Five Years Old

Our boy has had a great fifth year of life.   So much growing up, getting bigger, expanding his independence - it's been so wonderful (and challenging) to see him grow into his own.  

Newities of this past year:  Reading, writing, and arithmetic! Pre-K,   ;)  

Yes, this year has been another great year of learning for Ace.  He really has come into his own in understanding and writing.   This past Christmas he took the time to copy out words from the Toys R Us catalog to create his first Christmas Wish List and practice his writing skills then.   He's getting very good at writing his full name (quite the feat!) he writes whole stories on his own by sounding out how he things the word should be written - so of course there are words that aren't spelled correctly, but he's doing it 100% on his own and loves to do it.   He recently read an early reader (level 1) book that had 76 pages and he read it start to finish over 45 minutes.    Ace can count to 100 with ease and in fact has written them out as well.     He's so intuitive and his vocabulary quite expansive.

Ace loves his video games - often on MANY mornings it's the first thing he asks to do.   He practices and gets so excited when he accomplishes a new level or beats a boss that was previously an impossible feat.   It's so fun to see his joy and while mommy doesn't share in this enjoyment of video games -he and his dad bond over it quite nicely and love to play together.      He and his dad still love to go on walks and collect a walk rock each time they go. 

Ace found many friends in Pre-K this year and along with his sister made some great friendships and had many playdates to parks and outings with all of them.  It was fun to watch him make friends and desire to spend time with them and seek out opportunities to do so.    He's had the early heartache of saying goodbye to friends that have had to move away and while he's still young already has felt the impact of missing someone.    He lit up when his good friend Lu (who moved away at the end of June) drew him a picture and mailed it to him for his birthday. 

Ace and Mae continue to navigate through life as siblings and most of the time he's a wonderful big brother.  He grows impatient at times with her pestering and he has had a real wild-hair for antagonizing her.    He pushes her buttons - especially in the car - to be 'right' or to get her to see the 'truth' or whatever it may be.  We constantly are trying to tell him that you can't change everyone's mind and that you just have to let things go sometimes when they don't want to see truth, reason, or your opinion.    He doesn't often see it that way. 

Four was challenging in many ways.  He often was mouthy, talking back, and wanting to do his own thing in his own time and not always listen - but he still has that deep seeded desire to please others and wanting to do what is right, so while it was a more challenging year it was still quite rewarding.  

Ace had swim lessons the whole month of July and was a fish!  He loved them!  He learned to actually swim a short distance, regained his knowledge about back floating and overall just had a lot of fun and had no fear of water, putting his face in it or any hesitation to hop right in.   Although he was a good rule follower and always obeyed instructions! 

Sleep for Ace was again great - he occasionally would have a nightmare about "a noise" that would awaken him and scare him.  Sometimes he was simply wanting extra attention and seeking to come into our room on the rare occasion, but overall he was a great kid that slept through the night.   He loves bedtime and very often takes the time to spend a lengthy time talking to his dad and getting quite philosophical with him at those times.  It is definitely a special time for those two. 

Ace loves Jesus and very much wants to know more about him, to understand him and is quick to inform his sister that "Everything belongs to Jesus!" (she doesn't quite agree yet and thus the battle of YESSSS and NOOOO takes place often on this sticking point.)    He still more often than not wants us to pray and he listen but he loves to read the Bible, do devotions and hear more about God.  He loved going to VBS and learning about Jesus.   I took his friend Em with me in the car to and from and after one of the days I asked them what was your favorite part  - Em responded "I liked hearing about Satan"  and Ace quickly said "Em, I think you missed the point."    haha  he's witty, blunt, and often a step ahead in some areas.

Eating for Ace is a standard 4 year old feat - sometimes he eats more than mommy and other days it's a painful drawn out repetitive 'eat your food' type of event.    He doesn't like spicy food and generally will eat anything else. 

Favorites of Ace in year four - still loved the song Stronger by Kelly Clarkson and was always excited for it to come on.   He loves to read stories, watch shows on Netflix, play on the xbox, run around at the park and go to Em's house at every available opportunity he can.   He is always seeking something fun to do and asks to do school.   He's dabbled in some addition and subtraction and has a pretty good grasp on the general idea of adding and subtracting - which for 4 is impressive.  I've introduced him to money and what they are and he loves to learn new things about the planets, geography and about our presidents.   He does have this desire to not fail and as a result sometimes it means he won't try in fear of failure, but as we're aware of it we find ways to work through it. 

