The Happenings of Hunter

Wow, I haven't posted in 2 months... how in the world do I sum up 2 months of Hunter's life? Well, it's not going to be easy - and it will require a long post. Prepare yourself...

I finally flipped his car seat around to face forward. He was getting to the point where he would fight me every time I tried to put him in the car, so I figured it was time - plus, he has been able to consistently stay above 20 pounds over the past few months, so that helped my decision too. He absolutely loves it. Every time we start to drive fast or Josh takes a corner a little too fast, he says, "WEEE!"

The last week or so, Hunter and I have been playing this "dressing" game - well, he more plays it with me and I patiently let him play it. After he gets out of the bath, he doesn't want to lay still while I put lotion on him and dress him. So, he gives me enough time to get a diaper on him and then he runs out of the room. I hear his little footsteps getting further away and then seconds later, I can hear his footsteps getting closer. He bursts into the room laughing and gives me a big bear hug and then turns back around and runs out again. This continues for several minutes. So each time he runs back into the room, I have the lotion / article of clothing ready to hurry and put on him before he runs out again. I can only get lotion / clothes on one body part at a time (i.e. lotion on arms one time, then legs, then face / shirt one time, then pants, etc.) but he ends up having lotion and clothes on him in the end. It takes a while to get him dressed this way but it's an entertaining way to do it - and it makes him happy.

He tries to go down the stairs forward. He can't do it by himself yet, so I stand in front of him and hold one of his hands and he holds the wall with his other hand and he does pretty good. It makes me nervous but he's getting better at it and eventually he'll be able to hold the rail, so that will help him.

He had a couple of "first" experiences in the last couple of months. He went bowling in April and went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. The bowling experience was a little "iffy" at first because he didn't know what was going on and it was really noisy. But after we let him try for himself, he loved it! The zoo was also fun for him. He was more interested in the large animals that he could recognize, rather than the small little animals. He saw a momma and a baby elephant (and he even made the sound when he saw them), a rhino, some giraffes (Josh taught him how a giraffe eats - I'll try to post the video later), a tiger, monkeys and a lot more, but those were probably his favorites. He did not like looking at the snakes or spiders though - definitely got that from his momma... :P

Some new words he has been saying over the past few months (off the top of my head):

peek-a-boo - SO CUTE... and he even plays it now
mom - FINALLY!
bubble - I love when he says this
pop - refer to above word for the reason why this word is now in his vocabulary
okay - picked this one up from me... apparently I say this word A LOT
baby
blue - at first everything was the color blue, now he'll ask "blue?" - most of the time he's right...
one more, or just more
poo poo - I'm sure this will become one of his staple words over his childhood
outside
wait wait wait - I say this a lot to him too - the kid can't sit still for as long as I need him to! mouse
moon
video
clock
awesome
weee
plenty of sound effects (bleugh - when something's gross, cow "moo," dog "ruff," monkey)

I need to emphasize the word "okay." When he asks me for something, like for instance, a book, he'll say, "Book?" And I'll ask him, "Do you want a book?" Then he'll say, "Okay." The way he says it though is like it was my idea to begin with! He does this with just about everything - from watching TV to wanting crackers! None of these things are usually my idea; I'm just repeating what he's telling me in question form! The way that he says "okay" though... It's the cutest thing ever and I find it hard to deny him, well, any and everything he wants when he does this. Man, does he know how to work me over!

I have more to post but I figured I should split this post up... just in case you're getting bored of me rambling on about the cutest little boy ever! But... why would you have gotten this far if it was boring? AHA! :P

Basketball, Words and Nursery

Hunter LOVES basketball. He even says the word "basketball!" Every time he sees a basketball game on TV, he says "ZZZ" - which is how he says "Jazz" - and gets all excited. He'll stop whatever he's doing and sit down / lay down and watch the game. He even recognizes a basketball hoop when he sees one down the street or at grandma's house. The other day, we were playing outside and he noticed that our neighbors a couple houses down had a basketball hoop. He conveniently had his blue plastic ball with him, so he made his way to their basketball hoop and tried to get the ball in the hoop. It was cute seeing him try to throw the ball up there... but sad because he didn't even come close to getting it in the hoop. He'll be able to in a few years though...


