3/4 Life as we know it & pics

Most of 2013 has felt like a blur, but especially from May until now.  In June, I accepted two job offers (one online) and since then it has been a juggling act to try and get the best of two worlds- work and home.  The rest of this year and next is definitely going to be a challenge but it's what we need to do now in order to have more options later.

Our little boy, this next to last post is all about you as we quickly approach your 2nd birthday.  The time is passing by way too fast. I'm going to do a very educator-ish thing and use an acronym with your real name or otherwise this post would go on and on.  This is just a snapshot of what you are like as a 21 month old.  I cannot even begin to describe everything in detail because every day is different and you are learning something new all the time.  

Happiness is found in car rides, cartoons/Net.flix, favorite iPad or iPhone apps (we have to watch the time and dread taking it away), L.ittle P.eople cars and trucks, matchbox cars, the dogs (or any dogs), outdoors, bike rides, swimming, baths, books that slide or have pictures of interest, music, dancing, coloring, playing chase, spinning around, letters (see below), numbers, hugs (dad and I cannot hug without you pulling on our legs and joining in- so adorable), camping, balls, climbing steps, swinging, and just about anything that requires movement.  We have a boy who is constantly on the go!  The dancing is adorable with a walk, walk, squat, walk, walk, squat, head shake!

Anger, frustration, and/or cries happen during diaper changes (which you did not mind at all the first year of your life), going from outside to inside if you're not ready, people yelling (like across a room, not necessarily arguing), heading to the playroom and turning around to grab a diaper/sippy/etc., taking something away (namely the iPad), a few trips and falls, telling you no, and trying to get you to eat more to name a few.  This is a difficult time because you know what you want and just don't have the words to express yourself quite yet.  Out of all of these, telling you no hurts your feelings the most.  It hurts your feelings- however- then you do something to "get the last say" in.  For example, if you throw a piece of food in the floor and we say "no" you whine and are sad, but then when you settle, you'll slowly do it again with a napkin or object other than the food and watch to see our reactions.  Boy, oh, boy.  I'm ready for more language so we can discuss these behaviors!


Meals are a hit or miss.  I wish you ate more and more variety but can't force you.  Breakfast favorites are any combinations of yogurt, muffins, cereal, oatmeal and juice.  Lunch/dinner is usually either chicken or fish with green beans or french fries (you l-o-v-e french fries) and prunes.  Snacks are puffs, fruit squeeze pouches, yogurt bites, goldfish or other crackers.  You love tortilla chips but get a little choked on them and it freaks us out everytime.  We've tried about every fruit and lots of veggies but to no avail.  You take two bottles each day.  I gave up trying to transition to milk in a sippy cup, it just never happened.  It wasn't worth a fight to me since you need milk, so we have one bottle mid-day and one before bedtime.  PC and I have decided... no choice at 24 months... the bottle will go and it's either sippy cup or getting dairy from wherever else we can.  Your favorite place to eat is C.hick Fi.l A.  

Personality- you love people even if you are a little standoff-ish at first.  You love exploring everything and everywhere- touching new things, copying us and other kids.  You have started making silly faces and cutting your eyes. You point to and say eyes, nose, ears (which you grab & wiggle), mouth, hair, toes and bellybuttons.  I have had to watch you with this because you went up to a rather chubby kid in the chick.fil a play area and pulled up his shirt to find his bellybutton before I could grab you.  I apologized and told him "he's learning how to say tummy."  Ha, ha.  Your energy level is hard on your older IVF parents! :]  Dad and I have to take turns keeping up with you everywhere we go.  Accident prone... your head and legs usually have a scratch and/or bruise although you are never more than a few feet from us- you stumble and trip when there's nothing there to stumble and trip over!  Just yesterday, you ran so fast over a hard plastic vent cover that it broke and your leg fell through, getting scratched in several places.  Sigh.  At least you seem to recover quickly and luckily (knock on wood) there hasn't been anything more serious than scratches and bruises!       

Talking-  words and phrases are:  look, on lights, oh wow, uh oh (when anything drops), bir (bird) ood Gob (good job), d or dada, pish (fish), ruck (truck), hey, hi, moo (to what does the cow say), eat, ky (sky), clouds, flow (flower) and one of my favorites... ah moon (this one is very clear and you look up to the sky every time), two, four, five, seven, eight, nine, TEN (you say it louder and clap), eat, plane, buttafly, shoe, side (outside), orange, puh-ple, bye, yay, oh no, boat and (thanks to PC) coke.  You are jabbering all the time now and the grandparents predict that we're just a few weeks away from really grasping onto language.  You're adding new words it seems like each day but something I feel that holds you back from talking more is that you are... 

Obsessed with:  letters!  What started out as cute has gone a little crazy!  You know all letters and their sounds and say them perfectly with the exception of r (er) and w (dubba).  You shout out letters before you go to sleep, when you wake from nap, when you wake in the morning, off of the t.v., off of street and store signs, on people's shirts... everywhere!  I think you like to see people's expressions, which is fun when they laugh or encourage you, but my worry is that it consumes so much of your thoughts and focus that you really are not that interested in words... not even mama:[  You said mama several times when you were first putting together sounds but I have not heard it in months and am hoping I don't have to wait much longer!  Everyone who knows this about you is always whipping out a piece of paper and quizzing you... again, I think you like the challenge but we're ready to take a break from the love of letters:]        

Not a baby anymore:[  We started Mother's Morning Out over the summer to get used to the teachers and kids for the fall.  You are the youngest and walk right in there like such a big boy and it is just strange to see you sitting at the table beside the 3 & 4 year olds, so big!  You pull away from our hands and get a couple of feet in front of us whenever you can.  You have a very strong-willed independent spirit!  You are long and lean, just moving into 18 month clothes.  You have used the potty for poopy purposes since you were six months old.  Using it all the time for all potty business is a work in progress.    

I realized I left out sleep.  Probably because of the lack of it still!  In all 21 months, you have slept through the night (meaning sleeping in your crib and waking at 5:30 a.m.) all of ONE time.  Two things I find hard to believe. 1- that people get pregnant naturally and 2- that there are babies/toddlers/kids who really do sleep through the night.  Anyways, neither of these have happened at our house but I know through friends and blogs that they really do:]  Dad snapped this picture when you got halfway out of your crib one night and decided to get a few more zzzz's.

 In addition to the things listed above, you are just fun and it's amazing to watch you take on the world.  So in love and lucky to be your parents.