Comic Relief

A hilarious interlude during our somber trip to Michigan.  Enzo loves watching this video over and over, as do I!

I'm having trouble getting it to embed here, so here's the link to Youtube: Bubble Boy

17 Months

It's not been a great month.  A lot of challenges to deal with mixed with some bad luck are keeping us pretty busy and on our toes.  I'd like to say things are looking up, but at this time I feel we are not out of the woods just yet.  We have some really busy weeks ahead of us and I'll be going on strike again.  I will be on strike during my dad's visit to Modesto to visit grandma so at least I'll have a few days to travel over there.  And so it goes.

(I did receive one piece of happy news yesterday that one of my oldest and dearest friends had her baby!  I guess I shouldn't name names at this point because she herself hasn't announced it publicly.  News about babies make the world a nice place, don't you think?)      

Anyway, little beanster keeps on developing whether we like it or not.  He's getting into the "persistent mischief" phase and it's cute and annoying at the same time.  "Let's slide the screen door" over and over is a classic.  His teachers are also noticing and this is a report I got one day after school:

"Speaking up more - selective listener... :).  Selective Cooperation (more accurately said! :))

Listens when spoken to just needs direction.  Happy to help him toward our goals in this class.  Please practice focused, shared attention."

Otherwise known as stubborn!  The amount of smiley faces also makes me a wee bit nervous.  

New words and signs: It's getting hard to keep track, though most notably he says "no" and "more" quite a bit.  He started wagging his finger when saying no and I really don't know where he picked that up!  I know that they don't use that word at school very much so maybe Jake and I do it without knowing!  Another cool thing he does is sign and say "off" and "on".  He loves when I turn the lamp on and off and will sign and say it when I do it.  It's pretty darling.

What he's eating: diet is getting a little better as he is trying more vegetable and fruits.  He ate a whole pile of roasted fava beans and went to town on some cherries and apricots and the farmer's market last week.  Tis the season.

Favorite activities: playing outside, especially in the garden and riding the bike with dad.  He also loves to go to the neighbor's garden and play with the two girls over there and their little dog.

Nicknames:  Little Bean, Bubs, Diaper Man (now with cape)

Hair! 

He makes this face all the time!  We call it his Baby Blue Steel because it reminds us of the movie Zoolander. 

Loves her so much. 

Helping in the garden.  In Jake's old corduroy overalls. 

Sweetest Mother's Day present!  A sunflower planted in a pot he painted himself. 

Riding the carousel for the first time.  Did not like. 

 Helping dad cook Mother's Day breakfast.  Cutest thing to wake up to!

  

Such A Toddler

Today I had an overwhelming sense he is a toddler (and turning into a little boy).  He's starting to get strong preferences for things, which in my mind epitomizes toddlerhood.  For example, as the pictures below demonstrate, he chose and insisted wearing these too big shoes and then insisted on sweeping the driveway.  Just a little moment I wanted to share!

On Wedensday Enzo got stung by a bee in the house.  After the initial shock and Advil administration, I packed him up in the car and we went out for a milkshake.  He seemed to forget all about his earlier trauma!

And in Turnip news, she is starting to feel better and actually ate a dinner tonight!  It's been a week since she ate anything and we were so worried about her.  She's still on antibiotics for her mystery disease but they seem to be helping.  Poor Turnip!  Thanks for all of your concern.  It meant the world to me.

Playground Videos

Well, someone was being awfully cute at the playground today!  It's amazing he was having such a good time because less than an hour before this he was stung by a bee at home!  He was pretty cranky and upset.  I guess some Advil and a car ride will do wonders for a miserable child.

In two parts:

#1  Noisy little fellow

#2 And here, if you listen closely he says "thank you!" at 0:45 seconds.  Well, he yells it after giving me a wood chip.  Then he does a little dance at the end of the video.  What a delightful little child!

His First Painting

Done in school today.  Choose the colors himself.  I'm very proud!

16 Months - Finding Our Groove

Whew!  What a couple of weeks for all my friends and family!  It seems like a constant stream of injuries, accidents and bad news.  April has become my least favorite month ever since I was pregnant and feeling so darn sick all the time.  It has not been kind.  I think we are bad news free for a couple days now and everyone seems to be healing nicely.  So, for happy news, let's talk about Enzo whose cuteness never ceases!

This past month we've seen tremendous growth - mentally and physically.  He no longer is this babbling baby with mostly random motions.  He now has movement with purpose and makes meaningful sounds.  His face has subtle changes daily.  He concentrates hard to imitate us and every once in a while we realize he is attaching sounds to objects.  He is becoming very clear about what we wants using a variety of signs, sounds and movement.  Or maybe we as parents are just getting better at understanding him.  My favorite thing is when he chooses a book, says "ook" or signs it, then climbs into my lap to have me read it.  We usually get through about 5 choice pages (you know, the pages with the noisiest trucks or the loudest animals) until he wants to move on to the next book.  He is also getting down routines and life has gotten into a groove lately.  For example, Wednesday night our bedtime routine included getting a clean diaper and jammies, then we sign "brushing teeth" and he runs to the bathroom where we both brush our teeth together.  He then flies out of the bathroom and runs into his room where he starts signing sleep.  He then nurses, gets put in the crib half awake, he cries for two minutes then is passed out for the night.  These routines seem to make the day more predictable, in a good way.  

