29 & 1 Month Days

Ohmigosh, you guys, it has been FOREVER! I've been a *terrible* blogger lately - but Mommy's show was this weekend (it went TERRIFIC, thanks for asking!) so we had rehearsals and tech week and all of that, plus we just found out that the school is closing, so we are scrambling to find a suitable replacement for preschool for me for next year (maybe. more on that in an entire other post), we've been s-l-o-w-l-y working on the move to WordPress (lovetheludwigs.com - it's coming soon! or soon-ish anyway), AND Henry is home which just adds another ring to the circus that is our living room, and and and AND Lulu and I take turns needing Mommy's attention (except when we both need it at once) and the breast pump is plugged into the laptop outlet, none of which is conducive to efficient writing.

Whew!

We have a whole LIST of things to tell you guys about:

• Favorite Gear - a Revised Newborn Edition
• Honey Juice: A Toddler Panacea
• A Day in the Life with Me & Lulu
• The Cost of Breastfeeding
• A Search for the Perfect Pre-school
• Babywearing Challenges - Tandem Wearing and Wearing in the Winter (with pictures! Seriously, you guys are going to want to see Mommy's impression of a pack mule!)

Some of those will appear here, and some of them we plan on debuting over at the new site, so it may e a little while to get things up and running over there...

ANYway. *I* turned 29 months over a week ago and have TOTALLY slacked on the BabyCenter check-in. Mommy weighed me on our home scale and I'm up to 26 pounds these days - still pretty comfortable in my 24 month clothes. I do have some 2T shirts, but the 2T pants are all HUGE. Here's how I compare to other 29 month olds:

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Brushes teeth with help - Well, I totally *can.* That doesn't mean I DO; I need to be in a very specific tooth brushy mood.
  


• Washes and dries own hands - Yup!

• Draws a vertical line - Ummm, not sure. Mostly I just scribble, but I think I could draw a line if I had to.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

• Draws a circle - Sigh. BabyCenter sure does want all of us to be great artists; I can IDENTIFY circles, isn't that good enough? Also? Mommy is pretty sure SHE can't even draw a circle.
  

• Balances on one foot - Definitely! At least I have the motor skills milestones under my belt.
  

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

• Puts on a t-shirt - Um? Isn't that what Mommy is for?
  

• Names one color - I can name a BUNCH of colors: yellow, blue red, white, orange. I call most shades o pink "purple" and mix up brown and black sometimes, but I'm pretty good with colors.
• Names one friend - You mean how I ask is we can play with Max & 'Chele & Baby Sarah ALL DAY? Or how I talk about Trey every time we walk outside? I'm a popular guy - I can name more than one friend.

Aaaaannnnnnnd, Lulu is turning one month old on Friday.

Let's take a moment to allow that to sink in and let Mommy's heartbeat return to normal. A month already? SERIOUSLY?!

Lulu is going way too easy on Mommy; *I* had colic and acid reflux and needed speech therapy to teach me how to eat properly, so *I* slept in 20 minute stretches in between hours of screaming at the top of my lungs. Lulu? is pretty quiet. She sleeps a LOT. Honeslty? I love her and all, but my baby sister is kind of boring so far.

BUT I'm positive she's also a baby genius, so lets check in with the BabyCenter chart for HER age group.

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)

• Lifts head when lying on tummy; responds to sound; stares at faces - Check, check, check! See? My baby sister is a baby genius, of course!

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)

• Follows object briefly with eyes - She really only wakes up when she's eating, but BOY does she track that bottle! She's a little bit of a piggy.
  

• Vocalizes oohs and aahs - Not yet. Did I mention she mostly sleeps? But I NEVER cooed and I talk a mile a minute now.

• Can see black and white patterns - How am I supposed to know this, BC?

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)

• Smiles, laughs - She gives little smiles every once in a while, but no laughing yet.
  

• Holds head at 45 degree angle - I haven't broken out my protractor - and I'm not sure why she would have to tilt her head like this - but her neck is SUPER strong, so I'm pretty sure she *could.* If she wanted to. And if she were awake.

So. Sorry there's no pic today, but this post already took me almost a week to get out of drafts, so maybe we'll get a picture in another day. I do post pics to FB from Mommy's phone relatively frequently, so feel free to catch me over there.