Getting Older

Fun in the sun at the Sprayground!

Well, I have to admit that I’m officially an adult now.  It wasn’t getting married, buying a house, paying a mortgage, having not just 1 but 2 kids, or buying a minivan that made me feel like a “grownup.”  It was actually turning 30 years old a couple of weeks ago.  It’s always been my “scary age,” each birthday counting down to my 30th until I’ve finally gotten here...and now I’m old and supposed to be mature.  I have to admit I’m a little relieved because it seems like people sometimes judge me when I say I have 2 kids and I’m in my 20’s, but Brian and I have always wanted to have kids when we were young enough to chase after them and be able to truly enjoy them.  As you can tell turning 30 has not been the most joyful experience to me.  I used to love birthdays but that is not true anymore unfortunately.  

Looking at the penguins at the Aquariam!

For my 30th birthday, Brian stayed home from work and the 4 of us went to the Aquarium.  What really put a damper on my birthday was the fact that I was sick with a really bad cold and so was Blake.  What’s worse than being sick on your birthday?  Having to take care of a sick baby...on your birthday...while you’re sick too.  The only thing worse than that would have been having 2 sick kids would have been worse, but luckily Dominic, the one who gave it to us in the first place, only was sick for 24 hours with a random fever and sneezing, but had long conquered the cold before Blake and I came down with it.  Brian helped a lot and honestly Blake was the happiest sick baby I’ve ever seen (no big surprise considering what a happy baby Blake is). The Aquarium was fun (as always) and then that night the 4 of us went out to dinner for my  birthday at my favorite Mexican restaurant and I enjoyed a delicious margarita...yes, I love margaritas! We did some more celebrating over the weekend too, but the highlight had to be having Dominic sing happy birthday to me on my birthday.  

My sweet boy is almost 2 1/2! 

I can’t believe my (bigger) baby boy is almost 2 ½ year old!  It’s so crazy how quickly he’s growing up and morphing from my little baby to a little man right before my eyes!  The biggest thing is that now Dominic knows every single letter sound (i.e., h says /h/)!!  This is huge in his pre-reading development.  To go along with this, I have started labeling a lot things around the house with laminated printouts that I made like door, table, chair.)...yes, I'm still a teacher at heart!  This way Dominic - and later on Blake - will see those words and learn them by sight.  Since his memory is such a strength for Dominic, seeing all of the words is a great way for him to learn a lot of them. He's recognizing his name and we are starting on the Dolch Sight Word list which they learn in Pre-K and Kindergarten. I think he's too young to do much with phonetically reading words right now although we've worked on it some and he is making progress.  I think teaching a child to read is one of the most amazing experiences!

Another advancement for Dominic is that he's drinking out of a regular cup at his meals now.  This is just limited to water while he’s sitting in his seat in the kitchen.  Milk and water on the go continue and will continue to be in a straw cup or water bottle (another new thing I’ve been introducing to him).  Dominic continues to love fruit and not much else aside from his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spinach pizza, Cheerios, and special occasion foods like goldfish, graham crackers, cake, and cookies (all of which I try to limit).  He is obsessed with grapes right now but also loves watermelon, blueberries, apples, and bananas.  I guess it could be worse, but I wish he would eat his dinner!  

At the moment, his absolute favorite thing to play with are...blankets.  He loves putting them on top of everyone and everything.  He enjoys putting his cars under the blankets and hiding them...I don’t really understand it but that’s okay.  :)  He likes to hide Blake under the blanket, which is a little bit of a problem. Dominic has also started loving to hide himself under blankets and behind curtains.  It’s hysterical playing, “Where is Dominic?” with him.  

Swimming!

We have a little Michael Phelps in our family!  Dominic’s swimming dramatically improved a few weeks ago as he started really using his arms to pull and propel himself (instead of just kicking) and swimming to the wall and pulling up (my primary goal in teaching him to swim). The only problem is that he learned to take a breath (a very good thing), but that's kind of messed up his swimming as he likes to be vertical in the water at that point, so we're working on that. As long as we stay around the steps, Dominic can really swim and splash around without assistance (yay for me!).  He also has started jumping into the pool independently although it’s nervewracking for me to watch since he doesn’t jump out very far from the wall yet.  I love that he loves something that I have loved so much my entire life.  It’s amazing sharing that with Dominic and I hope I can share it with Blake as well!

