A Whole Month or More!

It is updated, finally.
Now I will try to write every couple of days.

Tomorrow I'll finish updating the details on the events and all about Dexter.

Okay, so I'm going to stop writing this all in second person, as though I were writing to AJ and Dexter personally. It's just more fun to write 'about them' instead.

The last day I wrote was on the 14th of May! I'm so bad about keeping up on this. I should write every day or two instead. Or maybe once a week.

Anyhow, AJ is now almost 2 years and 3.5 months old, and Dexter is now almost 5.5 months old. Time is flying by.

What have we been up to?

Special days/Special Events

May 15th - Dexter really starts grabbing at stuff with his hands. Toys, food, you name it. He's greedy!
May 24th - Shauna's wedding shower.
May 27th - Dexter truly rolled over back to front. He still chooses not to roll front to back, although, I have to admit, we're out so much that he doesn't get much time to practice anything on the floor. Poor guy.
May 28th - We went to the zoo AGAIN! Just us this time.
May 31st - Dexter starts blowing raspberries.
June 5th - I noticed that Dexter has been grabbing and holding his feet. I LOVE this stage. He loves it when I play 'toes to the nose' with him. He's so flexy and chunky!
June 7th - Shauna's wedding. We stayed overnight in a hotel. I'll have to write more later.
June 8th - Poor little Dext starts soy.
June 9th - Dexter's just all over his playmat and his crib.
June 9th - Dexter starts carrots.
June 9th - AJ's last music class.
June 10th - I elevate Dexter's crib mattress because of his congestion, but he defeats the purpose of this by turning around so all of the blood is rushing to his head.
June 12th - We go to the bird sanctuary. Or as AJ knows it, The Bird Zoo.
June 15th - Sometimes around now Dexter tries sweet potatoes. I actually think he tried them before the carrots when we went to the Island, but I didn't record this very well.
June 13th - Preschool at the Park.
June 16th - A big day of gardening! Poor Dirty Dexter.
June 17th - I start Baby Bootcamp and both boys are just great for me!
June 18th - I'm really noticing how many comments I get about Dexter and how smiley he is. He can make anyone smile and anyone can make him smile.
June 20th - Dexter moves onto his tummy for sleeping.
June 20th - AJ's last day of preschool.
June 21st - More gardening. Dexter's a super star and AJ wants to help help help.
June 21st - Dexter starts learning to use a sippy cup. He's a pro already. Go Dexter Go!
June 21st - I decide to give up the infant carrier. I'm sick of carrying my 18lb Chunky-D. I've got one Popeye arm and the other is flabby! Okay, no, both are flabby, but one is flabbier than the other. That's even worse.
June 22nd - We use the umbrella stroller in IHOP for breakfast time instead of the infant carrier. Works like a charm.
June 23rd - I notice that AJ is using 'F' sounds at the beginning of words now. Phew!
June 23rd - We head over to 'Auntie Jen's' for the day. She's been dealing with sick kids 'poop and puke', and hoping that it's the same illness that AJ and I already had and hopefully became immune to, we decide to head over and 'help the day go by'.
June 25th - Dexter went to the doctor and will be going for an allergy appointment on the 24th of July. I'm sick. Got what Jen's family has. I'm wiped out of commission. Richard takes over as mom and dad.
June 26th - AJ and Dexter get what I have. AJ just for one day and Dexter off and on for about 5 days. VERY dehydrated. Scary even.
June 29th - Yup, you guessed it, Richard gets the illness too. I wasnt' back to 100% for 6 days. He took about 7. Our whole household inside, sick for a week and a half, self-quarantined from the public.
June 30th - To the zoo again! for the first time ever, we don't actaully walk aroudn to see animals. We ride the train, and AJ spends the day at the playground instead, while Dexter and I relax in the shade. But somehow, I still get burnt.
July 1st - Canada Day: Parade and Festivities! This day was fabulous, except for Richard still feeling ill. Parade, playing in the sand, sliding down the hill on pieces of cardboard, tattoos, bubbles, skipping, music. AJ had a blast. Dexter and Daddy, not-so-much.
July 3rd - Dexter starts taking long naps.
July 4th -Dexter's almost sitting up and Dexter has his first Baby Mum Mum.
July 5th - Charlie's 1st birthday party.
July 6th - AJ finally starts to say, "I love you too Mommy." Instead of just "I love you."
July 7th - Dexter says "Hi", and sleeps beautifully because we let him keep his paci overnight. (I should also mention that I swear he calls out for me, "Muma", and that he copied me saying, "I love you." But you know, I'm a mom, so I hear what I want to hear.
July 8th - Definite crawling motions and a lovely 2.2.5 hour nap, FINALLY!

About Dexter............

Jolly Giant
He is just a super jolly guy. He laughs until he's out of breath and wheezing, usually thanks to AJ's antics. With the exception of Witching Hour and Growth Spurts, he's really happy all the time.

The Play Arc
He's been loving this for quite a while. He loves to pull on all the assorted toys until the thing practically collapses down onto him.

The Jolly Jumper
So, I put Dexter in this spot on at 3 months old. Oh wait, no, a little after because I let AJ go in the original one and he broke it. I guess 24 pounds IS too heavy.
Dexter, in 2 months, has changed so much, and the jolly jumper is where to see this change. He used to just dangle and enjoy if you bounced him softly. Now, he's viciously bouncing up and down and side to side, just narrowly missing the door frame. I've got to keep an eye on a hall-wandering-AJ though who will just start to reef on the thing. Dexter loves it, but it spells D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R !

Greedy Grabber
So it's almost 2 months ago now that Dexter really started grabbing for things. This morning, he grabbed his cereal right off the kitchen table and turfed it on the floor.
When I put him into his new car seat, he immediately reaches for his banana toy.

Rolling and Crawling
So, I still haven't witnessed him roll from tummy to back, but he's really getting close to crawling. He can get where he needs to go by shimmying, but today, I witnessed for the first time, him really pushing up off his hands, he put his knees under him in the middle of our living room floor, and pushed forward toward the toy he wanted.

Songs He Loves
He loves when I push his toes up his nose and sing "toes to the nose" and he loves when I sing him "rocking horse" and "Ride that Bike"

Shauna's Wedding and the Resulting Soy Formula
Dexter was really great for our trip the the Island, but that night his congestion that he's had since birth, worsened.
That was the last straw. We took him to the doctor when we got back and the doctor really thinks it's a milk allergy. We switched him to soy formula, reluctantly as we are pretty anti-soy. It makes sense, as his congestion did worsen during weaning from breast to bottle. The more formula, the more congestion. When we switched to the soy, it got better. It's not gone, but it's better.
He has an appointment with the paediatrician on the 24th of July. We're hoping it's not an additional cat allergy. I'm thinking it's dust, cats, orange foods, simethicone, or some secret ingredient that's in powder formula, but not concentrate formula.

Dirty Dirty Dexter
Well, we've spent many a day outside weeding as of late. I could hear Dexter laughing his head off watching AJ throwing dirt in the air with a shovel. I was on lower level of the garden so I didn't notice from my angle, just how close AJ was to Dexter.
When I got over to Dexter to pack up to go inside, he just just covered in dirt. His mouth, oh yeah, he ate dirt for sure.

Tummy Sleeps
Thank goodness! Finally! I've been waiting for this day, and of course, like I assumed, it's made nap times better for Dexter.

Sippy Cup
He just guzzles water from his sippy at dinner time and lunch time. I'm impressed. I may soon, move his lunch time bottle to a sippy when I introduce meat to his lunches.

Napping
Finally, long naps, and today (July 8th), for 2.25 hours. It only took him 6 months.

Sitting Up
He can sit unaided for about a minute. But I stay right behind him because he will fall, but he's getting better.

Solids and then Some
Yup, a Baby Mum Mum cracker and he knew just what to do with it. Grabbed it and brought it right to his mouth and started biting and sucking away. He is entranced by this yummy item.

First Words
I know, I know, he's only 6 months old. They're probably not really words, but let me be proud mommy will you?
Muma - seriously it sounds like this when he's calling out in the morning.
Hi - Okay, now this one's real. AJ and I will say "Hiiiiiiiiii" in the morning, and he immediately replies with a "Haaaaiiiiiiiiii". It's super cute.
I love you - This one's a long shot, but I said it to him and I swear it sounded like he tried to copy me.

The Paci
I let you keep it overnight, and lo and behold, yes, you went back to sleeping through. Let's see if it happens two nights in a row.


About AJ........

Clever Chatter
Although I still have to translate him for strangers sometimes, he's using such big sentences now even using things words like 'are' 'is' 'ourselves' 'myself', etc. His sentences are upwards of 10-12 words long, but I haven't counted the 'story' situation when he's explaining something to me, so it could be more.
He's really been into the whole "how are you doing" thing. He likes to ask,"Hi _____, how are YOU doing?" He likes to reply with either, "I'm fine." Or "I'm well, thank you." or "I'm doing very well." lol. It's very cute. He especially likes to ask you this if he knows you are mad.
Common questions from AJ while we're driving are "What are we on?" or "What are we in?" It's funny because we'll be driving between some trees and he's thinking that we're in the trees or something. If we're driving beside water, he thinks we're actually driving on the water. Ah, to see things through a child's eyes. I remember looking at the Patullo bridge as a child and thinking that we were going to be driving on the orange arc part. lol.
After the last sleep over at my mom's place, AJ was asking about Kim and Paul. Where's Uncle Paul? Where Kirsty? Where's Other Kirsty?" 'Other Kirsty' is what he calls Kim's friend Kaitlyn. I guess he just refuses to say her name for some reason.

Potty Training
Well, I would count AJ as potty trained since slightly before his second birthday. You know, like staying dry all day and wearing underwear instead of pull ups.
There's been more advancement in this area over this month. I would say that 6 out of 7 days in a week, he wakes dry from his nap, and about 4 out of 7 mornings, he wakes dry from his night sleep. It kind of depends on when he wakes up. The later he sleeps, the less likely that he's still dry.
This has already gotten better since I last typed this. He's dry for about 6 out of 7 naps a week.

