Again, I've waited far too long to update my blog, but I thought, since I'm ACTUALLY taking a summer off to spend with my little curmudgeon, I'd share some very important tidbits of information. Let's start with the basics:
Me: I am still employed with my two different school programs, one of which will close after the end of the next school year. I am actively pursuing leadership opportunities wherever I can find them and continuing to build my experience through my current positions. I am not thrilled to leave my current position (whenever that happens) because I love my work, but I've outgrown my pond I think. It's time to put my Master's Degree to use, right? I've also developed a bit of a new love for painting through my experiences with Wine and Canvas and Social Canvas here in town. Three paintings complete, no more an expert, but no less in love with the process. Finally, I'm jumping back into my exercise, which I have missed. I've start the Couch to 5K challenge and I'm wrapping up week two this morning.
Aaron: still working with R&D, still obsessed with video games (we had THE talk...about the new platform upgrades being released later this year/early next year), still a kick @$$ husband, father, dungeon master, comic reader, movie watcher, board game player, friend, and sarcasm expert. He just celebrated his second official Father's Day yesterday too, with a trip to Texas Roadhouse, two seasons of the Clone Wars on DVD, and a wrapped up marathon of season three of Game of Thrones (thanks free preview weekend).
Killian: aka. Nugget, Peanut, Punkin, Kidlet, Little Man, The Baby, Big Boy, Punk, K-dawg, Mister Man, Momma's Little Raptor, the real reason you're reading, right? The kid won't stop growing! I got a scary email the other day reminding me that there are only 3 months until he turns two years old. I'm so proud, so fascinated, and so saddened by his growth. It really is true that you look back with fondness. I already miss the days of his simply napping in the bouncy seat or the late night feedings (though the breastfeeding it not really missed, since it was a source of extreme anxiety for me). It seems like he's doing new things every single day! We have officially begun the venture into potty training and so far, he has successfully pottied at least once a day. We recently traveled to the Mall of America and treated him to a meal at Rainforest Café (a marginal hit) and a trip through the aquarium (a HUGE hit). I'm proud of how well he handled the car ride too.
Let's play "Killian's Favorite Things!"
Color: "wellow" (or yellow) He will call everything yellow until you prompt him for the real name of the color. We also know the colors red, purple, and of course blue.
Book: My Very Own Potty. No lie, the kid loves reading it!
Movie: Finding Nemo. We are fish-obsessed at the moment. They are our favorite critter at the zoo and anytime Mom puts it back, we must rip the Finding Nemo DVD or Bluray from the shelf.
TV Shows: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Chuggington, and Elmo
Song: theme from The Big Bang Theory. We bob and weave and always yell "BANG!" at the end. Justin Timberlake's "Suit and Tie" is also popular, as well as ANY song from Jake and the Neverland Pirates
Dance move: the spin. He will start spinning for no reason whatsoever.
Place: OUTSIDE, unless we are in the car, then it's HOME
Beverage: water with a squirt of flavor in it, however it is always called MILK
Food: currently PIZZA, but anything with cheese is good and pancakes are pretty great
Snack: string cheese, yogurt drops or fruit snacks
Restaurant: anything offering a chicken nugget type item or macaroni and cheese
Animal: tough call here because he like several. The front runners would be dogs ("puppy"), turtles, fish, and rabbits ("nunny"). We do have to stop to look at the fish each time we get groceries, the ones in the tank not the ones for eating.
Superhero: Iron Man or Spider Man (no fatherly influence at all)
Item: likely his fish night light. He doesn't like when he can't see it during the daytime
Items to steal: fingernail clippers, Mommy's leadership books, Daddy's PS Vita, or Mommy's iPhone.
Cuddly toy: still lobes his "baby" (what he calls his blanket), but he has a new stuffed dinosaur from Build a Bear named "Fishel" (fish+turtle=fishel) that he loves
Person to hang with: cousin Evy
Outdoor activity: chalk or bubbles
Indoor activity: art time, reading, washing hands and brushing teeth (aka. chewing on a wet toothbrush), throwing things in the garbage or sink, rearranging the magnets on the fridge, cuddle time with Mommy and whatever electronic she's using (like right now he's cuddled up under my arm)
Least favorite activity ANYWHERE: timeout
Words (some old, most new): OUTSIDE, home, chalk, marker, I did it, turtle, fishy, NEMO, Elmo, gun show (complete with arm movements), let's go, puppy, kitty, meow, Iron Man, uh oh, oh no, read, book, YEAH, no, milk (any beverage), noodle, PIZZA, yellow, red, balloon, bubble, blue, apple, wash, night, night, bye bye, hi, "Ow-oooooo" (wolf call), "Ah wuf oo" (I love you), ME, tickle tickle, get you, toes, shoulder, head, hair, eye, ear, nose, teeth, ouchie/owie, don't know, shoe, sock, bee (any type of bug is a bee), birdie, choo choo, tweet, light, truck, wipe, please, thank you, help, sticker, Evy, rarrrrrrr (what a tiger, lion, bear, dinosaur, monster, and dragon all say).
