We got to go back to Parker's dance/gymnastic class last week after missing a week when Graham was sick. At that same time, Parker had a bad cold and so they were both home from school on a Monday and Tuesday. We had plenty of time to get her a leotard and (compliments of Daddy) tap and ballet shoes! This second visit to class was great. Parker smiled almost the whole time. Here is picture of her in tap portion of class:
And some videos:
In other news, Parker is getting so close to being potty trained. She wears pull-ups all day long now and often times stays dry all day (except maybe naptime). We are going to start bringing underwear and extra clothes to school this week and see how she does.
Graham is now five months old and getting more and more fun every day. He sits up on his own pretty solidly now. He loves to play with toys (and by play, I mean drool and gnaw on). He smiles all the time and loves to laugh at his big sister.
We had a rough patch in the middle of the month, where Graham's cold & cough morphed into trouble breathing. His teacher from daycare called at 4:20 on a Friday and said he was wheezing. Our pediatrician closes at 5:00, so I called and they said they would stay open for us. I grabbed everything and left the office, picked up the kids, and got to the Dr right about 5:00. We ended up staying there until 6:45. Graham's oxidation levels were OK, but he was breathing a little more rapidly than they liked and definitely wheezing. We did a dose of albuterol with the nebulizer, then another dose after that didn't work. Then a third round with a stronger med and a dose of prednisone (steroid). His breathing was finally better and we were sent home with the nebulizer and prescriptions for the albuterol and prednisone. It was a pretty rough weekend, with some even rougher nights. We took him Graham back on Monday and he was better but still needed the nebulizer on regular basis. For those who don't know, a nebulizer is a machine that turns medication into a mist that can be breathed into lungs. It has a little mask to hold over the nose and mouth. As you can imagine, this is not the easiest thing to do to a 4 1/2 month old baby. Sometimes Graham did fine with it (full belly, tired), but other times he was scream the entire 10 minutes of the treatment. We learned it was best to wait until he was asleep and just hold the mask in front of his face then. We took him back to the Dr again that Friday and he was much improved. Another weekend of neb treatments twice a day and he was back to normal. It may have been that enterovirus that has been going around, but they don't know unless they test for it. We were lucky that it was not worse. Other than that week, Graham is a happy little guy. He still loves to be held and gets mad when you leave him alone for too long. He even will grab your face and do the open-mouth "kisses"! Here are some other random photos from the month:
Graham is only having formula now; the breastmilk is officially gone. This was causing a bit of constipation in the little guy so the Dr said to start giving him solid foods, starting with pears or prunes. So far we have tried pears, prunes, sweet potatoes, peaches, & apples and he has not been much a fan of anything. He is so interested in our food, always grabbing plates, that I have a feeling he will be a much happier finger food eater than baby food.
Graham has pretty good dexterity. He holds the bottle himself and can even grab a pacific and (usually) put in back in his mouth if it falls out.
We had our first camping trip with Graham over Labor Day weekend. It was our usual spot at our friends, the Banks, land in southern part of the state. We drove down Saturday morning and came back Sunday. The property has a pond but bad mommy did not bring swimming attire. (In my defense, we have only ever camped there over Memorial Day weekend and it was never warm enough for humans (i.e. not dogs) to swim, so it did not occur to me.) So Parker did a little swimming in her birthday suit. Cutest thing ever
Graham did great, luckily lots of willing arms to hold him. Bad Mommy again, I did not get any pictures of him on his first camping trip. Otis had a blast and was covered in burrs.
We were planning to wake up, eat breakfast and then pack up to go, but a thunderstorm rolled through and it turned into a mad dash to take down the tent as quickly as possible. A little hectic, but not enough to tarnish the fun from the night before...s'mores, campfire, hide & seek in the dark, and fireworks.
I have been throwing around the idea of signing Parker up for a dance class this winter, but after looking into it I was struggling on making a decision. The sessions generally run from Sept to June and I felt like that was a pretty big commitment. Then I learned that The Little Gym had dance classes. We had been here a couple times for birthday parties and I knew they had gymnastics classes, but was not aware of the dance piece. I took Parker to a free, introductory class last night to see if she liked it. Her class is for 3-4 year olds and is called Jazzy Bugs. It is 30 minutes of gymnastics and then 30 minutes of dance (tap & ballet). When I signed Parker up, they said not to worry about the shoes until we know she likes it. Parker went right in for the gymnastics session and did so great following the teachers instructions. There were only five little girls in the class and I think all had been to a gymnastics class at The Little Gym before. Here are some videos, Parker is wearing pink short with pink & white short, hair down:
After gymnastics, the girls came out into the lobby to get their tap shoes and head into the dance room. Parker walked up to me and said "I need my tap shoes" and I knew we were in trouble. All of the other girls had them. I had asked when I signed her up if typically all the girls wear the proper shoes and the teacher said the last class she did only about half had them. So anyway, Parker started off OK as seen in video below, but once they started tapping she stood in the corner with her hand in her mouth and wouldn't participate. They changed to ballet shoes halfway through and she still stayed in corner.
So I think we are going to go for it, but get her the right shoes and a little dance outfit and hope that was the problem. Class will be every Tuesday through January (You can quit at any time and get a refund for classes you paid in advance. You can also do make up sessions if you miss one.)
