Feelin' Fancy

So ...  I got a fancy camera.  Not TOO fancy, but enough features to start learning and finally have pictures that aren't super grainy and not so hit-or-miss. 

I just got it yesterday, and I'm in love.  Todd's so jealous of it :)

Can you tell who my favorite subject is?  I'll be back soon to recap HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY. 

Two years.  Oh, my gosh.  It seems like just yesterday ....  All moms say that, I know.  But seriously.  Two.  I can't believe it. 

Yay for Instagram!

Those of us without iPhones (and I'm not ever planning on going to iPhone ...) have been missing out on Instagram! I fell in love with it immediately now that it's available on my phone! Here's a brief recap of what's been going on ... because that's all I ever blog about. Duh.

 My new favorite picture of my baby boy.  I wish  he was still a baby :(

 Sweet face.

 Watching the ducks on  the Chattahoochee with the biggun's

 Eating some DELISH homemade popsicles - Cream of Coconut, Banana, Pineapple & Vanilla.  That's all!

My handsome man.  He was cheering because Saul was chowing down on crawfish.  Like father, like son. 

That's all for now! I'm off in a gardening dream! I'm not afraid to start early this year.  Wish me luck!

I love you, Blog. I'm sorry.

Hi.  Here I am.  Here's what we've been up to.  The weather has been so beautiful, and I've been spring cleaning and WORKING MYSELF TO DEATH.  Here's some snapshots of life as of late!

 

Valentine's Day Flowers.  Has it really been that long??

 World's Largest Dog.

 Not interested in using the crayons like he's supposed to.

 First signs of spring

 Bruch at the old Oak!

 HUGE Balloons found in the front yard.  Saul was deeeelighted.

 Hanging out with his BFF eating brownies.  Win-Win.  Seriously. Saul loves this child.  We do, too!! Can't wait to see that little booger again!!

 Half an our of quiet entertainment.  Putting on shoes.

 Sharing

 Closet staple for Saul  came in the mail! Too expensive.  Too tight.  Too cute.

 POTTY!!!

 Making messes as fast as possible.

He was feeling lazy ... for like 2 minutes. 

 Is this considered "red neck"?  Hope not.  Oh well.

 Bed time story.

He rarely sleeps in his car sear anymore ... so I LOVE this picture.  

Such a precious little boy.  Almost-two is keeping me on my toes. 

Play At Home Mom?

Maybe it's this gloomy, cold, drizzly weather, but I'm a little down on myself today.  That's not to say that I'm in need of comments or texts saying, "Oh! You're the best mom ever!" because I know that I'm not, and most of the time, I'm okay with that.

I've been searching Pinterest lately for toddler activities.

I feel like since Saul was born, I've always had this hang up of, "How do I play with him?"

Before he could sit up, I would be genuinely bored after five minutes of  dangling plastic keys in his face.  I thought it would be easier when he could sit up.  He sat up.  Then, he crawled.  Then, he walks.

I'm not saying that I don't know how to play with my son at all.  I do.  Every time I go out, I'm on the lookout for fun learning toys.  Books.  The kid loves books.  Stacking toys.  Playdoh.  Blocks.  Shape-sorting.  I've got it all.  I even try to keep it as non-sensory-overload as possible.  I love plain primary colored wooden toys.  Minimal plastics, lights, and noise-making items. Being a toddler, he plays with it for about 5 to 15 minutes, then he's on to the next thing, leaving a trail of mess for me to clean up.  That's fine.

I just see all these moms that come up with all these interesting things for their toddlers to do out of WEIRD stuff like Borax, corn starch, Elmer's Glue, et cetera.  I just have a hard time believing that Saul would sit down and engage for long enough.

He's not a big color-er.  I have tons of construction paper, modeling clay, crayons ... and he'd just rather draw with MY pen on MY to-do lists.

I know this is getting lengthy, but hear me out because I need help/ideas.

Another big part of it is that Saul is willing to play by himself.  I watch him.  He is so good at entertaining himself.  I almost feel like when I try to join him, he's gets thrown off.  I'll try to play Mega Blocks with him and he goes, "No, no, no," and he's taking them away from me because, obviously, he's got bigger plans for this oversized aqua lego.  It's fine.  I'm not like jealous or anything.  I just know that he wants me to just sit there and be with him.

A lot of Saul's personality is because of the way we raise him.  We have a lot of rules and guidelines.  There's a lot of yeses, but a lot of boundaries, too.

I work at home, and work has really picked up in the past year.  It's almost foreign to me if I DON'T have to sit at the computer all day.  Usually, the first day I don't have work, I'm trying to fit all my other motherly duties into the first 4 hours of the day because usually by about noon, I've already got another job assignment.  So those free hours are spent folding clothes, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning bathrooms.

This time last year, I had this dreamy idea in my head.  I was just sure that by the time Saul was 13/14 months, he was going to be like, a REAL toddler.  It was coming up on spring/summer, so the memory-making was ON.  I had pictures in my head of him helping me garden.  We would play with sidewalk chalk.  We'd go on lots of walks with the dog.  We'd hike and have picnics.  We'd go to the water park every other day.

Some of that happened; some did not.  Realistically, he wasn't old enough to enjoy some of those things.

Todd and I have already talked about me not working so much in the spring and summer this year for that same reason.  I'm just so apprehensive because I want Saul to really, REALLY enjoy being a kid.  I feel like when I have a chance to truly teach him and get him engaged, I force it or something.