Sorry, no pictures for the blog at this time. I post plenty on FB and I'll post some once we get some official pictures taken. Again, I can't believe what a big boy I have on my hands. We are definitely in the range of the terrible twos judging by our near daily (or thrice daily) tantrums, but a little timeout and/or crying jag sets him to right.
Funny story about him learning what a wolf says: We were in the car on the way to daycare one morning. I like to listen to audiobooks in the car and I am in the midst of plowing through George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Out of no where, while driving and listening, Killian howled like a wolf! I can't clearly recall a time when the narrator has howled like a wolf, but he was most certainly howling, during a part to do with Winterfell no less, so it was well-timed.
Well, time to take my boy O-U-T-S-I-D-E (yes, we've started spelling items to keep them on the DL). Sometimes, I spell too quickly for Aaron and he gets a puzzled look on his face. Uh-oh, Killian must be a mind reader (or the giant garbage truck outside has prompted him) and he is demanding to go O-U-T...whatever. Outside we go!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
How has 18 months gone by?
-Friday, my baby turned 18 months old. 18 months! How? Where has the time gone? It seems to move so slowly in the moment but in looking back on those moments, it has flown by!
I was hoping to celebrate Killian's half-birthday with a post of his 18 month pictures, but we had a bit of drama occur while at Portrait Innovations yesterday. Let me preface the remarks to come with the comment that in the past we have had great success with Portrait Innovations. We are usually in and out in about an hour and get to pick up our pictures in 30 minutes to an hour after we pay, same day! Typically, the shots are wonderful and aside from the bobble we had with his 6 months picture photographer (she smelled heavily of smoke, was clearly "late" for her job, and took the oddest photos of Killian while he rolled around on the floor, not changing her angle to compensate for the fact that he all but had his back to her). We have always gone on Saturdays before noon and are often greeted with a fairly good number of people also trying to capture those winning shots. Still, typically in and out in an hour or so.
Yesterday was a different story altogether though. In retrospect, the phone call to set up the appointment should have tipped me off. The girl on the phone was a bit clueless. I asked her which appointment times she had available and her response was, "Well we have a lot." Ok dear, when are they? "When do you want to come in? That would make it easier for me." Oh-kayyyyyy. How about some time between 9 and 11. "Our earliest appointment today is at 11:30." You could have said that much earlier, couldn't you? Book it!
We arrived approximately 15 minutes before our appointment. The lady told me it would be closer to 11:30 that they'd take us back. No problem! We are early. The waiting room was pretty packed with families, but no more so than any other Saturday we've gone. I'd prepared carefully. I'd had Killian take a nap and pulled the binkie out while we drove in the car to make sure he wasn't bawling when he arrived. I'd packed some water and snacks and toys to occupy him. He was having a blast, running all over the place, greeting people, pointing at things, and building with their Legos. My goal was simply to let him enjoy himself while we waited, so I chased after him to make sure he stayed out of trouble, but generally let him run around.
11:30 - appointment time. All rooms busy, so we'll have to wait a bit longer. No worries yet. Killian's in a good mood.
11:45 - still waiting. Killian becoming a bit restless and disenchanted with his surroundings. Mood: waning, starting to get grumpy, but able to be distracted by shiny objects.
12:00 - STILL waiting. Killian is no longer enjoying the studio. Mood: bitter, hungry, grumpy, and a bit angry with the world. Mother mood: concerned; it's nearly lunch time and if we don't get in soon, things are going to go south in a hurry. Time to deploy magic yogurt drops. Father mood: a bit miffed and trying hard to have patience.
12:10 - FINALLY called back to have photos taken. Killian munching on yogurt drops, but not really in the mood to stay in one place. Once he realizes that the yogurt drops have to go away...
meltdown in 3...2...1...
BOOM! In terms of the way toddlers view the world, Mommy taking away delicious yogurt drops is the equivalent of being told your brand new puppy has been run over by a car. Commence maddening hair pulling, head banging, tear fit!
