Josiah Henry

The doctor tried to tell me to wait, don't push yet, hold on one more minute.  Sorry lady, no can do.  This 6lb 8oz child currently feels like a line backer in the 4th quarter of the most important game of the season.  He's coming right now whether you're ready or not.

I should have known.

He arrived just after noon on his due date.

I should have known.

Where his brother embraced practically every new food we threw at him, I'm pretty sure Josiah would have been content to live out his life on breast milk, given the opportunity.

I should have known.

Before he could even walk, he figured out how to give his brother a wet willy to get him to release any given wrestling move.

I should have known.

At 9 months old he could already climb the entire flight of stairs in our house.

I should have known.

At 10 months he took his first steps - determined to keep up with every move his big brother made.

I should have known.

I should have known this kid was filled with determination from the beginning.  I should have known he would always know exactly what he wanted and when he wanted It.  I should have known the sheer force of his will.

I thought will-power wasn't supposed to fully rear it's head until the second year of life.   Isn't that why they call it the terrible twos?

But this child, Josiah Henry, my beautiful surprise, with a gorgeous grin, expressive eyes, and precious cuddles, this child has been practicing the art of will-power from the very beginning.

And now he's one year old.  An entire year has passed since his birth.  Now I'm weaning him.  Now I'm moving past the stages of praying that tonight will be the night he sleeps through the night, carefully propping him up in case he falls over while sitting up, and pureeing all his food.

Infanthood is behind us and there is a little boy growing rapidly in front of me.

I should have known it would all go by too fast.

Happy birthday, baby boy!  I can't wait to see all that God has in store for you!

Without getting caught up on what was and loosing sight of the blessings of right now (this is something I must continually work on), I want to take some time to reflect on some of the highlights of the summer. Today I'll begin with something that is still going on right now. Over the last 2 months Josiah has grown and changed so much.  When we began the summer he was a total Momma's boy and we were convinced he was an introvert and would struggle with the number of people we would constantly be surrounded by while visiting family.  However, let me tell you, our toddler in the making is a whole new kid now.  It seemed like the more people he was around the more extroverted he became.  Now I'm worried he's not going to know what to do with just the four of us in the house most days.   I can't wait to see how he continues to grow and change in the coming months!  Thank you to everyone who loved on our little boy this summer and helped him to break out of his shell. In addition, when we began the summer this kid was an incredibly picky eater.  Getting him to consume any protein besides breast milk and yogurt was nearly impossible.  Suddenly, during the summer, he started embracing food whole-heatedly.  Now he rarely turns anything down and between  he and Eli I feel like I'm starting to get a small picture of what my grocery bills will be like in the years  to come (hijole!). Next, he speaks!  My grandfather who is Greek has taught all of his children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren to say "tota" (the Greek word for touch) while touching his pointer finger to theirs.  Apparently it's some sort of Greek tradition.  Anyone else ever heard of this?  Anyway, tota was Josiah's first word as he touched his finger to mine.  That's right my baby's first word was in Greek!  Watch out world this kid is going to be trilingual!  His second word was a slightly less impressive, but still incredibly cute "uh oh" (after dropping something), followed by "bye bye" and "hi."  It seems he only learns words with sort sort of gesture involved.  So, if I want him to say "mama" or "dada" I may have to start teaching him the sign language to go with it. Finally, this kid is on the move.  We will officially be calling him a toddler any day now.  He regularly takes three steps at a time and will be fully on the move and running around with his big brother any day now.  Terrifying! I can't believe my baby boy will be 1 year old in just two weeks.  Where did the time go? Ok, that's it for day 1 of highlights.  There are more to come and I promise the rest won't be me just gushing over my boys, but this proud Momma had to share a little.

Today, while we were hanging out in the park in our housing complex, I taught Eli how to take pictures on my phone.  He loved it so much that he spent the next half hour getting shots of every aspect of the playground.  I thought I would share some of his best shots with you (I'll spare you the other hundred).  He actually got some good ones.  I'm thinking I may have to have him start his own photo a day project....

