Canon's Playtime and Language

He was playing with a balloon last week and discovered that something about it was different than what he was used to- it went up when you let go, not down!  So he got used to playing with that balloon a little differently than the balls he had.  I tried to get a video of him being so funny with the balloon, but by the time the camera was out, he wasn't as funny anymore.  This is what I got... not terribly entertaining, but kinda cute still.  In fact, days later (when we had blown it up again with our breath and it now fell with gravity) when he lost sight of it he would look up for it before turning around.  That made us laugh...until the balloon popped.   Now we're back to just regular old balls.

Now, when it comes to Canon's playtime, I'd normally say that he is a little firecracker and just goes all over the place and won't hold still for very long.  I think he has a pretty good attention span when it comes to what he's playing with, but the past couple of days have been a bit different somehow.  I have been trying to not have him watch a lot of TV, not more than about 2 hours over the course of the entire day.  Yesterday and today he showed interest in just sitting on the couch and watching TV.  He's always trying to get his hands on the remotes, but this time he would get up on the couch and try to watch something.  So I put on Veggie Tales or Shaun the Sheep and he was just enthralled.  Honestly, that made me a bit nervous.  Am I turning my kid into a couch potato?  So after a short episode was over I turned it off, and Canon seemed to snap right out of his little TV trance.  He was right back up and playing again.  Phew!

I'm going to have to think of more things to do when playing with him.  It seems like I really need to work harder to give him language involvement with what he's doing, but most of the time I'm just interested in watching him...not narrating what he's doing.  The more I focus on trying to improve his language, the more I notice that he does seem behind.  I think about it and start to worry that he really will need some early intervention.   I just hope that one of these days he will just start using words to communicate.  I've been trying to get him to sign a couple things like "milk" or "drink" to tell me what he wants.  So far, I've seen him imitate "milk", but I don't know for sure if he was just moving his hand or if he was really trying to communicate "milk".  He seems like such a bright kid in every other aspect, just not speech.  I keep telling myself that he's just not ready to use words yet and that's ok.  Some kids just take longer to start talking, that's all.  At least he's started to use some approximations like "bah bah" for "ball" and "da da da" for "Daddy".  He's even started in with a hard "k" when he kicks the ball because I would always say "kick."  He's coming close, just not close enough for comfort just yet!  :-s

Mommy's Little Helper

Most of the cleaning I do when Canon is asleep because it always takes me so much longer when he's awake.  Can you imagine why?  Note: This is what he does EVERY time. :-D

Canon helping with the vacuuming

Canon wanted to control the speed and direction of the vacuum.

His favorite part is actually riding the vacuum cleaner and trying to see how long he can hold on. (Do I see a bull-rider in the making?)

 

When I was finished, Canon wanted to play with the attachments.

The broom is his favorite though, and he won't let me do the sweeping.

I wonder how much of it is him trying to imitate me and how much is that he wants to help me out.  Either way, he's a cute little hinderer helper, isn't he?

Canon Is Still Growing Strong

Canon had his 15-month wellness visit this morning, and I thought everything was perfectly normal until talking with the doctor. His height seems to be normal, 2' 8" which is the 75th percentile where he's been the past few visits. His weight is steady at the 10th percentile (21 lbs 6.5 oz), so that's good.  I'm not so nervous about his diet as I was the last time, however, now I have a new concern. Apparently Canon's head circumference of 49 cm is totally humongous.  His head has grown dramatically over the past few visits, so the doctor asked me to come back again next month to measure it again.  As long as he's not showing any other symptoms, like vomiting, then there's not big worry; but if his head continues in this trend, it could be sign of an abnormal growth and they would need to do a CT scan to make sure he doesn't have a tumor or whatever.  It's possible that he could just have a huge head that is growing faster, and the rest of his body will catch up soon.  I never noticed that his head looked big because he just seems to be doing great in everything else... and babies heads are just big.  I guess that might be the reason his shirts have started to feel snug.  I thought it was just because he's now 15 months, so I shouldn't expect that 12month clothes should still fit. (Silly mommy!)

But look at this face... does he look like his head is huge to you?

Also Canon's language might be lagging a little behind.  Now, to tell you the truth, I'm not really worried about it, but the doctor says that he should be saying a few words by now.  So, I need to work a little harder to limit the tv and rev-up the language stimulation.  The doctor suggests that I try to get him to actually say words instead of just pointing to things or going to get them.  I figured he's just not quite ready to talk, but it won't be too long.  Just the other night I told him to pick up his ball and he grabbed it and shouted, "Bah bah bah!"  So I think he's close, but not just there yet.  With a little more concentration on that aspect, I'm hoping we'll see improvement over the next month or so.

