Thanksgiving

Well, it has been over a week since Thanksgiving, but I thought I'd go ahead and post. We had a wonderful holiday. Holidays are so much fun for me. They signify a time of family, friends, food, and fun (games). From Halloween until New Years, it seems like one holiday after another is thrown at you. It is great. But then I am always ready for normalcy when it is all over. But thats okay, because it will be a while again (10 months) before the partying starts again. Anyway, Thanksgiving was great. We spent it with my family and some regular Thanksgiving guests. This year was a relatively small group, consisting of my family (us 7), Jacob (David's brother), as well as Kathy and Bethany (our 'regulars' who always come for Thanksgiving). Rob, Denyce and Malachi dropped in for a bit too, but only snacked; they had a family meal scheduled for later that afternoon. We had a scrumptious meal, games, some football (a new addition since Dougle was added to the family), and a movie (we re-watched Transformers). We even did our regular Thanksgiving activity of scouring the newspaper for the next day's sales. (see next post for details). So, thanksgiving was fun again this year. It was very different than last year. Last year, Canaan was not even a month old. We were all tired from the several times a night feedings with Canaan. I was still trying to figure out the nursing thing (I think Canaan ate more that Thanksgiving than any of us!). Whenever any one had a break from cooking or eating, they were holding Canaan or waiting in line to hold him. And at any time during the day, there were at least 6 people staring at Canaan with loving eyes. This year, we were trying to keep up with the active little boy. Everyone still stared at him with loving eyes; he knew it too, because when he did something cool (like stack his blocks 6 high), he turned around to see if we were watching. What an ornery little boy! So, we are still so very thankful for him this year too. What a blessing this past year has been! God is so good to us! PS. I forgot to mention: we had a White Thanksgiving. We got our first snow of the year on Thanksgiving Day. It came down in thick, beautiful snowflakes.

Glasses

Well, I am straying from my All About Canaan to put a personal post. I imagine I will do this from time to time, so I hope you all don't mind. Our world at times seems to revolve around the baby, but we do have a life as a family and individuals too! This post is about my glasses. I have worn glasses since the third grade. At some point in high school, my doctor realized I need prisms. My eyes wander (and sometimes cross); prisms help re-direct my vision so I can focus properly. I have 5 prisms in each lens and technology hasn't advanced far enough for them to put more than 3 in contacts. I don't know if I'd go for contacts or now if I had the chance now. I've worn glasses for so long, and the thought of touching my eyeball almost grosses me out too much. But, for now, I have no choice. I have included some pictures of my glasses changes over the past several years. There is a picture of me when I was a freshman in HS ('96), one of me at my HS graduation ('99), one from a few years ago ('06)(with the red glasses I've worn up until recently), and the last one is of me in my new brown frames ('07). I contemplated sticking with my old red frames and just getting new lens. However, my frames snapped in half a few weeks ago (during class!), necessitating new frames. I had a hard time giving up the red, because I loved it so much. But I couldn't find a pair that we (me and those looking at me everyday) would be happy with.

The Otter

Well, from my comments, I found out that the Baby Einstein blue puppet is supposed to be an otter. It was 'so obvious' to some (like my smarty pants brother-in-law). I will let you make your own decision. I guess there is some resemblance. Here is the Baby Einstein picture, and here is a picture I got from some government website. (http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/field_offices/lake_berryessa/photo_gallery/wildlife/otter.jpg)

One Year Milestones

Introduction
To confess up front, I am stealing this idea from my friend Timbra Wiist. She keeps up a cute blog about her family (mainly her little girl- Alani). Alani is about 7 months Canaan's senior. Anyway, Timbra does a post on Alani's month birthdays (15 mos, 18mos, etc.) that records all her milestones she's reached. I thought it was a great idea. Since Canaan just had his first birthday, then I can tell you all about where he is at in the baby world. Though I am very convinced that Canaan is my little genius, I do know all babies reach different milestones at different times. Even Canaan seems a bit behind on some things (like he doesn't point or gesture at much now), but I think he is ahead on other things. So I guess it all evens out in the long run! So, here I go at bragging!

Up-to-Date Stats
Height: 30 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (20th percentile)
Head Cir: 19 inches (85th percentile)
7 Teeth
Light Brown Hair
Green(ish) Eyes
Beautiful!