He has this little basketball hoop that goes in the bathtub, complete with little basketballs. He LOVES this toy and has gotten pretty good at it. He loves that toy so much that I had to figure out a way he could play with it outside of the bathtub because he kept wandering to the bathroom to play with it - and would whine when his little basketballs got trapped in the bathtub, where he couldn't reach them. So, using my ingenuity, I positioned it on the front of the dishwasher and VOILA - instant basketball awesomeness! :) (I used two smart and interesting words in that sentence - Go AP English! LOL!)

He says Josh! It was a few weeks back when we realized what he was saying and it was so funny! And today, he said Kaylee! It more came out "KEEE" but when I said "Kaylee" back to him, he repeated the "KEEE" word again! Hmmm, he'll say "Kaylee" but not "Mom..." interesting... I tried to get video of him saying my name but he didn't want to cooperate, BUT, I did get video of him saying Josh a few weeks back, so here it is...


He went to nursery at church for the first time! Okay, he had been a couple times before when I taught in there but this time, it was official! It was about a month ago that he went and I ended up just dropping him off and leaving. I had to force myself not to look in the "peek" window after I left because I know how bad that is when the kid sees their parent on the other side of the door. I worried about him the entire time at church - and even checked on him once - but all seemed well and I knew that he was in good hands. Right before Relief Society, one of my friends came up and told me a funny story about Hunter's nursery experience. Apparently, her hubby took their little boy into the same nursery class after I had dropped Hunter off and Hunter thought it was Josh because her hubby is bald with a goatie too! I guess he saw him, walked up to him with outstretched arms and when he realized that it was an imposter, he hung his head and started to cry. Just picturing that situation in my head was heartbreaking but when I went to pick him up after church, he seemed totally fine. He's done pretty well with nursery since then, so I am hoping it stays that way...

He calls for Josh / objects. A few weeks back, I asked him, "Where's dad?" and proceeded to call for Josh in the "calling" tone. He picked up what I was doing immediately and followed suit. Now, whenever I ask him where his dad is or where his ball is, etc, he'll call out for that object and look around for it. It's really adorable. Here's video of that... and the video also shows him walking around with his hands behind his back, like a little gentleman... AND it even includes bonus footage of him doing a very naughty thing that I dislike... :P

The Official Haircut

Josh FINALLY let me cut Hunter's hair! As adorable as my little guy was with his long curly locks, they were just starting to look too "pretty" and I wanted him to look like a little man. So, on the 17th, I took him to his first professional haircut (we've cut his hair a few times by ourselves). I ended up being late for my appointment because there was a semi rollover on the freeway, so they had it shut down... so I ended up in Layton on Hwy 89 - trying to get to Ogden! LAME! To make matters worse, I had to stop for gas because I was almost out... and to top it off, my change in my wallet spilled all over my lap as I was getting my credit card out to pay for the gas! Definitely not a good way to start out this experience... and it was just the preface for what was to come...

Since we were late for the appointment, it had pushed into lunch/nap time for Hunter. So, by the time I got there and waited for the gal to finish up with her other appointment, Hunter was way awnry. He wanted nothing to do with sitting in a chair nor wearing an apron. So, I ended up wearing the apron, holding him on my lap and taking his shirt off. The entire time, he just squirmed, cried and hit me (he's in this hitting stage right now - not my favorite...) and was trying to get away from the clippers/scissors. To make matters worse, the gal ended up trying to get the wayward hair off of him by blowing it off with a blow dryer... he is not a fan of the blow dryer at home, let alone having it pointed directly at him in a strange place where someone is "torturing" him. Both of us ended up with a lot of hair on us...

Later that same night, Josh asked Hunter, "Where's your hair?" and Hunter started reaching for his hair and tried to pull at it... but there was nothing really there to pull. He had a very confused and sad look on his face as he was doing it - and it was somewhat heartbreaking to see. Now he stares as himself in the mirror and smiles and giggles at himself... so I guess he's forgiven me for "stealing" his locks. But he'll still grab at his hair when you ask him that same question - it's pretty funny.

