Happy Second Birthday!

We have had the best day today for Z's birthday! First, I got to sing to him first thing after he woke up, then he got in the spirit and started singing to himself...

It was pouring rain this morning, which affected some of our plans. But, we didn't let it get us down. We ran a couple of errands and went to Publix to get the necessary free balloon and cookie. Z was much more interested in the balloon than the cookie. Then we went home and I let Z go "uh-stairs," which is actually downstairs to the basement to play with his train table. Then we had lunch and (both) took a nap. That rain really wore us out!

After nap, we packed up our mini-cupcakes and gerber cheese puffs and headed to Z's school for his special birthday snack. I just love watching him interact with his school friends. They are so cute with their little chairs and mini-table! His sweet teacher made him a birthday hat and everything. 

After the school party I took Z to the park for a few minutes, luckily Nonna and Jido were on their way to the house, so I was able to get him to leave.

Once Baba came home, we had yet another celebration with a giant cupcake and more singing. I'm pretty sure he heard the birthday song 14 times today! It took him a while, but he sure got into that cupcake!

The party is Saturday. We can't wait! Happy Birthday, Z!!

Birthday Eve

My sweet baby will be 2 years old TOMORROW! I am so excited! His birthday has definitely become more exciting than my own! On this birthday eve, I feel it is appropriate to reflect on the past year and maybe even look forward to the year to come. Z had many milestones in the second year of his life. He started walking, talking, recognizing letters, numbers and shapes, throwing things (I just said milestones, not good milestones). Lately, more than ever, it feels like he is a little person. He communicates his needs and wants, responds to questions, usually doesn't tumble off of things or get into situations he can't get himself out of. Our days consist of telling him what we are about to do, asking him what he wants to eat, do, or watch on TV. He chooses the books he wants to read, tells us when he's finished, hands us things. I have found that when I tell him I am about to do something (i.e. brush your teeth, clean your ears, cut your nails), he is more patient and tolerant than when I used to just start doing it without saying anything first. He's so much more active, exploring the entire house, going up and down the steps (supervised, of course), running outside, playing in the park. We lead less and follow much much more than we used to. I love his free nature, his propensity for the outdoors (although, he did not get that from me). He loves it. He's never happier than when he's allowed to walk freely and stop and look at things and ask "what's 'is?"

The past few weeks he has been talking so much, I can barely keep up. He can also half-sing his favorite songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, and recently the Birthday Song! The other night, he just randomly started singing Twinkle Twinkle all by himself in the car.

His new phrase is "I like it ____." For example, I gave him a bite of frozen lemonade, and he said "I like it I-cream." Anything other than milk, water, or lemonade is referred to as "'rink." So, when I was sharing my drink with him, it was "I like it, 'rink."

He has all but memorized most of his favorite books and will finish the sentence for me, as in Brown bear brown bear what do.... "SEE!" and Does a kangaroo have a mother too... "YES!" I suppose that's why those books are so simple and repetitive.

One thing I love that he does, and it is so simple is when he wants to give me something and he says in that sweet toddler voice, "Here, Mama." Melts my heart...

I don't think he'll ever know how much we love and think about him. It's like he is just living his life, and all he knows is that we're there when he needs us, and I'm thankful for that. I think that's what parents are for to make their children feel happy and safe and not have to worry about a thing until they have to.

I can't wait to see the kind of person Z becomes. I hope he is thoughtful and generous, kind and loving, and most of all I hope he feels happy and fulfilled, because if he does then we have done our job!

On another note, we let Z see one of his birthday presents a couple of days early. This was the present given by Jido and Nonna and put together by Mom and Dad! Z was in awe (we were too, to be honest). It's pretty cool, and while it did arrive in a million pieces, it wasn't that hard to put together.

Z's party is this weekend, and we are going to celebrate with his class tomorrow. Can't wait!!

Z's Midwest Adventure

We spent the weekend in Ohio and had a blast, especially Z. We went to a local parade, saw farm animals, saw lots of family and friends, celebrated his birthday, had ice cream and about 12 other things in just one weekend!

Let me begin with the plane ride. Z has had a few rough nights lately for unknown reasons, and of course the timing was not the best, but he woke up on time on Friday and in a good mood, so we went with it. We made it to the airport checked our bag and basically walked straight on the plane. Because Z is not quite 2, he still qualified as "infant in arms" and got a free ride (in our lap). This was convenient for the money savings but less than convenient due to the fact he is at least 34 inches tall and a wiggle worm, I digress however. I had packed several reinforcements, including the beloved Winie the Pooh, a Winnie coloring book with crayons (a big hit I might add), my iPad with full length episodes of Blue's Clues and Dora loaded on it, cheerios, ni-ni, candy, and suckers. I have to say, he did awesome! He was so into the airplanes, at one point he even simultaneously signed and said "mo, mo, airplanes."