Ace is a kind hearted and super thoughtful kid who often says thank you without prompting multiple times after we've done something for him.  He seeks out flowers to pick for me any chance he can and he loves to do things for others than he thinks would make them happy.    He loves to spend time with all his grandparents and see or talk to them whenever he can.    He adores his Uncle Kai and Auntie and generally wants to be with family.      We love him and can't wait to see what five will bring as we embark on this journey into kindergarten and beyond!    We love you, Bear!

Interview at Age 5:

1. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE T. V. SHOW? Wild Kratts

2. WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?  (Skipped this question as we were still in bed and had yet to have breakfast and I wanted him to focus and finish... mentioning breakfast would have not worked in my favor.)

3. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Yep got it right!  ;)

4. FAVORITE FOOD? Cinnomon Spice [Cereal]  (Mae's favorite food is 'cake' brother asked what her favorite healthy food was and she answered peanut butter and jelly... no REALLY healthy?)

5. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? The food that I dislike is Macaroni and Cheese without hotdogs.. kind of.

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?  Every color.

7. FAVORITE LUNCH?  That kind of stuff that has turkey with the cheese and the English muffin.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO? My favorite thing to do is usually... to... um... play outside usually.

9. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? I would go to California!

10. FAVORITE SPORT? Soccer.

11. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? August 24th!!!!!

12. ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT PERSON? A night person... what do you mean a night person or a morning person?? 

13. PETS: Yah, Pixel.

14. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US?   I'm five years old now.

15. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP ? I think a fireman! (Why?) Actually someone who works at ____ (we don't disclose that information on the blog, but he got it right)  like dad.
16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Maybe a lollipop or something... or maybe actually every candy is my favorite candy. 

17. WHERE IS THE FURTHEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME? Mississippi!  That's pretty far, mom... Right? (Yes.)

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? The King and His Six Friends  (Second year running with this answer. He and his dad do read this one together.)

19. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?  Once that I got one of the boats in one shot (Um what do you mean?)  Like in Battleship - I sunk the boat in one turn.  (Oh exciting!)

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?  Maybe Cars.  I like the music from ... I like some of the songs come on the radio usually.

21. WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? EGG!  (Why do you think that?)  Because chickens start out... baby chickens start out as eggs first.  What do you mean the chicken or the egg first?

Four Years Old

Four!?  Yes Ace has had a wonderful fourth year on this planet and I couldn't be more proud of him.    He started out his fourth year in Mississippi and it comes to a close back in the NW.   He's quite the U.S. traveler! When we last checked in with Ace he was as busy as ever.  No slowing down since then.  :)

New things for his fourth year:   Potty trained (day and night!),  fully independent and sleeping through the night after we say good night (YAY! HOORAY!! REJOICING!!!), a *big* boy bed, first professional haircut, first filling, and preschool!

Yes, the Monday after he turned 3 I told him that all the diapers disappeared.  I prepped him all of August, made it a big exciting deal that potty training full force was happening and it was.   He of course did great.  Early progress can be read about here.  Overall, he's done great.  In January I decided that he had done so well with the night time pullups (I couldn't remember the last time he had peed in one in weeks and weeks) and so I told him when they ran out they were all gone.  They ran out the beginning of February and we've not had one accident.    A fully potty trained and self-sufficient pottier is what we have now!  Hooray.  Hopefully this marks the end of toilet talk for our eldest son! :)

In general I am in awe at how smart Ace truly is.  He uses sentences like "Actually mom if given a choice, I choose to do this because it seems like the best choice."  or "I just assumed we would be there shortly and that was why I made the decision not to take a nap in the car."  I know adults that aren't that articulate!  He is a sponge for language and words.   Every now and then he still has something just ever so off in his vocabulary or phrasing.   Our dog he calls "Pixeled", he still refers to yogurt as logurt.  It drives his father crazy because it is true Ace when pressed will properly call it yogurt, I find it endearing and cling to the shred of toddler he ever had in the first place when it comes to language.   My favorite misstep in language though has to be the dirty hamster.  I nearly die laughing every time he says it and since it's not a regularly discussed topic in our house I forget about it and it makes it all that much more funny... because honestly how often does one talk about the dirty clothes hamper?  hehe dirty hamster!  I love it! :)   He often thinks faster than his words coming out of his mouth and so this leads to a jumbled repetition of the early phrase of whatever his sentence is while he works out the rest of his thoughts.   Patience is key in these moments, but sometimes we have him stop and think and then speak.  :)

