It's been an emotional week for us. Kim's grandfather David Jutton, affectionately known as Grampie, passed away last Tuesday morning. He truly was the patriarch of the family and his absence in the short week since his passing, is already palpable. Kim's mother Davia officiated a wonderful yet tear-filled service on Sunday and the equally emotional burial on Monday. Gramp faithfully served our country during WWII and as such was honored with a soldiers burial. The Honor Guard presented Davia and her sister Sandy with folded flags as Taps played in the background: A ceremony befitting an exemplary member of the greatest generation .
During the service, I had a moment of clarity; something told me that I had to update the blog with new content. I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps it was the fifteen or so followers of the blog not so subtly hinting that they still check the site regularly to find nary an update. No, that's not it. I wonder what it was. Anyway, I shall attempt to remedy that today. This post will be a tribute to Gramp. Sadly, we don't have many pictures of Grampie and Mikaila but we will post what we do have intermingled with the content that follows. We will also post several more recent pictures of Mikaila as there isn't a ton of news to report.
Mikaila is up to 14 lbs. Although she is still well below the curve for even a baby of 8 months (her adjusted age, she has actually been with us for 11 months) her curve seems to be following the slope of the typical curves. We tend to not worry to much anymore about how much she is taking in and now have redirected our efforts toward increasing the percentage of her intake that comes from solids.
A few weeks ago, we moved Mikaila from the bassinet to her crib. That move coincided with our move back to our bedrooms. I may have mentioned that I did some work on our floors over the holidays and as such we had to move our bed down to the living room area. We finally moved our bed back to our bedroom which necessitated moving Mikaila upstairs. She was roughly 11 months old at that point so it was long overdue. For the last few months Mikaila has kept us up at night. Kim and I take turns getting up to comfort her back to sleep. She seemed to have turned the corner a few weeks ago only to regress in the last several days. We've heard that sleep issues may be a recurring theme. I hope they're wrong.
Babbling
From the get go, Mikaila has been both communicative and expressive. Through a series of screams, grunts, facial expressions and arm movements, Mikaila has always been very effective at getting her point across. Mikaila has taken her communication skills to a new level in the recent months as she has proven to be quite the babbler.... just like her mommy.
Pardon me folks. I had to tend to a nose bleed administered by my loving wife. Back on point, babbling is a precursor to speaking. Mikaila has said both Dada and Mama although we aren't sure she really knows what they mean; at least I'm not sure. She seems to be on the brink of speaking. At times, she attempts to mimic the words we speak by manipulating her lips as we do. We'll let you know when she actually strings words to together and knows of what she speaks.
Crawling
She is in a similar spot as it relates to crawling. Although she really doesn't crawl yet she is very close. She can hold herself in position without a problem and her hips now allow her to keep her legs from splaying. At this point she tends to rock herself forward. She does struggle, however, with shifting her weight. The Physical Therapist worked with us on how best to help Mikaila and we will continue working with her. Frankly, I think Mikaila would rather walk than crawl.
Teething Still
It doesn't seem possible and I wouldn't believe it if I weren't living it but Mikaila has yet to have a tooth pop through. Most avid followers of this blog know that Mikaila has been teething for months. By months, I don't mean two months. I'm talking many months. Her gums are white so we know they are coming but when they actually break through is anyone's guess.
Quick Study
In recent months she has also taken to studying everything she touches or sees. I think she is less interested in what things do than how they do it. That explains her preference to mimic our facial expressions when we talk rather than creating the sounds that come out of our mouths. These tendencies show in her interaction with toys. When given a block for instance, she tend to study each side. The same can be said for Mikaila's hands. She finds her hands fascinating and stares at them while flexing her fingers and shifting her wrists. Perhaps she'll be an engineer or maybe an inventor? I'm just happy that she's intellectually curious.
Birthday
We will be celebrating the one year anniversary of Mikaila's birth on the 24th. It's hard to believe we've been at this for a year. She really has had a remarkable course and we feel blessed every day by her health and progress. We don't have any elaborate plans for her birthday- we have lived like hermits for the last year fending off invaders with germs- but we will probably do something. We will be sure to post pictures.
This post has been sitting for a while unposted. Kim and I have had our hands full so we haven't been able to cobble together the pictures of Grampie and Mikaila. However, I want to get this post up to appease the followers. We will add pics shortly. Enjoy.
