Four year old Firsts

Putting all these "firsts" in here for Thaddeus makes me think about the fact that Callia still does things for the first time all the time, too. Yesterday afternoon we were coming into the house and she asked if she could unlock the door. I couldn't think of a good reason not to teach her how to, so I did, and she unlocked it and opened it herself and put the keys up on the hook inside the door. Its really a gift to be able to go through everything for the first time again with my kids. I mean, how much do I take for granted being able to unlock my front door? But for her it was something new and challenging.

First Words

Thaddeus is saying "mama" and "dada" now! He has been babbling mama for about a week and twice earlier this week he said it while he was upset and wanting me to pick him up and I thought "Did he just say mama?" but this morning I was sure of it. He was happily laying on his back on the bed while I was getting dressed and he looked at me smiling but not making any noise, and out of nowhere he said "mama". Two syllables very clear and purposeful! I was so proud. Nathan heard it, too. We have also heard him babbling "dada", also and he was saying it this morning while he was looking at Nathan and smacking him in the face in bed. Its wasn't as clear, just dadadabuhdadabuhda, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was meaning to say. I told Callia about it and it seemed like she could barely believe it. She was like "Thaddeus said Mama?" and I said yeah and she was gasping like it was wonderful. Cute.

Pictures

I had Thad and Callia's pictures taken this afternoon at The Picture People in Spotsylvania mall. I spent $135 even though I wasn't overly impressed, but a few of the pictures turned out good. The quality of the prints is a little lower than I would like, and the atmosphere in the studio was frustratingly distracting for the kids. There was a little girl that repeatedly threw a fit in view of Callia and Thaddeus and some kids in the next room over, and none of the employees did anything about it. I felt they should have asked her mother to take her out. She did take her out after things got completely out of hand, kicking and screaming the whole way, and we could still hear her screaming from way out in the mall for a while. Of course that gave Callia a long face. I was sad that none of the shots of the two of them together turned out but there were some good individual ones. I don't feel like it is overall the best value but I'm still glad I have the pictures. They will be very treasured.

Cough

I took Thad to the doctor yesterday afternoon because he has had a cough the past few days and it kept waking him up at night. He hadn't been able to sleep during the day, either, and he was exhausted. I called the nurse and she said he should be seen to make sure he doesn't have an ear infection. So he was seen by the nurse practitioner, Sue, but it turns out he just has a cough. She said to have him sleep upright by putting his car seat or something in his bed and strapping him into that, and to run a cool mist humidifier in his room. So last night when I put him to bed I put his bouncy seat in the crib and layed him in that once he fell asleep on me in the rocking chair. He made a little happy sigh in his sleep as I layed him down in it and he snuggled in. It sure did the trick. I was sure he'd be awake in 30 minutes, but he didn't wake up until morning!