Ace has such a kind heart and it only continues to grow.  He has great patience for his sister - in spite of her right on track status of a younger sibling.   Don't get me wrong they still have struggle wars over non-sharing,  he still gets frustrated when his sister hits him, stands in his way of tv, etc.. but on the grand scheme of things he is quite the loving brother.   He is good to share with other kids in school, church, and play dates - yet doesn't let himself get bullied either.    He has a kind heart toward 'other kids' that are in need and is generous at giving away toys to others.   A sign perhaps he has too many toys himself, but I've known plenty of kids that have too many and still don't want to share with the less fortunate.  If I have to choose one I'll take the kind hearted motivation.   I think one of my favorite things is that on Loving Husband's birthday Ace came running in the moment he woke up and said 'Happy Birthday, Dad!' and then ran off to go potty (typically the first thing he does every morning.)  It was so sweet!  Made me smile, and I'm sure it made his dad smile too.    He is very good at giving positive feedback to others as well.   We were coloring something the other day (he, myself, and his sister) and he was quite the motivator.  "You're doing a great job, mom!  That looks really nice.  Sister's is very pretty too!"  I of course returned the compliment on his fine work as well.    

In this last year Ace has gone through waves of gratefulness and ungratefulness.  It's a learning curve for sure between entitlement and appreciation.    We had a few bumps but for the most part Ace is very quick to tell me thank you and to show me that he appreciates the things and activities that I do for him.  Loving Husband tends to get a shorter end of that stick and we're not entirely sure why other than maybe Ace doesn't feel he needs to provide as much feedback to his dad.  It's a current existing question mark as we trudge into Year FIVE.

Ace is growing!   In this last year he has gained 3lbs and grown 2.5" topping off at 32lbs and 39.5" in the charts.  The end of spring was met with a huge growth spurt that resulted in the need for new shoes.  The others made it about nine months.  Not bad.  :)  In all this growth somewhere along the way his car bed just became impractical!   Every night we'd hear him thumping his arm, leg, head, hand... everything on the side of that small toddler bed.   The next morning he'd complain my ___ hurts.  Poor kid was beating himself up!  So we knew we needed to upgrade.  I looked at a twin but figured that width wise and his star-fish sleeping habits that it wouldn't last long either and so we jumped head first into a full-size bed!  Yep my giant 3.5 year old now slept in this bed that made him look tiny... and I loved it!   He still looks pretty small once again after another summer growth spurt but that first night or so he looked utterly tiny to me and I cherished it!   Sleeping through the night has been in full swing most of this past year - but around 3.5 he was in massive stall before bed mode.   Thankfully as a general rule that has been eliminated and he is pretty easy to put to bed.   Napping is about 70/30 these days with 70% of the time no nap occurring.  For the most part I'd say he still NEEDS the nap but he avoids it and I don't push it unless it's dire.   I suspect in a few months they will cease entirely.

Ace started preschool in January.  We waited until January since our return from Mississippi landed smack in the fall semester and we didn't want to just throw him in right when we returned.  We wanted to ease him back into the NW and give him a good start in preschool.   Overall it was a great experience for his 2 days a week half day program.   He made one really good friend and the two of them started on the same day.  Ace loved school, being able to take a toy to show and tell on a few occasions, being the "special leader" and doing the music program there.   It was so great to attend my first Mother's Day program and his first graduation!   This mommy couldn't be more proud to watch my son sing (and squirm) on stage and sing to us. 

As far as favorite things goes his dad ranks #1 for sure.   He always wants to know where he is, when is he coming home, when is it the weekend and he's STAYING home?  It's adorable.   He has declared that his favorite song "is that one that says 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' you know that one that girl sings"  Yes, it's true Ace's favorite song is Stronger by Kelly Clarkson at the moment. :)  A favorite series of phrases he's been on a roll with lately have been along these lines  "Sometimes I like to do stuff with just you, me and sister; and sometimes I like to do things with just me and you; and sometimes I like to do things just me and dad... yah."  He alters the the order, the coupling of people, etc but he always seems to say it in this soft and sweet voice sometimes with his head tilted and his eyes squinted.   It's adorable.    I also love his phrase "That's so sweet of you."    Ace is a people pleaser and is always trying to make those around him happy.   As I've said he has a very kind heart!

