Two and a half!

Our boy continues to delight and challenge us on a daily basis.

He got to see his second movie in the theater today (not counting the "mommy and me" matinees I took him to as an infant). We saw Frozen back in the winter and today we saw Planes 2! He liked it, clapped at certain points, said, "Oh, no!" at others, held on to me and said, "Scared" a couple times. He seemed to like it. He did OK, sat still until the popcorn ran out at least. :) We had a large so it took awhile.

We had Early Intervention come out on the 7th to evaluate his speech. Our pediatrician recommended it. He did not qualify for services which was a relief and a disappointment at the same time.

So onto some cute N stories of late...

We went to Costco one day last week. He is such a big helper. I dropped the bags off in the kitchen and then popped over to the dryer to get out some clothes that had been in there since the day before. While I'm around the corner at the washer/dryer he's in the kitchen and I hear him saying, "It's heavy, I got it, it's heavy, I got it." So cute. I went around and he had the bags emptied and he's folding them up. There was some heavy stuff in there.

He started at a new school on 6/23. Wow, it's been wonderful. I registered on 5/1 and put in my notice at his current school on 6/2. May and June were rough for me. I kept worrying I'd made the wrong decision and kept wondering how he'd do at a new place. It turns out it was silly to worry. He's been so happy there, blossoming I'd say. He misses his friend G I'm sure but we got them together for a playdate last Sunday and will do so again in a week or so. His new school is on a farm so he has an absolute blast there, swims daily, rides ponies twice a week (which he is actually DOING now, so I can't wait to take him back to the zoo to see if he'll ride there!), and so much more! This place has so many playgrounds, he just can't get enough. So one day I pick him up and he has a small scratch on his face. The teacher is explaining to me that he and another child were fighting over a toy and the child scratched him. N comes up to me with a ball and says, "My ball!" I say, "No, honey, that belongs to the school." The teacher says, "That's what they were fighting over." Aha! So we get in the car and halfway home he says, "Mommy, it is my ball. Auden is not nice." I chuckled to myself. He definitely was not happy that day with A. Ha ha!

There's a dairy near his school that has delicious ice cream. My plan when we first enrolled him there just for the summer was to stop there on Friday nights for ice cream. In five weeks of camp so far we've only been twice. Last week was one of the times and while we were in there he shyly points and I didn't know what he was pointing at. Then I realize it's his counselor/teacher. He spotted her before I did and before she spotted us. I told her the teachers in after care told me he's so sweet and quiet and she said he isn't quiet really and he holds his own. Ha ha.

He is very bossy with his little cousin A. It is funny. He sets out toys for her as if to say, "Play with these, and leave my MegaBloks alone!" It may also be that he is just taking care of her too as he likes to do that, but it's hard to say at this point. He got a hair cut today and they offered him a lollipop and he tried to take three and I knew what he was doing, getting one each for S and me as well, but the woman just seemed to have this attitude that he was being greedy and kept pulling the bowl back. I knew he'd stop at three but she didn't. He is very caring that way.

If I say, "Ow!" he'll always say, "OK, Mommy? OK?" Very sweet and caring. I could smooch him up!

We're having a busy and fun summer. I put his gym membership on hold because of it, plus it'll extend it from late January on into the dreary winter giving us something to do then. We took a trip to Knoebels 7/4-6. That was fun except for when he unbuckled himself on the helicopter ride and stood up!! I wanted to faint! And we're doing an overnight to Lancaster second weekend in August. Then our big trip for a whole week is the shore over Labor Day week. We've also visited the Please Touch Museum, Dutch Wonderland, and the June Fete. He gets on rides monthly! We haven't been to the zoo since April and our membership expired in June. We'll renew it soon I think. I just didn't want to do it until we could actually go. I'm so tempted to join Sesame Place too but S isn't agreeing.

I started working on weaning back in April. April 4th was the end of nursing to sleep. Then by mid June I cut out the morning nursing session due to medication I was taking. Once that was out of my system I let him go again (he never stopped asking) but then over the course of the next month I realized he forgot how! Or lost interest. So we made it to 31 months I guess. It's hard to say an exact age, it's so gradual. He'd nurse one day and not the next and then not again for days. And then it just stopped. the last few days he's latched on for like two seconds. So yeah, I don't really count that. I miss it a little, I feel bad he didn't get to pick when, and I also feel relieved. Such a mixture of emotions and a bittersweet time.

So that's all I have for now, catching you up on 2.5-year-old N! He's actually 2 2/3 by now. :)

Two-Year-Old Talk

Our boy's language is rapidly changing so I wanted to devote a blog post to the things he says in a cute way before they disappear forever!

