Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
zoo
f's first birthday
one weekend long ago, we gathered at cathedral park on a sweltering hot afternoon to celebrate friend f's very first birthday. f is the one in the light green bathing bottoms, while z is front & center. lots of babies!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
new things.
z finally said a vowel-consonant word this week. he's done well with both "in" and "on."
he can also reach doorknobs and turn them. last night while i was teaching & j was watching him, he successfully opened & closed our bedroom door.
z has fun zooming around on his little bus on the non carpeted floor - he can go really fast! we're working on throwing and catching balls. he received some new toys from g'ma & g'pa - mega blocks. they entertain him for a long time, but they're slowly spreading all around the house.
he's been enjoying the water room at the children's museum the past few times we've been there. the museum is a great way to entertain him when i haven't gotten enough sleep...
last weekend i got to stay downtown at the westin hotel all by myself. it was a wonderful break. i watched a lot of tv & slept. very relaxing! z & daddy got to hang out with his cousin j & abuelo and abuela. they went to the zoo last saturday & had lots of fun. we're looking forward to our quick trip to sunriver on labor day weekend.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
new things.
z now has a stool to use to climb up to the sink. it's the one i grew up with. his new obsession is playing in the sink and wasting lots and lots of water. anything nearby he loves throwing in the sink (such as the hand towel). i'm waiting for him to try to eat the soap...
another new thing he does is throw tantrums. it began with him screeching at anything he disapproved, and as of yesterday (i couldn't quite believe he was doing it - it had never happened before), he got on the floor & threw an actual tantrum. i should've gotten it on video, but i wasn't quite sure it was a "tantrum." he was just hungry, but refused to say he needed food. thanks so much, little guy!
the other new thing he likes is doing somersaults on the bed (with our assistance). he LOVES it!
last, but not least, he pooped on the carpet in the bathroom this morning. :( yuck. at least it was well formed & easy to clean up. i have to give him credit for NOT playing with it, and making some very concerned sounds, that caused mommy to run over quickly (she was getting dressed).
he looks like the Joker.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
my growing son
z can reach the top of the railing when walking down the stairs! he used to not be able to reach that high, but now it's much easier. my baby is growing up! :(
sunday was a busy day - drove to vancouver through the providence bridge pedal traffic to pick up a violin, and then j, z, & i went to washington square to run some errands. i met up with friends to see my second movie of the week, "eclipse," and then i met z & j at our friends' house for dinner. what a gem of a weekend, being invited twice for dinner, and seeing lots of great friends! very busy, though. it's tuesday, and i'm still catching up. i was lucky to have today off from teaching (although i can't get much done while z is awake), and got some cleaning done. i found out yesterday another student is moving away from portland - out to washington dc this time.
canadians!
our canadian friends p & n were in town this past weekend, and we got to spend most of saturday with them. we went for lunch at the oak hills mcmenamins, n & i saw the movie "dinner for schmucks" while z, p, & j went to the climbing gym, and then we cooked dinner. z had fun trying to say p's name (either that, or he was saying pasta the canadian way...).
dinner with friends
this past friday, we were invited over to dinner with friends in happy valley. they were my first tenants in my nopo house. it was b's birthday, and they cooked us thai food. they have a son, l, who is about 7 months younger than z. he's already talking more than z, and loves throwing his ball around. we all had a fun time catching up. we had a longer movie of z hugging l that was pretty amusing, but it was too large to post here, so here's a small uninteresting one.
national night out
the police gave the kids a bunch of free stuff - stickers, tatoos, pens, and the best part - these whistle lights. luckily z never figured out that they are whistles, but he sure loved the lights. he cried when we took them off for bath time.
national night out
our neighborhood had a block party on national night out, last tuesday evening. i cancelled my teaching because it was being held next door, and they wanted to limit traffic. here's a video of z meeting mcgrath, the crime fighting dog.
corn
z's first time eating corn on the cob. j was gone camping with soccer friends for the weekend, so z & i went to the park with pepper, g'ma & g'pa, and then they treated us to dinner. it was yummy - thanks so much! we had a great time!
hot weather
first time in the kiddie pool! our neighbor k was kind enough to give us this kiddie pool that his daughter had grown out of. z loves playing in it, and also loves playing with the hose.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
2006 laurene
we haven't done much this weekend. on friday, j climbed with his friend c in the morning, before they came home to work on installing trim around the windows in the studio. j got to go climbing several times this week. no more vacation - he goes back to work tomorrow. this past week was the oregon brewers festival. z is too old to go to the festival now, and we are too cheap to hire a babysitter (it was going to be really hot anyway), so we chose to enjoy this bottle yesterday that we picked up a while ago. we had a nice little picnic lunch inside. the goat cheese made the wine taste phenomenal - it made it taste so much sweeter. this is one of the best wines i've had in a long long time. definitely a treat, a splurge, not to happen again soon.
we pick my parents up from the airport today. they've been in scandinavia for the past 2 weeks.
uncle e visits
my brother was in town for a convention, so he came over one night for dinner. unfortunately z was already in bed, but we woke him up briefly to get a hug from his uncle. he went right back to sleep.