Now, ordinarily I can calm Killian down if I am calm. However, the photographer had the balls to state that they were just soooooooooooo busy and that we basically should have anticipated waiting as long as we did. She even went so far as to say that we really should try to book appointments during the week since they aren't as busy. Well sweetie, I don't have the luxury of taking a day off of work JUST to taken my son's pictures. Perhaps that makes me a terrible or "absentee" parent because I a) enjoy my job and b) need to earn money, but that's just how my life works. Also, during the week they are only open until 6:00pm, which is right at Killian's supper time. I can barely get home by 4:30 most days, then I have to shower and pick Killian up from daycare and about the time all of that is accomplished, it's now rush-hour, meaning that I'll be lucky to get from one side of Des Moines to the other by the time you're closing up shop for the day.
I was obviously too bitter/angry/upset to calm my child down. Killian wasn't having it and neither way Mommy (Daddy wasn't feeling it either and felt compelled to share this information with our photographer, who was not in the least apologetic).
I get it. I truly do. You can't always predict how children are going to behave. Perhaps all of the families in front of us had crappy sessions with uncooperative kiddos, leading to a build-up of people in the waiting room and a delay in appointments. However, when you are in the business of taking photos, specifically those of smaller children, perhaps YOU (the business) should put a bit more space between your sessions to ensure that you don't stack up so much, which leads to crabby children and grouchy/angry parents.
What have I learned? I'm going to give Portrait Innovations another shot, however when I schedule the appointment, I'm going to ask: 1) how many photographers will be working, 2) how many appointments are scheduled around us, and 3) how large are the other parties having the pictures taken? If I feel as though the amount of people will be overwhelming and difficult to keep on schedule, I'll be looking for a different time/date.
Enough complaining, right? Let's talk about some good things related to Killian being 18 months.
Several personal notes:
I haven't been on here as much lately due to some disappointing developments with work. Our school board has voted to close our school at the end of the 13-14 school year. This saddens me on many levels. First, we are a high-performing program; no one can point to a deficit or failure for the catalyst to close. Second, our student body is smaller and allows students who may not perform well in larger school settings to have a safe place with more personalized attention. Third, a lot of time, effort, energy, and sacrifices have gone into making our school all that it is today (countless hours of staff development, time away from family, several near brain hemorrhages due to deep, thought-provoking discussions, and...I stopped breast feeding in order to make sure I didn't have to contend with the myriad of issues that would have arisen from my need to pump while training in Denver and/or at work). Finally, from an extremely egocentric point of view, I will bidding farewell to my first foray into administration. I have enjoyed being the IB coordinator for my school and lament that I didn't get to fully realize that role and all that it includes. I was definitely looking forward to working with teachers in a coaching way and dearly love helping my immediate supervisor in any way possible (though I carry little ACTUAL authority).
That being said, I'd like to recognize three personal achievements: 1) I have officially received my 9-12 Spanish endorsement, 2) I am now considered a "Master" educator, and 3) I am officially no longer taking my Zoloft for PPD. I have set a goal for myself to get back to being healthy and in shape by stopping all soda consumption and working out regularly (hopefully daily for a minimum of 15 minutes). I feel it is important to recognize these achievements and goals, most especially given my professional uncertainty at this time. Yay me!
Had enough? I think I need to be done typing. Killian has just gotten up from his nap and is in a great mood. Snow is falling beautifully outside. I got to hang out (all too briefly) with my Lego Buddy overnight and spoil him (shhhhhhh, don't tell his mom).
If you are looking for something to read and laugh crazily at while waiting for me to update my blog again (hopefully with pictures next), take a look at The Honest Toddler. It's HILARIOUS thehonesttoddler.com and/or https://twitter.com/HonestToddler
Peace out and much love from the Robinson Family!
I was hoping to celebrate Killian's half-birthday with a post of his 18 month pictures, but we had a bit of drama occur while at Portrait Innovations yesterday. Let me preface the remarks to come with the comment that in the past we have had great success with Portrait Innovations. We are usually in and out in about an hour and get to pick up our pictures in 30 minutes to an hour after we pay, same day! Typically, the shots are wonderful and aside from the bobble we had with his 6 months picture photographer (she smelled heavily of smoke, was clearly "late" for her job, and took the oddest photos of Killian while he rolled around on the floor, not changing her angle to compensate for the fact that he all but had his back to her). We have always gone on Saturdays before noon and are often greeted with a fairly good number of people also trying to capture those winning shots. Still, typically in and out in an hour or so.
Yesterday was a different story altogether though. In retrospect, the phone call to set up the appointment should have tipped me off. The girl on the phone was a bit clueless. I asked her which appointment times she had available and her response was, "Well we have a lot." Ok dear, when are they? "When do you want to come in? That would make it easier for me." Oh-kayyyyyy. How about some time between 9 and 11. "Our earliest appointment today is at 11:30." You could have said that much earlier, couldn't you? Book it!
