Weight: He is about 30 lbs
Height: and almost 38 inches tall
(Instead of saying "Reach for the stars!" I am actually saying "Reach for the growth chart, and hang on!") We are not exactly "killing it" in the height or weight department, but he is making progress. After being 1 lb 12 ounces at birth, and then going through chemo a year later, I can't expect him to be a giant. He is my skinny-mini!
Clothes Size: 3T-4T (He is in the in-between stage where most 3T clothes are looking a little snug and short (okay fine, they are not snug by any means, but they are getting short), and the 4T clothes are looking a little big and long). His pants, however, would immediately fall down if I didn't buy the pants with resizable waistbands! I would like to personally thank whoever came up with that idea. Those secret buttons are priceless!
Drinking: Still whole milk, but now sometimes he likes to have strawberry milk or chocolate milk, sometimes that is..... he also likes orange juice and gatorade (he has been sick a lot this winter, and so we purchased a lot of gatorade)
Foods: His personal favorites: cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery, green peppers, apples, clementines, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, spinach, green beans, corn, etc. This kid loves his fruits and vegetables so much that we have to deliberately give him protein and fats because otherwise, he would always ask for these...As for snacks, popcorn, popcorn, and more popcorn.... this is definitely his favorite snack, which is funny to me, because I hate popcorn. Oh, and watermelon. He could eat 4-5 slices of watermelon in one sitting, and still ask for more. For dinner, he eats what we eat. He says that he doesn't like cheese, and if I ever make him a sandwich and try to sneak a slice of cheese on there, he will quickly find it and tear it off. Who doesn't like cheese??
Class Clown: There isn't a day that goes by that without Eddie saying, "Is that funny Mom?" He wants to be funny. all. the. time. This boy really loves an audience. At his most recent conference at school, I was panicking and I asked the teacher a range of questions: Is he a good boy? Does he follow directions? Does he fight with kids? Does he kick or hit anyone? She kind of laughed at me and said that he is an easy-going kid, and that his only little struggle is during group time, as he struggles to pay attention, because he is usually too busy trying to crack up the person next to him. She said, "Eddie is very........ social!" Haha! She said, "I don't know if it is your personality, or maybe dad's, but he really is all about making people laugh." Hmmm. I would say it is a little bit of the both of us! If you would ask Michael, he would say that he was an angel in school. I, however, had quite a bit of fun back in my school days and I managed to get into a little bit of trouble, and so, as my own mom has already said to me, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
Imagination: Edward has quite the imagination. He loves to pretend to be a repair man. What do I mean by that? Well, he likes to put his tool belt around his waist and he likes to carry his tool box around the house and constantly ask me, "Do you need me to fix something, Mom?" And he will not accept 'no' for an answer. Sometimes, I say that we have leaky pipes under the sink. He empties out the bottom cabinets of all of the cleaning supplies, lays on his back with his headlamp shining in the dark, and "fixes" the problem with his pretend wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, and nails. If he is not playing the repair man, he is busy pretending to be a police officer or a firefighter. He loves to play with his walkie-talkies with Mike. They go back and forth saying things like, "Help! There is a fire!" or "Whats your ETA? I need back up!" And lastly, he loves to pretend to be a restaurant waiter. He runs around with paper and a pen asking us what we would like to eat. When my mom and dad took Eddie out to dinner last month here in Cleveland, my mom told the waitress that he loves to play restaurant at home and she asked if she could tear off a few pieces of paper from her restaurant pad for Eddie. She did something even better. She went and retrieved a brand new waiter/waitress notepad and told Eddie he could have it! Well, we haven't stopped ordering food and drinks from our handsome waiter. And playing restaurants has been so cute, until lately.... when he started asking us for money! He said, "Dad you have to pay for your food!" He is too funny.
Accomplishments: Eddie is really loving his swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School and he is really making progress. He currently takes lessons once a week, and he is always so excited to go. He also loves his Little Gym class where he can jump, roll, and flip around. He had his birthday party at Little Gym last Sunday and he had a blast. We had a firefighter theme and invited his nursery school class and some close friends and family. And last week was his "Special Day" at nursery school. Both Mike and I were able to go and spend the day with him and make a fun snack for all of his classmates. I asked Eddie what we should make for snack and he said, "Ummmmmm, pizza bagels I think!" He told me they were delicious and yummy and I told him he never even had a pizza bagel. I also reminded him that he doesn't like cheese, and he often says he doesn't even like pizza. He absolutely insisted that we make pizza bagels, and so we ran to the store to buy mini bagels, sauce, mozzarella cheese, green peppers and pepperoni. The kids in his class were delighted with our snack choice. They devoured their pizza bagels. Well, all of the kids ate their snack except Eddie, who took one bite, and said he didn't like it. Weird. Ah, I can't believe our tiny little micro-preemie is already four!
Upcoming appointments: Edward has his 4 year well visit on Wednesday the 28th. I am pretty much dreading that appointment. He has really taken a turn on doctors in general. I think he is officially angry and tired of having so many doctors appointments. It hasn't helped that he came down with a bug/illness every few weeks this winter. The last doctor's appointment was only an ear check, and he absolutely flipped out and was screaming, crying, throwing himself on the floor, telling the doctor to get away from him.... Needless to say this 4 year well check-up is not going to be a walk in the park considering he needs some shots :( Then he has an eye check up the next day with Dr. Marcotty. Eye drops, dilation, tests, the whole nine yards. It will be a rough two days next week, that's for sure, but as long as we receive good news, we will be okay.
Pictures
Some of my favorite pictures with Lindsay his NICU nurse and one of my best friends.
Eddie rocking his big boy haircut!
Eddie and Michael, best buddies!
My grocery store partner....
My flowers! Eddie's class made vases for their parents before Thanksgiving and the teachers filled them with beautiful hydrangeas. But Edward was sick and missed the last 2 days before Thanksgiving break, so I got my flowers the Monday AFTER Thanksgiving. Can you tell? Haha! It was so sweet he was still so excited to give me the flowers- totally oblivious that they were dead.
We went to Disney's Frozen on Ice. Hey Sven!
Eddie playing with his $22 light up sword. worth it.
Meeting Anna and Elsa. Someone was totally star struck!
"Shaving" like Daddy with the shaving kit Santa brought him!
Eddie's school picture... I mean, I can't even believe he smiled so nice. I might order a million of these!
Fire truck cupcakes for his birthday party! Pinterest WIN!
Hanging out with his buddy Bryan.
Total goofballs! Firefighter party success!
4 years later, and he is still jumping the gun!!!!!! Little stinker blew out his candle before we finished singing, and of course, he thought that was so funny! After the party I asked him if he had fun. He said, "I did Mom. I had so much fun. I was waiting for that party. I was waiting for that party for my whole life!"
XoXo,
Katie
