Official Crawling: Drop and Drag

With video soon to come, Kole has officially done an act often enough, over a long enough distance, to where we are ready to proclaim it "crawling". For the past 4-6 weeks he has been involved in activity that has been close to crawling, very crawl-like, resembling a crawl or "worming" around ... but not enough of it done with purpose, repeatedly, until yesterday.
The method of choice that seems to be most effective can best be described as a paraplegic who has to drag himself to the things of his desire. Kole will get on both hands and knees, rock back and forth, dry-hump (see previous post) and make all sorts of appearances of forward motion, before finally belly-flopping on the floor, then using both hands to stretch outward then pull and worm the rest of his body forward. With surprisingly quick repetition, he can reload the hands outward, pull forward, over and over, until he's travelled a distance of less than 10 feet in a very short amount of time, his legs snaking uselessly behind him the whole way.
Video to come soon. Just curious if this is a quick transitional phase, or the crawl method of choice for the near future.

Not quite crawling

We have the camera at the ready at all times in hopes of catching the moment Kole decides to start crawling. We've already filled up a tape of false-alarms. Each episode becomes entertaining in its own way. But, what we got tonight we were not quite expecting. Watch for yourself.

Another play day

I've made mention, and previous posts, about Kathy's friends Beverly and Ellie, who she met in childbirth, infant care and breastfeeding classes offered by Arlington Memorial Hospital. Ellie and Beverly ended up having both their babies just before Kathy on June 15th and 16th. They've all kept in touch, calling or emailing, sharing each other's joys and frustrations with their little ones ever since. Today they got together at our house, where again it wasn't just a chance for the moms to get together, but a chance for the babies to interact with one another - and, out of our own curiosity, see how each kid has developed in relation to the others. Kole is obviously the string bean of the group. Beverly's girl Sarah was put in Kole's 'Jumperoo' thing, and her feet were 2 inches short of the ground. They had to put a phone book beneath her for her feet to push against something. Kole only has about an inch on Noah, the little one of Ellie. Kathy says both her friends were surprised at how Kole laughs. Both thier kids will smile and make loud coo sounds and shreiks. But, Kole will occassionally guffaw like an old man - a big, husky, prolonged chortle with big gasps for air. He's done that for quite a while, in fact.
It's not a matter of comparing Kole with other babies in the sense of - is he more advanced, bigger, better, more refined ... it's not like that. It's not vanity for our kid. I guess deep down it's a sense of ... are we helping him develop at a normal rate to his peers? Are we good parents? If he's behind on basic motor skills, is that a reflection on us and what we've done? I guess it seems more paranoid than anything, but we keep being told that it's normal. But, it is kind of cool to know that he's been laughing heartily way before most kids - a good early trait to brag about.
At any rate - here's some pics of today.
I'll also post a pic of Kole in his new big-boy seat. He now eats in a booster seat we have at our dining room table.
PHOTOS: On the left is Beverly with Sarah, then Kathy with Kole, and on the right is Ellie, the cheeky Brit, with Noah. Then the three little ones together. Then Kathy and Kole at the same dining room table I grew up with.

The Swing growth chart

It's hard to show Kole's growth without some level of consistent scale. One of the few things we have around is his swing ... which he is about to outgrow. The maker, Graco, says on its manual that it's for babies "up to 25 pounds". Well, the little sprout is nearly there. The swing was out absolute life saver suring his early infancy. It seems so cruel now, but we've learned that every young parent goes through those phases and moments of ... 'how in the world do we just get him to be quiet?' Sometimes babies just cry inconsolably and every book and magazine article addresses creative ways of carrying, "shushing", rocking, singing/humming, swaying ... every concievable way of quieting a crying baby. Our go-to silencer was the swing. When we realized that it worked more than three or four times in a row, I went to Costco and bought an enormous brick of D-cell batteries, which the swing took. Slowly over time, head-support cushions were removed, and the back was able to be uprighted. Now, he's about to outgrow it and begin to crawl. I'm sure we'll have our moment of semi-sadness, kind of like when we finally packed up his cradle and retired it to the attic. For now, he's still swinging when he gets grumpy, or right after a feeding when he needs to chill for a bit. We don't have to play the accompanying music - which we both can hum each note of each song on pitch. It's become very familiar domain for him, but it's just about time to pack it up.
PHOTOS: Taken at 3-days old ... 7-weeks old ... 7-months old.

