Ace and his discoveries

((Editiors Note: This is a post that I started a while back, but I hadn't posted because I was waiting for a couple more to add to it.))
I sometimes forget Ace is a toddler. I mean he's officially still a toddler, he's not even three and he still has profound discoveries of an almost three year old would have. But considering he corrects my grammar, knows words like pedestal, that the moon is made of silicate rock, and can give directions to places we've been to once - he just doesn't 'feel' like a toddler to me most of the time, and so I cherish those times that he does equally if not more than the moments he outsmarts me (I mean seriously kid, you've got your whole life to do that!) He's SO smart it's really frightening at times. Don't get me wrong, he still thinks he can get to the moon with a rocket ship that clearly is available to him at a moments notice. He still thinks the ideal way to climb into that rocket ship is with sticky shoes... but his brain is always firing away and so he just doesn't FEEL like a toddler to me. He is a busy boy soaking up and retaining any information that we give him... like the fact the moon is made of silicate rock!

On our road trip Ace made two very profound discoveries that he was in awe with...

A freckle! Yes, Ace discovered a freckle that has made an appearance on his lower leg. At first he was a bit unnerved by this brown dot that wouldn't budge on his leg. He discovered it sometime while we were driving in Utah. A quick explanation and shared stories of our own freckles quickly diffused any worry - but now every time he sees it with excitement and awe "Mom I have a freckle!" - Yes, yes you do son. Silly wonders of a 2.5 year old. :)

Crickets! On our road trip somewhere just outside of Texas we were stopped at a truck stop to refuel and refill Mae ;-) and so the boys were out burning some energy. They took a walk off into the distance and happened upon a cricket chirping. The way Ace tells the story is that they found a cricket and that cricket was singing and playing music for them. Now whenever he hears that sounds - he gets really excited and has a giant smile on his face and says "That's a cricket! It's playing music for us!" I love it.

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Since these profound discoveries six weeks ago, Ace continues to amaze us with his knowledge and ability to retain the information that we give to him. He astounds us every day with something else we've once told him. For example yesterday when on our way to dinner - he looked ahead to see clouds and the dark streaky look the sky takes on as rain is coming down in the distance. He observed that and said to us "Look over there guys, it's RAINING!" Wow... yes, yes it was. We showed him once before about a week prior and explained how it worked... he remembered... he observed it again... processed and explained to us! Shockingly smart for a not-yet-3 year old.

He also has his silly moments and his head scratching ones too... like statements like this "When you have your sunglasses on mom, you look like the cat in the hat" Um... thank you?

Ace also has discovered how to open the fridge. He also wants to solve his own problems (a doozy coming up in the next paragraph...) but in the mornings that is often wanting to feed himself to solve his hunger problem. No, I do not starve my child, but when he wakes up crazy early, I hand him a banana and tell him to go watch PBS until his sister and I are awake - which usually isn't terribly long after he's woken up, but I have to nurse her before getting out of bed. Apparently one morning the banana wasn't enough and so he went on the hunt for something more. And he found himself some cherries! Now to his credit he did great eating them. Only his face and hands were messy all furniture and carpets remained unstained and cherry pits were individually discarded into the trash can. I was shockingly in awe of how well he fed himself cherries. Stems were in a neat pile on the carpet... that was my only objection to his methods of execution... that and the fact that he didn't ask if he could eat a half a bag of cherries for breakfast!

Now he also has his eerily smart problem solving skill moments... like when he chose to change his own diaper. A back story might be needed on this one. Ace is a smart kid, but like all kids he likes to stall before bedtime. Both Loving Husband and myself are convinced that Ace has cataloged in his mind all of his efforts to stall going to bed and established which ones have gotten him into trouble and which ones were effective. He's processed and learned "I heard a noise" isn't going to cut it. So he's stopped using that one.

His latest effort was "I peed in my diaper" now for a kid who has ZERO problem loading up a diaper during the day when he's busy running around and playing until the thing is ready to FALL OFF it's so full... it's CLEARLY a sign of stalling when he forces himself to pee a tiny amount just to get out of bed and seek a diaper change. Loving Husband and I were very torn on this matter... because on one hand we want to applaud his effort to acknowledge that he is wet, his desire to not be wet, and even his ability to make himself pee... on the other hand it is the negative behavior of stalling for bed. Eventually, after some entertaining and some success with potty training during the day and immediately before bed - we basically told him to knock it off that it was just stalling and that if he went that we'd change him in the morning. After a week or so he finally gave up on the nightly: coming downstairs after being put to bed and just would fall asleep (likely formulating another 'valid' excuse to get out of bed for.)