Josiah turned 6 months old last week.  Oh how times flies!  Unfortunately, he, Dave and I were all sick that day (somehow Eli magically escaped the illness...sigh of relief), so there was no proper celebration of his achievement.  This kid is going to be on the move before I know it and I'm just not ready.  He's already quite the talented little roller.

I feel so blessed to have two amazing little sons who are healthy (most days) and growing and changing at such a rapid rate.

But oh, how life has changed...

In years past (they seem so long ago already!) Dave and I would have had friends over for dinner and watched the Ocars together.  This year I watched them while sitting on the floor, one hand helping the 2 year old put together a wooden train, the other hand helping the 6 month old grab his brother's toy cars that were just out of reach of his chubby little hands.

This morning when I poured myself a bowl of cheerios I also poured some in a small plastic bowl with a picture of a shark on the bottom.  During this seemingly simple and quick process I left the kitchen twice to make sure the 2 year old wasn't on top of the 6 month old who was playing on his mat on the floor in the living room.

Really relaxing nights watching tv with my husband now include something like this:

There is rarely a moment that I get to spend entirely alone in the bathroom.

Oh, and I typed a portion of this with one hand while breastfeeding and watching Max and Ruby on Nick Jr. (in Spanish to top it all off).  My multi-tasking skills have increased exponentially since becoming a mom!

Yes, life has changed.  I wouldn't trade any of it for a different life, but I certainly have my moments where I consider how different things are now.  Here's to many more changes to come...

So unlike Abby I am on the once a year blog post plan :)

As I'm sure many of you know first hand, having small kids in the house often means waking up in the middle of the night.  We have been blessed with a three month old who rarely sleeps less than 9 hours a night... but recently our 2 year old has been a different story.  Multiple times a week Eli has been waking up in the middle of the night crying or calling out "Mommy!... Daddy!".  Bad dreams... he wants water... his diaper is wet... he can't find his blanket... the reasons vary.  Hopefully this is a phase he will grow out of soon :)

Last night we got a baby sitter for the first time since Josiah's birth.  Despite the language barrier, Netty was great.  She took meticulous notes on when the boys should eat, get milk, go to bed, etc.  She handled Eli without breaking a sweat and seemed right at home with Josiah.  She was well versed at making bottles and changing diapers.  We felt great about leaving our boys with her and enjoying a night out (Happy birthday Lauren!).

Like most baby sitters, nannies, and maids here in Mexico City... Netty lives in a much less nice part of town than the people she works for.  Public transportation doesn't go to her neighborhood after 10, so she asked if she could stay at our house last night.   She slept in our extra bedroom and was out the door before the rest of us got out of bed this morning.  Once again, totally normal here in D.F.

So... last night when Eli had his 2am "Mommy!... Daddy!" call Netty ran into his room, comforted him, and helped him fall back to sleep.  I barely woke up and Abby missed the whole thing.  I definitely appreciated the chance to get a little more sleep... but this morning I've been thinking.  Abby and I currently live in a culture where it is very common for middle class families to have live in nannies.  Have you seen "The Help"?...  this cultural dynamic is still very normal here.  I wonder how many parents never get to comfort their scared 2 year old at 2am.  I wonder how many working dads relinquish all of these moments to the moms.  Eli generally wants hugs and kisses and to be told everything is all right.  Somehow I make everything all right.  And then he says "love you" and goes back to sleep.

Maybe I don't want Eli to totally grow out of this phase so soon.

So, I seem to be on a once a month blog post plan lately.  There are 2 reasons for this: 1) finding the time to write blog posts with 2 kids 2 and under is bit harder than with 1 and 2) after a little over a year of living in Mexico we're starting to get the hang of it and there are fewer new experiences to tell you about.  However, the Christmas season is upon us and there is much celebrating to being done here in Mexico.

After 2.5 weeks of building and tinkering our next door neighbor finally completed the most elaborate nativity scene (el nacimiento) I have ever seen.  The scene, which depicts an entire town in biblical times, takes up about a 7'x7' space and is complete with working waterfall and stream.  I don't think that this picture does it justice, but it's the best I have right now.