It's been a great fourth year for our little man.   He's kind, sweet, nervous at times, strong willed, opinionated, and full of energy and we love it all.  I love that he's so aware, engaged, and loves his family.    He loves to do 'something special'  nearly every day and as a mommy I try my best to find fun activities that create lasting memories, lessons, and excitement.   I can't wait to see what year five has for us!!!

1. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE T. V. SHOW? Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Meeeee (said singing.)

2. WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST?  (Skipped this question as we were still in bed and had yet to have breakfast and I wanted him to focus and finish... mentioning breakfast would have not worked in my favor.)

3. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? He repeated his whole name (No just your middle one.) I don't know.

4. FAVORITE FOOD? Apples.

5. WHAT FOOD DO YOU DISLIKE? Avocado.

6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Black

7. FAVORITE LUNCH?  Apples (Seriously, what else?) Peanut butter and jelly (Hmm maybe I should make that more as I can't recall anytime recently that I made it.)

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO? Go out with my dad.

9. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? The owl park! (said with enthusiasm and it a park near our house, sounds like a cheap vacation and same vacay as last year.)

10. FAVORITE SPORT? Soccer.

11. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? August 24th!!!!!

12. ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT PERSON? A daytime to person that loves to eats apples.

13. PETS: Yah, Pixel.

14. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? Um... I don't know.  We don't really have that kind of stuff.  You guys do but I don't know I don't... I mean my birthday is exciting!

15. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP ? I don't know yet.  I just don't know yet. (An improvement from last year where 'nothing' often was the winning 'choice' for a profession.)

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Blueberries!!!! (That's not a candy) The red things that are in red packages. (Skittles?) Oh yah Skittles. (He hasn't had them in months, but sure why not.)

17. WHERE IS THE FURTHEST YOU'VE EVER BEEN FROM HOME? Mississippi!

18. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK? The King and His Six Friends  (He and his dad do read this one together.)

19. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?  I don't know... spending time with you?  (I'm not looking for a RIGHT answer but that's sweet.)

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?  The Avengers with dad (He hasn't actually seen the movie - he just watches episodes of the cartoon with his father.  But in general  he has abandoned movies a lot in place of many many episodes of a variety of tv programs)

21. WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG? I don't know... The chicken... or the egg.  The chicken came out of an egg and grew up into a chicken. 

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?

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?

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-Three Months Old

Tick tock, tick tock... two is just around the block... I know, I know. Cheesy... but I have a toddler - rhyming and silliness is currently what I'm 'majoring' in so you'll have to bear with me.

Ace had a great 23rd month - more new things to experience and firsts. Ace learned to jump! He loves it and hops all over the place when reminded that he can. It's pretty adorable. Ace also is very into the phrase "I gotta ____" He's gotta drive, he's gotta pick 'em, he's gotta go to the store. It's adorable and I will miss it when it's gone.

Speaking of picking Ace had several new adventures with picking berries this past month. He picked strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries this past month and my goodness what fun he did have. :) He ate his weight at each picking adventure - and had a blast. Now every time he eats berries he says "I picked 'em" or if he sees them in a picture, or in the store he says "I gotta pick 'em"

His vocabular is extensive and his understanding is mindboggling. He is quick to repeat any word, no matter the syllabal count ... so we certainly have to be more careful of what we're talking about while he's around. He retains EVERYTHING.

Ace also has taken an interest in wanting his picture to be taken. He will carry the camera over to momma and say 'Pictures, please' and so I will take his picture... he also will take his picture with me and follow the 'commands' of 'smile' or 'stick out your tongue' it's a lot of fun.

Bumps and scrapes... Ace had a few this month. On one he scraped his back on his car - pretty deep cut on his lower back - he was not a happy camper - and he really hates bandaids. He did get to experience neosporin for his first time - and that he seemed to do ok with. Ace also experienced his first burn on his finger - due to touching the coffee pot burner. Complete accident, but he did get two small blisters on his fingers - they healed without issue and never broke.

