life with baby

Santa Parade!

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The weekend prior to Thanksgiving, we went to our friends JP, Lisa and Jonathan’s house for dinner and their local parade, which ends in Santa waving hello to all the kids!

First of all, Jonathan was ready for a dance party in the living room! Jameson wasn’t so sure about it though and didn’t want to dance. That’s okay, Jonathan was awesome enough for the two of them!

They enjoyed snacks before dinner (and I enjoyed a mocktail).

Then there was a minor scuffle over the broom. Both boys wanted to clean up. I am not sure how long this stage lasts, but I am pretty happy that Jameson wants to be involved in everything we do, which includes chores.

Luckily, there were two different brooms for the kids.

Dinner was excellent. JP and Lisa made an outrageously good macaroni and cheese, rich and creamy with winter greens, bacon and premium cheeses. Mmmmm…

For dessert, we enjoyed pumpkin bars. Jameson even ate some! (And not just the whipped cream this time)

Then it was off to the parade! The boys aren’t as easily contained by strollers anymore, and quickly wanted out and on dads’ shoulders or walking around. (Jonathan was expert at kicking his shoes off)

Jameson enjoyed the trucks and the dogs in the parade, though the loud noises occasionally startled him. They handed out free glow wands which are battery powered, so we’ve gotten some further use out of these since then.

We enjoyed seeing Santa as well, though it was even more fun to get up close and personal the following week! The parade was fun, and we got to see some lights and get into the holiday spirit. It’s after Thanksgiving now, so I don’t have to hide my Christmas music anymore 😉

 

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Thanks Giving & Santa

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Just like last year, we visited Santa just before Thanksgiving! This year, Jameson had a lot more awareness and told us that, yes, he wanted to see Santa when we asked.

Santa beckoned him close (we were first in line) and asked if Jameson would like to see him. Jameson said yes, but didn’t want to sit on his lap, so Brian sat down with him.

“What would you like for Christmas?” Silence; dad prompted him with “cars” and Jameson repeated after him. Santa suggested trucks too and Jameson agreed that sounded good also, repeating “trucks”.

Jameson said “thank you” quietly and we left. So charming! We went upstairs then to the tree festival, which Jameson dragged us through very quickly. He ran his little excited skipping step, and he even got to meet a couple dogs.

All told, he went to bed just an hour later than usual, though dinner was a bit rough with a lot of food throwing! It was a great time.

We told him he needed to be good so he could see grandma today, so he has been on his best behavior. Hope everyone else gets to enjoy a family-filled Thanksgiving today!

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life with baby

23 Months Old

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23 Months! We went from some of my favorite monthly photos ever last month, to a terrible photo session with barely any usable photos in the usual block positions. We resorted to putting blocks on a book in front of the chair and ottoman. He definitely has some distinct preferences now, insisting on his way.

Jameson can open the doors at daycare with the handles; I’m happy that we have knobs here at home. He continues to try and jump, and in the past few days he seems closer, jumping to his knees or leaping, where both feet are off the ground for a moment, even if he still leads with one foot. His favorite toy at the moment is the step stool, and his favorite loveys are still his small blanket square and little bear. Favorite song? Hands down, it’s still “ee ii ee ii oh” (Old McDonald)

He loves to wrestle with dad, and imitate him. He enjoying “fixing” his cozy coupe car outside with a set of dad’s real wrenches.

Jameson only wanted to wear eyeball shirts this month, and says “eyeball” with gusto. He loves his eyeball shirts and is upset when they’re all in the wash! But small reasoning works most of the time, saying “you can wear it tomorrow” or “we have to do this first before we can do this”.

A lot of new words appeared this month, and a lot of new phrases. “Sit” (which sounds like another dirty word I know), “high five”, “up”, “down”, “treat”, “yayo” which is yogurt his very favorite breakfast food (he also likes “c bar”s for cereal bars); “zip”, “all right!”, and he finally said “grandpa” and “meemaw”; grandma is still a little beyond his tongue but he is making huge strides every day. He said meemaw during facetime for the first time on 11/2, and grandpa on 11/4 after trick or treating, telling him goodnight.

