Ace's Latest Antics

It's been a bit of time since I've blogged about what Ace is doing and saying.  It's been quite an adventure let me tell you!   The threes truly are his time to shine and challenge and while we are loving this new chapter in Ace's life - it certainly has presented the biggest challenges as well.   

Things that Ace currently loves:  PUZZLES!  And he's good at them too!!   We have a few floor puzzles and they are 48 piece puzzles that he will do entirely on his own. He prefers help and company, but he's capable and we're so proud.   I also have a few smaller table-top puzzles that are roughly 25-30 pieces and he loves to just do it over and over and over - so one day his father presented him with a different challenge - do it upside down and he did...and does.  :)

He loves to wave goodbye when his dad leaves for work, and is very disappointed when he is unable to. He wants to call his dad to say hi "all day long" and recently asked for a real cell phone for Christmas next year, so that he could call people and talk to them.  

I find Ace to be a lovingly typical boy who loves guns, sticks, fighting monsters, and shooting and sword fighting!   Lots of great things flow from his imagination.  Ace enjoys wearing his Halloween costume regularly and protecting his identity!!  He also loves to be silly!  He makes the greatest faces!

He still is sticking with the future job of 'nothing' - he just wants to be an adult when he grows up.  We try to impart on him the fact he'll need to make money to support his wife and kids - but he doesn't seem terribly interested in that right now.   Which is fine - although I'd love for him to want to explore his options!  So far his job list has included:  nothing,  paleontologist (for a brief aspiring few weeks this past summer) and we are currently back to 'nothing'.     Well ok then...
Ace has started to eat a lot more these days, but still during meal times often takes fooooreeeevver or requires a lot of reminding, prodding, timers... etc to get him to eat the food.  He's currently on this kick of wanting to graze all day long - and wanting 'snacks' rather than actual meals at meal times.   It's a work in progress, but gone are the days I worry too much about calorie intake with him.

Humor has really started to sink in around here with him.   He occasionally will tell jokes and his biggest kick right now is to say "Hi Bob" and you are required (and if you don't - corrected) to respond "Hi Larry"  -  Yes Veggie Tales are a big hit in our house currently.  :)   He'll also switch it up and say "Hi Larry"  prompting you to say "Hi Bob"  and he'll go back and forth and try to trip you up.   It's amusing 75% of the time.     In a similar twist all in his own making he's taken on an alternative "bag" and "baggage claim"  - I have no idea where he got it or why - but the game typically involves saying "Hi bag" and/or "Hi baggage claim"  most of the time he's baggage claim and he has the bag (even though I am the bag?? I don't know...)  but then he asks me to ask for something in his bag.   He's had (imaginary) tuna, pickles, diapers, towels, my kindle... all sorts of things have come out of these "bags" that he has.  Often we play this game while driving in the car.   It's silly and time consuming but it really makes him excited - so we play.
Ace has also really started to memorize a lot of things - I've been practicing with him Bible verses - but the other morning he came in and surprised us with his knowledge and memorization of a flip book about Moses.   Now when he 'read' it to us he had it 100% correct.  When I had him do it again for the camera there were a few flubs - but still CRAZY impressive!   The Moses book is not one that we typically read a lot, recently certainly, but it's not like Cuddle was every night for months on end.  We are still a ways off from officially reading, but he's doing great memorizing things!

He loves his sister - but she is starting to wear on his patience some.  There is a lot of gritted teeth "NO SISTER!!!"   He still tries his best, but she is a little sister and really wants to be anywhere and everywhere that her brother is and because of this she is a follower, a snatcher, and a loving pest.  :)  We're trying our best to help Ace find better ways to help redirect the negative and embrace the positive and their loving moments still far outweigh their fighting ones. 

I made them a car to sit in to watch a movie

Sleep? He's sleeping through the night - bed time is frustrating - it involves a lot of stalling, bathroom breaks, water requests, etc... on the litmus test of toddlers - he's right on track.  :-/   We're hopeful that bedtime can be less stalling and more sleeping in the near future.   However, we are really not complaining on his sleep once he IS asleep!   We began potty training the Monday after he turned three and for some time now - he has been fully day time potty trained.    We haven't had an accident in the day in about a month.   At night he also is getting up and going potty in the middle of the night if he needs to and as a result of that we will cease the use of pull ups at night when we are at home.   If we are traveling or staying the night else where for a few more months we'll still use the pull up.  He's a bit nervous about that, but I'm amping him up to be excited about it.  :)

Overall, Ace is doing great - he's a month away from his half birthday - 3.5 when on earth did that happen?   I just can't believe it.  He's loving school,  goes to Sunday School without fuss (although still met with an initial anxiety and protest in the car on the way there)  and he's just overall a great kid!   Can't wait to see what the near future holds for him!

Three Years Old

"It's my birthday!"  Ace screamed with excitement this morning.  Yes it is dear one!  You are three today.  It is a special day!  All of your third year of life was special.   There's so much to review.

Newness in the last six months since our last update:  a move to Mississippi, a couple of inches, knowing the alphabet, singing on his own, playing music on his instruments, school with mom, and a love for pirates!

Ace continues to love the outdoors.  He loves to play in water, run around, go to the park, take walks with his dad and collect a rock walk each time, and get the mail.   He also loves to hear the music play (the national anthem play during the retreat of the flag every weekday at 5pm) and run outside and put his hand over his heart and patiently stand there thru the end of the song. 

Smarts! First let me say that he just really is extremely intelligent.  I know all parents say so, but we are truly amazed out how well he retains information, observes and processes things on his own, and retains details from ages ago and recalls them without prompting.  He can identify almost anything we point to and we are so proud of him. 

Lots of absorption of information, language, and education has taken place these last six months.  He rarely says something not in a full sentence.  He still says "I'm are" which I cling to as his toddlerhood slips quickly away... and he has the funniest accent for the word 'world' - I hope I can get it on video.  He can say the whole alphabet song,  he can recognize all the capital letters and a few of the lower case ones.  Shapes and colors are second nature to him and he's doing great to teach his sister now.  :)    He knows the days of the week and is working on the months of the year.    He's growing up so fast. Ace has started to enjoy 'school' as taught by mom.  He gets so excited to learn new things and loves to have the 1 on 1 time of just the two of us learning... although he doesn't mind if his sister is around to explore with him.   

He is a great big brother!   He loves to hold her when allowed, is happy to help calm her down and asks us to put Kokomo on for her.   He didn't revert too much upon her arrival, he does get very happy to 'recall'  "When I was a baby I..."   and it isn't meant as a desire to return, just as a relating to his sister.    He does still occasionally get hyper and act out if Dad is providing more attention to Mae than him, but in general those moments are rare.

