he's a character

finally, it's almost summer weather! it's my most favorite time and i'm sure since i'm more fun when i'm warm and drinking refreshing beverages (iced tea! lemonade! sangria!), it will be a treasured time for finley, too. it's much easier to pop out the the beach at a moment's notice (and for us especially so as we literally live on the water - great in the summer, not so great in the winter) and there are so many summer things to occupy this young boy we have on our hands.


so this weekend we ventured out on a near 90 degree day to visit the botanic gardens. it's a place for finn to run free and see lots of nature all at once. and i know he's older now because we didn't even bring the stroller. i rarely bring it anywhere anymore, honestly.

and he's so funny. i wanted to get him one of these trendy hats because he enjoys hats and has been requesting to wear his winter beanies. surprisingly he has taken to this one and unless it's windy, he keeps it on. obviously, he's a character and it's often the subject of one of his silly games. and the shades? yeah. i could not stop laughing.


he is suddenly happier (2 year molars have finally broken the gums) and when a two year old is happy, i think most people are happy. this smile here? his favorite thing to do (in public) is walk up to elderly people and flash that grin while holding up his hand for a high five. often the generational gap is too much and rather than high five, the person questions me about his gender or tells me about their child/grandchild with curly hair. before i can respond, finley is bounding away and i'm left saying a hasty good bye to an older stranger before we even get to chatting.

and here at the gardens was no exception. we walked past an older couple and finley grinned at them and ran ahead. i overheard the man ask his wife, "now, was that a boy or a girl?". well, i cut his hair and people still can't tell. maybe it's because he's just so precious? ;)


we spent time looking at geese and fish and smelling flowers and just enjoying our time with this boy who now uses words to respond and even promote conversation. this boy who wears his baby mraz hat and his fear and loathing sunglasses and his cute attitude. i bet he's going to bring it this summer ;)

i'm hoping my next post will be about our experience with early intervention. i'm not sure anyone is still reading (anyone?) that doesn't speak to me in real life and already knows, but just in case and for my own personal record, i'd like to jot down finley's road to speaking with help from therapy.

mommy. momma. mommyyy.

i love my boy. i really do. and i'm soon going to make a post about how early intervention has helped him talk more. but right now, on day two of my husband being out of town, i've become acutely aware of his vast language development and his willingness to use words to get my attention and it's driving me a tiny bit insane. despite a larger vocabulary, his single most favorite thing to say right now is mommy. see also: momma.



scene: anywhere, any time. (like, the car. the kitchen. outside.)
finley: mommy! mommeee! momma? mommy.
me: yes? what's up?
f: momma....mommy.
m: yep? what do you need?
f: :points at something, possibly nothing: mommaaaa. mommy?
m: what is it finley? your shoe? the dog? that car?
f: ehh. :walks away:

multiply that conversation by 10 per hour and welcome to my day! i swear i thought the mommy stage, like the "why" stage, was more dramatic in storytelling than it was realistic. i was wrong. he's napping right now and i can hear his repetitive mommy-ing running through my head still. it would be sweet, but it feels a little less special the 578th time.



these images, which have really nothing to do with this post, were taken during a special afternoon bath. this weekend finn was so busy and missed multiple evening baths due to his party-filled schedule so i made sure he was clean by fitting in a blue water and bubbled filled bath. and i promise he filled the conversation with plenty of "mommy" requests.

biking around

filling finn's days with things to do can be a challenge. i'm not super mom and finn doesn't happily participate in pinterest craft projects on the daily. despite him preferring ladybugs to all other bugs and often choosing pink or purple as favorite colors, he is "all boy" when it comes to activities. rough and tumble, outside getting dirty,  burn off energy kinds of things. so, with warmer weather on it's way, out we go.

last summer he was just kind of into this like pedal-less trike, but this spring he is all about it. he calls his helmet a hat and he gets so excited to get out and ride. it requires lots of movement from him but it isn't hard to control and it's unlikely he could fall over. we do 2-3 laps around a city block at a time and i get tired just jogging to keep up with him!

he's such a character. here he's riding up the wall. testing boundaries, figuring out what works and what doesn't...what he can do and what's not possible. in this case, it seems you can't drive up the wall any more than this.

when he's on the go he just doesn't have time for me and the camera. his little two year old attitude is in full force and while sometimes it's not funny, there are little moments that are so comical to me. i don't appreciate him storming off to his room and slamming the door (yes, he does this!) or responding to my requests with a curt "no!".

but the "no more pictures" point signaling that i'm ruining his biking time with my camera? i still find that pretty funny.

oh, hey there.

