Eleven Years Already??

the husband and i have now been married for 11 years. it hardly seems possible. we can't be that old, can we?!? ha ha ha!!

Happy Anniversary Honey!! i love you! :)

18 Months

yep, the sprout is 18 months old today. a year and a half, headed toward 2 at light speed it seems. i mean, wasn't he just born yesterday?? ha ha!

he is now 25.8 pounds and 32 inches tall. in the 50th percentile for both- little mr. average. well, except for his head. at 50.4 cm he is "greater than 97th percentile". what can i say, i grow big headed (and brained) children! ;)
he didn't want to get weighed again so i had to get on the scale with him. i really shouldn't have to get on the scale at pediatrician's office son! really. we need to work on this. i also had to hold him down to get his length measurement. SO much fun. the measurements are harder than the shots, i swear!!
he got a flu shot and one vaccine. he cried. i asked him if he wanted a sticker. he stopped crying and nodded yes. total amount of crying- about 1 minute. he turned it off pretty quick when he heard about the stickers. :)

he can run, jump, and climb everything in sight. he is currently trying to climb over the baby gates but has yet to succeed. he almost jumped off the top of the slide in our backyard... i caught him just before his feet left the ground. he goes out to our swing set and climbs onto the two person swing all by himself. he throws amazingly well.

he recently decided that he is going to be picky about vegetables. he only eats broccoli and cauliflower now. really. all other veggies get thrown around the dinning room. the doctor thinks that it is funny that he picked those veggies to eat. she claims that i'm lucky but her dog isn't getting fat eating all those discarded veggies! ;) he loves meat still- unless it has breading on it. no chicken nuggets for this kid. he prefers chicken to be sauteed. oh and he still hates macaroni and cheese. what kind of kid hates mac and cheese?!?!

he still really doesn't talk. he says "mommy" and "daddy" and "ball" (bawh!) and that is about it. some days you get a random word like "bubble" (buh-boh) but then you never hear it again. sometimes i think he has said something but i just can't understand him. he understands everything i say though. i can say, "(sprout) can you pick up your shirt and put it in your hamper?" and he will pick his shirt up off the floor and put it in his hamper. the doctor said that is great and that in general boys tend to go through a language "explosion" between 18 and 24 months. so maybe in the next few months he will start saying more....

he just got his 15th tooth and is working on that 16th one as we speak... i will be so glad when he stops trying to chew everything!

he drives me crazy. he even makes me mad sometimes. but he gives the best hugs and when he blows kisses (slaps his palm against his mouth) good night it is awesome.
happy 18 months, budders! :)

Ya know what's cute?

cute is when you sing a song to your 18 month old son and he tries his best to do the motions along with you as he bounces up and down smiling... AND then when you are done, he signs "more" to you.
he likes his mama's singing! awwwwwww! :)

Boys...

christina asked about the difference between boys and girls. specifically are boys more physical... well, at least my perception of it. ;)

sprout IS more physical. he has been from the beginning. he rolled from back to front at about 2 1/2 months- bean was 6 months before she did that. sprout achieved every physical milestone before his sister. he also does a lot of things that she never did- bite and hit to name a couple of my favorites. sigh.

BUT is it because he is a boy?? i'm not 100% sold on that. i'm sure it may have something to do with it but not everything. i mean, he is the second child. think about it, he is watching another kid do all these things and they look fun, right? of course he wants to walk- he wants to be like his sister. bean had no one to watch except "big people" and who wants to be like a big person? i'm not sure i want to be like a big person! ;)

and i'm sure that personality is involved too. bean was a cautious child. i she had the ability to walk much earlier than she actually did. i mean, she mastered walking in a week. really. she was just a little unsure of herself and it held her back. sprout on the other hand is not a cautious child. he dives head first (sometimes literally) into everything. he doesn't hold back and doesn't seem to care if he fails on his first try.

bean is a very verbal child. she spoke in complete sentences by 18 months. she communicates her needs and wants well and always has. sprout barely says a word- mostly just "mommy" and "ball". why? because he is a boy? the second child? because he is a little socially shy? is it because i had a lot more time to just talk to bean? oh, probably a little of all four.

i guess what it boils down to is that they are just very different kids and there is no way to know what they would be like if their gender or birth order was reversed. i think we just have to say that yes, my boy is more physical but i'm not entirely certain as to why.

i also have to say that the sprout is different enough from bean to make it difficult for me to know how to parent him. we've come up with so many situations that we never dealt with bean. i've been questioning myself a lot lately. sigh. parenting is just a never ending learning experience, isn't it?

but he IS just too cute...

