Where Have We Been?

It has been a wonderful exciting journey as Alex has turned into a toddler. Complete with tantrums and learning about everything in the world around him, he has been nothing short of a wonderful son whom I cherish each and every day. I feel bad that I have not updated this blog more often, but there is a good reason for the delay this time: I have spent the last 6 months battling ongoing morning sickness because Alex is going to be a big brother!! We found out on Memorial Day that we would be parents again. This pregnancy has been so much more difficult as I feel nauseous almost every day. I have never vomited, but I feel sick constantly.

And now, as usual, it’s time to rewind back as far as I can remember and catch up on all his growing up.

I suppose the biggest change is that after spending 22 months at home with Alex from the day he was born, Daddy found a full-time job on March 1. Alex attended a franchise daycare facility right next to where I work from March until mid-September. In the beginning, it was an extremely difficult transition for me. I thought that Daddy would go through some transition difficulties too, and perhaps he did, but I was so overwhelmed with this new added role in addition to having 2 jobs and trying to make it to the gym a few days a week that it didn’t seem like he had a lot of difficulty in going back to work. Alex was sick 7-8 times, he had 2 different episodes of pretty bad ear infections, and we received sickness notifications for pink eye and strep throat outbreaks in his classroom constantly. I used a lot of my PTO days at work to stay home and take care of him. These illnesses were hardly ever brief as he ran a fever nearly every day when he was sick, and we could not take him to the daycare.

After being at the daycare for 3 months, he received his “report card”, which is more like a developmental report. Here are some highlights:

• Plays best with one child or alone.
• Cooperative and interactive with adults
• Easily shares toys and materials
• Uses utensils, cups, and sits in a chair at meal times
• No signs of potty interest
• Sometimes fearful or withdraws
• sometimes gets frustrated
• Uses single words, phrases, and short sentences
• Sometimes talks to other children
• Jumps, hops, skips, and bounces balls
• Uses paint, crayons, glue often
• Sits attentively for stories and songs
• Recognizes colors, numbers, and shapes (thanks to Team Umizoomi!)

** A quick word about Team Umizoomi, Alex was quite fond of the Nick Jr. show right before we started taking him to daycare. About a month after he started attending daycare, his teacher said to me “I didn’t know he could count to 25!” I responded that yes he skips a few numbers, but he is mostly there. This show has been so instrumental to him identifying colors, numbers, and shapes.**

Shortly after we started Alex in daycare, we stopped attending Little Gym. I was slightly disappointed because I enjoyed going there every week, and I felt that Alex was growing more confident in his balancing skills, climbing skills, etc., but he was sick nearly every Wednesday. We were cancelling our sessions, and when we attended, it was a mad rush to get there on time after work and also after the session, so Mark could get ready to leave again for his martial arts class. It was just too much to juggle.

In September, we made the decision to pull Alex from the franchise daycare and found an in-home childcare provider named Heather. It is the best decision we have made in a while because she is wonderful with Alex. Depending on the day of the week, he has 2-4 other children there to play with, and he enjoys her cat named Wilson very much. She has started working with him on potty training. We had started the process over the summer, but put it on hold when he stopped showing interest. He has gotten to the point of sitting on his small potty with his diaper off and bare-bottomed about 4-5 times per day. We are hoping that something will happen soon!

ACTIVITIES:

We have participated in a lot of family activities over the past 6 months. We went to Indiana for Easter and to celebrate Alex’s 2nd birthday, and then we held a birthday party for Alex at our house when we returned to Cleveland too. And of course the theme was Team Umizoomi!

In May, we went to the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds game with Grandma and Grandpa Malafarina. Mommy, Daddy, and Alex all had their picture taken with Slider, and Grandpa also bought Alex a Slider stuffed animal who sleeps in Alex’s bed every night.

We also spent Mother’s Day at the Cleveland zoo. Alex had started taking a huge interest with elephants, and the zoo had just opened their elephant exhibit, so Alex really enjoyed the zoo. And Mommy had a special Mother’s Day!

Nana, Pepaw, and Hannah all came up to visit us on Memorial Day weekend where we took Alex to the Thomas the Tank Engine tour at the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. We went on a train ride with Thomas and had our picture taken with him too!

In June, we went to Memphis Kiddie Park with Uncle Ryan, Aunt Dawn, Cousin Joee, Grandma and Grandpa where Alex did not want to ride any other rides but the merry-go-round. He loves to ride the “horsies”. He also went on this mini roller coaster for toddlers with Daddy and a boat ride with Joee, but he didn’t enjoy them.

Because Mommy was tired of lying about why she wouldn’t drink any wine at family events, we told Grandma and Grandpa about Alex being a big brother in mid-June. I found a cute t-shirt on Amazon.com that said “I’m the big brother!”, and we showed up with Alex wearing the shirt during our Father’s Day celebration at their house.