Ace still takes his tiger where ever we go (mostly at mommy's behest) and it sleeps in his bed every night, but he rarely acknowledges unless I hand it to him when he's scared in his bed.  Other toys that are favorites right now include: duplos, his kitchen, swords of any variety,   Favorite movies right now are The Incredibles  and Shrek movies.   He also rotates in the Toy Story movies, Tangled, and Cars... and every now and again Mary Poppins.  :)   TV wise he's really enjoying Super Why on PBS.    His favorite book for most of his third year was 'Cuddle'  in the last couple of months he moved onto 'Don't Let the Pidgeon Drive the Bus' and most recently he has a special place in his heart for the David and Goliath story.   We have a book and if we don't read that, he wants us to tell him the story - every night.     Ace's imagination has also really started to get off to a great start - from pretending back in April to let elephants into the house through the front door and leading them to his room to the other day playing in the park with his dad and crushing aliens with his bare hands (his dad was merely shooting them at a safe distance.)

Illness wise it wasn't such a bad year - I'd say pretty average.   He managed to overcome the C. Diff with that medication and then in September had a week off/on with a stomach bug, another in November and then only a few sniffles in February.   March was the worst of his 3rd year of life and he got pneumonia.  He was pretty sick for a week, but after some antibiotics was back to his spunky self and was happy as can be.   Injury wise he did very well considering how fast of a runner and busy boy he is.     He injured his ear by spinning in circles and then running...straight into the coffee table... and Ace suffered his first (and second) skinned knee upon arrival to Mississippi.   No ER trips required and we consider that a success!  :)

Nap wise - we are still going on about 90 minute stretches sometime around 1pm (which is exactly what we were doing this time last year.)  I only pray that it continues for a while longer!   Sleeping at night has improved leaps and bounds from where we were a year ago and even six months ago.  He sleeps in his own bed exclusively.   Does not wake us up in the middle of the night hardly at all (if he does it requires no intervention on our part)  and while night terrors do still happen on occasion (as they did last night)  they usually are for a short cycle for a few hours in the night and then he drifts into a deeper sleep.   He is waking earlier and we implemented the rule of not getting out of bed before there is a 7 on his clock, but he's gotten smart and simply wanders quietly around the house and waits for me to wake up on my own.  Often he'll come and sit in the bedroom hallway and will make just enough rustling noise that I awake.    It's cute most of the time. ;)

To be fair it's not all roses all the times - in the last six months Ace really has started to exhibit some of the classic signs of 'terrible twos/threes'  and while the moments are rarer than the good ones, they are still battles of control, independence and frustration.   He seems to like to do a revolving fashion show just for him after we say good night - this latest round resulted in the removing all of his pjs from his room.  What he does is wait until we say good night and then he starts the show of changing his pjs over and over.    He's done this off and on for over a year, but it was getting to a point of nightly disobedience and staying awake for well over an hour after we said good night just being spastic and changing his outfits... so one day we might return the pjs to his room - but not any time soon.    Back talk also has arrived and it isn't so much of a  simple "no" as it is just opposition and explanation on why he doesn't need to be doing that or why he thinks he won't be doing it.   It doesn't often work out well for him and usually still has to comply with our wishes.   He SIIIIGHS - what three year old does that?     He'll comply but he'll sigh.   It would be funny if he wasn't mine.     He also puts his hand up in your face when he wants you to stop talking... um no.   All of these things we are obviously on top of and working to help him change his attitude, and overall he is a very respectful and loving kid.   But I didn't want to skew the blog post that he was a complete angel.  He's not, he's normal.  ;-)

Ace's stats aren't exactly known - he is about 37" tall and last weighing was 29lbs.   He has all twenty of his teeth in - two of which are fused together, he has a chip on two of them, and there is ZERO room for anything else... so he will be a cash-cow to orthodontics down the road.    He's doing great and is growing and developing so well.

Overall, this has been a great year with a lot of changes for Ace.   He did experience a lot of growing pains and change from his dad being away for six weeks of training, a brand new sister, a brand new state and home to live in and through all of that he did tremendously well for a little guy his age.   I'm very proud of all he accomplished, learned, and experienced this last year and I can't wait to see what he'll do in this next one.   Happy Birthday, Bear!  Mom and Dad love you so much and are so thankful you're growing up so well!

And now that he is three (I probably could have started this last year, but I forgot, so I'll start now.) I plan to ask him these questions every year (yes I'm swiping the idea and questions from my friend Lori.)

1. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE T. V. SHOW? I don't know... um Seasame Street (that's what's on tv at the moment... turning off the tv) umm I think Super Why.

2. WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? I think I ate... the first time mom? When you were sleeping mom?  (um sure) umm... cheese! (That is what he's eating during this interview.)

3. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? You could spell it.  (Um close!, but no.)
4. FAVORITE FOOD? Um well... let me see what I like to eat...I think... I think... but why cannot I turn on the tv right now? (FOCUS!) Cheez its!

5. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Food that is spicey

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Blue (same answer he gave when I asked a couple hours ago, it must be true)

7. FAVORITE LUNCH? Nuggets!  (this is the first answer he answered quickly, without question!)

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO? Help sister (sweet, but she was starting to fuss in the moment, so I think that influenced his answer)

9. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? I would go to the park! (Um ok)

10. FAVORITE SPORT? Soccer, I like playing with dad.

11. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? Today, its my birthday! (ok, fair enough.)

12. ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT PERSON? A morning person. (sadly true.)

13. PETS: Nope.  I think we had two kitties, why can't they live here? (Sad, why did I ask this question... he was quickly distracted.)

14. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? Um... I don't... (stuffing cheese into his mouth) know.  (Asking again) No.

15. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP ? I want to be nothing. I don't know what to be.  I just want to be a person.   (Well that's fair.  I've attempted this question before and he always says 'nothing'  I am hoping his aspirations increase over time.)

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Do we have any candy?! 

17. WHERE IS THE FURTHEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME? A little bit away... all the way.  Sometimes the movers come here and it took a long time.   (Yes, I suppose 'home' is a bit confusing right now to him.)

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? The Velveteen Rabbit (It is true that he does like that one read to him a lot during the day, but since it was the one on the floor and he's over this interview I'd like to answer for him and say David and Goliath.)

19. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF? I think I'm proud of...well... books and well... knowing the whole alphabet.  (Neat me too!)

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE? The Incredibles!  (In the last 3 weeks I'd have to agree.)

21. WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? The Chicken (there was a massive struggle in that little mind of his, you could see it in his mind...then he asked...)  What chicken, mom?

Winking and other Ace News

Ace has learned (sorta) how to wink. Often he does it and then says "Is this how you wink?" Yep, you're doing it dude! Good job. ;-) Often he will point at his eye as he is asking. It's adorable, and I'm glad I've captured this - as I am sure it's one more thing he'll outgrow all too soon.