It was not a fun experience but when it was all said and done, he looked very handsome. It was weird seeing him without all of his hair but over the last couple of weeks, I have gotten used to it. In fact, when I look back at pictures/videos of him with his long hair, I regret not cutting it sooner... and Josh will disagree with me on that, I'm sure. :P Every time anyone sees him, they comment on how cute or handsome he is and he even got a "stud" remark from his uncle Butch...

So, without further ado, here are the after pics!

New Tricks

Hunter has some new tricks and some firsts! Here's the update...

He nods his head "yes!" For quite a while, he has been shaking his head "no," whether to be silly or to just simply say "no." Well, now's he has another option - yes! We were sitting at the dinner table and Hunter was shaking his head "no" at Josh and Josh told him to nod "yes" and showed him how it was done. Hunter is getting really quick at picking things up lately, so he responded right back to Josh by nodding his head "yes" too! I got video of it... it's so adorable! I love his facial expression while he does it!



He does the "lizard tongue"... again! He used to do this months back but moved on to other things. Well now he thinks it's fun again! Again, I got a video of it because I love it!



He says, "Dad...oh yeah!" He sort of whispers it, so that makes it even cuter... Of course I got a video of that too. It's towards the end of the video around 53 seconds...



He played outside for real for the first time! Of course I took him outside when he was a baby and let him crawl around in the grass, but he finally was able to play outside like a big boy because he can walk now! We went over to our neighbor's house and played with her little boy (who is a month younger than Hunter). We let them just walk around on the sidewalk and check out their surroundings. My neighbor even has a sandbox, so he tried that for first time too. He wasn't sure about it when I put him in there at first but then he realized how fun it was and thought it was a blast! He stayed pretty stationary though - so he didn't have to get too dirty... He really doesn't like anything on his hands - whether it's sand or food. That's probably my bad because I've always tried to keep him so clean! But he's a little boy, so I'm sure he'll grow out of that... :P

He played his first video game! My nephew was over at my house playing Mario Kart on the Game Cube and I was playing with him. Hunter enjoyed watching the little cartoon characters move around on the TV but then he decided he wanted to try too! So, he whined at me to let him sit on my lap and I of course gave in. The next thing I knew, he was grabbing at the controller and wanted to steer! I had to hold down the accelerate button so he would move but I let him control where the car was driving. He ended up driving in the wrong direction for most of the time but he seemed to enjoy himself... After he got bored with that, I let him have the controller by himself and let him go at it.

Update part 2

Here are some more things that Hunter has been up to lately...

He plays hide and seek! Well, not exactly, but he plays his own version of it. He'll randomly just disappear - sometimes when I'm not looking and sometimes when I am - and he'll hide from me. He has a couple of favorite places to hide... behind my two couches in my living room, in his closet, on the side of his crib and on the side of his dresser. He'll run to his hiding place and then I'll call, "Hunter? Hunter?" and he'll usually giggle or pop his head out with a big smile on his face. Sometimes I pretend not to see him, so he'll come out and stand right in front of me like, "Duh mom, I'm right here!" It's a really cute game that I didn't even teach him!

For the past couple of months, I have been really trying to get Hunter to gain some weight. At his 15 month appointment, I was told that he hadn't even hit 20 pounds yet and he was in the 2nd percentile for weight. The doctor made a pretty big deal about it, so I figured I better do all I could to fatten my little guy up. The only way I could really get him to eat well was to give him something to distract him while I shoveled the food in his mouth. It became a problem though because it got to the point where he wouldn't eat UNLESS he had a distraction - and he would even point to what he wanted to play with while I fed him. I weighed him 2 weeks ago and noticed that he had gained a significant amount of weight (he is 22 pounds now), so I figured that it may be time to get away from the bad habit I had knowingly created for him. So, on the 18th, we decided to give him his own fork and let him feed himself. To my surprise, he knew exactly what he was doing! We had to help him stab the food but he did the rest! It was very cool to watch him feed himself like a big boy. We are still working on getting out of the habit of distractions while eating (and sometimes I break down and give him one) but he's getting better at feeding himself and can even stab his own food now!

