Peek-a-Boo!

Where's Trey???

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There he is!!

Kissing Cousin

Baby Graney is still about two months away from being born, but Trey already loves his cousin. Whenever we ask him what's in Aunt Dabney's belly, he smiles big and says "baby!" We aren't really sure he understands what this means, but when you ask him what's in Daddy's belly, or Mommy's belly, or Trey's belly, he shakes his head and mumbles as if to say "I don't have a baby in my belly."

Aunt Dabney and Uncle P were both in town this past week, and we were fortunate to be able to spend some time with them. Trey was sweet to his unborn cousin, kissing the little baby in Aunt Dabney's belly. We are excited they are moving here soon and the cousins will be closer to each other!



Trey had a busy, but fun, weekend. In addition to hanging out with Baby Graney and parents, Trey attended his regular music class, played with Mama C and Aunt Kacie while Mommy and Daddy went out, went to a birthday party for a friend of his, and had dinner with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Joe. Phew!

Weekend in Austin

We are a week late in reporting on our fun trip to Austin last weekend! Mommy, Daddy, Trey, Mama C and Aunt Kacie all took a weekend trip to Austin to visit Uncle Ryan and go to the UT football game. We had a great time!

We arrived in Austin late Friday night, and while waiting at Trudy's Mexican restaurant, Trey had a fun time running all around the outside of the restaurant. It was already past his bedtime by the time we got there, but Trey was a good sport. He is a night owl, just like his parents!

The next day, we were up relatively early to head to the UT football game! We dressed in burnt orange (or the closest thing we each had to it) and headed to the stadium, stopping to visit with other fans along the way. We even bought Trey his own UT baseball cap so that he would fit in just right (and have a little extra protection from the sun).

As we left the stadium, Trey said "bye bye football!" And after a marathon nap, we joined Uncle Ryan for a belated birthday dinner, and then brunch the next morning. (We even got to meet Uncle Ryan's new girlfriend!)

We were so occupied with family events that, unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy didn't have a chance to see any of their friends in town. But we wanted to visit Uncle Ryan for a football game one last time before he leaves Austin. Trey did great in the car, and overall we had a really nice family weekend!

School Picture

Trey took his school picture last week. Picture day for a one-year-old is far from predictable, so we just did the best we could to make sure Trey was dressed cute and his hair was reasonably in place.

We think the picture turned out reasonably well.

Not perfect, but certainly an improvement from last year.

Diagnosis

Mommy took Trey to the doctor last week for a long-overdue appointment to see about his cough. For months now, Trey has had a reoccurring cough that bothers him at night and at nap time. He also coughs a lot while running around (although he doesn't let it stop him!). In this way, it's a lot like the cough that Mommy had struggled with her entire life. As a child, Mommy suffered with a lot of respiratory infections, and every time she was sick, it ended up in her chest. As an adult, she has suffered with a chronic cough. But it was only a few years ago that Mommy was officially diagnosed with a mild form of asthsma. We were worried that Trey had the same.

After explaining all of Trey's symptoms to the doctor, he said that although a 20-month-old was a little too young to diagnose with asthsma, that's sure what it sounded like. In fact, the doctor wrote the diagnosis of "asthsma" on a couple official forms that day. The doctor gave Trey two different inhalers to use: one short term (to get rid of the cough now) and one long-term (to help with his condition overall). We are hopeful that the inhalers will help Trey get rid of his awful cough.

We hadn't seen Trey's regular doctor since his 15-month check-up because the doctor told us there was no need for an 18-month check-up, and he hasn't been available for the couple of times Trey has been sick since then. We love his regular doctor, so it was nice to see him for a short visit and have a mini-well check-up. Asthsma aside, the doctor was very pleased with Trey's progress and everything he has learned so far. We'll see him next for Trey's 2-year check-up, unless Trey has another sick visit in the meantime (fingers crossed!!).

Handyman

Over the weekend, Daddy put together a step stool for Trey. We'd had this stool in the box since Trey was born, but have only recently really had the need to use it. But now it is so handy to have in the bathroom for hand washing and teeth brushing. It is a little taller than your standard step stool, which makes it just right for Trey. Plus, it matches his room!

But never mind the step stool's wonderful qualities. The point of this post is that as Daddy was putting together the stool, Trey felt the need to help. At first, he grabbed his toy hammer and screwdriver and gave them to Daddy to use. When he realized Daddy was sticking to his own tools, Trey "helped" Daddy screw in the various pieces of the stool. It was so sweet, and Trey really thought he was helping, and really wanted to help. What a nice moment between father and son.

First Phrase? and Singing

We have been waiting patiently for the day when Trey's cute voice would bless us with a phrase or two. Of course, he has been saying "I don't know" for quite some time now, but for some reason we don't count this, probably because he said it so early that we figure he couldn't have possibly meant it as a phrase.

But this weekend, Aunt Kacie was over, and Trey somehow got his hands on one of our clear plastic 2-cup measuring cups. And he put the bottom of the cup over his eye, looked through it at Aunt Kacie, and said "I see you!" And he did this a few times, enough that we're sure he really meant what he said and it wasn't just a coincidence.

Perhaps this marks a turning point for Trey's verbal skills, because later that day, Trey starting singing. And I mean *really* singing. He has always been a singer, but on Sunday night, Trey starting singing "Twinkle Twinkle," and it had actual words and a tune to it. Then, in the car today, I swear Trey was singing "Ba Ba Black Sheep." I'm not positive, because I'm not quite sure how he would know that song well enough to sing it, but he was definitely singing, and there were definitely words set to the tune that was (I promise you) on pitch!

We just can't wait for Mama C to hear our little vocalist, as we know that she in particular would be proud. Stay tuned for more words and phrases from Trey!

Editor's note: Although most of you will not be surprised to hear this, I'm embarrassed to say there was a time when I was *almost* worried about Trey's verbal skills. He just didn't start talking, or even verbalizing things like animal noises, as early as some of the other children in his class (who all have very smart parents and are probably ahead of the curve on any standard). For a while, I blamed it on his ears and all of those darn ear infections. But then he got tubes, and well, he didn't start talking right away. For those close to me, this is nothing new -- I worried about him crawling, and walking, and basically everything else in between. I have to admit it: I'm a worrier. I try and try not to overcome it, and my sweet husband has certainly helped me to chill out a bit, but it's just in my blood. So I will try to remind myself of this the next time I worry about Trey not advancing as quickly as I somehow think he could or should. This is yet another reason I feel I am a better mother for being a working mother. If I were home all the time, I would worry and obsess about every little aspect of Trey's development, and that's just not healthy for anyone.