Sassiness
He's getting very clever in the 'smart A$$' kind of way.
EXAMPLE...
He is normally not allowed to ride his ride on cars in the kitchen UNLESS Dexter is sleeping and I don't want him going down the hall. Well, thereis one nap that Dexter used to take while I get dinner ready from about 4:30-5:00pm. AJ will refrain from riding his cars all day until THIS NAP.Then, while I'm trying to make dinner, he'll come cruising in and he'll see that I'm itching to get ticked off about him riding in there and he'll stop, look up, smile, and say, "Dexter's sleeping, so I ride my car in the kitchen." That little bugger.
There's been a lot of naughty spot visits lately and tantrum time has finally settled in for us. Good grief. What a drama queen. I can't imagine where he gets it from.
Another favourite sassy time for AJ is when I've asked him to come to me. He yells, "I'm coming!" If I call him again because he's not coming, he comes trapesing down the hall yelling, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" and finally, right up in my face, "I'M COMING!" Again, I really don't know where he gets this. lol.

Best Big Brother
He's really being great with Dexter. I think he's really noticing how Dexter is changing and learning things and becoming more of a playmate rather than a decoration, for lack of a better word.
He loves to get Dexter into stitches of laughter and he loves having 'crib time' with Dexter.
Today (July 8th), when i had the two of them in the jogging stroller, AJ literally had Dexter screaming in fits of laughter for the whole 20 minute jog around the lake. Too funny.
I should also add that for about 5 minutes of that jog, AJ thought it would be a good idea to lean on Dexter in the stroller.

Naps or Bust
Well, I have a decision to make. What's more important to me, smooth bedtime or daytime nap. If I let AJ sleep too late, like past 2:00pm, then he doesn't want to fall asleep until 9:00pm or LATER! If he has no nap at all, then he's cranky in the afternoon, whiny, crying about everything, and just generally a giant PITA, IYKWIM. I don't want to shorten the nap too much because when the two boys are napping, that's 'my time'. We'll have to see what I figure out in the next few days of experimentation with his naps. At least on the days that he didn't nap, he was willing to have 'room time' where he stays in his room for the 1.5 hours and plays alone with the door closed. That was peaceful and I think he really got some serious playtime in there. You could hear the imagination working overtime through the monitor.

Colouring
So after someone mentioned to me 'colouring in the lines', I decided to try this with AJ, and sure enough. He can do it. We call it 'colouring in' as opposed to 'colouring all around'. It's fun to watch him try so hard to fill in a car shape, a wheel, a face, a hand, etc.
Not to mention, he's also really great at tracing shapes, letters, etc. He's getting better and better every day.

Jurassic Park
Yes, that's right. Give me another worst mom of the year award.....
I'm watching tv and AJ was in the room and I happened upon Jurassic Park.
It was the beginning part when everything's all nice. AJ's getting really interested in the dinosaurs and pointing them out and such.
Then the bad stuff starts happening when the T-Rex starts flipping the tour vehicles and eating people.
All of a sudden, I clue into what we're watching.
I say, "Oh what a crazy scary bad dinosaur. Let's watch something else."
He says, "No Mommy. I want to watch the dinosaur movie. Let's watch the big scary dinosaur. Crazy dinosaur."
So I ask him if he thinks it's scary. He says yes. I ask him if he would like me to turn it off and he says no.
So, enjoying the movie and fascinated by his response, we continue to watch it.
Now, he is scared by parts of it, enough that he wants to sit on my lap to watch it, but not outwardly acting scared. I kept saying to myself, "What am I doing? Am I crazy?"
So, at one point, the T-rex is eating one of the other dinosaurs and AJ's saying, "Where did his head go? Where's his tail."
I think I was justifying him watching the movie by thinking, "This is no different than watching Animal Kingdom. This is nature." lol.
Anyhow, there's only been one or two nights of dinosaur bad dreams, and that's after now watching Jurassic Park parts 2 and 3 now as well (thanks Daddy).
He is asking often still to watch what he refers to as "The Kid Movie" (I'm guessing because of the two kids that are in it).
I figure, kid's in war-torn countries have seen WAY worse and people killing people. Maybe AJ's going to be an 'EMO' all dressed in black and watching horror films.
Hmmmmm.

Cars
AJ loves to ride ANY vehicle in the house no matter how small. Hot wheels motorcycle? No problem! There he is like so many clowns, just riding his miniature motorcycle around the house. What a goof!
Not to mention, he LOVES the movie Cars. Just loves it.
Oh yes, and lest we forget. He doesn't like our car. It's not good enough. He wants to go home in the fancy cars.... Hummers, Bugs, Mustangs, Escalades, Jeeps, even.

First Movie
I took AJ to see his first movie, "Wall-E". He was so good. He sat still and watched the whole thing. He loved the characters and was talking about the movie non-stop on the way home. He also really enjoyed the unlimited popcorn and Fruitopia mixed with Sprite. Sugar! What a treat!

Starbucks
Asks to go, I swear. I don't drag him. He requests it. This is definitely my kind of kid! He can even spot a Starbucks from the highway.
We've made quite the trips to Starbucks, especially now that Auntie Jen ventures there with us.
Here's the Starbucks group...
Mommy
AJ
Baby Dexter
Auntie Erica
Jack
Baby Rya
Auntie Jen
Makenna
Baby Emerson
Baby Jaxon

(and you thought it was a place to unwind!)

Books
We took out Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See from the library a few weeks ago, as surprisingly, I don't already own it.
AJ really likes it, not surprisingly, since he loves Panda Bear Panda Bear too.
So, it was breakfast time the other day, and I was asking him what kind of fruit he wanted: a brown pear, a green pear, an apple, or an orange.
He says, "Brown Pear please."
He then, takes a second and lets that sink in, and begins to say, just like the book,
Brown Pear
Brown Pear
What do you see?
I see a green pear looking at me.
Green Pear
Green Pear
What do you see?
I see another brown pear looking at me.
It was very cute.

AJ and His Music
He had his last music class and is still asking about it. I'll be putting him in Fine Arts preschool in September, and I think he's really going to love it.
I can't help but notice how well AJ stays on beat, like when tapping a drum. He pauses when the music pauses even.

Gymanstics
I'd really like to get AJ into gymnastics too. He loves doing forward rolls and headstand-type-things. I think this could be 'his thing'.

The Bird Sanctuary
I shouldn't have referred to it as the 'bird zoo'. I was thinking it would help him visualize where we were going, but the whole time there, he just kept asking, "Where's the Zoo".
He loves feeding the birds, and we came back with extra bird seed that we shared with birds at the local park.

March/April

Well we've been busy since I last wrote.
Preschool
Music Classes
Walks
Starbucks
The Zoo
An Easter Party
To Granny and Papa's house on the Island

March 17th
*Dexter, you started laughing and you haven't stopped since! It is just the most adorable thing.

March 21st
*We went to the Kidswap Easter Party. It was soooooooo cold and windy. I had you (Dex) bundled up in a fleecy sleeper with a hood and you (AJ) had a toque and mittens. It was a bitter crisp windy kind of cold. Hail even!
*AJ, you were a star with your Easter egg hunting skills. You made bunny ears to wear and coloured an Easter picture.
*Dexter, you were good as gold, sleeping most of the time. The great thing about a baby that won't conform to the routine I'd like is that you can 'take em anywhere, anytime'.
*AJ, you started preschool today. It is the mom and tot kind. Erica takes Jack too. We mostly carry around Dexter and Rya in the Baby Bjorns or slings.


March 22nd
*Tonight we went to Gram and Papa's house for Easter dinner. You were both really great, and of course everyone loved seeing you.

March 23rd
*Dexter's first Easter!
*AJ you had a good day searching for eggs and eating chocolate. You were still finding eggs a few days later!

March 25th
*Dexter, you are 10 weeks old!

March 28th
*We all head to the Island to stay with Granny and Papa!
*We stayed in their master bedroom with you (Dexter) in the Moses basket in the hot tub room with a great sound proof door (thank goodness) and with you (AJ) on your thomas the Train travel bed (that is WAY to loud) at the end of our room. Not the best sleeps, but a really nice visit.
*Granny did lots of colouring with you, AJ. Everyone enjoyed holding you, Dexter. Papa Bud took Daddy to the gun club, YIKES!
*We also got to see your Great Grannie and Grandpa Clark and your Great Aunt Elaine!

April 1st
*Dexter, you had your first set of shots. I took you myself. It was horrible. We both pretty much sobbed. You had 4 shots! You were 11 weeks old and 15 lbs, 1 oz!!! You are a whopper of a boy so far!!! Love you my little chunky button.

April 2nd
*We went to the zoo with Auntie Erica, Jack and Rya. It was a great trip. A little chilly in the morning, but it warmed up nicely.
*AJ, you bailed big time on the way to the train and had a HUGE bruise on your forehead. It was scary looking.

April 5th
*We drove to Puyallup for Grace's 2nd birthday party. You both were really great for the drive. We had a good party!

April 7th
*Music class started today for the two of you. You are both really enjoying the class.

April 9th
*We went to playgroup. It was a fun time. AJ, you get to have a blast riding the plasma cars and jumping on the equipment, and I get to spend some quality time with you, Dexter.

April 11th
*You boys stayed home with Daddy and I went to Auntie Jen's baby shower for her twins, Emerson and Jaxon. It was a really nice night out for me. Dexter, you gave Daddy a run for his money!

April 12th
*Dexter's been really batting things like crazy on his play arc and such lately.
*WE WENT OUT FOR DINNER TO THE OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY AND IT WAS AWESOME! Both of you were soooo well behaved!
*Sometime around now, I started putting you, Dexter, in the exersaucer. You really like getting to look around more.

April 14th
*Music class with Jack and Rya and then we all went to Starbucks. It went pretty well!
*We also went to Starbucks last week with Nancy and Ava!

April 15th
-Dexter, you are 3 months old or 13 weeks old!

April 16th
*We started trying a couple nights with no DF. They went alright, but I think I'll keep the DF.

April 17th
*We went to playgroup with Auntie Erica, Jack, and Rya.

April 18th
*Dexter, I didn't need to feed you in the middle of the night. I still had to get up to put you back to sleep, but not to feed you! Same thing the next night too!

April 19th
*We went to Gram and Papa's for dinner and to do taxes.
*Dexter, you went to sleep beautifully and stayed asleep. We transferred you to the car seat at around 11:30pm and it was wonderful.
*AJ, we let you stay up until 11:30pm. You were trying to be good, but you were so tired you just kept falling, tripping, crying, etc.

April 20th
*Dexter, today you got to use the Kick and Play piano for the first time. I couldn't help but notice how much you were kicking your feet, so I put you in your crib to kick at the piano. You had a great time!

April 21st
*Dexter, in this last week, I've been getting some hysterical laughter from you, and you are sooooo chatty. You coo and babble and chit chat. You are very vocal.