In the sickness department - the night before Ace turned 23 months old - he woke up around 3:30 in the moring and for 90 minutes off and on continued to throw up his raspberry and yogurt snack he had before bed. He wasn't happy at all - but when he woke the next morning he was a happy camper as if nothing was wrong. Mom and Dad were perplexed but continued on life as normal... long story short I took him in on Tuesday to double check that it was merely a stomach virus - and the doctor felt he was fine and if there was any left in his system that it was normal and would work itself out. I'm glad that he wasn't feel bad, aside from when he did throw up. He is far from a fan of that.

Ace continues to love to floss. Every night. His dentist would be so proud. Brushing his teeth, he doesn't seem to care one way or another - but we don't have fits about it - but he doesn't run in there to brush his teeth. He will run in there to floss though... silly boy!

He is a joy, a blessing, and an all around good kid. He certainly has started to venture into tantrums but they never last long and are often corrected and he says he's sorry. He loves to say prayers - sometimes he'll ask to say them in the middle of the day 'Prayers' or 'pray to Jesus' it melts my heart and I know that we're so far doing pretty good with this kid.

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.

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! :)

Twenty Months Old

 Ace is twenty months old today. He is an extremely happy boy, who likes to jump on his bed, point out airpeens (airplanes), and who surprises us daily with new words that he's learned.

Ace's vocabulary continues to surprise us on an almost daily basis. Words that he used to say with his own 'spin' to them like 'Booma' are almost completely formed now into 'bana' (banana.) In fact I technically missed that transformation. Yes, for the first time since Ace was born - I left the state - without him. He stayed with his dad for the weekend, while I went to Cali to surprise a friend for her baby shower. He did great and while I was missed, it was not a tragedy that I was gone. Also this past month he got to have his first sleepover at Gran and PopPop's house! We were all a bit unsure how he'd handle it - but he did great! He's growing up!

He has definitely started to eat better this month, but actual packing on the pounds seems to still elude him. Not sure if it cause for concern just yet, but we're watching him. He still seems healthy, happy and overly full of energy so we're not worried. :) But he's eating full force now and averages about 1000 calories a day - which is SO much better than he was doing. Some days we even near 1300, but those days are more rare. He loves bananas! And he also loves oatmeal. He's gotten so excited about oatmeal, it is often his first word when he awakens. One morning he got out of our bed, scampered downstairs and the husband and I listened as he opened the pantry door, slid the chair over to the pantry, got down the box of oatmeal and brought a packet upstairs to us - all the while chanting 'oatmeal' - apparently he wanted to eat some. ;-) He also is a HUGE fan of yogurt - and we buy the fattest that we can find.

Ace also weened from breastfeeding shortly after he turned 19 months old. It was a struggle for about a week - but afterwards he caught on that there was no more mama milk and now it doesn't even cross his mind... and I still feel loved - so I feel that we are successfully weened.

Sleep continues to improve bit by bit. He now consistently is sleeping at least 5 hours a night before waking and coming into our room - and has one other time slept through the night (9.25 hours) so he's doing better and I think is getting more comfortable sleeping in his own bed.

His canine teeth are nearly ready to come in and so that has been bothering him the last few weeks. One of them has broken through the surface and the other three aren't far behind.

Terrible Twos and the pushing of independent boundaries are in full force around here. While he seems to have mostly moved on from bashing his forehead into the ground when he's tantruming - he's gone a new route in order to seek trouble and that is destruction. Yes, yesterday he was in rare (thank the Lord!) form when he made several messes, and destroyed a strand of pearls. Nothing that's irreparably damaged but still it made for one icky morning yesterday.

Ace is doing really well playing with others and still loves his friend 'Bria' (Sabria) - they play well together - and Ace also loves to hug his new friend 'Bebe' (Kyler, Sabria's brother.) It's really cute to watch them all interact together. Ace also really likes kitchen things. He loves to cook, and help us cook. I found a good Craigslist find of the Little Tikes BBQ - and he's been having a blast with that (no worries, pictures to come soon!)

He continues to enjoy swim lessons, those started back up this week. He's graduated into the next class level - and once again is the only boy. Although this session he's one of the youngest rather than being one of the older kids. He's still having a blast! He also enjoys his trips to the library, and now that he's a little older, we might even try Toddler Reading Time. Regardless though, he really loves the computer that is there for him to play with.