We arrived approximately 15 minutes before our appointment. The lady told me it would be closer to 11:30 that they'd take us back. No problem! We are early. The waiting room was pretty packed with families, but no more so than any other Saturday we've gone. I'd prepared carefully. I'd had Killian take a nap and pulled the binkie out while we drove in the car to make sure he wasn't bawling when he arrived. I'd packed some water and snacks and toys to occupy him. He was having a blast, running all over the place, greeting people, pointing at things, and building with their Legos. My goal was simply to let him enjoy himself while we waited, so I chased after him to make sure he stayed out of trouble, but generally let him run around.
11:30 - appointment time. All rooms busy, so we'll have to wait a bit longer. No worries yet. Killian's in a good mood.
11:45 - still waiting. Killian becoming a bit restless and disenchanted with his surroundings. Mood: waning, starting to get grumpy, but able to be distracted by shiny objects.
12:00 - STILL waiting. Killian is no longer enjoying the studio. Mood: bitter, hungry, grumpy, and a bit angry with the world. Mother mood: concerned; it's nearly lunch time and if we don't get in soon, things are going to go south in a hurry. Time to deploy magic yogurt drops. Father mood: a bit miffed and trying hard to have patience.
12:10 - FINALLY called back to have photos taken. Killian munching on yogurt drops, but not really in the mood to stay in one place. Once he realizes that the yogurt drops have to go away...
meltdown in 3...2...1...
BOOM! In terms of the way toddlers view the world, Mommy taking away delicious yogurt drops is the equivalent of being told your brand new puppy has been run over by a car. Commence maddening hair pulling, head banging, tear fit!
Now, ordinarily I can calm Killian down if I am calm. However, the photographer had the balls to state that they were just soooooooooooo busy and that we basically should have anticipated waiting as long as we did. She even went so far as to say that we really should try to book appointments during the week since they aren't as busy. Well sweetie, I don't have the luxury of taking a day off of work JUST to taken my son's pictures. Perhaps that makes me a terrible or "absentee" parent because I a) enjoy my job and b) need to earn money, but that's just how my life works. Also, during the week they are only open until 6:00pm, which is right at Killian's supper time. I can barely get home by 4:30 most days, then I have to shower and pick Killian up from daycare and about the time all of that is accomplished, it's now rush-hour, meaning that I'll be lucky to get from one side of Des Moines to the other by the time you're closing up shop for the day.
I was obviously too bitter/angry/upset to calm my child down. Killian wasn't having it and neither way Mommy (Daddy wasn't feeling it either and felt compelled to share this information with our photographer, who was not in the least apologetic).
I get it. I truly do. You can't always predict how children are going to behave. Perhaps all of the families in front of us had crappy sessions with uncooperative kiddos, leading to a build-up of people in the waiting room and a delay in appointments. However, when you are in the business of taking photos, specifically those of smaller children, perhaps YOU (the business) should put a bit more space between your sessions to ensure that you don't stack up so much, which leads to crabby children and grouchy/angry parents.
What have I learned? I'm going to give Portrait Innovations another shot, however when I schedule the appointment, I'm going to ask: 1) how many photographers will be working, 2) how many appointments are scheduled around us, and 3) how large are the other parties having the pictures taken? If I feel as though the amount of people will be overwhelming and difficult to keep on schedule, I'll be looking for a different time/date.
Enough complaining, right? Let's talk about some good things related to Killian being 18 months.
- He no longer uses a crib at daycare. He sleeps in a cot. One young lady in his room tries to cuddle up with him daily at naptime.
- His vocabulary continues to grow. We've had Mommy, Daddy (or Papa), kitty, puppy, Nana (grandma), and Bapa (grandpa) for a while. Now we also have: tree, moo (what a cow says), huhuhuh (panting like a dog), meow, mine, milk, NO, yeah, snow, sit (sounds alarmingly like "shit"), nose, ear, eye, mouth, yellow, blue, more, light, Jake Jake (his phrase for Jake and the Neverland Pirates), sock, shoe, STINKY (feet), boo, wee, and was-at (what's that?).
- Just this morning, he said his first officially discernible 2-word phrase: "Mommy sit."
- He has tried peanut butter, and enjoys it.
- He no longer uses his high chair.
- He can do somersaults (somewhat unassisted).
- He dances, constantly. This may be as simple as moving his head and arms, or as complicated as bobbing his body up and down and spinning.
- He does Patty Cake and Itsy-Bitsy Spider finger plays.