::slinks back into blogging::

i'll skip the whole i waz busy! life with a toddler is hard! because, yeah, truth. :)

let's just bring it back to current with a simple: finley turned two in february (!). i passed out briefly over the knowledge that i have a two year old. he's cute and fun and a handful and i'd like to document some of his life via blogging again just because i kind of liked sharing in that way. you haven't seen him since november, i know. or, it's likely you have, since the only people that read this blog have access to my life "in the real world" and as such, have no shortage of finley. so, fast forward through his 2nd christmas (fun first time at home just the three of us! lots of presents! family!), right through his 2nd birthday (milkshakes! balloons!), past other other holidays and milestones and memories, right into right now.

yesterday, finn flew his first kite. it did not go as planned and lasted a quick five minutes. before we even made it to the beach (which is 40 steps from our front door), he was complaining that it was "too vinny". it was seriously windy and he hates the wind.

we coerced him onto the sand where the wind was whipping and set the kite sailing with no trouble. he was "all done". over and over "all done?!" before we got much kite flying in. and then he ran off the beach toward home and hasn't stopped mentioning how "vinny" it is outside since.

a quick photo op and the memory that the first time you flew a kite there was just too much wind.

20 months

by now, 20 months and some weeks. he is such a little boy. all traces of baby are virtually gone and we are quickly approaching two years. it's still a hard concept for me. two years ago i was pregnant. he has had every first holiday, and almost every second holiday. it's crazy.

i don't have any stat updates as we don't see the dr. until two, but he's slightly heavier than at 18 months and taller for sure. he can reach things that used to be safe from his grasp. he is active and sleeps less at naps. he's had trouble sleeping at night and wakes between 5:45 and 6:45 am sobbing but still tired. i've tried to let him cry it out because honestly, no one in our house is ready to get up then, but most days i have to go in and put him back to sleep for another hour or so. he's always slept later (7:30-8:45am wake up) so i don't believe that he is ready for the day at 5:45 am.

he eats fine but is more independent and picky as the weeks go by. one day he loves kiwi, the very next he gags over it. sometimes he'll eat dinner that the family eats and other times he won't. i dont make two meals but i do add items to his plate (in advance, not after he rejects other food) that i know he will probably eat.

developmentally, he is growing leaps and bounds. we've only had three total EI session (developmental only) but we've spent a considerable amount of time working on structured activities rather than all day open play and it seems to be helping. he is great at puzzles already and he will spend a bit more time doing things he doesn't prefer. verbally, he is just beginning to advance. a day or two before his EI eval he said his first officially word: car. that was less than a month ago (i think?).

for my own sake, here are the words he can now say:
mama (technically his first word, but it hadn't been used with purpose)

dada


ball
bee
baby
bus
boat
bye
car
go
hi
more
uh-oh

he knows most of his body parts, the signs for more, please, all done, thank you and help, and a variety of animal noises/actions. his fish mouth is particularly cute ;) he threads beads, matches items, plays with play doh, uses finger paints - typical kid stuff.

we start speech therapy this monday so i am anxious to see how it helps him. he seems to finally be interested in saying words with purpose and understanding their connection with communication and objects, so i'm hopeful that he'll catch up in no time and chatter my ear off soon :)

halloween 2011

perhaps a bit late, but we had a good halloween. finley went as nicholas the bunny from richard scarry's i am a bunny book. it's his favorite story and we read it 5+ times a day.


(not sure why this image quality is poor...)

i tried to dress him as a lion since he can roar, but he hated the costume. every time we put it on him he freaked out and had a sob story meltdown. i decided to go the homemade route in hopes of keeping it more like everyday clothes. i bought the red overalls on ebay and he already had the yellow shirt and brown shoes. i made the bunny hat, tail, hand covers, and shoe covers out of fur fleece. easy, and even though it looks homemade, he was cute.



i thought he would hate the makeup but he didn't mind me putting it on. the first time he saw himself dressed up he cried and shook his head, but eventually he'd run to see himself in the mirror. and he only rubbed a bit of the makeup off while we were out.



he wasn't as into the pumpkin carving this year and did not enjoy touching the seeds and strings. it was a short lived project :) happy (belated) halloween 2011!

15 minutes as a toddler

i have lots of updates but for now, a run down of the last fifteen minutes inside my toddler's head:

3:55pm i should army crawl. right now. ok, yes, belly on floor dragging body. good. done.
3:55pm i need to take off my pants. pretty new to this...
3:57pm pants back on, thanks mom. let's ride my wheely bug towards the dogs. and again!
3:59pm hmmm, mom is cutting up meat. she's busy. i will take over on the computer.
3:59:20sec vvvvvvvcchhhhhhh (oh, hai mom!)
4:01pm this office chair in the middle of the room is no good. i can't reach the computer.
4:02pm vvvcc... oh, hi mom. ::gets down from chair::
4:03pm wheely bugged! ::leaves room::
4:05pm then i'll just carry this laptop around instead.
4:06pm rude! ::minor fit after laptop removed from arms::
4:06 35sec ok, better now. ::throws ball 17 times:: ... ::turns printer on::
4:07pm which shoes are mine?
4:07:30sec these women's pink gym shoes fit perfect. clomp clomp.
4:08pm walking to the kitchen. walking to the living room, walking to the kitchen. ::trips::
4:09pm wheeeeellllyyyy buuuuggggg! printer!!
4:10pm ::sits down:: "mama?"

somehow i thought a 50 minute nap would leave him more tired than this. i was obviously mistaken. i may have missed turning the printer on and off possibly 3-4 more times, as well as a minimum of 3 musical/sounds toys/books being operated.