We headed down to the farm to spend some time with Dominic's parents. Here are a few of my favorite photos of the trip.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Spring update
I looked at this blog for the first time in months and couldn't believe the last post was Aug. 2011. And it doesn't even count because it's a camping packing list. Then I remembered I started a draft after AJ turned 2 and didn't publish it. I think I planned on adding pictures or something. Anyway I just published it so if there are any viewers left out there, you get two updates today.
I'll start with AJ since he's changing the most. Speech therapy continues and he's doing fantastic. For awhile we tracked his single words and he was up to 100 (ish). They're getting more complex, like yesterday he said 'ketchup.' And he's putting words together like "mow guy" (the kid who mows grandma's lawn). We're getting lots of Why? and What's that? questions.
He's gotten a lot better at managing his temper. Biting and hitting are barely issues anymore. He has found other ways to resist or show displeasure, but it's mostly verbal. The cool thing about him is that he forgets and forgives really quickly. One minute he's crying in angst, pain, devastation, whatever; the next minute he's laughing and frolicking around.
The kid has a heart. Every day there are examples of the sweetness that defines him. One day he was eating a cookie while sitting on my lap. I teased him, pretending I was going to eat it. He pulled it away and said "No, mine!" and I said, "Oh shoot, I really love cookies." Guess what, he gave it to me. (I didn't take it, of course.) Another time, Cohen was working on dot-to-dot puzzles before dinnertime. The book remained on the table and he wanted to do more after he finished eating. His pencil was missing. He wondered where it went and started looking behind his plate on and the floor, etc. AJ continued eating, seemingly oblivious to the pencil situation. Then without a word, he jumped off his chair, walked to the pencil drawer and gave Cohen a different pencil. "He doe." (Here you go). Dominic and I just shook our heads and smiled. Such a sweet, sweet boy.
He looks for fun and reasons to laugh. I love waking him up in the morning because he smiles before his eyes even open. That was true when he was a tiny baby and I'm so happy it hasn't changed. It's my favorite part of the day. A simple glance or gesture will cause him to start laughing and looking for ways to turn it into a game.
It won't be long before the crib is history. He's starting to show interest in the potty but we haven't worked with him much yet. In just a few weeks he'll transfer to the next room at daycare where it's a core part of the curriculum (is that word used for 2-year olds?).
I wish I could freeze time. He's 100% awesome, fun and easy. What a blessing.
Cohen is growing up by leaps and bounds too. In a matter of months, he went from loving Winnie the Pooh and Care Bares to Transformers and Avengers. He's all about guns, weapons, and battles. At any given time, I'm pretty sure he's fighting off the bad guys in a make believe world.
He also loves sports. He and daddy frequently play t-ball in the back yard, or shoot baskets in the driveway. He's an awesome runner. Recently we went to a park more than a mile away via bike (I pulled them in the trailer behind me). He decided he wanted to run home. I agreed and rode home the same speed he was running, totally prepared to stop so he could hop back in the trailer. Nope, he ran the whole way, in sandals.
Self control and making the right decision has been a challenge lately. He throws rocks inappropriately, intentionally hurts AJ, and plays with his toys roughly. I remind him many times a day this behavior is not allowed. It's frustrating, but I remind myself of the many, many challenging phases he has entered and overcome in his 4.5 years. Deep inside he is a kind-hearted, responsible boy who knows right and wrong. We'll get through this phase too.
He loves learning. Randomly he'll ask if we can play math, make rhymes, sound out words, etc. His preschool teachers do such a good job with him, and I'm amazed at some of the stuff he comes home with.
He is so protective of AJ. It's reassuring when we're outside and AJ wanders a little too close to the street, Cohen becomes mother hen and quickly corals him back to safety. Cohen's been a mama's boy since day 1, but he definitely enjoys AJ's company more than mine these days. When they're not fighting, they're so cute playing side-by-side. Cohen meets AJ at his level and talks to him in a way AJ understands.
It's been a tough decision whether or not to send Cohen to kindergarten this fall. We've decided to hold him back. I think he would have done fine in kindergarten academically, but he'll do that much better next year when his emotional maturity catches up to his school smarts.
My favorite times with Cohen is just hanging out talking when there's nothing else going on. He's quite the little conversationalist, and he tells detailed stories about things that happened at school or other random things in his head. He's very creative. One day we got started on a "what if we walked out our front door and..." conversation. What if there were no grass and roads, only water. And we didn't have a boat. What if our doors were locked and we didn't have a key. And he'd go into great detail describing how we'd overcome the challenges to get groceries or get to school, whatever. Pretty amazing problem solving going on, and very quick thinking.
