Wow, so we've finally reached the elusive "18 month" mark. Almost. Technically the big day is Saturday, but by then we will be en route to Eldo, and I tend to get a little laz----er, ahem, busy when I am out of town and blogging slows down. And this is such a big one that I can't let it go unposted. I feel like I've been anticipating (dreading...?) this milestone because for some reason, in my mind, this age marks the beginning of "kidhood", the point where babies are no longer babies, where toddler-like behavior takes over completely and babiness is left behind, a distant memory only to be relived through pictures and blogposts. Nevermind that Alex pretty much left babyhood behind months ago. But now it's official.
As you may or may not have read in my last post, we finally had another well child visit to confirm what we suspected about Alex - that he is a happy, healthy, growing boy. He is constantly outgrowing his clothes and shoes, and while I hate to have to pack my faves away in the "little brother* hand-me-down" box, that just means that I get to...have to go out and buy him new ones. And that means that my toddler gets to stay on top of the trends, while I'm spending hours picking pills off of my three-seasons-ago Old Navy sweaters. Is this what they mean by "sacrificing" for your children?
Recently - the last couple of weeks in particular - we have seen a marked difference in Alex's vocabulary. We ran by the church to drop off his tuition, and while we were in the office writing the check, Alex was holding a conversation with the secretary, her daughter, and the head of Mother's Day Out who said, "My, Alex, is it just me or are you talking up a storm compared to last week?"
Thing is, it's not necessarily a huge increase in the number of words he can say, but how he says them. I'm not sure how to describe the difference, really, but I guess it's like he's starting to "get it", like a little light has gone on in the grammar-building part of his brain. Now don't get me wrong, by no means is the kid composing sonnets or reciting portions of Paradise Lost in German while rubbing cheese into his hair. But it is clear by the way he talks that he understands the concept of sentences, that you say a few words and then wait for someone to reply. And if no one replies, it is perfectly acceptable to answer your own questions. Now, his jabbering includes inflections and pauses, as if he's imitating our patterns of speech. In fact, his ability and/or willingness to imitate improved greatly this month, whether it be gestures or words or sounds. Sometimes he will start doing something new, and I'll wonder where the heck did he learn that? just as I look down to find that I'm doing that very thing myself.
This month, he debuted several new words including "moon", "box", "shoes", and his new favorite, "book". He occasionally shouts, "I did it!" when he accomplishes something, or at least something that sounds exactly like it. He can tell you that a sheep says "baaa", and if you ask him where something is, like on the page of a book, he will point and say "right d'ere!" He says "hi d'ere" and "bye d'ere" to everyone he sees, and has recently perfected his "big boy wrist wave", as opposed to the "one hand clapping" method he was using before. After a little encouragement, he has finally learned to say "no" when he means no and "yes"...well, "yeth", when he means yes, which is the most effective set of words he's learned since "this" and "that". We've attempted to curb his habit of whining for what he wants by training him to say "help" when he needs it, and when combined with "yes", "no", "more" and "all done", that pretty much covers the basics.
He is obsessed with books and would prefer to have someone read to him every minute of every day. He is starting to point at letters and tries to make letter sounds, and he loves to sit on our laps while we draw words and pictures on paper so he can talk about them. When he's not "reading", he is climbing, pulling things off of shelves, sticking things in holes (got his fingers stuck in the VCR twice), raiding the pantry for snacks, throwing toys around his playroom, smacking things with other things, and maybe, just maybe, he sits still long enough to watch the occasional educational film or television program. Like Ratatouille. Which is educational if you want your kid to become a chef or a foodie, which I am so all about. We run errands or play at the park whenever possible, which helps us from going stir-crazy/fat, although the shopping cart has become the bain of his existence, and thus, grocery shopping with Alex has become the bain of mine.