We are all looking forward to the sun being out more and allowing Ace some good outside run around time. He's going to be a very busy boy this summer.

Nineteen Months Old

We are barreling full steam ahead toward two! Yep Ace is well on his way to being a toddler entirely and losing all signs of being a baby. In fact in recent weeks new babies have been born and he refers to those as 'bebes' so of course he is not a bebe.

Ace's vocabulary is ever expanding past the point of documentation. I was doing pretty well up until 75 words. But life is busy and he's a-talkin' so it's hard to get them all written down. He has started to say more sentences. As you'll recall his first phrase was 'I did it!' and then shortly followed with 'All done, mama' in just this last week he has started to add more and more. Often by repeating something that I have said, such as when I told Nick to get off the table we were eating at. Ace promptly repeated me 'Nicky getdon' and then two nights ago when he was finished with another round of upchucking he said 'All done, Mama sick yucky.' Yes it is, Bear.

Yes, Ace has had his first touch of the 24-hour flu. Around 2:30am on Tuesday morning Loving Husband woke to Ace coughing and took him into the bathroom - where he proceeded to upchuck his dinner from the night before. He then continued this pattern every hour until about 7:30 - I allowed him to try a little water and he wouldn't take no for an answer when seeking Mama Milk and so I gave that too him knowing the end result would in fact be very messy. Indeed it was. He spewed all the water and milk and was not feeling so hot. Over the next couple of hours he managed to snooze a bit and keep 3 or 4 sips of water and 7up down. Then we ventured to the doctor for a prescheduled appointment to check out a knot under a bruise in his leg (which turned out to be a hematoma and nothing to worry about) At this point he hadn't thrown up since around 8:45, had one shockingly impressive round of diarrhea but was in pretty good spirits. The doctor confirmed the flu and we headed home. He threw up twice on the way home. All over himself and the carseat. I pulled over and mopped up what I could without taking him out and then continued on driving home. He fell right asleep. I managed to get him and the carseat without even a flinch of him waking up. So he slept for an hour sitting in his carseat in the laundry room. Once he woke up he was hard to comfort and very sad. We laid in bed and watched some Nemo and eventually he drifted back to sleep - still not taking anything to drink and yet again wanting milk. :( He finally took some pedialite around 5pm and sipped on that until bedtime. He also managed to eat three crackers without issue and went to sleep with just a bit of water pretty easy by 9. So hopefully today he will get back to normal eating slowly and gaining back his tummy.

Besides that illness, Ace for the most part is doing wonderfully. He's growing like a weed! He's grown at least an inch since his 18 months doctor's appointment and is now wearing a size 7 toddler shoe. He's still as skinny as a rail but he's still gaining weight. I say that confidently considering that he went to the doctor after not eating in 15 hours and vomiting up everything he had eaten and he weighed exactly what he did at 18 months. Which indicates to me that he easily weighed at least one pound more than that prior to the sad bout with sickness.

Ace has started to become very interested in numbers. He knows what 1 is and he can actually point out the #9 - although he often refers to all numbers at 9s - he can say the word numbers as well, and we're working on the 'party trick' of 'Ace how old are you? 2!' :)

In his 19th month Ace slept through the night for the first time!!! Yipee. To say the parents were thrilled, elated, in awe would be an understatement. And while he has yet to repeat this wonderful event, he has been leaps and bounds better at his sleep - which is encouraging.

Ace's 19th month also nearly brings a close to mama milk. We are almost weaned entirely. Yes, WE ... momma has to wean too ... it's a sad thing to let go of that special time with him, but since I don't produce as much any more and it isn't really nutritionally beneficial anymore the time has come. We had been down to 3xs in 24hrs: 7am, nap time, and part of the bedtime routine. Oddly enough the easiest one to cut out was right before bed. He seems content to simply take a sippy cup of water and go to sleep. Nap time is the one that we've been working on this week and that is difficult. But we're surviving. The AM feeding is the last one to go - and perhaps the flu bug has the added 'advantage' of ending the mama milk entirely. Either way we'll be done by April 1st, the current goal.

Swim lessons continue to bring both mama and boy great joy. He has a wonderful time splashing, kicking, and dipping under the water. Back floating while still his nemesis seems to be less objectionable than it always has been before - so perhaps one day he WILL back float. :) He also graduates to PT3! The next session starts again in April and he will be with kids 18mos-3years and will learn to jump off the side of the pool, swim to me, and extended breath control even further. We're both excited for the adventure that is awaiting us.