7 Months

Kole cracks the 20 pound and 30-inch barrier at his 7-month measure. He has cut his first tooth, and still working on the other other lower bicuspid. He is still not 'officially' crawling, though he has been seen from time to time on all fours, rocking back-and-forth, with some occasional forward movement, and even arms and legs working in unison in a forward manner. He is definitely sitting up, with his tip-overs fewer and longer in between. He's growing before our eyes and it's very, very neat to experience. Four times a day he'll have 6-ounces of formula, and three of those feedings (all but the last) is followed by cereal and/or some "first-foods" vegetables and fruit.
I'm adding recent photos of he and I playing football on the porch while Mom was out shopping; another big smile he gave that shows off his little tooth (if you click the photo and get the bigger image, you can maybe see the little white smudge on his lower gum); and how he likes to stand up next to one of his toys.

Work Hard, Play Harder

A funny recent episode in Kole's Jumperoo is reason enough for a quick update. His little exercise contraption is one of his favorites - he jumps and sways from side to side in it; he loves standing upright, even with assistance. It's great for us because he can be occupied and contained for a few minutes if we need to leave the room, go to the bathroom, whatever. The Jumperoo is a mini carnival of noise and chaos, music and sound effects. So much so that when there is 20 or more seconds of silence, it practically pierces through the house. Kathy and I have both had situations recently where the silence came. It's almost concerning at first ... only to see Kole passed out cold in the Jumperoo. When I took this picture, he was actually fading in and out of sleep - waking up and jumping up and down for about 10 seconds, then the eyes start to fade, the legs stop, the head bows down and he's out again. I was trying not to laugh out loud and wake him.

The snot and slobber factory from teething is in high gear. He can drench a bib within a few hours, and now he's starting to maintain a thick crust of snot around his nostrils to where it looks impossible to breath. Wiping his nose is a trick. It's weird to see how much he's grown up, because now he just sees the Kleenex coming towards him and he starts slashing his head from side to side, and opens the door wide open for him to lose his cutest-kid-in-the-world demeanor and start pitching a whiney fit. It doesn't help that he just has hard, crusty boogers that don't give easily.
Another photo op - he's sitting up in longer and longer intervals. Sometimes more than a minute, before doing something to throw his balance and go heels-over-diaper backwards. Recently, he rolled right into one of the legs of his Papasan (the little reclined-seat we feed him in) and he hit his head hard enough to cry tears. We think it's the first time we've ever seen legitimate tears from crying. But, it didn't last long, he took it like a boy and was back playing within minutes.
While putting Christmas stuff up in the attic, we also put most of his Newborn to 6-month clothes up there. Kathy bought some of those space saver bags that suck the air out (they actually work quite well!) and we retired a large load of clothes until a new little brother or sister claims them ... perhaps.

90th Birthday wish

There has been a previous post here (on July 16) of Kole with his only living great-grandmother, Ora Wood, the mother of Kathy's mother. She turned 90 on December 30th, and the Wood family got together at her house. If you missed the previous story, Ora still lives on Bennie Lane in the Indian Hills neighborhood of Grand Prairie, about 4 houses from the intersection of Bennie and SW 5th - which is where my grandparents (mother's mom and dad) lived all of my life. Kole did his best to steal the show, as all had a good time.
Kole is Ora Wood's 11th great grandchild, and she also has one great-great grandchild.