Because I wanted to wait to tell Nana and Pepaw in person, I practically begged them to come visit us over 4th of July weekend. When I went into Alex’s room to change his diaper, Pepaw followed us & I put on the t-shirt again. I asked him if he read Alex’s shirt, and he said “What? You know already?” Pepaw thought we knew the gender already! Alex ran into the living room to show Nana his t-shirt, and she screamed with excitement after hearing the news. (Over and over again…) I had already told Aunt Diane a few weeks prior, so then we called the rest of my family at Mimi’s house to share the news with them as well.

In July, we finally bought a season pass to Wild Water Kingdom, which is a waterpark about 20 minutes from our house. The park has many kiddie slides, but Alex was pretty scared of the water. He loved the giant bucket that would dump water from high above every few minutes, but he really didn’t enjoy playing in the water very much. (I am learning that he is somewhat conservative in his adventures. When we think of new ideas that he might love, he usually does not.) We went to the waterpark about 4 times during the season, and on the last visit, we brought a picnic lunch in the cooler that we all enjoyed very much.

We also visited the Columbus zoo in July on what seemed like the hottest weekend of the summer. We kept Alex hydrated with water and apple juice often, but he sweat all day long. Alex got to see more elephants, tigers, the aquarium with lots of fishies, and he really enjoyed yet another merry-go-round that was at the zoo.

In August, we went to Indiana again for a concert that I had bought tickets for way back in March. Nana & Pepaw met us in Indianapolis, and they took Alex 2 hours back to their house, while Mark and I attended the concert. (What would I do without my parents? It seems to be the easiest way to get a date night with my husband, and they live 7 hours away…). We visited with Mimi on Friday, and then we went to Holiday World on Saturday with our friends Nick, Tiffany, and Spencer (and Nana came too!) It was another really hot day, but Holiday World provides free drinks all day long, so we stayed well-hydrated again. Alex rode the merry-go-round most of the day, but he also rode a fish ride (not his choice, of course).

Also in August, Alex’s new baby cousin Rylee Elizabeth was born! She is Joee’s new sister, and I guessed her birthday correctly. Rylee is a sweet baby, and it will be precious to see them grow up together.

In September, we went to the Colts/Browns game in Indianapolis because Aunt Barb gave Mommy & Daddy front row seats behind the Browns bench! Nana & Pepaw drove up to Indianapolis again to pick Alex up & then took him to Aunt Diane’s house to watch him while we went to the game. On the night before, we stayed in a really nice hotel downtown and went to dinner with Aunt Diane. We met at her house, and when we arrived, she had bought an enormous amount of stuff for the new baby and some things for Alex. It felt like we had another baby shower, and I am so grateful that she was able to help us with many necessities that we will need for the new baby.

Nana and Pepaw came up to visit during the first weekend in October, which was also when Daddy had an out-of-town conference to attend in Baltimore. He was able to spend some time with them on Saturday, and then his flight left on Sunday afternoon. I spent 2 days with Alex alone, and he was sweet on Mommy! I told Daddy that he needed to go out of town more often because Alex wanted to hang out with me.

We also went to Patterson’s farm last weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Dawn, and Cousins Joee and Rylee to play in the kid’s area. Alex actually went down the slides in the woods and wanted to explore the kiddie mazes. He totally surprised me with his curiosity! We also went to Patterson’s other farm to buy some of their goodies: an apple fritter, apple cider, and some honeycrisp apples.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:
Halloween is coming up, so we will need to choose a costume for Alex. The merchant’s trick-or-treat in Hudson is Thurs. Oct 27, so we’d like to take him around again this year. I would like to get Alex’s pictures taken again since he will be 2 ½ at the end of October, and it might be a good time to think about Christmas pictures too, so perhaps we will wait until photography studios have their Christmas scenes ready.

We will be going to Indiana for Thanksgiving this year and spending Christmas here in Ohio since Mommy doesn’t want to take any chances on labor! I am due Jan. 25, but the week of Christmas this year happens to also be the same week (#35) that I went into labor with Alex. I don’t know what to expect this time.

We will be spending the next few months working on the nursery, buying a new infant car seat & crib mattress, buying a new car to replace the Mazda (just in case it is in fact a lemon), and saving for our monthly bills while I am out on maternity leave for 6 weeks without pay. It will be a busy few months!

Almost 2 Years Old

Alex is now almost 22 months old. He will be having his second birthday in a few short months. I cannot believe how quickly he is growing up. I certainly miss some of the stages in his life that have passed, but I also love watching him learn new things everyday. I've absolutely enjoyed every single stage of his development.

