2 Year Checkup

RJ is a very healthy 2 year old.

Stats:
He creeped up to the 50th percentile for weight (27.5 lbs) and stayed steady at the 90th percentile for height (36"). He's at 15 BMI. All systems are working well and Dr. Moilanen was impressed with his speech and vocabulary and his potty training. Also, now that he's two, she recommended that we switch to 2% milk from whole milk.


Conversation/Verbal Skills:
We're also pretty impressed by our precocious two year old. He can carry on whole conversations with you, which can be highly entertaining when he makes up stories. 5-6 word sentences are not at all uncommon now. He can pick up a well-read book and tell you the story. He doesn't recite verbatim or anything (except for the last word of each phrase in "The Lorax"), but he clearly gets the story across. Similarly, he learns the lyrics to songs at a remarkable rate and sings songs fairly in tune and with feeling. Hearing his super version of "Good Day Sunshine" is a great thing on the way home from work! He also is getting more specific about his music tastes - he has definite song preferences. Right now on the RJ request list are "Yellow Submarine", "Good Day Sunshine" (aka Sunshine Song), "And Your Bird Can Sing" (aka Bird Song), "Dr. Robert", "Taxman" and "With a Little Help from My Friends" (aka Friend Song). There is a clear preference for the Lennon-McCartney catalog, which a general dislike of several Harrison authored songs. For some reason, the minute he hears the sitar, he starts saying, "No like it. next song peeeze". I guess he's allowed to have his preferences and at least I'm no longer needing to listen to children's music exclusively in the car! Although it would be nice if I had an ipod so I could listen to more than one CD at a time and create a playlist of RJ-approved songs so that I don't have to play jukebox!

Play: In terms of play, he is solidly in the midst of pretend play. He makes up things all the time and has hit the milestone of turning anything into anything else. For example a piece of bread can be a bus or a train or a telephone with ease. He's no longer bound by the toys he has since his imagination is in full throttle. I love that he has turned simple blocks into "cargo" for his train.


Physical Prowess: RJ also loves climbing. Our closest playground has a little kid area (2-5 yrs) and a big kid area (5-12 yrs) and he spends all of 5 minutes at the little kid area before running over to "the other park" and scaling the climbing wall or making mommy lift him up to the monkey bars! We took him to another neighborhood park where he scaled a rope ladder pyramid and balanced across a rope bridge. All were under very close parental supervision, but still, he was very much doing the work on his own. I can't wait until I can take him to the rock gym! I'll finally have a climbing buddy again!


Sleep: He's now sleeping on a mat (instead of in his sleep tent) for his naps at Daisy's house, and we converted his crib side to the toddler guardrails at home. He's doing really well with a 2 hour afternoon nap and about 10-11 hours at night. Teacher Andrew has gotten him to relinquish his paci during naps, and we're working on removing his nightime paci. Our first step is making him listen to story time without the paci, and the next step will be taking it away entirely.

Potty: He's doing great. As you can tell from our previous posts, he's generally wearing underwear when he's not sleeping - and he frequently wakes up from nap dry. We just make sure to have the potty with us if we're going somewhere where there isn't an immediately available potty. Also, we recently found that the strap from his booster chair also doubles as a strap to keep the potty attached to the back of his stroller!


Overall, RJ is just a great kid to have around. He has his cranky and whiney days from time to time, but usually this happens when we're messing with his schedule or when he feels strongly about something. Or of course when we're in a hurry. But most of the time, he has his good listening ears on and is eager to please.

Bed Transformers: Prevention of the Fallen

In January we learned that taking the pacifier away from RJ resulted in a Prison Break and a bloody lip.

We wanted to try taking the beloved paci away again and not wanting to repeat the incidents of our last attempt we've planned a gradual phase out.

Stage 1: No more paci for naps

Our babysitter this summer, Andrew, took the initiative to attempt getting RJ to nap without paci. He cried for it, but didn't try to hurt himself or get off his nap mat. Within a few days, RJ didn't even fuss for it. We've had more difficulty at home but yesterday Cheryl was able to get him to nap in his bed without the paci with only some crying.

Stage 2: Transition to toddler bed

This has gone well so far. His crib is convertible, so we just took off the front and put on the toddler guardrails. It has surprised us a bit, but so far RJ stays in bed all night long and hasn't fallen out yet. The first night, we found that he squirmed his head just over the edge in the non-guardrailed middle portion, but he's stayed put in an appropriate sleeping position since then.



Stage 3: No more paci until after storytime is over

We're working on this stage. At first, he just cried and thrashed around in his bed until the story was over, but now he fusses for a few minutes, generally calms down and listens to the second half of the story (sometimes more), and starts begging for the paci right after the story is done.

Stage 4: No more paci FOREVER

We're not here, yet, but we're going to try soon.

RJ now requests a sippy with water every night, so perhaps this will provide a convenient substitute.

RJ's Second Birthday

RJ's party was the Sunday before his birthday, but we still did a little, albeit somewhat unorthodox celebrating on his actual birthday.



