So we've added a few words again:
walk (going for a walk)
tree (teee)
choo choo (train, car, truck- any vehicle)
sun (points to the sun in a book)
I might be missing a couple words.
I had a busy, social week! On Monday night I reconnected with my high school friend, Becky, who lives in Blaine too. She is a new Mom and we met for coffee. A Mama break of sorts!
The rest of the week was uneventful but then on Friday I left to meet up with friends again- dinner, drinks, and lots of talking! I saw my other friend Elizabeth, another nearby Mama that I don't see often enough.
On Saturday my Sister Ana took me to the Little House on the Prairie musical at the Guthrie. It was AWESOME! I love LHOTP! We were so impressed with the actors, the music, the beautiful backdrops. And Melissa Gilbert was in it too! Yay Ana for such a great early birthday gift!
On Sunday we spent the day at home but then went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy's for dinner. Grandma Laura was also there. James did very well- he played outside, ate well, and didn't run around too wild. Its sometimes exhausting taking James to another person's house (usually not babyproofed) but maybe he's listening to "No" a bit more or he's just controlling himself :) Or maybe I'm just more relaxed about letting James explore and be a toddler. Probably the last!
Well, I may be fighting off a cold or something. My throat is scratchy and I'm coughing a bit. Wish me luck that I don't end up sick!
Please see our videos below. The second video really amazed me. I found James playing independently and you see in the video what he did. He might be a genius baby that knows patterns already.
poop (he will also grab the front of his diaper if you say, where is the poop?)
butterfly (must have learned this one at daycare, Jim and James saw a butterfly on their walk last night and James was able to say “Fah Fly” or “Bah fly”)
black (as in black crayon)
tree
Blues Clues (wooo wooo, with hand motions like on the tv show)
Chip (potato chip)
Yo Yo (yogurt)
Home Run! (as he hits a ball with his bat)
MMM Num Num! (while eating enthusiastically)
“Dun-ah” or “Dunna” – everything else. Jim wonders if he means “don’t know.”
We were able to visit Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Larry at the borrowed house in Northfield. It was a long drive to the country :) James played very nicely in a strange house, and even though it rained we managed to play outside a bit and admire the lake. Grandma Rosie had a few gifts for James including a tshirt that says "What happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's" Ha!
Most of the Tauer household is ready. This Mama is not!
Lucky for us that the Vikings game was an early Monday night game. James was able to see the kickoff and watch some of the game before bedtime. Actually, he was very busy playing basketball and drawing most of the time. He rediscovered his Aquadoodle drawing mat and has been very interested in drawing with the water pens. I'm a little glad of this because it has distracted him from his obsessive love of crayons. It was so bad that we couldn't mention the c-word in front of him without James begging to color.
In other news, James has started throwing tantrums. The worst tantrum was on Sunday. James has been throwing fits for unknown reasons and he started that one right before lunch. We could not console him and he ended up going to take a nap without lunch :( Afterwards he had a large snack and then was fine for the night. We haven't been able to figure out what triggers the tantrums, but we're hoping its a phase or explainable, like because of his new molars. We shall see!
James has added a few words to his vocab rotation:
buckle (seatbelt, highchair belt, etc)
cup
aaaa-choo! (sneeze)
Hey you!
awesome
book (he says it more clearly)
cook
Very cute!
August flew by. It seems like summer was very short. I have returned to work and James is happy (I think) to go back to daycare. We had a few crabby days and I wondered if he was hating the schedule readjustment, but it turned out that he has his 2 year molars coming in. They must be painful.
James is safely in bed, though a while ago he was crying. I went up to his room, knowing it was because he had dropped his beloved Blankie. Sure enough it was behind the crib, I had to pull out the storage drawer under the crib to find Blankie. He cuddled it close and was quiet. No peeps since. Jim told me that a work friend told him about her own son. Her son is grown up and still carries a piece of his blankie in his wallet. She had gradually cut the blankie down to pieces (weaning?) and eventually he was left with the small square. I wonder how long James will be attached to his Blankie? We don't ever dare NOT give it to him. If we lost it, we would be SOL.
James is a very active boy lately. He loves his golf clubs, his basketball hoop, his baseball bat, and he loves to run. We were at the park today and as soon as I set him down he ran. Though today he ran away shyly from a boy who said Hi to him. I was surprised. I had never seen James shy like that. Soon enough he was running to the play equipment to play (but not to the boy, he ignored him). James' other favorite thing to do is play with his new Mr. Potato Head. Grandma Laura brought that gift to the house last weekend and James loves to push the pieces into the head. Its a great toy right now as he's learning his body parts. He knows: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, toes, big belly.
