Long Overdue post

Well, i've been busy and it's been a long, long time since i've posted but i'm going to try and post more often as I don't want to forget things along the way.

My son is now 34 months old and is such a little man, he definitely is going through some terrible two's testing phases but we are trying to get through them with our sanity.  Lately the tantrums are over things like not wanting to get dressed, going to daycare, getting in the bath, going to bed, Daddy vs Mommy reading to him...it's like every routine thing we do he wants to disagree on but I've been told that kids his age are trying to assert themselves and are becoming more independant and want to make more of their own decisions. I guess I can't blame him for that! lol. But we are trying the choice and/or bribe method lol.  I give him choices of when he would like to get in the bath/get dressed/etc, in one minute or two? lol  he always picks the latter time. But if that doesn't work bribery is always our fall back option lol. 

Other than the testing he is wonderful and our journey so far has been amazing!  He is quite the little chatterbox always asking questions, lately it's "Why"? to everything but i'm sure that will change soon.  We have him enrolled in a Toddler Language study at one of the local universities and I have to laugh at some of the questions on the questionaire.  One questions asks "Does your child speak 2 word or 4 word sentences"? I have to laugh as there is no option for 20 word sentences.  Our guy is a great talker and I think it's from all the reading we do with him. 
THAT is another thing, he loves to repeat stories from the books we read often, word for word, i'm amazed with his ability to remember so many stories by heart.  Must be awesome to have such an amazing memory ability, since I had him my memory has been gone to the dogs. But i'm hoping it will come back someday (even though other Moms say it doesn't) lol. 

Well i'm going to sign off now but i'm giong to make an effort to write more often.

Liz

Motor Skills

So when does your toddler finally master their Motor skills? Mine seems to have a clumsy streak that he hasn't outgrown yet. I'm still waiting for that to happen but in the meantime he almost needs a hockey helmet to wear, especially when he's tired. It's like his legs don't work when he's almost ready for sleeptime.
Last night after dinner our little guy decided it would be fun to climb around the coffee table, of course he slipped and smacked his head on the table (which i'm ready to toss at this point) and then scratched himself in the forehead and while in the tub smacked the back of his head on the tub spout! Phew, and he also had an odd hive reaction I think to the tomatoes in his spagetti...ugh what a crazy night. I was happy when he finally fell asleep and got some rest.

I'm still waiting for the clumsy phase to pass but until then we will continue to keep the ice packs in the freezer for the bumps and bruises along the way. :)

Liz

Walking and Talking

Well it's been awhile since I last wrote, and Kaelan is now 14 months old! He is doing great, he's walking on his own pretty much since his first birthday and is now chatting up a storm. We really have to watch what we say to him because he copies us all the time. :)

My husband asked him to "sit down" while he was standing in the bath and of course he said "sit down" right back to him. So funny, and he also said "thank you" after I said it to him. Even this week he said "me" and "Wow" when I asked him to say it. He seems to understand when I ask him to say things...and when I ask him to point to things...he's so smart!

I have also had him involved with the WLU child math lab research they are doing with respect to if toddlers know and recognize numbers and it's amazing that they can actually understand numbers at the age of 1. Awesome!

Well i'm just so impressed everyday with the amount of information a toddler can take in and retain, it's amazing.

He is also going through a growth spurt of sorts, seems to be his feet have been growing so fast. His size 4 shoes that were big on him a month ago no longer fit, he has his new 5 1/2 shoes on today and they seem to fit great. Amazing how fast his feet grow!

Well that's about it for today, I hope to write more soon.

ttyl,
Liz

It's been awhile...

I thought i'd write a bit since it's been awhile. Life has been pretty busy and I just didn't have much time to write. But since i've been having some issues with sleeping I figured i'd put out a new post.

Life is good with the lil man, he's doing lots of cute things lately, he mimics you when you say things to him and he occassionally repeats them back to you. He has said DaDa, MaMa, Bopbopbop or pop pop pop lol, and even Poo Poo, and tonight Tee Tee. He also says a whole lot of stuff only he understands lol.