Our plan was to take him to an indoor play place called Habitot in Berkeley. It had some good reviews from the Berkeley Parents Network and we thought he'd dig it. However, by the time we actually got ourselves out the door, it was nearly time for lunch. So where should one take a two year old for his birthday lunch? The fancy shmansy expensive Chez Panisse Cafe, of course. Toddlers everywhere are clamoring to eat their Nettle Pizza, Soul Food Chicken, or Fancy Lamb and Goat. RJ seemed to enjoy the crayons they gave him and the fact that I had one of his little cars in my purse for him to drive under his bread crust "tunnel". Oh, and he LOVED the beans that came with my dish.



We ended up going because we'd been interested in trying out the place for quite a while - it's the birthplace of California Cuisine, vocal in the organic and locally grown food movement and the chef is world reknown (one of the top 50). The food was absolutely amazing and while we were perhaps dressed a bit too casually (the cafe is more casual than the restaurant so we weren't the only ones in jeans), I think Lance and I should go when we don't have a toddler hanging out with us.



Then it was on to Habitot, where RJ played all afternoon - pretty much through his regular naptime until we finally decided to head home at 3:30 and had to carry him out throwing an "I don't wanna leave" tantrum. My overall opinion of the place was that it is a great place to go with kids who don't normally go to preschool - they had an art area, the water table room, a dramatic play area with tractors and a barn and dress up, another dramatic play area set up as a grocery store, a reading room, and a climbing structure. But since RJ already goes to preschool, it seemed a little redundant with that experience - although he clearly had a blast.



Then on the way home, we hit all of the friday afternoon traffic (yuck), and decided to take the scenic route home that goes through the hills south of the main freeway pass. It's a good thing we did, because as we were driving out of the hills, we started to see smoke. Yeah...the hills by our house were on fire, and when we turned on the news upon getting home, it turns out that they were shutting down the freeway due to poor visibility from the smoke. Our whole neighborhood smelled of smoke (luckily our air conditioning filtered out the air inside our house), but even though over 2100 acres burned and it got close to I-580, which runs about 2 miles south of our house, our neighborhood was not in any danger - the fire would've had to jump a freeway, two aquaducts, and a few roads to get to us. But it was quite an exciting day for RJ's birthday!

Discipline

There seems to be some discussion in the blogosphere about discipline a while back by several friends. We all need some way of getting our rambunctious toddlers to do the things that we'd like them to and to avoid doing the things that we don't want them to do. This semester, RJ had been testing the limits on and off at school (he seems to act up more when he's excited and when he's teething). In the first week that he started acting aggressively, he bit, kicked, pushed, hit, and sat on other children. That week sucked - I thought my child was a demon spawn! Luckily the biting was short lived - a total of twice and hopefully never to be seen again-, the sitting on was a one-time occurrence, and the kicking lasted a week. However, the hitting and pushing is something that resurfaces from time to time.

So, how do we deal with these normal toddler behaviors so that children learn to behave appropriately as preschoolers, older children, adolescents, and adults?

I wanted to share what Lance and I, along with RJ teachers at school do - because it is working really well and because the techniques are those that are backed up by research and practice and in line with the guidelines and recommendations of the National Association for the Education of the Young Child (NAEYC) for Developmentally Appropriate Practice.

1.) We tell him what we'd like him to be doing as an alternative for what he is doing. (Positive Direction)
Ex. If he's hitting momma, I say, "RJ, gentle hands on Momma"

2.) We let him know how his actions make us (or his friends) feel.
Ex. If RJ hits Hayden, we say, "RJ, it makes Hayden sad when you hurt him" or "It makes Teacher Kasie sad when we hurt our friends"

3.) We give him choices between two appropriate behaviors. He gets to make a choice and we get him to do what we want him to - a win-win situation!
Ex. "RJ would you like to eat lunch in the high chair or the big boy chair" OR as of late when he starts doing the pee-pee dance, "RJ would you like to use the potty by yourself or would you like Mommy to take you?"

4.) We use words that let him know that his behavior is a choice.
Ex. "RJ you may play with the play doh if it stays on the table. Otherwise, we need to choose something else"

5.) Allow repeated opportunities to make the appropriate choices and practice listening skills.
Ex. RJ likes to run away on the walks at school. So Kasie puts him in the stroller and tells him that "We need to stay with our teachers if we walk." Then after they reach their destination and get out, he'll have the choice to walk or ride for the way back. "

6.) Praise whenever we notice he is acting appropriately, especially if it's an area he's struggling with or working on.
Ex. "RJ I really like how you're being gentle with Daisy" or "Yay for pee pee in the potty!" or "Nice sharing. It makes Mommy happy to see you share."

We don't use any time outs as punishment, which, if you listen to the popular media and many pediatricians, are quite in vogue. This is both a boon and a bane for children. The promotion of time outs is good because using time out is a million times better than any form of corporal punishment (i.e., spanking, swatting a hand). Research has shown time and again that spanking leads to bad outcomes, most notably more aggression. Even more importantly, spanking, IF it does curb the undesirable behavior (it won't for many children), it does so by creating a fear of the spanker AND it uses extrinsic motivation. The goal isn't to create a zombie child that behaves only because they are avoiding punishment or out of fear. The goal IS to create a child who behaves because HE wants to behave. Guidance works by providing the child with a sense of self-efficacy (the sense that they can behave in the appropriate way) and giving the child a voice in the process. If guidance is used well, there is no need for punishment of any kind.