April 30th
*Dexter, finally, you are having some good tummy time, practically balancing on your tummy alone.
*You absolutely love to be standing up. Too cute.

May 3rd
*Dexter, we started you on rice cereal around now. You hungry boy.
*AJ, you are loving preschool. You ask to go all the time.

May 4th
*We went to the zoo again! Just me, and my boys! What a great day. We arrived just as the bird show was starting. We went on the train. We walked all around. We watched the tigers get fed. AJ, you enjoyed walking for most of the day rather than being put in the stroller.

May 5th
*Dexter, you've been holding your own bottle with some success. Basically, I put the bottle in your mouth and put your little hands on the grips on the sides and you just hold it and go. Good boy!

May 7th
*We went to Go Bananas with Erica and Jack. AJ you are still scared about climbing around in the big kid part. You sure don't like those tubes.

May 8th
*seriously, Dexter. You are soooo chatty. You are just a little person with major personality.
*AJ, you are being an awesome and helpful big brother.
*Makenna came for dinner tonight. You two had fun. You had some interesting conversation over which word certain letters stood for. For instance, Makenna would say, "S, S for Sonja" and you would say, "S for snake"


May 11th
-Mother's Day. Dexter and AJ, you and Daddy got me slippers for Mother's Day. Gram helped you, AJ, to make a card for me with printing from you inside, and plant sunflowers for me.
-Today was Makenna's second birthday party. We had a good time.
*AJ, later when you're in therapy, you can blame your paranoia on me for 'forcing' you (my shy boy) into the tubes at Captain Kids.

May 14th
*Dexter, in an effort to get you pooping, I've given you pears today. You liked them, but definitely found them a little tart.






Special Specifics
AJ -
1. We have a year pass for the zoo. It means that whenever the weather is nice, we get to go to the zoo. You just love it there. You love to watch the lions and the cougar especially.
2. We went to see Suessical the Musical at my old school, and you were enthralled. You sat on a little step stool on top of a chair, and you paid attention to the whole play. You were even, shockingly, yelling about what was going on. Luckily the people around us thought it was cute.
3. Preschool, oh my goodness. You love making the crafts there. You love the roller coaster there. You love going there. You point out the preschool whenever we're in the parking lot. You get so excited about going.
4. You are so into singing. We go to music class once a week and we listen to the CD in the car. You love to sing the alligator song, the 'out the window' song, the elephant song, and of course, still, your old favourite, ABC.
5. Counting. You have been working on counting to twenty. You pretty much have it, but you repeat a few numbers in there. You love to count items, pictures, steps, etc.
6. I have a calendar in your room where you get dressed. It is very cute that when I ask you to tell me the month, instead of saying May, you say, "It's not April anymore." You can almost sing the whole Days of The Week song that I use with my grade ones.
7. I started this little reading program thingy with you, just for fun and to see how you'd take to it. I think you're a bit young yet, but it's really cute to see you sounding out words.
I think I'll try again full force in a few months.
8. Your drawing skills are really developing. You aren't just telling me what things are after you've drawn them or just been drawing random shapes and such anymore. You are actually drawing things like a fire truck. It's a big roundish rectangle with wheels.
8. You are getting better are printing your name, and I've video taped you writing 'mom' too.
9. Well, sometimes you want to be like Dexter. I have pictures of you in the baby bjorn, the bumbo, and the jollyjumper which you broke, I might add.
10. We took a big trip to Puyallup to go to Grace's birthday party. You had fun playing outside and playing with bubbles.
11. You are in a phase of wanting to do EVERYTHING yourself. For instance, if you sit you on the potty, you will say, "AJ do it. I do it!" Then you proceed to get off the potty and get back on again. Speaking of the potty. You are having about 6/7 naps dry per week, and you've had some dry nights too. In fact, you usually are dry overnight, but if I don't get you right away, then you pee while you're laying in bed.
11. On Thursdays, if it's not zoo-weather, we go to playgroup. You just have a blast and you are obsessed with those plasma cars!! Not to mention, you had a giant run-in with one last week. YIKES! You were pretty badly injured. I was thinking you're leg was broken!
12. You've really been into saying everyone's names, and asking where everyone is. Especially cute is when you ask about Uncy-Al.
13. Letters and Numbers. You picked up a foam sticker that was the letter L. You had it upside and down and came to me saying, "seven mommy. Seven." Then you caught a glimse of it the other way and said, "L Mommy, L!" Then you looked puzzled. "L? Seven?" Cute. You love playing the alphabet zoo game
14. Puzzles. Whoa puzzles. You and I both are obsessed with wooden puzzles. 12 piece, 24 piece, 48 piece. You are doing them all and you love to do all of them and have them all on your floor of your bedroom. You are really good at trying a piece, turning it, trying again, trying it somewhere else. Interesting though, you don't like to the edges and corners first. You like to do sections. Like, you'll start with Thomas, then work your way out.
15. You all of a sudden have decided to become a true 2 year old and are saying a very sassy "No" to me. About a lot of things. You've even been having a couple of tantrums. Hmmmm, now to decide the best route to take with this.

Dexter -
1. You really get excited when I read Panda Bear Panda Bear by Eric Carle. you start flailing your limbs. It's pretty cute.
2. You love to stand. You love to sit. You love to be a part of the action. In fact, you're a little high maintenance.
3. Naps. Well. I don't even have words. You are really running me through the wringer. You do not want to do a routine that I like. You don't even want to do your own routine. You have trouble staying awake longer than 1.5 hours. It's kind of killing me. I want you to be on only 2 naps, but you're doing 4 and sometimes 5. Occasionally, only 3.
4. I swear you've been saying 'hi' to me when I say it to you. It's heartmelting.
5. You laugh so hard sometimes, like when you're being jiggled or tickled that you start to wheeze to catch your breath in between.
6. Inadvertently, your tag blanket seems to be becoming your lovie instead of the dinosaur like I planned.
7. the bumbo seat. We like to sit you at the table with us in this. Only for a little while and not just after you eat or else you spit up.
8. The exersaucer. It's only a month ago that you were in the exersaucer wedged in for support with receiving blankets and such. Now you're a pro. You're not stuffed in, and you can even spin the froggy thing. You just whack it with yor hand.
9. Alittle while ago I was dealing with what I thought was teething, a growth spurt, and a cold. You've still got a really wet cough, the growth spurt is over, and I don't know if you are teething. It could just be that you love your hands so much.
10. Sleeping through the night. You're doing it some of the time. I'm not feeding you in the middle of the night anymore, but it appears as though when you have a poop coming, you're up lots the night before.

Oh, a Couple More Things

AJ, I forgot to mention about colours.
You are really into describing colours. If something is a purply pink colour, that's what you call it. "You use pinky blue mommy!" It's super cute.

TODAY YOU RODE A BIKE!! That's right. We finally got around to taking you outside to try using the pedals on your bike. You picked it up really fast. We'll need to video tape you next time.

i clued in too that you really understand the word spicy as opposed to hot. I always describe the Indian Butter chicken as 'spicy', and tonight, we were having pizza that was spicy. You pointed in your mouth and said, "Ooooh, spicy!."

Dexter - You are 13.5 lbs !

My Two Little Men

Dexter's bath night!


two months and two years





watching Baby
Einstein with Makenna


guess the little people are thirsty?



I can't believe how far behind I've fallen on posting already. Here we go for a new update.

Dexter
You
-You are two months old today! It's been a month since I wrote here. you are sooo big! I'll have to weigh you tomorrow. I have no idea how much you weigh. You are out of all of your 0-3 month sleepers. You are wearing little man clothes and looking quite dashing I might add!
-You like to suck on your hands. you've definitely 'found them'.
-you are really strong at tummy time.
-I really thought you'd roll over really fast but no. I think it's because you're not on the floor a whole lot. You're out and about, or in the swing, or in a carrier, or in the bouncy chair, or on someone's lap. I'd better get you working on your rolling!
-you love to be read to. In particular, you are lighting up and going bonkers for "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?"
-you are liking the tag blanket that I made you too! YAY!
-Your eyes are still big and blue. Blue? Blue! Hmmm. Not sure if they'll stay that way or what.
Grannie and Papa's Visit-February 22
-You got to meet Grannie and Papa Ziegler for the first time. It was very special. They were very happy to see you.
Last Trip to the Midwife - February 26
-You had your last appointment at the midwife. You were 6 weeks old and you weighed 11lbs 12oz!!
Drive In Movie - February 29
-We went to a pretend Drive In movie at Betty Huff Elementary. You were very good. You didn't sleep the whole time, but you were very well behaved.
Time Alone With Mommy and Daddy - March 1
-AJ went to Gram and Papa's house so you got to be alone with Mommy and Daddy for the first time since the hospital. And mommy and daddy got to remember how easy it is to only have a newborn.
AJ's Birthday - march 8 and 9
-you were a very good boy for AJ's birthday party at Go Bananas and for the family birthday the next day. Thank you.
Paci Weaning - March 15
-Well I sure didn't want to be doing this so early, but with you being so congested and your naps getting worse, I had to do it. You were so grunty and loud. You were waking every ten minutes. So starting last night, we started weaning you from the paci for sleep. We're using pat/shh and so far, we're not having to use it much. You are already sleeping sooo much better, and last night, you didn't wake for your middle of the night feed until 5:11am!! Way to go!

