Month: October 2011

I forgot, he says “nana” for banana. It’s pretty darn cute because he gets this look on his face when he says it. Like, he’s pretty thrilled with himself. He also says, “uh-oh”! Or at least the first half after Mama says it.

Theo is able to say a handful of words these days. Mama, Dada, “Ba” for ball, some form of “truck” or “duck”, “beh” for belly, and he signs “milk” and “more” while saying some difficult to understand word that I know in his mind means more since he is doing the sign, as well. He blows kisses and points, sometimes you can get a wave out of him but he doesn’t seem to care for waving much. He can show you his toes and feet, sometimes his ears, eyes, and nose although they often get mixed up. He is still obsessed with dogs and will “ruff, ruff” every time he sees one or we talk about them. I am just starting to get him interested in using a fork/spoon. He loves playing with them and can sort of get it in his mouth. We are on our way to eating like a big boy!

We also took a trip to Boston this past weekend to see my good friends, Laura and Josh. Just Theo and I went and we rented a car for our big trip. We had a great time. Theo was very good for the drive each way – napped and also screamed every so often because I’m sure he wanted out of the car seat! Overall, though, he was great. We had a nice time there… went to Cambridge and Harvard, went downtown, rode a carrousel, walked around the North End (their Little Italy) and ate at some yummy restaurants near their place. A very quick trip for all the work it takes with one parent and a toddler, but it was worth it to see my friends and I think Theo enjoyed the new place and people. They have a dog after all! Nice to be back home with the routine, though.

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For the most part, I write about the happy, fluffy aspects of our life as a family of three. I want this place to certainly remain that way. Pictures and happy times to document Theo’s life so he (and Jay and I) can look back and have memories of many wonderful times as Theo grows up. Of course, Theo is/will always be the love of my life, but I’d be foolish to not document the hardships, too. Plus, I could use an outlet for the stress and frustration.

The past few days have been tough. He’s clingy, needy, gets super frustrated easily and screams, and just doesn’t seem as happy 🙁 I’m not sure if it’s due to Theo being sick with a cold, or due to new phases, or due to his nap schedule being a bit off and therefore he’s not as well rested as usual. Or all three! See, that’s the hardest part, not knowing. I realize how lucky we are/have been to have such a mellow, happy boy. Seeing him like this is so difficult. I want to help him but I don’t always know how, or there is simply no answer. It certainly makes for feelings of inadequacy! Taking him outside is usually the best solution. He likes taking walks in the stroller and, of course, going to the playground. But, that’s been tough with him having snot running down his face all day for nearly a week. I don’t feel right taking him to the playground like that.

He has also been super tough with eating lately. I’ve always thought that he wasn’t the easiest eater in the world but lately he’s been driving me bonkers. Sometimes he eats great, and other times it’s on the floor, half chewed and then on the floor, or just not eaten at all (of course he thinks this is fun and I’ve tried the ignore method, the reprimand method, and the you’re done eating method). I read that I should think about his food consumption as a weekly average, instead of a daily average. That has helped but not with the issues other than the amount he eats at each meal. I need to get more inventive and exploratory with his eating, so I partly blame myself. Is he just sick of the usual repertoire? Surely we all get tired of the same old, same old.

I know that parenting is not easy, and that it’s also the best, most wonderfulest (is that a word?) experience I will ever have. I know we will get through these bumps along the way… it’s just hard to feel that way when you’re in the thick of it. I need to exercise more patience and try to have less control over the things I can’t (and probably shouldn’t) have control over.

We did some fall frolicking in Prospect Park today. We went to a little playground for the barely walking/early walkers called, “Tot Lot”, inside the park and then we trampled through the grass and leaves in the park proper. Great on a Monday when not many people are around. My friend Jennifer and her son, Sam, met us. Later, we visited the whale mural behind our apartment building. Theo and I are also both sick with a cold. Stuffy/runny noses and a little cough. 🙁

Most days I send a little video to Jay to brighten up his day at work… here are a few of those gems.

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Theo is into the Itsy Bitsy Spider song now. Like, he does the hand gestures for the spider and he is trying to do the others. It’s incredibly sweet. Tonight, before bed, I said to Theo, “okay, let’s finish our milk, I’ll sing you a couple of songs, and then it’s time to go night-night.” He looked at me and started making the spider. He knows when I say song what that means! He got very excited.

We went to a weekly singalong the past two Wednesdays at a cafe in Park Slope called, Perch. I enjoy it and I’m pretty sure Theo does, too. He dances a little and mostly he likes to get up real close and just sort of stare at the guitar-playing singer. It’s great.

Lately I’ve noticed that Theo is very intrigued by caps. As in, sippy cup caps or his baby bottle cap. He will sit for a good 10 minutes trying to get it on there and he chuckles while he is doing it. We say, “off!” and “on!” over and over.

He is learning so many new things each day it is truly amazing to see. He is working on his animal sounds still (he does dog, cow, pig, lion, and now cat and fishy). Some of the other words I know he understands and he tries to say are: duck, hot (he goes, “ha”), and every night in the bath he calls my belly button, “beh”. When he sees a stroller/baby, he says “mama”. It melts my little heart.