However, while time outs are better than corporal punishment, they also aren't extremely effective if used in the traditional manner. Time outs shouldn't be used as a punishment, rather as a way to calm down. With that said, time outs that are of the "sit there and think about what you did" variety are pretty useless and toddlers and preschoolers really don't have the cognitive capacity to be so retrospective. Even when they are older, few children actually think about what they did - most stew and get angry at whoever made them sit down and miss the action. Time outs, if they are used should be a chance for the child to calm down, which might include screaming to let out frustration, pounding play-doh, etc. Few people can calm down by being forced to sit in a chair or in a corner. Also, the best way to use time out, is as an option for the child before discussing the natural consequences of their behaviors. Sometimes the child needs the time to calm down, and other times they don't. In any case, the time-out shouldn't be the consequence of their behavior. The consequence should match the behavior. Examples include - saying "I'm sorry" to someone the child hurt, helping cleaning up the mess she made, or giving up a contentious toy for the immediate time period. However, even these are not necessary most of the time if you're guiding the child toward appropriate behavior and praising them (not using tangible rewards - you want them to be intrinically motivated to act appropriately) when they are behaving.

We try our best to promote RJ's good behavior by simply encouraging good behavior through positive direction and responding to negative behaviors with explanations, natural consequences, and choices.

As a side note, these techniques also work by promoting guilt, rather than shame, in the child. Guilt is an emotion that promotes action to rectify a situation, whereas shame is a withdrawal emotion that leads to feeling bad about oneself, rather than about the behavior. By focusing on the child's behavior ("It makes mommy sad when you hit Boca") rather than the child themselves ("It makes mommy sad when you're a bad boy") it activates guilt, which is helpful, rather than shame, but also provides the child with a sense that what they did was bad and can be changed, versus the child perceiving oneself as bad, which is a more stable trait that is harder to change.

Resources used:
Wilson, 1994
Hearron & Hildebrandt, 2008
Lansford et al., 2005

RJ's Second Birthday Party

On June 14, we threw RJ a birthday party to celebrate his turning two. I think the party was a smashing success. RJ's friends Alison, Zach, Daisy, Ashlan, Ariel and Madeline all came by to celebrate with him! And yes, RJ is popular with the ladies, seemingly moreso than with the boys of his crowd, something we actually didn't noticed until the party was almost over!

The kiddos bounced,


and about half of them (including RJ) went home with permanent puff paint on them from making T-shirts as their party favors. I figured green paint stains down the children's arms that took about 2 baths to come off, stained clothing, and cool homemade t-shirts were better than the usual bag of little plastic toys that break on the way home from the party.Note to self for next time - provide smocks or encourage naked painting. Daisy's mom, Run was deemed the smartest mom at the party for taking Daisy's shirt off before starting the painting. I wish I thought of that!

Then we ate burgers and sausages (with homemade bean and cheese quesadillas for the kiddos) along with a bunch of food that we were unable to finish before it went bad. At least no one went home hungry! I managed to get a few bites into RJ, but he was entirely too excited to eat. Plus, he clearly had to save room for the chocolate monkey cake that he helped me make that morning. It was going to be gingerbread man or a teddy bear cake because that was the shape of my one "fun" shaped cake pan, but RJ insisted on a monkey as we were making the cake that morning, so with a little icing and his life is good monkey hat as a guide, I sort of transformed a gingerbread man into a monkey.
RJ would like to say thank you to his friends for a great time at his birthday party and for his birthday gifts, which he has been enjoying these last few weeks!

And, as an added bonus, the bounce house rental guy asked to come early to set up and then couldn't come pick up the bounce house at 8 like scheduled, so we had some extra family bounce house time at no extra charge!

Potty Adventures

We're growing more and more bold in taking RJ on adventures without diapers. We just put his potty in the trunk and go (with a change of clothes just in case). People don't seem to mind when a toddler whips it out and has a tinkle on the potty in the streets of Berkeley. On Friday, Cheryl took RJ to the doctors for his two year old check up, stopped home, and then went to run an errand all without diapers.

On Sunday, we noticed that RJ has been enjoying playing with some of his new birthday toys which include a Plan Toys Car Wash (Thank you Aunt Amy and Uncle Luke). Having seen how dirty mommy's car is, clearly RJ has never seen the inside of a car wash, so the bunch of us decided to go on a Sunday evening adventure.

Wearing just a pair of boxers under his shorts, we went to a car wash, then to Kinder's Meats for some yummy BBQ sandwiches (Thank you Ross for the tip!). We stopped at Lincoln Park in Tracy to play on the playground, as it had dropped down to about 95 from the 110 high of the afternoon, and then stopped for some ice cream on the way home. RJ went to the potty at Kinder's and then as soon as we got home. So 3.5 hours without any accidents -- his biggest stretch outside of the house so far.