AJ
You Are Two
-Your birthday parties went great! You dove right into having fun at go Bananas and you even went in the high big kid section having lots of fun with the giant exercise balls. You enjoyed having the family over the next day too.
-You opened your new tricycle and your guitar and colouring books in the morning on the 8th. You loved all three. You were having a hard deciding which to play with.
-At Go Bananas, Makenna got you a new spring coat just like hers, but the 'boy' version, and some fun sticky shapes for crafts that you were using today. You like doing crafts. From Jack, you got a Thomas the Train cargo drop of station and train.
-At the family party....
Great Grandma gave you birthday money and MandMs.
Gram and Papa gave you a ride on dump truck.
Great Auntie Brenda and Great Uncle Al gave you a race car that scares the crap out of you. It rumbles and revs and stuff.
Cousin Mike gave you birthday money too.
Grand-Dan gave you a Thomas the Train additional pack with the conductor station and 3 trains. We later made a HUGE track with all your track pieces.
-In the mail and from visitors...
You've received birthday cards and gifts and money from Great Granny and Great Grandpa Clark, Lauren from my BW birthclub (Kermit the Frog), Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Reberger, my friend Heather (Auntie Heather) and her family (Mega blocks construction Truck set).
-You are asking about Grannie Ziegler lots! She came for a visit on the 22nd of February and bought you some special birthday gifts, 2 big rigs and a bike helmet. You were definitely wondering where the bike was to go with it. You had a great visit with Grannie and Papa and you can't wait to see them again.
The Drive In
-We went to a pretend Drive in movie last month. you were soo well behaved. You sat in your special chair or on Daddy or my lap the whole time. We watched Shrek The Third.
Your Talking
-Still chatting up a storm. Sentences are flying out at the speed of light. You're a little bit witty if I may say so. I swear since you tunred two, you're saying more consonants now.
Colouring and Drawing
-You still love colouring. You're getting really good. You can also draw things like a rectangle, a face, a circle (well that's not new), the letter A for AJ, and a balloon (that's not new either). You love using your colour wonder felts and finger paint. You like using glue too. Don't even get me started on painting with water books!
The Alphabet and Counting
-so it's been over two months that you've been singing the alphabet song. You like to pretend to play the song on the piano. One key for each letter. Which reminds me to mention how much you love playing your harmonica. You are hilarious stopping your foot and everything.
-you can almost count to twenty now. You count up to 12 accurately, when you're stacking things, or going up stairs, etc, but after that, you can say the other numbers, but they're a little jumbled up.
-You can identify almost all the letters in the alphabet and you even know some of their sounds1 Yay for Leap Frog toys!
-you can name and draw shapes too. Today, you were drawing lines out of diamond shapes and saying, "Kite Mommy!" too cute
Potty Training
-Okay, so it's no news that you've been peeing on the potty forever. You've been pooping on the potty too. You aren't afraid to anymore.
-I'm considering you officially trained now as of the day before your 2nd birthday I guess. You still wear pull ups for naps and bed, but are usually waking dry.
-you wear underwear in and out of the house now, and for the past 3 days,there's been no accidents at all. Not even the little ones that let you know the pee is there.
-teh best part is that you can do it all yourself. you can pull down your pants and underwear, you can put the potty seat on the potty, you can get up on the stool, you can 'point it down', and you go. You've even gone a few times on your own but without calling us to come too. You just walked in, went, and walked out to go on with your business. What a big boy!
Helpful with Dexter
-You helped hold a bottle today and you can give him the pacifier and know how to tap it gently to get him to keep it in! Thanks!

This is all I can think of for now.

Dexter's Sleeping, and AJ's Not

My Two Little Men



Dexter Update

So, Dexter, you have been giving us some good sleeps. You are definitely not 'just like AJ'. You always want to go to sleep right after you eat which I'm trying to undo, but I can only do so much. You are very restless during naps, but yet, sleeping. I have to intervene many times. However, starting back last Monday night on the 28th, you've begun to give us some nice long stretches of sleep. you'll go to sleep shortly after the dream feed, so at about 10:45pm and then sometimes sleep until 3:00 or 4:00am. It's great. It's all I can ask for, really. You usually will go back to sleep until 7:00am or so after this feed, but sometimes, you are restless like your naps (VERY GASSY), and instead Daddy or I will take you out to the living room in the bouncy chair and bounce you with our foot whilst we try to rest on the couch.

You are VERY alert. You are very strong. I wouldn't dare leaveyou on the change table unbelted, as I'm sure you're going to be able to roll any day now, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were crawling by 2 months. Crikies, you're nutso wanting to move around so much, just like in my tummy.

You like to suckle. You'd breastfeed all day long if I'd let you. We are thanking goodness for a soother because it keeps you content until nap time when needed. We have to be really careful with the swaddle because if anything even grazes your cheek, you go berserk. Poor little guy.

I think you went through your 3 week growth spurt this past few days. You had some extra feeds and some extra top ups.

I keep wishing I could put you to bed at 'bedtime', but I need to remember that I didn't start a 7:00pm bedtime with AJ until 6 weeks, and you were born 2 weeks before him, so I'll need to relax on that issue.

Some days, we're trying different things with your feeds or seeing how your naps are, and sometimes, you want to sleep all afternoon or after dinner and then it kills the night sleep, but here's a pretty average day, give or take 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

E-Eat A-Activity S-Sleep Y-Mommy's 'You time'

E - 7:00am
A - after the feed
S - 8:30-10:00 (this has been great for taking you to AJ's music class)
Y

E - 10:00am
A - after the feed
S - 11:30-1:00 (and AJ sleeps 12-2:00, so I get one hour to myself)
Y

E - 1:00pm
A - after the feed
S - 2:30-4:00pm
Y

E - 4:00pm
A - after the feed
S - 6:00-7:00pm
Y

E - 7:00pm
A - after the feed
S - 9:00-10:00pm
Y

E - 10:00pm (DF - formula while I pump)
A - no activity, straight back to sleep
S - 10:45pm until 3:00 or 4:00am
Y - I go to sleep

E - 3:00am while I watch 90210 YAY!
A - Nope, right back to sleep, usually
S - 4:00am-7:00am
Y

sometimes, I can't seem to keep you awake after the 4:00pm feed and then you want to be awake after. I may have to do some cluster feeding. Just trying to watch you and see what works best. Each day's a little different.

Sometimes, you wake at around 1:30am and 4:30am. That's not too bad, except that I don't get to watch 90210.

You had your 'operation' last Monday on the 28th and it went well. Like AJ, you pretty much slept through it. The timing all worked well. It didn't seem as stressful as when we took AJ. Thank goodness I had your daddy with me. He went in the room with you. I just can't do it.

Your daddy took you to your follow up appointment a couple days later, all by himself. He took some expressed milk in a bottle for you. it was weird for me to be baby-free that morning, but AJ I spent some special time together. You were a good boy for Daddy.

Have I mentioned how wonderful your daddy's been? He virtually had no sleep the first week doing all the caring for you since I was still incapacitated, and would bring you to me for feeds and then do everything else himself, including keeping the kitchen. Much tidier than I keep it, I'll add.

Even though, he gets to sleep more now that I can almost be my normal self, he still will help at night by warming your top up formula, bringing me a drink, or bouncing you in the bouncy chair if you won't go back to sleep.

Daddy also does your baths. I've never bathed you. I can count on two hands the amount of times I've bathed AJ. Daddy is the bath-man.

AJ Update

You sir, are getting more and more manipulative at bedtime. You will do anything to not actually go to sleep. Sometimes, you will bring your car case into bed, so we have to keep that out of your room. You were taking crayons into bed, so we've had to put those up high at bedtime. You'll go get all of your stuffed animals, or every book in your room. It's ridiculous. Even though we put you in bed between 7:30pmand 7:45pm, you aren't falling asleep lately until 8:30 or 9:00pm instead of 8:15pm on the button like before. You are sleeping until 7:30am though, and rarely waking ever in the middle of the night, so you're getting a good sleep.

About once a week, you'll not go to sleep for nap time, or you won't fall asleep until near the end of nap time.

I hope you aren't one of those kids who grows out of their nap early. YIKES!

You are being a great big brother and very helpful. You enjoy our special playdough or colouring time during Dexter's 10:00am feed.

You still love to colour, love books, especially the library book It Looked Like Spilt Milk. I'm going to have to buy that for you.

We are planning your 2nd birthday. I can't believe you're almost 2!! We'll keep it small this year and have it at Go Bananas. You really like that place, but whether or not you'll actually play is hit and miss.

I've pin poited your whacked out mispronunciation of words ....
you hardly use consonants. Like for Ice Cream Cone, you'll say,
i = ice
eee = cream
own = cone

Hmmmm, not sure what that's all about.

You are also still facinated with signing. It's like you're rediscovering it. It's pretty cute.

You're a Big Brother!

All About AJ

You are a BIG BROTHER now!!!
You are quite excited and intrigued by Dexter. You are a good big brother. You want to help, but you're not in his face. You aren't rough with him, and you are still just being yourself. If anything, you seem to be quite enjoying all the extra attention and gifts you are getting. I made sure that I had all of your playdough stuff set up for when I breastfeed Dexter and you are loving that special Mummy and AJ time during those feeds. One way that you are different is that you are more affectionate lately. More hugs, kisses, and 'cute' faces. I got to take you to music on Thursday when Dexter was 9 days old. You only had to miss one day!

Well it's been a couple months since I updated your blog.

What can I say? I've stopped keeping track of 'words' and 'phrases' that you say because I think it's just safe to say that you 'talk' and have for quite some time. Your pronunciation is still pretty whack for a lot of words, but that's okay.

Pee pee on the potty has totally regressed. Although you will always pee on the potty when we take you, you aren't telling us when you need to go anymore, you aren't 'holding it', and you're peeing a lot. Actually, to the point that we are a little concerned. However, on a positive note, you ARE pooping in the potty regularly now for this past week. Seems that being a big brother pushed you in the right direction.

You can sing the ABC's now. You are a little obsessed, sometimes making me sing it with you upwards of 25 times during a drive in the car. You have about 2 or 3 toys that play the ABC song too and it's your favourite thing about them.

You can also count to ten, but you're not quite accurately pointing and counting as you go. But you'll count steps as we go up or your blocks as you build a tower, and things like that.

You can identify some letters, thanks to us, I guess, and your fridge phonics.

You identify your name too.

You know that your other name is Alton.

I don't think I updated about how Christmas went.
It was great. I definitely bought too many stocking stuffers and gifts. You had to spend so much time opening everything that you didn't even get to play with any of your toys until after your nap.

You really loved all of your gifts, but some immediate favourites were..
-Any and all cars and trucks (hot wheels and others)
-this wooden train from Auntie Heather that has stackable parts.
-A Dress Me Elmo from Auntie Erica, but that obsession was only for a week or so, and now you just play with it like any of your other toys.
-Your car case from Auntie Jen. You love to lug that case up and down the hall, open it to get your cars, and race them on your rug or your train track.
-Your Thomas and Percy set from Grand-Dan. Now your track can be made extra big!!! And you have trains from the real show!
-Your doctor kit. Since coming to so many doctor's appointments with me and watching me take my insulin, this doctor kit has been a real gem! You love to take my blood pressure, and you were 'injecting me' with 'Dexter medicine' about 10 times a day for a while there!
-You really liked your slippers too, come to think of it.