He confides in me, and I really encourage that. I recently saw the quote "Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big. Because to them, it has always been big stuff." I really want him to understand I'm his go-to person to talk to now, through the school years and into adulthood. I think he gets it. Sometimes he wants to hide things from Dominic, which isn't cool, but I'm glad he feels safe telling me everything.
Sometimes he's such a softie. He cannot be apart from Teddy. Sometimes he cries about things that surprise me. I don't try to discourage that because it's who he is. Other times when I expect him to be affected by something, he's not. Like his BFF Ava recently moved out of the neighborhood. I delayed telling him because I thought he'd have a hard time taking it. It was nothing - he has moved on so easily. I hope they both remember their adorable little friendship for the first few years of their lives.
Even with him getting bigger and not needing me as much, and the frustration I sometimes feel when I've told him to stop throwing his toys down the stairs for the 10th time, he's my guy. He's so much like me it's scary. Sometimes I feel sad this his 5th birthday is approaching and he'll continue becoming more independent every day. Obviously my role in his life will change, just like it's already changed a hundred times. I find myself redefining what my goals are, how to manage certain things and shifting focus to meet a changing kid. Sometimes I feel a little blind... what's around the next corner and how do I know if I'm preparing him as best I can? Can someone please give me a manual for this? :)
Two beautiful, dynamic blessings, for sure.
I'll start with AJ since he's changing the most. Speech therapy continues and he's doing fantastic. For awhile we tracked his single words and he was up to 100 (ish). They're getting more complex, like yesterday he said 'ketchup.' And he's putting words together like "mow guy" (the kid who mows grandma's lawn). We're getting lots of Why? and What's that? questions.
He's gotten a lot better at managing his temper. Biting and hitting are barely issues anymore. He has found other ways to resist or show displeasure, but it's mostly verbal. The cool thing about him is that he forgets and forgives really quickly. One minute he's crying in angst, pain, devastation, whatever; the next minute he's laughing and frolicking around.
The kid has a heart. Every day there are examples of the sweetness that defines him. One day he was eating a cookie while sitting on my lap. I teased him, pretending I was going to eat it. He pulled it away and said "No, mine!" and I said, "Oh shoot, I really love cookies." Guess what, he gave it to me. (I didn't take it, of course.) Another time, Cohen was working on dot-to-dot puzzles before dinnertime. The book remained on the table and he wanted to do more after he finished eating. His pencil was missing. He wondered where it went and started looking behind his plate on and the floor, etc. AJ continued eating, seemingly oblivious to the pencil situation. Then without a word, he jumped off his chair, walked to the pencil drawer and gave Cohen a different pencil. "He doe." (Here you go). Dominic and I just shook our heads and smiled. Such a sweet, sweet boy.
He looks for fun and reasons to laugh. I love waking him up in the morning because he smiles before his eyes even open. That was true when he was a tiny baby and I'm so happy it hasn't changed. It's my favorite part of the day. A simple glance or gesture will cause him to start laughing and looking for ways to turn it into a game.
It won't be long before the crib is history. He's starting to show interest in the potty but we haven't worked with him much yet. In just a few weeks he'll transfer to the next room at daycare where it's a core part of the curriculum (is that word used for 2-year olds?).
I wish I could freeze time. He's 100% awesome, fun and easy. What a blessing.
Cohen is growing up by leaps and bounds too. In a matter of months, he went from loving Winnie the Pooh and Care Bares to Transformers and Avengers. He's all about guns, weapons, and battles. At any given time, I'm pretty sure he's fighting off the bad guys in a make believe world.
He also loves sports. He and daddy frequently play t-ball in the back yard, or shoot baskets in the driveway. He's an awesome runner. Recently we went to a park more than a mile away via bike (I pulled them in the trailer behind me). He decided he wanted to run home. I agreed and rode home the same speed he was running, totally prepared to stop so he could hop back in the trailer. Nope, he ran the whole way, in sandals.
Self control and making the right decision has been a challenge lately. He throws rocks inappropriately, intentionally hurts AJ, and plays with his toys roughly. I remind him many times a day this behavior is not allowed. It's frustrating, but I remind myself of the many, many challenging phases he has entered and overcome in his 4.5 years. Deep inside he is a kind-hearted, responsible boy who knows right and wrong. We'll get through this phase too.
