Nature or Nurture

It has recently come to my attention that my son is very sweet and loving. I would imagine that all children his age are sweet, but Elliot seems to really care for people and animals. He has learned how to hug. We did not teach him this, other than by hugging him...a lot! What we did teach him was how to treat the dogs. Initially, we taught him how to "pat pat", so that he would pet the dogs instead of grabbing or hitting them. He took to that wonderfully. Most recently we taught him to "love" the dogs. This consists of putting his head down on them and essentially hugging them. Within the last month or so, we have asked for "huggies", especially before putting him to bed. He would respond by laying his head on our shoulder. That was his version of a hug.

As recent as last weekend, his method of "huggies" changed. I guess by either watching us or others, he now puts his arms around you and then puts his head on you. He does this to the dogs as well. This morning, he did it to a stuffed dog. Interestingly enough, the dog that he has is electronic and asks for a hug. Elliot took that as a cue to then grab the dog and put his head on it.

He understands how to be gentle. He can get a little rough with the dogs, grabbing ears or pulling on their faces, but if we say, "gentle" or "give Janie huggies", his demeanor changes and he is gentle again.

So I ask you - is this something that is inherently within him or is this something that he has learned. I'd like to think that my son is inherently sweet, he does come by it naturally (at least from Sam). I also am hopeful that we are teaching him how to be kind and gentle and loving. The concept of nature versus nurture is double edged. I of course want this to be nature, I want him to be born "good", but I also want him to be able to adapt and pick up on social cues, hence the nurture part. I also want to show him, as a good model for loving and caring, how to be "good". Maybe this is a chicken vs egg scenario - you can't have one without the other. He can't learn to be good unless he has some goodness as a base to build on (nature then nurture). Okay, enough philosophical rambling. The bottom line is - it warms my heart to watch my child hug things...and people, and dogs. It melts my heart when he puts his arms around my neck, lays his head on my shoulder and squeezes. It makes me so proud when he is gentle with the dogs. And it makes me laugh when he tries to hug inanimate objects.

Fearless

Is this a boy thing? Having no fear in a way is like being completely innocent - you don't know any better. When Elliot was learning to walk he lacked the confidence to venture too far from something he could grab onto. He was so hesitant and for a fleeting second that was nice. Then he gained enough confidence to try walking and he was successful. Since he began walking, with that came climbing, sliding, attempting to take multiple headers off of the couch and practically running.

For example: today we went to the park after we picked him up from daycare. He wants to slide down the slide by himself, he wants to walk up the slide. He climbed the playscape steps with no problem, to the point that Sam had to run and jump to get ahead of him so he wouldn't walk off the edge of the playscape. He climbs up playscape tubes which are angled, basically things he shouldn't be able to do. But he doesn't know that. How lucky he is. He's willing to try anything because he doesn't yet know about failure. This is one trait I hope he takes with him forever.

Fearlessness - wonderful for the boy, terrifying for the mother!

My Kid is So Smart!

Sure, that's what every parent says, but I'm serious, my kid is really smart. In reality, we are always comparing our children to others around them. Daycare has some advantages in this field as there are always kids below and above his age level that I can compare him to. For instance, he was a late walker - kinda. I felt that he should have been walking by 12 months but my boy had other plans. You see in order for him to move up from the baby room to the toddler room he had to be able to walk. You can imagine my surprise when they moved up a girl who not only wasn't walking but was two weeks YOUNGER than Elliot. Sure, she crawled sooner and she was much beefier than my kid, but she wasn't walking either. So, fast forward to a couple weeks ago when Elliot was spending all of his time in the toddler room, even though he wasn't walking yet. But apparently, watching the other kids walk was enough for him because my kid is walking and little girl in his class still isn't! That's only one of his many brilliance's - he's a fast learner. He's gone from taking two to three steps at a time, to walking from the kitchen to the living room (at least 30 steps) to practically running tonight!

Brilliance number 2 of about a gazillion - my kid talks like you wouldn't believe! He's always been vocal, loved to make noises. About 4 months ago he started saying something that resembled "tickle tickle". That has progressed to words, mini sentences, and even repeated recognition of items instead of just repeating. Take this weekend for instance - he points to the dog and says clearly "puppy". He picks up a ball and not only says "ball" but "my ball". He knows mama and dada. Brilliantly, the kid says "caca" when he's pooped (the Spanish word for poop). He says "baby" in reference to himself, especially when he's upset about something. When he's excited or proud, he can be heard saying, "I did it". He talks constantly!! I just wish most of the time he made sense. My kid is so cool.

Did I mention he's brilliant?? Apparently they've been working on body parts in daycare. This has been a focus for Sam and I as well. I really hope that I can get the following on video, but as of now, you'll just have to take my word for it. When asked where his "belly" is, he takes one or both hands and pats his belly. When asked where his "nose" is, he promptly sticks a finger up his nose - not the most hygienic but he knows where his nose is. When asked where his "head" is, he smacks himself on the head repeatedly. The other day when asked where his "foot" was, he did two things. First, he took off his sock and second, he put said foot in his mouth. After meals when we go to clean him up, we ask for his hands, and he will give us one but not always the other.

So feel free to compare all of my kid's brilliance to yours - hands down, mine will always win. (No bias here!)

We have a Walker

Last Saturday Elliot surprised us by getting from a sitting position to a standing position, followed by taking a couple of steps before falling into the arms of myself and/or Sam. Each day he has progressed to taking a few more steps. Now, for me, the walking is really exciting. It means that we have more opportunities to play outside and he doesn't always have to be carried, won't necessarily be just sitting around in the dirt and can really begin to experience more of what the world has to offer.