Ace is loving the South! He enjoys the ability to be outside playing more and more and LOVES to play in the water. He has shot up like a weed since we've arrived and is over 3 feet tall now. It's a good thing it's shorts weather now! Otherwise he'd be equipped with some wading pants. ;-) He turns BEET RED though whenever he's out running around in the heat - and it doesn't take very long at all. His little body is just not adapted to this climate. It's pretty cute to see him running around and be so bright red. We just keep pushing water on him and he is content to be bright red. Although it does make noticing sunburns more difficult. Which thankfully we've avoided so far. Ace met a new friend that is a neighbor the other day and he was over playing. The friend is a year younger than Ace, but Ace was good to share his toys and to show him how stuff worked. He occasionally needed some sharing correction from us, but he never fought us once we established the 'rule' of sharing with guests.

Since moving to the South we also got rid of cable. I ordered an antenna for the tv and it is a giant leap from where rabbit ears came from in my childhood. I plugged in this antenna and while we don't get many channels (only ABC, PBS, Fox, and a few off-stations that have weather and what not) They are perfectly clear and in HD (if they broadcast as such) It's amazing! As a result of no cable that means that Ace no longer has his morning dose of Mickey. We own dvds and he enjoys them in that form still occasionally, but he's discovered a whole new world on PBS (which ultimately I think is a step in the right educational direction. Mickey was good for a while, but these programs are a bit more learning intensive and focused on reading which is Ace's next step!) Ace's current favorite on there is Super WHY - which he refers to as The Super Readers. He loves it. He asks over and over and over if I can turn it on. He also has enjoyed Sid the Science Kid, and only once have we I been unfortunately subjected to Barney. YIKES! Thankfully he wasn't an "instant" hit and not much attention was paid to him.

Sleep for him also has improved. Thankfully, Ace no longer is having nightmares! And after he got used to his new room and the fear of the new place - he has been sleeping great. Occassionally, he'll still wake once or twice and come into our room but it is now the exception and not the rule, and I am certain he himself is waking up in the night, but he's putting himself back to sleep. Hurray! I hope that continues to be the case and that the nightmares remain far off. Last night was his first night that we didn't allow him to have water in the night (usually he goes to bed with a sippy cup full of water, and often takes several swigs before he falls asleep and if he wakes up in the night he takes some before putting himself back to sleep.) We know that this will require an adjustment period to find new ways to get himself to sleep. As it was last night he took nearly 2 hours to go to sleep - he stayed quietly in his bed though - so no real complaints are to be had. Sadly though he is waking WAY earlier than he used to back home. He's now bright eyed sometimes as early as 6:30. Um no way. So we got him a clock for his room and he is now told that he isn't allowed to get out of bed until the first number is a 7. This works about 30% of the time, with another 40% of the time being told 'it's not 7 yet, go back to bed' the remaining 30% of the time is a fight.... So it's hit or miss you can say. :) Overall, we couldn't be more thrilled at how well he is doing with sleep compared to just a few months ago.
Ace also has taken to singing with us when we sing him songs before bedtime. He can sing the entire first verse and chorus of "As The Deer" along with the "Lord's Army" song and Twinkle Twinkle. He also can now properly sing his ABCs. He's growing up!

Overall, Ace's adapting to his new surroundings well and having a good time.

Thirty Months Old

Happy Half Birthday, Ace!
Ace is officially 2.5! It just seems like a few months ago we were celebrating eighteen months, time certainly flies when you're having fun!

Newities of the last six months: singing, sleeping all night in his own bed exclusively, trips to California Adventure, pumpkin carving, trick or treating, backfloating, TWO nights away from mom and dad, a new sister, nightmares, and "the questions".

Yes lots of new milestones and things have been accomplished and learned in this last six months. Ace's vocabulary and curiosity continue to astound us daily. He knows how to transition words a current favorite quote from CARS "It's creeping me out!" When I asked him what he was talking about (as he was saying this when the movie was not playing) he responded "Lightening McQueen was creeped out when Mater was driving backwards." It just amazes me that he knows this stuff - it's not like we sat him down and taught him past and present tense, but he certainly has it down. It's just down right impressive how he knows so much. Partially because he listens and asks when he's wanting to know more. "What are you telling me?" is a common phrase and yes THE QUESTIONS have recently made their appearance. "The questions"? If you have a toddler, work with toddlers, or have seen them on tv... you know what I mean: "WHY?" "Because _______" "WHY?" We try really hard to not say "Because I said so." But man is that a challenge after the fifth why.

Sleep in the last six months has been some super highs and some recent discouraging lows. Around this age is when nightmares develop in toddlers. Nightmares also develop when their is major change to a toddler's world... so the combined factor of age and a new sister - Ace has embraced unwillingly as the rest of us: nightmares... nearly every night. Which also results in the stubborn and fear of not wanting to sleep at all because of fear and resistance of more nightmares to come. It really isn't the best time for this onset, and we are all dealing with them one sleepless night at a time. I am hopeful he'll outgrow them sooner than some kids, but we'll see. I'm still thrilled that he sleeps in his own bed every night! That still is a major accomplishment - even if he's reverted back to waking 2-5 times a night - he stays in his own bed and doesn't sleep in ours anymore.

Healthwise we've had a decent six months. In late September he had a cluster of stomach bugs that affected him while we were visiting in California, another one got to him in November that made for one sleepless night for all of us, and a random fluke of vomit on New Year's Day. He was completely healthy the entire month of December and so far this winter has really only had one cold and that was pretty mild. I'm hopeful for this trend to continue so that we can all remain pretty healthy while his baby sister is still young.

Ace's love for reading continues to abound. He often would prefer to read stories to playing or watching tv. It's great. We recently have started to read a "longer" book at the dinner table so that he has to recall from memory the previous chapters. I started this off with Stuart Little - since each chapter is a small story by itself more or less. He claims that he doesn't recall what previously happened to Stuart when we ask him at the table before starting the next chapter, but then he'll tell me all about it when not prompted at a different time. Ace's favorite book right now is "Cuddle" and we read it nearly every night. He also has a devotions book that I acquired for him this fall that are devotions for Toddlers. Which allows for us to discuss God and Jesus surrounding a variety of topics and it provides him with a small prayer to say every night on such topic. It's great to see him inquire more about Jesus; asking what he is made of, where does he live, etc.. When he is scared he wants to pray to Jesus to help him feel safe, and he loves to pray for his family. It's wonderful to see him learning and growing in the Lord.

Ace has developed a love of puzzles and enjoys building his big floor puzzles whenever we'll let him. I'd say he helps and can do about 25% of them at this stage. His board puzzles he can do entirely by himself. He also is very much in love with Lego building - and the destruction of the items built. For about 2 months now he's been asking for more legos for his birthday. It's pretty adorable to see him thinking ahead and I am on the look out for cheap duplos. :) Another favorite in these last few months has been playdoh! He loves to get it out and make all sorts of different things. And most of all he loves to run around! He still loves to go on walks with his dad and obtain 'walk rocks' with him. They walk pretty far in our neighborhood and beyond. They have a good time together.

Teeth wise we're almost done reporting on his teeth count (until they start to fall out!) his bottom two molars are almost all the way in - and so all he has left to come in are his top two year old molars. Excellent! He has a dentist appointment on the 3rd of March, so hopefully he gets a good report. He does well to brush and floss his teeth every night.