And that's 2008

I don't know what you think of 2008, what the history books will say about the late stock market fall, President Bush going out with less than favorable fanfare, Obama elected, wars being all over the Middle East, oil spiking at $145 a barrel, the Beijing Olympics and Michael Phelps' feats ... but, it was a banner year around the Fletcher house. June 18th would figure to be the most memorable day, Kole's birthday, but it was actually June 17th that Kathy and I keep re-living and talking about when we're sipping wine in the hot tub. What a day that was, beginning about 5:00am when Kathy woke up with "cramps", then it led to us being at the hospital before 8:00am, then came pacing the halls of Arlington Memorial ... it was the day that would never end. The June 18th birth date was an early-morning technicality, but what I remember most about the 18th is watching Kathy writhe in unspeakable pain. I was elated, but mentally and physically exhausted from the hours that had preceded.
Lots of pain and discomfort for Kathy most of the year, before and after the birth, but by June 19th the smiles kept adding up. Here at year's end, the smiles beat the frowns by a landslide.
Kole isn't crawling or walking yet, but probably isn't far away from either. We're enjoying our last few moments of setting him down and knowing he'll be close to there if we walk away for 10 seconds. Lots of milestones still to come in 2009, with Kole and with Kathy and I.
Will Kathy return to work? Will Kole have a brother or sister? All questions we've heard before and still don't know the answers to. We agreed at about last April or May that we were going to get through the holidays before discussing any of it. Right now, I'm as thankful as I've ever been for my job and the little freelance gigs that have come along that have kept us comfortably afloat this year. Kathy wasn't making 6-figures in her previous job, but it was a handsome income that is quickly missed when it vanishes in an instant. I say I'm thankful for my job, when it has been as challenging as it ever has in Big 12 Showcase's 13 years on the air. Because of budget cuts and loss of sponsors, we took the show off the road and into studio, and the cuts keep coming. But, pink slips haven't been handed out, so the glass is still half-full here.
I leave you with a picture taken earlier today, December 31st. No - Kole is not pulling himself up just yet. But, if you stand him up in his crib, he'll happily stand and dance for a while.
A happy and safe 2009 to all, and a very hearty thanks for all of you who helped make 2008 unforgettable for us.

Six Months, Doctor's Update

Upon turning 6 months old, Kole was rewarded with a trip to the doctor's office. He weighed 18 pounds, 15 ounces; his length is 29 and 1/4 inches; head circumference 17 and 3/4 inches.
At 29.25 inches, he is above the 97th percentile for 6-month-olds (longer than 97% of the babies in America his same age). Another way of looking at it is - he is exactly the average length of a 12-month-old. His weight is just over the 60th percentile, slightly better than average for his age.
Doctor is very impressed and happy with his health and appearance. He got three shots and one vaccination orally. He whimpered for a bit, but didn't put on a big crying display. He handled it like a boy.

Moments of Discovery

A day short of turning 6 months old, Kole is doing everything but crawling, and he may have developed one of the senses that separates humans from the animals - a sense of his own being.
On the crawling - he has two stances right now. First is the body-surfing stance, essentially balanced on his belly button, hands and feet off the ground. He does this with the idea that his hands and feet are free to reach and kick. But then comes the on-all-fours look - where he's on his hands and knees, rocking slowly. Kathy and/or I will sit there encouraging him to move forward, putting a toy or something he wants out in front of him. But, instead of forward movement, he normally just reverts back to Stance A on the belly. He's getting ever so close - and Kathy and I recognize our fleeting final days of being able to contain him in one general area of the floor.
Another area of discovery is his hands. He looks like he's doing signing for the deaf - or perhaps doing a sock-puppet show without socks. He'll put his hands out, then anything is fair game ... the beauty-pageant wave, the open-close claw, the hippie on acid tripped out by watching his hand wave side to side in front of his eyes ... he'll get both hands working and it's quite amusing. One by-product of this has been mockery. The whole happy-hands thing has created a new world of mimicking. If he appears frustrated, or is obviously hungry and getting a quick case of the red-ass while a bottle is being made, all you have to do is start waving, or open-closing your hands like little chompers, and he'll immediately crack a smile and start doing his hands, putting them out and waving and clasping them.
Another trick for shutting him up when he's upset (are we veteran parents or what!) is to take him to a mirror. He likes what he sees so far. He's fascinated with either Kathy or I through a mirror, and I can only assume that he's fascinated by the prospect of noticing himself. I'll attach photos on this - he even has a little mirror that is one of about four things that dangle from one other little toy he has. But, if we take the mirror and lay it down he will find it, look at the image of himself and hold a frozen stare like a cat that just spotted a mouse. He puts his nose 1 or 2 inches from the mirror and stares. And stares. And stares. It's fun watching and imagining what's going on inside his mind.
He has a doctor's appointment on the 18th, so we'll have an accurate count of his measurements.