So silly!

He makes me laugh every day!

As Dominic is getting older, his personality is really shining through to Brian and me.  He’s so curious about anything and everything as well as being very silly and hilarious while having such a sweet, generous heart.  His behavior has been much better recently. I believe it's related to the fact that he's talking a lot more and able to express himself much better, causing less frustration. Dominic loves to laugh and make Brian, Blake, and me laugh with him. Along with his funny personality, I see his shyness and anxiety with strangers and especially large crowds.  It’s interesting to see what a different boy Dominic is when he’s around people he knows versus people he doesn’t know or even people he knows in a crowded situation.  Birthday parties are especially difficult for him because it’s a lot of strange kids and adults running around.  A lot of the time he’ll be fine once he warms up, but other times, Dominic will cling to me or just really act out and display how much he detests the situation and how uncomfortable he is.  I’m very much hoping that Dominic outgrows at least some of this anxiety, but I also am very aware of how shy I am, so I probably passed it along to him.  Hopefully, he can at least learn to cope with it better the older he becomes, but I have a feeling shyness will be something that Dominic struggles with for the rest of his life. I know though that’s just part of who Dominic is.

8 months old!!

Meanwhile, Blake - who is now 8 months old which I absolutely cannot believe - is as social and happy as ever!  Not only is he crawling around all over the place, but now he’s pulling up on furniture, has already started cruising (walking sideways while holding onto furniture), and climbing stairs!!  Yep, I'm in trouble! He had been trying his hardest for a couple of weeks to pull up, but finally did it when I wasn’t looking (of course).  I was putting away the groceries and looked over, and he was standing, holding onto Dominic’s recliner.  He was so proud of himself!  Cruising came a couple of days after that, but so far only a step or two at a time.

His first time pulling up!! 

Blake loves the water about as much as his brother! He also loves standing on the steps of the pool, climbing and cruising on them as he splashes. He never cries when we take him under water, and asbsolutely loves splashing around. He often tries to jump out of my arms so he can splash around in the pool. My mom and I have started having him "swim" between us, floating independently without either of us holding him for a second or two at a time. As Brian and I continue to "discuss" whether we should have 3 or 4 kids, I told Brian that I think we should have 4 so we have a relay team for swimming. ;) I mean, we're about half way there already!

Doing his favorite thing in his favorite place!

Just went under water and still smiling!

As he's become so mobile, Blake is starting to get into more and more mischief. I've actually had to start scolding him for getting into things and doing things he shouldn't do. I was thinking the other day how by this point, Dominic was very familar with the word "no," but I think that the house is pretty crawler-proofed thanks to Dominic showing us what was dangerous. Plus Dominic used to wonder off by himself a ton more. Being the super social kid that he is, Blake prefers to crawl over to people (usually crawling after his big brother) instead of exploring the house, so that helps keep Blake in line. He definitely knows the tone of no though because he stops whatever he's doing whenever I start scolding or saying no. Blake's favorite mischivious action at the moment: "helping" with laundry. He loves taking clean clothes out of the basket. It makes for twice as much work for me, but he certainly looks happy and adorable doing it!

Blake doing laundry ;)

Blake continues to be the most smilie baby even as he was getting 2 more teeth!  These are his 5th and 6th teeth, and they are the top ones on either side of his front teeth.  I think he has one of his bottom insisors coming in next. When Dominic was this age, he was just getting his first tooth, so it's funny how different these kids are.  So far, Blake hasn’t appeared to be bothered by teething very much, if at all (knock on wood). If it's possible, I think those pearly whites just make Blake even more adorable. :)

This little monkey loves bananas!

Green beans.  Despite not liking these, this kid still smiles. :)

To go along with all of his teeth, Blake is now eating bananas, green beans, and has even had a couple of Cheerios.  Bananas were a hit, but green beans are the first food Blake has outright refused to eat...however, he thankfully has been more willing to eat them since that first time - most of the time.  Blake’s been doing very well eating Puffs (which dissolve in his mouth) and did okay with the Cheerios, but I have to put them in his mouth.  I offer them to him on his highchair tray, but he has a hard time picking them up and getting them to his mouth if he shows any interest in putting them in his mouth at all.  He tries to use the Pincer grip (thumb and index finger), but still has a hard time.  Then if he picks the Puffs up with his hand and fingers, then he doesn’t seem to know or care to put them in his mouth.  I keep comparing Blake’s eating to Dominic’s at this age.  Blake is definitely a much better eater, but Dominic was big into finger foods which was nice for me because it was a great thing to occupy him at restaurants and in the highchair at home.  