But the other night when I went up to check on him to see if he had fallen asleep, he was still awake laying in bed... but there was a diaper mysteriously discarded in the middle of his room. There was also one of his sisters. Hmmm. So I went into Mae's room... more Mae diapers discarded all over the floor. Whaaat?! So I go into his room and sit down on the edge of his bed and before I can ask why he looks up at me and says "I used one of sister's diapers because I peed in mine and I didn't have any more of mines." And I pull back the covers and indeed there was a size 1 diaper on my size 4 boy. To his credit he had successfully put on his sister's diaper after, by the looks of the floor, was the 6th attempt. haha I tried my best to stifle laughter as I changed him into one of his own diapers and told him to go back to bed. ;-)

He's certainly a smart kid, but there's still a little bit of toddler left in him. :) Like I said I'll take all the littleness I can get out of him while it lasts. The best part is - he still loves to hug me all the time and I cherish that because I know he'll outgrow that well before I'm ready.

A Changing Pad

It's been a long while since I posted about something crafty! For shame! Especially since I have been pretty busy with crafting, sewing, etc.. So I'll start with my latest project and where my inspiration came from...

Mae's diaper bag came with a changing pad, as many of them do, but this one was giant. Seriously took up 1/3rd of the diaper bag... so that was tossed aside pretty quickly. I was gifted a travel wipe case/changing pad set and so that changing pad is the one that was tossed in the diaper bag. But then there were times like when going for walks in the stroller I didn't need the whole diaper bag and thus taking the gifted travel wipe case that changing pad would need to be transferred from the diaper bag to these various locations.

It became iffy it that changing pad would venture back into the diaper bag and then became problematic when we were out to dinner and it was required and it was not there. So I decided to shop for one. Let me say finding one by itself for a reasonable price... was just not happening. Then I happened upon this pattern at homemade by Jill and decided to gather supplies.

Finding (cute) laminated fabric was the tricky part. Ultimately I found some at Hancock Fabrics and the rest of the supplies and got started. Her pattern calls for fusible fleece, I skipped that for supplies that I already had and simply cut a layer of Warm & Natural batting to put in between the two layers. I also skipped the hook and loop method of closure and went for a more simplistic ribbon sewn in the middle with a fancy stitch. I burned the ends of the ribbon so that they won't fray over time. I also made it an inch wider than the pattern called for. I like a little more wiggle room. :)

This was my first project on my new sewing machine: Brother SE 400 which is a MAJOR upgrade from my six year old White Quilter machine. It works great. I'm still working with the tension on this machine and getting it figured out to my liking, so this changing pad was my first real 'go' with it - so the lines aren't as smooth and 'perfect' as I would like, but it is functional.

If you need a good project for a baby shower - I'd say this is it!

Ten on Ten

My friend B over at The Ravenna Girls began participating in a project on her blog a few months ago called Ten on Ten after being inspired by the host A Bit of Sunshine it sounded so fun, but I always forgot about it since Mae's 'birthday' lands on the 10th and focusing on getting that blog up was effort enough... but I decided to give it a go this month and having started our morning at 7am we are now complete with our day. The concept? "Take a photo every hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month. Document a day of your life and find beauty among the ordinary moments.”

Five Months Old

Mae is another month older and growing and advancing every day it seems. She is so smiley and a joy every morning because she wakes up with the biggest smile on her face.

First for Mae this month: first time swimming, first taste of bottled water, first breast milk bottle she consumed, first solid food, first word: MAMA!!!, (early phase) sitting up

Mae has been doing wonderfully in the sleep department especially this week. For a couple of weeks she had reverted to being away every 3 hours to snack and then sleep again, wasn't sleeping in the co-sleeper for a long stretch at all and overall wasn't wowing me with her sleep. Felt more Ace-ish. Not bad, but not amazing. This past week she's done GREAT. She falls asleep downstairs most of the time with milk and then placed into her swing. I eventually scoop her up and take her upstairs anywhere from 2-4hours later depending on when she fell asleep and when I'm off to bed. Every night so far this week she has transferred without needing a snack or even really waking up. One night she did stir awake but she settled herself back to sleep. She wakes between 3am-4:30am - but so far every night this week it has been a solid 7 hours before she wakes. It's been great! Hopefully no growth spurt, teething surge, or illness disrupts this new found bliss we're all enjoying. After she wakes after 3am I bring her into the bed next to me and she nurses 2-3xs more before we're up for the morning - which is usually dictated by her brother around 7am.

Food is new for Mae this month, although not yet a regular occurrence. She has enjoyed rice cereal, carrots and sweet potatoes... and she has sampled and rejected peas. I continue to read and educate myself on solid food before 6 months and I still remain unsettled on what is best for her - so Mae will mostly continue to sample food for another couple of weeks before I really start regularly giving her solids for 'meals' - allowing her little digestive system to continue to develop. She also finally enjoyed her first bottle from start to finish. Back in February we did introduce her to the bottle but she only had a sip of it... this time after a somewhat lengthy stand off we got her to finish 3oz of a bottle. Hooray. Although the second attempt was met with equally as loud objection as the first time so little progress was made... In addition to trying out some breast milk in the bottle Mae got her first taste of water. Yum. She really never drank any of it as much as chewed on the cold nipple, but she enjoyed that.

