1st haircut, beach trip, and 2nd birthday!

This is what happens when I get behind on blogging.  We have an eventful month and suddenly I'm way behind on my updates.  So, I'll get us mostly caught up this time and save the other giant update (starting preschool!) for the next post.

1st haircut

Much as I loved Daniel's long shaggy hair, it was time for a trim.  The back was starting to get kind of mullet-y and as cute as the longer hair was in the front and on the sides, the mullet thing was not as becoming.  So, after asking around for suggestions, we took him to Cool Cuts for Kids, a salon that's tailored to kids.  For the littlest customers like Daniel, the salon chairs are built into race cars. 

He liked driving the car while the stylist trimmed away.  The car also faced a little TV which was cued up with an Elmo video.  I was quite the proud mommy that he recognized Elmo not from TV, but from his books. 

He was pretty patient all through the cut and looked quite handsome afterwards.

Beach trip

When I was growing up, a trip to Padre Island was a part of nearly every summer.  Kevin and I decided that would be a fun tradition to keep for our family too.  Daniel enjoyed the trip last year so we knew he'd have fun this year too, especially now that he's big enough to walk and run in the water. 

Before our flight, Daniel enjoyed playing in the kids' play area of DFW airport.  What a genius idea to let the kiddos burn off some energy before their flight!

Last year we went with the Rangels and my parents.  This year the Rangels weren't able to make it but my parents, Kevin's mom, and Kevin's brother Scott and his wife Katherine all came, then my brother David and his girlfriend Alana joined for the final two days.  So, it wound up being an extended family trip, which was fun.  Daniel loved spending time with his grandparents, uncles, and aunt!

Last year he wasn't walking yet so he couldn't really go very far out into the ocean itself before the water was hitting him in the face, so he mainly stuck to the sand and the tidepools.  This year, he was boldly running out into the surf, or at least the first 20 feet or so of it.  He was laughing out loud and saying "whee" as the waves would hit him, until he got out too deep and the waves were hitting him in the face.  He's still not a big fan of water in the eyes, but as long as he stayed in that shallow zone, he was happy.  He'd run into the water, back out, then back in again, over and over.  We definitely have a little beach boy!

Daniel turns 2!

I'm not sure how it is that it's been 24 months since our little boy was born, but somehow I've got a 2 year old now.  We decided to keep the birthday celebration low-key.  We went swimming with a few friends that morning, then did a family dinner at the house that night. 

Before all of that, though, we gave Daniel his birthday present.  He's all about cars these days so we decided his gift from Mommy and Daddy would be a little car he can drive.  We test-drove a few at Toys 'R Us earlier in the week and once he met the Cozy Coupe, it was love at first sight.  We put a Cozy Coupe box in our car, but Daniel didn't understand that.  All he understood was the part where he had to leave the "floor model" he'd been enjoying for the last 30 minutes and oh, what an epic meltdown that entailed!

So, imagine his delight a few mornings later when I brought him downstairs on his birthday and he saw the car sitting in the middle of the living room with a bow wrapped on the side.  His face lit up and he ran toward it.  Until it was time to leave for the swim playdate he was happily climbing in and out of the car.  I'll always remember that morning-that might be the happiest I've ever seen him.  It was the perfect gift.

We managed to pry him away from the car to head for the pool to meet up with his playmates Alejandro, William (who, as of this month, is now also his classmate at school), Natalie, and Justin.  The kids had a blast swimming, jumping into the pool, and exploring the playscape.

Finally, it was cupcake time, and time to get our birthday boy home for a nap before the evening festivities.

That night my parents, Kevin's mom, Uncle Scott and Aunt Katherine, and the Rangels joined us for dinner.  We feasted on dove breast (from Kevin, my dad, and Scott's successful hunting trip last fall), chicken, squash casserole, homemade applesauce, salad, fruit salad, roasted kale, homemade potato chips, roasted okra, homemade guac and chips, homemade bread, and cupcakes.  Yeah, it was a LOT of food, but all delicious! 

The company was wonderful too.  Having just seen all his extended family a few weeks before at the beach, Daniel was really excited to see them all again (and talked about everyone for days afterward!).  And of course, he was thrilled to see his buddy Alejandro not once but twice that day.  At first I thought we'd have some trouble on our hands when they both seemed interested in the Cozy Coupe, but then, on their own, they found a way to share it.  Daniel got in the car and Alejandro happily pushed the car around the house!