RJ loves his Mommy

We never got around to publishing this Mother's Day post.
----
RJ: More Kiss Mommy?
(RJ gets his kiss)
RJ: Thank you! More hug?
(RJ gets his hug)
RJ: Thank you! More kiss?
...and if he doesn't get another kiss
RJ: Pease!

Future Tree Hugger Making Connections

When RJ first took it upon himself to start potty training a couple months ago (editor's note: 2 months to be exact when we started writing this post), he wanted to spend what seemed like all his time sitting in the bathroom on the potty with a book. I'd like to reiterate that this was not a parental choice, but rather an RJ request. He liked sitting on the potty both before and after he went. And he was fairly demanding about books while sitting on his "throne". (editor's note: Now it's all about how fast he can go to get back to "playtime".)

During one of his marathon sittings, we were reading the Truck book, which has 100 different kinds of trucks in it (who knew that there WERE 100 different types of trucks!?). On the first pages there is a farm scene that blends into a forest scene. The pages feature several farm trucks and logging vehicles. This page spurred the following conversation.

RJ: (pointing to the stumps in the logging section): Lorax!!!
Momma: Do you think the Lorax is going to come out of the stump?
RJ: Yeah.
Momma: What is the Lorax going to say when he comes out?
RJ: No cut trees!!!
Momma: RJ, I LOVE YOU!!!
RJ: Lorax...in Grapple skidder
Momma: You know the word Grapple Skidder??? Which one is the grapple skidder?
RJ: (points to grapple skidder) No...Lorax in Digger. Digger pick dirt up!

What religion doesn't teach you

Since RJ is potty training and it's warm out, we often let him run around without pants or a diaper. It has worked remarkably well, this week with only a couple accidents we used only 15 diapers total!

Yesterday, RJ was running around naked when our doorbell rang.

Cheryl went to answer the door and RJ came running along after her to see what was going on. It was some religious crusade trying to share the teachings of our savior or something. Anyway, after getting to the "thanks but no thanks" part, the woman asked if RJ was a girl. Now, if he were dressed, maybe he would pass for a girl. His hair IS getting a little shaggy, BUT, he wasn't wearing pants and his junk was hanging out for all to see, so really she had no excuse! Maybe she was trying to prove that she WASN'T looking at his nakedness?

RJ's chores...

Some day these will be chores, but for now they are fun.

Sushi Hai

Back in December we had some sushi for dinner before flying back to the east coast, and when I say "we" I do mean all of us:

RJ loves sushi (california rolls):


RJ loves Miso:


We mixed some wasabi in with his mashed potatoes -- that he did not love. So, as one of his late Christmas presents after we got back we bought him the Melissa & Doug Sushi set.

Tale of Two Easters: Adult Edition

We got a babysitter so that us adults could head to San Francisco over nap time and have some adult entertainment.

Easter Parade

As we were walking down the street we remark -- are those cows? Are those dancing cows? Are those dancing cows on rollerblades? Then we realize it is either a regular weekend in San Francisco or the Easter parade complete with drag queens (yes you did read the sentence correctly).





Bring Your Own Big Wheels

Big People on Kids Toys going down the steepest/crookedest street in San Francisco IN COSTUME

Since the name of the event is Bring Your Own Big Wheel (which is an annual Easter Sunday event), and I don't keep a big wheel in my back pocket, I unfortunately was unprepared or I would've been in the fray myself, but 40? Schteve? Dave? Dawber? I'd like a souped up Big Wheel that could handle these curves for next year. Or better yet - we should ALL do it!! If a guy on a modified trash can can make it down alive, a souped up long axle big wheel should too. A word to the wise...bring your own helmet too. My favorite wipeout was when the dumb guy carrying his big wheel up the hill got taken out by a heat of big wheels thundering down the hill.

Here is the official video and a collection of pictures.

Mission Bars

What Easter Sunday would be complete without Happy Hour?

Organic Sushi

To finish out the evening, Lance found an organic sushi restaurant in the Mission. They had the largest rolls I've ever seen. Fabulous Easter dinner! It probably makes up for the fact that we ate Turkey on Good Friday...oops.

I think the only thing we missed that was Easter-related in SF was the "Hunky Jesus" contest that we heard about too late!

This Easter was much better than last Easter, which I spent grading papers!

Tale of Two Easters: Family Edition

Lance and I wake up to a smiling toddler in our bed. Thank goodness we have a King Sized Mattress now - RJ actually leaves us with some room to sleep when he gets upset randomly in the middle of the night (it luckily doesn't happen too often).

Easter Baskets

While the quiche was baking Otte (who was adjusting to West Coast time after flying in to see us Saturday) woke up and helped RJ find his Easter Basket. RJ's response to the colorful basket in the pantry = "Wow!" Thank you Grandpa for the Wahl's Orange Chocolate.



Then we sent Otte looking for his Easter basket. This was actually more entertaining than RJ looking for his Easter basket, particularly because Otte, who was still up when I was hiding it the night before and was TOLD where it was, thought that I had hid it in the dryer and went on a wild goose chase in the laundry room, when it was really in the sewing cabinet in the living room. We should probably give him some slack though since he WAS pretty tired!