Yayo/Melmo/Elmo - he finally has Elmo after his adorable former versions.
BeeBee - Big Bird.
Cookie - he says it like Cookie does when he is gobbling up cookies. Truly adorable.
Ka/Gickey- Mickey  - we have no idea where Kacame from but he is getting closer now!
Momby - what he sometimes calls me. He used to call me Mama and a few months ago it morphed into Mommy but sometimes he says Momby which is funny.
Did-did-da - his name. Ha!
Mumma - Mom-Mom (maternal grandmother).
Babbin - Gavin (his friend from school)
Keeka - Jacob (another friend)
Anna - Brianna (another friend)
Chussie - Chelsea (a family friend)
Happy  - Happy birthday - he says this when he sees cake or flames.
Bop it/dop it - stop it - cracks us up.
Non nice - not nice - also cracks us up as he says it in a reprimanding manner
Kas - socks
All doe - all done. Also used to mean "all gone" but that is now pronounced with more of a g sound than a d sound.
My - mine
Tee - teeth. He always wants to brush his "tee."
Ca - cat
Tank a - thank you
Bawu - blue - his favorite color and the only one he consistently gets right.
Auwa - orange
Gee - green
Ou si - outside - he loves it!
Yim - Junior Gym - a gymnastics program he attends.
Wa - watch - he hands me the remote and says, "Wa Elmo?"
Dindle - Kindle - he hands me that as well and says, "Dindle, Boof Coof?"
Boof Coof - Blue's Clues - see above.
Goggie - doggie
Biaper - diaper
Pan - pants
Mook - milk
Nana - banana
Appee - apple
Papee - paper
Buppy - snowman
Popky - popcorn AND pumpkin
Cackie - cracker
Fossie - fishie (as in Goldfish crackers)
Beah - bear
Bup - cup
Chee - cheese

As you can see, many of his words are just leaving the last sound off. I heard that's pretty normal.

He quacks and barks and meows pretty well. His dad does pretty good animal noises so he gets it from him I suppose.

For lions, tigers, etc., he just roars.

He says a lot of words very well; I could never list them all but some that come to mind are car, baby, hat, monkey, eye, bowl.

Two years old! And potty training boot camp!

Two years old! My son is two. Mind-boggling! So many people comment on how old he looks. I also still get comments about how big he is but at his two-year check-up he is right at the 50th percentile at 26.8 pounds and 34" tall.

We had an Elmo party on the 16th with 30-some people. He loves Elmo and he loves Mickey too so it was hard to pick, but hey, I already had an Elmo cake pan and I figured Elmo had a shorter "shelf life" and we should do it while he loves Elmo and he may still love Mickey for years to come. I did make the cake and I was very proud of it! He loved it, although he didn't seem to love it as much as my niece did when I made it for her second birthday seven years ago.

He got a lot of wonderful gifts, books, clothes, toys.

Some of the cute and funny things he is doing these days are sneaking into the bathroom while I'm showering to pick up my laundry off the floor. Hilarious. My two-year-old is cleaning up after me. He is a bit of a neat freak. Whenever I sing, he says, "Row row." He is requesting "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and as I sing it, he sways and "rows." And covers his ears but I'm not sure what is up with that. Whenever he makes a mess or sees someone in a movie or show making a mess, he says, "No, no." But in the same tone as you'd say "Oh, no."

I was waiting for a 3-day weekend to try potty training boot camp. He has been acting interested for awhile. He tells me when he poops and every morning he has been taking off his pajamas and diaper and heading to the bathroom. I bought him a potty back in the summer and he peed in it once when he was around 22 months but mostly he just plays with it. But lately he has been getting angry when I put a diaper on him and since he was telling me and acting interested, I thought I'd try the boot camp. Today was day one and it went OK. He only had one time where he made it to the potty but he knew when he had an accident most of the time and would exclaim, "No no! Poop!" (It was just poop once but he calls poop and pee both poop. Ha ha.)

Two months til 2!

I can't really believe I let the blog go this long! I write so many posts in my head but never get to to the computer to type them!

Our little guy is growing up! Some of his favorite things to do now are to help us; he likes to empty the dishwasher and empty his hamper into a basket and even carry the laundry basket downstairs. He loves pitching the clothes into the washer and attempting to fold.