Often Ace can be found singing around the house while playing by himself. He currently enjoys singing "Twinkle Little Star" as well as "ABCs" Which he says "QRS... LMNOP... QRS... LMNOP" Over and over again. It's cute. He also sings to help calm sister down or requests that I sing to do the same. He asks for me to sing to him as well including the "Wee little man" song - as in Zacchaeus was a wee little man... He also currently enjoys "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and of course "Jesus Loves Me" we sing songs to him (and with him) before bed. It's very sweet.

Ace has had a wonderful six months and continues to grow and thrive and 99% of the time be a very sweet boy. He's stretching and growing in his world and finding his way, but he's doing so respectfully and lovingly as he, a two year old can. I look forward to these next six months leading up to our new adventure of THREE! Happy Half Birthday, Bear!

Want a review of all of Ace's milestone 'birthdays'? When he was two? Eighteen months? One month?

A Three Hour Tour...

I always thought (like many) that the supplies, wardrobe, and accouterments that the passengers of the S.S. Minnow brought along was absurd. After all it was merely a three hour tour. Why on earth would anyone pack their entire wardrobe enough for outfit changes to last 98 episodes? I mean really, it's only three hours!? However, I now think I have a bit more insight now on what those three hours truly meant to some of those passengers that day. They must have been terrified of the sea, setting out to conquer a fear (too bad that didn't work out so well, with the whole being deserted on an island and all...) because a simple three hours would certainly feel everlasting to someone with a fear of a boat, water, the ocean, slapstick comedic set-ups repeated over and over again...

Why on earth am I rambling about Gilligan's Island and why on earth am I fixated on the portion involving the theme song's 'three hour tour'? Well, it might be because pondering those thoughts is far more pleasant than what this mommy endured last night. I'd say that for the first time in Ace's nearly 30 months of life - I was faced last night with a three hour stand-off of toddler tenacity and torture. Yes, last night Ace - who to his credit has overall being doing wonderfully in the sleep department - decided that he was not going to sleep and the stalling game began.

However, this stalling game wasn't met with calm requests for water, prayers, etc.. no - Ace went a different route. Compliance until I left the room, followed by fake tears asking for "prayers to calm him down" You see in recent weeks he has been met with a challenge to overcome: a fear of loud/unknown noises. To be fair he's had a negative association with anything that sounds like an "alarm" because when he was younger our fire alarm went off because of the steam in the shower and it terrified him. In the past few months a neighbor got a 'new' car and it has a faulty alarm... that goes off every night! SUPER! So typically once before he fell asleep - it would go off, he would fuss, we'd reassure him everything was ok... he'd fall asleep. Rinse and repeat. The alarm phobia was escalated further around the time of Mae's birth due to a house alarm going off... for the most part he's done very well getting over this.

Occasionally though he'll have a nightmare, that was two nights ago. He woke at midnight after a nightmare, swearing there was a noise... there was not (I was still awake, not even the car alarm had sounded.) Loving Husband got him out of bed, showing him throughout the house there was no disturbing or scary noise to be heard and then he asked to sleep in our bed. He stayed in our room for about 30 minutes, unable to fall asleep because his sister (who also sleeps in our bed) is quite grunty and its not conducive for most people to fall asleep to. Loving Husband scooped him up and took him back to his room, Ace was ok with this. Then the crying at any noise for no reason began. Aceand his dad would say prayers, reassurances would be provided, and again rinse and repeat. There was also some correction on the false crying as well. We both agreed that a good portion of this behavior was unacceptable, but the fear he had woken up with... and subsequently psyched himself out with was real. Our final resolve at 3am... was that Loving Husband would sleep in Ace's room on his floor. That resulted in sleep for the family.

Last night with Loving Husband out of the house, I was in charge of bedtime. Ace happily complied, went to bed, no fuss... and as soon as I was downstairs the stalling-fussing began. I immediately went up there and didn't even entertain the 'what is wrong' angle of his cries - he hadn't been alone long enough to get scared by anything and upon my return to his room rather than expressing what was likely the real issue (scared to be alone) he went with the 'I heard a noise' - nu-uh, not playing that game. I explained to him that wasn't acceptable behavior... and then more lovingly assured him that he was safe, Jesus would protect him, mom was here and would take care of him, and that everything was a-ok. I left him happy and calm. Less than a minute later 'crying' again. I called up to him that everything was ok, and to go to sleep. They persisted. I went back up and he said that he didn't like the noise his heater was making ... uh huh... repeat 2 more trips with equally nonsensical stories and after 50 minutes of the fussing/wailing/screaming I went in one more time told him I loved him, told him the story of the boy who cried wolf, and that I would not be returning to his room the rest of the night, good night.

From 7:50 until 8:23 there was wailing, sobbing, screaming, and his final plea asking me to wipe his nose... I almost gave in to that one since it was legitimate... but I did not and he finally fell asleep. 20 minutes later I went up to find him, tucked in his bed to his chin sound asleep. Siigh finally relief! All done......

.......until 10:30 when he woke again almost without skipping a beat, as if he hadn't just slept for two hours!? And the wails began again - although this time I was upstairs in bed getting ready to get me and Mae to sleep. So it was FAR louder. This time I was far less patient there was yelling, I was crying, and I went in one more time told him if he did it again I was going to shut his door. At 11pm that occurred - shortly after that he got out of bed (something he never had done yet, and rarely EVER does in general) and I got up and sent him back to his room. Door shut again. His final plea this go around was for me to turn his fan on (I had turned his heater off at some point so he had no white noise, something he always sleeps with...) I went back in and turned his fan on low. He calmly said 'Thanks, mom.' and I said 'You're Welcome, Ace. I love you. Good night.' and then I started to shut the door and I told him that I wouldn't latch it... and that was the end of it at 11:30.

Three hours of WAILING, SCREAMING, and sheer ridiculousness... for the first time my son was truly an unruly, disrespectful toddler. I hope to God that is an exception rather than the rule. We are certainly going to do everything in our power and decision making ability to ensure that is the case. However, the majority of that decision rests in the hands of our two year old... I hope that this three hour tour wasn't the foretelling of our future and desertion on the Island of Toddler Terror!

Adjusting

It was always an unknown answer how Ace would truly react to having his sister 'on the outside' - as much as he liked her on the inside, would he truly like her once she was around, taking away from his attention? All signs so far point to yes. He loves to talk to sister - although his most common phrase is "Wake up, Sister!" Mae does tend to sleep an awful lot for his liking and he'd much rather her be awake - because when she is awake she stares at Ace with great fascination!