Big Day with Santa

Big day at the mall for the little one - another visit with his little pals Noah and Sarah (whose mothers Kathy went through child birth classes, etc.), and a big visit with Santa at the Parks Mall in Arlington. Kole hasn't been strolling with Sarah very long, but felt brave enough in their relationship to begin sucking on her fingers instead of his own. She appeared to enjoy it, and Kole never stopped laughing at her.

Thanksgiving at Wah-Hoo

Scenes from Thanksgiving Day at the Wah-Hoo Ranch - including Kole's after-dinner fireside visit with Grammy, Grandpa Gedy, Grammy's horse Biscuit, and a big smile with Mommy.

Kole's Thanksgiving wishes

Kole gives his own Thanksgiving wishes to everyone ... whales, dolphins and humans. The groan at the end is the ultimate kicker.

Scary Day

When we started this page, we wanted it to be about Kole and not about us. But, since most who read this are concerned friends and family, and if you haven't heard the full story yet, this is as good as any place to explain it.
Monday around 12:30 in the middle of the afternoon, while I was at work, Kathy got a knock at the door. She looked through the peep-hole and saw a young Hispanic-looking guy at the door she did not know. Looked clean cut enough, jeans, tucked-in plaid long-sleeve shirt. Kathy was going to ignore the knocker and wait for him to move on - like a trick-or-treater when you have no more candy. Instead, the guy changed his tune and began banging on the door with a fist, like he was a landlord at the door of a delinquent tenant. Kathy continued to watch out the peep-hole as he walked away, then the black SUV parked on the curb turned off its engine and a second Hispanic-looking guy came to the door and took his turn pounding the door. With Kathy's pulse racing, the second guy took a few steps back, got on a cell phone and appeared to be telling someone our house address - as if he was asking someone if they had the right house. He spoke in Spanish and Kathy couldn't understand. He then put his cell phone down, satisfied with the information given to him, then with Kathy still watching through the peep-hole, watched as the second guy strode purposely towards the door then WHAM! kicked the door with all his might.
Kathy then ran to the bedroom and retrieved the loaded .38 Special I keep in my bedside table - as she's doing this she hears WHAM! .... WHAM! more kicks to the door. By the time she dials 911, a fourth blow had been delivered to the front door in broad daylight.
It's hard to reconstruct this story, but she says the whole time Kole was in his swing, where she put him when she first heard the door knock. Maggie, our cowardly guard dog, mustered a low growl - but even Kathy guesses that she was probably just feeding off of Kathy's own fear, instead of reacting protectively to what was on the other side of the door.
With the 911 operator on line, the kicks stopped and Kathy checked the peep-hole and saw where the two guys and the black SUV were both gone. They left with as many unanswered questions as why they came and picked our house in the first place. The cop eventually arrived and said this had all the characteristics of a typical mid-day burglary attempt.
I took Kathy to the gun range just after we married and tried to get her to accustomed to shooting the gun - but she was just too fearful, and unnerved by the other people shooting large hand cannons just feet away. Still, she had the gun in hand and insists she was ready to use it. The cop later gave her some tips, about keeping the gun closer to her body instead of holding it outstretched like a Charlie's Angels pose. He complimented her on being cool enough to call 911, and said next time, if it escalates to someone attempting to kicking down the door, it might be a good idea to shout something about having a gun, police on the way, etc. Plus, he gave a good pointer to arm our security system (right by our garage door) to where alarms would sound at the first crack of the door.
It was a good stop-down opportunity to review all procedures if the scenario should repeat itself.
I got home before 3:00 and the wine began to flow, taking the edge off of some frayed nerves. In the end, everyone was okay.
Photo: the shoe prints on our front door. Thought we'd have the evidence to compare it to the shoe on the corpse if this should happen again.