Egg Decorating

RJ and Daddy colored a few eggs too. RJ's hands kept ending up in the dye, but he had fun. Then Daddy had fun putting the few pieces of (unsalvagable) burnt bacon in the dye to "see what would happen". (Yeah, nothing really happened except that the yellow turned brown).



Brunch

We all sat down to a big breakfast (Quiche, Sausage, and Belgian Waffles with Strawberries and Whipped Cream), got showered and took RJ to the park on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning in sunny Tracy, CA.

Thursday's Dinner

Toddlers are famous for being fickle about their food preferences. For dinner on a recent Thursday, RJ gobbled 3 of the following four foods available to him:

Vegetable Curry, Rice, Uncured Niman Ranch Hot Dogs, Banana

Which of these four things do you think RJ refused to eat?



If you chose the vegetable curry, you are confusing RJ with a "normal" toddler. The child actually refused the hot dogs. This seems to be a recurring theme. Teacher Kasie asked me a couple of weeks ago if RJ liked hot dogs, and I told her that I really didn't know because we don't really have them too often and the few times he's had them available he spit them right back out. Apparently, they had hot dogs and honeydew for a snack at school and all the other children gobbled up their hot dogs with abandon and most wouldn't touch the honeydew, whereas RJ ate all his honeydew, refused to eat the hot dogs and kept asking for more honeydew!

He consistently refuses meats of all kinds. Occasionally I can sneak a meatball in his spaghetti and he occasionally takes a bite of Ian's chicken or fish nuggets, but he's mostly vegetarian.

I've tried to ask him what his deal with meat was.
Mommy: "RJ, what's wrong with your meatball?"
RJ: "No like it!!"

This isn't really a problem, but I definitely have to think more about how he's getting his iron. Luckily, he'll eat beans and lentils!

10

RJ, how many states have you been to?

• CA
  
• NY
  
• PA
  
• MA
  
• RI
  
• SC
  
• NC
  
• GA
  
• IN
  

and now we can add CO to the list. More on that later.

Note: We don't count layover states, only states where we have actually done something (preferably fun).

Potty Update

We have had an exciting week since RJ started using the potty. Here are some updates in the potty department.



1.) He's ASKED to go to the potty several times when he's had to go and made it all the way there before peeing (3 nights this week after dinner, 1 morning after breakfast, and 3 or 4 times this weekend).

2.) He doesn't need to be naked to ask for the potty, although he does ask more consistently if he's not wearing a diaper.

3.) He has also gone POO on the potty for Tracy, his afternoon babysitter. This might have been precipitated by RJ having a potty buddy in his friend Daisy who was on the other potty at the time! However, Tracy did not take any pictures of the poo to share with you.

RJ's friend Allison also lent him "No More Diapers for Ducky", which is one of her big brother's potty books.

This weekend we bought another potty for the 2nd floor (it's a froggy potty for RJ's froggy bathroom) AND we bought some cute boxer briefs since RJ seems to be progressing pretty quickly and we might need them soon!

Recent Conversations with RJ

RJ: RJ push Hayden
RJ: Hayden cry
RJ: Hayden sad
RJ: RJ sad

Daddy: Are you ready to go get dressed?
RJ: No
Daddy: Could have predicted that one, you say no to everything. Do you want a million dollars?
RJ: Ya
Daddy: Figures.
RJ: [short pause] RJ dollars

RJ: what's this?
Mommy: that's an art sculpture
RJ: (points) taxicab
RJ: what's this?
Daddy: that's the golden gate bridge
RJ: what's this?
Mommy: that's a carousel in golden gate park
RJ: what's this?
(ongoing as we're interested in the S.F. tourbook lately)

Picture Day

Along with spring comes picture day at the Child Development Center.

RJ's Monday, Wednesday, Friday crowd:


RJ's Tuesday, Thursday crowd:

Fortune Cookie

We ordered Chinese food the other night and this was RJ's fortune. How fitting for a toddler!

Pee in the POTTY!!!!!

RJ actually made pee pee in the potty this evening (as opposed to just sitting on it)!! He was running around naked and started to pee on the floor. I said, "RJ, pee pee goes in the potty. Let's go to the potty." Then he sat down and made pee pee! And then he thought that Mommy and Daddy were nuts because of all the jumping up and down and dancing and cheering.

Of course we know there is a long road filled with quite a few more laundry loads of diapers, and probably even more loads of pee soaked pants until he is actually potty trained. After all, he's not even 2 yet! Nonetheless, he's starting to make the connection between the sensation of peeing and where the pee should go (and he was able to stop peeing on the floor to get to the potty), and that's super exciting!

Our Guitar Hero...

RJ has become obsessed with guitars lately. If the song on the radio doesn't have a strong guitar riff audible to him, he shouts "Geetar!! Geetar!! Geetar!! Pease!" until the station or the song changes.

Last weekend we had an opportunity to go out for dinner. One of Cheryl's coworkers, as a thank you for transporting her daughter, gave us a gift card to the restaurant at Wente Vineyard along with a free night of babysitting. It didn't take much convincing to get us to cash that in, but after our fancy dinner out, what were two parents to do? Go to Toys R Us and buy a guitar for their son of course.