He says mama (and mommy), dada, monkey, teeth (as in brush his teeth), his new little cousin's name (aw!), the name of his little friend at school, Mickey, Elmo, Cookie (but all the rest of the Sesame Street characters are also Elmo, at least the furry monsters are), banana, apple, ball, baby, cup, uh-oh, no, yes, my, balloon, belly button, go, poop (means poop, pee, and diaper), please, thank you. He says, "Wanna watch" and hands me the remote. He also says "wa" for when he wants to walk and makes that very clear. He says "muah" when he kisses someone or blows a kiss. He is obsessed with babies and will kiss my screen if there is a picture of a baby there. He was checking out the baby in the director's office one day this week. He was pointing, saying "boo-boo", and blowing him kisses. He really melted my heart.

We are planning an Elmo-themed second birthday party. He adores both Elmo and Mickey so it was a tough decision but I think Mickey might appeal to him for a longer time so I thought we'd save Mickey for another year. He might be Mickey for Halloween though!

He scraped up his nose pretty bad the Monday before last. I was upset but he seems OK. One spot on his nose seemed worse than the rest and he keeps picking at that scab.

He got blood work today; so did I . I went first and as soon as he saw the woman coming at me with the needle he got the strangest look on his face and told her no. He flipped out when it was his turn; I felt sooo bad. He kept kicking and telling her to go. He was just so upset.

Tonight was his first time sitting in a booster seat. It was kind of a disaster. They had no high chairs available. He wouldn't stay still and kept climbing all over.

Tonight was also his first night peeing on the potty! First he stripped naked for his nap which I found hilarious! Then tonight he spotted his potty and instantly wanted his diaper and pants off. So I helped him. He was climbing all over the house and I said, "Hey, sit on the potty," and he did. His potty has a flusher on it and he got up and flushed it. I was shocked when I looked in and saw pee in there. I was so proud of him. I hope he keeps it up. I was going to do the 3-day method Thanksgiving weekend but now I'm not sure. I will see what happens between now and then.

Gifts From My Son

So my son has been giving me the gift of being up before the sun. One of these days I need to stop and actually look out the window and watch the sun rise. He is becoming quite the early riser and I did much grumbling about it before deciding to view it as a gift. Today we ate breakfast together. I can tell you before today that has never ever happened on a work day. I changed my hours as of 5/28 as well; I now go in at 8:30 rather than 9:00. I figured I am up, so why not? I love getting home a half hour earlier too. I'm showering at night as well; that is not necessarily a good thing. I love my morning showers but it helps me save time in the morning.

N is no longer the baby on my side of the family. I have a new niece who was born on 5/28 at 10:27 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces. So far his reactions have been to smile at her while I'm holding him and to cry when I'm holding her.

He likes to point to images now and say something like "that." The first time he did it he pointed at a picture of a cat, so naturally I thought he was attempting to say "cat." But today he did it for Elmo and Cookie Monster and I think he is saying "that" because I often point and say, "Who is that?" He is too funny. "Uh-oh" is simply his favorite word right now though. He will purposely drop something just to say "uh-oh."

Eighteen Months Old!

Oh, wow, I knew I missed posting in April but hadn't realized I missed March as well! There is so much to share! I hope this post doesn't ramble too much.

I'll start with today. Our little man is 18 months old! Happy birthday, N! We had his portraits done yesterday in his baseball jersey. A baseball and bat were two of the poses. That was fun. He kept throwing and running after! We did manage a few good shots. I told the photographer she could stop with less than 10. There were some cute ones and honestly, the more they take the harder time I have deciding.

I guess the big news for April was he had a little surgery. We drove to Albany, NY, to see Dr. Kotlow for N's lip and tongue tie revisions. We knew he was tongue tied shortly after birth but we didn't know much about it. All the medical professionals told us since he was nursing well, we could just take a wait-and-see approach. Poor little guy had been through so much already I agreed. If only I knew then what I know now. He did breastfeed fine and he gained weight rapidly. But then at his nine-month well baby check his doctor felt he wasn't eating enough solids. She sent us to see a pediatric ENT who agreed he had a tongue tie and said we could wait, he could clip it in the office but might not do a great job (due to his having teeth already) or we could book the procedure for the OR. I knew I didn't want the OR thing. So we left and figured we'd decide later. Fast forward to February I am a La Leche League meeting and a woman there had just driven to Albany to have her two sons revised. She showed me pictures of her older son's lip tie and I thought N didn't have that. I lifted his lip and was shocked to see he did! His front top two teeth came in with a gap. So after much thought, discussion, and research, I decided I wanted N's fixed as well. Yes, he was old enough nursing was essential anymore but I read about the consequences of unresolved ties. We booked the procedure and the hotel and drove up to Albany on a Sunday. (The reason so many people go to Albany is Dr. Kotlow revises with NO anesthesia and he uses a laser instead of scissors.) He had the surgery on a Monday morning. The doctor talked to us for a bit, put on a video for us, and when he came back in, N just held out hsi arms to him! I was amazed; he doesn't usually do that. So the doctor said, "We'll be back." I didn't realize it was time! But he was only gone six minutes. He came back red-faced, sweaty, and crying. I held him for a bit and he nursed and then he was just fine! In fact, he was all smiles when the doctor came back, even gave him a smile and a high five. The ride home was pretty long but he did well.