Last night was the viewing party at which we chatted with some of our neighbors and drank ponche, which is a warm spiced punch and traditional drink for this time of year.

This morning I attended Eli's preschool Christmas party.  As far as I can tell Mexicans like to put their kids in costume for every holiday possible.  So, I dressed Eli up as a lamb (his assigned costume) and we headed off the party.

They thanked the parents for coming, told the story of Jesus' birth (this would never happen in a non-religious preschool in the U.S.!), and then asked a few parents to share how they celebrated Christmas in their house.   I was called on first.  Lucky me!  Given a little prep time and the chance to speak in my native language I don't mind public speaking, but impromptu public speaking in a foreign language is not my idea of fun!  Nonetheless, I managed to at least tell them that we celebrate with a Christmas tree, gifts, and the story of the birth of baby Jesus.

This was followed by the whole group of kids dancing. (Sorry for the poor video quality.)

Then the kids performed an interesting rendition of the Christmas story.  My Spanish isn't good enough to get it word for word, but I'll give the gist.

Joseph worked on his carpentry while Mary was in the kitchen.

Not 1, but 2 angels came to visit each of them while they slept.

Joseph exclaimed "A baby, but I'm only 4 years old!"

Mary and Joseph went on a walk and bought candy from a vendor.  Apparently, Mary had a pregnancy craving.  Then they headed to Bethlehem and poor pregnant Mary had to carry the donkey.

They made it to Bethlehem and a very large baby Jesus appeared.

The shepherds and sheep danced together and then the devil appeared and tempted them to dance more instead of going to see baby Jesus.  Can someone tell me where you find that part in the Bible?

Eventually they stopped dancing and followed the star to baby Jesus.  The wise men followed suit and presented gifts. (Sorry, I have some lengthy video, but not a good photo of this part.)

Then the whole group, including the devil, joined around baby Jesus.

See the toy in Eli's hand?  He stole it from the devil on more than one occasion during the performance.  I'm sure some sort of biblical analogy can be made here.  More importantly I probably need to spend a little more time teaching Eli not to steal toys from other kids (particularly babies).

This was followed by more dancing.  Eli was paired off with his cousin who spent much of the time telling him he was doing it wrong, while he ignored her and kept dancing.

And here's one final shot of my little lamb.

At least I can say it was entertaining with much of the original story mixed in as well!

Dear Eli,

Today is your second birthday.  I simultaneously cannot believe you are 2 years old already and have a hard time picturing my life without you.  For the last 2 years you have brought us so much joy.  Yes, you have certainly tried our patience at times, but the times you have brought a smile to my face far outweigh the other times.  Thank you for being such a happy child.

You have taken on being a big brother with amazing gusto.  I have yet to see you be truly jealous of your little brother.  Instead you have welcomed him with open arms and rather aggressive hugs and kisses.  You have taken the adage “the more the merrier to heart.” Thank you for continuing to bless us with your openness to change.

Your vocabulary in both Spanish and English continues to grow exponentially.  There are still many things you say that we don’t quite understand and some consonants you haven’t quite figured out, but the things you say clearly continue to amaze me.  You use please and thank you lavishly and at surprising moments.  Thank you for reminding me to tell people I appreciate the little things. 

You love whole-heartedly.  Some of that love is given to “choo choos” (anything with wheels), Buzz Lightyear, and Dora (who we’re pretty sure we can count as your first crush), but so much of it is poured out on those around you.  You love your cousin Isabella incredibly and have not quite learned that her need for personal space is much greater than yours (which is virtually non-existent), you adore talking over Skype with your grandparents and showing them the new things in your life, you tell your little brother you love him often even though he’s not yet able to give you any kind of response, and you melt my heart every time you suddenly grab mine or Daddy’s leg and proclaim “I lub you.”  Thank you for being an amazing example of why our Heavenly Father said “let the little children come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I love you, Eli and I’m so proud to be your mommy.  Happy birthday, Buddy.

