Month: September 2014

Our girl is 8 months old today.

She is one joyful baby girl. Ruby is so smiley and happy all the time. You will find her clapping and bouncing up and down dancing on the regular. She adds tremendous light to our day every single day.

She has two new teeth, can wave a little bit, stand a little bit and is kind of starting to pull herself up.

Ruby wants to be on the move! She is attempting to crawl and can scoot herself around a bit. If she sets her eye on something, she can figure out how to get near it. She likes to rummage through her toy baskets and play, play, play.

She is eating a bunch of food now. She is pretty successful with her pincer grasp, and watching her eat is so adorable. She examines it carefully and then places it in her mouth. Or sometimes it’s smashed into her mouth. Some of her new favs are: pineapple, watermelon, yogurt, tomatoes. She has tried a ton of foods: squash, beets, bagel with cream cheese, salmon, eggs, black beans, carrots, hummus… basically, I just give her everything to try.

We love her so much. I can’t thank my lucky stars enough. Having two is tough, and we’re exhausted, but gosh darn if I’d trade it for ANYTHING in the world. I can’t give her enough squeezes and kisses every day.

Theo got two celebrations this year. My dear friends, Lalena & Dan, were married on September 6th upstate so we threw Theo his party the weekend before his birthday. We had a pizza party in the park complete with games and a homemade cake by yours truly. Many of his friends couldn’t be there since it was Labor Day weekend, but honestly it was probably for the best because there were still lots of kids there and it would have been insane with much more.

We ordered way too many pizzas, had lots of snacks and juice boxes, and our friend Sarah organized some great games for the kiddos. They played duck, duck, goose, had a potato sack race, balancing an egg on a spoon race, and there was a soccer ball and nets for sports fun.

Theo has been increasingly into chocolate, so this year he requested a chocolate cake. It was decadent. Chocolate cake with fudge buttercream filling, vanilla buttercream frosting and, of course, sprinkles.

On his actual birthday we went bowling, which was Theo’s #1 request.

I hope Theo doesn’t hold it against me but, he really wanted a bowling party. Honestly he talked about it for months. I didn’t want to go through with it because the kids are still a bit young to really bowl. We talked up the pizza party in the park and got him excited, with the promise that we would have a family bowling outing on his actual birthday and he could pick anywhere for dinner. He was so, so excited to bowl. In retrospect I feel bad about not doing the party. He talked about it when we were there and was bummed 🙁 We promised next year if he still wants to have it there. We had fun bowling on this birthday, nonetheless. The day was topped off with lots and lots of calamari, his favorite.

Some of the gang eating birthday cake!

I love this so much.

Our boy is four. It feels big. Momentous.

We visited his new doctor at Tribeca Pediatrics, Dr. Gold (we switched offices and his old doctor had twins and moved to Texas!). Love her lots!

Here are his stats:

Height – 42.8 inches (93%)
Weight – 38.6 lbs (73%)

He gained 5 pounds and grew 2 inches in one year. He passed his hearing and vision tests, and had lots of fun learning about blood pressure, looking into mama’s eyeballs and ears after she looked in his, and talking about our esophagus and how our food moves through us.

Theo is really fun to be around. He is constantly eager to learn every little thing and soaks it all up quickly. I am more than exhausted at the end of the day from the questions and constant conversation! It’s good, don’t get my wrong, but man… what is this kid gonna be when he grows up?! It will be a fun road to see the man he becomes.

He has gentle soul, he really does. Even if he has a tough time showing it at times. He’s a lover. He is very polite. He likes animals. He has grown very fond of all things space, and he can name all of the planets in the correct order. Obviously we know his love for electricity and flashlights. He still enjoys reading books with us very much. One of our favorite things to do is to get new ones from the library to borrow. Often other books from authors that we love, or simply books that seem pertinent to something happening currently (like starting school).

Theo is growing used to his baby sister. At times he doesn’t want her around, but when she is doing something new, or laughing at him, he is right there with a quickness to see it and he lights up when she laughs at him. He has begun to show empathy towards her, and he looks out for her if he sees her grab something she shouldn’t. When we do something just the two of us he will say, “where’s Ruby?”. He has warmed up to her very much and I can’t wait to see how their relationship evolves. He is lucky to have a little sister to share in this life.

Theo, we love you all the way to Timbuktu. No, all the way to the furthest star in the Milky Way and back. Thank you for choosing me to be your Mama. We promise to always support you and to love you in everything you do.

Happy fourth birthday to my sweet honeybuns, Mister Theo!!!

Yesterday marked Theo’s first day of Pre-Kindergarten. His official entre into the world of public schools. A place I want him to be. A place I know he will excel.

He was really excited to get there and meet his teacher, Mrs. Gallagher. He brought her a shiny, red apple. When they met, he shook her hand, said “hi, Ms. Gallagher, I have a special surprise for you!” and he gave her the apple. It was too sweet.

He explored the room and sat down to color with the paper and markers set out for the kids to get right into an activity. He drew a picture, and wrote his name. He got a bit antsy and the teacher’s assistant tried to get him back in his seat. He came to me a couple times, but managed to get back with the kids. They played with legos on the mat for a bit, and he liked that. He came to me when he had to go to the bathroom, which was good. We explored the bathroom and I explained to him that this will be where he goes everyday with Mrs. Gallagher, or Ms. Garcia. He was happy because the toilets are nice and little and the sinks and soap dispensers are perfect kiddo size. Anyhow, they closed out the hour with a getting-to-know-each-other-song.

And that was that. The first day in the books.

Friday was the second day, and Theo was there for two hours. With me, and all the other parents, hanging out in the media room next door. He did great. We peeked in every so often and he always seemed engaged in what was going on. They had lunch together. Theo happily reported, “we had pizza!”.

He mentioned, in his sad voice, that next week I will be dropping him off. I think he will be fine and the transition will be much easier than last year. Famous last words, right? Really, though. It’s only a few hours each day and I think he will quickly realize how much fun stuff he is doing and learning, and mommy always comes back.

The morning of his first day I asked him what he wanted to wear for his first day. Off the top of his head, he said, “my Cleveland shirt… you know, the one I was wearing that day we went to Harmony Playground.” See, he rarely wears that shirt. I was shocked. He chose it out of the blue. Daddy was so proud.

So proud of my 4-year old-to-be (in two days!).