“uh oh” sometimes changes to “oopsie” which is adorable. He notices when things are out of place, like when Sasha rips apart a new buddy toy.

My favorite new ones is “who did it” and “I did it” as well as the independent “myself” (as in, I’ll do it myself). He loves to say “who did that” ever since grandma started saying that when he would kick out the kitchen table drawer with his feet. Then he tells us he wants to “close” it himself after he’s done eating.

He is starting to answer past tense questions like “did you have fun today?”. Yesterday we asked him who lived next door while we looked at Christmas lights, and he distinctly said “Lily”, so we are enjoying his new found thinking skills.

Jameson also started using the potty this month! After a couple months of sitting on the potty but not doing anything, it seemed to click with him how to go just last week. Now, he goes pretty consistently when he sits on the potty. At home, getting him to sit on the potty during the day is hard. When he gets up and before bed are pretty easy. He seems to start holding it sometimes as well, so the next steps will be to teach him how to tell us when he goes, which could be a complicated lengthy process. We still have no intention on rushing anything for before the baby arrives, so there is no pressure to perform.

We do have a hard time getting him to wash hands afterwards. The only thing that helps is picking out a new hand soap (and I have a lot).

Speaking of the baby, we have discussed it with him a couple times, and when he was around our neighbor baby he seemed fascinated and enjoyed him, but when I ask him if he wants a baby too he consistently says “no”. We’ll see! His reasoning skills improve every day, so in a couple more months it may become more real to him, especially as he moves into his big boy room this month, and we can start talking about a baby moving into his old room.

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Little Gym

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The weekend prior (Nov. 10), we had a birthday party to go to at the Little Gym! I was pretty excited to go, since Jameson has never been in a real gym like that, and I thought he would love to climb around. I was right!

Jameson loved climbing over the gym materials, and walking along the balance beam as if he’d already done it before!

He was one of the younger children there, but he enjoyed watching the bigger kids run and jump around too, and taking his own turn when the space cleared up.

They got out the parachute, and he wasn’t sure what to do at first, so I walked him over and helped him hold on to one of the handles. After that, he followed along himself really well!

He didn’t scramble underneath or into the middle with the other kids, but sat on our lap for those activities. I am enjoying my timid little boy while it lasts! I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s jumping in like the rest.

Just this week he seems to start understand how to jump, but that weekend it was all still a mystery for him, and he continued to lift one leg up really high and taking a big leap to try and jump!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEffE0YgGQQ]

After a bit more free play, they rounded up the kids to have snack and open the birthday girl’s gifts. Jameson drenched himself in a cup of water, but luckily we had an overnight bag with spare shirts in the car, ready to take him to grandma’s for the night while we finished more of his big boy room!

He ate all the icing from the cupcake and clearly enjoyed it. He told us he had fun, and we enjoyed watching him run around.

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Toddler Extremes & Cold Water

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It’s been a bit of a extreme week for us, with a lot of highs and lows.

Monday morning, we discovered that our water heater went out. Luckily for me, I finished my shower before all the hot water was gone. Unfortunately for Brian, he had to take a cold shower!

While we planned to have the part on Tuesday and only have one day without hot water, it did stretch to 2 days, and got more complicated when Brian got a flat tire on Monday evening!

We got a brand new car just about a month ago, so the flat tire was a bit of a shock (it was due to a nail). It made pick up and drop off and deciding where to shower in the morning a little complicated. We did buy the supplemental warranty though, which has already nearly paid for itself because we ended up needing a new tire altogether.

Meanwhile, Jameson began using the potty! All of a sudden, he seemed to understand how that part of his body worked, and he began using the potty at school consistently whenever they would put him on it. He doesn’t understand holding it yet, but knows how to make his body go.

This major event also coincided with him biting a classmate, which hasn’t happened in a long time since it seemed to be related to teething before.

Wednesday evening, Brian’s parents came over and while Brian and his dad replaced nearly all the parts in our water heater, Brian’s mom watched and played with Jameson. Since I couldn’t do dishes just yet, I laid out by the fireplace. That was so nice!

We had pizza for dinner, and all was well, finally.

Thursday evening though it all fell apart again. Jameson continues to use the potty at school and at home, so we decided to run out and get him a seat for downstairs as well. That, along with two other short errands, and we were home by 6:30 which is Jameson’s usual dinner time.