After that big day, Daniel got to stay up extra-late to enjoy his company.  He slept hard that night though! 

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2nd year with Daniel, and I can't wait to see what his 3rd year has in store for us. I hope he loves being our son, we sure do love being his parents!

23 months…and 10 weeks!

10 weeks?!

Daniel has some pretty exciting news to share since our last update:

 

Yes, he’s going to be a big brother!  Daniel’s sibling is due in early February, and we’re all eagerly awaiting his/her arrival.  I’m 10 weeks along and so far, everything seems good.  We had our first sonogram and prenatal appointment a few weeks ago and got to see little Honey Badger (our nickname for this baby.  Why?  I joked about the baby being like a honey badger, Daniel picked up on it and started saying it, and that was that).  S/he was looking good and had a strong 144 bpm heartbeat.

So far I’m doing…okay.  I have been kind of permanently queasy the last several weeks.  It hasn’t been terrible, mostly just annoying.  My impression is that it’s worse than it was with Daniel but I may not be remembering accurately.  I have been tired, though perhaps not quite as much as with Daniel, and not sleeping too well.  Fortunately, I have not felt the constant need to use the bathroom like I did before.  Unfortunately, I have had several multi-day migraines, which I did not have with Daniel.

So, do the stronger pregnancy symptoms this go-round mean that we’re having a girl this time?  Maybe so, maybe no….but we won’t be finding out till the little one arrives.  It was fun to find out with Daniel and I think it made everything more real, 1) now that we have a toddler running around, the whole “there’s a little person in there” aspect is quite real to us, and 2) it will be fun to go to the hospital on that eventful day with a big surprise ahead of us.

Other than not finding out the sex ahead of time, we are pretty much planning to handle this pregnancy and birth like we did Daniel’s.  I’m going to the same practice I did while pregnant with Daniel (and for subsequent checkups) and will have half of my visits with Cecily, the same midwife who delivered Daniel.  The other half will be with Allison, the new midwife they recently brought on.  We had our first appointment with Allison, and while we don’t yet have the familiarity with her that we do with Cecily, we liked her and I’m sure as the pregnancy progresses we’ll have ample chance to get to know her. 

We plan to deliver at Baylor Dallas again, and I again plan to labor, and hopefully deliver, in a birth tub., epidural-free.  I never doubted I'd succeed at a natural birth last time, but this time I go in with the huge confidence booster of knowing I can do it, because I already have.  And 2nd labors tend to be faster, apparently-good news after the 37 hour endurance event of Daniel's birth. 

I also feel like all my running and racing this past year will pay off, not just in better overall fitness but as more encouraging moments for the positive memory bank.  If I hit a challenging moment in labor, I'll think back to mile 8 of the Austin Half-Marathon, when my IT band seized up and I was reduced to a limping walk.  I was in pain, but I persevered and finished strong.  When the end is in sight, I'll remember hitting the 11 mile marker of the White Rock half and realizing that I was about 20 minutes from becoming a half-marathoner.  I've read that in times of stress people don't rise to the occasion, they sink to the level of their training, and I like to think I'm going into this endurance event well trained for it.

Speaking of endurance events, Honey Badger already has a sprint triathlon and half marathon under his/her belt.  I was already signed up for the events and only 5 and 6 weeks along, so I did them.  I felt great but made a point to hold back a little to avoid overexerting myself.

Playtri Sprint Triathlon

The sign I wore on my back for the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon

I hope that we skip the NICU stay this time and the baby gets to room in with us.  It hit me what we missed out on with Daniel being in the NICU when I went to visit a friend at the hospital after her son was born.  We went into her recovery room and I thought, hmm, no pump in here.  Then I realized she didn’t need to pump at the hospital, because her baby got to stay in her room and nurse around the clock.  I’m glad the NICU facility was there for us, and we took home a healthy boy, but if we’re fortunate to be able to skip that and keep our baby in the room, I surely won’t take for granted how lucky I am to be able to love on my baby around the clock instead of being limited to the NICU visiting schedule.

23 months

While we’re eagerly awaiting the Honey Badger’s arrival, we’re also enjoying every day with Daniel.  We tried to teach him to answer “how old are you?” by saying “almost 2,” but instead he says “2 old!”  I understand his logic: when we ask how big he is he answers “so big” so instead of just saying he’s “2” he says he’s “2 old.” 

