I learned this weekend that I should stick to teaching and leave any future hair cuts to the experts. My babies don't get much hair until about the age of one. Camden's hair grew in nicely, but Easton has had some funky hair stuff going on. I call it his "old man hair" because it sticks up in tufts, grows well in spots but not in others, and is thin and wispy. For weeks I have wanted to even it out, to somehow make it look better, but left it alone hoping it would get better in time. On Friday night, I decided that was it. I was going to trim up the super long stuff over his ears and on top of his head. One minor detail - I've never done it before.
I asked Mark to grab me his razor. I thought I would just shave a little off the sides and top and call it good. I grabbed the razors and started in the middle of Easton's head. After the first stroke, I noticed my mistake. I had no guard to prevent me from getting too close. So now, with huge bald chucks in the middle of his head, it became pretty obvious that all his hair was going to have to come off to correct my mistake. I took a deep breath and set to work. In about five minutes, Easton was completely bald! It's a good thing he has a good head shape for a bald hair cut. I only hope it will grow in looking better than it did before.
Easton pre hair cut. See how weird and tufty his hair was growing?
I think he knew what was coming.
Easton post hair cut. 
Bald heads are really good for smearing chocolate on. Yum!
It seems like the boys change so rapidly that I have to record all the little things before they slip away and I forget.
Easton is changing like crazy. He took his first steps right after the new year and has been unstoppable ever since. Most babies wait until they can balance rather well to walk. Not Eastie! Once he started taking steps, he was off and is already trying to run. Each day his balance gets better, but it sure has been funny to watch him figure it all out. Easton also figured out how to get up and down the stairs. This kid is a problem solver and doesn't give up. He will try again and again until he gets it perfect and that's what he did with figuring out the stairs. Easton is signing "milk", "dog", and "ball" and is trying to figure out how to sign "eat" (right now he keeps patting his head). I think he is going to be really good at the "terrible two's" since he is already throwing himself on the floor when he doesn't get his way or what he wants. We always know when Eastie is causing mischief because he growls as he starts his capers. He is still full of laughs and smiles and is still our sunshine.
At the end of December, a mutual decision was made with Camden's preschool teacher to remove him from preschool for the time being. He was having as many bad days as good days and the stress was wearing on us all. After the advice of many friends, I've been reading Raising your Spirited Child and The Out of Sync Child. Both of these books have been a tremendous help to me. I see much of Camden in the descriptions found in these books. It's been reassuring to realize that my son is normal, just a bit more sensitive and spirited than the average child. In addition to helping me understand my son better, they have helped teach me strategies and activities to use with Cam. We're seeing a lot of improvement in him at home and in public situations. I'm learning what sets him off and what to do help him. I'm also learning strategies to help him help himself. Now instead of hitting, he will tell me he is angry and what he needs to do to calm down. I'm thrilled to be able to understand him better and be a better parent to him. It has been downright awesome to see my beautiful boy blossom, thrive, and mature before my eyes. His imagination, intelligence, and creativity astound me.
We had his preschool evaluation last Friday. I prayed that it would go well and that the evaluators would be able to know my concerns for him. I knew he would pass the academic parts with flying colors and wondered how they could evaluate my behavior and sensory concerns. It may seem small, but I know the Lord heard and answered my prayers because Camden went into what I call "classic Camden" when confronted with noise. The speech therapist wanted to test his hearing. I was filling out paperwork and not paying much attention, but the speech therapist wanted to put something in his ear and he freaked out! He ran screaming from the room and went into full Camden melt down. I took him outside and calmed him down. The therapist skipped the hearing test and instead sat and talked to me. She asked if this was a typical behavior and I told her yes. I explained my concerns to her and what had happened in his last preschool. Without me even bringing it up, she mentioned a sensory processing disorder, mentioned occupational therapy, and talked to me for a bit about that. It was such confirmation to me, that my concerns have been right on the money. I only wish I had of followed through on my instincts months ago. I don't know if he will qualify for the preschool, but if not, I have the number of another evaluation service to call. I am praying that he will qualify for services at the preschool and be able to learn coping strategies for his noise issues.
I am grateful to be a mom to these beautiful boys. I'm grateful for the opportunity to become a better mother. I know these children have been placed in my life specifically to teach me how to be a better parent - more patient, loving, and kind. I am very grateful for all the good friends who have listened to my concerns without judging, who have given me advice, and put me on the paths to understanding my son better. I'm grateful for all the prayers and best wishes on behalf of my child and myself. I truly feel them and they have helped when I have questioned my parenting and my own self worth as a mother.