Jameson was hungry and wanted a snack, so we gave him one and put on Elmo while we heated leftovers for dinner. But when that snack was over, he didn’t want dinner, he wanted another snack. And he had an absolute meltdown.

An hour long full on tantrum. We tried everything to calm him down, starting with a time out, followed by holding him, bath time, more holding and trying to distract or startle him. Nothing worked, including his very favorite loveys: Mr. Bear and B Blanket.

During the bath, he stood the entire time, crying “no no no” over and over. When I finished bathing him, and asked if he wanted out, the “no no no” continued. What helped was knowing that I understand toddlers can’t control their emotions yet. He wasn’t in any more control than I was, and couldn’t help it.

I did take a picture of him. For posterity. I was trying to find some humor in a situation horribly lacking. He continued to yell.

We even tried turning on the shower to shock him for a second, and turning lights on and off. We finally got his diaper on, and Brian was going to put him to bed with milk. At this point, we had even tried to ask him if he was in pain or hurt somewhere, since it had gone on so long, but he continued to answer in yelling, crying, “no’s” and flailing of arms.

I returned to the room gathering up laundry and asked him if he wanted to help mommy put his eyeball shirts in the wash so he could wear them tomorrow, and he lifted his arms up to get picked up. We went to the laundry room, where he spotted 3 dice.

(The dice were in there from a previous time that I had taken them away and wanted them out of his sight. Really, I need to get rid of them)

He picked them up, and went totally silent.

Where to go from here? We took him to our bedroom and asked him if he wanted to watch Elmo under mommy and daddy’s covers, which he did. We laid there next to him for about 15 minutes, watching Sesame Street.

We convinced him to get in his pjs. He said “zip zip”. I asked him if he felt better, and he said “yeah”. I told him mommy was happy he felt better.

And then we actually went down at bedtime and finally ate dinner. Jameson ate some of his left over pizza, and then he ate some of our rice and pork. Surprisingly, since he never really ate any significant quantity of pork before.

This morning, he was cheerful and excited to wear his eyeball shirt (he asks to wear them every morning). However, when I tried to take photos this morning with the 23 month blocks, he completely refused and started to get upset. He got up and walked away a couple times. We gave up, hoping for a better mood later… I certainly hope this passes quickly.

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Play Kitchen

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Sunday we put together Jameson’s play kitchen! Brian was cleaning out the basement and got tired of staring at the extra large box which we purchased a long time ago. We did anticipate giving it to him before his birthday, when it got cooler out, so this was the right time!

Since Brian does the cooking in our house, we thought Jameson might naturally want to imitate him this way. He will undoubtedly get tools and other traditional “boy” toys, but this item was insisted on by me, who enjoys the fruits of Brian’s labor in the kitchen.

Also, I really wanted to encourage some imaginary play, since a lot of Jameson’s play is rough housing and activities like standing on stools, pillows, boxes and containers.

Jameson insisted on being a helper while we built it. He would take pieces to Brian whenever asked, and wanted to use the screw driver to help put things together.

He also knows the word “batteries” now and whenever something doesn’t work, he’ll say “battwies” and follows that with a “daddy” because I frequently tell him that daddy will fix things. So this time, I put in the batteries for the kitchen.

Once it was all finished, we had Jameson make us some broccoli, apple and bananas. The set came with food, and we went through each of them and Jameson repeated after me.

The following day, we had the cutest conversation about his kitchen:

Me: Are you putting Mr. Bear in the microwave?
J: yeah
Me: oh is Mr. Bear all done? Are you going to eat Mr. Bear now?
J: yeah
(Mr.s Bear and Blanket then made their rounds in the fridge and stove shortly after)

Before Trick or Treat, Aunt Melissa came over and they played with his new kitchen too. It’s fun to ask him for a fork, and he’ll run back to get it.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t use the burners which light up and make noise as much as the microwave, which doesn’t make any noise at all but he will press the fake buttons anyway. Pretty cute!

We moved his toy box into the dining room for now since he’s not playing with much in there. So far, the kitchen’s getting a decent amount of use, even if he does like putting unrelated toys into the cubbies!