Overall, I'd say thus far the transition to 'official' big brother has been great. He has been a bit more whiny this week, but nothing that is so awful or impossible to manage. Unfortunately for him - the arrival of his sister was timed along with a very common road toward independence and then infamous phase of saying "No" to everything. He says it so much that he says it even when he really does want to do the thing we asked of him, so he quickly changes his mind. We're attempting to train him to say "Let me think about it" as his initial response - since he is so desperate to have a knee jerk reaction - we're hoping to avoid the "no" and provide him with a more thought provoking avenue of response. We also think that while a phrase will take a tad longer to implement it will be far less annoying that teaching him to say "maybe" as his knee-jerk response. Ultimately we'd prefer him to quietly think about it prior to answering, but that won't happen. ;-)

Ace continues to nap and sleep very well. It amazes me how far we've come from September when he FIRST began sleeping through the night on his own, followed by the end of October finally sleeping every night in his bed. We haven't continued to sticker program past December. He is doing great to simply sleep in his own bed all by his self because it is just what he is supposed to do. So we're very proud of him. His sister's crying in general is thankfully minimal in the night - she really only fusses when she wants to eat, which is a natural plug ;-) so Ace continues to sleep well in the night. We try to curb loudness during night/nap time diaper changes by closing her door to do them. So far so good in uninterrupted brother sleep.

It is great having Loving Husband home for paternity leave. It certainly allows for Ace to have two parents around to balance the attention and maybe even provide a bit more extra that we otherwise wouldn't have prior to Mae's arrival. They seem to have a good time playing pretend and cooking 'Ace soup' or 'Ace steak' - they love to run around - Ace has recently begun to learn the idea of hide-n-seek and enjoys playing that as well.

If you ask Ace if he likes having his sister here he'll giggle and smile and say "I do!" He is doing great and is a very loving big brother!

Ace's 2010

2010 has been quite the year for our family and especially Ace. We went from a co-sleeping family to adults only again in our bed. We went from a 20 word talker to a 10-12 sentence opinionated talker. We went from have a walker to a runner, climber, jumper, daredevil.

It was a year of growing up for Ace. He has accomplished so many things in this past year and it has been a joy to experience all of them. As I mention many many times - he is a kind and sweet spirited boy - who loves others and isn't a selfish kid. I truly hope that his kind heart continues as he gets older, sister arrives, and he continues to grow and flourish into his third year of life. 2011 certainly won't be boring for him or us!

So how has Ace's year been? Well let's hit the major areas:

I think out of everything sleep has been our greatest challenge - one area that is still not mastered but is leaps and bounds beyond where we started 2010. On January 2nd we converted his crib to the toddler bed. From this point forward he went to sleep in his own bed at night. Usually with mom nursing him to sleep. Ace never slept for longer than 4(ish) hours at a time and always came into our bed after that first waking. We had some early success after transitioning him to the toddler bed... and some set backs as well. The night he slept for an epic 11 hours with only one waking was a party moment for us! Ace weened from nighttime breastfeeding around March and by mid March experienced a (late! at 19 months) first: he slept through the night! Yipee!

From March-September sleeping went in waves, he had pockets of regression and would wake and come to our bed at 1am, other times he'd sleep till nearly 4am and then come to our bed. Sleeping through the night was a RARE activity and only did a handful of times over the next six months. In September, Ace got a new bed that had magical powers helped him sleep better. Within the first few days of this new bed he was sleeping longer and even through the night a few times. It was then that I decided to create an incentive program to continue this excellent trend. So in late October, Operation Stickers was introduced. For every night that he slept through the night and/or stayed in his OWN bed (even if I had to go in and lay with him for a few minutes) he got a sticker on his calendar the next morning. From the moment we started the sticker program - with only 3 exceptions (one of which was him getting sick) he stayed all night in his bed. While sleeping thru the night is still a hit or miss wonder - if he does wake up it isn't a very long drawn out ordeal - it's a moment or two to go in and reassure him he's safe and to go back to sleep. I hope in 2011 that we will be fully sleeping through the night on a regular basis!

In the beginning of 2010 Ace had about 20 words that he was working with... and in fact it was in his 19th month that he uttered his first phrase that he enjoyed using regularly with enthusiasm! "I did it!" Whether he was feeding the cats or just turning the page in a book - he was excited to say it. Words began to pour out of his rapidly after that. Having read to Ace since he was still in the womb, he has always had a natural love for books and so always wants to read more and more stories throughout the day. He also loves to look at pictures on the laptop and his memory is chalked full of past things we've told him, he's heard, or observed - and they flow from him at any moment he can seem to connect them to something we're in the middle of doing.
Talking

A lot of times Loving Husband and I will look at one another and say 'we're in trouble!' :) Ace isn't quite ready to read books, or even terribly interested in learning his letters. However, he is extremely good at repeating after us when we read a book to him and has a good foundation for pattern matching in general, so I think reading will be on an early horizon for him in 2011. Ace also has been trying out his chops with singing. It's adorable to hear him sing a beat behind us (or even with us) 'Jesus Loves Me' or around Christmas time 'Jingle Bells' - we occasionally will hear him singing to himself - and he also enjoys making up songs. I love it.

Illness
Ace like all kids had his rounds with colds and flues in 2010. In March he experienced the flu for the first time - it was an all day affair and a relatively unhappy boy. However, he rebounded from that just fine. In the spring he had a runny nose or two, nothing to sneeze (ha!) over and then summer rolled around. Right as Ace turned 23 months old, he had another night with vomit. We thought another stomach virus - but as the days and symptoms at random persisted the common diagnosis of 'stomach virus' was looking less and less likely. Eventually, Ace was diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile Infection, he was placed on a 10 day antibiotic to be taken 4x a day and he slowly recovered. A month later he had a clustering of viruses that resulted in 3 separate days within a week of having more vomit. Mommy was frightened and convinced the C. Diff bacteria had not been eradicated. As it turns out it had and ultimately Ace recovered from that round of viruses. November, we saw another stomach bug and a few colds and it looks like we'll be able to close out December illness free! Let's continue to hope that the rest of winter when his sister is tiny, he remains healthy and happy!

Bonks
It's always curious to document your child's injuries in one centralized location. Makes ya' wonder if there is some CPS worker trolling the blogs looking for neglectful parents to cause havoc with. I'll take my chances for the sake of remembering and being able to explain later where he got 'that' scar from. Just kidding - to date no scars have been formed. His skin is still in that awesome - repair itself at all costs - phase and so he's doing a-ok! In early February Ace experienced his first true 'injury' - the first to require a trip into the doctor. Ace while playing in the playroom backed into the space heater that was on and caused a 3rd degree-1st degree burn. Meaning that it was still a 'superficial' burn but the worst of those kind. The doctor wasn't too worried, we kept it moisturized and it never blistered so there was no real chance for infection because of it. While he was sad in the moment - overall he was fine and he doesn't have to explain any fish-scale scars to his friends later in life. His leg healed and there isn't a trace of them left.


Other injuries in 2010 included a decent scrape on his back from playing in his car and two fingers that got mild blistering on them due to him touching the burner of a coffee machine. Ironically, he obtained both of those in his 23rd month. Overall for 2010 - 12 months with a toddler, that ain't half bad. Toss in a few bruises, rug burns, and the occasional scratch and Ace had a pretty unscathed year!


