Saturday, October 26, 2013

18 Months--Updates

I haven't shares specifics on what Rhett's been up to in awhile--and he's doing a lot! I'm constantly amazed at what he's learning on a daily basis. Here's some of his current things:

  • His vocabulary is ever expanding! Josh and I are now "mommy" and "daddy" rather than mamamama and dadada. It seems like he's gaining a word or two every week. He likes to tell us that he's happy and really likes saying "uh-oh!" whenever he falls down or drops something. 
  • He's definitely understanding a lot more. He knows that when we put his shoes on, it's time to go outside. He goes to his changing table when we tell him he needs his diaper on. He can bring us his favorite book from his room when we ask him to. 
  • He's developed a bit of separation anxiety. It's not every day, but sometimes when I leave him he gets really upset. It's sad, but I understand that it's normal for his age. 
  • He loves balls and tools, but could care less about cars, trains and trucks. He's also rediscovered push toys. He likes to run around with his xylophone or a little shopping cart. 
  • He loves to sing. We put on the Backyardigans for him and he can hum the theme song. He also thinks the organist at the church is about the coolest guy on the planet. 
  • He'll say "I ubb oo da-dee" (I love you daddy) to Josh, but I have yet to be told that he loves me. He lets me kiss him all over though and won't let Josh. I think it's kind of cute that we each have our own thing. 
  • He's still sleeping at napping like a champion. At home, he'll usually nap for about two and a half hours in the afternoon, which is great.
  • He's still super-attached to a particular pair of blankets. He doesn't really use them for comfort throughout the day, but if he's tired he'll reach into his crib and pull them out and bring them to us. We call them snuggle blankets or sometimes just snuggles. He needs them to sleep. 
  • His favorite book by far is "Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. Sometimes he'll toddle around saying "lalala" like the pigs in the book. He also thinks that's what pigs actually say. 
  • A stranger today told me he looks JUST like me, which I was delighted to hear. Though I'm not delusional enough to think he actually looks exactly like me, I do see more of myself in him than I did when he was a baby. I have a feeling he's going to even out to look a lot like both of us as time goes on. 
He has his doctor's appointment coming up in a couple weeks. I know it consists of an autism and lead poisoning screening, both of which I expect him to pass. I think he weighs right about 26 pounds, which is normal for his age. He'll get another round of vaccines, which I'm not too worried about. We're also going to talk about the possibility of getting him tested by an allergist. 

We're delighted by our son, always. He's such a joy to watch grow and change. 

18 Months--Photos

Just check out Rhett at this time last year. What a cutie!
I was right outside the frame in this photo, spotting him because he had just started sitting up by himself that week. He kept tipping over. The photographer told me to jump in at any moment so his head wouldn't get hurt on the bricks. You didn't need to tell me twice. I took photos of Rhett around campus today and what do you know, he's wearing almost the exact same outfit. I love me a denim shirt on my baby. Also, I keep going back to Janie and Jack to fine that same hat in a larger size, but they just haven't made a similar one yet. I'll jump on it when they do.















Monday, October 14, 2013

Mom and Rhett's Day Out

I had a rare Monday off for Columbus Day (actually I have to work this coming Saturday so it was kind of a make-up day for that). When I heard I was going to get a weekday off, I decided that I wanted to take Rhett out to do something. Usually on the weekends, all of the touristy spots around town are pretty busy and we don't get to enjoy them as much as I'd like. My first plan was to head out to a children's museum, The Magic House, but upon further research, it's closed on Mondays! (lame). So I decided to pack up and head out to the Botanical Gardens for the day. I've been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens for ages but I always find an excuse not to.  Josh snapped some mommy-toddler photos before we left:


The gardens were nice! There weren't a ton of people around so I let Rhett walk around and explore a lot. I think it's good for him to be able to go wherever his feet take him and I was more than happy to just let him run around and do whatever he wanted. Of course it made for a lot of shots of his back, but I think that's actually a pretty fair representation of what outings are like for us these days. 
He really liked that rope bridge and he was really proud of himself for making it all the way across all by himself. It was steep! Another favorite was a little hedge maze they had. As many of you know, I'm a big Steven King fan. So chasing my son through a hedge maze amused me to no end. He got a kick out of it too. 
We had a really good time at the gardens. I hope to be able to go with Josh sometime in the near future and get even better pictures of all of us. I'm hoping the leaves will change soon and we'll have a chance to go back and see all of the different colors--Fall is a magical time in St. Louis and I'm looking forward to enjoying it. 




Friday, September 20, 2013

Ballon Glow

We got adventurous tonight and decided to head out to St. Louis' annual Hot Air Balloon Glow. Tomorrow afternoon, the balloons take off on a race, but tonight they were all lit up on display. The park is about a mile from our house and we knew traffic would be insane, so we decided to walk it. The balloons were on the far side of the park, so I think we ended up walking a total of about six miles tonight with Rhett in tow. So we're exhausted! But we had fun experiencing another aspect of St. Louis life--and they were so pretty! 






Saturday, September 14, 2013

Rhett's Room

Since we moved this summer, I took the opportunity to decorate Rhett's room up a little bit more. I did some decorating in our old place, but it was kind of lame because the room had been painted as a GIRL'S nursery. And ugly one at that. Also, Rhett only slept in his room, because it was on the second floor, and we like to do most of our living on the ground floor. But now we have some fabulous white walls to work worth (ok, not fabulous. But not pink! So it's an improvement). And since we're on one level now, Rhett can really enjoy his room. The theme I went with morphed from Eric Carle in the early days to Children's literature in general (with a heavy emphasis on Eric Carle because I love him and I already had the stuff).  Sorry the pictures aren't great, they're from my phone.




This little display shelf holds some treasured toys from Josh and my childhoods


The crib! Hungry caterpillar sheets. The bed skirt was made for me by a friend







Overall, I am very pleased with his room. It's a happy little place and he spends a lot of time in there now. He loves being read to and looking at all his books, so I think a literature theme is right up his alley.

The quotes above the changing table are: "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" (from Love you Forever). "Some days are like that. Even in Australia" (from Alexander and the Horrible, Awful Terrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day) and "Listen to the musn'ts child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never-haves then listen close to me. Anything can happen child, anything can be" (from Shel Silverstein).