Stan Ban, the Granley Fan

well, I'm not writing because I have anything particular to say, but because I haven't posted on here for a long time. Stan is as cute as ever. He's really into peekaboo right now, but the funny thing is that often when he covers his face he'll keep his hands there for a really really long time, like two or three minutes, so the whole time we're saying the "where's Stanley? where's Stanley? Wheeeeeeere's Stanley? Where is he?" then he finally comes out and we're all surprised--"THERE he is!!!!!!!" He loves to ride on Scott's shoulders. He says "bubble" (and he always blows right after he says it, which is awesome!) and "ball." He loves to throw his little football and anything else he has in his hands, and he loves to be chased around the house, especially with the little vacuum/popcorn popper thing. He love "climbing up on top!" of anything he can, and banging on things with other things. If I'm ever laying on the floor, he'll bring things from all over the room and throw them down on my face ("Thank you, buddy, but it hurts mommy when you throw thing on her face, ok? ow! Stan! Stop it!"). He also is getting really great at eating with a spoon. When we can't find him, he's usually in his bottom dresser drawer, sitting in the pants. He loves to go in closets. Last time I took him to the doctor ( a few weeks ago), he was 3% in weight and 5% in height, still with a 75% head circumference. Those stats should be able to substitute for a paternity test in any court of law :) Anyway, that's the latest news about Stan.

some things about stan

1. He loves to be outside. If he's going nuts and won't stop crying and doesnt' want me to put him down, but also doesn't want me to hold him, as soon as I take him outside, he's fine. I take him over to the park and let him run around while I read a cookbook, and he has a great time and I have a great time. He never runs out of things to do at the park.
2. This week he discovered the joy of climbing into the laundry basket and getting pushed around in it. It works well with our wood floor in the living room that goes right into the kitchen. I usually push Teacups style, with a lot of spinning around as we move in a circuit.
3. Stan will find something and carry it around all day. It's not uncommon to find the thing he was holding in the afternoon in his little fist when we're changing him for bed.
4. when i shampoo him in the bath, he puts his hands behind his head and rubs like he's shampooing. He also always rubs brushes and combs on his head and put socks and shoes against his feet.
5. He has finally learned how to turn around and go down stairs backwards. phew!
6. Stanley still loves diving into soft things. Today I put our pillows and our down comforter in a big fluffy pile on the floor, and he must have plunged into it 20 times.
7. The worst times of the day for stan are right before the morning nap, and right after he wakes up from it. He does just fine at night, even if we have to keep him up way past his bedtime.
8. Stan used to bring me books 15 times a day and sit in my lap and listen to them (these were 5 page board books with one 3-word sentence on each page, so don't be too impressed), but now he brings them to me, stands beside me while I read 1 or 2 pages, then grabs the book back and runs off. He still does that cute way of reading them himself, though, where he sits on the floor and turns the pages and just babbles away.
9. He just loved the 4th of July fireworks. He watched the whole show and a few times he said, "ooooh!" and clapped his little hands.
10. Stan loves Scott so much. he gets so excited when he hears him after work. As soon as he knows Scott is home, he puts his hands in the air, starts panting excitedly, and running to find him. He is always rewarded with some rowdy playtime.

No No!

These are seasoned bread crumbs. This is a sample of the mischevious things stan did today.

Music Time

Stanley saw me listening to music, and was inspired by what he saw.

He wants to know how it's done.

He watched carefully, it turns out.

He's even changing the music to suit his mood.

The illusion breaks down as he returns to normal form.  

blocks on top, blocks on top...

after weeks of knocking my towers over, stan has finally started building little two story towers of his own. watch out, donald trump!

When life hands you lemons

Stan fished the lemon out of Scott's water



it's surprisingly tasty. He would have eaten the whole thing, but we took it after a few minutes.

walk like a man

Stan really started walking today! Before he would walk to Scott or me if we were there with our arms out saying "come here, buddy! come here! come to mommy!" And up until yesterday he would mostly hold onto furnature still and walk if he wanted to get some specific place that he woudl have to let go of the furnature to do. But today he has just been walking all around just for fun--wandering around with no particular place to go.

