Busy Times

My last post was (gasp) over two months ago and Little had just turned two. We've been super busy with travel and life and I have been terribly negligent in documenting this exciting time in his life.

Little started at a nearby Montessori school at the beginning of September. It has been wonderful and overwhelming, and at times, almost more than I can handle. The school does not "do" diapers, meaning that at 2 years old, the kids transition to training underwear and proceed to pee all over themselves all day (well at least in our experience). 

The first two weeks were rough. Major drama at home with potty training, learning new skills, and going from a relatively free-for-all day with our wonderful nanny share to a very structured day with "work," waiting your turn, and Spanish immersion. 

Fast forward two months and we're still having rough days, but I think the school is doing great things. He frequently goes days with only one or two accidents, sings songs all day long, is speaking in rather complex sentences, and is more independent than ever. He can put on underwear, his pants and shirt himself. Socks still cause tantrums, but if we do it together, he happily finishes the job by yanking them up to his knees "like soccer socks." 

I need to keep up with all of his changes and new tricks. A new years resolution for sure.  

**I've just been informed that Little put his socks on by himself this morning. See, I can't even keep up with this pace, even when I do actually try.

 

Bob the Builder Halloween

I'm cheating and backdating this post, since I was too much of a slacker to post Halloween photos a little closer to the actual event. I still don't think Little understood why he was dressing up, but was pretty excited about waiting for kids to come to the door and walking around the neighborhood to see the sights. First, carving pumpkins:

Little: "Hi Fire. Make a Jack-o-Lantern.

Little making his pumpkin face.

Little making his scary face (looks a lot like his mama's morning face).

Bob the Builder

He prefers to work without pants. Fixing the chair.

Fixing the door.

Fixing another chair.

Ready for trick or treating.

First lollypop.

Anxiously waiting for more kids in costumes.

Two Years Old

Miles turned two on the 28th and already he seems like more of a little boy. He speaks in phrases and sentences, understands everything we say, and has opinions about everything (like the need to eat his birthday cupcake with a fork).

Since he didn't quite understand the concept of "birthday" we decided to just try to make the day seem as special as possible. He woke up to a birthday cupcake and opened presents on Skype with my sister and mom. He liked the candle and said his cupcake was "on fire." He throughout the day he opened more little presents and by bedtime was saying "birthday" with a giant grin.

First Sentence

Little said his first sentence last night at dinner. We were all sitting around the table after finishing a delicious meal of fennel and sausage pasta when Little pointed to J's plate and said "Dadda ate it all." I think he surprised himself and immediately recoiled and got very shy (something he's been doing a lot lately). We all praised his good work and he pointed at my plate and said "Mama ate it all." I'm sure he's been talking in sentences in his head for weeks now, but it's so nice that he decided to share. 

Today while having a snack he said, "Popcorn..... tastes good.... popcorn.....tastes really good." Tonight, as I'm writing this I turned on his baby monitor and am listening to him chattering before going to sleep. He's practicing his "tastes really good," "thank you," and "there you go." 

He's also is losing some of his baby words. "Oppi" is now octopus, "dice-i-dore" is now sometimes dinosaur, and "goobish" are now mostly goldfish. He's definitely embracing his upcoming birthday and no doubt will blow us away with many more tricks up his sleeve before the end of the month.

Tea and Toast

Now that Miles is nearing his two-year mark, finding independence and his voice take precedence over most other things (including eating and drinking). Most mornings, he refuses to accept food from me or J, but his Munga Munga has a way with toddlers and manages to get a piece of toast in his belly with just a little coercion -- his own tea cup. He calls it his "tiny" cup and loves sipping tea with a little milk while eating squares of toast that sport a healthy smear of butter. Such a sophisticated little muffin.

 

Pork Shoulder

Our neighbor acquired a professional-size smoker and invited us to participate in his epic pork shoulder endeavor. Three neighbors, three different rubs, and about 60 pounds of meat. Miles was pretty excited about our portion (an almost 20lb cut).

Jamberry

Miles loves his book, Jamberry. We've read it a million times and it shows:

New Skills: Organizing

In addition to a million other things, Miles has discovered the joys of organizing and sorting. He loves moving things from one place to another and arranging them in various types of patterns. He started first with shoes, taking one shoe at a time from the living room and arranging them in the kitchen while I was cooking dinner. Then, he'd bring them all back and start over again, making a new pattern each time.

With each new pattern, he takes a step back and examines his work and says, "Yep. Good Job." His latest masterpiece was with the contents of our kitchen drawers. Good job indeed.

 

Budding Architect?

On our trip to Santa Cruz in June, Miles rediscovered his love of blocks. The kid is hooked. He loves building towers and houses (and somehow can distinguish the difference) and has now moved on to loving the building process slightly more than knocking it down afterward. 

