Wordless Wednesday

Diego's friend Frank wishes you a Happy Halloween!

Angry Pumpkins

No one is more into pumpkin carving at my house than me.  I think most people who enjoy crafting can appreciate a little bit o' pumpkin carving once a year.  We didn't ever carve pumpkins in my house growing up.  It was more something I did in school as I got older.  Now, I want my kids to remember the feeling of childhood fall:  the falling leaves, the orange hues, the warm house.  Fall is my favorite season and since I enjoy pumpkin carving so much, it is something I want to shove down my family's throat.

I think I'm doing a great throat-shoving job! - Shirley

Dino Tales

I was quite nervous yet excited to see Diego in his costume this year.  I've had dreams of having the kid that wants to go everywhere in their costume even past Halloween.  Once I saw a little princess at the dog park in December, and thought "Hey it's not Halloween anymore".  My mind started to process how that mom's morning must've went.  "OK sweetie, we're going to take Fido out for a walk; let's get dressed!"

"Princess! Princess! Princess!"

How friggin' sweet...

But my first son has already shot so many of my other dreams down for now like fun trips to the beach (hates sand and water).  And with his terrible-twos mood swings lately I needed to find him in the perfect mood to show him his costume, lest Halloween be damned for eternity!

To my delight, he adopted his costume like a cute lost puppy! His favorite part of the costume is the tail since he always points to the tails of his dino figurines.  I also tried to find him a one piece because I thought the extra accessories would get no love.  Boy was I wrong.  Diego liked the extra parts so much, that he stole parts of Mateo's Triceratops costume and turned his own T-rex into a hybrid:  Tyran-a-tops!   The past few days I've helped him put on, then take off his costume at least a dozen times.

It's been a constant, "Mama!  Tail! Tail!" followed by "No tail!" an hour later.

This is the second time he's delighted me this month.  Once at the pumpkin patch and now with his costume.  Either Halloween is on track to be his favorite holiday or -

It's time to give the beach a try again!  Shirley

Pumpkin Picker

Now that I have successfully disgusted you with these pictures.  Here are the more PC or PG versions of our trip to the Pumpkin Festival and Pumpkin Patch.

I was pleasantly delighted that Diego was actually delighted with the pumpkins.  He was refreshingly VERY into his self-appointed role as the official family pumpkin-picker.  It was a nice change of mood since we all know his track record lately.  Mateo, on the other hand was more delighted to eat pumpkin pie; no change there!

Love and pumpkins - Shirley

Forrest Gump

 Earlier this month Diego was on a trend of saying more multi-syllable words.  It started with "mermaid" and then continued with "airplane".  But he said them the way Forrest Gump said "Jenny".

JEH -- Knay?  With an inflection at the end to make it sound more like a question.  So cute!

Life is like a box of CHOC -- Lats? - Shirley

Phenomena

In this abnormally warm October, there are phenomena such as bioluminescence in the waves of our beaches, babies that no longer need to be held by their momma every waking second, and toddlers with quivering lips.  And those quivering lips are not due to the weather since it's warm.  No - they quiver due to another phenomena known as the toddler terrible-twos.  In the height of "parental tough love" where any scream or shrill shall go ignored, toddlers will grasp at any tactic to get parental attention.

"Milk! Milk!!!" No - you just finished two cups, I know you don't really want milk. *Cries, shrills, and wails follow.

"Mine! Mine! Mine!" No - this Ipad is not yours, it's mine and I'm not going to give it to you simply so that you can lunge it accross the room.  *Shrill, shrill, wail, wail.

"Outside, weeeee!"  No - we've already played outside for an hour and I can't with your little brother. Cry and shrill.  "No Brother!!!!"

Shrill, cry, scream, shrill again.  No parental attention.  Time to employ the quivering lip.  "Mama!  Mama!  MAMA!!!!!!"  quiver, quiver. 

And the charade lasts for 15 long minutes until the sleep takes over.  

What I wouldn't give to be swimming under the illuminated current and hearing the soothing sounds of the waves instead of these tantrums! - Shirley

My Little Demons

I LOVE when Halloween time comes around because I get to do THIS to my little demons angels.

Look into my eyes.  You shall join me in the world of the undead!

Edited on PicMonkey.  If you make one, be sure to share!  I'd love to see!