He has boundless energy, and while I appreciate his eagerness and curious nature and love to spend time with him, I am more than ready for his nap time each day, and even more so for his bedtime at night. I am realizing that I just can't meet his energy level at this age such that I can keep him entertained all day, every day. Which is why the Mother's Day Out program has been such a blessing, where other kids run him ragged and some other lady changes his poopy diapers while I get a few hours to rest and recoup. And while those hours were not very restful after the first couple of times I left him in hysterics, he quickly adjusted to his new routine. After three days, he decided school was okay and walked right into his class without so much as a tear in his eye, nevermind a kiss goodbye or an "I'll miss you dearly, Mom". When I pick him up each afternoon, his teacher tells me how sweet and happy he is, and how he has made so many friends.
Btw, have I ever mentioned how funny this kid is? I know that most kids are funny, but I just like to point out that mine is no exception. Of course, what he thinks is funny these days usually involves punching or kicking or violence of any kind. For example, his father loves to say, "knockout punch!" and pretend to punch him in the face, making the appropriate corresponding boy noise, of course, so now Alex will walk around the house, punching himself in the face and saying "ptttcchhh-pttccchhh!" I'm pretty sure we're gonna get a call from DHFS one of these days, or more likely from one of his teachers who has "concerns" about our child's "behavior". And when they do, what I will tell them is, "Talk to his father".
The older he gets, the more I seem to love him, and while that would not have seemed possible a month ago, it has proven to be true. I am often overwhelmed with frustration that I just can't squeeze him hard enough or smooch him often enough or let him know how loved he really is. But somehow, I kind of think he knows. At least, I hope so.
*Please do not mistake this reference to mean that there is a "little brother" in the works. Maybe, someday, if a little bro comes along, he will be wearing Alex's old clothes. And if not, we will have some very stylish little nephews...
Since A and I will be in Eldo all of next week to help prepare things for Auntie L's wedding, I scheduled his 18 month well-child visit for this morning at Baylor Pediatric Center, basically to get a tune-up before I take him on the road. This was our first experience at the center, and it was a good one. I was relieved to see a separate "well kid" waiting room with nice, clean furniture and toys, new TV's playing classic cartoons, and a gorgeous fish tank with very entertaining fish, all the more appreciated when I had to fill out a phonebook's worth of new patient paperwork and couldn't amuse Alex myself.
Once I finished the paperwork, we got called in (right on time, I might add), answered the customary health and development questions, and got his vitals. The nurse was a doll and A didn't fail to notice. And here are the much-anticipated measurements:
head circumference - 19 in (65%) height - 34 in (91%) weight - 26.1 lbs. (55%) bmi - 15.9
Yeah, you read that right! They do a body mass index for 18 month olds. Crazy, huh? I guess it is Texas, home of the "big-boneded". A score of 15.9 puts him in the 28th percentile, which is pretty arbitrary considering "healthy" is anywhere between 5 and 85%. The important thing is that he is a very well child according to the doc, who used the word "perfect" about five or six times whe referring to his health and development. Of course, it helped that he was a complete goofball with the doc, who said that he certainly acted like a healthy, happy boy. That's a good thing for a mom to hear from a doc, I'd say. Yay for being blessed with such a wonderful little boy.
I haven't talked much about the specific things Alex got for Christmas, aside from his Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve presents from the Eldo gang, which is a shame because he got loads of sweet stuff. Everyone decided that this year we would all be a little more frugal when it came to buying Christmas presents, and this year, everyone lied their pants off and spent way too much on toys and clothes and books and flashy noisy things. Not to mention all the stuff they bought for Alex. Happy Feet and a Jack-in-the-Box from Uncle Nick, tons of art supplies from Aunt Rach, a punching bag and gloves, a Socker Bopper, a Big Wheels trike, a custom art desk, puzzles, games, movies, books, etc., etc., from Granny and Grampa B, and tons more great stuff from Grammy and Poppa, including Ratatouille and another sock 'n' bop inflato-toy. The extended family went all out as well and gave him books and puppets and clothes and shopping sprees to Toys 'R' Us. I'd call him spoiled if he weren't so deserving.