Milestones Abound

It's the 18th of the month, which means that Kole turns over another month - and this makes it 5 months. I think I gave as much of an update of emotional and physical development as possible in the previous post, but really in the last 48 hours we've had a groundbreaking development. I'll let you see the video with your own eyes. There's really nothing more I can say or add.
We both weighed ourselves with Kole, then weighed ourselves without him and took the difference. We were about 6 ounces apart, which is as close as we've ever been. So I think we're fairly accurate, though the weight he's put on is fairly significant - over a full pound in a month, plus one inch. Still, he is only slightly ahead of the bell-curve for his age. It's nothing alarming, he's just right on top of that shaded area of averages for height and weight on the growth chart. As the doctor said last month - he's healthy and happy, the portions of what he's eating are not out of whack, everything is fine. He's just on an earlier growth spurt than the average - and that may all catch up when he's between 4 and 5 and other kids have a more significant spurt, or between ages 11-13, etc. It should be noted, however, that this past month he has been eating more solid foods - oatmeal cereal, bananas, peaches and pears, mostly.
Enjoy the video. Monday afternoon I talked to Kathy from work and she was like - I finally saw him do it by himself! I then wondered how he would do if a camera was propped on him. Making his daddy really proud, he glommed the camera and performed on cue!

Closing out the 4th month

Kole will turn 5 months next week - but until he gets to that point, before we really start grasping for new milestones and new signs of what a big boy he's becoming, we're really trying to harness the sensation of him being a cheery, happy little baby.
From what we read, the 5th month will begin a real emotional development - when he'll become real connected to Kathy and I and recognize us as mother and father, his key caregivers. He will be outwardly emotional and clingy, which is all very cool. But, there will also be separation anxiety and he will bear a large potential to be scared by strangers. So, it's the give and take of growing up, moving up in status from infant to young toddler.
He is still a ways from crawling, and from what we can tell he is beginning to turn over on his own. He's done it a couple of times for sure - but when we weren't looking. Still, he hasn't shown a consistent pattern of showing he can freely do so.
He is still growing like a weed. He now wears clothes that are labeled 9 to 12 months. It's easy to tell by his appetite. Just earlier today, he was cranky and crying and obviously hungry. Kathy stirred up some oatmeal cereal with some pears and peaches - and the kid was like a newly-hatched chick in a nest, craning his neck and crying for more. As soon as Kathy would plunge a spoonful of food in his mouth, he'd be crying again the instant she'd pull the spoon free. It's hard for the two of us not to watch and laugh. It's like ... EASY KID, IT'S COMING! Geez!

Clothes ... Lefty??

The Little One is growing out of many of his clothes, and it's reaching a point that has us scratching our heads. As I keep saying, he's growing faster length-wise than he is outwardly. At the doctor's office, still technically a full week from turning a full 4 months, he was 27 inches long at his '4-month check-up'. I keep reading different things online, including other parents' random blogs like mine, and the average length I keep seeing is 22-24 inches.
The element that causing us a great inconvenience is that clothes-makers seem to go by these averages as well. Kole is wearing clothes that, on their tag, are for 6-9 month olds. And if you read the fine print of the tag, is actually for babies 24-27 inches long. So ... as you can see, Kole is about to out-grow "9-month old" clothes.
After the baby showers and all the initial infant stages, we were on clothes overload. There are some stages where he never had to wear an outfit more than once or twice because he had so many to choose from. Now?? We keep rotating and washing the same 5-7 outfits for every-day wearing, plus the PJs with the little footies for sleeping.
Kathy's been doing lots of shopping lately, but is finding that when babies get to that 9-12 month stage, most are at that crawling/walking stage and everything is pants and tops. Nobody really makes onesies with the snap-crotch at that age. But, here's Kole now needing clothes that most clothing makers are sizing 9-months and up.
It's still far from an issue that is at critical stage - but at this point it's on that border of frustrating and slightly amusing. More of the frustration is aimed towards the clothing makers who have determined that 4-6 month old babies, by average, are about 12 pounds and 23 inches. So, his wardrobe has been greatly diminished as a result.