- He has a total of 12 teeth (four molars).
- He will hold your hand and walk from the car to whatever building/store we are visiting.
- He tries to brush his teeth.
- He helps "clean-up" by grabbing the dust buster, putting cups and plates in the sink, and throwing things away.
- He loves to sit and read.
- He has progressed from turning Mommy's phone on and locking it due to failed attempts at the passcode, to taking pictures. My photo album is filling up with amateur photographs of feet or general blur. He also knows how to turn on the slideshow on the iPad.
- He tries to put on his socks and shoes.
- He refers to all feet as "stinky."
- He no longer has a diaper bag, but uses a backpack named Foxy for daycare that he likes to carry himself. It's adorable when he wears it, like he's going to school.
- He can climb the stairs in the garage, all two of them.
- He cuddles and gives sweet kisses, usually with a "mwah" sound.
- He goes to bed all on his own, usually without fussing.
Several personal notes:
I haven't been on here as much lately due to some disappointing developments with work. Our school board has voted to close our school at the end of the 13-14 school year. This saddens me on many levels. First, we are a high-performing program; no one can point to a deficit or failure for the catalyst to close. Second, our student body is smaller and allows students who may not perform well in larger school settings to have a safe place with more personalized attention. Third, a lot of time, effort, energy, and sacrifices have gone into making our school all that it is today (countless hours of staff development, time away from family, several near brain hemorrhages due to deep, thought-provoking discussions, and...I stopped breast feeding in order to make sure I didn't have to contend with the myriad of issues that would have arisen from my need to pump while training in Denver and/or at work). Finally, from an extremely egocentric point of view, I will bidding farewell to my first foray into administration. I have enjoyed being the IB coordinator for my school and lament that I didn't get to fully realize that role and all that it includes. I was definitely looking forward to working with teachers in a coaching way and dearly love helping my immediate supervisor in any way possible (though I carry little ACTUAL authority).
That being said, I'd like to recognize three personal achievements: 1) I have officially received my 9-12 Spanish endorsement, 2) I am now considered a "Master" educator, and 3) I am officially no longer taking my Zoloft for PPD. I have set a goal for myself to get back to being healthy and in shape by stopping all soda consumption and working out regularly (hopefully daily for a minimum of 15 minutes). I feel it is important to recognize these achievements and goals, most especially given my professional uncertainty at this time. Yay me!
Had enough? I think I need to be done typing. Killian has just gotten up from his nap and is in a great mood. Snow is falling beautifully outside. I got to hang out (all too briefly) with my Lego Buddy overnight and spoil him (shhhhhhh, don't tell his mom).
If you are looking for something to read and laugh crazily at while waiting for me to update my blog again (hopefully with pictures next), take a look at The Honest Toddler. It's HILARIOUS thehonesttoddler.com and/or https://twitter.com/HonestToddler
Peace out and much love from the Robinson Family!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year, Many Milestones!
Welcome to 2013 and welcome back to my blog. I took a fairly large hiatus, self-imposed, in order to focus on my new job and the continual navigation of my life as a wife and mommy. It's been a very long time, so I'm going to take it back to some of the milestones I've seen in the past few months. I'm updating this without looking back at my old posts, in the spirit of embracing this new year, so I may be redundant. Here we go:
I mentioned that I started a new job. I now work part time for two different school programs and I have actually never been happier or felt more satisfied. I love the work I'm doing and the learning that I am privileged to be taking part in as a part of my new roles and continuing to work with my amazing boss. I have been fortunate enough to become closer friends with a coworker as well, which makes my heart sing after the friendship I lost last year and the one that kind of fizzled with its potential.
I stopped breast feeding in late August, switching to my frozen stores of milk until that ran out shortly after Killian's first birthday. While I may not have fed him directly from my breast for a full year, he drank breast milk for a full year. After all of the struggling I did with keeping my supply up, dealing with post-partum depression, and managing stress, I have to say that the end of my breast feeding days was actually a relief. I did not have all of the warm fuzzy feelings about it that I anticipated having. I miss the closeness and the feeling that I am doing right by him, but the constant worry about supply and finding an acceptable place to pump and store milk is not missed. Killian made a beautiful and seamless transition to cow's milk. Before we stopped breast feeding, we also bid all bottles goodbye as well and switched 100% to sippy cups by age 11 months.