He brushes his own teeth! I put him in a little "Bumbo" chair I have on the bathroom counter and away he goes! He'll put the toothbrush in his mouth and swirl it around a little bit, then he'll dip the toothbrush in the running water and will brush again. This goes on for as long as 5 minutes and then he'll eventually hand me the toothbrush to tell me he's done. He brushes his teeth as well as any other almost 17 month old, so I try to help him out - even though most of the time he doesn't want me to. And it's so funny because I'll tell him, "Let's go brush our teeth" and he'll stroll into the bathroom and point to his toothbrush. Hopefully he enjoys brushing his teeth this much in the future - so I can avoid costly dental bills... :P

He helps around the house! On Feb. 15th, I let him use the broom and he did a pretty good job! It was very cute to see him trying to use that huge broom... He also likes to "help" me with the laundry. I put the word help in quotations because he basically just throws all of the clean clothes out of the laundry basket onto the floor. He probably thinks it's fun to fling the clothes around but I like to think that he's trying to help... :P

He has a love/hate relationship with bubbles. He LOVES bubbles when they're being blown at him but he HATES bubbles when he has to bathe with them. He just giggles and is all smiles when he sees bubbles but if they are coming from the water in the bathtub, the smile turns into a frown and he just cries. I thought he would love taking a bubble bath but when I tried it on Feb. 9th, he just sat in a froggy stance as far away from the bubbles as possible and just whined. I tried to even show him that they were fun and I put some on his leg and he did not like that one bit. He wouldn't calm down until all of the bubbles were washed down the drain. It was sad but funny enough to take a picture of his face... yeah, I know I'm mean but it gets the point across as to how much he hates bubble baths...

And last but not least, he loves his daddy. He's always loved his daddy - and why wouldn't he - but lately he LOVES his dad. When dad is around, mom doesn't really exist. I know it's because he sees me all day long, so he can't really miss me. But as soon as Josh gets home from work, he just wants to be with his dad. It's very cute. He even says "dad" when he hears the garage door open because he knows his dad is home. And he even told Josh "hi" the other day! Josh had just gotten home from work and came up the stairs and said, "Hi buddy, how are you?" and Hunter replied "Hi!" He's never said hi to anyone, so I thought that was pretty cool. He even says "dad" more than "mom" right now but I'm sure it will balance out in the future... :P

Update part 1

I haven't posted the happenings of Hunter for almost a month, so I thought I better blog this stuff before he moves on to "greener pastures..."

He makes animal sounds on command! I'll ask him "What does an elephant say?" and he'll make the appropriate "blow" noise! It's adorable! Others that he'll do when asked are a snake ("ssss"), a duck (remember the post about his "duck growl?"), Cookie Monster (he'll say "cookie cookie cookie" while shaking his head back and forth) and he does Ernie's laugh as well (thanks to uncle Hayden). Yes, I realize that Cookie Monster and Ernie are not real animals but it's still cute... ;) Occasionally, he'll do a sheep sound but it's mostly when he sees a picture of one...

The elephant is definitely his favorite animal sound. Whenever he sees an elephant in a book or on TV, he'll make the elephant noise... He's such a smart little guy!

He has expanded his word knowledge. He doesn't necessarily SAY more words but he definitely understands a lot more. You can ask him to go bring you something and he will and if you ask him to do something, he knows what you're asking. For instance, I'll tell him to go in his bedroom so I can change his bum and he'll go. I'll ask him if he wants to watch a program and he'll go straight to the TV (I call TV shows/DVD's "programs" because my sister called them that when I used to watch her little boy and it just stuck - weird thing to call it, I know...) I can tell him to pick up his toys and put them somewhere and he will. Obviously it depends on what mood he's in if he'll do these things... he does have his free will after all... :P

Some things he has said lately are "a car!" (while looking out the window), "my ball!" (when Josh threw his ball across the room), "oh yeah," "oh no," "ch ch ch ch pow!" (like how Lightning McQueen says it - obviously he doesn't do it exactly like that but it's close), and he says "uh oh" now. That's got to be my favorite because he does the "uh" like you're supposed to but the "oh" is all drawn out. Like "uhh oooohhhhhhh..." Adorable! :D

He does some sign language! He has this Baby Einstein DVD that teaches them words from around the house and it also teaches them sign language as well. I noticed that he was trying to do one of the actions while he was watching it and I figured out that it was "refrigerator." So I would say "refrigerator" and he would do the sign! And today he was watching it and I noticed that he was trying to mimic a sign he saw and it was "tree!" So now, when I say "refrigerator" and "tree," he'll do the actions! Baby Einstein doesn't teach your child...pffft to that!