Love,

Mommy

So I'm due in 4 days and more than ready to no longer be pregnant (although you should probably ask me if I still feel this way on my first day home alone with two kids).  Anyway, as stated previously, I've been trying to soak in my last few days of one-on-one time with Eli.  I have been in search of activities for him which match all of the following requirements:

1. Will keep a 21 month old's attention span for a significant amount of time (at least 30 minutes).
2. Only items that are already in our home should be needed (baby number 2 is putting us on a tight budget and we only have one car here so I don't have a vehicle many days).
3. A minimal amount of planning must be required.  Since baby boy #2 could come any day now I am not looking for activities that I have to plan way ahead of time and then potentially leave unfinished.
4. The activity should, ideally allow me to stay sitting.  9 months pregnant = a significant loss of energy.  I have to save up this energy for the times Eli needs to wear off some energy of his own playing in the grass or at the playground.
5. The activity should require a minimal amount of clean-up.  Once again energy conservation in paramount.

So with all of these things in mind, here are a few of the things that have been keeping us busy lately:

Playing with dried beans.  All you need is a few different sized containers and various utensils to move them from container to another.  So simple and Eli loves it!

Homemade playdough.   With a simple recipe like the first one on this list you can mix this up in no time with simple ingredients you already have at home.  Plus it's softer than store bought playdough, which is definitely a plus for kids as young as Eli.  And random head wear helps keep any activity entertaining. :)

Add a matchbox car partway through the playtime for an additional 20 minutes of fun!

Melted crayon drawings.  Thanks to the magic of Pinterest I found this activity on the blog Play Create Explore.  All you have to do is warm up a plate in the microwave, grab a few of those broken, unwrapped crayons you have lying around, and you can create all sorts of fun art.  You do need to make sure you do not get the plate too hot, so as to burn little hands, and you keep the activity well supervised so you do not end up with wax on the table or other surfaces.  Also, although the original blogger assured that the plate would easily clean up I was a little skeptical so I used a glass plate I bought at the dollar store back in college.  However, to my surprise, with a little hot water, dish soap and a scrubby sponge the crayon came off without any problem.

So there you have it - three simple toddler activities that have let Eli and I have some fun together without requiring me to try to be super mom at 9 months pregnant or break the bank buying new toys and supplies to keep him entertained.

Do you have other ideas that fit all of my criteria? 

 Please share!

You are 19 months old now and there are so many things I want to remember about this stage in your precious little life.

You love to dance to any and every type of music and often demand that everyone in the room joins in with you.

High-fives, “knuckles,” and handshakes are all among your favorite activities, but once you start everyone in the room better be ready to receive one (or three or four)."

You are learning to jump, but can't get both feet off of the ground at the same time yet, and the result is adorable!

Your vocabulary is growing rapidly.

You have learned to politely ask for things with “please,” although you still have your moments where you think a good yell will be more effective.

The only word you seem to be able to manage to make the “k” sound in so far is “Duckie” (who is definitely one of your favorite stuffed animals).  Otherwise you replace the sound or just leave it out, leaving us with words like “tootie” (cookie) and “blos” (blocks).

You have three Spanish words so far “si”, “agua”, and “gracias” (although the last one is pretty infrequent at this point.

You love to make animal sounds.  Every dog or picture of a dog we see illicits a good long round of “woof, woofs”.  My favorite animal sound you make so far is the lion, as it is almost silent, but very dramatic with your wide open mouth.

You adore the alphabet song and love to sing along, although you really just make random sounds somewhat to the tune.

Currently your favorite foods are green grapes, bananas, and hamburgers.

After several months of holding out with just 8 teeth you are finally getting your next set.  Although, this made for a rather cranky evening yesterday we are very excited about your increased chewing potential.

You are starting to get excited about vehicles and love the “vroom, vroom” of the car and “choo, choo” of the train.

You are in love with “Dora the Explorer,” which is on almost 24/7 here.  If you do manage to figure out the remote, as you have been trying to, we may have a serious issue on our hands.

You love Elmo and refer to him as "Melmo".