New signs: water, daddy, walk, thank you, hat, banana, horse, book, brush teeth, sleep

First animal noise: goat (I think moooo is next)

Words: Thank you, Enzo, shhhhhhh, also is doing a Bill Cosby impersonation (doopbie-doopbie-doopie)

Nickname: Bubs, Bubaloo

What he's eating: Egg and 1/2 bagel for breakfast, applesauce, yogurt and cereal for 2nd breakfast, dinner leftovers, fruit and veggies for lunch, some kind of bean soup for dinner with whatever else we can get into him.  He tastes change frequently.  French toast was a recent winner.  Will not touch peanut butter anymore.  Tried strawberries for the first time with mixed results.  Will eat anything with whip cream on top. Raw carrots as of yesterday.  He also really likes this mango, coconut, cinnamon and apple puree I made.

At school:  He's painting, helping clean up by putting toys and books away (then signs thank you!), he loves sitting at the desk, loves the sandbox and eats a lot of sand

Things he likes:  sitting on the dog, getting his hair brushed, running around the house making noise, his red and yellow car

My favorite thing he does: Runs up to me when I pick him up from school with a huge smile, then he hugs and kisses me.  It's the sweetest thing in the whole world.

And now for the monthly photo dump!

Trying a strawberry for the first time.

Enjoys an occasional smoothie shared with dad.  Not sure how so much can end up on the face when one uses a straw.

Resting mid-hike and exploring with Turnip.

His really happy face!  I cannot get enough of this expression where he smiles big and scrunches up his nose.  (Too bad his arm looks really weird in this picture.)

Did not like the matzoh!  Fed promptly to the dog.  Turnip thought it was Passovertastic.

Matzoh balls on the other hand - those were a big hit!  I'll be sad when these airplane jammies no longer fit.

Kisses from Carly Rae, my co-worker's newish dog.

And thinking about what just happened....

In jammies and signing sleep!  So smart and helpful!

Meeting some chickens.

And this happened......

Ok, back to normal happy boy mode!

15 Months

This past month Enzo seems to be sick constantly!  I knew when we decided to enroll him in the Montessori school that this would happen until he build up more immunity.  He constantly has a runny nose and last week Friday he came home with pink eye!  We spent 2 hours of our Saturday at urgent care to get a prescription.  The doctor on duty said he may have the beginning of an ear infection, but since the doctor said it was so minor we decided to wait on oral antibiotics.  His eye cleared up right away and this past week he hasn't had signs of an ear infection.  Still congested, coughing and runny nose though.  Poor guy!

Grandma Tweet and Nonny came on their second annual Grandmageddon trip at the end of February and it was fantastic to have them around.  I'll admit I got a bit lazy and slept in a few if not all the morning they were here.  It was so so great!  I thank them from the bottom of my heart that I was able to get some more sleep and kick my feet up a bit.  The week went by fast with lots of Enzo antic, eating and a few short day trips.

 Random pictures from the past month:

This happened on grandmas watch.....

With great grandma Helen in Modesto.

Loves his outdoor time!

One of the highlights of Grandmageddon was receiving this beautiful quilt!  I love it so much.  The love and care that went into making it is instantly recognizable.

Just look at that beautiful embroidery!  The little mouse and moon is one of my favorite squares.  At this point I'm not even letting Enzo touch this quilt....

Ok, in this video we kind of look like hill billies - kid in diaper feeding food from the floor to a pit bull - but really, it was a classy event!  I took off his clothes after breakfast because he was soaked, then Grandma Tweet started feeding him her signature oranges in cardamom syrup.  I love how he dances for them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKWv9x1rAAU

Favorite Activities:  Being outside, asking to eat with sign language as he is eating, putting things in containers (I cut a hole in a coffee can lid and gave him some clothespins - LOVED IT)

Dislikes: Being put in the stroller and car seat

What he's eating:  Went to town on some lentil soup tonight, ate whole rice for the first time last week at a Thai restaurant (would always spit it out before), he loves milkshakes (takes after Uncle Sheddy), went through a serious peanut butter and jelly phase which is now over, eating more variety of veggies and fruits (loves oranges and bananas)

New experiences: Saying mama, dada and maybe dog ("da!" when pointing to the dog in the book).  He signs 'more', 'again', 'eat', 'dog', 'all done', and 'milk', met great-grandma Helen for the first time

Nicknames: Glazed Donut, Little Man