Month: July 2013

Theo is going to be a big brother! We are about fourteen and half weeks along and recently found out we are having a girl. What wonderful news! A boy and a girl, just what I always wanted. My tests thus far have all been clear and I’m feeling good. There were some pretty tough weeks in the beginning where I was feeling pretty awful, completely exhausted and worried I was going to feel that way forever. That was all leading up to our wedding party, too, so it was a little crazy with the timing. The icky feeling dissipated quite a bit before we came to Cleveland in June and I’m feeling completely normal now. It’s tougher keeping up with a child while being pregnant the second time but I’m feeling pretty fortunate that it’s been relatively mild and most icky feelings have passed.

A friend gave me some great books for children to prepare for a new baby. We have been reading those A LOT! Theo loves to pull them out and read them. He talks about Mama getting “bigger and bigger and bigger”. And one day, the sweetest thing ever happened. Theo said he wanted to sing a song to the baby. He walked over and grabbed his guitar, put the strap on, came over to me and started strumming on the guitar and singing. I just about cried. I told him that was so sweet of him and the baby loves him.

Whenever I asked if he wanted a baby brother or sister, he kept answering, “I want both”. I told him that would be very scary! So now that we know it’s a girl he still says he wants both. Hopefully he’ll come around. I know it will be a tough transition for everyone once the baby arrives in January. But I couldn’t be more pleased with our age spacing and I hope that Theo will be sweet and loving and helpful despite the fact that there will be some jealousy and challenges with adding to our little family. In the end I don’t see it any other way. A family of four. Theo (and our girl-to-be) will have a sibling for life and there is nothing else that can ever replace that relationship.

We are so thrilled about our expanding family! We are preparing for this ride!

We took a trip to Coney Island on Monday morning.

We started out thinking we would visit Brighton Beach but when we got down there I couldn’t resist just going to Coney Island. I asked Theo which he preferred and of course he shouted, “Coney Island!”. It was nice to see it so empty and mellow.

We spent a little time on the beach but quickly packed back up and headed for the kiddie rides once they opened. Theo went on many of his usuals; the fire trucks, the train, the boat, the monster trucks and, this time, the duckie boats. Next time I think we might get a bit more brave. He loved running around and watching the Wonder Wheel spinning. We watched the log ride for a while and Theo loved that. He kept saying “oooh, that would scary!” in a super silly excited voice. They have a kiddie one maybe he’ll try next time if Daddy is with us since I can’t go on any rides right now.

It was a great morning with my guy.

We drove an hour and a half to Pawling, NY this afternoon to visit Jay’s cousins. It was a going away party for the daughter who is going away to college in France. It was a welcome trip from the city to the country for a lovely BBQ with family. They have an amazing country home with a creek in the back, an amazing garden and a half built treehouse that will eventually be suspended in between a couple trees in their yard by some crazy pulley/suspension system.

Anyhow, Theo enjoyed exploring the yard, playing with their garages of course, learning a bit about croquet, basketball and our tee ball set. He ran around barefoot, got to see lightning bugs after dark and basically ate chips & salsa, crackers, hummus and brownies for dinner. Seemed like a pretty great summer day/evening to me! He is always so friendly with everyone and played really well, despite there being no other young kids there for him to play with. He conked out in the car on the way home and we got him tucked cozy in bed easily once we got home. I’m so glad we are able to expose Theo to many different family and many different places all the time. Even though we get tired, we are having fun while we are doing it. Next week it’s Cleveland again! 🙂

Guess who pooped in the potty THREE times today??!

This guy.

I know potty talk isn’t what everyone wants to discuss, but honestly, it is such a proud parenting moment when your child overcomes a fear, tries something new, or simply succeeds in accomplishing an important milestone in their development. Today was huge.