You have a new found love of “helping” Mommy and Daddy with chores.  If I’m putting laundry in the washer or putting the clean items away, you want to give me each item from the basket or try to shove them in the drawers yourself (occasionally this means that I find my shoes in random drawers as well).  If I’m putting groceries in the cart, you want each item to go through your hands first.  If we’re vacuuming, you want to be right there helping to push the vacuum along.  If we’re walking Tucker, you want to hold the leash all by yourself (this pretty much results in Tucker walking you instead).

You love to give kisses and sometimes it seems that the bedtime kisses will never stop once they start.  That’s okay though, Mommy and Daddy are embracing this precious stage.

You are such a joy, little man.  Thanks for making our lives more complete!

...that make it all worth it.

It’s been quiet on the blog lately because I have been busy earning my Mommy Badges over the last week.  

What are Mommy Badges ?”, you ask.

Mommy Badges are earned for those moments when being a mom gets a bit harder.  These are the moments when it’s not such a glamorous job, but still somehow incredibly fulfilling, because you know that you are needed.

I earned a badge on Tuesday night when Eli started vomiting just before bed time.  We continued the process until about 1am with a poor whimpering child, cleaning walls and floors, completing three loads of laundry, and a very early morning shower for both Daddy and son.  Daddy definitely earned his badge that night as well.

Another badge came Thursday and Friday when Eli’s school called to say that he had a rash and needed to be picked up.  That rash grew into hives which continued to spread throughout his entire body through Friday morning.  Although he was incredibly good spirits the whole time he kept Mommy and Daddy pretty worried for about 24 hours. 

Apparently my sweet little boy was allergic to something he ingested (now we are in the exciting process of trying to figure out what).   Eli’s pediatrician assured Daddy that our perfect little boy who seemed to be covered in one giant red blotch would be handsome again.   He was right.  Thanks to an antihistamine he seemed miraculously cured by the next morning. 

Am I glad my little boy had to go through these things?  Of course not, but I know that this is an important part of being a parent.  It’s the loving and supporting in the midst of sickness, unpleasant smells, laundry, the unknown, and the worrisome - the not so glamorous moments.  I know that there are many more to come – the kind that are harder and last longer.

There’s something beautiful in the midst of it all.  Something wonderful about being needed, about providing love, about being a parent, and about growing, learning, and being stretched alongside your child.

Well, I’ve got to run.  Eli just somehow managed to get yogurt in his eye.  Not a badge-worthy moment - just another moment in the life of the mom of a toddler.

As previously mentioned we have come to to view our new iPad as a bit of a one stop toddler entertainment shop.  Please do not judge my parenting.  I assure you that my child is not sitting around with the iPad for hours a day rather than being active.  It is, however, occasionally nice to have him happily sit still for a bit.

The wonderful apps I mentioned previously definitely came in handy our on recent trip to San Diego (see yesterday's post).  However, we realized that headphones were a must have when using the iPad on the plane and the standard ear buds that we are used to using just don't work for our little guy.  So while we were in the U.S. we made a quick stop by Target to check out the kids headphone selection (and a few other things).

We have been very happy with our purchase of Philips headband headphones designed for kids (I assure you I'm not receiving any sort of compensation from Philips or anyone else for promoting these).  They have comfy, cushy fabric ear pieces that can't be torn apart (like the foam or rubber variety), a super flexible headband that he can get on and off himself, and are made all in one piece so there's no chance of losing something.  Plus they come with a lockable volume control so Eli can't turn them up crazy loud.  They do say that they are made for ages 4 and up, but they fit Eli just fine with room to grow (I admit, he had a slightly larger than average head for his age).  We purchased the blue variety.  There is a bright pink version that my 23 month old niece has been in love with as well.  Plus, at under $20 you won't break the bank purchasing headphones for a toddler.  If you are in need of a set of headphones for your little guy or girl I highly recommend these.

As I said, we purchased ours at Target, but I've also found them online at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sears.

Have you found any other must have items for plane rides with your toddler?  We have another long plane trip coming up in a little over a month and I would love to have some additional ideas to keep Eli entertained.