James has been enjoying summer desserts at our house. I have been making sorbets and ice cream with fresh fruit. James was unsure of what we were offering to him, and he would shudder with the cold on his tongue, but he soon figured out that it is sweet and good. Tonight he tried the blackberry swirl ice cream that I made. Mmmm.
James was very excited today because I told him that his Tia Ana and Tio Rich are coming over tomorrow! He ran around the house with joy. (Or maybe he was chasing a ball?) Anyway, he is excited. Jim and I are going out on a date! James will stay behind with Tia and Tio and play play play. Who will be more worn out? James or Tia and Tio? :)
Please see all of our videos below. A few new pictures are in the August photo album!
Sorry about this! I take very few pictures lately because I'm so frustrated with our camera. It takes out of focus pictures and its definitely not point and shoot- I seem to miss James' best moments a few seconds too late. Oh well.
We had a great visit with Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Larry in Iowa. I would write more but I am exhausted and think I may be coming down with something. My throat has been scratchy for a day or so. I also fell asleep on the floor, playing with James tonight. It was only for a moment and I woke up to James snuggling next to me on the pillow. What a sweet baby :)
Also, as I put him in his crib for bedtime, he waved and said "Bye Bye Mama". I love his new ability to make two word sentences. His other new phrase is "I sorry", he learned this from one of his books and seems to be using it correctly. He said "I sorry" when he threw his cup to the floor and I said "No No!"
I am back to work this week and dreading every minute of it. This week is my group "training" with my former supervisor. After this week I'm hoping its the last I may see of him. He is making my life miserable this week. We are wasting a lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. Blah.
I hope to update a bit more tomorrow when I have some extra time at work.
James has been a very, very good boy while Mama is at her conference in Chicago.
Here are a few highlights from this week… we miss Mama very much, and look forward to seeing her on Friday night!!
-When watching the Twins game on Sunday, James saw all the players wearing baseball caps. He went over and got his cap and put it on. When I got excited when the Twins hit a home run, James came over to me with his hand behind his ear. I couldn’t tell what he was trying to do. He was winding up to give me a HUGE high-five!
-James LOVES his new book about “Spot” the dog, from Grandma Laura. He has wanted to read it every night and in the mornings. He likes the story and characters Spot (dog) and Helen (the Hippo). Whenever I point to the characters or something in the book, I ask him “Who’s that?” and he always looks back at me to see and (I think) try to learn their names. He is doing the same thing with his Sesame Street books and other books.
-Overall James has eaten very well this week. Last night, not so much. But he did eat all of his Strawberries (Bud-ee).
-James cries a little bit and doesn’t want me to leave when I drop him off for Daycare in the mornings. But he is always happy to see me when I pick him up, and have been greeted happily by “Da-daaaa!” each time.
-James likes to notify me when he sees basketball hoops in driveways, when we go to and from day care. When he sees one, he says “da Ball” or “yo Ball”, at least “Ball” is in there somewhere. Obviously he knows they are bigger versions of his own Hoop at home.
-On Tuesday when grandma Laura, uncle Joe and aunt Kathy came over, James was pretending he was an eye doctor. Grandma asked him to check her eyes, and he put his toy from his doctor kit up to his own eye, like he was the doctor!
-In the past several weeks, he has started to understand a lot more things… if you ask him to do any of the following, he usually will:
-Brush Teeth
-Comb/brush hair
-Point to: Toe, Nose, Big Belly, Eyes, Hair
-Golf
-Get a ball
-Throw a ball
-Put on his hat
-Get his shoes
-Get a diaper
-Turn off light
-Close door
-Get Blankie
-Get Book
-Watch TV (will sit in chair) – trying to avoid this.
-get Cup
-eat certain things… “Eat your peas”, “Drink your milk” or “Eat your chicken” and he sometimes eats the thing you ask. This does not always work, however.
-Go Outside
-Go, go, go! (going somewhere in car)
-Go night-night (upstairs to bed)
-Go downstairs/upstairs (he will crawl up or down the stairs himself)
-Get Mo (Elmo puppet or doll)
-Kiss anyone or anything
-Hug anyone or anything
-Bath (signing)
-Can point out items in a book (ball, mama, dada, baby (James’ picture), Mo (elmo)
-Can do some sign language
-Dance
-Take blood pressure (he gets the toy blood pressure cuff from his doctor’s kit)
-Play with blocks
-Out (go out of a room)
When I typed out this list, I realized he is doing a lot more than I thought! I am sure there is more than I’m missing, this is all I could think of for now.