Physical Feats
Canaan was a late crawler, starting around 9 1/2 months of age, but started walking at about 11 months of age. He would walk with his hands stretching out straight in front of him for about a month; many people thought we should dress him up as Frankenstein for Halloween because of his entertaining walk. Now that he is 12 months, he is toddling around without any hand balance. When he gets really excited, Canaan tries to run. It is adorable: we'll pretend to chase him and he starts walking/running away as fast as he can. But he is so excited, his legs get a bit stiff-which makes it hard to get anywhere fast.
Canaan also has started throwing a ball. It is just an excited hand thrust-and-release. But it gets the ball rolling forward for the most part. He also loves pushing around his big truck and small trucks.

Vocabulary
Canaan has been our little verbal genius. He started with uh-oh at 7 1/2 months. When he turned 9 months, he already said 4 words. Now, at 12 months, Canaan has about 23 words. They include: book, Bible, truck (uck), tractor (trator), daddy (dad), bye-bye, up, sock (ock-usually he calls his shoes socks), uh-oh, auntie (a-tee), UD (stands for Uncle David), Gran-nan (Na-nan), Grand-dad (dad-dad), thank you (da-doo), ba-ba (any animal except cat), hi kitty cat (hi key-tat), ball (ba), teeth (teet), elbow (e-bow), bath (bat), all done (all), peek-a-boo (a-boo), drink (nk).
We've also been signing with Canaan. Although his verbal vocabulary is so big, he relies on the signs to help communicate these important words: help, more, please, eat, milk, more, elephant, all done, and (waves) bye.
Canaan has started putting together random syllables lately. I think this is the beginning of babbling. He hasn't really done this yet. He always has been intentional with his words up until now.
Canaan also can point to certain body parts. He can identify his toes, ears, head, teeth and fingers (by wiggling). This must be attributed to his Gran-Nan buying him a flip book with body parts. He loves to read it, so we go through everything as he does. The first time he heard the word elbow, he said it and can identify which picture is the one of the elbow! Kids are so funny as to what they pick up on.
Canaan also gives high fives and claps when asked. (He's been doing both of these since he was 9 months old.) Canaan thinks clapping is TONS OF FUN! He always smiles and cheers up when we clap. If we are having a hard time getting him to smile for a picture, we start clapping with him and he smiles instantly! He even claps for himself if I tell him he's a 'good boy.'

Favorites

• Even now, Canaan definitely has some preferences. He loves books. Often the first words that pass his lips after we get him out of bed is: a book. He loves reading. This past week he's been sick and has constantly asked for a book. He just likes to cuddle on your lap and read. Right now, Grand-Dad is his favorite book pal. If he is around, then that is who Canaan wants to read him a book.

• Trucks are his favorite toys. He calls anything with wheels a "uck" (despite mommy's efforts to help him identify that some are cars or trains). He does recognize a tractor (ta-tr) with little or now prompting. But trucks are the light of his little life. I have decided they are a wonderful and pure boy toy. So, we are all about trucks these days. This is actually the one thing that will distract him from a book! Balls are also a big hit lately. He loves to carry two around and throw them toward us.

• Baby Einstein. We bought him a movie about a month ago. It is "First Signs." We thought it would help him with his sign vocabulary. Until recently (since he's been sick), he would only sit for 15 minutes of this 27 minute video. His favorite part about it is this little blue puppet. I am in a quandary as to what animal it is supposed to be, but I think it is supposed to be a cat. I have included a picture of it so you can ponder as to it's identity as well.

• He is definitely a home boy. He loves being at home. We can keep him out late, past his bedtime or nap, but when we get home, he has to have some 'unwind time' before bedtime. He just loves playing with his toys and being amongst familiar surroundings. He is pretty good at independent play, though he has started wanting more interactive play with mommy here lately. He also loves helping mom around the house. He goes behind me and shuts all the doors I open, including the fridge door and all cabinet doors I try to open. Often he shuts the doors before I am finished digging in them. Ummm. He also likes to help with the dishwasher. He will pull in and out the racks. We've begun learning not to touch the silverware, because he always reaches for the sharp knives. When he thinks I should be finished with the dishwasher, he closes it all up for me. The other day, he was helping me with the laundry, carrying around two empty detergent bottles. What a big helper I have! :)

• Animals. Canaan gets very excited when he sees our cat. He squeals delightedly as he says hi kitty cat! He also likes dogs, horses and other animals. He clumps all other animals (besides the cat) into the word: ba-b0. Very strange. I haven't figured out yet where that came from.

• Canaan is an excellent sleeper. However, he has become attached to his pacifier and blanket for sleeping. The pacifier is a good thing; when he doesn't have it, he sucks his fingers or thumb. The blanket was an accident. I think we are going to have to get a 'back up' blanket for when we move- just in case mommy accidentally misplaces his favorite one.
  