Happy Dia Del Nino (Children’s Day)!  Although this is a basically unheard of holiday in the United States, in Mexico, and apparently throughout much of Latin America, it is a highly celebrated holiday.   Schools, parks, and other venues throughout the city have been holding events to celebrate the day for the last week.  There are performances, parties, piñatas and lots and lots of dulces (candy).

On Friday Eli’s preschool held their celebration.  The school simply sent home a letter informing me of the celebration and that children were expected to be dressed in cowboy/girl attire.  So we bought Eli a cowboy hat from one of the local costume stores, dressed him up in jeans and plaid shirt, skipped his usual Thursday school day and brought him to school on Friday instead, so that he could join in the festivities (treats, songs, and games related to a cowboy theme I assumed). 

Friday afternoon I came to pick him up at the usual time and was invited in for the end of the celebration.   The moms and others picking kids up were all called up in front of the kids, cowboy hats were placed on our heads, the older kids told us about all the party food and the songs they had learned, and then music came on and we were all expected to sing and dance for the kids.  I did my best to keep up, but I’m definitely not familiar with Mexican cowboy themed songs.  Next, the kids were all given bags of candy (just what my 1.5 year old needs!) and stick ponies to take home (Eli had managed to ride his occasionally, but mostly swing the stick around like a weapon).  And then we headed home.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I found out there was more to the day’s festivities.  My brother and sister-in-law apparently sent along a camera with my niece so that the teachers could get pictures of her enjoying the festivities.  They were nice enough to get several pictures of Eli as well….

RIDING A PONY! 

Nope, that wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the take home sheet or when I dropped off or picked up my child.  I can’t imagine a preschool in the U.S. bringing in ponies without some sort of hefty consent form being sent home well in advance and inviting parents to be there for the event.  But this is a little local preschool in Mexico…things are different here.

All of this to say, next time there is an event at the school I’ll be sure to ask a few more questions about what activities are involved.  I might want to actually stick around to see my kid ride a "large" animal for the first time

It's time for a new addition to the blog: Favorite Things Fridays! Excited yet? Ok, I know it's not a new invention in the blog world, but I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few of my favorite things and let you share some of yours as well. Expect variety: kid items and activities, recipes, various products, etc.

This week I'm sharing my 5 favorite apps to keep a toddler entertained with the IPad.  Our IPad is definitely our new favorite toy for the whole family.  So in no particular order, here they are:

1. Pi'ikea Interactive Alphabet - ABC Flash Cards - $2.99 - This is a fun app for helping your toddler learn the alphabet. Each letter has its own interactive activity and teaches your child to not only recognize the letters but the sound each letter makes.
2. Sound Touch Lite - FREE! - This app has numerous cartoon pictures of animals and other items.  When you click on each picture a photo of the item appears along with the sound the item makes.  Clicking on the picture multiple times provides a variety of photos of the same item along with variations in sounds.  Eli loves to click on the pictures and imitate the sounds. So far we have only loaded the free version of this app and Eli has been perfectly happy with it.  I thinking we'll load the full app before our next plane ride.
3. Lego Duplo Jams - FREE! - This fun app has 5 different Duplo themed activities each with its own theme music (Jam).  Eli's favorite is the Barnyard Serenade, which includes a matching card game.  I'm not sure whether this one would keep older toddlers entertained, but at 18 months Eli is perfectly happy with it.
4. Garage Band - $4.99 - No, it's not actually an app designed for toddlers, but Eli loves playing "music", particularly on the acoustic guitar option.  Plus, it's much easier on Mommy and Daddy's ears than our musical instrument toys.
5. You Tube Sesame Street Videos - FREE! - Ok, this isn't actually an app at all, but honestly I haven't found anything to beat the entertainment value of all of the Sesame Street videos available on You Tube.  Eli lights up when they come on and now loves to choose which video will play next himself.

Ok, so those are our favorites, and three out of the 5 were free!

Have you found other apps to keep your toddler entertained?  Please share!