Easton officially turns one tomorrow (sniff, sniff! Where has the time gone?), but we celebrated last week. Easton threw up the day before his party and the day after, so I don't think he was feeling his best on his special day. You'll see for yourself how thrilled he was at the whole thing, especially the cake.
Easton will grandma, waiting for the festivities to start. He looks so excited right?
Pile of presents and other random bits of interesting things left from Camden.
Opening presents with Camden's help. Easton loves to tear paper, but we never let him, so I think he was a little shocked that we actually encouraged him to do so.
Finally getting into it and having fun.
One of my students bought Eastie this hat. I loved it so much that I made him wear it for the rest of his presents.
Easton with his favorite gift of the event.
The cake! We call Easton our sunshine because he is such a happy, smiley boy, so we felt it was only appropriate his cake be a sun. Mark and I had a lot of fun making and decorating this cake.
Easton was less than enamored with the whole cake thing.
Easton didn't understand what he should do with the whole cake thing, so Daddy stepped in to help.
Easton didn't like the feel of the frosting on his fingers, so he thought throwing it on the dog was a great option.
Cutting the cake into pieces didn't make it any better.
I tried to feed him bites of cake, thinking that would get him interested, but you can see how well that turned out (and I don't know why the flash decided to stop working here).
Yeah, that whole eating cake thing didn't turn out so well. Neither of my boys have eaten their cakes on their birthday. I promise it is good cake really! In his defense, he got sick the next morning, so that may have been why we got such great first birthday cake pictures.
Easton is 9 months old and I think it's about time I gave him his own post. Easton is truly my Mr. Sunshine. This boy smiles all the time. He's so happy and easy going.
Easton has been a joy since the day he was born. He's always been easy going and likes sleep like his mommy. I remember when he was 5 weeks old. I had put him to bed at 9:30 the night before. At 5 am, I woke in a panic wondering if he was ok since he hadn't fed all night long. I checked on him and he was just fine and woke about an hour later to feed. That became normal for him - sleeping through the night at a super young age. Since I had to go back to work when he was 6 weeks old, that was great for me! He is still my great sleeper. When he is sick or is teething, you can expect a few wakings, but otherwise, he sleeps 11 hours at night. He is a total tummy sleeper too, something he did all on his own. Once he learned to roll, as soon as he hit the bed, he flipped over on his stomach. I love watching him sleep with his little bum up in the air.
Easton practices new skills all the time. Camden would study and wouldn't do anything until he could do it perfectly. As a result, we have some new experiences with a baby who practices and practices. Easton has been crawling for about a month now. He moves fast and if he sees something he wants, he's after it. He has found the dog food more than once. He also pulls to st
anding on everything. He loves to be in the center of it all.
This is the face I see most of the time. When I come home from work and Easton sees me, he lights up and scrambles as fast as he can to get me. Then he gives me huge, open mouth kisses. When we go to stores, church, or any place public, Easton will stare at somebody until they look at him and then smile big. We get comments all the time on how cute and happy he is. He's a shameless flirt. He'll smile big at any pretty girl, no matter the age. He has all his caretakers wrapped around his finger.
Easton loves to laugh and play. He loves animals and stuffed toys. He loves Little People the most (something Camden never enjoyed). He loves baths, books, and exploring his world. He loves games where he bounces in the air and he loves dancing with the family. Although we try to not let him watch TV, if it's on, he's fascinated by the lights. He especially adores his brother. Nobody can get East laughing like Cam can. Nobody! It doesn't matter what simple thing Camden does, it will get Easton rolling on the floor. He looks up to Camden and follows Cam everywhere. Camden is so patient and gentle with him as well.
Easton is a
champion eater. He loves his solid and table food. He especially loves cheese, noodles, fruits, veggies, and Cheerios. My only complaint about the boy is his liquid diet. Every time he has gotten sick or been teething, he drops a liquid feeding. When he was 4 months old, he got his first cold and refused nursing for weeks on end. He never nursed again, even though I tried. Each cold after that, another feeding dropped. Now he takes one bottle in the morning and one at night. He'll only take a few small sips of liquid during the day from a sippy cup (will not touch a bottle during the day). He's healthy and happy, so his doctor tells me not to worry about it so much. Put anything in front of him in solid form and he'll eat it though, so that's a good thing.
Easton is such a joy. We call him Easter Bug, Easter Bunny, Eastie, and bug most of the time. We tried calling him Eastie Beastie, but since he in no way is a beast, it just doesn't fit. I am so grateful this happy, sunshiney boy is in our lives!