Being the very socially-focused baby that he is, Blake is experiencing a good bit of separation anxiety. Dominic didn't develop this until he was about 10 or 11 months old, which I remember was just before his first visit to Santa Claus. When Brian and I left the boys with my in-laws while we went to dinner and a movie (yes, both in one night...big night for us!), Blake cried and continued to cry for a couple of minutes afterward. When I'm trying to make dinner, he often tries to crawl over to me and while I'm walking back and forth between the kitchen table and the kitchen he'll often get very upset because he wants to be with me. It's very sweet but also causes some problems especially when I'm trying to cook and it's really not safe for him to be in there. This biggest thing I've noticed is that Blake has been crying when we leave him in his room in his crib for his nap. He'll be fine until I start closing the door, and then he'll start to cry. Before recently this hardly ever happened. Thankfully he'll be done usually by the time we reach the bottom of the stairs but a few times it's taken up to 10 minutes for him to stop crying (the more tired he is, the longer it takes). I know that the biggest mistake would be to go in there and start that pattern of behavior, but it's hard leaving my baby boy in crying like that. I hope this phase ends soon especially before the boys go to see Santa Claus. :)

Another concern for me has been Blake's language. Although he loves shreiking and squeeling, up until recently he did not appear to recognize his name. Thankfully that appears to no longer be the case although if he's inthrawled in whatever it is that he's doing, he still won't respoond, but I know Dominic does the same thing. Blake only babbles with vowel sounds (/u/, /a/) so far and has only used consonant sound a couple of times. From what I've read this is not something to be too concerned about until he's a year old, but I of course am extrememly concerned anyway. We have a history of hearing loss in my family, so I want to make sure that's not the issue. Since Blake is so smilie and social, I think Autism is less likely. On the other hand, he is a boy and has been making huge strides in his physical development recently, so it's very possible that he's concentrating on that at the moment instead of his language. I've talked to other moms of second babies who are experiencing similar situations.
Blake is officially off of his Prevacid, so no more reflux medicine.  I was very worried about no longer giving it to him, but honestly Blake appears to be spitting off even less than before!  Another funny thing we’ve noticed since he’s been off of the Prevacid is that his dirty diapers don’t smell very much at all.  You would think this would be the greatest thing in the world, but it really isn’t because we don’t know that he needs to be changed until too late, resulting in some blowouts recently. I ended up having to take him to the doctor, dragging Dominic along too all on my own (my first time taking both boys to the doctor's office). Blake's had a bad diaper rash, something he's never really had before, and it wouldn't go away. It turns out it was fungal, so he needed/needs special cream for it as opposed to the usual Aquaphor or Desitan. Both boys did great for me at the doctor even with an hour wait!  

My angles at the grocery store!  Thank God for the Publix double grocery car carts!

Dominic and Blake continue to get along VERY well!! They sometimes take each other's toys, but Dominic doesn't seem to mind when Blake does it to him and all I have to do is remind Dominic to "share" (I must use that word), and he'll gladly give his toy to Blake. It's very sweet. When Blake cries, Dominic will run and get him one of his own toys to help Blake feel better without me having to even ask him to share. These two boys truly are becoming best friends and I love watching them together. They kiss and make each other laugh constantly, and I am constantly reminded how blessed I am to have the 2 sweetest boys. ♥

As the first day of public school came and went, I missed being a teacher as I always do this time of year. Among other things, I miss the students, setting up my classroom, organizing all of the brand new school supplies (yes, I'm such a dork), and working with my teacher friends. I feel this way each and every August on the first day of school and the days leading up to it. Of course, all I have to do is spend time with my boys and I feel so blessed that I get to spend each and every day with my 2 favorite students. Teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world and receive very little respect or recognition for it, but full-time moms have an even more challenging job at times and receive even less respect or recognition. However, I wouldn't trade these fun and important years with my boys for anything in the world!