I know he's not even 2 yet.  I know that he won't ever remember a specific day later in life from this particular period of time.  I just want to think that when I rock  him at night and he's sleepily laying in his bed, he's thinking something like, "Wow.  I'm so happy and sleepy and comforted.  I had such a good day today with my family.  I learned.  I played.  I had a great day."  You know?  I mean I know he's not really capable of thinking that comprehensively, but I just want him to be happy and fulfilled.

I think this whole post is all over the place.  I'm sorry about that.  I just want the best for my son, and even when I give it my best efforts to do what's best in the grand scheme for my family, Mom Guilt creeps up on you.

Dup.

Dup is the word Saul uses for "Bird."  Or so I thought.  It's coming to my attention that it's the word he uses when he can't say something and wants to hush me up.  Haha.

So this weekend, we made the switch.  Big Boy car seat, y'all.  I was so nervous about it.  Then I found this cute one (Chevron Print!!) so it's okay.  It's a lot cuter with him in it.  See?

He is just getting TOO big.  I can't think about it too long.  He will be two in April.  I'm going to cry.

In other news, it was a nice, slow weekend.  I got to go shopping for Mom-fun things like a car seat and new bedding.  Seriously, I loved it.  But after my fifth and final stop of the day, I realized that I never really liked shopping THAT much.  When you have to go than many places, it doesn't matter whether you have a little one with you or not.  It's tiresome!! Thankfully, I was sans-baby.  Todd and Saul did some father/son bonding so I could face the 32-degree weather (WHAT?!?!) and just get it done.

I also had these videos laying around.  I'm so proud of my talker/singer/signer.  Enjoy!!!

Baby Signing Update!

I bet you weren't expecting an update so soon!

I don't know if it's because Saul is older or WHAT but he's really picked up quick!

I'm not an expert by ANY means, but let me tell you what worked for us.

To teach "more" what I did was this ...

Since our living room is kind of a play room, I periodically switch out toys from ones I keep in his closet so he doesn't get tired of what he's playing with or overwhelmed by like, a gazillion toys.

Yesterday, I got out a shape-sorting box he's had since he was about 6 months old.  I sat him next to me on the couch and emptied the box of shapes on the far side of me so that they were out of his sight.

I would hand him one and let him put it in the box.  When he was finished, I'd ask him to say "more" and do the sign.  He was a little confused and frustrated at first because he just wanted the toy.  Sometimes, I wouldn't withhold and I'd just give it to him.  I think that kept his frustration level down enough to try to understand what I was trying to get him to do.  Each time he finished one shape, I'd ask him to say "more." 

After a few rounds of the game, HE GOT IT!! He would occasionally even do the sign without me having to ask!

A key point here was that I SAID the word more, while doing the sign.  I had initially been skeptical that he would just learn the sign and that might inhibit the talking.

After he mastered "more," we took a break. 

Later, we added "please."  In this case, I would SHOW him the toy, and when he grabbed for it,  I'd say, "Saul, say please," and do the sign.  That way, he knew that he was asking for something I had (that he could see) and was learning manners instead of just grunting, whining, and grabbing.

I taught him "again" by reading his favorite book - Hop on Pop by Dr. Suess - about 1 million times.  When I finished the book, he would want me to read it again, so I would have him do the sign.  That one didn't take long.



Here's the kicker - When Todd got home, we wanted to show him what we had learned (aka  ... I wanted to). So we got out the shape sorting box, and played again.  Except about halfway through the game, SAUL STARTED SAYING MORE - OUTLOUD!!

It started off sounding like "ma-ma" then slowly transitioned into "mo-ma" then "mo-rahhh" in this deep voice of his.  I was out-of-my-skull excited.

This morning, he's already used please a few times.  His milk was out of reach at breakfast, so he started grunting.  I looked at him, and it was like he regained his composure and BAM - he's saying please.

Then he brought his shoes to me and asked me to "please" put them on.  So cute.

I am officially pro-signing.

ps. sorry this one is so wordy. I'm just so proud!!

Baby Sign Language?

I always kind of thought baby sign language was kinda pointless.  I know, judge me.

Well, I'm about to give it a go.

Saul is not TERRIBLY behind on speech, but I'm starting to give it a little thought.  He knows all his animal sounds, he "sings" with me, he knows a few words and phrases, but I recently read that by age two, you should be able to understand 25% of what your child says, and they should know 50+ words.

We're not quite there.

Another reason I was skeptical was because he knows everrryything we say.  He totally understands us.  You can tell him to pick up his blocks, go find his shoes, close the door, "are you hungry?" and tons of other stuff.  You can tell him it's time for night-night, and he goes to his room, and brings back his blanket, paci, and a diaper.  I mean, tell me he doesn't know what night-night means! 

He says things like ball, good bye, hey, "naaaa" for banana, "all-gaw" for all gone, and a lot of phrases that have the same pitch as we say them.

But also, I've noticed Saul getting really frustrated.  He went through a talking spree a few weeks ago, but he's kind of quieted down lately.

I found an awesome site that is a huuuge dictionary of baby signs. Just before I put him down for his nap, I taught him the sign for "more." He got it in about 3 minutes.  He loved how happy I got when he did it right when I asked him to.

So I think I'm going to work on just a few basics - more, please, all-gone/finished, and again.  They're all relatively easy.

Wish me luck!