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life with baby, pets

Sasha’s Party

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Saturday, we had a little birthday party for Sasha, who turned 10 years old on October 1. Many of her favorite people were there, and it was conveniently timed that Jameson napped through the arrival of most of them, so she could greet everyone herself with no interruptions!

She did get a couple treats and toys out of it, but mostly it was just a gathering involving extra belly rubs! We had photos up of her along the stairs and mantle, and displayed her pedigree chart on the table along with photos of her mom and dad.

Then Jameson woke up and stole to show!

Lily came over with her brother, who was a champ the entire time.

Jameson showed off his skills with the empty dishwasher tab canister. Yes, we saved it for fun. Jameson also likes to bang with his drumsticks on the other side, since it obviously makes more fun noises than the plastic drum he has.

My parents even drove all the way up for a couple hours, though Jameson didn’t say “Meemaw” as he had for the first time just the night before during FaceTime!

I made pumpkin pie for dessert (Jameson only wanted the whipped cream), a crust-less version which recipe I got from Laura and Dave, who also came with their daughter Rylan.

Meanwhile, Lily and Jameson started running around the dining room table, which I thought was pretty hilarious. Lily did fall and burst into tears, but all was well!

I love Jameson’s sneaky face in this one. He appears to have stolen all the cloths from the baby wipes case that Rylan was playing with.

Sasha alternated between her bed and the front door, being exhausted by watching out for all the children!

It was time for my parents to say goodbye, which signaled the beginning of the end of Sasha’s party. We had plenty of left overs of pulled pork, raw veggies and pumpkin pie throughout the week.

The crowd left a really tired puppy! And Jameson has enjoyed looking at all the pictures of “Sashy” all week since we left them up.

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Trick or Treat

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Sunday was our city’s trick or treat night, which had been delayed from the original Wednesday evening plan due to Hurricane Sandy. I didn’t mind, because it was another day to enjoy Jameson’s Elmo costume!

He got right in, excited to go outside. Brian’s mom brought over a foam glow stick, which he ran around outside with while we were waiting for Lily.

Lily was a fairy princess, and rode in the wagon with Jameson. She wasn’t sure about Elmo at first I think!

It was another brisk night, so I was thankful for his warm costume as we all headed up the road away from the fire that Brian built in the driveway. We all went, Aunt Melissa, Brian, myself and grandma with Lily and her mom. A whole herd of us! Grandpa stayed to man the fire and pass out candy.

When there were a bunch of houses close together, we let Jameson and Lily out and we walked them up to the doorways. Last year, most people were outside at the end of their driveways, but the bitter cold drove a lot more people inside this year.

Jameson did well saying “thank you” but didn’t say “trick or treat” at all. He was still cute; as we walked to the next house, I asked him if he wanted more treats and he’d repeat after me “mo’ tweat”.

It was all the more cute since he didn’t really know what treats were! He would take out treats in his bucket, give them a little shake and put them back in.

Except for the sucker, he knew that one and gnawed on the end of it all the way home. We managed to get to about 8 houses or more!

Our last stop was our own house of course! We were about to head inside when a group of trick or treaters came up. Jameson saw them get their candy and decided he wanted to trick or treat at our house too.

He clearly knew this was his show here though because he had no problem reaching into the bowl to pick one out himself!

Jameson had dinner, and while grandma and Aunt Melissa put him to bed,  I came back outside to make some s’mores and enjoy the fire before calling it a night. We didn’t have many trick or treaters at our house this year or last, since we live on the outskirts of the neighborhood, but that just means more leftovers for me!

We offered Jameson a kitkat last night, but he returned it, not liking it. Score more candy for me again!

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Halloween Party

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I was so excited to attend his school’s Halloween party on Halloween since I haven’t spent much time there with him. I loved seeing all the other kids, him in costume, and watching the teacher/student interactions.

When I arrived, Jameson jumped up out of Cara’s lap and over to me. We were waiting to start the parade, so we sang some songs and then did a dance. Jameson seemed a little out of sorts, already in his costume.

Jameson put his blanket on the cots and all the kids lined up and out to the central area to begin the parade through the rooms.