Kaelan is also trying to get up on his knees to crawl a bit...he really prefers to roll rather than crawl but he is great at running around in his walker. Shhhh don't tell anyone we have one. I got it 2nd hand off Kijiji and he loves it. I must say that it's his favorite thing, and keeps us busy chasing after him.

I look forward to all the new adventures with him and walking, crawling and talking. He is also getting pretty great at eating solids, but he doesn't seem to do well with cheese and dairy still...sigh, oh well we will see how he does as his tummy matures.

We are working on sleep training with him and it's hit and miss most nights, he does seem to do well with going to bed at 7-8 pm but staying asleep is the issue. And we seemed to have reversed our progress of nursing only once through the night but alas, it's bonding time we will never have again so I enjoy it (even though it's trough on my sleep schedule). :)

But we do have a pretty awesome schedule in the day time that includes 2 naps for the most part...some days are disrupted by appointments and outings but we try to get our two naps in when we can.

Well we are off to baby and me class tomorrow to sing song, he really likes it and it's fun to hang out with all the other moms. It's just good to get out of the house and have some baby fun.

Well I think i'll sign off for now, looking forward to all the fun adventures to come. :)

Liz

Time

Where does the time go?
I've been going through our baby's videos and I can't even believe how fast 7 months has passed. He was so tiny and now he's growing more every day. I am excited for him to meet all his new milestones like talking and walking so I don't reminice much but it was a reminder to enjoy every minute with him.
Another thing about time when you are on mat leave is how much of it you have and don't have. To go out takes about an hour to get the baby ready, the dogs fed or let out, get myself ready, it's crazy. Then the rare moments I have to myself I have to decide is it worth doing something like shower or sleep. Sleep usually wins.
Which leads me to why can't I sleep lately? What's up with that? We just went through a 3 week cold and teething period with Kaelan and I was back to sleeping for an hour then up with him and now that the cold is gone and the teething subsided I can't seem to get any good rest. Ugh so frustrating, then I lie in bed thinking of my to do list and then it's no use to sleep. So here I sit typing about it. lol
I think tomorrow I will try and get some exercise so I tucker myself out by night time and see if that helps.
Now if this silly cold I have will just go away! :)

Ciao
Liz

Britax Advocate Car Seat

So we have been researching the best car seats for our growing son (he's gained 2 lbs in 2 wks and 6 new teeth) he's been a busy little man in his 6 month growth spurt. Thankfully our current car seat is good for up to 32 lbs but he will outgrow it in length before weight. He is over 27" tall now and is still growing...all his 6 mth sleepers are on their way out, say hello to 12 month sleepers. :)

Well on to the car seat research, we found the Britax Advance has everything we are looking for:

• True Side Impact Protection
• Rear and forward facing
• lots of cushioning for baby
• a great 5 point harness system that requires no re-threading when they grow, a front harness adjuster, harness holders to keep those annoying straps out of the way when putting your child into the seat, and keeps your childs head safe from moving around too much in an accident
• small base so it fits into our vehicle

Well that is just some of the wonderful things this car seat has, we have been looking for it to go on sale but no go anywhere yet. Baby's R Us says they never go on sale so we are waiting for the Bay to have a sale so we can use our HBC points towards it (I've been saving for something big and have over $100 in points) woowoo.

So this is our first choice in car seats so if you see them anywhere in your travels on sale let me know lol.

ttyl,

Liz

PS Free Britax Advocate Giveaway at: www.growingyourbaby.com

Car Seat Mania!!

Wow who knew how hard it would be to choose a car seat! We have been having a tough time choosing one from all the great ones out there. We are thinking of getting a 3 in 1 since our little guy isn't quite out of his old one yet but will be in about 2 inches and 5 lbs. :)

I've been soliciting advice from all parents and so far the consenses is the following:

• Britax
• Radian
• Graco My Ride 65
• EvenFlow
• Eddie Bauer

We are still deciding and i'm not done my research but I thought i'd document our journey into the next step of car seat shopping. :)

I'll post an update once we choose the seat.

Liz