Oral hygiene

Posted on April 15, 2010 by clare

Spencer brushing his teeth

Spencer really seems to enjoy brushing his teeth. Right now he mostly just sucks on the toothbrush, but that’s a pretty good start. I think that he partly likes it because we do it together. The only part I dislike is when he tries to brush my teeth with his toothbrush. He is a very sharing boy!

Walking!

Posted on March 29, 2010 by clare

Spencer learning to walk

Based on his cruising abilities, we predicted Spencer would be walking by Thanksgiving. We then revised that estimate to Christmas, since he was getting so good at pushing around chairs. We were then sure that he would be walking by his first birthday, based on his ability to walk around with his Lightning McQueen car. It was starting to seem like Zeno’s dichotomy paradox. Spencer kept getting closer and closer to walking, but not there.

Well, this last week, his logarithmic improvements turned to exponential ones, and he has really started to take off. We spent the week in San Francisco. On Monday Spencer was starting to take 2-3 steps before grabbing onto something. By Friday he was up to 20-30, and by Sunday morning he was probably up to 100. He still reverts to crawling some, especially when he wants to play with with one of his beloved trucks. We are nonetheless very excited by his progress.

This video is from Paul and April’s house, where Spencer was highly encouraged to walk by Thomas’s example. Unfortunately, he also picked up on Thomas’s high-pitched squealing, though has yet to reach the lofty pitches or extreme amplitudes of Thomas.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/walking.flv 480 270]

King of the ladder

Posted on March 8, 2010 by clare

King of the ladder

I have been doing some more home improvement lately — mostly installing new doors (more on that soon). Watching Spencer makes progress quite slow, so I frequently will only get a nail or two in at a time, while Spencer is playing with his car or something. Because of this, I have been keeping the small step ladder in the kitchen or front room much of the last week. While Dave and Ellen were visiting, Spencer decided that he liked the vantage point of the top of the ladder. In the last week, he has now learned how to climb up and down the ladder. I caught him doing this on video a couple days ago. He celebrates his ascent by doing some of his other favorite things: blowing, shaking his head, and clicking. We still haven’t figured out what shaking his head is supposed to mean, if anything. We have decided that it does not mean “no”.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ladder.flv 480 270]

12 month stats

Posted on February 23, 2010 by clare

Spencer eating a red pepper

Today Spencer had his 12 month check-up. He was pretty good for the most part. He cried when he got his 5 shots, but not for too long. He continues to be a big boy, as we already knew. Here are his statistics:

Spencer’s 12 months stats:
category	value	percentile
weight	25 lbs, 0 oz	80
height	30.25 inches	66
head circumference	18.74 inches	83
BMI	19.21

p.s. the picture is not related at all. Spencer likes red peppers though (and raw ginger too).

Let him eat cake!

Posted on February 22, 2010 by clare

Messy Spencer!

Spencer enjoying his birthday cake

Spencer's cake

We got cake for Spencer’s birthday from the German bakery by our house, das Meyer. We got a white cake for the kids, and a black forest cherry cake for the adults. From the looks on people’s faces, they both seemed very tasty. Spencer was definitely a fan. He was even nice enough to share a little with Dave. Enjoy the video.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/eatingCake.flv 480 270]

Vroom Vroom!

Posted on February 4, 2010 by clare

Spencer playing with his car

Spencer has been getting pretty good at playing with his big car lately. It is clear that he is really close to walking, because he is not really relying on the car for balance. Occasionally he will stand up on his own when he wants to inspect something with both hands, but then once he realizes he is not holding onto something, he quickly finds something to hold onto, or simply drops to his knees. So I think he is ready to walk physically, but not quite there mentally yet.

In this video, he displays how he is now able to turn around and go the other way when he reaches an obstacle with the car. At the end, he switches over to his small Lightning McQueen car, which is actually filled with bubble bath.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/vroom.flv 480 270]

Velaric ingressives

Posted on January 29, 2010 by clare

Spencer producing velaric ingressives

Lately Spencer has been making clicks (velaric ingressives), which is really cute. Here is a short video of him doing it. We are encouraging him by making some clicking noises ourselves. These are not the best exemplars he has made, but they are the ones that I have captured on video.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/clicks.flv 480 270]

Unpacking

Posted on January 20, 2010 by clare

What does one do with blocks in a box? Unpack them!

Spencer unpacking blocks

Lately I have discovered that not only does Spencer like to knock down blocks, he also likes to keep them in general disarray. If I pack the blocks into a big flat rectangle, Spencer will spread them all around. Or if I put them in a box, Spencer will take them all out. If anyone is looking for more disorder in their living room, Spencer is your man!
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/unpacking.flv 480 270]

Laughing

Posted on January 13, 2010 by clare

Spencer laughing with Clare

Spencer’s laugh has really been developing lately. Here is a short of video of him laughing from Clare tickling his belly.
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/laughing.flv 480 270]

Four teeth

Posted on January 4, 2010 by clare

Spencer showing off his four teeth

Spencer has had four teeth for at least a month or two now, but today I finally got a really great shot of them. The odd thing is that they are not the four middle teeth. His bottom two middle teeth came in around Labor Day. Then sometime in November he got two top teeth, but not the middle ones – the eye teeth! Apparently the same thing happened to my cousin Jessie’s son Connor.