Vincent – Summer 2013
Since Vincent has turned two now, and i obviously cannot keep up with blogging on a monthly consistent basis — i will still try to post photos seasonally and keep you up-to-date with the latest happenings.
So this will be a random drawing of photos from the Summer that were not covered in the previous postings. 🙂
Outside Activities
We Vinny a dinosaur hoppy thing where you can bounce — sort of like those balls they have with the handle on them but this one is a bit more stable… kind of.
He really loved it at first but now he hardly seems to play with it.
He’s learned to kick a ball pretty good now. As you can see he has new shoes. Actually two new pairs. My sister Susan visited in June and bought them for his birthday. These ones are blue (we dont like these as much actually) and the other pair is black and orange with flames! (he wears those daily)
We bought a little infant/toddler splash pool at Target and Vinny loves to play in it. It’s easier than doing the kiddie pool only because he has less chance of “drowning” in this one with it being only a couple inches of water. It is also a bit more interactive in terms of water shooting out and the slide area. Here is a video of him having fun:
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Loves going on “dinosaur digs” with dad in the backyard / likes to pick raspberries from our plant
Getting good at climbing on play structures at the park all by himself.
Still loves slides!
Seeing Family
As i mentioned earlier, my sister came up for a quick weekend during my birthday.
We went to the Boardwalk and did some of the kiddie rides.
Vincent got to meet his Uncle Tim the day before our big Florida birthday trip in July. We went out to eat at Fisherman’s Wharf and hung out for a little bit at our house.
Uncle Pat came to visit in August. We had a good time playing together — that’s what Uncle’s do best!
The boys went up to Santa Cruz Roaring Camp Railroad to ride the train together.
Indoor Activities
Vincent loves coloring now. He can open the markers himself and color the paper. He has fun standing on the chair he isnt supposed to. We need to buy him a kid-sized table and chair.
Vincent still really loves his train set. We have it a box and he drags it out for us to help him open it. He got a lot more tracks and trains from his grandparents in hawaii for his birthday.
He loves to bring Daddy his hats when he sees them lying around the room.
This also applies to shoes — he helps us put them on. In the morning, while Jeff is still in bed, Vinny will bring him his PJ pants.
Dad took him to his first movie in the theater – Monster U. They made it through 1/2 hr of the movie (after the previews) he much rather run up and down the stairs. (Here he is at the arcade before hand)
His Best Friend
Sometimes Vinny will pet Butters real gently. But other time’s he will pull on his tail or sit on him. Poor Butters.
They even go on adventures together (Vinny loves pretending to drive in my car)
Eating Habits
Best thing about summer is eating corn on the cob! He still eats the same food — fruit, cheese sticks, apple sauce, yogurt, waffles, oatmeal, mac n cheese, hot dogs, rice and beans. New faves are ice cream, cookies, and guava juice.
NEW WORDS Vinny can say:
– Train
– Ki-kah (Kitty)
– Shoe
– Oh No!
– Oww
– Wow
– Car
– night night
– Calliou (tv character – he learned this the day after a birthday party themed after him)
– Nana (for banana)
– Nan (for Mickey Mouse — yes same as a banana?!)
– makes the sound “Go, go, go, go, go” when he sees cars.
– makes the sound “yo, yo, yo, yo, yo” when he sees a fire truck
– “goya goya goya gog..” — whatever that means! he says this when he’s just “Talking” to us
New things he can do:
– Fake sneeze (See video)
– Wipe his own face with a napkin
– Kick a ball
– Color “nicely” and open a marker (but not close it)
– Jump off from the edge of a pool and into daddy’s arms (See video)
– kick while swimming/put his head under water/diving into the water
– Recognize most animals, fruits, and other objects when asked the point in a book (shoe, train, flower, car, cat, dog, butterfly, etc)
– climb up on our bed and jump on it
– bring us little pieces of trash or objects he “shouldn’t be playing with” if he find them on the floor
– clap when he recognizes the song “BINGO”
– drink from a little plastic shot glass (i usually put juice in it)
Adorable things worthy of note:
– recently loves his little gloworm seahorse we bought him as a infant. Suddenly his favorite bedtime toy, along with his gray kitty that meows when you hug it. he also has a favorite blanket that a friend of mine crochet/knitted (never know the difference!) him as a baby
– He can give you a hug and a kiss good night
– he likes to grab your hand and take you to things that he wants/ wants to show you
– take photos on my iPhone of his feet and or face (and sometimes post them to the internet!)
– cries if we pass a park and he can’t go, or if we take a walk and we dont take the turn to go to the park
Growing Good
He’s out of his 18 month clothes officially .. in 2T for tops, and 2T bottoms are a bit big on him still, but can’t really fit 18 month pants either (way too short). He got his 2 year check up on August 20th, vaccines and the norm. His stats as at 25 months were 28 lbs and 14 oz (50%), and 35.5″ tall (75-90%). Right on target with what he normally is.
U-JAM Fitness
Back in April i got certified in a new fitness format called U-JAM, along with my friend Sandy. It is a dance/hip-hop class that is pre-choreographed by the creater, Suzy C. Marks (and her team). I have been wanting to get into “dance” but didn’t exactly love ZUMBA so much (too much hip shaking and foot-stepping i just can’t get the hang of). U-JAM was more athletic and hard-hitting – exactly my style! But it still is a little out of my “comfort” zone as i would not consider myself a natural “dancer” though i do have rhythm.
