I want to make sure there is not an ear infection. I also had to set a different appointment to talk to the dr. about his speech and to talk about A.D.D. I want to know how soon you can test for it. Since Brent has it and I think Korben might have it too. The nurse said I could mention this stuff to the dr. tomorrow but they are on a time constraint with 'sick' visits so that is why I had to set up a separate consult visit. That appointment is not until Nov. 17th though. I really think he is going to have to start speech therapy and I think it would benefit him to start it earlier rather than waiting until he is 2, even though it is only a couple of months earlier. I told Brent I wish I would have trusted my instincts and pushed the issue more with Korben's dr. when he was 12 months old and I thought he might have a speech problem. Even then he was not babbling like a 'normal' baby, he hardly ever said mama and baba or gaga which are the main ones for babies. He only said dada and now almost everything has a 'd' sound.

Last Wed. I took him to story time at the library and they were having baby sign language story time. As I was buckling Korben into mom's van I pulled a muscle in my back when I lifted Korben up into his seat. I think Korben's teeth were hurting him that day and we only ended up staying for about 20 mins. He didn't want to go into the story time room at all which is fine as there are kids and toys right outside the room so he played there. But he kept trying to run around the library and he kept screaming while doing so. We were disturbing everybody in the library and it was stressful and embarrassing for me so we left. Then he threw a fit because we left. So I had to pick him up and carry him and I was in terrible pain from my back. He stiffens his body and then starts flinging himself around. When we are at home I just set him on the floor and walk away but since we were outside it was not possible. I did try to get him to stand but then he took off running around the library into the muddy grass. So I picked him back up again. I set him down by the van to get the keys out of my pocket and he laid down on the ground. Once we got home both of us were much better. My back hurt the whole rest of the week though. :( I am going to try story time again tomorrow because I really think he needs more interaction with kids his age. I am sure it will be better this week.

Korben has been obsessed with Thomas the Train every since we went to see Thomas. He doesn't have much Thomas stuff....only the pillow Grandma & Grandpa S. got him, he has one book that I got from a online book swapping site (it came with some other books that I got for him so I didn't even realize he had a Thomas book until after we saw Thomas and Korb found it) and then he has the Thomas magnet that they gave us when we saw Thomas. He has to carry his Thomas book and his Thomas magnet (his pillow stays in his crib) with him everywhere throughout the day. I have him come into the bathroom with me so that he doesn't get into trouble and I say 'Come go potty with Momma' and he starts running around going "uh oh, uh oh" until he finds his Thomas book and magnet and only when he has both things will he come with me. Last week we did buy Korben a couple of X-Mas presents, we got him some Thomas bath toys and another Thomas book one that you push the buttons and it says things and plays music. Brent & I are curious to see if he is going to do that with Mickey Mouse and the other Disney characters after Disney World.

Oh I think I forgot to mention that my biopsies came back completely begin. So that was good news last week.

We didn't do anything this past weekend. Just hung out around the house and took it easy. On Sunday Brent was watching Korben and I went out to the kitchen for something and found Korben sitting in the middle of the table playing with the hockey charms that my mom and I made to sell at the Blazers Booster Club booth. Brent had forgotten to push in his chair at the table so Korben just climbed right up on it. Korben did it again today while I was watching him. I heard the chair move though and ran right in there just in time to see him climbing on the table. As I was pulling him off he swiped at the charms that we made last night and they went flying across the kitchen and hallway. He promptly went to time out and was very mad at me.

Yesterday Korben was getting ice out of the ice maker in the fridge door, he is tall enough to reach it now, and he spilled ice all over the floor. I went in there to tell him no and to clean up the mess and he was cracking up laughing because he was holding a piece of ice. My mom was in the kitchen too and I was trying to tell Korben no but then she started laughing because he was laughing and then of course I started laughing so I don't think he understood that he wasn't supposed to do that. Of course when he does something bad he does start hamming it up for you and tries to charm you. I think he really gets away with that with Grandma & Grandpa L. Yesterday he was also driving me crazy because he learned how to turn on the dishwasher, so all day long I had to keep turning it off. Then my mom left to go grocery shopping and Korben stood at the door looking out the little window on the door and kept saying "oh no, oh no" over and over and was crying because he wanted to go bye-bye too. I turned on one of the Thomas shows that Brent started taping for him and he ran to sit on my lap. I still don't like him watching tv and I don't usually let him watch it. But Brent does, he watches about half a Thomas show every day, that is all he will sit still for but during that time he becomes a zombie staring at the tv.

Sunday evening we went to the pumpkin patch to take pictures. We went to the same place that we went to last year. We couldn't get Korb to sit still so we had to put him behind all the pumpkins and then I took pictures as he climbed his way out of the pumpkins so he could run around again. Then we would pick him up and do it again, thankfully he thought it was fun and only got mad at us one time.