On September 8th, we celebrated Killian's 1st birthday. I sort of threw his party together, but the day was no less special for it and I don't know that I feel the need to go balls-to-the-wall for a party he won't really remember. So many of those decorations are pointless and expensive and don't enhance the environment as much as the people there. I mean that as no slight to those who choose to decorate to the fullest extent, it just isn't my cup of tea I guess. Perhaps the age of Pinterest has caused us to feel substandard if we don't create our own decorations based around an elaborate theme. I'm no celebrity with a nanny to help me manage my time. My time is better spent interacting with my Nugget.
Killian got his first taste of Halloween this year. We spent a good chunk of money on an adorable costume called the Dinky Dragon. We took him to Night Eyes at the Blank Park Zoo and walked him around the zoo, looking at the few animals that were out in the chill of the evening. He did great and we discovered his love of Smarties candies.
What are the other major milestones and current achievements in this household? Here is a taste:
~Valerie
I mentioned that I started a new job. I now work part time for two different school programs and I have actually never been happier or felt more satisfied. I love the work I'm doing and the learning that I am privileged to be taking part in as a part of my new roles and continuing to work with my amazing boss. I have been fortunate enough to become closer friends with a coworker as well, which makes my heart sing after the friendship I lost last year and the one that kind of fizzled with its potential.
I stopped breast feeding in late August, switching to my frozen stores of milk until that ran out shortly after Killian's first birthday. While I may not have fed him directly from my breast for a full year, he drank breast milk for a full year. After all of the struggling I did with keeping my supply up, dealing with post-partum depression, and managing stress, I have to say that the end of my breast feeding days was actually a relief. I did not have all of the warm fuzzy feelings about it that I anticipated having. I miss the closeness and the feeling that I am doing right by him, but the constant worry about supply and finding an acceptable place to pump and store milk is not missed. Killian made a beautiful and seamless transition to cow's milk. Before we stopped breast feeding, we also bid all bottles goodbye as well and switched 100% to sippy cups by age 11 months.
On September 8th, we celebrated Killian's 1st birthday. I sort of threw his party together, but the day was no less special for it and I don't know that I feel the need to go balls-to-the-wall for a party he won't really remember. So many of those decorations are pointless and expensive and don't enhance the environment as much as the people there. I mean that as no slight to those who choose to decorate to the fullest extent, it just isn't my cup of tea I guess. Perhaps the age of Pinterest has caused us to feel substandard if we don't create our own decorations based around an elaborate theme. I'm no celebrity with a nanny to help me manage my time. My time is better spent interacting with my Nugget.
Killian got his first taste of Halloween this year. We spent a good chunk of money on an adorable costume called the Dinky Dragon. We took him to Night Eyes at the Blank Park Zoo and walked him around the zoo, looking at the few animals that were out in the chill of the evening. He did great and we discovered his love of Smarties candies.
What are the other major milestones and current achievements in this household? Here is a taste:
- Killian began walking in November. We started encouraging him by propping him up against the couch and backing just a few feet away so he could really just lean/stumble over to us. Next, we moved further back from him and then coached him to walk back and forth between Aaron and I. Seemingly without much other prompting, he started walking! He can no longer be stopped and we've had to invest in gates. He can finally hold his own with all of the other kiddos at "school."
- We have seven teeth! There are four on top (one just popped through) and three on the bottom. He was rocking a sweet cross-bite for a while with two centers on top and two centers on bottom with the one on the top right in and one on the bottom left in. It was kind of cute.
- We bid goodbye to the "sink face." He doesn't do it very often anymore, but in its wake we now have hugs and kisses. He often gives me "a love" in the morning after he wakes up, what we call a snuggle on my shoulder.
- He also just recently began giving kisses. One night I was sitting on the floor and he had his binkie in his mouth and was kind of snuggling up to me. I bent down and kissed the top of his head and then resumed watching TV while rubbing his back. Suddenly a heard a little smack and looked down to see him brushing my knee with his binkie-filled mouth! It was so cute! I kind of stared at him in disbelief at first, but then I asked for a kiss and he did it again, touched his binkied mouth to my knee and made a little smacking noise. Uber-cute! He doesn't do it always on demand, but when he does it melts my heart. He also gave one of the daycare girls in his room a kiss, Miss Addie, who happens to be a few months younger than he is. The next day, he came home with an incident report stating that another child had bitten him on the cheek. That is an odd place to be bitten, so I can only assume he was trying to give one of the "ladies" some special attention and he was rewarded with the baby equivalent to a smack in the face. As I tyoe, he is trying to kiss Logan, our "kitty."
- He tries to call people on the phone. I relinquished control of my old iPhone to him a few months ago in hopes he'd leave my real one alone. Nope! He now simply claims them both whenever he can. He will slide the little bar across the screen and try to place emergency calls when he can't get past my lock. He likes to hold the phone up to his ear a lot. He will even offer it to you to see if you've got something to say.