(i totally think i need to buy him a pair of adidas now! he he he!)

Pickin' Apples

saturday we took our annual trip to the apple orchard. bean loves going to pick apples with her friends. especially when daddy helps her reach the apples at the top of the tree!

this is the 4th year that we have ventured out the the apple orchard with mommee and her boys. first there was just bean and adam. the next year we added matthew, the next sprout. this year was the first time we had 4 kids walking. next year we will add a fifth kid (thanks to mommee)- and finally another girl! ;)
of course we couldn't get a picture of all 4 kids together. one of them always refused to be involved. so here is a cute one of bean with her bestest buds.

sprout finally got the hang of the apple picking.... at first he was picking the apples up off the ground and trying to put them back on the trees. or throwing them... or whatever.

he also discovered that eating apples like a big boy can be fun and yummy! (and he looks simply adorable doing it too!!!!)

bean wasn't satisfied with just one apple. she needed one for each hand.

it was another fabulous day with fabulous friends! now off to make applesauce, apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, apple pancakes, apple cake, apple waffles.... yeah, we picked a lot of apples! YUM!! :)

He thinks he's SO big

"if sister can do it, why can't i? watch me mommy! i do it too!"

and he sure does try. :)

Making mountains out of molehills...

so, sprout chewed a hole in his binki. his last binki. the binki that he LOVES.... i think you can guess where this is going, right?

my husband looks slightly panicked. i worry about sprout keeping his sister awake on a school night. BUT i can't very well give it back to him. AND i swore i would never buy another one of those things. so there we were. sprout was going to give up his bedtime binki- cold turkey style.

he fussed for about 5-10 minutes. not screaming and crying- just mild fussing that i normally let him work himself through. then i hear him playing with his glow worm. and then.... nothing. that is right- NOTHING. he fell asleep without it and DIDN'T EVEN CARE!!

so once again this parent has made a big riotous deal about NOTHING. (i totally should have taken the damn thing away from him months ago.... sheesh!)


***edited to add***
naptime is NOT going as well. he is one angry little man right now. he keeps pointing to his mouth when i go in and check on him. sorry little dude, i know you can sleep without it. now do it!! gah!

What a difference a year makes!

first day of school 2008:

first day of school 2009:
no baby left here. she is a girl now.
how the heck did that happen??
(i swear i was watching and i never saw it happen. really!)

First Day Again...

last week school started up again. bean wasn't too sure she wanted to go. then she got a letter in the mail from her teacher. it said that the classroom was going to be decorated like a zoo and they were going to learn about zoo animals and shapes and the seasons this month. it included a ticket that she needed to bring with her on meet the teacher day- you have to have a ticket to get into the zoo, you see. ;) suddenly bean could NOT wait to get to school!!

meet the teacher day came and went without an issue. bean loved her teacher. she loved her classroom. she loved all the toys and books. she was more than ready to go back the next day.

here she is all ready to go... :)

sprout trying to get some attention. he's such a little turkey!

getting a little upset with mommy for taking SO many pictures. can't we just go to school already?!?!

walking up to the building. she's such a big girl now! :)

hanging up her backpack. all ready to start the day.

as per usual she said good bye gave me a kiss and sat down to play with her new friends. sprout and i go on our merry way... i wasn't sure what to do, it had been a while since it was just the two of us hanging out! (don't worry we did just fine.) ;)

bean had a great day and was in a great mood when i came to pick her up. we went to mc donald's for lunch and talked all about school and the kids in her class while she ate chicken nuggets, a few fries and most of her brother's apples. she is very excited that she gets to go on field trips this year- the first one is a visit to the pumpkin patch! she had pretzels and cranberries for snack, but she only ate the cranberries because she doesn't care for pretzels. she saw some of her friends from last year outside on the playground- hooray!

all in all it was a great day. i mean, she LOVES school. it makes her happy. and that makes me VERY happy. :)

Umm, Yeah...

alright, alright!! i am going to try this again. i fully intend to try to post regularly again. really. i mean it.
hey, don't look at me that way!!

anyways, here is something to ponder while i sweep the cobwebs out of my brain....

how did he get so big already?!?!sigh.
:)