12 1/2 Month Check-up

Today (Feb. 1, 2011) I noticed that this post (started back in Dec. of 2010) was not published.  I guess I didn't finish it back then, but there's no reason to leave it unpublished... so here's the really late post.  (Actually, it may have been posted and then changed and therefore saved as a draft, but I'm not sure what happened...so if you've already read this, sorry!)

So Canon has been growing up so fast, and he's always seemed to be so good and healthy to me.  My pediatrician in Boston never seemed to give me any impression for the opposite, but the doctor here did.  Although she didn't seem terribly worried about it, she said that he was down to the 5th percentile in weight (only 19 lb 4 oz).  That in and of itself is not a big deal, but with him being in the 75th percentile in height (over 30" tall) and head circumference consistently going down in the charts for weight, she wanted me to change his diet and come back in a month to weigh him again.  She told me that I should offer him snacks all day long and increase his calorie count during meal times.  Canon never seems to show that he's hungry, so that's probably why I never really gave him many snacks before... although he usually would accept them if I did offer them. The doctor did mention that children like in his situation rarely show signs of hunger.

She also said that Canon ought to be further along in language development, such as being able to obey simple commands like "Bring me the ball."  When she asked about that, I told her that I think he might understand sometimes, but he seems to either not care that I'm making the request or not realize that when I tell him to do it that it means he's supposed to actually do it.  Either way, I had a couple things that I needed to work on before our next doctor's visit (which is on Dec. 21st).

Now, I'm not sure how much I like this doctor because I believe that if I offer him snacks all day long he won't be hungry enough to want to eat at mealtimes.  Honestly, I think I'm right.  Ever since I've been so much more concerned with calories and fattening up the little guy, I've been getting so frustrated with his diet.  It feels like I can't get him eat much of anything now.  I was so excited when I was able to use the last jar of baby food and last bottle of formula.  Yes, whole milk and real food!!  Yeah, well that wasn't long lasting.  I've gone back to baby food because I don't have problems getting him to eat that stuff.   Oh well, at least I know that he's getting his protein and veggies and that whole milk goes down nicely.  Although, he loves his snacks, the baby food ends up being his main source of nutrition... again.  *sigh*

I'm looking forward to this doctor's visit though because he seems to be gaining weight now, and he's starting to understand things better.  He'll also get his second shot for the flu vaccine.  So, if there's nothing else, I'll know he at least has one positive thing going for him concerning the doctor's opinions.  (He's still adorable, so that ought to count for something, right!)

Things I don't want to forget about this stage in his life:

1. He's walking around like crazy now, but most of the time his waddle reminds me cuter version of Frankenstein with his arms sticking out.  
2. He's now trying to climb up on things, like onto the couch (but it's too high) and onto boxes or into his toy basket.  He even tries to climb the safety gate, but it's only vertical bars past 4 inches off the floor, so it doesn't do much good.
3. He's pretty good at climbing up the stairs now, but he usually will get distracted part-way up, so it either takes a long time or I wind up picking him up to finish the flight of steep stairs.
4. Canon is learning about going down the stairs.  I still can't let him go down a single step by himself because they're so steep and dangerous, but he tries to.  The problem is that he won't make up his mind on which way to go down- bouncing on the bum or turned around backwards and going feet first.  All too often he stands up and reaches for the railing, which is obviously too high to be an help to him going down.  
5. He certainly loves to rough-house...nothing too painful.  Hanging upside down, "wrestling", jostling him around, pretending to drop him, and even bonking heads are some of his favorite things to do.  
6. He's become more hesitant about it, but Canon gives "kisses" which is totally adorable.  
7. One of my favorite things is to see him throw his arms out, get a huge open smile on his face, and watch him "run" excitedly towards me to give me a hug.  It just melts my heart!
8. Canon is such a sociable character.  He loves to smile at strangers who give him attention.  It almost seems like he watches someone, waiting for them to look at him to grin.  He LOVES getting attention.  He pretty much will go to any stranger as long as they seem friendly (which can be kinda scary).  I don't think he gets much stranger anxiety, and he doesn't seem to care if we're gone.  I don't know that he misses us... at least if there are some cool kids or toys to play with and explore.