This is for you, Grammy and Grampa! Tons of pictures and videos (click
here and
here and
here!) and an update of the past couple months. We love you!! (and
miss you, too!)
Swimming Lessons
Summer started with a bang the last week of of May with Benjamin's swimming lessons.
He hated them. Bummer. We did a week-long semi-private session. The teacher was awesome-
- she had a tough-love
approach with focus on teaching the kids to swim to the side of the pool. After the first day (and a massive fit), Benjamin reluctantly submitted to doing what
the teacher said and progressed fairly well, at least the best he could being as "terrified" as he was. This submission
was motivated, of course, by shameless bribery on my part--- McD's happy meal lunch when we were "all done" on
Friday. I was so
proud of him, especially to see him swim across the pool and jump off the diving board-- all by
himself!-- and get to the side safely. Mission accomplished! So I thought... I hoped his accomplishments would build his confidence for our swimming-filled summer ahead, but, alas, he is still very weary of swimming without his floaties. Oh, well. At least I know he'll be fine-ish if he happens to fall in.
Jonathan, on the other hand, loved playing around in the pool while his brother was enduring torture-- he's a happy water baby for the most part. :) Oh, and we did have a lovely outing together to good ol' Micky-dee's. ;)
My baby turned TWO. Ah! My baby, but no longer a baby. I absolutely adore this child. He brings our family so much happiness. For his birthday, we had a wonderful time celebrating our little boy and the two great years he's been a part of our lives.
His birthday was on Memorial Day-- we started the day with a picnic at the Train Park. We have a picnic, rode the little train and carousel each twice, and the boys played to their hearts content.
Later we had a traditional birthday party with all of Jonathan's favorite things. Jonathan's
number one obsession is balls-- of ALL kinds. His favorite pastime, accordingly, is
gathering all the balls he can from all around the house and putting them in different kinds of containers, boxes, baskets, etc. So it stands to reason that we had
a "ball" themed party (verging on sports theme, except we're not really sporty). Jonathan's favorite ball is a football. Go figure. So Dustin made pretty much the awesomest football cake I've ever seen-- he has a secret talent as a cake
designer/decorator! We also spoiled Jonathan with
dozens of different kind of balls-- mostly the splash kind he can play with in the pool.
Another Jonathan fave is balloons. So, I bought a bouquet of a dozen helium balloons, plus a
couple mylars and let them float
around the house. Jonathan was mesmerized. So fun!
For dinner we had yet another Jonathan favorite-- spaghetti, corn, and rolls. Yum! Then
we ate the aforementioned cake for dessert (Dustin was especially proud of the candle goal. He's
so clever. :) ). Jonathan was actually a bit scared of the lit candle, but didn't hesitate to dig in once the fire was out.
Jonathan was the cutest opening gifts-- he was thrilled that this time (he's been to several
others' bday parties) all those colorful wrapped delights were all his. He loved the balls, of course, hastily gathering them up and putting them in a laundry basket. He showed brief interest in his Aquadoodle and got a big kick out of the large stuffed gorilla I found at Other Mothers for a steal. He loves books and got quite a few fun ones from Grandma and Grandpa Higgins. Also, Jonathan LOVES his new bowling set from, y'all, Grammy and Grampa and fam... especially the rolly balls in the pins (he shows them to us often, making sure we acknowlegde the balls inside). You sure know what he likes!
Some tidbits about our two-year-old boy:
He still speaks a lot of Jonathan-ese, but he does has a fairly broad vocabulary, if not a lot of clear articulation ;). Here's his favorite conversation topics--
Balls-- He definitely talks about balls the most, usually showing me all his different kinds, ("Mama, itza ball, itza ball.")
Cars--He considers anything on wheels is a car. Benjamin anxiously and always corrects him when it is a different kind of vehical. ("No, Jonathan! It's a truck!" We're working on helping him correct him nicely...)
Colors-- Which is his special word for crayons, markers, pencils, pens, etc. He *loves* to colo
r and draw, often helping himself to the crayon box, a pen on Daddy's desk, or other coloring utensil, as well as a notebook, coloring book, or paper scrap he finds around the house. He also loves to show me his artwork. ("Mama! Color!")
His Accomplishments-- I love to hear his little voice saying excitedly (and often) "I di-it! I di-it!" (aka "I did it!) or "I gaw-it!" (aka "I got it") whenever he achieves something-- like
grabbing a cracker from the pantry, putting a ball in a cup, climbing into his crib, drawing a scribble, or a myriad of other fun toddler accomplishments.
Requests-- Jonathan knows very well how to "ask nicely". He certainly throws his share of fits, but usually he will prelude his requests (demands, more like?) with an emphatic or sugary-sweet "Peeeeeeeeeeze!" (aka "Please").
Food-- This little guy is obsessed in eating. It seems like he always wants a snack. If I don't
acquiesce to his requests (um, demands), he finds a chair and climbs up and digs through the pantry to find something himself. Drives me crazy. But the look of pride on his face when he places a pile of crackers on the table... melts me... so, okay-fine, all's forgiven. Food's he requests the most are crackers ("Crkr"), juice ("Juu!"), and rolls ("Peeez, roll, peez?").
Daddy-- This boy is a ridiculous Daddy's boy. He is crazy about his dad and always randomly talks about "Daddy" throughout the day. When he hear's the garage door go up, he runs to the front door with his brother, estatically yelling "Daddy ho!" (aka "Daddy's home!").