Ace started off 2010 still making mommy nervous with his eating habits. There were many days that I would count calories and be nervous for him at how low the numbers really were. Ace continued to breastfeed until just past 19 months, however the doctor said she was never worried about his growth. Between his 18 months appointment and his 24 month appointment he dropped off the scale entirely. However, by 24 months he was back on the scale... still in the bottom 10% for weight, but he was on it! Someone has to make up that bottom percentage! In February he weighed 20.6lbs (1.29%) and by August he weighed 23lbs. When he went back in October after that cluster of viruses - he had gained another pound! Impressive considering his otherwise slow rate of increase. As the remainder of the year has gone forward he continues to feel heavier - and on Christmas on Pop Pop's scale he weighed 26.1lbs (clothed.) Height wise at his 2 year appointment he was 34.5" and he is probably closer to a solid 36" now.


His eating habits are better than they were at the beginning of the year. I no longer feel I have to count his calories. There are some days he eats very little and others he scarfs down a ton of food that even surpasses my ability. He ceased using the high chair this summer and is now fully enjoying the excitement of sitting like a big boy at the table. He uses a 'big boy' cup at meals, while still using a sippy cup throughout the day and in bed. He for the most part is capable of feeding himself and does well with spoons and forks. Although if we're looking for a more speedy meal -mom and dad are still the experts at shoveling it all in! Appetite wise he will eat a variety of flavors and foods. He loves to go get Thai food with dad, he'll eat chips and salsa like a pro, and he loves spicy nacho dorritos. He isn't yet too into sweets and while he will ask for a piece of candy - he doesn't want to eat a massive pile of it yet - I think our days are numbered in that department. :) Since having the C. Diff we have had him on probiotics every day since mid-September. They are a powder that we put into a cup of milk and refer to them as his 'vitamins' nearly every morning he enjoys himself a banana and his vitamins first off. We plan to keep him on them through the winter and then we'll only utilize them during times of illness after that. Ace loves oatmeal and cereal, turkey, nuggets, and as mentioned Thai food. He will happily eat vegetables and likes to dip his food. Thus far he's a pretty good eater and his manners are slowly coming. We're working on the 'don't walk with your mouth full' at the moment.

As I said - it's been a busy and exciting year for us. Ace learned he was going to be a big brother and has embraced that role with enthusiasm thus far. He loves to talk to sister, bring her toys, 'rock' her, and even sing to her. He is going to go from the only child to one of two - and while many survived this transition just fine - I hope and pray that he has an easy time with it. We all are looking forward to what 2011 has to offer Ace and his busy-self.


Eating
Growth
Sleep

An Ace Pillow

We have been meaning to get Ace his own pillow for a while. His sheet set came with a full size pillow case - but that pillow is just TOO big for his little neck. He needed something more his size. When I did do some research on pricing out toddler pillows, I choked! You want me to pay WHAT?! for 1/4th of a pillow?! No way. I decided I could make one using supplies I already have here at the house. After that decision was made ... that is as far as I got. :) For a WHILE. In fact he transferred into a toddler bed in January, and it's now November - so you do the delayed 'to do' list math on that one. Ooops!

So this past weekend while my boys were out on a lengthy walk, I got to work. I needed a good excuse to break out my brand new iron that Loving Husband got me for my birthday (yes I requested an iron for my birthday.) Making the pillow was pretty simple. I took a fat quarter of cotton fabric, cut it in half, turned it inside out and sewed it twice to ensure some sturdability leaving one end open for stuffing. Turned it right side out, stuffed it pretty compactly, and then sewed the end shut. Pillow complete!

Next up was the pillow case, pretty much a very similar process. I measured wrong, or rather I cut wrong though so I had to do some seam ripping and inserting a 3" panel to correct my blunder.... but all in all the pillow case was made and Ace was more than happy to 'model' his finished product for me. He's slept on it for a few nights now and I'd guess he sleeps on it about 25% of the time, he still prefers to simply sleep on the mattress... but at least he has the option now! :)

California!

Ace and his mommy are off on another adventure while dad is busy working! :) We are enjoying California once again. After a successful flight - Ace's first at accumulating his own frequent flyer miles - we arrive on Saturday at Grammie's house. Ace was excited to be here! Grammie has some pretty cool toys to play with and he enjoyed playing with all of them more or less on the first day.

On our second day we got to visit Grammie's church and attend her Sunday School, and a visit from Aunt Becky, whom he stole an apple from out of her purse. :) Silly boy - but man did he inhale that apple! In under 5 minutes, for sure. He loved seeing Aunt Becky, and mom always does as well! Later that night Shelley came over and watched a movie with me after Ace went to bed.

Sleep wise he is sharing a bed with me, so while he's sleeping through the night so to speak he still rolls over and hugs me from time to time - so I don't count that as the same thing. He isn't taking too much to get to sleep, which leaves my evenings pretty open and free to spend some time with my mom.
Upcoming posts to look for... Day Three which was Mickey Park day!!! And in less exciting and more discouraging news, he appears to be having a set back with his C. Diff bacteria... more on that later.

Sleeping through the night!!

Wait, didn't you blog about this yesterday? Didn't you already tell us that he slept nearly 12 hours?! Didn't that happen two nights ago? It did and guess what it happened AGAIN! Last night, we again started the bedtime routine at 7:30 - we brush his teeth, get him in pjs, read a story in the chair, another one in bed and then we say prayers, sing songs, and chat for a few minutes. The process is about 20 minutes, and last night it involved no revisits to his room (often there is usually one.)

I actually woke up at 7am and was done sleeping, I don't think my body is used to uninterrupted sleep. Don't worry body, you don't have long to enjoy it anyway. :) But I woke up at 7 and enjoyed laying in bed until about 7:40 when Ace started to stir, and I went in with the camera and captured the little guy awake and starting to stir.



There was much praise and hugs and high fives for another great night of sleeping. Mommy is so proud of her little guy!

A New Bed

Back in May our crib was recalled. Since then Ace has been sleeping on his mattress on the floor. His sleep pattern remained the same really, maybe regressed a tad (waking a bit earlier to come crawl into our bed.) But otherwise he seemed unphased. Boy was I wrong!

One of my friends is preparing for a 3rd addition to her family, and thus her two boys are getting ready to get themselves some bunk beds! Which means she had a steal of a deal for us on the bed. They even delivered it for us! What service.

I went to work setting it up and putting Ace's bedding on it - and when it was all done I let Ace explore his new bed. To say he was happy would be a super understatement. He seriously was thrilled. He loves it.