We have been quite busy over the past few months. The holidays have came and gone. This year, Santa Claus visited Alex! Some of the things he got for Christmas are: Thomas the Train Table, a toolbox, Crayola musical drawing tablet, Riding Race Car from Aunt Diane, Lego Duplo Blocks, Zu Zu Pet, a Snow Sled, many books, clothes, and jammies. He also received some cash that has since been deposited into his college fund. I'm sure I'm forgetting more... We stayed in Ohio for Christmas Eve & Christmas day, and then drove to Indiana and stayed through Pepaw's birthday, which was Dec. 29. It was a really nice holiday season. Here we are at Christmas time:



Here are some of his recent developments:

Eating:
He still has a very short attention span when it comes to eating. We continue to feed him a variety of the same meals that we know he will eat. I would like for him to start eating different kinds of foods, but I know that might be asking for a bit much. A few weeks ago, we noticed that sometimes he does not want to sit in his high chair, so I bought this little toddler table & chair set at Big Lots. It has four different colored chairs, and he likes it. He does eat at it occasionally, but lately he would rather take all the chairs one by one and put them in the middle of the living room. If he is having trouble sitting still to eat, we sometimes have to "feed on the fly", but I've been trying to keep even that at a minimum since he's typically done eating completely at this point. I have had better success with him just sitting on my knee while he eats if he starts to boycott his high chair. Everyone says "He will eat when he is hungry", but it's really hard for me to accept that because of course Mommy & Daddy want him to be well nourished.

Talking:
I am especially enjoying Alex's language development. It simply amazes me how many words and phrases he has started saying. He says: "Bless You", "Turn it on", "Downstairs", "And That One Too", "I'll Get It", "Thank You" and "You're Welcome" (which he says back-to-back), and he also says "Hi" quite frequently to inanimate objects like food or a tree. Hahahaha! Also, every question you ask him is met with an "OK". Unless it is "Alex, do you want to go night night?" To which he replies: "No".

He also knows 9 animal sounds. We will ask him: "What does a [cat, dog, chicken, frog, pig, cow, sheep, horse, bird] say?" And he responds correctly!

He has also learned how to sing some songs like "Happy Birthday to You", "Everywhere I Go", and most recently he is singing the alphabet A through G. This one in particular is really hard to swallow. I cannot believe my child is learning his ABC's. He is growing up ever so quickly. *sigh*

Technology:
Nearly all of our friends and family think that Alex needs to submit a video to Steve Jobs with his iPad playing ability. In all seriousness, Alex thinks the iPad is his iPad. He has more games and videos on there than Mark or I do. His games include Bust a Marble, Simon, Elmo Monster Maker, Taking John, Paper Toss, Misty Island Adventure, Angry Birds, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox, Cut the Rope, and Vegetable Samuri. Videos include his favorite Presto (a Disney cartoon with a magician and rabbit), Elmo's World, Bob Saves the Day, Yo Gabba Gabba, Olivia, and Blue's Clues. These have actually been quite a lifesaver in the car when we travel to Indiana.

We have also been Skyping quite often with Nana and Pepaw on the computer. However, Alex doesn't last very long... again it's that short attention span!

Little Gym:
We signed Alex up for another semester at Little Gym, which runs January through June. I think he really enjoys attending every Wednesday night. We have noticed his progress since we first started taking him. He is now more confident about exploring the different stations within the big room and much more skilled at taking steps down off of the mats. For quite some time, he was pretty scared to step down. Within the room itself, he especially likes the pull-up rings, the circular plastic tubes that he can crawl through, and the taller balance beam. He is also quite familiar with the structure of the class including the warm-up where we run in a circle with the whole group, the weekly "Skill of Focus", baby sign language, a review of the physical activity from the week before, ball time, bubble time, and finally the good-bye song.

At Little Gym, he understands when it's time to put things away after group activities, but he hasn't mastered the concept of sharing just yet. He will sometimes take away toys from other children when they are playing with them. But I take comfort in the fact that all of the other children also behave this way, so we will eventually start taking steps to help him understand how you don't grab something from someone's hands when they are using it.

Upcoming Events and Milestones:
As we are awaiting warmer/Spring weather, we are still hoping to take Alex sledding before the end of winter a few times. He still needs to try out his new sled from Nana and Pepaw, and I know of the perfect little hill about 10 minutes from our house in Silver Springs park.

We are also planning a trip to Indiana for Easter weekend, which also happens to be Alex's 2nd birthday weekend. It will be nice to celebrate his birthday with my family. I've already started thinking about his birthday theme and cake, and I'm excited about either Blues Clues, Thomas the Train, Bob the Builder, or Elmo. I've really got it narrowed down, huh?

We are going to buy Alex a toddler bed soon as well. He is getting really big in his crib, and the convertible bed that his crib converts to is a regular full-sized bed. We thought that perhaps a bed that was lower to the ground would be better suited for now. He rolls around A LOT while he sleeps.

And finally, we are going to begin potty training soon! We bought Alex a 3-in-1 potty chair a few weeks ago, and he says "Potty!" This will definitely be a learning experience with ups & downs.