Our first child was born in October of 2010. Time is flying by and he is changing so much! This blog is dedicated to documenting all the special moments and milestones we share together as a family.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

2nd Birthday Letter to My Son

October 28, 2012

Dear Bean,

Two weeks ago, you turned two years old. What an exciting year it has been! You learned to walk, you can feed yourself (when you want to), your are speaking in simple sentences, and your vocabulary is growing at an amazing rate. Everyday you learn many new words. You repeat just about everything we say.

You are also counting in English and Bosnian. If you want a lot of something you say you want 13, for example, 13 cashews. We are in awe of how much you know, how much you are learning and how well you retain information.

I have loved watching you grow and learn this past year. You are now 34 1/2 inches tall and weigh 26 pounds, still in the 25th percentile. We have not given you a haircut yet, other than a few pieces that were falling in your eyes and bothering you. You get all kinds of compliments on your blond curls.

The past year brought a couple challenges. The biggest being my lack of sleep, followed by trying to get you to eat solid foods. Recently you have had many nights where you sleep from 8:30 or 9:00 pm through the night until 5:00 or 6:00 am. There are still nights where you are up between one and four times a night, but those are becoming less and less.

As far as eating goes, you like pizza, bread with Tata's homemade pesto sauce thinly spread on it, crackers, and anything sweet. You still mainly eat baby food - pureed chicken and vegetable, pureed salmon and veggies, and a lot of mango packets.

Despite these challenges, this has been a wonderful and incredible year! You are such a sweet boy. You love to give hugs and kisses. I am always impressed how you wait your turn to go down the slide when we are at the park or the mall play area. You often say please and thank you.

You are extremely observant. You often see things that we don't until you point them out to us. You like to try new things, although you are cautious and survey the scene before jumping in.

You seem to like things in their place. Getting wet or dirty distresses you. You tell me "big mess, get towel, clean counter." You also love to help clean. Dusting is one of your favorite things.

We have a lot of construction happening in our neighborhood. You love to watch the big trucks working. We spend a great deal of time driving around looking for these trucks and checking them out when the workers are done for the day. Your favorite birthday gifts were a toy backhoe and skid loader. Everyday you tell me "go hio, ride pawpaw kiyoyo (go to Ohio ride grandpa's skid loader). It is so cute to hear you talk.

You also like to say "None airplane." You know that None lives across the ocean and we have to take a plane to visit her. You are an extremely smart boy.

We had your birthday party at Desert Breeze park, where you were excited to ride the train, have balloons, and eat cake. It was a Sesame Street theme, which is one of your favorite things.  I think you and your friends had a great time.

There are so many things I could say about what you are doing at this age. Most importantly, I want you to know how much I love you. You have changed our lives forever in the most wonderful way. Everyday you make us laugh and fill our hearts with joy. One of my most favorite moments of the past year was on your birthday. Tata, you and I went for a walk in the evening after your party. After looking at a skid loader parked in the neighborhood and walking quite a ways, you said "uppy Mama." I picked you up, you put your head on my chest, gave me a hug, and said "Bean happy." There is no better feeling than knowing you are happy and healthy. I pray that you are always happy and always find joy in life. Happy 2nd birthday, my beautiful, amazing son. I love you with all my heart.

Mama









Beanisms

Guide to Understanding Bean Speak

Dee dut = big truck

tar te = Target

mammos = mangos

wa ho = backhoe

bear = bridge

nump = jump

pipi = Mickey (as in Mouse. He clearly says Minnie, but for some reason it is Pipi and Minnie)

nown = down

wain - crane

wear = square

meo = magnesium

way ho = raisin

Bean's best friends in alphabetical order (yes, they are all girls lol):

Doey = Chloe

Shushi = Lucy

Neeya = Naiya

Memi = Noemi


The Bean at One Year

Bean started crawling at 11 1/2 months. Now he is super fast. He pulls up to his knees and sometimes puts one foot out, like he'd like to stand.

He says Mama, Tata, hi, ducky, light, and a bunch of other stuff we don't quite understand, but it is really important!

Bean waits for Tata to come home everyday. Around 5:30 he starts looking at the garage door while saying Tata? Tata?

Potty Training our Boy

August 19, 2012

We are slowly starting to think about potty training the Bean. Everything I have read says not to force the issue, but to wait until he is ready. That is the approach we have decided to take.

The Bean knows nothing of privacy. I don't think I have used the bathroom alone in the past 22 and 1/2 months. When I go I tell him I have to pee and say psssss. About two months ago Bean started grabbing the front of his diaper and saying pssss after he poo'd. Not exactly on target, but hey, he's starting to get it. We thought maybe it was time to get him a potty (he was about 20 months at the time). We wanted something simple, comfortable, and without all the bells and whistles.

Bean was excited to try sitting on the potty. He even peed in it a few times along with a poo before a bath once. The problem was trying to get a diaper back on him after sitting on the potty. This was causing major melt downs to occur. We didn't really encourage the potty for a couple weeks. We can't just put him in underwear because he doesn't tell us ahead of time when he has to go and I'd really prefer not to have to clean the carpet constantly.

Now we are having him sit on the potty before bath time. Yesterday evening Bean said "pee pee," so we asked if he'd like to sit on the potty. We took his diaper off and found it dry. He then went on the potty! I still don't think he is 100% ready, but we are getting there.