Flanagan Clan

Patrick saw the doctor yesterday for the first time in 6 months. I was a little worried that he might be small for his age, or maybe not learning as many new words as he should. According to his doctor though, he’s doing great! Patrick now weighs 25 lb, 6 oz, and he is 32 1/2 inches tall. He falls right at the 50th percentile for height and just under the 50th percentile for weight. They said that he should be able to follow simple commands, which he can do. He can also recognize body parts and say 5-10 words, which puts him right on track with other 18 month olds. The doctor did a physical examination and found that he looks perfectly healthy. They took a small sample of blood to check for anemia and probably a few other things, and it all came back normal. The entire time Patrick was very cheerful and interested in what was going on. However, they had to give him three shots, and he wasn’t a very happy baby after that. He was pretty fussy for an hour after we got home. Then, for some strange reason, he became really hyper last night and was running around our apartment at break neck speed, getting into anything he could get his little mitts on! However, he let us put him down at his normal bedtime and went to sleep after making cute singsong noises to himself for a little while. That completes Patrick’s trip to the doctor for another 6 months!

One of the cute things about Patrick is that he LOVES people. Whenever he sees someone passing by who makes eye contact with him, he will smile and then bow his head, pretending to be shy. He always makes cute little googly eyes at cashiers when we go to the store, and he absolutely loves being in the nursery at church. We get lots of compliments every week when we pick him up from the nursery!!! Everyone tells us that he’s so happy, that he never causes any trouble, and that he’s one of the sweetest kids they’ve ever seen. Even our real estate agent told us that Patrick was a little angel. Although Andrew and I do get to see his “ugly” side at home, we have to agree that he’s one of the best babies we’ve ever been in contact with. We never have a problem putting him to bed, he’s very cheerful most of the time, and the only time we really have problems with him are when he’s hungry or tired. Considering all kids are cranky when that happens, we feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful little son!

Patrick had a very fun 2nd Easter at Oma and Opa’s house. He got a big basket full of candy and little BunBun, his new plush bunny. He ate lots of hard boiled eggs, ham, dilly beans, scalloped potatoes, strawberry jello pretzel salad, jello Easter eggs, rolls, and strawberry shortcake! We tried to do an egg hunt with him, but he ended up spilling candy all over the ground. Maybe next year, Little Bunny!

This past week Patrick has been getting in two new teeth on the bottom. Yesterday one broke the surface and the other one looks like it’s about to come in any day now. This teething process has caused him to wake up every morning at about 4 or 5 AM, sometimes screaming in pain. Several times I’ve tried to give him tylonal or teething gel and he will scream and squirm to avoid anyone touching his mouth. This has been the worst teething he’s had so far, and it’s been very annoying to be woken up so early each morning. I am desperately hoping that this new trend will soon die!

Patrick would like to say Happy Birthday to his cousin, Naomi, who just turned 6 today! Someone is getting big!!!!

Patrick has decided to begin destroying our house. One morning before I came in to get him ready for the day, Patrick pulled the boom box closer to the crib and found a way to open the cassette player. He began destroying the cassette tape (I guess he doesn’t like Classical music!). When I arrived at the scene he was crying because he had gotten caught in the tape and couldn’t break free.  Last week he bent Mama’s glasses and threw them into the tub while Mama was taking a shower. We are curious (and scared!) to see what he decides to break next!