Culinary Delights
Canaan is still hanging onto his bottle. He loves his milk. Right now I am mixing it half formula with half real milk. He is doing well with that. He loves to drink our drinks- especially from a straw. He like pretty much anything we are drinking. In his own cup, he likes water and some watered down cranberry juice. That is all so far.
Eating is a bit of a challenge right now. He still loves his baby oatmeal (the stuff that tastes like paste and cardboard). He does like cream of wheat and regular oatmeal too. He likes Mommy's homemade rolls (who doesn't?). Yogurt is a big hit now. He will eat up all you'll give him! He is currently not eating baby food anymore, but will try a lot of what we eat. He'll eat many cooked vegetables. Spaghetti is also a favorite. However, he almost refuses to even put fruit to his lips. He's never been real big on the baby food fruit and that has carried over into regular fruit. He used to like bananas, but he'll have none of those anymore. In fact, whenever I put something into his mouth that he doesn't like, he starts gagging. He even started gagging the other day when I brushed a grape across his lips to see if he'd like the flavor. What a silly boy!
I haven't been brave enough to let him feed himself with a spoon yet. I think I will be starting soon though!

I'm sure I could write TONS more about our little boy. But I will stop myself. I hope you enjoyed reading ALL ABOUT CANAAN!

Poked and Prodded

Babies spend their whole fist year being poked and prodded. Once babies are successfully squeezed through the birth canal, they are pulled out and stuck. We've gotta know their blood type, if their blood sugar looks okay (if it doesn't - like Canaan's- they have to poke several more times to monitor it), etc. Once they are released from the hospital, they get shots and more shots, every three months during their well-check appointments. Don't get me wrong, I know it is for their own good, but the poor babies! Well, this past week, not only did Canaan have to get 7 shots during his one year appointment (we had to get a few extra for Russia and the flu shot), but he had to get his blood drawn! (Dougle, Canaan and I all had to go in and get HIV tests as a part of our VISA application process for moving to Russia.) The guy who did our tests for us used a butterfly needle, which is smaller than a regular one for kids. But babies' veins are so small, he missed the first time and Canaan had to be poked a second time in the other foot. Then, because of the small needle and veins, the blood comes out a bit slower; poor Daddy had to hold our crying Canaan through the ordeal! The pictures are from after we came home, with bandages on both his precious feet. Our poor little boy! I did want to make a special note to say how blessed we've been that Canaan has been healthy and not needed additional testing/surgeries for additional pokes and prods because of a health condition. I know there are many babies who live in hospitals and are constantly poked; we are very blessed to not be one of those families at this time. We thank the Lord for our health!

Halloween

Our second Halloween! Now that Canaan's been around for longer than a year, we are starting to have 'repeat' events and holidays. I suppose these 'repeat' events will soon become normal as we celebrate Christmas with Canaan for the 2nd, then 5th, then 15 th time with him (Lord willing). But, for now it is special.
Our first repeat holiday is Halloween. We spent it cuddled up warm in the hospital, with our day old son. It is a wonderful memory. We loved being in the hospital because everyone came to visit us and we got to proudly show off our son. Everyone took care of you, and didn't expect anything from you! What a precious time we had as a new family, spending with our extended family and friends! In preparation for last Halloween, we tried desperately to find our one day old son a costume, to no avail. The newborn costumes they make are huge on a true newborn, and most are sold out a month before Halloween.
This Halloween, we were able to participate in Sunset's annual 'Trunk R Treat." Members dress up and decorate their trunks and pass out candy to the neighborhood kids and church kids. They sell hot dogs, hot chocolate, popcorn and cotton candy all for the small price of 25 cents. I was sad because it got dark fast and we couldn't see everything so easily, but it was a lot of fun. Canaan mainly wanted to walk around and strut his stuff. He knows when he looks cute. So while his parents held his place in line, Gran-Nan and Canaan walked around the parking lot and let others oohh and ahhh over how cute he was. Canaan really enjoying this. He was even so good as to carry around his candy bucket with him. When we arrived at a trunk, Canaan would be ushered over and a friendly face would drop candy (for Mommy and Daddy) in his bucket. He didn't really get the whole line idea and getting candy in your bucket thing. It took until the end of the line before he really caught onto the idea. He was just too busy strutting his stuff to be bothered with staying in line. That is why I really don't have a picture that is not blurry or him! He wouldn't stand still for a picture! So, I included the blurry ones for you to see and enjoy! As much as Canaan enjoys being cute, his parents love showing off his cuteness!
PS. If you couldn't tell, Canaan was a DRAGON for Halloween.