My little Alex is growing so quickly. Just before the weekend, I noticed that one of Alex's molars had come in on his upper right side. (I was reaching into his mouth to pull out a piece of paper that he was trying to eat when I felt them!) Then, yesterday, I was tickling him when he was lying down and when he opened his mouth to laugh I caught a glimpse of another one on the top left side. I couldn't believe that it was already time for this. I've been noticing that he has been drooling much more than normal for the past few weeks, and now it all makes sense. Anyway, this brings the total to 10 teeth!!!
In other Alex news, our little guy has been getting closer and closer to walking. He stands up on his own all of the time now. He took a step on his on two times while at Arya's preschool a week ago (3/2/10). (He'd taken sort of half-steps different times previously, when he'd be cruising from couch to coffee table, etc. and would let go briefly.) Rajeev and I have been encouraging him to come to us when he's a few steps away. He usually takes about one step and then drops into a crawl to get to where he wants to go. Tonight he went back and forth between us repeatedly, taking several steps each time. He seemed to be having fun doing it!
I probably shouldn't be so eager for him to walk because he is already so hard to keep up with!! I don't know if Arya was just less busy at this age or if I just forget how busy she was!! Alex is constantly on the go and he is a climber. Lately, he loves to climb up onto the chairs from Arya's kitchen set and stand up on them (often without hands if we would let him). He likes to climb over the bottom rails of the dining room chairs and squeeze through to the other side. He also tries to climb the step stool in the bathroom and loves to climb on top of the printer/fax/copier in my office which is 18-20 inches tall. I can't take my eyes off of him for a second, but I just love that sweet boy!!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Putting up the Christmas tree!
Arya has been so excited about putting up the Christmas tree!! We picked it up from the garage at the old house yesterday and she wanted to put it up immediately!! It was already kind of late to get started, and you should have heard her trying to convince us to try to get it up anyway.
"We can just put a little bit up and then relax for a little bit and then put a little more up and then rest some more and keep doing that!" She even started pushing the Christmas tree box from the kitchen towards the living room. ("Look how strong I am, Mommy!!")
Oh my, how do you say no to so much excitement? Anyway, I gave in. Sort of. :) I agreed to put together the tree and put the lights on last night, but said we had to wait until today to do the ornaments when we could do them all together.
(Rajeev was resting last night after passing out in the late afternoon, which is another story altogether. He has not been sleeping much at all due to the crazy amount of work he's got to do... working 16 hours a day is a short day for him, and two days last week he worked 25 hours straight, came home and slept 7-8 hours and then went back to work. It has been insane, and I've been really worried about the fact that he's gone for months and months with a schedule of working so many hours and sleeping so little, knowing that a body will eventually just shut down if you don't take care of it. Anyway, after this passing out episode our doctor's office recommended he get checked out at the emergency room. So, we spent a few hours there and all of the tests came back normal and they basically just said, "You need rest." I guess we'll have to pay a lot for those words, but at least we were able to get him checked out and know it wasn't anything additional. I felt relieved after a very scary afternoon.)
So, Arya and I put up the tree and she was so cute as she helped sort each size of branch so we could put the branches and lights on. We have pine cones that came with the tree and they attach with little wires that you can wrap around the branches. She got a kick out of putting those on, and sneaking on a few ornaments as well. She would say with a big excited smile, "Mommy, every time I'm good maybe I can put on a pine cone or an ornament!!"
Alex was also so excited that he couldn't go to sleep! He usually is out by about 8:30 or 9p.m., but last night he was up until 11p.m.!
This afternoon, after a good night's sleep for Rajeev, we all decorated the tree together and it was a lot of fun to do as a family! I'll try to put up some of the photos soon that I took of us all putting up the tree! Merry Christmas everyone!
"We can just put a little bit up and then relax for a little bit and then put a little more up and then rest some more and keep doing that!" She even started pushing the Christmas tree box from the kitchen towards the living room. ("Look how strong I am, Mommy!!")
Oh my, how do you say no to so much excitement? Anyway, I gave in. Sort of. :) I agreed to put together the tree and put the lights on last night, but said we had to wait until today to do the ornaments when we could do them all together.
(Rajeev was resting last night after passing out in the late afternoon, which is another story altogether. He has not been sleeping much at all due to the crazy amount of work he's got to do... working 16 hours a day is a short day for him, and two days last week he worked 25 hours straight, came home and slept 7-8 hours and then went back to work. It has been insane, and I've been really worried about the fact that he's gone for months and months with a schedule of working so many hours and sleeping so little, knowing that a body will eventually just shut down if you don't take care of it. Anyway, after this passing out episode our doctor's office recommended he get checked out at the emergency room. So, we spent a few hours there and all of the tests came back normal and they basically just said, "You need rest." I guess we'll have to pay a lot for those words, but at least we were able to get him checked out and know it wasn't anything additional. I felt relieved after a very scary afternoon.)
So, Arya and I put up the tree and she was so cute as she helped sort each size of branch so we could put the branches and lights on. We have pine cones that came with the tree and they attach with little wires that you can wrap around the branches. She got a kick out of putting those on, and sneaking on a few ornaments as well. She would say with a big excited smile, "Mommy, every time I'm good maybe I can put on a pine cone or an ornament!!"
