Peter Andrew Bailey-Wells

Last Updated: Fri Apr 21 17:12:31 2000

Demographics and Statistics

Peter was born on 16 February 1995 at 8:58pm at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA, USA. He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and was 21 1/2" long. At 5 weeks he had broken the 10lb barrier and by 7 weeks he was 11 3/4 lbs. At 4 months he was just shy of 16lbs. At 6 months he was a bit over 17lbs. At 8 months he was almost 20lbs and moved up from infant to toddler car seat. At 11 months (1/96) he was somewhere around 21lbs and definitely gaining height. At his 1-year checkup he was 21lbs 8oz and 30" tall. At almost 21 months he was around 28lbs. He was actually 25 months at his 2-year checkup, where he was pronouced 31lbs and 34 5/8" tall. At 29 months scales said he didn't weigh much more (though it sure felt like it when one carried him), but he had grown at least 2 more inches. And by 3 years, 1 month he was just a smidge taller and heavier. At 4 1/2 years he was at least 3 1/2 feet tall and weighed about 35lbs. And yet he still insisted on being carried on occasion! But now that he's 5, he's quite independent.

Do the Locomotion

He not only walks, he runs. And crawls. And climbs. And does the most incredible full-body animal impersonations (esp. big cats and raptors). He runs up big slides, he jumps off platforms. Typical 5-year-old stuff. He's still not a major daredevil. (For major daredevil, please see Julia.)

Here's what I wrote about his water interests when he was still 3 years old:

When we take him swimming and you can see the gleam in his eye and tension in his body when he watches the big kids jump in. Fortunately, he stops short so far. He's still a bit water-shy, but hopefully that barrier will fall this summer [1998].

Well, during the summer of 1999, it finally fell! Peter took swimming lessons at Concord Recreation. One day we watched him and we was jumping into the pool---even the deep end---while holding his teacher's hand. Over and over and over. Then on 1999.08.14 he demonstrated what he'd learned and how much he'd gotten over his water fears by swimming underwater, between my legs. Yay, Peter!

Munch-a-buncha

Peter used to be a completely happy eater. Back then it was 3 squares a day. Back in the old, old days he was a committed vegetarian. The vaguest smell of meat would elicit "No." Didn't matter what form it takes: somehow he knew. However, at the first BBQ session of 1997 he was offerred, accepted and devoured a chicken frank. As someone suggested "it was probably mostly cereal anyway." Then we went to Germany that fall and he was Mr. Sausage. On return he was mostly back to his old habits, accepting the odd hot dogs and nibbling the edges of a hamburger (not that we encouraged this often, anyway). But by age 4 he had turned into the typical American kid eater: don't mix my food and pass the Ketchup. At age 5 things are still much the same.

But he still likes most of his old favorite foods: yogurt, berries, cheese, esp. when grilled to a starch, pasta in any form, with our without tomato sauce, and he's, of course, Ice Cream. He'll down an entire strawberry "frappe" (that's a "milk shake" to anyone outside of New England). And he's not picky about spices. He likes salsa, he asks for salt and pepper on his plate. He even likes spicy mango chutney.

As of his 1st birthday, his 6 (4 top, 2 bottom) little teeth helped him in his efforts. On 1996.03.4 he seemed to have suddenly sprouted another two: one molar up, one down, on opposite sides. At 161/2 months he's got all of his uppers, his canine teeth having just (1996.06.29) come in. And by 21 months he's gotten all teeth other than molars. Now at age 5 he's starting to wonder when he'll start losing them.

What do people do all day?

In the 2 weeks leading up to his 1st birthday many interesting new skills popped up: clapping, stair-climbing and even his first semi-recognizable words. He also showed much greater attention span when looking at books and laughed heartily to the "Oops!" refrain in Blue Hat, Green Hat. And he started to point at pictures on the pages with his fingers. (He loves Pat the Bunny!) At the beginning of 3/96 a favorite activity at the grandparent's house was to be held up to all of the photographs on the refrigerator.

Well, that's all ancient history now. He is a dedicated bibliophile. His former "ma book?!" is now a crystal clear "Let's read this book!" Obviously we read to him when we can, but he'll still take the suggestion "can you read to yourself on the couch?" and head over to the couch, pull himself up, and sit down and turn the pages. In the books he's read a billion times he's starting to recount his own rendition of the story as he looks at the pages.

And books are no longer the only major interest. There are now trains and cars. For a couple of months the first answer to the question "what did you do today?" when picking him up at day-care was "I played cars!". Then it was "I played trains!" He loves 'em. He also likes building with blocks, or, more to the point, managing a parent who constructs a tunnel or garage, to spec, for his vehicles. He's also got Duplos and knows how to use them. Plus he does imaginative play with a Playmobil house and people, vehicles and farm and jungle animals. We also gave him a toy kitchen and he likes to make coffee, tea, soup, etc. for us and serve it to us.

He's also gotten his own peripherals (keyboard and trackball) for use with our notebook computer and he quickly mastered Putt-Putt Saves The Zoo. He's also got a Freddie Fish game, but he's a bit intimidated by the sharks.

Let the babbling begin

The list of words I had here in the past is pointless now, as he is (as of 11/96) a full-blown talker. He repeats things on first listen and retains them. (But as a bonus for parents with frazzled nerves, he is often polite, saying "please", "thank you" and "excuse me". Today (2 April 1997) I even got an "excuse you" when I didn't excuse myself!)

At 3 years old he uses frightening grammar: recently he even stated something like "My dad has a white car, which is the one we're riding in." (So the sentence ends in a preposition, but he used "which"!)

"I'm the Big Brother!"

Peter loves Julia. For a while it was a total lovefest, though once she started being mobile enough to get into his stuff, there have been some dustups and need for timeouts. But seeing them together one can quickly see their genuine affection for each other.

The Games People Play

Peter is a real game-player: Uno, Duo, checkers, and, most recently (April 2000), Mastermind. At school they say they're playing chess, but I haven't checked that yet.

The Saga Continues...

He's a wonderful, cute and generally smiley no-longer-baby-nor-a-toddler-I'm-a-big-boy and continues to give us lots of joy (and challenge)!

Disclaimer

By the way, the tyke depicted up left is not Peter. Click on the little image to find out who that really is. A real picture of him will be available on the net when he can provide his reasoned consent . (This used to look a lot more like him. I'll have to find another body double soon.)

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