So that was not even three weeks ago and he has started saying new words now. In addition to mama and dada which he was already saying, he now says thank you (heard it only once), uh-oh (says over and over and over), poop, bye-bye, mine (occasionally), and I think hi as well. So he had six words by 18 months. Woo hoo!

We had to do stretches so the tongue and lip wouldn't reattach. The tongue was nearly impossible as he had nine teeth already (just got his tenth a few days ago). The lip was easier. For the tongue he said to put peanut butter on top teeth. He is allergic to peanut butter so we used sunflower seed butter (which he loves). It has a similar consistency to PB so I think it had the same effect. He really had to work that tongue to get it off his front teeth. As of today, I saw NO reattachment so that is good.

He had a new teacher at school from 1/21-5/10. I was sad to see her go. He is now with one of the college students; she is great and I really like her. He moved from Toddler A to Toddler B in March (the 18th I believe). He is doing well! He is starting gymnastics now (Junior Gym Nest). He went Friday for his first class (a free trial to see how he likes it) but he did not participate just watched (which is normal for a first time) so they sent a note saying he can continue to watch for free. Once he starts joining in then we will pay. I'm excited. I never was involved in any of that so I want that for him.

He just loves to help. He helps put stuff away. Whenever I'm in the kitchen and open the fridge, he is right there filling it with bottled drinks. He is getting independent. For the past few weeks he has tried dressing and undressing himself. He gets his coat and runs to the door and wants to walk to the car by himself when he sees I am ready to leave. He is getting to be a better eater too. He was anti-meat for awhile but today he ate maybe one-third of a hot dog at a baseball game and then he ate chicken for dinner but wouldn't touch mac 'n cheese. Yay!

He had his first ER visit in March. It wound up being a not-so-big deal but it was scary at the time. He and I were sick with a virus. We went to urgent care on Sunday but there wasn't much they could do for us. I stayed home Monday and Tuesday with him and as he napped Tuesday I figured we were well enough to go back to work and school Wednesday. (He had also stayed home with S on Friday so it had already been awhile.) When he woke up from his nap he was covered in hives. Big, ugly, nasty hives. Welts really. I was alarmed. He has food allergies and very sensitive skin. We had recently been having issues with detergent but not a detergent I had used on his stuff. I didn't know what to think. I gave him Benadryl, and called the doctor. They said to bring him in. She thought it was an allergic reaction and prescribed steroids (oral). I gave him him his first dose and he got even worse later that night. It was terrible. I called her and she called back and I was crying. She said to go to the ER. I mean, he was just covered in welts and he was clawing at them. He was so miserable and I could see why! At the ER they said it was the virus coming out of his body. They gave him a steroid shot. We stayed home Wednesday and he was still no better Wednesday night. I called the doctor and they said to come in. she still felt it was an allergic reaction and said to get in to see the allergist. So I called first thing in the morning and got an appointment. He and I went back to work and school Thursday afternoon. And Friday was his last breakout. it was so horrible. Poor little guy was just miserable.

So I think that is a good update for now!

My little mischief maker!

N is just cracking me up these days. He likes to run away and hide from me and when I come after him he says, "Ha ha ha." He loves to climb the steps and go to the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He is all about shutting doors these days! He also loves to put his puzzle pieces in a bag and carry it around. He comes downstairs in the morning and goes straight for the bag of puzzle pieces. He also loves to "help." He put a bunch of (clean) clothes in my hamper the other day. He was very pleased with himself. Mm, I love that boy.

We took him to his 15-month appointment last night. He is still 24 pounds and is now 31" tall and his head finally grew; the nurse measured 18.5" although I could have sworn it was 17.5". But it grew. It was 17" for a long time. He got three shots; they still make me sad. These were the first three in his arm; up until now they were all done in his legs. He got varicella, Hib, and MMR. The nurse blew up a glove for him and kept whacking S with it. N was giggling. We brought it home with us but now he is scared of it! He still thinks it's funny if I hit his daddy with it though; he just doesn't want it anywhere near him!