Besides, even if no one else was going to spoil him, I still would. I tend to go a little bit...a lot bit overboard when it comes to gift-giving, so we decided that, this year, we would get Alex one big gift to open when Tim's folks were here, then a couple of smaller ones to open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, otherwise our mortgage would likely end up under the Christmas tree. The "big" gift, of course, was his motorized Star Wars vehicle, and I use the word "big" loosely because one of his "small" gifts cost a dollar less than that did. Hey, I followed the rules. Barely.
The smaller gift of which I speak is called KidiJamz Studio, this crazy fun DJ station with a million buttons and kids' songs that can be played in a variety of styles, including rock, hip hop, jazz, and reggae...a keyboard...a working microphone with two voice effects! and a mini-turnable to scratch records!! and a detachable "MP3 player" that he can use to record his own music!!! and headphones so he can listen to his own music on the fly!!!!! AND...and I'm totally geeking out about this toy because what noise-making, button-loving kid wouldn't love a totally wicked awesome toy like this!!??
And Alex is such a good boy for either loving it, or at least feigning love so that I wouldn't be disappointed. It is dawning on me as I write this post that a video would be the most appropriate method for showing DJ Dirrrty Drawz in action, but all I have for now are these pics. I'll see what I can do about a video, but hopefully these pics will be enough to get you in the groove.
After the great experience we had at the Arboretum in November, we knew we wanted to go back again during winter, when they have a holiday festival with lots of Christmas-related activities, including pics with St. Nick. Since we missed our chance to see "the real Santa" at Northpark Center, we planned on visiting his stand-in at the Arboretum so that A could get his second annual Santa picture. Last year, at five-and-a-half months, Alex was just oblivious enough that Santa didn't freak him out, but this year, he is much more aware of his surroundings and we were preparing ourselves for...an interesting experience.
And as expected, he pretty much panicked when we sat him on Santa's lap, cried his eyes out and reached for his daddy. And not that I can blame him. He was all, Who is this strange fat guy in ridiculous red pajamas with a mass of curly white nylon hanging from his face, and why in the world am I sitting on his lap while everyone stares at me and laughs? Am I the only one not enjoying this? After his initial unpleasant reaction, the photographer tried to make him smile by tickling him with a feather and attempted to bribe him with a candy cane, which he promptly hurled in her general direction. Just as she was saying that she didn't think she'd be able to "turn this one around", he cracked a smile and then got to laughing. The photog got to snapping and ended up with several great pics, including this one:
Truth be told, I would have been just as happy with a crybaby picture because that's kind of the whole point of these pictures, isn't it? To document the experience over the years and look back to see how things changed over time? So technically this was his crybaby year, and while I wasn't about to pay another $15 for the picture to prove it, we will probably remember it that way.
We did a lot more while we were there than see Santa, which can be seen in the slideshow that I have conveniently embedded below for your viewing pleasure. You can also access the pics directly at my Flickr site.
Back in November, we decided to take a family outing to the Dallas Arboretum, basically a big park with no swings or slides or see-saws, just a bunch of trees and flowers and grass to admire and fresh air to breathe. And as dull as that sounds, it was honestly one of the best days that we have had as a family. It was freezing cold and windy that day, so we bundled up and headed out. We had heard from various people that the Arboretum was a great place to take a wild child who just needs space to run, and since we had just such a wild child of our own, we were excited to see what he would do.
We went during "Fall at the Arboretum", when they had a million pumpkins scattered around, all sizes and shapes and varieties, gigantic horses made of straw, and a "Pumpkin House" constructed entirely out of watermelons. Just kidding. They were eggplants. About the time we got to the giant pumpkin patch, a prime location for picture-taking, I discovered that the battery in my camera was near death. I managed to snap a couple of pictures before it completely died, and after several minutes of self-flagellation, I realized that it was easier to enjoy the time with my family without a camera attached to my face anyway.