Well, that's all I have time for today... Hunter just woke up from his nap so we need to practice all of these things! :) I'll try and post the other stuff later... but hopefully not another month later... :P

The Jazz

We took Hunter to his first Jazz game on Jan. 25th against the Phoenix Suns. He was decked out in his little Deron Williams jersey and I even tried to give him a mohawk but his hair is too long (and Josh won't let me cut it...)

We ate at the Gateway food court before the game and Hunter ate McDonald's french fries and drank orange Hi-C. Not a very nutritious meal but he loved it (and I gave him something more substantial before we left home - so don't judge me! :P )

When we got to the arena, Hunter was just in awe. He kept looking around at everything and was pointing at all of the lights and the people. We got there just in time for the starting lineups and we thought he would think it was cool with all the lights off and stuff... but he didn't. He looked nervous and wasn't liking all of the loud screaming. As soon as that part was done though, he relaxed and started to enjoy himself again. He was jabbering and pointing and clapping with everyone and was even watching the game! There were a few times that he couldn't see where the ball had gone, so he would lean forward to see where it went! It was so cute! And he just sat on either my lap or Josh's lap and just hung out! He never tried to get down and run around or anything! He was so good!

He made it through 3 quarters but we decided to leave because he was extremely tired (he kept trying to poke his eyeballs out) and the Jazz were losing by 17 at that point. As soon as we were in the concourse area of the arena, the crowd erupted into cheers. The Jazz were making a run! They had cut the lead to 9 as were were walking out of the arena! I gave Josh a look like, "Ah, can't we stay?" and he said,"We need to go, he's so tired." I was bummed but my little man comes first.

We listened to the game on the way home and the Jazz ended up making a comeback and won! :D When we got home, I went to get Hunter out of his car seat and he was SO asleep! His little head was flopped forward (I haven't seen it that bad since he was a little baby) and he was totally out of it. So it was a good thing we left the game when we did.

We all had a fun time and I'm glad that Josh convinced me to take Hunter with us. I had my reservations about taking him but Hunter crushed all of those reservations... He was a little angel and I wouldn't mind taking him again anytime! He's a true Jazz fan in the making! :)

Walking!

Ever since my post a month or so ago, Hunter has just been taking a step or two on his own terms. We tried to encourage him but he was never in the mood to walk - he would just bend his back and refuse to stand every time we tried. So, we decided to just let him do his own thing and when he decided he wanted to walk, we would help him.

On Friday, January 8th, we were over at our friend's (the Lamb's) house. We were eating dinner and since Hunter had already eaten, he was playing with the kitchen cabinets. I was talking to my friend when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter moving towards me but he wasn't crawling... he was walking! I looked over at him and he had made it halfway across the kitchen! As soon as he saw me looking at him, he immediately dropped to the floor and crawled the rest of the way to me. It was so awesome! We tried to encourage him to walk between me and Josh the rest of the night but he had no desire to.

The next day after church, Hunter was playing in my room. He was opening a drawer that has hats in it and he decided he wanted me to wear one of the hats he found. So, he WALKED halfway across the room to put it on my head! I tried to encourage it again and this time he cooperated! I stood him up at the footboard of my bed (so he could grab something to get his balance) and he would walk from the end of my bed to me! It was like 2 - 3 feet of space!

When Josh got home (he is the ward clerk so he does tithing after church), I told him what had happened, so he wanted to see for himself. I stood Hunter up and had him walk to his dad! It was like a scene out of a movie or something - it was adorable! Both of them were very happy!

In the past week and a half, Hunter has gotten very good at walking. At first he would just walk if I encouraged him to but with every day that comes and goes, he is crawling less and less. In fact, today is the first day that he has been walking around more than he has crawled around! It's so amazing how far he's come in such a short amount of time! He is even walking around with stuff in his hands! That's one of his favorite things to do now... he picks up an object then walks it to me to show me what he found! He also walks around with his arms straight in front of him for balance. He looks like a little Frankenstein walking around the house! It's so cute!

