A Good Friend

I am learning to be a "good friend" to my peers. It is hard to remember to take turns, be gentle, listen well and not yell sometimes, but I do my very best. Today while we were at Kids Club I demonstrated my "good friend" skills when I didn't even know Mom was listening. First, I accidentally ran into another little boy and I said "sorry!". Then while I was playing in the bounce house I found a friend who was older than me (I always gravitate towards older kids) but was nice enough to play with me and we ran around bouncing yelling "Watch this!" to each other while doing silly tricks. When he got out of the bounce house and started running away I called "wait for me!" and he stopped so I could catch up. It is so cool to use my words, other kids seem to like it too!


Meanwhile, I am at the beach house with Mom and Grandma while Dad is at home dealing with this..... 

A failing computer. If anyone can diagnose this problem or has any ideas, please post!!

Transitions

I just can't keep up with my New Year's Resolution and post more often. I mostly blame Mom because I have been pretty cool lately and doing a lot of new things. That is probably why I haven't been able to post, since Mom has been too busy hanging out with Mr. Cool- ME!!! It has been all around crazy here. Mom was gone last weekend for two whole nights, the longest she has ever been away from me. It was all good for me, I had Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Jim to spend extra time with but I know that Mom really missed me. She was at a special training for the Hands and Voices Guide by Your Side program. Mom is a Parent Guide for families in Salem who have children with hearing loss- just like me!

We also got to spend a little time with Grammy Steph's daughter, Rachel (yes, she has the same name as my mom:). She lives in LA right now but came for a visit to see her family and friends in Oregon. She is super fun and cute. I got to dance with her and sit on her lap!

Anyway, on to transitions. First off, after over a month of being frustrated at bedtime and me feeling really agitated, my parents finally decided I needed to transition to a big boy bed. In their defense, I never actually told them with words what I wanted (I probably didn't even really know) but I let them know how annoyed I was at being caged up by making ridiculous demands and whining for over an hour each night. Anyway, we did a kind of modified big boy bed since I am a little resistant to change. I still have one side of my crib up where I can hang my blankets but now I can get out and explore if I want. 

I insisted that Mom take a photo of my little friend, The Ant (I do love my bugs!!!).

It has been soooooooo cool! I am no longer agitated and most of the time I just sing songs, read some books, maybe sit in my rocking chair and chat with my animals and then go to sleep. What a big boy I have become! I am even napping without trouble, wow:) My parents are super proud of me.

The second transition is that I am starting preschool on my third birthday, April 4th! My parents went to the transition meeting last week and I am going to go to the same school where my toddler group has been. I will even have the same teacher's helper as I did in toddler group, hooray! This is a special preschool for other kids with implants like me, the teachers are specially trained to help us learn to communicate and speak well. It is only two mornings a week for now but I am super excited! Mom is a little nervous, of course, but I know it will be an awesome experience.

The Only Child

My mom and I are both only children. In fact, my grandma and grandpa (Mom's parents) are also only children. My fate as an only child has not been completely decided or permanently set, but I think it is safe to say that we are all pretty comfortable with our tiny family (plus three cats:). That is why we are extra lucky that Daddy has a Crystal to contribute to our family. She is the best auntie to me, the best sister-in-law to Mom, and she loves her brother (Dad) unconditionally.

This past weekend Auntie Crystal came to visit and we had so much fun!!!!! She brought her friend, Ty, and he was very nice about putting up with all of our antics (and Steinbeck) and my need for extra Auntie attention. She even brought me a new remote control truck and dino books, I am such a lucky boy. Auntie Crystal always introduces me to a new treat, this time it was Nerds candy- um, how could my parents be hiding these crunchy little fruit nuggets from me for so long?!?

I said "Nerds" with each of these poses. We are so cute together. I love you Auntie Crystal, please visit again soon!!!!!!!

A New Smile

For pretty much my whole life, my dad has had braces on his teeth. I think that they are pretty cool, especially after noticing that not many people have braces (well besides preteens and teenagers:).