Baby Stan 

How Stan Was Born

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning because I was having contractions and they hurt. I went out into the kitchen to have a snack and while I was in there I started timing the contractions by the clock on the oven. They were 5 minutes apart, almost exactly. I sat there for probably an hour and a half, just watching the clock and thinking, oh my gosh, I bet I'm going to have the baby today! I finally went back to bed, but of course I couldn't sleep, so I just laid there and waited for Scott to wake up. As soon as he opened his eyes, I said, "Scott, I think I'm going to have the baby today!" He woke right up and said, "Are you serious?!?" By that time my contractions were back to eight or nine minutes apart and irregular, so we went to church. This was Sunday, May 9. Stan was due May 16th. During sunday school and sacrament meeting I borrowed Scott's watch and was writing down the times of the contractions on the back of a receipt I had in my day planner. After church we took a nap until it was time to get ready to go to the mother's day party at the Wessman's. I was having second thoughts about going, so we decided to go by the hospital and see whether it would be ok to go up to salt lake. When i got there they hooked me up to this machine that measured my contractions and checked to see how far I was dialated. I wasn't far enough to be admitted to the hospital, but they said to stay and walk around for half and hour and come back, so after half an hour they checked me again. I had gone from a three to a five and a half, so they admitted me and took me to my room. While we were settling in and waiting for my epidural Scott and I watched the finale of Survivor, where Rob proposed to Amber. Stan wasnt' moving much, so they gave me an oxygen mask--they didnt' know that he hardly ever moved normally, I guess. After I got the epidural (one of the best things that's ever happened to me :) I just dozed in the bed until a nurse came in about five minutes before midnight and told me I was ready and I could start pushing. Dr. Baxter came in and 20 short minutes later Stanley was born. He was tiny and limp and purple. And now he can walk and play and babble and laugh and clap his hands. His feet stick out past the end of his car seat. He has six teeth. He thinks it's funny when we do silly things. He insists on feeding himself. He dances when we play music or sing a song. It's pretty amazing. Happy birthday, Stan!

"say, why don' tI have a birthday more often?"

a cake in the hand is worth two on a plate!

this was at the family birthday party on May 1 

Stanley and the Dream of Horses

this morning stan was in our bed (that has a way of happening when he wakes up before 7...) while Scott and I were getting ready for the day. I was watching Stanley sleep and he started smiling a great big smile. He went back to his normal straight face for a second, then he smiled again. He's such a great boy.

fun and funner

Things Stanley thinks are fun:
going outside
climbing into the garden
pulling the petals off tulips
hiding behing curtains
playing peek-a-boo
seeing mom put tupperware on her head
shaking spice bottles
flushing the toilet
looking out wondows
rolling a ball
taking a drive
flopping onto a cushion
playing with dad
emptying mom's makeup drawer
looking in the dishwasher
taking a ride in the stroller
eating dirt
taking a bath

We had a picnick tonight. Here is Stan enjoying two fistfuls of bread.

Scott and Stan

Julie and Stan. 

Stan loves feeding himself



whenever Stan comes across something soft, like a pillow or a couch cushion, he squeals and rubs his face on it. Sometimes throwing a pillow onto the floor by him is enough to keep him from pulling the books off the shelf. 

stats

we took stan to the doctor yesterday, and here's how big (read "small") he is:

weight: 18 pounds, 7 ounces (the good news about this for me and scott is that our home scale is about a pound high)

height: 27 7/8 inches

this puts his weight in the 5% and his height in the 10%. his head circumference, though, is in the 70%.

spring is in the air.

Up until recently, stan has been afraid of the grass. it's easy for me to take him outside on a warm day like yesterday or today and put him on a blanket with a few toys while I pull some weeds. He won't crawl off the blanket. Yesterday I was weeding and I looked over toward stan and found that he had crawled across maybe 5 feet of lawn to the railroad ties that frame the garden in the back. Good job, stan! I went back to what I was doing and soon I heard stan shrieking in delight over and over again. What could he be up to? I looked up again and saw that he was back on the blanket, laying on his face, wiggling his arms and legs and rubbing his face on the blanket, just screaming and laughing like it was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Stan's favorite food is beans. These are some we pulled out of our minestrone, but he loves all kinds, especially refried beans mixed with baby rice...yum! 

a little mischief 

putting stan's pajamas on is not as easy as it used to be...

he starts out in his daytime clothes

once his diaper is off he escapes

I put the pajamas over his head

now for the leg snaps

so far so good

just...a...few...more...to...go...

aaah. mission accomplished.

gettin' the hang of it

Stan is doing much much better at all of his skills (except his bow staff skills...). When he crawls, he uses both knees instead of using one and dragging the other leg behind. And when he stands and inches around on the furnature, he always holds on with one hand, and when he falls, he at least tries to fall on his knees or his nice soft diaper. He's doing better at sleeping, too. Last night we put him to bed at 8 after feeding him bananas, cheerios (actually, toasted oats), and about 3 oz. of a bottle. He slept until 7:30. It was great. He's also getting better at being handsome and loveable!