Ace is a growing happy boy and we cannot wait to dye Easter eggs with him, hunt for them, and enjoy many more upcoming spring time activities.

Eighteen Months Old

Happy Half Birthday, my boy!

Yep, Ace is eighteen months old and is thriving more than ever.

He is adding to his vocabulary every day. In addition to the ones he's said in this post he has added (that I can remember):

foook (fish), park, horse, frog, fooose (shoes), noodle, broco (broccoli), coocoo (cookie), cahker (cracker), puc (cup), pap (clap), hep (help), knife, fork, spoon, knock, bebe bear (baby bear), ring, rain, moon, gas (grass), coke (coat), buckle

He loves to read and his reading patience has expanded. His current favorite (this week) is Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? The other night he sat through the entire Butter Battle Book and if you're familiar with the Suessical delight you know it is one of his more lengthy reads. I was impressed. It's rare we make it through a 5-6pg book but that book is 35 pages of text and there are way more than five words per page.

He had his second visit to the dentist today (look for a full report tomorrow!) and for the most part he loved it. He now has 12 teeth including 4 molars! Time to start chewing that food for real now! Speaking of chewing Ace continues to eat like a bird 70% of the time. But he's still running around with plenty of energy and is quite happy to eat whenever he wants to. He has been exposed to M&Ms and he is a fan. Every now and again I will give him a couple - and we use them to count. He's gotten as high as three. :)

Sleep continues to escape us. We've recently switched to the bottle only in the night - and only allowing 'Mama Milk' after 7am (when it is light outside.) We're on night 4 of that - and the last 3 nights in the first stint of sleep he's had 6.5 hours of unbroken sleep, then 4.5 before the cat jumped on him and woke him up, and then last night he got 5.5 hours before he crawled into bed with us. Granted once he did climb into bed last night (at 2:30am) sleep from there on was broken and miserable... so it's a slow go to true success. However in this last month - he did have giant success in that department..

Ace continues to love the movies Toy Story, Cars, and Finding Nemo - although for the most part he cycles between Cars and Toy Story, we don't watch them every day but at least a couple of times a week. He also knows how to turn the tv on and change the channels until he finds a cartoon... or whatever it is that he wants to watch! And NO we did not show him how to do this, he obviously observed us doing it but we never walked him through the steps. He also can change the tuner (?) on the tv from the tv to the dvd 'channel' and then turn the PS2 on and hits the correct button on the controller to make his dvd go. It's frightening how good he is at it.

He loves playing with his toys and his current favorite are his trucks! He has figured out how to push them around on the floor and is having a great time. He loves his kitchen stuff and has even started to 'help' unload the dishwasher. Often we hand him the tupperware and he puts that away. Other times we allow him to put the silverware away - which always starts out helpful and often ends up a giant pile of silverware mounding up in the drawer - which we of course fix after he's all done helping. We don't want to discourage him, so we show him at the beginning how to do it and then after he gets started we try not to nit-pick or correct his methods. He also loves to help cook whenever he can and has a great time helping.

Ace had yet another haircut this month - that makes number 4! I suppose one day I'll stop counting, but not just yet - every one feels like another milestone and symbol of my baby rapidly escaping my grasp. He's started to say 'All done, mama' siiiigh - sometimes he is done with something and just telling me ... other times he's all done with momma. Siiigh.

He's our joy. He's doing so well and it's been a wonderful eighteen months! It doesn't seem like it's been that long - but it has. He's doing great and I love to hear him develop more vocabulary and actually talk with us. Happy Half Birthday, Baby Bear!

Seventeen Months Old

Ace has had another wonderful month filled with lots of excitement and the start of a new decade! Lots of fun was had.

New events in Ace's 17th month included: staying the whole church service in the nursery, molars, jumping down, scaling heights, outgrowing another pair of shoes, a toddler bed!

Yes, Ace has had a lot of fun this month from a train ride home from Oregon, to visiting with all of his grandparents, Ace had a great time. He had a nice second Christmas and slept through New Years Eve (even through New York's.)

New words for Ace are becoming increasingly harder to document because he's coming up with more and more on what seems like a daily basis - but the ones that I recall include: button, water (clearly stated now), cat (he had lost it for a while), bird, bu-bye, duck, book, sit, purple, orange, booo (blue), red...