We had to connect flights, and he was not a fan of waiting in lines or being tied down in the airports. After all noone else had to hold hands or be held by someone else. Of course, in the Atlanta airport, you could probably take your eyes off your kids for all of 1.5 seconds and he would be gone, so we had to do what he had to do, meltdowns and all. Note: if I had one of those leash backpack thingys, I totally would have used it in the airport.  We were starving (at 10:30 in the morning), so we all ate Charley's, the philly cheesesteak place. Z ate chicken nugget fingers (that's what they looked like, long chicken nuggets, no telling what's in them!) and some fries and we were able to entertain him with all of the surrounding airplanes. He did pretty well on the longer flight from Atlanta to Dayton, so I rewarded at the end him with a sucker. We usually get suckers about once a week when we go to the bank together, but man does he love them, he usually holds it out several times and says, with a big smile, "suckaaaa!!"

So, that bought us a little more time when he was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. We got in around 3:30 and put him down. He slept for 2 hours and was a new man when he awoke! So, we ate and let him play and stay up pretty late, and thankfully, he went  right to sleep and we didn't hear a peep until 8 in the morning! We got up quickly and headed to  Xenia for a parade. Every couple minutes someone would hand Z candy. I think he ate about 10 suckers that morning, but he loved it because he got to see all of his favorite automobiles live and in person, trucks, tractors, school buses, fire engines,  motorcycles, and the list goes on, all while eating a virtually endless amount of suckers! I think this was the point that he realized it was going to be a great weekend!

The rest of the day we celebrated his birthday and he ran around wild and free playing with everyone there, young and old. He especially had fun with Lola, his second cousin, who is 1 and 1/2 years old. That night we went a balloon glow, which is where they illuminate 3 very large hot air balloons. He was totally fascinated!

 Here he is with his great grandmother!

Thanks to Janet for these pictures!

The next day we went to Young's Dairy, where Z got to see all kinds of farm animals and play on a huge slide. The amount of firsts that occurred for him on this trip are nearly endless.

Rainy Labor Day

Labor Day weekend was rainy and gross. After reading every book in Z's library, we finally took  him outside to play a little, and he was pointing out the rain and what he thought were airplanes. Anytime he hears a lawnmower or any motor he thinks it's an airplane.

Tired of being stuck in the house, we decided to take Z to Treetop Adventure, which is right down the road from our house. They had a great little indoor play area for toddlers and mini-bowling (in addition to all of their arcade games and large play area for bigger kids). It was a lot of fun! I hope it stays open for a long time, because I think it will be even more fun when Z is older, because they also have go carts, mini-golf, and laser tag. 

My little monkey, satisfying his need to climb.

 

 Mini-bowling, a.k.a. how hard can you slam the 3 pound ball onto the metal floor.

iToddler

I have previously commented on the fact that my child can navigate his way around both my iPhone and my iPad.  It's actually kind of nice, because I can just let him chill with it, and he entertains himself. So far, I have been able to limit his use to no more than about 30 minutes a day and usually just one to two times a day, but I'm certain that as he gets more comfortable with these devices, that is going to be harder to do!

Some of his favorite apps for the iPad are the PBS app, I hear Ewe, Elmo Loves ABC's (full version), ABC's and Me, and talking Tom and friends. 

How do you like this position? Doesn't he look comfy?

Before You Call DHR...

He fell "out of his chair" at school. No, not like "oh my gosh, Lucy, that story is so funny I almost fell out of my chair!", more like "Hey everybody, I'm almost two, and I can scoot around in this chair that's 1 foot off the ground" fell out of his chair. Well, from what I gather that's what happened anyway.

And this happened, wait for it, the DAY BEFORE his photo session. Are you kidding me? Is it wrong that that was my first thought when they called and said "Z fell and bumped his head, he has a large knot right between his eyes"? I'm sure it is, but the next question was "Do I need to come get him now?" They said they were icing it, and he was okay. They just wanted to let me know. Let me know?

Anybody who works and puts their child in Daycare knows the feeling you have when you get "the call" from the school (okay, I'm using a lot of quotes in this post, sorry I'm in that kind of mood). It's goes a little something like this,

"Hi, this is such and such from blank school, we're calling about your son blank."
"Yeah, yeah, get to the point, is he okay??? Hurry, tell me now!!!!"
"He's fine, he just (insert, fever, throw up, hit/bit someone, fell, etc etc.)"

So, needless to say, we are rescheduling the shoot.

Here are a couple of pictures hours after the incident

The next night. Okay, now you're thinking what happened to this kid? But you should see the other guy. No, seriously, I'm not sure where that scratch came from by his mouth, but when I went to get him, he was going to town on a rocking horse out on their playground, so I can only imagine.

Close-up of the black eye (and scratch)