His fascination with reaching high spots continues unabated and at least 5 times a day we’re guaranteed to hear one or all of the variations on “Danny reach it: lights/fan/giraffe/ceiling/clurtans (curtains)”  I hope the kiddo inherits Daddy’s height or he’s set for a life of disappointment!

He’s very fond of giving hugs and kisses and every night when I put him down to bed, I tell him I love him and he answers back “I low do too Mommy.”  Sometimes he says “I low Danny too!”  Well, who wouldn’t? ;)

He is also demonstrating impressive memorization.  When we read his books he can fill in a lot of the blanks if we leave words out.  Which would be impressive anyway but I think is especially so given that he can do it without the book in front of him if I’m reciting the book to him (Mommy’s good at memorization too ;)).  Goodnight Moon and Horns to Toes are favorites to recite and to read. 

He’s also enjoying his new “brother book” we bought to help prepare him for his new sibling. 

He seems enthusiastic about the baby concept for now, but obviously doesn’t really understand.  What could be more abstract to a toddler than the idea that a whole little person is growing in Mommy’s belly and is going to come out and live with us forever?  I’m sure it’ll be quite an adjustment for him to get used to sharing Mommy and Daddy, but I think he’ll also enjoy being our little helper.  We’re going to get him a doll closer to time to give him practice holding a baby, singing to it, and “helping” with diapers.

It’s hard to believe our little guy will be 2 in just a week and a half. So far, the so-called “terrible twos” have been quite mild.  This stage is definitely my favorite so far-he’s so interactive and it’s fun to watch his personality emerge.  I can’t wait to see what his 3^rd year has in store for us.

Daniel singing

In my previous post I mentioned that Daniel has started singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Here he is doing it on camera:

In other news, he often refers to himself as "Danny," though he can also say "Daniel" well and if you ask how big Daniel is, he'll say "so big" as he holds his hands wide.  He also knows a lot of animal noises and can respond to "what does the [cow/dog/pig/monkey/etc] say" questions with the correct sound.  And if you ask what Tarzan says he'll say "aaaah" while beating his chest.  Ask what Fonzie says and he'll reply "AAAAY!"  He's pretty cute and he knows it, judging from the giant smile!

He enjoys wearing Mommy and Daddy's clothes:

In Daddy's socks

In Mommy's shoes...which I then had to keep him from throwing in the tub!

In Daddy's shorts

He also loves going to our neighborhood pool.  I know he'll really love the beach when we go in a few weeks!

22 months: Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star!

Today Daniel is 22 months old.  This past month has seen a dramatic expansion of his vocabulary and verbal skills.  Literally, he probably says at least one new word a day.  And he's starting to use more and more phrases too, including "Bye-bye Mama," "one more thing," "Mimi blanket," "Daddy reach it," and, as of the other day, "peepee potty."  (More on that one in a minute.)  It's amazing and exciting to watch him learn so much and communicate so well.

The other day Daniel was playing with his Scout toy and it was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Daniel began to sing along, "Tinkle tinkle, star."  It was the first time we'd ever heard him sing, and it was so cute!

Then, Sunday night, he brought new meaning to tinkle tinkle.  Lately he's been saying "peepee" and "poopoo" a lot, and takes great interest in watching us use the potty (to be the parent of a toddler is to have no toilet privacy).  So I bought him a little training potty and that night we let him try it out.  The plan was just to "offer" it, giving him a chance to see and sit on it but not pressuring.  At first he needed help to position himself properly on the seat but within a few minutes he was confidently sitting on the seat positioned properly behind the splash guard.  Then, as we were applauding that achievement, we heard the telltale sign that he was actually using the potty.  Needless to say, that got even more cheers.  He was so proud of himself, clapping his hands, smiling, and saying "yaaaay!"  Tinkle tinkle little star, indeed.

With that, potty training has officially commenced in our house!  As I was shopping for the potty I thought, "wow are we really here already?"  Yes, yes we are.  Wow, my baby is already potty training.

Today we offered the potty morning and night. He sat on it both times but didn't produce. No worries, right now it's just about acclimating him and giving him the option.  Given that he will only be staying with Grandma during the day for a little longer, we aren't going to bother trying to integrate potty training into his day there.  But, once he starts school, his school will help with potty training, so I expect him to make great strides then.  Hopefully, getting used to the idea at home will help him respond better to it at school.