He loves learning. Randomly he'll ask if we can play math, make rhymes, sound out words, etc. His preschool teachers do such a good job with him, and I'm amazed at some of the stuff he comes home with.
He is so protective of AJ. It's reassuring when we're outside and AJ wanders a little too close to the street, Cohen becomes mother hen and quickly corals him back to safety. Cohen's been a mama's boy since day 1, but he definitely enjoys AJ's company more than mine these days. When they're not fighting, they're so cute playing side-by-side. Cohen meets AJ at his level and talks to him in a way AJ understands.
It's been a tough decision whether or not to send Cohen to kindergarten this fall. We've decided to hold him back. I think he would have done fine in kindergarten academically, but he'll do that much better next year when his emotional maturity catches up to his school smarts.
My favorite times with Cohen is just hanging out talking when there's nothing else going on. He's quite the little conversationalist, and he tells detailed stories about things that happened at school or other random things in his head. He's very creative. One day we got started on a "what if we walked out our front door and..." conversation. What if there were no grass and roads, only water. And we didn't have a boat. What if our doors were locked and we didn't have a key. And he'd go into great detail describing how we'd overcome the challenges to get groceries or get to school, whatever. Pretty amazing problem solving going on, and very quick thinking.
He confides in me, and I really encourage that. I recently saw the quote "Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big. Because to them, it has always been big stuff." I really want him to understand I'm his go-to person to talk to now, through the school years and into adulthood. I think he gets it. Sometimes he wants to hide things from Dominic, which isn't cool, but I'm glad he feels safe telling me everything.
Sometimes he's such a softie. He cannot be apart from Teddy. Sometimes he cries about things that surprise me. I don't try to discourage that because it's who he is. Other times when I expect him to be affected by something, he's not. Like his BFF Ava recently moved out of the neighborhood. I delayed telling him because I thought he'd have a hard time taking it. It was nothing - he has moved on so easily. I hope they both remember their adorable little friendship for the first few years of their lives.
Even with him getting bigger and not needing me as much, and the frustration I sometimes feel when I've told him to stop throwing his toys down the stairs for the 10th time, he's my guy. He's so much like me it's scary. Sometimes I feel sad this his 5th birthday is approaching and he'll continue becoming more independent every day. Obviously my role in his life will change, just like it's already changed a hundred times. I find myself redefining what my goals are, how to manage certain things and shifting focus to meet a changing kid. Sometimes I feel a little blind... what's around the next corner and how do I know if I'm preparing him as best I can? Can someone please give me a manual for this? :)
Two beautiful, dynamic blessings, for sure.
AJ is 2!
My baby isn't a baby anymore, he has entered the wonderful word of being 2, where clothes are no longer sized in months and a whole new set of expectations await on the horizon. Potty training. Moving to a big boy bed. Exciting times ahead!
He is definitely changing before our eyes. In the past 3 months, he seems to "get it" so much more. He understands everything we say and can solve problems on his own. Simple things like moving the stool to a place he can't reach, getting the flashlight when he's looking under furniture. He and Cohen play side be side really well, and it's more as equals instead of Cohen directing and AJ following along. AJ got a garbage truck for Christmas, just like the one Cohen received last year. Definitely the most played with toys in the house. AJ can sit for quite a while keeping himself entertained. He loves vehicles... helicopters, trucks, tractors, trains. He makes them function correctly (raising and lowering a scoop, dumping out a dumptruck, etc.) He also loves puzzles and has become quite good at them practically overnight.
He continues to be the jolly, kind-hearted, sunny boy he has always been. However, it's somewhat clouded by his newfound will, temper and sense of independence. In other words, hello terrible twos. The kid is stubborn and VERY strong. I think these traits will manifest into positive qualities as he ages. Very determined and headstrong.
Cohen and him fight. Cohen tends to call the shots, and AJ doesn't stand for it. We're working on Cohen's tendency to take toys right out of AJ's hand. When this happens, AJ has bitten, hit, pulled hair, pushed and screamed to defend his rights. When those things fail, he gives me the look like "Mom, the injustice of it all!" Of course, I come to his aid.
At his 2-year well-child doctor visit, Dr. Gammon advised us to pursue speech therapy. He's saying about a dozen words, half of which are understandable. I've been saying for months that he's right on the verge of a language explosion, and I still believe that. Hopefully this therapy will help push it along. Words he says include Mommy, Daddy, up (puh), down (dow), oh-oh, no (the most common word spoken), yes, (yuh), hi (huh), moon (moo), dog (duh), and several animal sounds. and truck sounds. There's been a few isolated words spoken, like the other day he pointed to my nose and said 'no.' So it's slowly coming along. I really don't have concerns about his development in other areas (social, emotional, physical, cognitive, etc.). I think he's a smart kid.