This morning Korben woke up at 6:40 and Brent was getting ready to walk out the door to go to work. I went to the restroom and to get Korben some milk and Brent had changed Korben's pull-up. Brent put Korben in bed with me so I could give him his milk and Korben was flinging himself around and wouldn't calm down. So I tried rubbing his belly and his legs and that usually works but this time I found that his jammies were soaked. He leaked out of his pull-up and Brent didn't realize it. So we pulled off his clothes and he immediately calmed down. We dressed him again then he drank his milk and feel back asleep. Poor little wet baby!

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one. Sat. there is so much free stuff going on that we are having to choose what we want to do. I think we have decided that we are going to the Affair of the Heart and then probably home for a nap - hopefully! Then we are going to go with my mom and my nephews and niece to a Halloween carnival that a church down the street is having. If Korben wakes up early enough we might go try to do the pancake breakfast before the local parade starts but if Korben lets us sleep in then we are going to. Then on Sunday we are heading to Tulsa.

Pics are of the pumpkin patch of course and pics of Korb in the overalls that Grandma & Grandpa S. got him. I thought I had better take pictures of him when I had them on him. I am not sure how often we will actually dress him in them as they are a pain to change his diaper in since there are no diaper snaps but they sure are cute! Korben was lining up his toys when I took those pictures, I took videos of that too which I will upload to YouTube one of these days.

10/08/08

Well Korben and I had alot of fun this morning! I took him to the library where they have story time for babies and toddlers. I have known about it for awhile and have been meaning to take him there so he can interact with more kids his age but I didn't think a whole lot of kids would be there and I kept forgetting about it. So after Korben and I ate breakfast off we went. The parking lot was packed when we got there, once we got inside there were upwards of 50 kids there. I was shocked to see so many babies and toddlers. They have 2 story times back to back, one at 10 and the next at 10:30. We went for the later one and about half of those were in the 1st story time and leaving. Some people seemed to stay for both, which I think is what we'll do next week.

Korben was surprisingly shy around all the kids, he seemed a bit overwhelmed. He sat on my lap for a long time. The librarian told a story, we all sang the itsy bitsy spider, she played songs and blew bubbles. Korben warmed up after awhile but instead of sitting or standing with the other kids he had to check out the room. He walked all around the room and then would come back and sit on my lap. The bubbles were last and Korben had a blast chasing them, he was crawling on the floor popping all the bubbles. After story time they have a play area so alot of the kids were out there playing so I let him play for awhile. He was fliriting with the little girls. He would hand his toys only to the girls, not to the boys, it was funny. I wonder if that is because Ryan doesn't share with him very well but Zylee does? Anyway I think we will start going every week, although next week there is no story time they are having baby sign language class but it still sounds like fun.

One thing I did notice is how Korben does seem really behind in his speech compared to all the kids that were there. Most of the kids his age were talking alot and even some younger than him. They all did the hand movements for itsy bitsy spider and paid attention to the librarian but Korben didn't even look at her, he was to busy checking out the kids and the room. He is very active. He did seem to walk and move around better than most of them. There was alot of wobbling and falling on their butts. We just need to work on his speech. I have been reading more books to him but I am not sure if that is helping. Maybe taking him every week to this will help with that, I am really hoping so! Plus he needs to learn to share and how to act around kids his own age too.

Speaking of books, Korben has a new favorite book. His Thomas the Train book is the new favorite ever since we went to see Thomas. He notices Thomas alot more now and points to his little pillow that Grandma & Grandpa S. bought him. It's cute. I have his whole Thomas book memorized now because he wants me to read it about 20 times a day! Silly boy. I still am uploading videos on YouTube, I am trying to catch up. :)

08/05/08

Sleepy, sleepy! Korben is teething & has been hurting so bad - during the night. Two of his molars have poked through and the pediatrician said two more are coming in as well. When I looked at his teeth this morning and attempting to brush his teeth I saw that two more of his front bottom teeth are coming in. Sunday night he woke up at 4:30 am and cried until 7:30. Motrin isn't helping a whole lot, neither is oragel or his cold teethers. We did try the teething tablets - against my better judgement because they have caffeine in them. I will never use those again, we used them about a month ago & they stopped his pain but made him hyper. We had given them to him right before bed at 9 & he was awake and playing in his crib until 3:30 am! Last night Korben went to sleep fine but them woke up at midnight and didn't stop crying until 2 am. He would only go to sleep last night if either me or Brent was holding him. He tossed & turned & whined in our bed all night so all three of us didn't sleep very good last night.

It has been hot here! On Sunday my mom and I took Korben, Kaylan, Ryan, and Zylee to the library because I entered pictures of Korben & Zylee in a contest and the pictures were on display. It was 106° and the library's A/C was broken, we sat and let the kids play for a little bit (they have puppets, puzzles, blocks, and a train set) but it was just too hot to say for very long. Poor Korben was wet from sweat from just riding over to the library.

The new pics are of all of us waiting outside to go to the library and Korben after his shower last night. Korben likes to take showers now instead of baths, it's really cute. :)