We've been taking guitar lessons from youtube to practice.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Here's a picture of RJ eating his corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. True to form, he ate the potatoes, carrots and cabbage, but left most of the corned beef. I did manage to get a couple of bites in him, but only tiny pieces that were well hidden in the veggies.



We've also graduated to the "big boy" seats for dinner but still have breakfast in the high chair.

From the days of yore...

Some of you may remember a certain sitcom character who had a distaste for all things Pottery Barn because they lacked a unique story. Well, we searched the Internet, stopped in antique stores, flea markets but could never find a table like the one from the days of yore. You can't even buy them at Pottery Barn anymore. After two years of checking a craiglist search rss feed, we finally got not one but two matches in the same week. The drawers are fantastic places to hide treasures for RJ to find AND it's the perfect height for him to stack blocks on (which he can get to by opening one of the drawers). And since we didn't buy new, I get the satisfaction of saying that we were being green(er) by saving the table from taking up space in the landfill.



In December we bought a new couch that is a pretty good match with the new coffee table. We still have to get a rug to match, but retiring the 20 year old couch that *I* grew up with was an accomplishment. The couch is not at all a green choice, it's blue and a la-z-boy and super comfy. After searching around for information, these couches were recommended as being pretty toddler indestructible and stain resistant.

It's nice to finally feel like a "real" adult by owning stuff that we picked out ourselves because we wanted it, not because it was the better stuff from the mishmosh of hand-me-downs!

Why kids don't know colors

Recently we mentioned that to RJ everything is "yellow" though last Sunday he had a moment of clarity when he pointed to a painting and said "red flowers" (and they *were* red... and flowers). It turns out some of his friends have similar dilemmas, Jace thinks everything is "blue" and Daisy thinks everything is "green". I pondered why that was and think I have an idea on why that is -- Eric Carle.



Come now, how is that a "blue" horse? It's mostly PURPLE!!! No wonder kids don't know colors.

Image taken without permission from "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" which is currently RJ's favorite book.

RJ goes to the potty

Before you get excited, he went *to* the potty, not *in* the potty.



At home RJ has asked to sit on his potty if we were going to the potty ourselves, but he had a first this week at school -- he asked his teachers if he could go potty. Being the excellent teachers they are they took him to the potty just like the other big kids. He didn't produce anything, but it is a first step. You can see on his daily report a record of this attempt.

RJ the Meteorologist

San Francisco has the reputation for its fog, but for those of you that don't live in the Golden State's Central Valley we get quite a lot as well. In fact, the fog where I work is thought by some to be even worse and is known as tule fog.



I always get questions about how I like driving in the fog on my long commute, but I don't see the big deal as it's about 10 times better than driving in a blizzard. The visibility is the same, but you don't have the additional worry about sliding on ice! So it's foggy a lot this time of year (rainy season) and RJ is in my car a lot and a few times I'd have to explain to him why he couldn't see the cows and horses and goats that we typically pass on the way to school.

So last week, we were driving (through fog) to school and RJ spoke up from the back seat saying, "Mommy, Foggy, Outside". To which I responded by telling him, "Yes RJ, it IS foggy outside. That's why we can't see a whole lot."

Then he said something even more remarkable.

He said, "foggy...outside" then paused for a second or two and then said, "fRRoggy...bathtub" (he has a frog-themed bathroom).

I found this remarkable because it was showing that he could recognize the similarities between the two words as well as differentiating them for meaning (and location!). I love how he can communicate with us!



This picture was taken by Lance on his iphone on his way to work. Once the fog lifts, the rain slows, and the sun comes out it can be quite beautiful.

RJ Goes to the Library

A couple of weeks ago, when I was on a break between Winter and Spring semester that was far too short, RJ and I went to the Tracy library to meet up with my good friend Sara and his good friend Madeline. While there, RJ was pretty much in heaven, running around picking up random books and sitting on my lap to read them and then run around some more. He picked out his very own books to take home with us.

Airplanes: This was a book that was far too advanced for him on Airplanes (it was from the big kid non-fiction section, but he spotted it and became instantly obsessed with it). He loved going through it saying airplane, airplane, airplane, airplane, etc...

A Sandra Boynton board book that involves counting Hippos going to a party: This book gave him a new word to add to the "list" that I can no longer keep up with - wagon.

Trucks: A nice little book that talks about different kinds of trucks on the road. His favorite pages in the book were the page that had the bulldozer (or "digger" in RJ speak) on it and the page with the ice cream truck.

Mi Cuarto: A spanish board book that labels household items. I've been trying to expose RJ to a little Spanish, even though I don't speak it really. I remember some of the vocab from high school, but that's about it. Anyway, I would label the items in Spanish and RJ would correct me by using the English. But it did what I wanted it to do - it exposed him to it.