Gifts You Grew Fond Of...
-Your Fisher Price Little People Racing Ramps Garage from Gram which we've been keeping at gram's house since you were going to be staying there for 4 days while I was in the hospital.
-Your Fisher Price busy Day Home from Santa. I didn't realise that I had to teach you how to play make believe. I did, and now it's really fun to watch you make the characters interact.
-Your Fridge Phonics from Shauna and from Mommy and Daddy. Shauna's plays the ABC song, so it's got you hooked.
-Your Little Leaps Electronic Story Book. Once you found the page that plays the ABC song, you were hooked on that too.

Gifts That Are on the Back Burner
-Great Auntie Brenda got you Hokey Pokey Elmo. You are quite freaked out by this and not quite ready to give elmo another chance just yet. You are allowing him to stay tucked in the corner of the living room, but you don't like him coming out from there.

All About Dexter

Dexter, you were born via scheduled c-section (not due to lack of trying to go into labour early) on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 11:31am. You weighed a whopping 9lbs 4oz thanks to my Gestational Diabetes.

You had your days and nights mixed up which I expected due to you being born in the morning, but slowly we're changing you over.

You are 10 days old today, and you've spent 2 nights in your crib and many naps. We kicked you out of our room even earlier than AJ! You're already a true second born.

Yesterday, you accompanied AJ and I to AJ's music class. You were such a good boy and you slept through the whole class.

We've been giving you some formula as well as breastfeeding. You haven't gained as much weight as the midwives would like, so I'm trying to squeeze in some extra feeds. For the most part though, you are feeding every 3 hours including the night. You gave us a long 4 hour stretch for maybe one or two nights, but that's it. However, I can't complain. Last night you fed at 1:00am and 4:00am and went straight back to sleep after. You woke at 6:45am.

You are a good little guy. A little sleepy. I just can't keep you awake during feeds. You're eating, but your eyes are closed the whole time.

You look a lot like AJ did in the early days, just bigger with a thicker neck. I'm so curious to see what you'll really look like one day.

Welcome to the world Dexter Alexander Clark!

Nifty November

Well, as I've continued to say... When do I stop recording your words. I can't keep up. The ones I write today are not all the things you've been saying in November, but rather the ones I remember to write on the calendar. You are stringing words together. You are explaining things. You are trying to count more. You are trying to sing the ABC's. I just can't keep up.

I'm still not really introducing any signs and you're not really watching you signing DVDs lately, as you'd much rather watch Sesame Street ABCs or The Muppet Show.

I don't know if there are even any new signs this month at all. It's kind of obsolete now. You and I will still use them when talking sometimes out of habit, but I'm by no means teaching you any new ones. Your signing did come in handy this month though. I'll try to remember to explain what happened.

Here are the words you say now on your own, not just copying (or at least as many as I can remember). Now, I'm not saying that you pronounce all these perfectly or anything.

Talking!!!!

New in the past month
Phrases...
AJ uses ________ /Mommy uses _________ / Daddy uses ________
(insert colour you are using with the colouring book)
up high
I love you (to refer to the book Snuggle Puppy in a sing song voice)
Daddy work
Mommy work
Daddy's stuff (the stuff you aren't supposed to touch, but Daddy keep strewn about anyhow)
one, two, three
eight, nine, eight, nine, eight, nine (which to you, is actual couting)
mommy's toast
mommy's __________ (you're big into possession)
'scuse me
mommy sit/daddy sit/Kimmy sit (or whoever you want to sit with you)
chicken soup
daddy's keys
mommy's soup
bathing suit
mommy's drink
where are you?
Daddy's brush
Mommy's toothbrush/AJ's toothbrush
good bye ________ (anything you're saying good bye to. Not really new, but you say it a lot more)
good bye radio
Mommies and Daddies (these are to refer to things you aren't supposed to touch/they're for mommyies and daddies only)
Papa's puppy
Daddy's truck
Big big truck, ya ya ya
Not small, no no no
daddy's light
Mommy's towel
hockey no tennis (this is for Grand-Dan from Papa)
baby shoes
yucky yucky yucky
I don't know
New Words...
pumpkins
puffies
mittens
snowman
Christmas Tree
Thomas
animals - the actual word and naming way more animals too. Ones that I didn't know you knew. I haven't written them all down because there's too many and I haven't come across one you don't know.
brown
orange (the colour)
green
black
turquoise
pink
white (in addition to the colours you could already say and identify)
straw
almost
muppets
Spiderman
underwear
finished (you were only signing this before)
celery
moon? Is this new?
clouds
Santa
diaper
Old Phrases You Could Already Say...
help me
help please
I don't know
Mommy Baby Dexter (when you point at my tummy)
apple juice
apple juice with no water please (applish, no awa, peas) LOL. This is my fave.
fish crackers (goldfish)
brush teeth
Gram eyes (when you see Gram's glasses on the table)
Older Words that you could already say-
yucky
turkey
Mummy, but you don't use it very often. You still prefer Ma ma (very Italian)
pillow
toothpaste
cheese
three
jacket
green
more (finally! You would only sign this one, before, but not say it!)
please - or were you already saying that?
body parts, finally, such as, but not limited to....
eyes
ears
hair
nose
toes
feet
legs
tummy
Elmo
Armaan
Dia
Kitchen
big
chicken
door
Makenna
cereal
drink
night night
owie
bus
airplane
orange
duck
purple
blue
yellow
red
Auntie
hot
granola
swing
Daddy with the eeeeee sound at the end
My Daddy
star
circle
Dexter
Kimmy
Gram
grapes
cheese
library
cake
love you
thank you (much better than before)
potty
oops
light
okay
seven
eight
nine
two
five
ten
strawberry
Marvin
Sassy
Shakes
zebra
shirt
ready
peas
graham
Mommy with the eeeeeee sound at the end
move
Erica
Mmmmhmmmmm (for yes)
dog - but this has been for months and months. I guess I just forgot to write it in.
chicken
balloon
Toboo (It sounds more like boot-boo. It's pretty darn cute.)
bike
lion
fish
got it
hello (you already said and signed 'hi', but you've started saying 'hello' on your phone)
stroller (many details to follow on that)
bathtub
all done (like when a DVD is over or a book ends)
colours (crayons)
no
bum
poo poo
bird
train
marble
buttons
up/down (for the teeter totter and 'the kids on the bus')
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum and Mamaaaaa (very Italian-like)
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Pig - snorting (FINALLY!)
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof and you 'pant' now too!!!
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa
Lion - Raa
Tiger - Raa (I forgot that you could already say this too.
Rabbit - it's like a kissing/eating sound KWIM?
***you refuse to say quack or oink****

Signs!!!

You are still stringing signs together like 'more milk please'. You think this is pretty neato. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs in the last month-
-None new that I can think of.
Older Signs, or signs I've already mentioned in the last few posts-
cereal
fish cracker (goldfish)
apple
shrugging shoulders - should I count that? It's pretty cute.
car
drink
airplane
ice cream
orange
hot
swing
cheese
library
toast
thank you
cracker
bike
potty
tickle (you made this one up)
-A bunch of others you've made up to try and tell me specifically which DVD you'd like, but darned if I can figure them out. This is frustrating.
bird
train
sorry
want
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib (made this one up yourself)
thank you
cookie
cereal
bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

More AJ Updates

Books
You are still loving books, and you love to read them when you wake up in the morning if you're waiting for us to come get you or if you aren't quite ready to go to sleep. You'll turn up the dimmer switch on your lamp (that you aren't supposed to touch) and then you'll get out your books. You actually tell me to get out of your room "bye bye mommy or night night mommy" cutting me off mid sentence so that I'll get out and I won't see you turn up your lamp and get books out.

Counting and Singing
You are still loving to count, especially as we go up and down stairs and you like trying to sing along to the ABC song. When you count, it's either 1, 2, 3 or 8,9,8,9,8,9,8,9,8,9,8,9. When we're counting together, you'll say the number that comes next, but when you're counting by yourself, you have preferred numbers.
You also like to sing the "Spiderman" song when we're putting on your spiderman underwear. It sounds like, "I-man I-man blah blurg blah blah I-man"
You also like to sing with Daddy in the new big truck to the tune of the Honey Combs commercial in the 80s. It goes, "big big truck, ya ya ya. It's not small, no no no"

Eating
Nothing's changed much, but you're back to off and on eating well at breakfast. Dinner's usually pretty good, but you've had a bit of an attitude lately.
You're still a veggie lover and I'm so glad! Broccoli, carrots, peas, cauliflower, corn, Edamame beans. Bring it on! Those are your main faves.

Sleeping
You're still loving your new room, but there's more to do in there which means that sometimes, when you shoud go to sleep, you sneak around to find your crayons and turn up your lamp so you can go colour.

Drawing and Colouring
You still LOVE colouring and you also like to be very bossy when you colour and tell people which colour they should be using. You can now accurately pick out the colours pink, red, green, brown, white, turquoise, blue, black, purple, and yellow and you can say them too. You just love to colour and draw. Seriously, I really can't even begin to explain how much you like doing this. And if someone will colour with you, then you're in Heaven!


Potty Training
You still wear big boy underwear all day at home, and you wear pull ups the rest of the time. Your night time sleeps would be dry if I came to get you as soon as you wake in the morning, but I don't, so you're wet when I come. One of your potties is in your room. Sometimes you go sit on it to poo, but with your pants on. You've been pooping in the potty more. I think it still scares you a bit. You can pull off your pants and underwear, but you don't necessarily think to. Your naps are dry unless you need to poop during your nap, but for the most part I've fixed the poops from ruining your naps by giving you cheese at breakfast and lunch and not giving you fruit at lunch and holding it off instead until your 3:00ish snack.
You are quite proud of yourself with this potty training and are sometimes quite upset if you have an accident. It's cute.
You can also put on your own pants. I thought this kind of belonged in the potty training section.

Locked in the Car, Again
So, I locked you in the car for the second time in your life. BCAA was not so fast this time and it took them 40 minutes to come! Thank goodness you can use and understand signs. I kept letting you know through the window that we'd go get ice cream and this seemed to get you through the 4 times or so that you started to wig out.


That's all I can think of right now.

OOOOOOOOHHHH! October!!

So, it's getting hard to say when I should stop writing down your new words. I'm not really introducing as many signs now, so those have slowed way down, but you're still using them and so am I. However, with words, geesh! Now your stringing them together even more and more than before, so do I write new phrases too? You're also answering questions like never before, and not just with yesses and nos, but with stories and words and real answers. Your poor little brother (or sister, but probably brother) I'm sure will never get this much attention. I'll start with your new vocabulary like usual, and then an update as to what you've been up to.

Here are the words you say now on your own, not just copying (or at least as many as I can remember). Now, I'm not saying that you pronounce all these perfectly or anything.