He’s been using the potty and wearing underwear for two weeks now. No accidents and comfortable going wherever we are. I’ve continued to put him in diapers for nap and bedtime since I can’t guarantee he’ll be dry, and without a washer and dryer in our home, it would be quite a pain to need to change our sheets daily. However, his diaper is dry a lot of the time. So, I think we will attempt that sooner rather than later. Anyhow, I’ve also given him a diaper each time he has had to poop as he refused the potty. He would tell me he needs privacy and I would let him do that with a diaper, clean him up and back to undies. Baby steps. I also purchased pull-ups and told him he would use those for sleepy time as soon as the diapers ran out. Well, today was the day and when he asked for privacy and all we had was a pull-up, he flipped out and refused to put it on. Jay and I talked him through and tried many different tactics, etc. He wanted his undies back on. I’m not sure what triggered his change of heart, but all of a sudden, he wanted to go and we headed to the potty. I brought monk and hop for reinforcement, told him I was there and wouldn’t let anything happen to him and he did it. He looked up at me, smiled and said, “I’m doing it!”. We were so proud. And then he proceeded to go two more times in the next half hour. I know it is definitely still a work in progress but he is so ready and doing an amazing job overcoming his fear and being a big, big boy.

As most people are well aware, it’s been a steamy week. Unbearable, I’d like to call it. We stayed in a lot, to be honest. We usually did one thing in the morning, and then home for lunch and nap, and it was indoors the rest of the afternoon with the air conditioning. We did have to go out Tuesday evening for the CSA, but other than that… there was some fort making in the living room.

I always feel guilty using the A/C so much but weeks like this there really is no alternative.

Anyhow, here’s how we beat (or got beaten by) the heat this week. We enjoyed one of our favorite places, Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, with Daddy last Sunday.

Theo also got to go there a second time with his babysitter on Thursday. He was tickled to get to take a bus ride with Sarah AND visit Pier 6 AND eat pizza. She said he was so well behaved and went potty twice while they were there.

We visited a playground he loves nearby with cool sprinklers and, more importantly, a drain.

We went to one of the city pools in Williamsburg and it was such a great time. I knew it would be crowded so we aimed to get there around 11am when it opens to the public. There were already tons of people swimming when we got there at 11:30 but we still got in no problem. Theo and I had such a nice time swimming around together and enjoying the pool and sprinkler area. We only spent about an hour there but it felt like a really special time, just the two of us. When we left there was a line wrapped around outside that looked like people were waiting for an amusement park ride, or an amazing concert. NYC is crazy like that.

We also saw some friends for a street fair yesterday and Theo went in a bouncy house. Boy was he happy about that!

Sometimes we just go to a coffee shop and share a muffin, or a scone, while enjoying the A/C and the atmosphere. Theo loves those kind of outings. Tonight/tomorrow is supposed to be the big cool down so I’m hoping it gets here already. The next few weeks it looks like 80’s, and then even some 70’s, so I’m planning beach trips with Theo. The summer feels like it’s already slipping by.

A lovely picnic in the park today with Jay’s friend from film school and his girlfriend. I caught this photo of Theo literally in mid-air pouncing onto Daddy’s belly. It is our first normal weekend back in Brooklyn in three weeks. A fun-filled, relaxing day for everyone.

Someone requested a stethoscope as his end-of-the-week potty training reward. Boy was he happy. We had a big trip into the city this week to visit a specialist re: the poop issue. Theo charmed the pants off of three doctors and he, as usual, amazes me with his curiosity, language and smarts. Theo was mesmerized with their stethoscopes. He got to play with two of them at the same time! And he got to play with the light they use to look in patient’s ears. He was thrilled. This guy loves going to the doctor. The main doc made his belly “squeak” (with a rubber duckie behind his back) repeatedly and Theo was sold.

Theo has done amazingly with potty training this week. We are super proud and I told him he could pick out a toy at the end of the week if he continued to wear undies and pee in the potty. He has done just that. So he earned his stethoscope – which when he says sounds a little more like, “deathoscope”. Anyhow, our big boy got a trip to pick out his stethoscope yesterday and we also added some Spiderman undies to our growing collection. Potty training is hard work for all parties involved! And you know what else, he barely even asked for a cookie after day two. It was incentive at first but it’s already become normal, no edible reward needed.