And finally, the book that I think RJ was using to try and send a message:



Here comes Grandma!: He was instantly obsessed with this book and he found it and picked it up all by himself. It's a cute little book where a Grandma is on her way to see a grandkid and does so by walking, bicycling, driving a bright red hot rod, riding a horse, flying an airplane, skiing, taking a hot air balloon, swimming, and riding as a stowaway on a train until she finally sees her grandkid at the end. RJ has a Grandma (Lance's mom) and a Grammie (my mom) and on about half of the readings, RJ would point to the Grandma and say "Grammie" and on about half he would say, "Grandma". I found this pretty cool that he was relating the book to his own life. He also labeled the child in the book as RJ every single time we read it! I think that RJ was trying to tell Grandma and Grammie something by picking out this book!

RJ GPS

My commute is longer than average at about 50 minutes, but more scenic than most too since we get to ride alongside the coastal range that borders Tracy on the south and west, and then drive through some of the best farmland in California as we pass vineyards, orchards and dairy farms before hitting a short piece of freeway to get to school. Yes, RJ and I do see quite a few of the "Happy Cows" of California.

Anyway, on the ride in, once we pass the farm animals, RJ is usually occupied by either begging to see a digger or a bus or chanting his current favorite teachers' and/or friends' names over and over as if that would make us get there faster (at least we know he likes school!). But on the way home, he is a little more willing to have a conversation and as we get close to home, he gets a little antsy about being in his car seat, and starts asking to get out. So when this happens I usually tell him that we're getting close and tell him which road or route # we're on and I'll give him updates when we turn. Also, RJ seems to enjoy my driving, as he says, "Whheeeee" every time I make a turn - even when it's a normal everyday turn and not the kind of turn that I'd take in a buggy or anything!

Just last week, it seems as though he's internalized these direction and can now tell you that we live on Calaveras and, while he's in the car, he will pretend he's the GPS and give the last three directions to get to our house.
Here's a little demonstration since I don't have the video camera on while I'm driving.




Now we're working on colors: red light = stop (which he pretty much has down) and green light = go, which is a little more inconsistent. He may not even be able to see the lights anyway, but he doesn't recognize the colors himself yet - he only responds to, "RJ we're at a red light, what do we do?". If you're interested in his color recognition, it's still developing. Right now, everything is yellow.

RJ the Delivery Boy

Here is another post from the archives. I can't believe that I'm still 6 months behind in editing all the videos we've taken on the video camera!

From August 2008 (14.5 months):
RJ has hit a very very very exciting milestone. He can follow simple directions. I could elaborate, but really, just watch the self-explanatory video.



We kept him busy for about 20 minutes with this "game".

Bad News for Yahoo...

This is another video from when RJ was 15 months, part of the reason why we think RJ's one in a googolplex!

The beginning of the end of the boobie era....

When RJ was just over a year old, we started dropping nursing sessions one by one. I led this process because I knew that come fall semester, I was going to need business hours free of nursing so that I could actually do my work at work and not both at work and at home in between nursing sessions (last year, I'd just about get focused and then it would be time to nurse or pump again and it was exhausting). This was pretty easy for the most part because he was getting to the point where he didn't want to stop playing to nurse, and he loved sippy cups of cows milk. But he loved his morning and evening nursing, so we kept them both and I made the decision that once the middle of the day sessions were cut, the weaning process was going to be solely in RJ's court. Around October or November, RJ decided one morning that he didn't want to nurse. I asked him, "RJ do you want the boobies?" and he simply replied, "no" and went on with his playing. From that day, he pretty much dropped the morning session (which means we can get to school earlier, which helps me get more work done when I have child care and less on the weekend!).

The evening nursing was a completely different story - he would be frantically asking for boobies as early as our commute home sometimes! I was still loving it and he was clearly still loving it! So we had a don't offer, don't refuse policy, where RJ would ask for boobies and I would nurse. Then, a couple of weeks ago, on a Friday (the 20th of February maybe), Lance got home just as I was getting RJ into his PJs and the distraction seemed to make him forget to ask and he simply went through the rest of the routine without asking. Since that day, he's been asking for them on average of every 4-5th day or so. It's actually been kind of nice to still be able to nurse him from time to time, but not HAVE to every day. Plus, it seems to be a nice gradual wean for me - I haven't had any pain or fullness or anything. I'm sure the absolute end is near, and I'm looking forward to having my body 100% back, but it's been an absolutely fantastic almost 21 months - both RJ and I have really enjoyed nursing and I am so happy that we've been able to keep it up so long. It was great for bonding and health and even the environment! Now I just hope that he doesn't suddenly start catching every little cold at school as a result! The kiddo really is growing up now!

The Best Alarm Clock Ever...

...except for the always set to 6:30 AM with no snooze button part.

RJ picked up this phrase over Christmas because the two cats were always hiding. He would run around the house calling "Alphie whereareyou", "Emmie whereareyou". Then when we got back home "Boca whereareyou", "Cardi whereareyou", and has added "Daddy" to this once exclusive group.

Expanding His Bocabulary

Editors Note: We started this post in the fall of 2008 after the Boca incident when RJ was 16 months, but never got around to posting it or finishing it. It is an interesting retrospective anyway of our now very verbal 3yr old who says things like "A movie theatre on a train. That's ridiculous!" and "No daddy, this is not a negotiation."
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Research suggests very little long-term consequences of early vs. late language development, but it certainly makes the passing time fun. Here is a bit of a recap of some of RJ's speech over the past year.