mo's
happy to have cheese in belly.
a trip to the coast = a visit to mo's for lunch. it was sort of cold the whole day, which wasn't surprising, since it was on the cooler side in portland.
coast
last weekend we cleaned the house friday, and went to the coast on saturday before our cousins s & d arrived. s was doing the seattle to portland bike ride. d took this year off & drove the car down, so she came for dinner on saturday before going to meet s at the finish line. poor z thought she was a babysitter & kept crying when we would get up & leave the room. it was fun to see them again. they brought us lots of truffle salt & some blueberry jam - thanks so much!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
z's speech.
z is 21 months old, and 4 days. over a month ago, we had z evaluated by a speech pathologist at ohsu. i really just wanted advice from a speech professional on how to encourage and develop his speech, but had to get him evaluated first. i'm assuming that when his speech improves and expands, his behavior will improve, and he'll stop the biting & pinching behavior. (his hearing was also checked, which was perfect.) we never received a report on this appointment, but it was recommended that we contact washington county's early intervention/early childhood special education to see if he qualifies for free help from them (speech therapy, etc).
we just had that appointment today (they were booked out over a month), and received a copy of the report from the meeting at ohsu in june. he falls in the 12th lowest percentile for receptive language (13 month age equivalent), and the 3rd lowest percentile for expressive language (10 month age equivalent). sigh. so he DOES qualify for free help from the county. free help is basically one home visit a month, for 45 min, where they suggest ways to play with him to build vocabulary. i've already done a lot of reading, thanks to friends who've gone through this, and we're already doing a lot of what we're supposed to be doing - labeling things he eats, plays with, sees... giving him a choice of things and waiting for him to answer, asking him questions, having him model our speech, playing in ways that requires him to speak. it doesn't seem to be doing much, so i guess we just have to wait. wait for his mouth to develop. wait for him to figure out how to control his muscles. it's a bit maddening, though, not to mention exhausting, to repeat oneself over & over again, only to get "da" or "ba." i sometimes wonder if he's really just lazy. and i wonder if these evaluations were a good idea. it's a bit of a downer to find out your kid is in the lowest 3rd percent of anything. j & i both didn't talk until we were 2 (supposedly), so perhaps z will just wake up & start talking one day. that would be fabulous, instead of envisioning a future of prying every single word out of him little by little.
i know things could be a lot worse. i learned tonight that one of my adult students' children has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and it's shown up in the eye, which could lead to permanent blindness. z has 2 arms, 2 legs, 10 fingers & 10 toes. that's a lot right there. z is a sweet kid. he can be quite delightful, especially when he attacks me with kisses. i'm just ranting a bit because i'm tired, and it's been a long day.
an early evening of teaching and j home on vacation means several nice family dinners outside on the deck. z had clearly finished eating at this point.
z always looks at us with a sly grin before turning around & standing up, because he knows he's not supposed to do it.
i have no idea HOW exactly this got started, but i thought it was really cute, so i grabbed the camera.
tricycle
this is z's way of riding a tricycle before his legs grow long enough to reach the pedals...
violining
when z does this, he's demonstrating what his mommy does - he's playing the violin. he has the arms a bit backwards. it's cute, but we have a long way to go...
canby 4th of july
we picked up z from his crib, sleeping, halfway through his nap, and put him in the car seat & drove to canby. he woke up just as we got into town for the parade at 2. it was a bit of a wait for it to start. he was a little grumpy. i think one parade was enough for the day. we'll know better next year.
somehow we acquired this lollypop. it was z's first one ever. he didn't really understand how to lick it - he kept trying to bite it.
fun in abuela's chair, drawing on his belly. we had a great early dinner -thanks so much for the meal, abuelo & abuela!
july 4th
pre july 4th party
j's soccer friends invited us over for a pre-4th of july party. there was one of those puffy air filled contraptions - z's first time jumping around. at first he just sat there & smiled, and didn't quite know what to do. and then he loosened up a bit. (on a side note - i think z caught his recent bout of croup from the kids.)
bike stuff.
this was parked on our kitchen table for a long time two weeks ago, while j was home for vacation (to babysit z). i was observing at the oregon suzuki institute in the mornings, before teaching in the afternoon. z had a baby sitter (who unfortunately had to deal with his stomach bug) for 2 days, and daddy for the other 3. busy week for mama, who wasn't used to getting up & out the door by 7am.
sun glasses
z was having fun playing with sun glasses, and taking pictures of him is always entertaining for him...
camping
more fun with the tent outside.
j & z slept outside three weekends ago. it went pretty well. z managed to fall asleep with j in the tent along side him, which is a feat considering z WILL NOT sleep with us in our bed!
he woke up around 5:30am when the sun came up, so that has to be worked on a bit. it took him awhile to fall asleep, too.
he came down with a fever & stomach virus later that weekend. :(
camping
fun with tents.
i surprised z one time after his nap by setting up our tent in the living room. it had to be quickly taken down so the cats wouldn't rip a hole in it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)