Every year the New York Philharmonic puts on a concert in each borough. For free. It’s pretty spectacular. In Brooklyn it’s always at Prospect Park, of course. We hadn’t gone in years – basically since Theo was born – but this year was a great time to start again. We packed a great picnic and met a big group of friends with their kiddos. We were particularly excited because there would be fireworks afterwards! We didn’t see any on the 4th, and Theo has been asking for some. I was hesitant since we saw them last 4th of July at Coney Island after the baseball game and Theo was none too pleased with the very loud BOOMs.

It poured earlier in the day and there were threats of more rain all throughout the day into the evening. Thankfully, the evening was absolutely gorgeous and no rain drops ever fell. The selection was wonderful and Theo really loved the fireworks. Jay had arrived by then and Theo sat on Daddy’s lap and watched them in awe… “pretty! look at all the colors!”, he would shout. He’s been talking about it for days now. “Remember when we saw fireworks? I saw orange and green and… I want to see the Harmonic”.

It was a fun-filled night for all. Theo did learn one thing, port-o-potty’s are scary and he would much rather hold it. Pretty much like his Mama. And he did. Even when our other friend’s kid showed him peeing in the grass is perfectly okay for an almost three-year old. He was in bed asleep at the early hour of midnight. And it was totally worth it.

The potty train, of course! I shelved this months ago after we had great success and then the poop withholding took over. I didn’t worry about it (okay, maybe I did inside and to others and Jay, like, a million times) and listened to all of the articles I read that taking a break was the best thing when dealing with withholding. Don’t make a big deal about it. The less pressure the better. I did not want a power struggle. Revisit at a later date. So we’ve been back in diapers for months. He would pee on the potty when he wanted to, and otherwise he would pay it no mind. We acted indifferent. “It’s up to you”… I know he is more than ready. He has complete control over his functions and he is smart and capable to be a potty trained big boy. So, we basically just dove back in. I waited for the trip to Cleveland/big party/weekend away to be behind us. I prepared him as we did when we got rid of the bottles. I told him the diapers were going bye-bye and it was time for our big boy underwear. And, yes, I decided to use rewards. Some people frown upon this but I could care less. We picked up a treat that he chose at the store (we had been using these cinnamon letter cookies from Trader Joe’s and he has now chose Nilla Wafers and Animal Crackers) and he gets one after he uses the potty. I will do it for a week. I also told him that if he wears his underwear and pees in the potty all week he can pick out any toy he wants. On Monday morning he instantly was excited about the prospects once I gave them to him. His whole demeanor changed. After he had on his undies and his shorts I said, “doesn’t that feel good?”. And he said, “yes!”. No more bulky diapers. Free in his swim suit. He also loves to dump the pee from the duck potty into the big potty and flush the toilet all by himself. He always gets a high five.

It’s been two days. No turning back now. He’s doing amazingly. Our big boy is quite the big boy 😉

Jay and I spent the weekend away at our friends’ house in Eldred, NY. It’s about 2 1/2 hours north of the city and it’s become an annual affair. Last year we went for one night (our first full night away from Theo) so this year we went for the whole weekend. It was good timing since we just had the big shebang/wedding party last weekend. It felt like a nice getaway for us after many months of planning and busy, busy life. My Dad and my niece, Dylanne, drove out from Cleveland to stay with Theo for the weekend. They seemed to have had a blast. Theo told me all about their subway ride into the city to Katz’s Deli for dinner, their visit to the Botanic Garden and various other neighborhood haunts that they visited. I’m so glad he could spend that time with them, especially my niece who is seventeen and hasn’t had a ton of time with Theo. They really hit it off. I got many photos sent to me and, of course, saw many that either my Dad posted on Facebook or Dylanne posted on Instagram. The most important part is that he was always smiling.

Here he is on their subway ride.

Despite the fact that I’m pretty sure he ate pizza, bagels, avocado and eggs the whole weekend, I’d say it was a super success! Thanks so much to my Dad and Dylanne for braving the insane NYC heat this past weekend so they could spend time with Theo, and Jay and I could have a much needed getaway with some friends.

We broke in our brand new tent!

And now we are all set and super excited for our first family camping trip later this summer.

After a lot of this over the weekend…

and seeing baby turkeys (eight of them!), lounging in the sunshine and reading magazines, it’s back to our life and our routine and my big task of finding our next apartment!