The other day Daniel fell asleep on the way home from Grandma's house.  I realized he had been quiet for awhile and then heard gentle snoring coming from the back seat.  I drove around a few extra minutes to give him more sleep time and expected him to wake once we pulled into the garage.  But he was still sound asleep, snoozing away, despite my efforts to wake him.  So instead, I pulled out my phone and recorded him for awhile.  As you can see, even after I woke him up he still tried to go back to sleep.  Tired boy!

21 months old: He talks!

Daniel never fails to amaze me.  He's been a talker for months but the last few weeks have been a vocabulary explosion.  Literally, he's got several new words every day, too many to keep track of.  He hears us say a word and then he says it too.  And he's not just saying them, he understands what they mean.  Words that I don't even specifically remember teaching him, he knows and uses correctly.  A few of his recent ones are: shoe, sock, shirt, pants, diaper, zip (pronounced "zeep" like a Frenchman!), watch, milk, fork (pronounced like...well, it needs an R-rating), outside, I gotcha ("Igocka"), apples, and airplane.  And, finally, he says his own name, though it comes out more like "Naniel" than Daniel.

To be around him is to be treated to an almost constant narration of what he sees.  When he sees something he doesn't know the name for, he'll ask by pointing and saying "umma, umma, umma."  Actually, that's a phrase he uses a lot to get our attention.

He's learned a few cute tricks too.  We'll ask him, "what does the lion say?" and he'll reply "roar."  "What does the little piggy say?" "Wee, wee, wee" (all the way home).  And when we say, "how big is Daniel?" he says "sooo big" holding his hands wide.

Another cute thing he does is try to jump.  I'll stand in front of him and jump up and down.  He watches trying to figure out how I manage to get both feet off the ground and tries to do it himself but he ends up just getting up on his tiptoes and dancing around in something of a moonwalk.  Then I'll hop from leg to leg and he can copy me on that.  I know it's just a matter of time till he figures out the 2-footed jumping.  If there's a way to teach it though, I haven't found it.

In other news, we've decided on a preschool for Daniel.  After looking at 3, we've settled on Apostles Day School in Coppell, where our friends' two kids go.  It wasn't the most conveniently located option, but we loved the warm nurturing feel of it.  It's a Montessori school so the kids learn through self-paced "works" as well as group activities.  It's located at an Episcopal church too, so the kids get weekly chapel time, which we like.  He'll start this summer and I know he's going to love it.  He enjoys his days with Grandma but I think he'll really enjoy and benefit from the added stimulation of the classroom and regular interaction with other kids.  He really enjoys his playdates with his little buddies and it'll be fun to see him make new friends.

This is our favorite age so far with Daniel-he's so interactive, his personality becoming more developed, and every day we get to watch him learn new things.  Of course, every age has been our favorite, and I can't wait to see what's in store over the next few months.  Every day with our little boy is a blessing.  We're so lucky!

Driving!

He climbed right from Daddy's arms onto the fridge!

Trying on Mommy's shoes

Playground fun

20 months old

So here we are, now 4 months away from Daniel's 2nd birthday.  With every passing month he seems to transition more and more from a baby to a little boy.  His latest trick?  As I discovered today, he can climb onto the table. Time was not so long ago I could set him down on the floor, leave the room, and he'd still be in the same spot when I returned.  Now, apparently he's likely to be up on the dining room table.  As is often the case with such things, even as I'm telling him "no" and setting him back on the floor, I'm struggling to hide the laugh.  Life with a young toddler is never dull!

In other news, he's becoming increasingly vocal and seems to learn a new word every other day or so.  Recent additions to the list are "please," "home," and "bath," though his favorites are "mama," "dada," "up," and "no."  He can say his grandparents' names too, somewhat: Grandma is "Damma," Mimi is "Mimi," or sometimes "Mimimi," and Grandpa is "Baba."  He also has a lot of "gibberish" words which might make sense to him but don't yet to us.  Perhaps he's just trying out different combinations of sounds.  In any event, it's pretty entertaining.