Here is Diego's first vamp pic back in 2010.  He was one month younger than Mateo is now.  Either Mateo's got more demon/vamp in him, or I've just gotten better at editing these photos! 

Not too far from reality - Shirley

10 Months!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Do you hear that?  

No?

It's the sound of SILENCE between the hours of 9 pm-5am in our household again!  Hooray!  It took 10 months, but it finally arrived.  I made it through in one piece, People!!!!  Where is my "I SURVIVED A SLEEPLESS BABY AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS T-SHIRT" -t-shirt?

Other Tater Tidbits:

• It only got worse before it got better on sleeping through the night.  I think you were teething because it lasted about a week, and now suddenly you're sleeping well.
• When you DO wake up at 5am, Mama gives you a 6 oz bottle and you FALL BACK ASLEEP until about 7:30.  You mean I actually have TIME to get ready in the morning too????  I LOVE you, Tater!
• You learned to crawl 5 days into your 10th month!  And now you've perfected crawling on the slippery hardwood floors, but you STILL HIGHLY PREFER WALKING (with someone's help)
• You rejected your pacifier on Day 1 of your 10th month.  Thank goodness I took this shot before it was too late.
•  You learned to pull yourself up to the standing position on your own. (using various props like chairs and human legs)
• You are more demanding at feeding time.  I've learned that you really, really want finger foods and you will cause a scene if you don't have anything in your hand.  So now I give you a cracker or a piece of bread to munch on while I try to sneak in some spoon feeding in between your snacking.
• Your separation anxiety is still strong and kickin'
• While your brother Diego is going through his terrible twos, you've decided to invent the terrible-tens.  Have you ever met a baby who will throw himself on the ground when he doesn't get what he wants?  Meet Tater!!!

 

Mama's Tidbits

•  Totally failing at my stair exercise at work
• My body is a trained monkey - I still briefly wake up around 2 am.  I need to STOP that madness!
• Although grateful for my inlaws' support, Mateo's separation anxiety still drains me daily.  I can't imagine the zombie that I would be if I didn't have their help.

Bonus Pic - The mustache pacifier gets its last bits of lovin' due to Diego's curiosity.

-Shirley

Bridge Over Troubled Water

As a mom with a toddler with speech development issues, I make it my goal to try and understand every little mumble or "ha" or "hmm" that comes out of my son's mouth.  His speech development has progressed well these past weeks and I've been dissecting and analyzing his speech patterns to the point of over-analysis. 

I'm SUPPOSED to know what he's saying as a mom.  I'm supposed to know that he doesn't always pronounce the beginning of words so "Cool buths" means school bus and "i" means fly, "ish" means fish and "og" means frog.

But then there some words that come out clear as day like "eattt" and "sitttt" in which he clearly pronounces the ending letter "T".  And most recently he blurted out "B!tch, B!tch, B!tch" over and over again.  I was shocked to the point of no words, desperately trying to find alternatives to what I THOUGHT he was saying in my head.

"B!tch, B!tch, B!tch," he continued this for a week.  Until one day, he finally pointed to the "b!tch" and thank goodness that he wasn't pointing at me!

The very next day, I asked him to say "throw" to which he responded with "Ho!".  I think my son has a little "gangsta" in him.... B!tches and Hoes.....

Crossing THAT b!tch - Shirley



Watch last week's vlog if you're into B!tches and Hoes ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Couch Catapult

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

A post that I never got around to publishing...  But right now, in the throws of baby separation anxiety and a smidgen of toddler jealousy, I'm reminded via this post that this motherhood job is so worth it....

That first moment when both my boys kept laughing together in unison at the repeated punchline of my joke.

(And by "punchline" for a 2.5 y/o and 7 mos baby, what I really mean is whipping my hair back and forth like Willow Smith and making a crazy sound with each whip!)

Hearing their synchronized giggles made my everyday motherhood struggles suddenly more rewarding.

"Motherhood is the highest paid job because you're paid in love" (quote seen on Pinterest) - Shirley

Whipping my hair back and forth for the audience of 2

Fleet Week in San Francisco

San Francisco hosted the annual Fleet Week airshow with the Blue Angels over the weekend.  We decided to take the in-laws to the festivities since they are here with us.  I'm very surprised with how patriotic my boys were with their flags!  Diego was so stimulated by the planes that he missed his midday nap and didn't sleep until about 6pm during the car ride home.  He woke up saying, "No airplane!"