Thank you, James for being such a good boy all week and making it easier on Dada! We hope Mama is having fun in Chicago, see you tomorrow! We love you and miss you lots and lots.... have a safe trip home!
-Jim
James has been a very, very good boy while Mama is at her conference in Chicago.
Here are a few highlights from this week… we miss Mama very much, and look forward to seeing her on Friday night!!
-When watching the Twins game on Sunday, James saw all the players wearing baseball caps. He went over and got his cap and put it on. When I got excited when the Twins hit a home run, James came over to me with his hand behind his ear. I couldn’t tell what he was trying to do. He was winding up to give me a HUGE high-five!
-James LOVES his new book about “Spot” the dog, from Grandma Laura. He has wanted to read it every night and in the mornings. He likes the story and characters Spot (dog) and Helen (the Hippo). Whenever I point to the characters or something in the book, I ask him “Who’s that?” and he always looks back at me to see and (I think) try to learn their names. He is doing the same thing with his Sesame Street books and other books.
-Overall James has eaten very well this week. Last night, not so much. But he did eat all of his Strawberries (Bud-ee).
-James cries a little bit and doesn’t want me to leave when I drop him off for Daycare in the mornings. But he is always happy to see me when I pick him up, and have been greeted happily by “Da-daaaa!” each time.
-James likes to notify me when he sees basketball hoops in driveways, when we go to and from day care. When he sees one, he says “da Ball” or “yo Ball”, at least “Ball” is in there somewhere. Obviously he knows they are bigger versions of his own Hoop at home.
-On Tuesday when grandma Laura, uncle Joe and aunt Kathy came over, James was pretending he was an eye doctor. Grandma asked him to check her eyes, and he put his toy from his doctor kit up to his own eye, like he was the doctor!
-In the past several weeks, he has started to understand a lot more things… if you ask him to do any of the following, he usually will:
-Brush Teeth
-Comb/brush hair
-Point to: Toe, Nose, Big Belly, Eyes, Hair
-Golf
-Get a ball
-Throw a ball
-Put on his hat
-Get his shoes
-Get a diaper
-Turn off light
-Close door
-Get Blankie
-Get Book
-Watch TV (will sit in chair) – trying to avoid this.
-get Cup
-eat certain things… “Eat your peas”, “Drink your milk” or “Eat your chicken” and he sometimes eats the thing you ask. This does not always work, however.
-Go Outside
-Go, go, go! (going somewhere in car)
-Go night-night (upstairs to bed)
-Go downstairs/upstairs (he will crawl up or down the stairs himself)
-Get Mo (Elmo puppet or doll)
-Kiss anyone or anything
-Hug anyone or anything
-Bath (signing)
-Can point out items in a book (ball, mama, dada, baby (James’ picture), Mo (elmo)
-Can do some sign language
-Dance
-Take blood pressure (he gets the toy blood pressure cuff from his doctor’s kit)
-Play with blocks
-Out (go out of a room)
When I typed out this list, I realized he is doing a lot more than I thought! I am sure there is more than I’m missing, this is all I could think of for now.
Thank you, James for being such a good boy all week and making it easier on Dada! We hope Mama is having fun in Chicago, see you tomorrow! We love you and miss you lots and lots.... have a safe trip home!
-Jim
I miss my husband and my precious son. :( I am in Chicago at a conference for work. Its really weird and hard being apart from Jim and James. I know James is in good hands with his Dada but its weird to be not a part of his life for almost a whole week! I received an email from Jim after he dropped off James at daycare, and all is well. James cried when Jim left him, clinging to his leg. I know that that's hard but the best thing is to leave quickly and Sandra takes over. Really, he stops crying as soon as he sees Sandra and the other kids.
I just spoke to Jim and James during dinner time. I had a moment in my hotel room before I head off to dinner myself with the others. Jim put James on speaker phone and I was able to hear his sweet baby voice. He said Hi! Bye-Bye. and lots of "yeah"'s when I asked if he loved Mama, if he was behaving for Dada, etc.
Four more nights... I can do it! I'm taking advantage of this time to sleep in (well, only today I'd be able to cuz we didn't have a meeting until 1:30pm- I slept until 8:30!), go out to dinner without a diaper bag, etc. There's three other Moms in my group, two of which have never been away from their children EVER. This is the longest I'll ever have been away.