- He dances! He has some seriously moves too! One night, we turned on one of the music stations from our cable and he was going so crazy he kept falling down to the floor.
- He talks...a LOT! He can say words of course, and that list keeps growing, but he just babbles all the time! Our current list of mastered and "occasional" words includes: Mama, Papa, Dada, kitty, puppy, blue, meme (Mine! or Give me!), no (usually accompanied by a finger shake), Nana, Bapa, bubble, ball, hi, baby, and choo choo. Again, there's a lot of gibberish too, but I'm pretty proud of his vocabulary.
- He survived another car trip to NE Iowa for Johnson Christmas. He did really well and actually spent part of the car ride babbling to a book of his.
- He made it through his second Christmas in general. Christmases have typically been a huge ordeal for me, with so many families to try to see and celebrate with, but ever since the Nugget arrived, we've decided to forge our own way in terms of traditions. We are making it a point to celebrate Christmas Eve and Day here in our home as a family. We opened his stocking Christmas Eve, dressed in our Christmas PJs, fell asleep to a Christmas CD, and opened the rest of the presents in the morning. He still doesn't quite grasp gifts yet, as he opened one and then ignored all the others to try to play with the open one. We ended up having to put away the opened ones so he'd look at the others. It took him about 45 minutes to open them all because of this. Dork!
- He saw Santa! We took him to meet Santa this year at Jordan Creek Mall. He got his picture taken and did pretty well considering that the man is a complete enigma to him.
- He reads frequently. I LOVE this development obviously, both as a teacher and a parent, and plan to do everything in my power to continue to foster his love of books. He often brings a book to Aaron or me and then puts his arms up to be held while we read the book to him. He likes to turn the pages, often before we've finished reading them, but he sits pretty well for most stories.
- He survived a New Year's Eve party at our house. Just last night we had ten people and an infant over to play board games as we rang in the new year (though our house was empty by 11:30). He did SOOOOOO well considering the number of people and how unfamiliar he was with them. He also wasn't feeling the best, so he did well in that circumstance too. We had trouble getting him to bed because he wanted to hang out with all of the cool people, but eventually he went down and slept until about 8:00am.
- He puts himself to sleep. This one is probably the hardest milestone for me. For over a year, I rocked my Little Man to sleep on my lap, laying across his boppy. Recently, picked up his boppy and grabbed my hand, walking me down the hall to his room. He pointed to his crib, I put him in to see what he wanted, and he laid down and went to sleep! I was baffled and heartbroken! My Peanut doesn't need me to rock him to sleep anymore. I no longer get to carry his sleeping form to his crib and kiss his little forehead while he's laying in my arms. Just now, I laid his awake in his crib because he was getting pretty grumpy. He may grumble for a few minutes, but soon enough he'll be out to the sounds of his new Rockabye Baby! CD, featuring the song stylings of Kanye West remade in the fashion of lullabies.
~Valerie
Thursday, September 13, 2012
One Year Ago
One year ago, I met the most amazing little person ever. One year ago, I fell in love so hard my heart nearly burst. One year ago, sweet little eyes stared into mine for the first time. One year ago, I realized what I was put on this earth to do. One year ago, Killian Dale entered our lives and hearts. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by, how much life gas changed, and how blessed I am. There are so many milestones ahead of us, too! Soon there will be first steps and first words, first tantrums and first dentist trips, first "I love yous" and first days of school. While time seemed to crawl by daily, in reality it was speeding past and I sometimes ache for that tiny infant in my arms as I rock my one year old to sleep at night.
I'll write more about his party later, but for now I just want to take a moment to reflect on a glorious year of some pits and abundant peaks. I love you Killian Dale! You are "so big!"
I'll write more about his party later, but for now I just want to take a moment to reflect on a glorious year of some pits and abundant peaks. I love you Killian Dale! You are "so big!"
Monday, July 16, 2012
Library Shenanigans
I took Killian to the library today to try out "book babies." unfortunately, we are just too young still, according to the group's age range. He has to be 1 to participate, which means all of the library groups are not options for us, outside of the night time story time. Despite the lack of the group time, we still had fun with all the other kids who were hanging around. He crawled all over the place, jabbered with kiddos, and played with blocks, dinosaurs, and trucks. We only spent about 45 minutes there, but I can tell he enjoyed the interaction with other kids. It makes me second-guess keeping him home with me in July since he's clearly so happy around other kids.
Here is a picture of him making friends!
Here is a picture of him making friends!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Nine month pictures!