14 Months

At 14 months, he had used nearly twenty words, 5 animal sounds, 5 baby signs, and even his first two-word phrase. He just wasn't always consistent with being able to use them but was definitely trying to speak. That's just counting the words that he could speak or sign. He showed us that he knew the words for a lot more things as evidenced by being able to point to them when someone else says them.

RJ's words at 14 months:

• Momma/Mommy
• Dadda/Daddy
• Boca
• Erika (RJ's babysitter, sounds more like a weird morph of Gaga and AhKa)
• Grammie (he repeated it once, but now whenever I say it, he says Mommy)
• Bubble
• Ball
• Down
• Umbrella
• Hat
• Dog/Doggie
• Cat
• Moo = Cow
• Baa = Sheep
• Ruf/fuf = Dog
• 'eooow = Cat
• Bush = Bush or Broccoli (cuz one day they looked like bushes)
• Drum
• Ribbit = Frog (he did this once)
• Goat
• Meh = Goat (he did this once)
• Hot
• Truck
• bus (referring to a school bus that stops in front of our house every day)
• Luke (whenever I say Aunt Amy, he says Luke)
• plane
  

16 Months

It was Boca that led RJ to a few of his first phrases. While eating, our angelic cat often jumps up on the table or kitchen counter only to be instructed on proper kitty etiquette. Our RJ was on the ball with "get down" and "boca down". On Nov 7th RJ blurted out with a full "Boca get down!" unprompted by us but in response to our furry menace.

17 months

The vocabulary explosion began:

• bye (byeeee)
• airplane (mi-mane)
• Bacardi ('cardi)
• cow (in addition to mooing like a cow)
• neigh = horse
• broccoli (ah-kee)
• Grandpa (baba)
• Grammie (gammee)
• Daisy (his nap buddy in the afternoons)
• Stella ('ella) (his nap buddy in the afternoons)
• Kasie (one of his teachers/babysitters)
• Andrew (andew) (one of his teachers at school)
• boat
• window (endoh)
• Krishawn (ahn) (one of his teachers at school)
• eye
• nose (no, while pointing to nose)
• knee
• elbow (belbow)
• no no (duh...what toddler doesn't know this one)
• paci (daci)
• Paul (as in the Beatle - yes I'm serious - he pointed to the picture of the Beatles on the wall in my office and said "Luke" and I corrected him naming the Beatles in turn and now he points and says Paul.)
• Row (a command meaning, "Sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to me, bitch)
• Eeieeioh (a command meaning, "Sing Old MacDonald" to me, bitch)
• spoon (boon)
• up
• sky (in response to where is the airplane)
• shoe
• sock
• ABCW (meaning sing the ABC's to me)
• avacado (cado)
• vrooooom (sound cars, trucks, and motorcycles make)
• motorcycle
  
• door
• down
• kite
• clown
• piano
• hi/hello (varies which one he'll use
• tomorrow (morrow, as in see you tomorrow)
• Ashlan (ahnnee) the 7 month old in his class
• Christian - school buddy
• Bianca (ahnca) - school buddy
• balloon
• robot
• cloud
• train/choo choo
• book
• broom
• glasses
• bath
• swing
• grass
• tree
• open
• closed
• mole (birthmark - mostly the little one on his babysitter's forehead gets pointed out)
• go
  

We have many word books that RJ is a big fan of and can name all of the items in the book. It was actually his obsession with these that led to many of his words.

24 Months



Grammie taught him his first curse word -- "damn it". He shouted it in a taqueria later that day over and over again "damnit damnit DAMNITTTTT". The 12 year old sitting at the table behind us was amused.

27 Months

RJ uses words he doesn't understand.
I had to explain what nervous meant.

Cycles, Bush Lies, and Videotape...

Back in August we did a quick opinion poll to see what RJ thought about our president:



Yes, this is a video from 6 months ago. We have a Sony Camcorder but bought a computer in September running Windows Vista -- which has incompatible drivers for Sony camcorders. Sony won't fix the problem and recommends firewire but our computer didn't have firewire. Anyway, the point is we finally have a solution and found time to extract some videos to share.

In other Presidents Day news -- if you follow cycling, the second stage of the AMGEN Tour of California was today. If you watch the third stage tomorrow Feb 17th you can watch Lance Armstrong ride past our house. Ok, not actually down our street but if we go to the end of our street and look over the wall of the cul de sac we could watch them ride by.

18 Month Picture Update

We've been pretty slow about uploading all our pictures, but I finally got a bunch up on Picasa.

For your viewing pleasure, we have the full set of Christmas Pictures:
We also uploaded pictures from RJ's 18th month, featuring a series of pictures I took when he found my Steelers t-shirt, put it on and then decided to play with the mirrored guest room closet, his first ever bandaid (ironically, only the bandaid upset him - actually cutting his foot and getting it washed off didn't phase him at all!), and him eating with chopsticks, amongst other mischief.