Before Daddy had braces, when I was a teeny tiny baby.

After Daddy had braces, he was in so much pain and so angry that he turned green- just like The Hulk!!!!

Sometimes, Daddy's braces made him act crazy.

But this morning, they just made him happy......

Because three hours later, they were off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It is not the best photo as Dad is squinting and still hiding his teeth (I am sure it will take him awhile to get over that) but he is officially braces free! The best part is that the orthodontist gave him three balloons and guess who got them?!? Me:)

Night, Night Dino's!

I LOVE dinosaurs. I love to wear shirts with dino's on them, I love dino movies and dino books but, most of all, I love my collection of dinosaurs. I keep five of my favorite dino's in my special dino box (it is really a lunch box that Grandma gave to me but I quickly realized that it would be the perfect home for my beloved dinosaurs). Anyway, I have tried to take my dino's to bed with me at night but they kept me up laughing (they are pretty silly little guys:) so Mom decided that we would make a special dino bed where I could put them to sleep each night. I even have a special dino blanket that Auntie Allisa made for me when I was born (it's my lovey but really the perfect size for a dino blankie). I say "night, night" to each one and give them kisses before covering them up, Mom caught some of my routine on video last night.

Sorry that end of the video, where I finally cover the dinosaurs up, is cut off (the usual problems when Mom is in charge of a video:) Oh, and please excuse my sniffles and heavy breathing, I have been fighting a little cold......

My Valentine

Today was a special day, all about love! I love many people and have many Valentines, most of whom are my family members, that is what makes my special Valentine so very special- Eliana, of course!!! She came over this evening and we did our usual running around and yelling (well that was mostly me, I can hardly contain myself when she is around!) and playing with my bubble machine.

Then we relaxed for a nice evening of "Kipper" with our favorite toys and blankets.

 "Kipper" is some serious stuff.

We enjoyed a romantic drink of soymilk and then took a bath (sorry, no more bath time photos- hey, we are almost 3!!!!!).

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope that everyone got to spend it with someone as special to them as Eliana is to me:)

Fever in the Morning

And fever all through the night..... That's right, I have been SICK!!!! Blah, blech, ugh. It has been a rough week for me, and my parents. Though I have been watching a lot of movies, which is a big time treat for me, it hasn't really made up for how yucky I feel. Mom thinks that I am on the mend because I yelled a lot today and ate graham crackers, I hope so......

33

Is the number that my dad is turning today! Wow!!!!!!!! That means that he had many, many birthday's before I was even born. Including his big 3-0 when I was in my mom's tummy.

Hey look, this is before Dad had braces! I thought that he was born with braces, weird.

Dad and his friends taking very manly shots.

Dad wearing a Dad shirt!!!!!

Everyone wearing a Dad shirt!!!! How cool!!!!! Mom looks like she might knock Auntie Gina out with her belly (hey wait, that's me, I was at Dad's 30th Birthday, hahahhaha!!!!!)

I love you Daddy!

Manners

We have been working a lot on manners in our house lately. More specifically "please", "thank you" and asking for things in a "polite" way. This has also helped me to put words together and even, most recently, speak in a short phrase, as in " I want milk please." We have been practicing using this phrase to ask for various things and the other day in the car I spontaneously said "I want food please!" Mom was very proud of me! Here is a little clip of me asking for my favorite song to be played (I call it "ooohhh" because the title actually has a bad word in it, and excuse the messy house, it was the end of a long day:). I find it very hard to sit still, obviously.