Verbal skills are exploding. This morning Loving Husband will tell you she said 'dada' I'll give him it was close - but she's not said it officially yet. But she is close. She's working on all sorts of sounds in that little mouth of hers. She is quite the chatter box. :) I wonder where she gets that from??? She said mama a week ago and continues to say it when she REALLY wants me. She knows who I am and how to get me. It's really sweet. She's also working on her 'lala', 'baba' and occasionally even manages a ffff sound. Although she's just babbling not really attempting words at those times. The other day I also swore I saw her 'sign' milk. It is certainly what she wanted and I had never seen her tiny little hand move like that at random before... but it could just be my mommy-mind playing tricks on me so I won't claim it to be an intentional act, but I am certainly looking for it again!

Mae loves to squeal and gets very excited when you chew on her ribs, but she doesn't outright laugh just yet. I'd say she chuckles occasionally. No belly laughs just yet. Often she holds her breath. She loves her big brother and loves to play with him while she sits in her excersaucer. She smiles really big every morning when he comes in and says "Good Morning, Sister" (in a very funny voice that we're not sure why he's chosen it.) She's always happy to see him and he loves to help comfort her by reading to her, singing kokomo (which he's getting pretty good at!) or playng her music either in the exersaucer, swing or using her glowworm. He is going to be a good protector.

Mobility wise she is still mostly just rolling from her back to her belly. She hasn't done the belly to her back too much since learning the other way. She can do a bigger push up every now and then and really REALLY wants to move. If you hold her upright she also will walk and do so quickly to get to the other person. Adorable. I suspect crawling will take place very soon. I said earlier "early phase" sitting up - which basically I mean if I put her in a sitting position she is able to maintain it for about 10-30 second before she either topples over or folds in half. She's not quite there, but she's making good progress with those baby-abs of hers. :) Mae also got to try out swimming for the first time in her little life. She loved it and even dipped under the water without any issue.

Teething is still happening and she is chewing on anything (or one) that she can get a hold of. She LOVES her dolly to chew on and that comes with us everywhere. She's not terribly drooly, but is very irritable before naps the last few days. Not sure if it's related, but hopefully she cuts her first tooth soon. I can see it below the surface it's almost here!!

Mae is a very happy baby. We love to see her grow and develop... but I can't believe how big she already is. Happy 5th Month, Mae! Can't wait for your half-birthday milestone.... yes I can... stop aging already! ;-)

First solid food for Mae!

Between rounds of eating...she loves food! 
For weeks and weeks, Mae has joined us at the dinner table sitting in her bumbo chair opening her mouth wide trying to eat whatever we were eating for dinner. And so we finally decided to give her a taste into the 'solid' food world and set up her experience for her first solid food! :) In an attempt to allow Mae to have experience exclusively for Mae we waited until after her big brother went to bed. I try really hard to not have her experiences lessened on the focus of her by having her brother around asking lots of questions, needing attention, wanting help... and I also don't want Ace to feel pushed to the side. So a lot of these milestone activities occur while Ace sleeps. :) So a nice mix of breastmilk and organic rice cereal was prepared and the camera started up...

Dad even gave it a shot... this is our favorite picture... but to be fair to the both of them she did eat a little from dad. It wasn't an outright refusal. ;-)

She overall loved it! I made her a half a tablespoon to start and she gobbled that up and still wanted more and so I made her the second half of a tablespoon. Mixed of course with breastmilk! Yum. I think she would have eaten more, but we cut her off. During her second half of food, Ace came downstairs needing a diaper change, and so we let him share in what was going on and grabbed a picture of the whole family. :)

A few days later, I had Ace help choose what food Mae should eat next! We had peas, carrots, or sweet potatoes to choose from. Ace chose carrots for Mae. It was an excellent choice. She once again gobbled them up with delight. A few days after that she happily gobbled up sweet potatoes. Yesterday... peas were attempted. That was a very obvious NO GO. She would have none of it, couldn't even mask it in the sweet potatoes. I'm not giving up yet, but she certainly voiced her opinion for now that she is anti-peas.

She's growing up so fast! We still aren't giving her 'solid' food every day just yet. We're just starting to introduce it to her and explore with her flavors and tastes. She is still getting plenty of calories with the breastmilk right now. She'll have another month of just 'grazing' on food before she really gets steady meals of 'solid' food. :)

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.

"Mama" Proof

There will always be naysayers that my daughter said 'mama' at such a young age. My husband being their leader... so obtaining proof before she was much older than the original time she said it was necessary. This morning she fussed on her belly and looked back at me and said 'mama', to indicate she wanted me to come get her. So like any good documenting-milestones-obsessed mother that I am... I picked her up immediately got the video camera and recorded this...

I am to the right of the camera which is why she is looking back and say very clearly (unless I'm delusional with pride!) MAMA! TWICE! After that I picked her up and gave her big hugs. The first time she said it she wasn't fussing so it was much clearer and calm, but I'll take it anyway I can get it. :) She does not mutter 'mamamamam' when she's making noise either - so far she only has said it when she's looking at me and very deliberately wants me. Her typical talking sounds a little something like this... sorry for the motion of the swing. :)