Visit from Mimi and Papa

This past weekend Mimi and Papa came to visit. We had a good time together visiting with Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Joni as well. We went to a pet store while they were here and Keegan LOVED seeing all the animals, it was so funny. As soon as we walked in, he saw some dogs and he stopped dead in his tracks to sign dog....which is supposed to be just hitting the side of your leg but since most of the time when we work on signing we are looking at books and he is sitting, he thinks dog is signed by hitting your shin since that is what he can reach when he sits. So he does this standing up, he leans down to hit his shin to sign dog. 

Eating lunch outside

Today it was so nice outside so we ate lunch outside. Keegan sat at the table like a big boy! He did pretty good until he decided it would be fun to stand on the chair, which was not okay so we moved to a blanket on the grass. Keegan LOVES to be outside!

15 Months Big Chip PIctures

15 Months

Keegan is 15 months old! 

• Weight: not sure, we go to the doctor on March 23, I'll update this then! 
• Clothing Size: either 18 month or 24 month
• Enjoys: playing outside, trucks, books, music 
• Turn-Offs: milk! he will not drink cows milk, almond milk, soy milk, not even breastmilk in  cup! we have tried everything under the sun to get him to drink milk. The only thing that has started to work (3.10.11) is to help him drink it the "real" way. I got him to drink a good bit tonight that way...maybe its a start! As of 3.15 he is doing better with milk, finally. 
• Strengths: Signing! He is really taking off with the sign language. It is making it soo much easier to communicate with him! 
• Vices: Sleeping through the night. Still not great at it. He will go down at 6pm (which is GREAT) and sleep until 4 or 5, I get up and feed him then he'll sleep until 6 or 6:30. I can't complain much, but I'd love for him to go all the way to 6 or 7 on his own without me having to get up and feed him at 4 or 5. He has gotten MUCH better about this, so I really can't complain much, but just another hour or two would be nice. 
• Words: 
• KITTY (3.1.11) when he sees the cat that lives next door or even when we go outside he looks for the "diddy" as he says in a very high pitched voice. 
• DADA
• New Signs:  Keegan is having a "signing explosion". Our sign language teacher told us that at some point they just seem to "get it" and start catching on faster and faster. Keegan is getting it. As of this month he can sign the following words:
• All Done
• Please
• Light
• Phone
• Water
• Truck
• Sleep
• Milk
• Eat
• Bread
• Dog
• Music (not the ASL sign, but his own "home sign" of bobbing his head to "music)

Favorites of Keegan currently:

• Foods: crackers, vanilla wafers, goldfish, blueberries, yogurt, broccoli, peas, hummus (he really is a great eater...not picky at all)
• Songs: anything, he loves music
• Shows: Baby Signing Time
• Books: Signing Book, Truck Book, Hologram Watch Me Go Book
• Toys: Piano, Kitchen, Balls, Books
• Activities: Marbles, playing with James, Swimming, being outside 

Things I don't want to forget:

• We were at Walmart one day and they had some mini donut holes as free samples in the bakery. Since Keegan had been so good while we were shopping I thought I'd give him one. He thoroughly enjoyed his donut. When he finished we were in front of the deli counter, which looked very similar to the bakery counter. With white powder sugar all over his face, he started reaching towards the counter signing "please, please" as desperately as he could. He wanted another donut.
• If I leave the pantry door open, Keegan will go into the pantry and pull out the big box of goldfish. He will attempt to carry it and bring it to me (its really big) then look up at me smacking his lips signing "please". He knows he'll get some goldfish if he does this. Its too cute! 
• One afternoon we were sitting in the den when Keegan brought me the big box of bisquik and signed "eat please". I responded by telling him that we needed eggs to make pancakes and that we didn't have any and we'd have to go to the store if we wanted to make pancakes. He proceeded to go straight to the closet to get his jacket and waved bye bye. So then I said we need to go put your shoes on, so he went to the gate to go upstairs to get his shoes. Once we were back downstairs he brought me my coat and waved bye bye again. 

Keegan and his iPod

In Keegan's room we have an old iPod connected to some speakers that we use to play his bedtime music. Well Keegan being the genius that he is, has figured out how to work his iPod. One morning while I was getting ready for the day, Keegan was roaming around upstairs as he usually does. Usually he stays in the room with me and plays with the books and toys I bring in for him. This particular day he disappeared into his room and before I could go in there to check on him, I hear music coming from his room! So I go in there to find him sitting on the chair in his room, bobbing up and down, dancing to the music he has turned on with his iPod. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. He proceeded to change the music until he found something he really like, then he danced more. It was hilarious. 

Signing Explosion!

I had heard about this signing explosion that happens at some point when you teach your baby sign language from early on. We started signing with Keegan around 4 months old. It took a while for him to ever respond. He started recognizing the sign for milk first by getting excited when I asked him if he wanted milk (and signed milk). Around 9 months he started signing "all done". That was it for a while. Over the past month (the past week or two especially) he has just taken off. This concept of teaching babies sign language seemed a little crazy to me at first but it is incredible to see him sign and to know that we can communicate somewhat. He has learned some from me and what I have learned at a baby sign language class we took, he learned some from his baby sign language DVD called Baby Signing Time (yes & please) and some from a baby sign language book I bought at a yard sale! Yes, he taught himself light, sleep and phone from his book. 