I've also noticed a recent trend, watching him handle a rattle or little toy. With his right hand, he seems to only have control over it for a couple of seconds before losing grip and having it fall out. But with his left, he sustains a grip on it for 3 or 4 or 5 minutes, with vigorous shaking and constant motion. I don't know if this precludes him being a lefty, but he has shown some early left-hand dominance. Also, while being fed a bottle, I'm seeing some consistency in trends, though it could be the way we have him positioned in our arms. But, his right hand will sit idly on your hand, or the bottle, while his left flails wildly and happily to his side, rubbing his head, and gripping certain things around.
These are just things I've noticed, and not suggesting that either one of us thinks he'll be left handed or whatever. Just interesting observations.

First Holiday?

Don't know if this exactly qualifies as a first holiday. July 4th was technically his first holiday, where he got his first bath. But, at least there's an element of dress-up to Halloween, which more entertains the mother in this case than the baby. She found an outfit too good to pass up, so she bought it several weeks ago. The week of Halloween is also National X-Ray Technician Week (whether you knew it or not), so the skeleton suit was a perfect tribute to both. Since he won't be going door to door for candy, plus the fact that I'll be in Iowa on Halloween night, we decided to play around tonight.

1st Quarter Earnings

Four months old today - a full quarter year. I haven't been good about updating the milestones, so I'll update them now. Many of which come along so subtle, it's hard to define one moment as the milestone. Normally something just gradually happens, and it takes us a while to realize that it's repetitive, then we deduce that it is a trend and a new physical or personality trait.
Like this past week, we would notice a little noise coming out of him - different from his normal cooing and goo-goo noises. Finally we realized that when he would yawn, he would have one of these old-man groans that accompanies it. Very high-pitched and baby-like, but one of those long, sustained, almost sing-song moan and groans with a yawn. Then he'll smack his mouth. He's like a miniature old man. It's hilarious!!
One of his favorite things to do is to stand up and put weight on his legs and feet - like if you were to hold him up in your lap with his feet on your legs. I guess just the act of being vertical and upright is so cool, he will giggle and laugh and do his happy-howl.
Photos: One of the photos I'll attach is of us feeding him cereal this week - his first with solid food. He makes a big mess, but he loves that oatmeal cereal stuff and gets real happy when he's fed. Another photo I'll attach is with him wearing his mom's favorite outfit. We wish each outfit had a Post-It not on it or something to remind us of who bought it, but Kathy thinks his red pin-stripe jammies is the coolest looking thing on him. The catch is, the size on the tag is "6-9 months". We now have to look at clothes not by the suggested age of the tag, but the height/weight dimensions, as he's 27 inches-plus, and climbing towards 17 pounds.
He's a good, happy boy with parents who are slowly but surely getting the hang of things.

Update from Doctor's Visit

Little one had a visit with Dr. Carlson today for a 4-month check-up, though four months won't technically come until next week. He had some shots due, so he got FOUR of those. Kathy said he absolutely freaked - red-faced crying with tears in his eyes. She said she could barely contain herself just watching. But, he survived and came home with a smile.
He weighed 16 lbs, 6.1 oz., so he's more than doubled his birth weight in four months. He is 27 inches long. I'm tempted to say still 27 inches long, but I was probably off when I measured him at that three weeks ago at the 3-month mark. In fact, since the doctor's visit today is official, I'm modifying Kole's chart to reflect that he was 26 inches at 3 months.
Otherwise, Kole is healthy as a horse and everything is going well. The doctor's quote: "Whatever you guys are doing is perfect for him." And for what it's worth, his head circumference is now 17 inches. Otherwise, the weight and height chart since birth is ...
Birth: 8 lbs, 2 oz - 21 inches
1 Mo: 10 lbs, 9 oz - 23 inches
2 Mo: 13 lbs, 1 oz - 24 inches
3 Mo: 15 lbs, 10 oz - 26 inches
4 Mo: 16 lbs, 6 oz - 27 inches

Update II (10/11) Little guy had a rough night last night - crying or irritated pretty much all night. We ended up giving him a dose of baby Tylenol twice, then actually took our first toil with semi-solid food. We fed him rice cereal just before he went to bed to see if that would help knock him out, and apparently it did as he slept well all night. In fact, he's working on a solid 12-hour snooze right now.
It's Texas-OU week, and it's hard for me not to forget that it was Texas-OU last year that we found out that Kathy was pregnant.