No new developments on the sleep front.  He'll skip his nap sometimes or go through a few nights in a row of waking up, but overall he's a great sleeper.  He's a good eater too, though with occasional picky/light eating phases.  He's getting increasingly proficient with a fork and spoon, though tonight's adventures in eating rice were quite messy because he insisted on feeding himself.  But, I'm happy that he seems to like healthy foods and wants independence.  As far as clothes go, he's still in 18 month clothes.  They aren't getting small on him yet but they aren't big anymore.  I bet we get another month or so out of them then it's on to 2T.

A few weekends ago we went to the Houston area for my grandmother's memorial service.  I booked us at a suite hotel and definitely think that concept would serve us well on future trips.  It was nice to have some room to spread out and be able to put him to bed (in the pack n play we brought) in the bedroom, then shut the doors and stay up and visit in the living area.  Before bed though, we went out to eat at the BJ's brewpub nearby.  Funny, Kevin's and my first date was at a BJ's, now we see it and think "oh, good kid-friendly place."  And it was-lots of families, and noisy enough that the occasional cry wouldn't be disruptive.  I was a little nervous about it as we don't generally take Daniel out to dinner, we'd been on the road all afternoon, and it was his bedtime, but he rose to the challenge and for the most part did quite well.  We did get some funny pictures of him next to the empty glasses from the beer sampler Kevin and I shared.

On that trip, we also discovered a new trick of his:



One big change in the works is that we're planning to start him in preschool a few days a week after his 2nd birthday.  We haven't chosen the school yet but we've got it narrowed down to our top 2 choices.  I think either would be a good option for him, we just need to discuss the differences and decide which is the best fit for us.  The plan is to start him off with 3 days a week of school and 2 days at Grandma's, then eventually go to 5 days of school.  He loves his time with Grandma, and she loves it, but he's also enjoying interactions with other kids now too and I think would enjoy the different stimulation and structure that a classroom provides.  So, by the next time I post we'll probably have a decision on that front.

Eating good in the neighborhood

I've been meaning to post about our experiences with the Urban Acres CSA (community sponsored agriculture) but haven't gotten around to it till now.  Last month we signed up, along with our neighbors, for a biweekly share of ~30 pounds of local, organic produce.  We've gotten 3 shares so far with items including broccoli, kale, mustard greens, chard, spinach, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, radishes, apples, and oranges, among other things.

When we started the CSA I decided 2 things: 1) I would use everything we get, even if it's not something we would normally buy, and 2) I would use every usable part of the veggies.  That means cooking and eating the greens if they're edible and saving the scraps to make veggie stock.

Here's our first share, and some of the things we made from it:

Sauteed broccoli crowns

Red pepper-garlic broccoli leaves

Pickled broccoli stems

Applesauce for Daniel

Garlic ginger mustard greens

Sauteed Indian-seasoned cabbage

Our second share:

Beets-look at that pretty coloring!

Rainbow carrots, carrot greens, and shiitake mushrooms

The most unusual/creative thing I've made is a pizza using pureed boiled beets as the sauce base instead of tomatoes-"beetza."  Would never have thought to try that but saw the recipe online and decided to give it a try.  I made a honey whole wheat crust then made the sauce with pureed beets, goat cheese, olive oil, and seasoning.  I topped it with mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, spinach from our share, kale, and venison sausage.  It wasn't from our share but it was made from the deer Kevin shot last fall, so it fit with the local/organic theme.  Here's what the finished product looked like:

So how did it turn out?  Actually, pretty good.  I wouldn't use beets instead of tomatoes, but if I had beets on hand already this would be a good use for them.  The bacon actually wasn't all that great on its own but turned out to be pretty good as a pizza topping.  And I had made pizza crust before but not in awhile, but now that I've been reminded how good it is, we'll have to make more homemade pizzas.

Tonight I simmered the veggie scraps I've been storing in the freezer for the last month or so and made some stock.  Not sure what I'll do with the scraps now.  I pureed them so I think I'll see if they work as the base for a soup.  I made a soup last week using CSA cabbage and baking potatoes and am thinking to do another one with some CSA celery this week.

The CSA shares have definitely challenged me to cook new things and get the most out of our veggies.  The shares have so far been a good mix of things we would get anyway (broccoli, apples) and new things (beets, radishes, romaine and spinach heads-we usually get bagged) and while we haven't loved everything (Kevin wasn't a beet fan before and the last month hasn't changed his mind), we have found some new things we like and would get again, and I like the challenge of cooking new things.  Looking forward to seeing what great stuff we get next week!