Now at almost 15 months old, he can sign the following words. Some more consistently than others, but he has signed all of these at some point!

1. All Done
2. Please
3. Yes
4. Light
5. Dog
6. Phone
7. Sleep
8. Truck
9. More
10. Bread
11. Eat
12. Water
13. Cheese (i think)
14. Music (but not the right ASL sign, he has his own sign...he nods his head to the beat of music if he wants music....its what you call a "home sign".)
15. Hot (not the ASL sign, he blows if something is hot)

Here are some I got on video:

Checking the mail

One of the things Keegan and I do each day is to walk down the street to the mail box to check the mail. Lately Keegan has taken to carrying the mailbox key and walking to the mailbox himself. He likes to "check the mail" himself too. He is getting very independent! 

Tear Duct Surgery

On February 25, Keegan had surgery to un-clog his tear duct in his left eye. He has had a clogged tear duct ever since he was born. We have had to clean his eye pretty regularly his whole life. Sometimes when he would wake up from a nap it would be crusted shut due to the gunk in his eye. Very often it was just goopy and runny. We met with a pediatric eye doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Board this summer after a recommendation from our pediatrician. Dr. Board told us then he would definitely have to have the surgery and we scheduled it for January. When January rolled around it looked like his eye was clearing up. So I called the doctor and we postponed the surgery and I was supposed to watch his eye carefully to see if really was in fact cleared up. Well of course, on the day that he was supposed to have the surgery originally, he woke up with his eye crusted shut. So we kept an eye on it and after one more visit with Dr. Board decided we needed we did indeed need to go ahead with the surgery. So on Friday, February 25 we got up 4am and took Keegan to REX hospital (the same hospital where he was born). Since he was going to go under anesthesia  we couldn't give him anything to eat or drink after midnight the night in preparation. So I got up at 11:45 and fed him one last time. I think this helped because he did fine not eating until after the surgery. Keegan slept all the way until the time we needed to put him in the car. We got everything in the car first and then took Keegan straight from the bed to the car, no diaper change, clothes change, nothing in hopes he'd go back to sleep. Yea, right. We got to the hospital around 5am, changed his clothes and diaper in the car and then went inside. After we got him checked in we had to wait for about 10 minutes, then we finalized his registration and were sent to another waiting room. We waited there for about 15 minutes. Keegan did great in the waiting rooms. We had brought some books for him so he was fine walking around looking at his books. Finally they called us back and we went to a prep room where we had to change him into a hospital gown and they gave him some medicine to help calm him down (they called it "baby valium"). The medicine actually did the opposite at first it seemed and got him a bit hyper (the nurse said that happens to some). We tried to keep him calm by letting him play with our phones, reading to him and laying him on the bed. Then he calmed way down and we were able to lay him on the bed and let him get ready. Once he was calm and in a daze they wheeled him back to the OR. It was very strange and rather difficult to see him laying in this big (even though it was kid sized) hospital bed and being wheeled away by nurses. Once he was gone, we went back out to the waiting room. We were there no more than 10-15 minutes when the doctor came out to tell us it was done and Keegan did great. We had to wait for about 10 more minutes while he was waking up then they let us come back to him. I wish they had let us come back before he woke up so we'd be there when he woke up because he was terrified when he woke up. I could hear him screaming all the way down the hall. When we finally got to him and they confirmed we were his parents by checking our id bracelets they let me pick him up and nurse him to try to calm him down, plus he was pretty hungry by this point! It took a while for him to calm down, he would nurse for a minute then let go and scream, then nurse, then scream. Poor thing, it took about 15 minutes for him to really calm down. After that he was fine. Once we were discharged, Justin went and got the car and a nursed wheeled me and Keegan out in a wheel chair (not really sure why they did this but it was hospital policy). Once we got in the car, I gave Keegan some juice and crackers. He was still pretty thirsty and hungry. He did ok on the way home, though I was glad I was in the backseat with him because if he'd been alone, I think he would have had a harder time on the way home. We got home around 8:45. I let him sit on the couch and watch one of his sign language videos then around 9:15 he went down very smoothly for his morning nap. The rest of the day went on as normal. He stuck to his regular nap routine and everything, it was like nothing ever happened. Now, a week later, his tear duct is still very clear and clean. No goop, no crust, no gunk. Yay!

Playing with Daddy's phone

Waiting with Lamby

Reading Brown Bear with Daddy

Reading Brown Bear himself
(even though its upside down!)

About to be wheeled off by the nurses,
Keegan is in a major daze here, no idea whats going on

Car ride home

At home, watching his movie

Relaxing on the couch

Keegan loves the Guitar

Keegan loves music. He loves any kind of instrument and he wants to play them himself. Here are some pictures of him playing guitar with his Granddad and his Daddy.