Now sleep - what a blissful difference an actual bed makes! On Monday night, Ace's first night in his *new* bed, he slept until 3am. I was excited but him waking up at 3am while more rare than most nights of his 1am crawl into our bed time, wasn't unheard of. I still appreciated it. Tuesday night, he first woke at 4:30am! Wow I can't recall the last time that happened - I was loving this new bed for sure. Last night, he went to sleep a little after 8pm a bit earlier for him than his typical bedtime - so perhaps that also helped... he did sorta wake up at 10pm because he felt like he was falling out of bed (he was on the wall side, so he wasn't) so I readjusted him and he was asleep before I left the room - and when he woke up it was 7:50AM, nearly 12 hours! That is the FIRST time that he's slept much past 7am when he's slept through the night and seriously it's only the 3rd or 4th time he's slept through the night and the first that it was an uninterrupted length that was that long. Did I mention I love this new bed?! :)

Two Years Old

Happy Second Birthday, Ace!

I cannot believe that I have a two year old. I am destine to say that phrase indefinitely I'm sure as he continues to rapidly age before my eyes, evermore pointing out that I too am doing the very same thing. It's true, as of today, I have a two year old! Wow! What a year (two of them in fact) it has been. Every day is a joy, even as we begin to explore independence, tantrums, time outs, and 'no'.

Firsts in this 24th month of life: a new illness, a trip to Swasi, more vocabulary and sentences.

Ace is flourishing and is enjoying talking more and more. He's still a very polite little guy and says please most of the time, still often needing the prompt of 'what do you say?' but otherwise very happy to ask nicely after remembering. :)

To date at 2 years old he has 16 teeth, he is only lacking his final set of molars and I feel those are on their way in pretty soon. On the grandparents scale he weighs 21.8lbs with a diaper, at the doctor fully clothed he weighs 23.4lbs. So while he's still skinny according to the doctor's charts he's still ON the chart, so that's great! Height wise we'll know in another few days when we take him in for his 2 year check up.

Ace's last month has been filled with adventure of various kinds. His first long plane trip to Hawaii, where he enjoyed his first trip into the ocean and playing in the waves and sand. He had another overnight with Pop Pop and Gran that he enjoyed immensely and never once cried (in fact when mom came to get him he kinda said hi but was back to roaming around and playing!) He did a great job and his independence and comfort with them is growing and we're all so glad he's at ease with them.

Ace is an outdoor boy. He loves LOVES to play in the water, loves to eat his cereal outside. In fact he will wake up and say "I'm hungry. Cereal? Outside? I eat cereal outside?" It's adorable to see him remember and recall things that he's done only once or twice and to clearly want to do them again (regardless of the weather outside at the time.) :) He loves to go to the park, run around in the backyard, and is even getting more comfortable with the neighborhood kids playing with and/or around him.

Ace knows most of his colors, loves to play with balls, and enjoys doing 'school' with mommy on a regular basis during the week. He knows the letter 'A', 'G', and 'J' and tries to spell out his name 'A-D-N' it's pretty cute to see him learning and soaking up this knowledge. Ace can count to 3. He also can recognize most of the numbers 1-9. He consistently knows: circle, square, triangle, and heart. He also randomly chooses to remember diamond. He LOVES to read. We read at least 5 books a day, minimum.

His current favorite toy is his Tiger that he made for Sabria's 2nd birthday. He traveled with us to Hawaii (a very specific request!) and he went with Ace to the grandparents for his overnight adventure. Tiger sleeps often in his bed, but he's not typically a cuddler of the tiger - just likes to have it near, sometimes uses it as a pillow. He also is very into dinosaurs and loves to 'raaaarrr' as the dinees do. Although just the other day he started to call them 'dineesaurs' so already he's outgrowing the cute words he's developed :( He also enjoys playing with cars, balloons, and balls. He loves to throw balls, kick them, throw them at dad and asks dad to juggle them on a regular basis.

He still absolutely loves the movie Cars. He also loves Toy Story and Madagascar on a frequent basis. He wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse nearly every morning and I appreciate that they teach him shapes, colors, and counting.

In the sleep department his naps are doing fine - often an average of 90 minutes sometime after 1pm. Sleeping in the night still continues to involve one wake up session. The process of getting him to sleep reverted drastically back in June for some unknown reason and so that process is starting to slowly become easier again - with him not crying when we leave the room. We are hoping that now he's getting these antibiotics to cure him on being sick that he'll be sleeping better as a result as well. We'll see!

Ace has had quite the adventurous and developmental year. It has been a wonder to watch him expand his world, vocabulary, and love of everything around him. He's such a great joy to our lives and we're so thankful that he's happy, healthy and growing up into a great kid. Good bye to Baby Ace and hello little man! Here's to a great third year, where you get to become a big brother, live in a new state (for a short period of time), and hopefully potty train! ;-) Happy Birthday, Ace!

He's growing so fast... see for yourself! Eighteen Months, One Year Old, Six Months Old, One Month Old

Twenty-Two Months Old

In eight weeks I will have a two year old! That causes me to mildly hyperventilate to think at how fast the time really has flown by, but every moment is a joy.

Ace continues to explore and do new and exciting things - as he grows older he's able to explore and do more things that the 'big' kids get to do... like go to the movies! Yep since I first heard word that Toy Story 3 was coming out this June I had been plotting and keeping track so that I could take Ace to go see it.

We chose a 9am showing on a Saturday. Sadly dad was away on his drill weekend, so he wasn't able to join us. I brought Ace in strapped in his stroller for added assistance and we sat in the handicap section (fully willing to move if someone in need required those seats.) Ace was in awe of the giant tv in front of him and he sat through commercials, previews, and the Picsar short with zero issue and then Toy Story started and he was THRILLED. He was so excited, he squealed! He of course had brought Buzz and Woody with him to accompany him to watch the movie, and they sat with him in his stroller. I had juice and snacks of various flavors and he did great! He sat for over 100 minutes (including all the pre-show 'excitement') before he sought to get out of the stroller and have a mild itching to get down and be free. It only lasted a moment and then he was back and engaged in the movie. He sat for a time on his own in his own chair, he enjoyed that. Then back into the stroller he went for the remainder of the movie. He loved it. He absolutely was enthralled with everything happening in the story and had a blast. I don't think he'd sit through with such ease through just any movie though - I think having some of his favorite characters on the screen was a big help in keeping his attention. Looking forward to adding another Toy Story into our movie rotation in the near future!

Ace is also talking up a storm in sentences. He likes to tell you exactly what he wants and that he wants to go get it. The other day we had the following conversation.

A: 'Breakfast, breakfast, breaaaaakkkkfaaast!;
Me: 'You already ate breakfast, it's almost time for lunch.'
A: 'LUNCH! Thai food? Thai food. Thaaaai foooood! Broccoli? Thai food. I drive!'
Me: (laughing hysterically)

Apparently our son LOVES thai food. We don't eat it THAT often - maybe once or twice a month MAYBE - but he apparently remembers it with fondness. He is doing wonderful at communicating what he wants and he says 'bless you' after he sneezes still and says 'thanks, welcome' after he's been given something. He's a very polite boy. He also finally in recent days has started to actually say 'please' rather than simply and exclusively signing it. He also the other day said 'I sorry' outloud rather than simply signing it. It was really sweet and heartfelt. I couldn't ask for a kinder soul than we have in Ace. We truly are blessed. I hope his heart stays this sweet.