Alex loved climbing on the bales of straw and lugging pumpkins around, but the highlight of the day was when he decided to "hunt" some birds that were poking around near some picnic tables. He chased half a dozen blackbirds towards a giant bush where the birds attempted to take cover, and instead of giving up and letting them be, Alex immediately dropped to his hands and knees and army-crawled his way through the brush, towards his prey. The birds were confused, Tim and I were busting a gut, and Alex was completely oblivious to both as he honed in on his targets. He didn't catch any birds, of course, but he did manage to get himself stuck in a giant bush.
After we finally coaxed him out and plucked a handful of twigs from his shirt and hat, we loaded him into the stroller and went to the outdoor concert stage by the lake, aka a big slab of concrete where someone could perform surrounded by other big slabs of concrete where people could sit and listen. We had the best time climbing up and down the slabs in the breezy, thirty-degree weather, despite our watery eyes and runny noses.
Eventually we loaded back up and moved away from the lake, towards warmer temperatures. It wasn't long before Alex was sound asleep, cozied up in his stroller, so Tim and I found a nice bench in the rose garden and chatted about the weather while Alex got himself a power nap.
I guess it's one of those things where "you had to be there", but man, we had a great time. I wanted to make sure to blog about it, mostly because some dummy forgot to charge the camera battery and now the only memory we have of that day is...well, our memories.
Plus, it seemed like an appropriate way to segue into the next post - Christmas at the Arboretum. Coming soon...
The Friday after Christmas, I dragged Rachel, Mom, and Alex to the mall in Peoria, where we did some window shopping and stopped for some Auntie Anne's before meeting the other boys for lunch. Alex was exhausted from all the Christmassing and fell asleep in his stroller, although not before getting his mitts on a big hunk of sugary pretzel. I'd go on, but I think the video speaks for itself.
I came down with a nasty cold this week, so blogging wasn't exactly at the top of my priority list, and it didn't help that Blogger was being a complete booger about uploading pictures. So in the interest of saving myself a lot of headaches, literal and metaphorical, I decided that I will just embed a Flickr slideshow of our Christmas pics this year. I took over 300, but managed to narrow down my favorites to about 50, which will be featured below.
Here's the basic gist of how our holiday went down. On Christmas Eve, we headed over to my Aunt Suza's house where all of my mom's family gets together. Most of the cousins are just a few years apart in age, so it is always fun to catch up with everyone. We stayed there until 1am, I think, with Alex asleep upstairs while we played games and ate until the wee hours of the morning. Alex woke up early Christmas morning, so I stalled him a bit before we finally woke up the rest of the family. We opened gifts, ate breakfast, napped, played games, and pretty much enjoyed a relaxing Christmas day at home.
The pictures do a pretty good job of illustrating our holiday, but a few words couldn't hurt, either. Instead of blogging about each picture, I've added a description about each one, which you can either read by linking directly to the set on Flickr and selecting each picture individually, or by clicking that little icon at the bottom right of the slideshow (the one with four arrows), the slideshow will fill your screen, and you can select the "options" button at the top right of the screen to check the box that mentions "title and description". I know that sounds a little complicated, but you will get the hang of it. If you want to see the entire collection, it can be accessed by clicking here.
If this works out okay, and I don't get too many complaints from the peanut gallery for taking the easy way out, I might consider this method every time I want to post more than just a handful of pictures. And knowing me, that will happen more often than not. Enjoy!
I guess I should conclude by saying that it was an awesome Christmas, made especially fun by the fact that Alex was old enough to (kind of sort of) understand what was happening, to get excited by his toys and the music and the people and the general hubbub that surrounds the holiday season. I am especially glad that my family was able to get together, and that Alex was able to see some folks that he hasn't seen in months and to meet some that he has never seen at all. We are so thankful for family and friends and health and safe travels, and we can't wait to see what next Christmas brings.