Miles giving me a tour of his "house"

Excited about his first building with the new (old) blocks

Proud builder

Adjusting some details

Building a tower next to the house

Dress Up

Miles loves to dress up. He likes to pick out his own outfits and some days they're good...while others they're, well, interesting:

Strawberries

The strawberries in our front yard have started to ripen. Miles loves examining each one to see if they're "closer" (ripe). Today I caught him sneaking some half-ripe ones and had to try and explain to this very eager 21 month old that he just has to wait. He had to be physically moved to the back yard. 

Cast Off, Back to Work

Little has enjoyed his new freedom now that the cast is off. The cast removal process was traumatic, and now, a week later, he still references the event by saying, "Cast. Off. Vacuum (the cast saw). Lie down (when he had to get the leg x-rayed again)."

He still has a bit of a weird gait, almost like he's walking around as though there's still a cast on his leg, but it's getting better every day. He now runs, jumps, and climbs like a monkey. Developmentally, he's been going through some growing pains. He's now more aware of what's going on and he doesn't want to miss out on a thing.

Little loves to help us cook and garden, especially when he can see the results of his work. This afternoon he really really wanted to climb up the ladder to help J put up string for the runner beans we planted. So, as an alternative we gave him his own "ladder" that was much safer in the event of a fall. He was content chatting with J and reaching high in the sky to do some last touches on the project.

Cast? What Cast?

The cast slowed him down for about 1/2 a minute and now he's back to walking, climbing, and getting into mischief. He loves how noisy his cast is when he slams it down on the floor, kicks a wall, or stomps on his high chair at dinner. It's an exercise in patience each meal, but he's learning the real difference between quiet and loud, and hard and gentle. He likes to test it out just to make sure he can still make loud noises. He can. 


We've started playing music in the evening to pass the time before bed. It's a rough part of our day. Everyone is tired and Miles gets especially frustrated with his cast. As you can see, mobility issues aren't really a huge issue anymore:

 

First ER Visit

Saturday was our first (probably of many) trips to the ER with Little. A playground accident was the culprit. His sneaker stuck to the side of the slide when we were going down and twisted his leg. After about 20 minutes of crying he calmed down, but when he tried to put pressure on his leg, he fell over. 

So, off we went to the hospital on Saturday just before dinner. Little was quite a trooper -- his mom was not. Weepy at the thought of her baby in a cast, she sniffled through the doctor's visit and x-ray. Miles gladly played Peekaboo Wild while the ER nurse splinted his leg and sent us on our way to figure out what to do with an immobile 19-month-old. Sunday and Monday were rough. Little didn't want to put any weight on his leg, so he was confined to a stroller or the couch. 

We visited the pediatric orthopedist today bright and early hoping to be rid of the splint. Although they couldn't see a definite break, they suspected that since he still didn't want to put any weight on his leg that he might have a hairline fracture that wasn't showing up on the x-ray. So, they fitted him with a bright green cast that will stay in place for 4 weeks. FOUR WHOLE WEEKS. Thankfully, he's allowed to walk on it and the doctor was confident he'd have things all figured out and would be running around the house like a maniac in no time.

From now on though, this little maniac will only wear socks on the slide.

Easter Eggs

Easter was mostly about relaxing and not so much about Easter bunnies. Don't worry though, we had a mini egg hunt in our living room. Little thought it was amazing to find eggs with little chocolate bunnies inside. Now even two days later, he opens cabinets and looks under furniture saying, "eggs, rabbits?"

Rough Week | Awesome Week

They say a picture is worth a thousand words; this one is worth a million. It pretty much describes our week. He's making verbal and developmental leaps that astound me every day, but it all comes at a cost. I'd describe Miles as a bit of a thug lately. He tests and tests me until I reach a breaking point and then finds a new button or two to press just for good measure. His outfits are just a small (yet insignificant) example. He wants to do everything himself, which is great and awful. Great because he's learning independence and can do a lot now on his own. It's awful too, because there are still a lot of things he physically can't do, like put on his shoes and jacket. 

I try to give him as much leeway as I can, but there's only so much latitude I can afford without drawing out the process of leaving the house into an hour-long venture. Every. Single. Morning and Afternoon.

He's happiest when playing with his friend, Leon, or taking walks to the park. I imagine as the weather gets better and we're finally moved into our house, all of our moods will lighten. We're hoping that sleeping in his own room will too help the sleep woes we've all dealt with since the late fall. 

Until then, I'm trying to focus on the positives. He knows so many words now, can count from one to six with very little assistance, and loves being helpful. He's also incredibly sweet and loving (when he's not hitting or pushing me away). It's all a part of growing and changing, I know, but showing unconditional love is exhausting (especially when you're physically and mentally exhausted).