He makes us laugh all. the.time. He's under 3 feet tall and still a bit round, so it's just hilarious seeing him run around. He still has baby proportions. He has such a fun sense of humor. One day we were driving somewhere and everyone was in the car quiet. AJ just starts laughing out of the blue. No one knew why, but of course it spread to the rest of the family. Cohen is AJ's biggest fan. Cohen busts out laughing at AJ when he's not even trying to be funny. Bath time is always a production, laugh and goof off central. I can only imagine his sense of humor when he's talking more.
And he's a lover. His power hugs can happen any place, any time. He's so sweet to the kitties, showing them pictures in books, or putting his stuffed animals up to their noses to kiss them. Many times after bath he'll climb on the bed in his room and sit in the blue fleece kitty bed with Buzz and Rudy. Pets them, kisses them, gets cheek to cheek. The jury is still out whether or not they like him.
He loves music and dancing. He knows all the motions to Wheels on the Bus and other preschool songs. Singing to him is the guaranteed way to get him to settle down at bedtime. And he breaks into dance whenever music is in earshot. Even with his limited talking, he sings babbling little tunes as he trots around the house.
He is definitely changing before our eyes. In the past 3 months, he seems to "get it" so much more. He understands everything we say and can solve problems on his own. Simple things like moving the stool to a place he can't reach, getting the flashlight when he's looking under furniture. He and Cohen play side be side really well, and it's more as equals instead of Cohen directing and AJ following along. AJ got a garbage truck for Christmas, just like the one Cohen received last year. Definitely the most played with toys in the house. AJ can sit for quite a while keeping himself entertained. He loves vehicles... helicopters, trucks, tractors, trains. He makes them function correctly (raising and lowering a scoop, dumping out a dumptruck, etc.) He also loves puzzles and has become quite good at them practically overnight.
He continues to be the jolly, kind-hearted, sunny boy he has always been. However, it's somewhat clouded by his newfound will, temper and sense of independence. In other words, hello terrible twos. The kid is stubborn and VERY strong. I think these traits will manifest into positive qualities as he ages. Very determined and headstrong.
Cohen and him fight. Cohen tends to call the shots, and AJ doesn't stand for it. We're working on Cohen's tendency to take toys right out of AJ's hand. When this happens, AJ has bitten, hit, pulled hair, pushed and screamed to defend his rights. When those things fail, he gives me the look like "Mom, the injustice of it all!" Of course, I come to his aid.
At his 2-year well-child doctor visit, Dr. Gammon advised us to pursue speech therapy. He's saying about a dozen words, half of which are understandable. I've been saying for months that he's right on the verge of a language explosion, and I still believe that. Hopefully this therapy will help push it along. Words he says include Mommy, Daddy, up (puh), down (dow), oh-oh, no (the most common word spoken), yes, (yuh), hi (huh), moon (moo), dog (duh), and several animal sounds. and truck sounds. There's been a few isolated words spoken, like the other day he pointed to my nose and said 'no.' So it's slowly coming along. I really don't have concerns about his development in other areas (social, emotional, physical, cognitive, etc.). I think he's a smart kid.
He makes us laugh all. the.time. He's under 3 feet tall and still a bit round, so it's just hilarious seeing him run around. He still has baby proportions. He has such a fun sense of humor. One day we were driving somewhere and everyone was in the car quiet. AJ just starts laughing out of the blue. No one knew why, but of course it spread to the rest of the family. Cohen is AJ's biggest fan. Cohen busts out laughing at AJ when he's not even trying to be funny. Bath time is always a production, laugh and goof off central. I can only imagine his sense of humor when he's talking more.
And he's a lover. His power hugs can happen any place, any time. He's so sweet to the kitties, showing them pictures in books, or putting his stuffed animals up to their noses to kiss them. Many times after bath he'll climb on the bed in his room and sit in the blue fleece kitty bed with Buzz and Rudy. Pets them, kisses them, gets cheek to cheek. The jury is still out whether or not they like him.
He loves music and dancing. He knows all the motions to Wheels on the Bus and other preschool songs. Singing to him is the guaranteed way to get him to settle down at bedtime. And he breaks into dance whenever music is in earshot. Even with his limited talking, he sings babbling little tunes as he trots around the house.
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