Sam, on the other hand, is scared to death that he has started walking. Sam sees more falls in Elliot's future, a child that is much harder to wrangle and keep still as well as the fact that this is something that he can't unlearn. I have tried my best not to focus on the falls - he's a little boy, they're bound to fall. Besides, scars build character.

What I wasn't prepared for was the confidence that comes along with walking. This confidence has translated into climbing. Climbing on us, climbing on the couch, climbing on his walking toys, climbing over the step-stool. Last night, Sam caught him climbing his dragon walker, standing on the walker's head (about 2 feet at least from the ground) and attempting to climb INTO his pack n play. His teachers at school reported catching him climb to the top of his chair and stand on a tray used for food. Oy, this little boy is gonna give me a heart attack!

So, as much as I look forward to the positives of Elliot walking, I can definitely see Sam's side of things. I plan to try not to be a hovering mom, letting him fall so that he can learn. Unfortunately, I foresee stitches in our future...

Seeing if I can stick to blogging!

A lot has changed since the last post of this blog. My pregnancy went as well as could have been expected. I had gestational diabetes which I managed beautifully and our amazing Elliot Simon Levine was born on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 11:22 am, weighing in at 8 lbs, 4 oz and 21 inches long. Not too bad for our 38 w 1 d baby boy. Elliot had a few complications after birth as he was unable to get rid of the fluid in his lungs. I was unable to see him for about 5-7 hours. My amazing husband stayed by his side in the nursery and my mom stayed by mine as I began to recover from my planned c-section. I had a planned c-section because we were told that Elliot would be well over 10 pounds given that his head was measuring about the size of a 43 week old fetus. His head never descended and as it turns out, this was the best decision for us. My pubic bone seemed to have fused on top of itself, which would have never allowed me to have a natural birth.

I did so great in recovery and was walking less than 12 hours later. So after only two nights in the hospital they sent us home. We came home the day before Thanksgiving, which was such a relief. I really didn't want us to spend our first Thanksgiving as a family in a hospital room.

The day after Thanksgiving, we had an appointment with the pediatrician to make sure that Elliot was doing well. Unfortunately, we were told that he had jaundice and that he was losing weight. They gave me two days to try to feed him more, which entailed waking him every two hours and putting him in the sun for a bit every day. Two days later, he was getting better, but not fast enough. My heart broke when I was told to supplement with formula at least 1-2 ounces every day until we saw the doctor at the two week appointment.

It's funny, weight gain has always been an issue for Elliot - apparently he didn't get that from me. I'm a fantastic weight gainer! Try as I might, my milk supply was low. I ate tons of oatmeal, took lots of Fenugreek and my supply was "ok". I'll tell you, breastfeeding my son may have been the most stressful thing that I have ever done in my life and although at times I felt like a failure and that I wanted to quit, I successfully nursed him for 13 months!!

So, we've hit many many milestones over the last almost two years since I started this blog. We have an amazing family of three now and are even beginning to talk about baby #2 (not this year!!). Elliot is the light of my life and I couldn't imagine life without him. My goal is to try to utilize this little slice of cyberspace to keep an ongoing journal of my thoughts regarding my growing child. I'm sure I'll also include a number of pictures/videos/milestones that my son is achieving.

Looking forward to continuing to share Levine Family News!!

Little Levine

Week 8, 9, 10, & 11

Man, I'm not good at keeping up with this at all. I'll try to remember all of the changes that I have gone through over the last several weeks so that I can keep them here for posterity sake. I've continued with the weekly Progesterone checks. I was a bit worried as my levels went down each week almost down to the baseline but the doc didn't seem concerned. I had a theory though. I figured that the levels were going down the later that I had my blood work drawn. So I went first thing in the morning and voila! my levels went super high again. It was fantastic. My levels still aren't high enough for me to stop the supplements but it's making sure that my baby stays strong and healthy until the placenta takes over.

I've been having horrendous morning sickness. Mostly I've spent my days being nauseous but have definitely had lots of vomiting interspersed. I finally started using my prescription of Zofran and it's been a life saver. I can actually get through my days without wanting to sleep all day long. My energy has been zapped completely. I have a sinking spell every afternoon and have to take a nap. It's exhausting.

The cravings have been crazy too. They are really strong but only last a couple of days. Nothing too strange but definitely strong! Some examples:

Cereal - morning, noon and night
Macaroni & Cheese
Pizza
Fried chicken - even this morphed from chicken strips to chicken sandwiches to popcorn chicken
Sonic tater tots with cheese
Junior Mints
Gummy Cola Bottles
Grilled cheese sandwiches
Spaghettios
High fat & salty foods
And now I'm back to cereal

I've had tons of aversions - mainly to meat, which usually I love. And I've had lots of cravings for carbs - lots of carbs. My doc is hopeful that once I start feeling better I'll be able to eat a little bit healthier.

So we went back to the doctor on May 20th. There was some dispute as to how far along I was so we had to do another ultrasound. I had no problem with this because I love being able to see the baby. This ultrasound was amazing. The baby actually looked like a baby. We were able to videotape the ultrasound and the baby waved both arms and kicked both legs. It was fantastic! It made this so much more real. We go in on May 24th for our NT scan which measures the back of the neck to check our risk for downs syndrome or trisomy 18.

For your viewing pleasure - our latest ultrasound.