Teeth - he has one molar all the way in and the other three in the set have all broken through at one point or another in the gums, so I suspect by his next dentist appointment (which happens to be on the day he turns 1.5!) those should all be well established in his mouth.

Swimming lessons resumed during this month and he is having a blast with those. He can hold his breath under water for 3+ seconds and remembers the cue for holding his breath as well. He gets really excited to whenever we get to the pool and can't wait to get in. Mom loves it too and loves nap time afterward equally as much (almost!) Ace took a 2 hour nap after one last week - that's the longest he's napped ... ever since exiting the sleepy-newborn phase of life.

On the sleeping front, Ace is now sleeping in a 'big boy' bed. We converted his crib to the toddler bed right after the new year and started the routine of putting him to sleep in his bed each night (rather than our own) we also started the routine of leaving him to his own devices during nap and at night to put himself to sleep and that has been progressing effectively as well. He still however does not sleep for very long. His naps are on average an hour (which is an improvement from months past) on occasion we get 90 minutes and then the rarest gem of all two hours! Sleeping at night still continues to be a battle of endurance for the parents - yes the average stint is 3hours or at the usual best 3.5 - however a few weeks ago he did sleep for nearly six hours and I couldn't have been more excited. It has yet to be repeated though. He continues to grow so he's obviously sleeping enough.

He's a busy boy and has started to explore his ability to move and jump. He has started to jump off of things - like his bed or from a box. Nothing of extreme heights yet, but since he's well on his way to ascending great heights its only a matter of time before he puts these two activities together.

Ace loves to smile and is a very happy boy. He's started to be a bit more independent and will spend extended time playing by himself with his toys or 'reading' a book to himself. He still plays well with others and observes them with great interest - and so far he is a good sharer of his toys. Although somewhat perplexed when kids try to hoard toys. He has a developed fascination with technology (go figure!) and wants everything 'on': lights, tv, radio... it doesn't matter. In fact in recent weeks I've used this to my advantage to get him to eat. Every time he takes a bite he gets to turn on a light. Gets him to eat and most of our light bulbs are energy efficient :)

In a month I have an 18 month old! Crazy!

Sixteen Months Old

It is so hard to believe that this is Ace's second Christmas eve. It is hard to believe that he is 16 months old on this second Christmas eve. It just doesn't seem possible. However, it very much is true. My boy is 16 months old today!

New firsts this month: first time making a gingerbread house, coloring, a trip on a train (more on that to come!)

New words: APPLE! Oh my oh my - he has been saying apple over and over again ever since he learned it this past month. He also says: blue, red, ah-doon (all done), dog, and several others. He also this month parroted a bad word his mom a total stranger said. Luckily it wasn't a repetitive parrot. It was a one time deal - but he certainly said it in the privacy of our home loud and crystal clear in a store while mom was talking to his Auntie Becky on the phone and said it. Oops!
He is still running around everywhere, which led to a few bonks, but he of course is all boy and never let those things stop him. Ace is over 32" tall and weighs right around 20lbs. And officially has 9 teeth, yes his first molar popped through earlier this week and is peeking through the surface!
He has done wonderfully with the Christmas tree and while he enjoys taking the ornaments off the tree he doesn't yank the lights or pull the whole thing down on top of himself. He has already become a pro at opening presents as he his mommy just can't wait to see him open presents. So he's opened several already and has enjoyed them greatly. He even enjoyed his first 'camping' trip in the playroom in the tent that his Great Aunt and Uncle gave to him. He has already had a great time with that and he hasn't even had it a week!
He loves to read and we read his Storybook Bible nearly every day. He totes it to us in the mornings and in the evenings before bed. He still often fails to sit through a whole book, but still loves to read just the same. He can say one and two and recognizes the concept of single and at least 2 in the multiples. He can't yet hand us 3 things, but he can hand us 2 so he's well on his way in that department!


Every day is a new adventure and every day both of his parents see more and more understanding in his eyes. We love to fill his head with knowledge and things that people look at us and say 'he can't understand that, he's too little' and while we might agree on some things, he really does understand more than the average bear ;-) and we continue to talk to him like he's an adult, yet have the patience with him in the fact that he's a toddler. :)


Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!