I have also been a little bossy lately, not to mention possessive of my snacks. I say "No Mama!" quite often. I think Mom thought it was cute at first (well anything I say for the first time is cute:) but now she is trying to teach me to say "No thank you Mama" and I am slowly complying. When I visit Grandma I like to drag her around to where I want her to be, these days she wants me to say "Come please" I sometimes forget but I am trying very hard.This manners thing can be a real drag, but I guess that it is important to learn (almost as important as learning proper oral hygiene:)

Birthday Wishes

Happy 30th Birthday to Gina! My parents already went to Portland to celebrate this milestone on Saturday. I was not invited as it was held in a bar but I heard that it was a great time. As usual, Mom and Dad didn't get many photos (though they did record a little video of Seth telling jokes, but I don't think that it would be appropriate to share on my blog). They did manage to snap a cute one of the birthday girl and her sweetie (who also makes amazing pizza, or so I've heard).

I got to stay with Grandma and I was up almost as late as my parents were- midnight! What?!? Yeah, I know, I was a little overly happy to be staying at Grandma's and just could not get to sleep. On the upside, I was in a great mood and quite sweet so I don't think I will be banned from sleepovers at her house forever (maybe for just a month or so:)

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful day Gina!!! It looks like it might actually be a sunny one:)

A Sweet New Friend

Yesterday I got to meet a new friend, baby Wilde (sorry for the dark photos, Mom did not want to disturb him with the camera flash).

Wilde is an extra special friend because his dad, Andrew, is one of my parents oldest and dearest friends (he was even the ordained minister at their wedding) and his mom, Mia, is super cool and pretty. She always gives me a lot of attention and makes me laugh, I am such a hit with cute girls! Wilde slept most of the time but Mom did get to hold him at the end. I guess that it is fun to hold tiny babies because Mom cuddled him and smiled a lot. I am just excited for him to grow up so that we can play, one day 2 1/2 years age difference will seem like nothing. Welcome to this super fun world, Wilde!!!

Cupcakes and Vacuuming

This past weekend was very fun for me. On Saturday, we went to Jack's third birthday party- awesome! It was at this neat painting studio where we got to make our very own art and bring it home. We also got to dance in a dark room with a STROBE LIGHT, about the coolest thing I have ever seen. Best of all, we ate delicious cupcakes made by Allisa- yummy! I wish that I had some photos to share, but the camera was malfunctioning (no, I did not destroy it this time).............

On Sunday we went to Eugene to visit Avery and her parents. She has grown up so much- she is almost two!!! We played with a bunch of fun toys and had yummy snacks. Thankfully, the camera was working again but Mom still missed getting a photo of me and an awesome toy vacuum. It was red and made cool noises, I pushed it all over the house.

Midge read us a story, she is super nice.

Raspberries are my very favorite, it makes me miss summer......

Catnip

I love my cats. They are all so funny and furry. I especially love to give them catnip and watch them act silly. Steinbeck is the best, he goes totally wacko! (please excuse my towel, this was right after my bath).

The only cat who is not interested in the catnip is Ripley. Dad says that is because Ripley is part wolf. Maybe wolves like to wear Skittles bags on their heads too.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 everyone! I brought in the new year with a terrible cough and a high fever- not fun but I am feeling much better now. Yesterday we went for a walk to the store, it was very cold but so sunny and while we were there, a woman gave me a free Happy New Year balloon- hooray!

I also got to spend some time with my friends, Becki and Nick, last week. They live in Texas so this is actually the first time I have even got to meet them, but my parents have been friends with them for a long time so that means that they are old friends of mine. Becki is super fun and cute, and everyone knows that I am a sucker for cute girls. She gave me a special new dino shirt and even made us dinner!

When it was time for me to go to bed, I gave Becki and big hug and a kiss and when Nick tried to give me a fist bump I dove right in and gave him a big hug and kiss as well- I couldn't leave him out! I can't wait to see them again, I know that Mom and Dad feel the same way.

After this, Christmas still wasn't over! On New Year's Day, Scott came over with even more gifts- what?!? He brought me the most awesome dino I have ever seen. He moves, roars and chomps when I pet him!!!

He even squirts water, which I love to stand in front of. I think I am a pretty lucky little guy (and quite popular:)