His Favorite Blanket-- Jonathan has a serious Linus-complex with his soft, white blanket. He even gave it a special name: "boo". It's a necessary companion for sleep, which is nice because he craves his afternoon nap and goes down so beautifully with his blankie... all I need do is ask, "Where's the boo?" and he giddily runs to get his blanket and giggles as I put him in his crib. It's awesome. Without "boo", however... that's an entirely different story. Heaven forbid I get my timing off when washing the blanket. He's gone down to a nap or bed several time with damp boo because it didn't have time to dry. We pray we never lose it. I have my eyes out for a duplicate, though, just in case...
Balloons-- I've already mentioned Jonathan's obsession with spherical objects. Thus, perhaps it's only natural that he love balloons, too. I think most kids do. But if we're at the store and he sees a "boon!", he about goes crazy with excitement.
Mistakes-- One of the most common first words for kids is "uh oh!" whenever anything falls
down or seems off kilter. Jonathan's no exception. He gets pretty concerned about things being out of place, though, and is usually insistant that I fix whatever fell ("Fall down!") or whatnot. He definitely has a different personality than his brother, but it turns out, he may be just as particular.
Animals-- Jonathan is crazy about animals! He especially loves dogs. Whenever he hears one,
even in the distance, he pauses and announces "Dog! Ruff, ruff!" (the ruffing is always in a very high tone voice). If he see one, he runs toward it as fast as he can, which somehow seems faster than me! People are usually so nice and thrill him by letting him pet their dog. He is fancinated with other animals, too, pointing to birds ("Bird!") and often making monkey noises ("Ooo, ah, ah!") for his stuffed monkeys. Daddy recently taught him to swat at flies. He thinks that's pretty funny.
Possessions-- Jonathan has hit the milestone of possessiveness. He claims things with a firm and frantic, "Mine!". He also has realized that this expression bugs his brother and will seem to say it just to egg on a silly arguement. Therefore, I've reached the parenting milestone of learning to keep my cool when I hear the aggravating "mine! no, mine! mine! miiiiiiiiiiine! MINE" for the hundreth time in a day.
And All Sorts of Other Stuff-- "Whoa!" is a favorite expression. Jonathan says it with pretty much anything he feels deserves special attention. He has also realized what 'hot' means and will warn me with a "haw, haw, haw" whenever I'm cooking at the stove or open the over. He also says it when I serve him his food now, blowing on it (even cold stuff, like a sandwich) to cool it down. Jonathan LOVES books and will pull out dozens of stories to sit and read. He especially loves it when we read to him. Jonathan also LOVES to play outside ("ow-sii") and will grab his shoes ("shoo, shoo") randomly throughout the day and request to play in the backyard. He especially loves walks and has the cutest little run-- he lifts and wags his elbows... love it. And he loves to dance and will break out dancing whenever he hears music.
Anyways.... well, I could go on and on, but the point is, I sure love my little guy and I am amazed how smart and ingenuitive he has become. He is getting to be such a big boy. I am so grateful to be his "mama". :)
Hangin' at Home
Other things we've been up to...
*Painting-- the boys love it and I'm happy to let them, as long as I feel up to the clean-up. :)
*Benjamin's Battery & X-ray-- Oh, the "adventures" of motherhood. Benjamin came to me in a panic last week, crying that he ate a battery. He was chewing on the end of a keychain flashlight and claimed he accicently swallowed the button battery. Unsure what to do, I called Poison Control and they said that usually ("usually"-- that was comforting... I guess this battery-swallowing isn't all that uncommon) when a child swallows a battery, it remains intact and just passes through, so unless he showed symptoms of odd pain or something, we could just check his BM for a few days and get an X-ray after that if it hadn't passed. Mmmm, yay. So, I faithfully "checked" for almost a week and no battery. On day five, we went ahead and got an x-ray. Benjamin flipped out when I told him, but, as usual, give him some time and he'll come around. He eventually decided to be brave and was awesome at the x-ray place. The doctor's office called with results a couple days later. No battery in his system. Hmmm.. maybe Benjamin accidentally flushed it-- or didn't swallow it after all. Either way, we're all relieved to have that little saga over.
*More Boards-- Dustin takes the Step 2 Boards on Monday. They're not as bad as the first ones, but, still, mom and dad and fam, you're support and prayers sure mean a lot! It's nice to have Daddy around more lately, albiet a pretty stressed Daddy. :)
*One Car Family-- With our 3-month audition rotations venture coming up this fall, we're ready to join the mini-van club. So, we sold our Accord. :( I was surprised how sentimental I felt, watching the new owner drive it away last weekend. Good-bye, our first family car. You've been good to us....
As for a new car, well, buying a car is quite a pain, isn't it? But, we've been blessed with an AMAZING deal-- a 2004 Toyota Sienna XLE for only $9000. There is a catch-- we can't officially purchase it until the end of July (the family selling it is moving back to their home in Korea, but are not leaving until then). We've signed a contract, so it's all ours in a month, but until then, we're hanging in there as a one-car fam with Dustin's little 2-door Civic. We've been doing okay so far switching off/dropping off as needed-- and I've brushed up my stick-shift skills after 10 years of driving an automatic. ;)
*Summer Swimming-- And so it begins. Despite Benjamin's new general aversion to swimming, we've gone several times a week this past month and will probably go almost every day with the climbing heat. It's a great consistent activity, if quite the daily production, but SO worth it when the boys crash for the afternoon. Bring on the (hopefully) lazy days of summer! :)