Talking!!!!

New in the past month
Phrases...
help me
help please
I don't know
Mommy Baby Dexter (when you point at my tummy)
apple juice (applish)
apple juice with no water please (applish, no awa, peas) LOL. This is my fave.
fish crackers (goldfish)
brush teeth
Gram eyes (when you see Gram's glasses on the table)
Words...
yucky
turkey
Mummy, but you don't use it very often. You still prefer Ma ma (very Italian)
pillow
toothpaste
three
jacket
green
more (finally! You would only sign this one, before, but not say it!)
please - or were you already saying that?
body parts, finally, such as, but not limited to....
eyes
ears
hair
nose
toes
feet
legs
tummy

Older Words that you could already say-
big
chicken
door
Makenna
cereal
drink
night night
owie
bus
airplane
orange
duck
purple
blue
yellow
red
Auntie
hot
granola
swing
Daddy with the eeeeee sound at the end
My Daddy
star
circle
Dexter
Kimmy
Gram
grapes
cheese
library
cake
love you
thank you (much better than before)
potty
oops
light
okay
seven
eight
nine
two
five
ten
strawberry
Marvin
Sassy
Shakes
zebra
shirt
ready
peas
graham
Mommy with the eeeeeee sound at the end
move
Erica
Mmmmhmmmmm (for yes)
dog - but this has been for months and months. I guess I just forgot to write it in.
chicken
balloon
Toboo (It sounds more like boot-boo. It's pretty darn cute.)
bike
lion
fish
got it
hello (you already said and signed 'hi', but you've started saying 'hello' on your phone)
stroller (many details to follow on that)
bathtub
all done (like when a DVD is over or a book ends)
colours (crayons)
no
bum
poo poo
bird
train
marble
buttons
up/down (for the teeter totter and 'the kids on the bus')
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum and Mamaaaaa (very Italian-like)
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Pig - snorting (FINALLY!)
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof and you 'pant' now too!!!
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa
Lion - Raa
Tiger - Raa (I forgot that you could already say this too.
Rabbit - it's like a kissing/eating sound KWIM?
***you refuse to say quack or oink****

Signs!!!

You are still stringing signs together like 'more milk please'. You think this is pretty neato. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs in the last month-
fish cracker (goldfish)
apple
shrugging shoulders - should I count that? It's pretty cute.

Older Signs, or signs I've already mentioned in the last few posts-
cereal
car
drink
airplane
orange
hot
swing
cheese
library
toast
thank you
cracker
bike
potty
tickle (you made this one up)
-A bunch of others you've made up to try and tell me specifically which DVD you'd like, but darned if I can figure them out. This is frustrating.
bird
train
sorry
want
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib (made this one up yourself)
thank you
cookie
cereal
bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

More AJ Updates

Books
You are still loving books, and you love to read them when you wake up in the morning if you're waiting for us to come get you.

Body Parts
Last month/the month before, I mentioned that you all of a sudden became interested in pointing to body parts. I was wondering when that would happen. Well, sure enough, this past month, you just all of sudden say them all too. For goodness sake, you can point to your elbos and knees if I ask you! Where did you learn that? Anyhow, yes, you say them now too, finally!!!

Counting and Singing
You are loving to count, especially as we go up and down stairs and you like trying to sing along to the ABC song. I nailed up a big sheet of corrugated plastic under your loft bed so that when you look up, you can see the ABC's, numbers, and colours that I wrote up there. Here's a little secret.... in the upper case alphabet, I forgot the 'W'. I squished it in later, but it's driving me nutso!

In fact, you've just really started enjoying trying to sing along to things in general. You like dancing lots too. Any store that we enter that has loud music, like Future Shop, you'll just start dancing away in your stroller or cart or just stop walking and start boogying!

Eating
You have a huge appetite at breakfast and dinner now, especially, dinner, but lumch is still a crap-shoot. I think you eat more at home though than at daycare or Auntie Erica's.
You like to dip your bananas into your leftover yoghurt or milk in the morning.
You're still a veggie lover and I'm so glad! Broccoli, carrots, peas, cauliflower, corn, Edamame beans. Bring it on! Those are your main faves.

Sleeping
You made the big move into your new room a week ago, and you don't seemed phased by it at all. You seem to also understand that your old room is Dexter's. Hmmm, not sure if you really do, but it sure seems like it!

Drawing and Colouring
You still LOVE colouring and you also like to be very bossy when you colour and tell people which colour they should be using. You can now accurately pick out the colours blue, black, purple, and yellow. Maybe more, but these are the ones I've noticed. You just love to colour and draw. Seriously, I really can't even begin to explain how much you like doing this. And if someone will colour with you, then you're in Heaven!

Personality
So, although, according to the Baby Whisperer, Tracy Hogg, you are a Textbook/Angel, you have definitely always had some 'Touchy' in there too. After reading her toddler book, I'm trying hard to understand and accept that more. I'm trying not to push you to 'go get em'. Like, when we're at the park and there's other kids there already, I'm just accepting that you are going to take a while to get warmed up, if you get warmed up at all. Unless, Jack is with you, then you'll jump in right away. I gave up on having you 'perform' your latest talents a long long long long long time ago. You are so silent when we're out, until you get really warmed up. However, Hallowe'en night may have helped with this. You perhaps are under the impression that strangers will gladly give you candy all the time now!

Hallowe'en
We went Trick or Treating with the Joniecs. You had a great time and warmed up immediately, much to my surprise! You must've gone up to 30 or 40 doors. Once you saw that the first house gave you a sucker, you were hooked and saying "Tri-treat" before we were even getting to the doors. We had to fight you a few times to get you into your stroller so we could get to the next place fast. You just wanted to walk the whole way and at 8:00pm, you were still rarin' to go! You were a cute little lion this year. I hope to post a pic soon.

Apple Barn - Pumpkin Patch
I took you, a week ago, to the Apple Barn Pumpkin Patch. You had a blast riding the tractors on the tractor trail, petting animals in the petting zoo, slapping pumpkins, playing at the park, taking a hay ride and drinking hot apple cider and more and more. At closing time at 5:30pm, when we had been there for 2.5 hours, you still wanted MORE!
I was a naughty Mommy and took you out for your first Happy Meal after that. You loved the apple slices dipped in caramel.
[img]http://www.richardandsonja.com/gallery/d/13026-2/dscf3631.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.richardandsonja.com/gallery/d/12897-2/dscf3588.jpg[/img]

Potty Training
Well, you're practically there. You have much better days at home than at daycare, but that's to be expected. About 3 days before Thanksgiving, something triggered you to realise how to just make the pee come out right away. Now, you pee every time I put you on the potty and you tell me when you need to go potty.
You were big boy underwear all day at home, and you wear pull ups the rest of the time. Your night time sleeps would be dry if I came to get you as soon as you wake in the morning, but I don't, so you're wet when I come. One of your potties is in your room. I'm hoping you'll take the initiative soon. You will if you have no pants or underwear on. I just need to get you thinking to take them off yourself. You can pull off your pants and underwear, but you don't necessarily think to. Your naps are dry unless you need to poop during your nap, but for the most part I've fixed the poops from ruining your naps by giving you cheese at breakfast and lunch and not giving you fruit at lunch and holding it off instead until your 3:00ish snack.
You are quite proud of yourself with this potty training and are sometimes quite upset if you have an accident. It's cute.
You can also put on your own pants. I thought this kind of belonged in the potty training section.

Thanksgiving
We had two Thanksgiving dinners here at our house! You enjoyed both! One was with Grand-Dan's cousin Peter (from Switzerland) and his girlfriend Valerie.

Answers
You like me asking you questions and giving you the chance to answer.
Mummy - Guess where we're going tomorrow?
AJ - Jack's!!!? or sometimes Armaan's!!?
When I asked you if you got to see Jack's new big boy bed, you said, "Whoa Wow! Trains! Airplanes!"
Too cute!

Requests
I ALWAYS water down your juice like 1:4 juice to water at least!!! You have this new affinity for apple juice though, and when you ask for it, you hate it when I head to the water cooler first. I have to show you the juice that I'm pouring in after. You like it just fine watered down, but it's the principle, I guess.
Well, the other day, you said, "Applish, no awa, please." Which translated means "Apple juice with no water, please." You sassy thing!




That's all I can think of right now.

August AND September!!!!

You will still copy any words that we want you to say, so it's impossible to write all those down.

It is also getting impossible to keep track of what you are saying without copying and the words you are signing.

Here are the words you say now on your own, not just copying (or at least as many as I can remember). Now, I'm not saying that you pronounce all these perfectly or anything.

Talking!!!!

New in the past two months.
chicken
door
Makenna
cereal
drink
night night
owie
bus
airplane
orange
duck
purple
blue
yellow
red
Auntie
hot
granola
swing
Daddy with the eeeeee sound at the end
My Daddy
star
circle
Dexter
Kimmy
Gram
grapes
cheese
library
cake
love you
thank you (much better than before)
potty
oops
light
okay
seven
eight
nine
two
five
ten
strawberry
Marvin
Sassy
Shakes
zebra
shirt
ready
peas
graham
Mommy with the eeeeeee sound at the end
move
Erica
Mmmmhmmmmm (for yes)

Older Words, or ones I've already mentioned in the last few entries.
dog - but this has been for months and months. I guess I just forgot to write it in.
chicken
balloon
Toboo (It sounds more like boot-boo. It's pretty darn cute.)
bike
lion
fish
got it
hello (you already said and signed 'hi', but you've started saying 'hello' on your phone)
stroller (many details to follow on that)
bathtub
all done (like when a DVD is over or a book ends)
colours (crayons)
no
bum
poo poo
bird
train
marble
buttons
up/down (for the teeter totter and 'the kids on the bus')
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum and Mamaaaaa (very Italian-like)
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof and you 'pant' now too!!!
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa
Lion - Raa
Rabbit - it's like a kissing/eating sound KWIM?
***you refuse to say quack or oink****

You are signing lots more now too. You are also stringing signs together like 'more milk please'. You think this is pretty neato. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs in the last two months.
cereal
car
drink
airplane
orange
hot
swing
cheese
library
toast
thank you



Older Signs, or signs I've already mentioned in the last few posts.
cracker
bike
potty
tickle (you made this one up)
-A bunch of others you've made up to try and tell me specifically which DVD you'd like, but darned if I can figure them out. This is frustrating.
bird
train
sorry
want
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib (made this one up yourself)
thank you
cookie
cereal
bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

More AJ Updates

You are still loving books. In fact, when you aren't ready to go sleep, I can hear you in your room getting out books to read in your bed.