He was done! - Shirley

Beverly Hills Nanny Update

Commandment #5:  "Thou shalt push me around on my big brother's tricycle while he naps"

I thought I'd give a quick update on my live-in nanny (aka: mother in-law) situation.  Let's start this off by stating that the positives far outweigh the negatives in this scenario.  I haven't cooked one damn thing since September 11th (okay maybe I scrambled eggs twice in the morning before I went to work - but that was it!).  A girl could get used to this pseudo Beverly Hills lifestyle! My mother in-law is a pretty good chef!

Peruvian Picarones:  Sort of like donuts made out of sweet potato & squash or pumpkin & served with syrup.  So bad! So good!!!!

My mother in-law is really helping me in the kitchen, as I expected.  And she's also a big help with the boys.  For the first couple of weeks she bonded with Mateo and Mateo bonded back stuck on her like white on rice.  His separation anxiety towards me took a detour and became focused on his new grandma.  It got to the point where it was finally too much for her, and this week Mateo has been spending his days with my dad while I work.  Babies know, Man.  They know who they can win over and who they can't.  At my dad's house, Mateo is apparently calm and behaved.  One look at me, my mom, or my mother inlaw and he goes batsh!t crazy to be carried or for us to help him walk around (because apparently his walker is "for babies" and he'll have none of it).

Peruvian Causa:  Sort of like a layered potato salad dish

While my mother in-law is a big help, I fear that Mateo will not cope well when she leaves.  Apart from the bond, he now has certain expectations that are written on a tablet of stone.  These are commandments that I know I won't be able to follow religiously after my mother in-law's departure back to Peru:

"Thou shalt hold my hand, for hours, as I try to walk around the house without my walker"

"Thou shalt carry me around when I tire of walking"

"Thou shalt NOT sit down while holding me!"

"Thou shalt maintain body contact with me at ALL times"

"Thou shalt push me around on my big brother's tricycle while he naps"

And because my mother inlaw is so quick to appease Mateo, I fear he may have reached the allowable limit of acceptable baby-spoiling (but who CAN'T spoil those dimples???).  This can only end badly.  The good news is that my inlaws pushed out their return date to November 2nd.  Mateo will be 10 3/4 months by then.  Is it too much to wish that his separation anxiety suddenly disappears before then?  Or a new distraction, like walking, is introduced before they leave?  I checked back on Diego's stats:  at 10 3/4 months, he was already taking his baby steps.

Maybe Mateo's not too far off? 

I can only hope, else the person with the separation anxiety will be me towards my mother in-law!  - Shirley

 

Wordless Wednesday - Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning

Month in Phone Pics - September 2012 Recap

Ooops!  I missed last month's recap in phone pics.  I think that Mateo's separation anxiety had me really busy and on edge last month.  Although his separation anxiety is still alive and kickin', my mother inlaw is a big help and I've been less stressed, so voila!  September pics!

Happy with my birthday month! - Shirley

Blow out the candles

My birthday was as low-profile as it could have been, and at the end of the day I was very happy with how things went.  I have to admit to you that I feared my husband was going to take us all out to dinner, and I've recently become somewhat of a hermit when it comes to going out to dinner since the last time we tried to eat out.  The stress that Diego's temper tantrum caused me was enough to leave a permanent mark.

I know I can't avoid restaurants for too long, but for now I'm feeling just fine in my denial stage, especially on my birthday.  We celebrated twice, once at my house on my birthday and at my parents' house on Saturday.  My inlaws improvised the number "33" candles by cutting a number "8" down the middle.  Haha!  It was too funny.  I was just glad I didn't need the whole number 8............... yet.



At my parents house, I had a cake with proper candles and Diego decided to practice blowing out the candle for his 3rd birthday in January.  He did pretty well!



 And what did my boys get me?  Well Diego for starters decided to BRUSH HIS OWN TEETH.  Hallelujah! Finally!  At 2 3/4 months, he's brushing his own teeth - willingly.  And Mateo is perfecting his crawl and standing up on his own.

Couldn't have asked for a better birthday - Shirley