Okay, it was really scattered. It must have been their ages, but there wasn’t a lot of structure to our parade. I took hold of Jameson’s hand since he seemed a little lost and we went through just a couple rooms before returning back to ours.

I think that he was a little warm in the costume actually, and when we got back to the classroom he cried a little trying to unzip himself from the costume, poor thing!

I helped him out of the costume, and everything was immediately better. Also, it was snack time!

They gave the kids cups with a little apple juice in it, and Jameson did really well! I was impressed, since at home he was dumping water on the floor from cups on purpose.

After about 3 refills (about half a cup of straight apple juice), I suggested maybe he might want water next instead hehe! 😉

And here’s Mr. Nathan again, smirking when he saw me taking photos of him!

I also got a picture of his Star of the Month board. He was showcased during October, so Halloween was his very last day on the board.

And I finally captured a smile from Jameson! I commented to another mom there that I could finally put away my camera and she laughed and said she does the same thing. We are all the same, and all different, us moms!

I did escape before snack time was over so that I didn’t need to clean up. I had to get to work, and also change into my own costume.

Here is my team, much bigger than just a few months ago. It was a good time, and we walked into the work cafeteria blasting some Spice Girls.

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Halloween Festivities Weekend

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Halloween started off last Friday with our neighborhood party! They have the party every year, though this is the first year we’ve participated. Neighbors either pay $5 or host a “station” at their house for kids to come visit.

Okay, the first time Jameson put this costume on, it was a fight! He screamed like we were cutting off his legs, poor thing. Brian and I looked at each other, and did what any good parent would do (right?) and we forced him into it. I’m sure we were both thinking “It’ll be good for you! Fun! Come on!”

He did end up enjoying himself, and the costume was perfect for this awful hurricane-generated rain that we’ve had since that Friday through today still. Still! He stayed warm and dry the entire time, and he loved staying up late. Jameson got a little slap happy at the end.

First stop was a photo station and then pumpkin ring toss. Jameson got a spider as his prize. Oh, and he also had a wonderful new eyeball necklace that lit up from the party favor station when we arrived too. He loves that necklace!

This is Nathan and Jameson, his buddy from school. Nathan was dressed as Thing 1, and his sister as Thing 2. We stopped at their house since they had a s’more station! The boys just had some graham crackers.

We also hopped aboard the hay ride tractor, which Jameson loved. He stared at the tractor the entire time and waved bye bye when we finished.

One of the neighbors is in a real Kiss cover band and had a photo booth there as well. Jameson refused until Brian picked him up. This photo is hilarious!

At the end of the evening, the snack station opened and Lily stopped by for a bit. This photo of Jameson climbing on her stroller made me laugh. He wanted her to come out and play! The night was getting late though and it was cold and misty, so we headed back home shortly after that.

On Saturday, we went to the Akron Zoo for Boo at the Zoo with JP, Lisa & Jonathan.

At least Jameson didn’t mind the costume as much this time, but by the face he’s making in all the pictures you wouldn’t know it. He seems very concerned!

But mostly I think he has a solemn face when he is taking things in and absorbing new experiences.

We rode the merry-go-round, which Jameson loved! He didn’t want to leave or say bye to the polar bear, he had so much fun!

The Akron Zoo is smaller, so we made the rounds pretty quick. I took a few inside, but then it started to rain so I didn’t get any more outdoor photos.

I love how he looks when you take a picture of the back of the costume, with the eyeballs up. Also, yes, he is wearing his eyeball necklace from the previous night again.

After the zoo, we went to Luigi’s for lunch, which I had been craving, so that was perfect! Jameson and Jonathan did really well with dinner, and Jameson ate rigatoni though no ravioli.

He finally ate filled pasta for the first time at daycare the other day; they said he ate it all (either that, or it was all on the floor and they couldn’t tell what he ate, right?!)

Due to Hurricane Sandy and the bad weather this week, our city Trick or Treat has been rescheduled to Sunday, which nice. By the time Halloween festivities are over, Jameson will have worn his costume for 4 days! Lots of adorable pictures of him in Elmo.

Yesterday on Halloween we didn’t lack for Halloween celebration; I went to his school’s Halloween Party and took some photos. More on that to come!

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