Alex was also so excited that he couldn't go to sleep! He usually is out by about 8:30 or 9p.m., but last night he was up until 11p.m.!
This afternoon, after a good night's sleep for Rajeev, we all decorated the tree together and it was a lot of fun to do as a family! I'll try to put up some of the photos soon that I took of us all putting up the tree! Merry Christmas everyone!
Learning signs
We have been doing several signs with Alex since he started eating food. We'll do signs for "more", "all done", "eat" and "thirsty/drink" as appropriate, and also move his hands to do the signs as we say the words to help him learn.
Last week, I thought he put his hands together in a sort of "more" sign while I was feeding him dinner, but I wasn't quite sure how intentional it was. However, today he definitely did two signs intentionally. It is amazing what babies can learn at this age!! (He is 8.5 months now...how did that happen??)
First, this morning he put his hand up and waved it back and forth when I asked him if he was all done after sitting on the potty. I don't think he was really answering me saying, "Yes, mom, I'm all done going to the bathroom." However, I do think he's heard me say "all done" enough with the sign that he knew that what he was doing with his hand went with the words that I was saying. Pretty cool!!
Then, tonight he'd already eaten dinner and gone to sleep for a bit and then he woke up while we were eating. He was wide awake so I brought him out and was holding him as I ate my dinner. Alex was facing away from me, but toward Rajeev's mom, and she said, "Look! He just signed 'more'!" I was really surprised! I turned him around and asked him if he wanted some more and he did the sign again. I gave him a bite of a cracker and after he ate that, I asked if he wanted more. He did the sign probably 10 more times like this, laughing like crazy every time we would see him do it and then give him a bite of cracker.
I can't remember how old Arya was when she started learning signs, but it is so amazing to see babies figuring out that they can communicate even before they can talk. We may not know tons of signs, but it was definitely worth it to try signing some common words/needs when Arya was a baby, and I think it is going to be good to try these with Alex as well!
Last week, I thought he put his hands together in a sort of "more" sign while I was feeding him dinner, but I wasn't quite sure how intentional it was. However, today he definitely did two signs intentionally. It is amazing what babies can learn at this age!! (He is 8.5 months now...how did that happen??)
First, this morning he put his hand up and waved it back and forth when I asked him if he was all done after sitting on the potty. I don't think he was really answering me saying, "Yes, mom, I'm all done going to the bathroom." However, I do think he's heard me say "all done" enough with the sign that he knew that what he was doing with his hand went with the words that I was saying. Pretty cool!!
Then, tonight he'd already eaten dinner and gone to sleep for a bit and then he woke up while we were eating. He was wide awake so I brought him out and was holding him as I ate my dinner. Alex was facing away from me, but toward Rajeev's mom, and she said, "Look! He just signed 'more'!" I was really surprised! I turned him around and asked him if he wanted some more and he did the sign again. I gave him a bite of a cracker and after he ate that, I asked if he wanted more. He did the sign probably 10 more times like this, laughing like crazy every time we would see him do it and then give him a bite of cracker.
I can't remember how old Arya was when she started learning signs, but it is so amazing to see babies figuring out that they can communicate even before they can talk. We may not know tons of signs, but it was definitely worth it to try signing some common words/needs when Arya was a baby, and I think it is going to be good to try these with Alex as well!
Alex loves food :)
Alex has been much more interested in eating solid food at this age than Arya ever was. She didn't really care about food until she was about 10 months old. She loved rice cereal the first time we gave it to her and then wouldn't eat it after that. Alex, on the other hand, wants to eat food whenever we are eating!!
For the past month or so, we've been cooking veggies, blending them up, and mixing them with rice cereal for him on a regular basis. He LOVES it! He has been eating about 1/4 cup each night at dinner time, and lately, I've been feeding him some at lunch too, although he usually eats less then than at dinner time.
He has tried lots of foods (carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, bananas, joulo (Nepali dish made by cooking rice and lentils together until they're soft...not sure how to spell it!!), saltine crackers, cheerios, and animal crackers to name a few) and we really haven't found anything that he doesn't like yet!! His favorites are carrots and mashed potatoes. No wonder our little boy is not so little anymore!!
For the past month or so, we've been cooking veggies, blending them up, and mixing them with rice cereal for him on a regular basis. He LOVES it! He has been eating about 1/4 cup each night at dinner time, and lately, I've been feeding him some at lunch too, although he usually eats less then than at dinner time.
He has tried lots of foods (carrots, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, bananas, joulo (Nepali dish made by cooking rice and lentils together until they're soft...not sure how to spell it!!), saltine crackers, cheerios, and animal crackers to name a few) and we really haven't found anything that he doesn't like yet!! His favorites are carrots and mashed potatoes. No wonder our little boy is not so little anymore!!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Getting an early start on potty training
Disclaimer: This post is about potty training, so if you don't want to read about this subject, just skip it!! :)
You know, parenting does not always go exactly like you plan that it will go. I think that before you have kids you sometimes have ideas of how you'll raise them...and then once you actually have kids you usually have to adjust your plans for the real world and your real kids!! :)
Potty training is one of those areas where you usually have ideas of what you'll do ahead of time, but then you just have to see how it goes with your own child.