Killian is now able to:
-chew and bite with his two teeth
-pull up to stand and walk around objects
-high five and wave "hi"
-kinda give gross open-mouthed kisses
-eat crackers and cookies on his own
-drink 100% from either breast or sippy cup
-smile in a cheesy way
-entertain himself for small periods of time
-nap only twice a day and sleep mostly through the night
-make rather large messes while crawling or eating!
-chew and bite with his two teeth
-pull up to stand and walk around objects
-high five and wave "hi"
-kinda give gross open-mouthed kisses
-eat crackers and cookies on his own
-drink 100% from either breast or sippy cup
-smile in a cheesy way
-entertain himself for small periods of time
-nap only twice a day and sleep mostly through the night
-make rather large messes while crawling or eating!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Happy July 4th!
So I am home on break from school for the month of July. I have some nerves about this, with just me and baby home alone each day, but these first few have been ok, broken up by this holiday home with Aaron and the occasional trip out to do something. Mom is visiting next week too so that will break up next week as well. Then that will leave just two weeks home alone with kiddo before I start back to school. It's hard to believe, but we are fast approaching his first birthday! Crazy sauce!
Last night I had a great time being an adult with great people. Aaron, Killian, and I all went to Altoona to visit Erin and Brad and their daughter Ellie. Steph and Kevin came and we also got to see Anthony! It was so great to be around other adults!!! Especially ones we love so much and that understand parenthood! I was delighted to see another parent of a young one. Sara is the only other parent I know well and Evy is now 3, so there is quite a gap between her and Killian.
We ate brats, burgers, and melon. We laughed and watched baseball. We gushed and commiserated about life as a parent and how it changes. We played bags. We caught up on life. We stared at baby shoes! We watched fireworks. Killian did very well for being up an hour past his bedtime in an unfamiliar house with new people. I think I did well too, trying to be laid back. It amazed me how small Ellie was and to be reminded that Killian was once so tiny. I kinda miss it, though not the late night feedings. It was also great to just talk about being a mom with someone else who is experiencing it. For once I didn't feel like I was burdening or boring someone when I talked about it. I know other people try to listen and are great, but I always feel bad because my life is baby, baby, baby and theirs isn't, so I feel like I'm a bore a lot of the time. Erin was just super! I hope we can do more talking and venture out together as we navigate parenthood. Really I just had a great time!
Today we went with Sara, Joe, and Evy to the Heritage Carousel and Killian rode a "ride" for the first time. We started with the stationary giraffe and then the bench with Uncle Joe and Evy. After a break, we rode the moving pirate cat named Kaptain Kat and then moved to the elephant, a small tribute to Elaine. Once we were done there we went to Dairy Queen and Killian ate a part of a small dish of vanilla ice cream. Although it was hot, it was a lot of fun.
Well I'd better run for now since the kiddo is napping on me and Aaron and I are due to play a little Lego Batman! Hasta!
Last night I had a great time being an adult with great people. Aaron, Killian, and I all went to Altoona to visit Erin and Brad and their daughter Ellie. Steph and Kevin came and we also got to see Anthony! It was so great to be around other adults!!! Especially ones we love so much and that understand parenthood! I was delighted to see another parent of a young one. Sara is the only other parent I know well and Evy is now 3, so there is quite a gap between her and Killian.
We ate brats, burgers, and melon. We laughed and watched baseball. We gushed and commiserated about life as a parent and how it changes. We played bags. We caught up on life. We stared at baby shoes! We watched fireworks. Killian did very well for being up an hour past his bedtime in an unfamiliar house with new people. I think I did well too, trying to be laid back. It amazed me how small Ellie was and to be reminded that Killian was once so tiny. I kinda miss it, though not the late night feedings. It was also great to just talk about being a mom with someone else who is experiencing it. For once I didn't feel like I was burdening or boring someone when I talked about it. I know other people try to listen and are great, but I always feel bad because my life is baby, baby, baby and theirs isn't, so I feel like I'm a bore a lot of the time. Erin was just super! I hope we can do more talking and venture out together as we navigate parenthood. Really I just had a great time!
Today we went with Sara, Joe, and Evy to the Heritage Carousel and Killian rode a "ride" for the first time. We started with the stationary giraffe and then the bench with Uncle Joe and Evy. After a break, we rode the moving pirate cat named Kaptain Kat and then moved to the elephant, a small tribute to Elaine. Once we were done there we went to Dairy Queen and Killian ate a part of a small dish of vanilla ice cream. Although it was hot, it was a lot of fun.
Well I'd better run for now since the kiddo is napping on me and Aaron and I are due to play a little Lego Batman! Hasta!
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