You are way more aware of body parts than I realised. I hadn't really been harping on those too much, but when I asked you a couple months ago where everything was, you could point to them. You don't really say the body parts though. You'll copy it if I say it, but if I ask you, what's this, you don't usually tell me.
You can point to yours or my...
ears
hair
eyes
mouth
teeth
tongue
arms
hands
neck
tummy
toes
feet
bum
and probably more!!

You love to count. I start and say 1 and you'll say 2, then I say 3, 4, and you'll say 5, and I'll say 6, and you'll say 7, 8, 9, 10 (but not usually all four of those in a row). You'll say the last ones after I say a number. Like you'll say 7 and I'll say 8 and you'll say 9, etc or the opposite.

You are a super duper fork and spoon efficiando. If you'd only open your mouth a little more! Then you'd be perfect!

You love Mummy's carrot strawberry shakes for breakfast on daycare days!

You got to have a fun visit at Koko's playplace to see Aili and her sister.

If I ask who's in Mummy's tummy, you say, "Dexter". You will also point to the crib if I ask where baby-Dexter will sleep.

You had a great time at the PNE at the beginning of September. You were a champ even though you didn't have a nap all day!

You are back at daycare at Dia's and loving it. You also go with Auntie Erica and Jack once and twice a week. You love that too.

You're still using the potty, but it's impossible to fully potty train you since you aren't home 2 to 3 days a week.

You are saying and signing 'thank you' much better now without me having to prompt you. That's been really sweet.

You walked right into Mill Lake on one of our walks. YUCK!

You LOVE to colour. You are a pro at holding your crayons and felts and you love to actaully colour things, not just scribble the whole page. You will colour a hat, then hands, etc. It's still scribble, of course, but strategic scribble.

You love to pant like a dog.

You love to say mmmmmmhmmmmm, for yes.

You love to say 'oops'.

And I venture to say that you can't wait to move into your new room. You just love the trucks on the walls.

You can point to some of the colours and say the colour, particularly purple, yellow, and blue, but unless it's purple, you aren't right all the time.

We didn't get to go camping this summer, but you enjoyed a trampoline and campfire night at Gram's.

We may go camping for Thanksgiving.

You also got your bottom two eye teeth, so the tooth count is now 16.

I went on a girls' weekend to Kelowna and you got to stay home with Daddy. You had a good time.

That's all I can think of right now.

Mini Update

You are now signing 'no' when you say 'no'.

You are saying 'sassy' and 'marvin', but I think you're still copying us, and not saying it on your own.

You are saying 'night night' to Daddy.

Whoa, What a July! Motor-Mouth!

Well, I've filled in the new words I've mentioned in the last few entries, and I'm adding your new ones from the past two weeks. Then I'll tell you about the 'holiday' we took.

You will copy any words that we want you to say, so it's impossible to write all those down. However, I've almost been able to keep track of the words that you are saying and signing.
Here are the words you say now (or at least as many as I can remember). Now, I'm not saying that you pronounce all these perfectly or anything.

New in the past two weeks or so.
chicken
balloon
Toboo (It sounds more like boot-boo. It's pretty darn cute.)
bike
lion
fish
got it
hello (you already said and signed 'hi', but you've started saying 'hello' on your phone)
stroller (many details to follow on that)
bathtub
all done (like when a DVD is over or a book ends)

Older Words, or ones I've already mentioned in the last few entries.
colours (crayons)
no
bum
poo poo
bird
train
marble
buttons
up/down (for the teeter totter and 'the kids on the bus')
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum ana Mamaaaaa (very Italian-like)
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa
Lion - Raa
Rabbit - it's like a kissing/eating sound KWIM?
***you refuse to say quack or oink****

You are signing lots more now too. You are also stringing signs together like 'more milk please'. You think this is pretty neato. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs in the last two weeks or so
cracker
bike
potty
tickle (you made this one up)
-A bunch of others you've made up to try and tell me specifically which DVD you'd like, but darned if I can figure them out. This is frustrating.

Older Signs, or signs I've already mentioned in the last few posts.
bird
train
sorry
want
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib (made this one up yourself)
thank you
cookie
cereal
bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

More AJ Updates

You are enjoying your books even more than before. You like to point at different items and name them whether I'm with you or not. You also like to point to things when I ask you something like "Where are the eyes?" or "Where are the socks?"

Last weekend we went to Penticton and Kelowna. Penticton was for Daddy's work, and Kelowna was because the car didn't want to come home on the Coquilhala. You caught a cold. You got to go to the beach. You are tanning very nicely. You had some good naps in the car. You got to stay up late on Friday night. You DID NOT want to sleep in your playpen, so you slept on the couch the first night and on the big queen size bed the second night. You naughty thing. I think we need to buy a portable DVD player for long car rides.

You like to talk on the phone by wedging it between your ear and your shoulder.

Okay, so for quite some time you've been saying this word in reference to cars/trucks/vans, etc. "Goyuhhhhhh". Well, I finally figured it out. You are calling them all 'strollers'. Here's the breakdown....
two wheels = bike
more than two wheels = stroller (but you can say car and truck, and will repeat 'van')
more than four wheels or very long like a big rig = train

Oh, you were really testing me with that one!

My Boy, Reading a Book! Well, Not Really.

A Proud Mommy moment...
-Tonight, after your normal bedtime stories, you brought me one of your mini-colour-board-books. This one was "Green". We've probably read it once a day this particular week.
-Anyhow, I turn to the first page and say, "What's that?"
You say, "Appo" (that wasn't the impressive part because you say "appo" all the time.)
I say, "Yes, it's a green apple!"
I turn to the next page and say, "What's that?"
You say, "Coluuur".
I say, "Yes, it's colours! It's green crayons!"
Next page.
You say, "Maa bow".
I say, "Yes, it's green marbles!"
Next page.
You say, "bupbuh".
I say, "Yes, it's buttons!"
You didn't say, "socks" on the next page though.

I'm just impressed that you learned those words from me naming them a few times this week. It makes me feel like I should be reading to you even more. Uggg, I should get off the computer more.

Not sure if I mentioned in the last post, but you also say, "Shoe" now.

AJ Meets Charlie!

Yesterday, we went to see Auntie Ryan and her new baby daughter, Charlie. You loved the baby. You were beaming. The smiles wouldn't stop! You thought baby Charlie was very neat.

You are also saying, "Shoe".

And the word 'no' is really starting to get on my nerves.

No No No No No More Starbucks!!!

Well, there was some new word you were saying and for the life of me, I can't remember. Oh well. I've been having a really good time taking you to the park lately and watching you play at Toddler Town. You can go up and down the steps by yourself and down the slides by yourself. You like to go down on your butt now instead of your tummy.

You've been using your pretend baby bottles to feed 'baby' and Monkey. It's pretty cute.

You are stringing signs together over this past week and a bit. You will sign things like...
more, milk, please
or
please, more, DVD

Also, you say, "bum". You spank the bum of the character in one of your potty books and say, "Bum!!!!"

Here's the big news though...

You finally say, "No!"

Not that I've been looking forward to you saying this, but more like, waiting. You say it now, and it is the cutest sounding thing you say. It's even cuter than when you sign and say, "Help".

Auntie Jen and I are slowly realising that we just can't take you and Makenna to Starbucks anymore. You two are just way too loud and excited. We just feel too badly for all the people who are in there trying to 'get away from it all'. I wish there was a baby-friendly coffee shop.

You are back into driving your ride on cars around the house. You just go all over the place and have a great time. Also, you've finally discovered your bouncing zebra. You had a blast on it yesterday.

ACK! More Signing!

When are you going to stop!? Today at the park, you signed 'bird' for the geese, and you used the 'train' sign when you saw a big rig B train!

Also, you turfed back up Monkey (Trunk Monkey) out of the stroller! He's lost!

And, you're sleeping in your big boy bed for your nap today!

Another Night in the Big Boy Bed!

Well, last night, I didn't even get to ask you if you'd rather sleep in your crib or your big boy bed. You right away pointed to your big boy bed and giggled.

You went to bed at 7:40pm, like usual, and fell asleep about 10 minutes later. But this time, instead of sleeping your normal 11 hours, you slept for 12! You don't normally do that. We'll see if your nap is shorter because of that. Hmmmm.

I think I already mentioned in the last post that you say 'auntie' now and you say and sign 'train', but just in case I didn't, I thought I should write it again.

Another Word or Two!

After a fun overnight trip to Gram and Papa's house with Auntie Kim and Uncle Paul too, you came back being able to say, "Auntie"


You also can say and sign, 'train'.

Sonja C

Just a Mini Update

You can now also sign 'sorry' and 'want'. You are also saying 'poo poo' and 'bum' (from potty training).

Last night you slept in your big boy bed all night.

I Can't Keep Up With All Of Your Words! And Some Big Brother News!

I literally can't keep up anymore!

You will copy any words that we want you to say, so it's impossible to write all those down. However, I've almost been able to keep track of the words that you are saying and signing.
Here are the words you say now (or at least as many as I can remember).

Newer Words
baby
flower
book
game
play
apple
orange
shoes
toast
help
Paul
bye bye
hi Daddy
bye daddy
cookie
car
that's all
truck

Old Words
good bye (really you say 'good good')
thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
garbage
hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa

You are signing lots more now too. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.

Newer Signs
baby
ball
game
play
flower
book
finished (you already knew this one, but now, you're way more consistent)
fruit
cereal
dvd / sign
monkey
play
help
bib
thank you
cookie
cereal

Old Signs
Bath
sleep
mum
Dad
hat
Hi
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

Other AJ Updates

You are nodding your head 'yes' and 'no' and you'll say no, but only if I'm asking you 'yes' or 'no', not to tell me 'no' to something, thank goodness.

You like to copy me when we count. We count things a lot. For instance, we count the items that you didn't eat as we throw them in the garbage. By the way, you are very good at throwing things in the garbage, if only I could get you to stop throwing your cup in there too! You help me clean up!

You think you are very funny!

Oh, yes, back to the counting thing. So you say 'two' along with me, and sometimes 'three', but then you don't say anything until I get to around 'seven'. At this point, you'll repeat all the numbers after I say them. It's so cute. You are very good at saying 'eighteen', but 'fifteen' sounds hilarious.