In Nepal, kids are potty trained early. In recent years, there has been more use of disposable diapers, but using a simple cloth has been a lot more common. So, needless to say, if your baby is just wearing a cloth that leaks all over you and everything else whenever they go potty (no plastic pants, etc.), you start potty training early!!
Anyway, with Rajeev growing up where it is so common for kids to be potty trained by 18 months, it just seemed logical to start early with potty training. We started putting Arya on the potty whenever she woke up when she was about 6 months. I was surprised at how quickly she learned what to do. (I mean it only took a few times.) She didn't start telling me that she had to go potty at this age or anything, and it wasn't like she wouldn't go in her diaper. But by paying attention to when she acted like she had to go to the bathroom, and then taking her, she went through fewer diapers and potty training was a gradual process for her. It wasn't seamless or perfect, but it seemed to work pretty well.
Anyway, we've started the process with Alex now. We were a little late in doing so - he was 7 months instead of 6 like his sister!! (I was just lazy!!) It took him longer to figure it out than Arya...we put him on the potty probably 15 times with no results!! I thought for a while that it might just not work with him, but he seems to be getting the hang of it now though. I just put him on the potty when he wakes up in the morning and he has been going pretty much every morning for a good month now. It is nice because due to his daily routine being what it is, putting him on the potty at this time means one less dirty diaper that I have to change each day!! (Yippee!) I don't really put him on the potty at other times unless I can clearly tell that he needs to go (which I usually can't tell until it is too late!), but I feel like we've gotten a good start on things. I don't worry about rushing it and know he won't be fully trained until he is ready, but for now, this seems like a good way to start.
You know, parenting does not always go exactly like you plan that it will go. I think that before you have kids you sometimes have ideas of how you'll raise them...and then once you actually have kids you usually have to adjust your plans for the real world and your real kids!! :)
Potty training is one of those areas where you usually have ideas of what you'll do ahead of time, but then you just have to see how it goes with your own child.
In Nepal, kids are potty trained early. In recent years, there has been more use of disposable diapers, but using a simple cloth has been a lot more common. So, needless to say, if your baby is just wearing a cloth that leaks all over you and everything else whenever they go potty (no plastic pants, etc.), you start potty training early!!
Anyway, with Rajeev growing up where it is so common for kids to be potty trained by 18 months, it just seemed logical to start early with potty training. We started putting Arya on the potty whenever she woke up when she was about 6 months. I was surprised at how quickly she learned what to do. (I mean it only took a few times.) She didn't start telling me that she had to go potty at this age or anything, and it wasn't like she wouldn't go in her diaper. But by paying attention to when she acted like she had to go to the bathroom, and then taking her, she went through fewer diapers and potty training was a gradual process for her. It wasn't seamless or perfect, but it seemed to work pretty well.
Anyway, we've started the process with Alex now. We were a little late in doing so - he was 7 months instead of 6 like his sister!! (I was just lazy!!) It took him longer to figure it out than Arya...we put him on the potty probably 15 times with no results!! I thought for a while that it might just not work with him, but he seems to be getting the hang of it now though. I just put him on the potty when he wakes up in the morning and he has been going pretty much every morning for a good month now. It is nice because due to his daily routine being what it is, putting him on the potty at this time means one less dirty diaper that I have to change each day!! (Yippee!) I don't really put him on the potty at other times unless I can clearly tell that he needs to go (which I usually can't tell until it is too late!), but I feel like we've gotten a good start on things. I don't worry about rushing it and know he won't be fully trained until he is ready, but for now, this seems like a good way to start.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Girlfriends!
Arya got to go to a birthday party for her friend Brenley last weekend, with friends Maggie and Maddie there too. Maddie and Brenley are cousins, and both in Arya's preschool class, and Arya has had fun getting to play with them at school lately. And of course Maggie has been Arya's friend for just about as long as she's been alive! (Plus, we're friends with all of the girls' parents!) The girls had a great time playing at the playground and eating cupcakes. Here are a few photos from the party that I snagged from Brenley's mom's facebook page!! I love the collage of photos above of the four girls all together. Aren't friends fun??!
Arya and Maggie having cupcakes...you know Arya LOVES chocolate!!
Arya and the birthday girl, Brenley!
Cooperation
A few weeks ago, Arya wanted to help me iron. She said, "Mommy, you hold the iron and I'll put my hand on your hand to help." I was a little hesitant because I didn't want her to burn herself, but carefully let her start helping. She then said, "That's called cooperation. That's what friends are all about. Maggie learned that." Me: "You mean Maggie taught you that?" Arya, "Yeah, Maggie taught me that."
Rajeev and I friends with Maggie's parents, but Maggie and Arya are also such sweet friends. She is a little older than Arya (about 10 months), but they always have so much fun playing together and always talk fondly about each other even when it has been a while since they've been able to play together. Apparently, Maggie has been busy teaching Arya some new things!! So cute!!
PS-The picture above is of Maggie and Arya playing at a recent birthday party!
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