Ace also has deemed that mommy's baby is: 'Seester.' The other day he came up to me while I was laying down and came and lifted my shirt up and hugged his 'seester' and then gave her?? a raspberry and then 'closed' my shirt and said 'bye bye seester' It was really sweet. And again entirely adorable. We'll have some serious explaining to do if Baby TIME turns out to be a boy. :)
Teeth wise Ace's got all but his final set of molars in! I'd say that his 'sharp teeth' are still not all the way in but they're mostly in and certainly doing their chewing job. He still has issues every now and then with his mouth hurting and I can't tell if it's the final molars coming in or its still his sharp teeth giving him issues. He's a trooper though, not too much complaining on his part.

He continues to enjoy swimming although the lead up to it, he often says he doesn't want to go. Although once we're there is loves it and the other day after swimming he was telling the checker at BRU all about it! The sun this week also has made repeat appearances and in light of that Ace has been able to enjoy time in his pool! He loves to use the hose to fill it up and then afterwards he enjoys splashing and transferring the water elsewhere. Gone are the days that I add boiling water to his pool so that it's warm. He's growing up and enjoy the cold hose water all by himself. Ace also in his 22nd month got to paint for the first time. He LOVED it. He asks to paint any day it's sunny now. It was adorable to watch him play with all the different paint brushes and colors. He was very deliberate about each stroke he took - and honestly did not get that messy! It was excellent. :)

Sleep for Ace continues to be a standard experience for us. He seems to wake up around 1 or 2 (sometimes as early as midnight) and come into our room to sleep. Most of the time after he does that he sleeps fine until morning. However, there are still a handful of days that he is a squirmy worm that causes both mom and dad to clench our teeth and contemplate that arrangement. It's been a long while since we've seen lengthy sleeping patterns on the first stint of sleep. I've given up keeping track. I'm too exhausted being pregnant to try and 'sleep train' him. If he'll sleep with us, sleep is the key, so location is secondary.

Ace LOVES to dance. We put the music on and he goes to town! He's got some good moves :) He turns the radio on in his room often and rocks out while up there. In recent weeks I've migrated more of his toys to his room so that he can play in his room more and less so all over the midlevel of the house. The playroom is still mainly focused on the lowest level of the house - but we honestly don't go down there on a regular basis - the arrangement of all that fun stuff continues to be a project in the back of my mind. I believe as the changing table and rocking chair move out of his room, more of 'his' toys will move into his room for optimal playing there.

Ace is growing, flourishing and having a grand ol' time. It's going to be a fun summer with him.

9 Weeks

This week baby got to experience sun in the Northwest! Why do I find this note worthy? Because it's literally one of the only times in the NINE weeks (or seven officially) that Baby's been growing that the sun and warmth have been out!

Baby's crown to rump length is 20 mm or 0.75 inches. Or the size of a martini olive. Baby weighs about 2 grams. So baby now weighs the weight of $2 - see over the course of seven days already doubling the amount of money ;-) Babies are expensive. hehe.

Baby now can move their arms and legs and will be visible on our next ultrasound, which is exciting. It was so cute to see Ace squirming all around on the monitor that first time we got to see him. So it will be fun to see little Baby TIME squirming all around. Tomorrow, Baby's muscles in trunk, limbs, and head are developing. What is crazy to think about is the fact that by Thursday the baby's heart development is complete!

Some people have inquired what on earth does TIME stand for - I think I mentioned it in a previous post - but perhaps not or perhaps not well enough. Either way I'll state it again. Baby TIME is a combination of the intials for our boy and our girl. Our boy will be "TIE" and our girl will be "MAE" so drop the 'A' and for the unknown gendered babe we get Baby TIME. We are set on our girl's name, the boy name is still under discussion. We're hoping to really only need to girl name ;-)

Morning sickness still is rearing it's evil head, but I'm not nearly as exhausted as I was in weeks 5-7. But I still try to nap whenever Ace does. In fact, I've established that if Ace naps in our bed with me, we get nearly a 2 hour nap vs. if I put him in his own bed I only get 50-70 minutes. So snoozing together works for me!!

Twenty-One Months Old

Goodness gracious! I almost have a two year old. Yikes! When on earth did this happen??? Ace is growing and thriving and we as parents are loving every second of it. Every stage seems to be more and more fun!

Ace hasn't had a teeth update in a while, but he has one more officially almost all the way in and 3 more 'sharp' teeth poking through - they still are creeping extremely slowly through the surface. His final set of molars I think are also making some signs of movements under the gums, but I think the real level of teething for those are a still a ways off for him.

Health wise Ace has been doing pretty good. A few weeks ago he had a round with a runny nose, but it didn't slow him down much. He just needed his nose wiped A LOT and for being a squirmy little guy, he did very well with that task. He seems to be growing and according to the scale at PopPop's he weighs 21.6lbs - pretty decent for his slow rate of gaining weight (he was 20lbs at 18 months) He continues to gain height though and I swears seems taller every day.

Sleeping still isn't perfected, but it certainly is a vast improvement from what it was in January. His bed was recalled so he's simply sleeping on his mattress on the floor, but it works basically the same and actually has a shorter distance to fall out of bed. :) He in the last couple of weeks has been extending the hours he slept. The other night he slept from 9pm-6am and then toddled into our room for another 2 hours of snoozing. He's getting better and getting the rest he needs all on his own. He's doing great lately falling asleep without us having to sit in the room and awaiting him to render himself unconscious - we have gotten the routine down and he knows he is safe and we are able to leave the room after we finish saying his prayers. 90% of the time he falls asleep on his own now without one of us in the room waiting for it. The other Ace and I enjoyed ourselves a 'camp out' in the play room. I set up his tent and the air mattress for me, and he slept for 8 hours before he snuck another 2 with me on the air mattress. It was fun and he fell asleep under the 'stars' of his turtle nightlight. :)

His vocabulary continues to improve and adding more and more multiple syllable words daily. He doesn't often bring them up on his own, but repetition is his friend these days. That also means we have to watch what we say very carefully :)

Ace enjoyed his first dip of the season in the kiddie-pool this month a few weeks back with his cousin, Parker. He has enjoyed many many visits to the park with mom, dad, his grandparents. He is certainly an outdoorsy boy. He is getting really good at climbing up and going down slides all on his own. He enjoys playing in the neighborhood, although he could take or leave the other kids. He at the moment is a very independent player.

Ace has enjoyed a full day of play with his grandparents last Friday which allowed mom to get some free time, of which she is forever grateful for! And Ace spent another 24hrs with just his dad. They did great together and mom enjoyed a bachelorette party. :) Ace also has spent the last two weeks almost the entire time in Toddler-1 at church. He's growing up and gathering a bit more Independence away from his parents. Although being left in T-1 at chuch still musters quite a racket when we first leave :-# But it will get better, I'm sure.

Summer is coming - although the weather is hard pressed to relinquish it to us - and we're looking forward to lots of outdoor fun and excitement! :)