So, without further ado, here is a video of him walking! I "jimmy-rigged" my camera in his high chair so I could record this without Josh being home... pretty crafty, eh? This video also includes a couple of other things too... him doing a weird dance and him laying down next to me when I lay down (he does it EVERY time I lay down - it's one of my favorites). Enjoy! :)

New Year's 2009

On New Year's Eve, we went quite a few places. The first stop was Josh's parent's house. Hunter and I only stayed there for about an hour while Josh set up his drum set at his friend's house for a little "gig" they were playing for friends and family later that night. After our stop at the grandparent's house, we joined Josh for his "gig."

Hunter LOVES guitars and drums (any musical instrument really...), so he thought it was so awesome that there were both in the same room! AND multiple guitars! Josh let him sit on his lap while he drummed and Hunter helped him hit one of the drums while they played a song. I thought that he wouldn't like all of the loud noise but it didn't phase him one bit. He alternated between smiles and looks of concentration as he helped his daddy drum. It was very cute. See for yourself... :)


After the "gig," we went to our other friend's house. By that time, it was about 9:30pm - way past Hunter's bedtime - but he was still going strong! So we let him play with the other kids while we visited and played "Bunco." Hunter loved ringing the "Bunco" bell! After about an hour of him playing, we decided to get him in bed because he was getting pretty delirious and silly. But surprisingly, he wasn't awnry...

We ended up just hanging out until midnight and when the new year rang in, our friend lit off some roman candle fireworks. Then we played The Simpsons Scene It game and after that, we called it a night.

Hunter had a fun night and I've gotta say that 10:30pm is probably the latest he's stayed up since he was a little baby! I wonder if he could've made it until midnight... hmmm... maybe we'll test it out next year! :P

Christmas 2009

Has it really been a month since I made a post? That's bad... :( Well, better late than never!

Hunter had his first Christmas where he actually somewhat knew what was going on. He got that he was getting new toys but didn't really enjoy unwrapping them. In fact, I think he tore open maybe 3 presents total the whole day... the rest we had to unwrap for him and show him what he got. He was very excited after all of the wrapping was off and he could play with his new stuff!

Josh and I decided to each get him something for Christmas and then do a stocking and a big present. Josh got him a Deron Williams Jazz jersey (and it is so cute because he can say "Jazz" - it more comes out "ZZZZ" but it is still adorable). I made him a fleece blanket because he needed a warmer blanket for the winter and he loves blankets with those ties on the edge of them (I tied 2 pieces of fleece together - it turned out way cute). When Hunter got it out of the bag, he loved it! He kept cuddling with it and rolling around on the floor with it! It made my day! :) In his stocking, he got some books, crayons and punching balloons. He loves punching balloons! (If you aren't aware of what a punching balloon is, it is those huge balloons with the elastic on the end of it and you "punch" it...)

For his big present, we got him a big boy car seat. Yes, I know, that is a VERY lame big present for a little kid but he needed one and he didn't really know that he was getting "jipped." Actually, now that I think of it, it's funny that practical gifts for kids are considered lame... well, I guess when you can get away with it, do it! ;) I decided to keep him rear facing because his pediatrician told me that they are suggesting you keep toddlers rear facing until they are 2 years old now because it's safer. Josh didn't really agree with this decision but it turns out that Hunter isn't even 20 pounds yet, so we couldn't flip him anyways! (I will post more about his 15 month appointment in another post). But Hunter enjoyed his first ride in his new car seat to Grandpa and Grandma Nielson's and he looked like a little king in his throne! LOL!

Hunter got a lot of fun toys and some cute clothes. I would have to say that his favorite toys on Christmas day were a fridge magnet alphabet airplane (we had to hide that one so he would accept his other presents), a big yellow Tonka truck (he liked - and still does - to climb in the back of it) and a little Fisher Price desk that has a little chair for him to sit in. Those were the ones he really liked on Christmas day but since then, he loves all of his new toys - especially since they are out of their boxes!

It was a fun day but you could tell by the end that he was spent. I seem to remember him just sitting in the middle of my parents living room just staring off into space... :P I'm sure he was overstimulated from all of the new toys and seeing all of his family in one day. But it was a very good Christmas!