My favourite 'sign' that you do is 'help'. You get so frustrated with some of you moving toys when they get stuck on doorways. You'll yell out. I always say, "Do you need help?" and, of course, I sign it when I say it. Well, you've been saying, "help" for a while now, and it sounds more like 'hup'. But now you are signing it too and it's soooooo cute.

You are quite obsessed with your DVD's, namely your signing ones, which is the ony reason why it doesn't bother me so much. At least you're learning something, right?

You are absolutely LOVING our pool, thanks to Uncle Tarrie and Auntie Christine. You can actually stand up in it. You love to walk around and throw your ball. You love playing with your outdoor toys too. If only we had a fence. At least you aren't trying to leave the yard. Luckily, you don't really like our prickly grass too much! Finally, not mowing and watering has a good side!

Today, we went to Aldergrove Lake with Auntie Erica, Jack, Auntie Jen, Makenna, Dionne, Owen, Nadia, and Angela. You had a blast in the water getting me to lift you up and down to 'The Wheels on the Bus'. You also walked around a bit, and you tried Makenna's boat. You were making motor sounds and really enjoyed it. I let you drink juice today. Not watered down juice, but a WHOLE drink box. Not to mention, you shared my fries with me. Mmmmmmm. You were such a good boy even though I messed up your naps. It was all in the name of fun, though, so it was okay!

Mommy has a baby in her tummy again. Thank goodness! You have a little brother or sister on the way for January 23rd. I've been trying to teach you that there's a baby in my tummy. Now that you're signing 'baby', you'll use it for that soon.

You will still go to daycare at Dia's, but only once a week in September because Auntie Erica will watch you on Mondays now, and still every second Wednesday. I will watch Jack every second Wednesday, and every Friday. You love playing with Jack. Sometimes you cry when he leaves. He's your good buddy.

Potty training. Well, this is a story and a half....
I don't regret starting the 'early-start-potty-training' at 9 months because I like the the potty is an every day part of life and you don't hate it. Like before, you are almost consistently peeing in the potty after your nap and before your bath or shower. However, with not being able to take you to the potty while you were at daycare on my workdays, the consistency wasn't there. Now that work is over for me, I thought, 'Great! I can get back on top of this.' The problem now is that you know what pee and poop are all about. You are cheeky too. You've been holding it until I take you off the potty, and then you go in your diaper. Or you tap your potty to tell me to change you. Or you sign 'potty' to get me to change you. On one hand, I'm happy you know what's going on. On the other, I'm sick of you peeing in my bathroom doorway after you sign that you are 'finished' on the potty. You little buttmunch!!!

Well, I think that's about it. You are at a super-fun age right now. I can't believe I'm going to have another one running around a year and a half from now. Crazy! I think you're going to be a good big brother. You are very well behaved. I hope that doesn't mean that your brother or sister will be the opposite!

Two babies!!! Whoa!!!

A Few More Signs...

Okay, so you are also signing....
"Fruit" and also, possibly, "Cereal", I'll have to test that out later.
You also sign "signs". It appears to be your way of telling me you'd like to watch the signing DVD.

May's Many Milestones

Oh my goodness, I haven't updated in so long! In some ways, I've thought you've just been mosying along, but really, you've been doing lots!

You're practically running. You love going up and down curbs and doorways. You love walking. You barely crawl at all except at daycare. You've been walking for about a month and a half and you've been getting up to standing almost as long.

Since the last post, you have been sick, teething, and had an ear infection. That really threw off your balance for a while there.

You've been getting better, slowly, at solving your own problems instead of just screaming. And our tactic of teaching you 'uh oh' when you fall instead of running to pick you up so that you cry for attention has been working really well. You aren't crying about little things half as much. A couple kids at music grabbed at you a bit, and you hardly flinched. It's so great. Of course, if you are actually injured, I still run and give you kisses and hugs. Your becoming a lot more independent.

Your music classes and swimming lessons have been wonderful. I liked the new swim teacher. She has you gliding/swimming to me in the water! Under water! The music classes have both been so great for you. You're singing back to 'sol mi' and you love to copy 'ba ba ba ba' to a beat slapping your lap. You love the hello song where we do different things with the egg shakers and you can even do the things the beg kids are doing with the eggs (roll them, tap them, tap your head, tap your knees, shake them) except usually, you're about one behind. Silly.

Today you got to use your bubble mower outside when Daddy mowed the lawn too. Uncle Tarrie came and set up a big pool for you. You also got to hang out in your little wading pool for a couple hours while I weeded. You've been such a good player.

Here are the words you say now (or at least as many as I can remember). I seem to think you've been saying lots, but I can't think of them. And you pretty much will try to copy any words we say.
new - good bye (really you say 'good good')
new - thank you (sounds more like kay-q)
new - Papa (for Grandpa - Ken)
new - Gampa (for Grand-Dan)
new - garbage
newer - hat
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum
Dada
Jack
cat
bath
toothbrush
cracker
tractor

Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa

You are signing lots more now too. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.
new - Bath
new - sleep
new - mum (since yesterday)
newer - Dad (for about 3 or so weeks) You kind of hit your head
new - hat
Hi (not new, but I never wrote it in before)
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy or just on the change table if I ask you to)
Dog

That's all I can think of right now!

AJ's April

Well you've been taking steps for while now, but Tuesday night (April 24th) was the first time you left one place and got to another by means of walking! By the next day, you were walking all over the place when I took you and Jack to a playgroup. The next two days at music, you were walking right across the room. Auntie Kimmy and I even let you walk around at the mall.

This month has just been another BOOM in achievements. You understand so much of what we say. You'll go get things if we ask for them. You'll follow an instruction. Words are rolling out of you like nobody's business. You'll copy any words we say, but here's just a sample of some of the words you'll say on your own...
ball
buh bye
hi
up
down
bubbles
Mum
Dada
Jack
cat
bath (started really pronouncing the 'th' sound a couple of days ago, maybe on the 25th or 26th)
toothbrush (said for the first time on the 15th)
cracker (said at the end of last month, I believe)

You added the chicken sound 'cluck' and the cat sound 'meow' to your repetoire of animal noises on the 7th April. Here are the animal sounds you currently say.
Cow - brooo
Cat - mow
Dog - woof woof
Monkey - uh uh (instead of ooh ooh)
Elephant - pfhhh (like a trunk noise, hard to explain)
Chicken - cluck cluck (you actually click your tongue)
Sheep - baaa
Rooster - cock doo
Bear - Raa

You are signing lots more now too. You'll copy a whole bunch of the signs of the signing DVDs when the kids are doing them, but here are some of the ones you'll initiate and do on your own.
Bubbles
Please/like
More
Finished
Gone
Milk
Water
Eat
Change (you'll sign change if you're poopy)
Dog

Potty training has really gone in the pooper, pun intended. Ever since you got sick, you just aren't peeing in the potty like you used to. Part of it, is that I'm not on the ball enough and I miss your cues. Not to mention that I have you out of the house a lot, and miss the chances to take you.

You're on one nap now, no matter what time you get up in the morning and it's working really well. On average, you are sleeping 12:30-2:30, a short time after your lunch.

We went to the Island to see Grannie and Papa on the weekend of the 14th before they headed to Nova Scotia. The ferry ride was a blast. We fed you an early dinner before we left, and just took some snacks and your bedtime bottle. We sat up front near the kids play area. At first you were weary of all the kids, but soon you warmed up. You played throw and catch with one girl, and you played on the slide with a whole bunch of kids. You went up the stairs and down the slide, up and down, up and down. On the way back, you didn't take any time to warm up at all, you just ran/crawled right to the slide and went for it! You had a good time at Granny and Papa's.

You've been super picky with your food since turning one and since being sick. It's been a struggle trying to figure out what to feed you. I finally figured out that you'll eat any veggies cut up super small and mixed wit a little bit of ranch dip.

You love your slide. We put it in the playroom next to your tent and tunnel. You climb up one side and you slide down the other on your tummy just like we showed you on the ferry.

That's all I can think of. There's more words and more signs, I'm sure, but I can't think of them right now.

Oh wait, no, you have 12 teeth now because the one year molars on your right came in too!

Another Month of Many Many Milestones

Yet another month has passed! You are just learning more and more every day!

March 8th
-On your real birthday, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Paul came by with a birthday gift (magnetix) and a cake! You gobbled up the whole piece! You loved it!

March 9th
-We start to realise your facination with towels on people's heads after a shower.

March 10th or so
-I was washing you on the change table, washing your nether-regions, and you signed 'more' over and over again! You naughty boy!

March 11th
-Today was your 'family birthday' and Grandma's. She put on a wonderful party for you. Lots of aunties, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. So many wonderful, thoughtful gifts!

March 12th-16th
-You got your bottom left molar and you start pretending to do your hair with me when I do my hair.

March 18th
-Today was your BIG birthday pool party! It was soooo fun! So many friends and famiy! You had so much fun swimming and eating cake! You were a good boy!

March 19th-23rd
-I tried you on one nap over Spring Break since you did so well with one nap at daycare, but to avail. You will not sleep more than an hour for me in the afternoon if you haven't had a morning nap. ARG! But then again, I like you having two naps, so thanks!
-Top left molar comes in and your bottom left lateral incisor.
-You have around 10 teeth now!

March 25th
-You are saying and signing "hi" all the time now. You touch your hand to your head. You say 'hi' when we arrive at the house.

March 27th
-You are FINALLY blowing bubbles in the bathtub.
-When Daddy says "Hiiiieeeeyaaa" in the cathtub, you kick your leg out a bunch of times! So cute!

March 29th
-We had lunch with Silas and Allison!

March 30th
-You are very facinated by my Eeyore pajamas. You think the picture is very neat.
-You are climbing on the couch! Oh no! And you climbed onto Daddy's laptop desk on the end table. ARG!!!!!

March 31st
-Today Daddy wanted to take you to the aquarium. I thought that you would like it, but I had no idea that you would LOVE it!!!!
-You were banging on the beluga tank and yelling at them. You loved the shark tank. Things surprise you when they came by out of nowhere. You were scared of the 'ugly' fish. I thought that was neat that you knew what 'ugly' was.

April 5th and 6th
-Now you are signing 'please/like' as well. I think there's more things you are signing, but I can't remember.
-You've been throwing a ball now!!! Yay!
-You can say, "Buh Bye".
-When Daddy comes in the door, you say, "Hi"
-When we ask you... "What does a ____ say?", you say...
brooo for a cow
raaa for a bear
cack-doo for a rooster
ooh ohh for a monkey
pppphhhhh for an elephant

YAY FOR AJ BECOMING A BIG BOY!