Anyway, i got certified with one of my best friends/mentors in fitness, Sandy. It was a 2-day instructor workshop that worked us over and over with choreography and how to teach a class. We were assessed on our skills, took a test, and STILL had to submit a video assessment of us teaching 3 songs to at least 5 people.
I submitted my video and heard back within about a month, that i had PASSED and was able to begin teaching U-JAM at my gym.
I practiced, practiced and practiced… after mulling over which songs to add to my playlist which seemed like it took forever… and finally launched at Salinas In-Shape on Labor day.
The turnout was great, everyone loved the class and i was on a super duper high the rest of the week!
Now i teach regularly Mondays at InShape Salinas on North Davis Road at 8pm.
There are a few other instructors in the area who all recently got certified.. We are trying to spread the U-JAM love to the Monterey Bay area, as its not very popular here yet and mainly only in the Bay Area.
I’ve also met a few cool people up in Morgan Hill/Gilroy area that help teach me how to cut up m shirt real cool.
It’s great workout, sweat tons, and best of all have lots of fun doing it, you forget you are working out!
Vincent’s 2nd Birthday
Vincent’s second birthday party theme was Pirates! Jake & the Neverland Pirates to be more specific. Here is the invitation i designed:
We planned on having the party in Florida where we will visiting for the week. We invited friends and family.
Here’s a photo dump from the day of the party! (Since i am actually writing this 2 months after the fact!)
Grandma and Grandpa bought Vinny a BIG HUGE Jake cut out! He though it was really neat and got excited to see his friend from TV.
Here he is eating his morning snack of fruit (favorite food ever).
He didn’t want to wear his pirate hat until other people started wearing it — then it was ok (but only for a little bit). Uncle Peter and Aunty Merry drove down all the way from North Carolina.
I had fun planning the food, cake, and decorations (with Lisa’s help) and making the favors. Here is the table spread!
Octopus Dip – ranch dip with bell pepper “octopus” – thanks to Aunt Merry who helped make this one.
Polly’s Crackers with some Pirate Gold (cheese!)
Berry’d Treasure — fruit bowl. We must have Vinny’s favorite food.
Fun little treasures for decoration on the table.
We also served Buckaneer Burgers, Deadman’s Fingers (pigs in a blanket), and Pirate Pizza — but i forgot to take a pic of those since they were on the other table.
We put Disney Channel on and ironically, a Jake and Neverland Pirates show came on AND they were talking about birthdays! Hunter (Jeff’s cousin’s son) came over with his sister River. They had fun playing with toys together – -especially a little car launcher gift i got the both of them from the dollar spot in Target.
Here he is with some of his other girl cousins – Denise’s kids – Caitlyn and Grace.
We opened lots and lots of gifts! Among the highlights – a set of air-filled balls (soccer, football, basketball)
And he absolutely loves trains! (It was a toss up between a train theme and pirate theme – but pirate seemed to fit the Florida locale)
When it came time for cake, everyone sang him happy birthday– he loved the song (and/or the attention?) and had the biggest smile on his face.
Cake idea from Lisa – super easy to make and fun!
He was ready to eat the cake! He was pointing to it and demanding a slice!
Yum yum, ate it all up.
Tried to get a cute picture of the cousins together, but Vinny wasn’t having it!
More pirate decorations. – this ship was a ‘craft project’ i bought from Joann’s on discount — it was SO HARD to put together — no glue or anything so it kept falling apart. At least it looked cute.
Vincent LOVED his balloons again! He was chasing after them all afternoon. [Oh – you notice that big gash on his head? yeah he wanted to jump on the couch and he ended up falling off and breaking a lamp with his forehead. No stitches this time though.]
We also bought him a special skull foil balloon with helium and was super excited to find that one out in the entry way — pulling on the string and screaming.
Lisa bought a pack of pirate tattoos and lots of guests put them on. Here is mine! We also made the announcement of us expecting Baby #2 in Feburary to all the guests at the party 🙂
Here are the favors — little booty bags filled with gold chocolate coins, and other gold foil-wrapped chocolate candy. It’s wrapped with a little medallion i bought on Amazon and the tag says “Thanks for finding your way to my party! XOXO, Vincent”
Gilroy Gardens Season Pass
Costco had a good deal for 2 season passes to a local theme park, so we bought them and tried to go up on Mother’s Day at the beginning of the season, but we had to come home because Vincent threw up within 10 minutes of getting to the park! Which was a big bummer because we had met a friend there, and it takes an hour to get there!
So we tried again today, and was able to make the trip a success. This is Vincent’ second time here, we came right before his birthday last year as well.
It is a great theme park for little ones. Easy rides and a beautiful setting – plus the hot Gilroy weather!
We rode the train first. I thought he’d like it more than he did because he LOVES trains, but at the first “stop” that we were not going to get off on, he was ready to leave! LOL.
He liked going up and down on the goldfish ride.
This next ride was pretty cool – you could steer the car a little bit outside and inside of the circle track. Vinny didnt really get it though. He looks concerned, doesnt he?
We explored the cave maze a bit. He had fun running but i think he fell and scraped his knee so then it wasnt as fun anymore…
Daddy and Vinny walking in the park.
We knew they had a really fun water area so we brought all his swim stuff to play.
Smile Vinny! Look like you’re having fun?!?
We stopped for lunch — Chocolate milk is the best! This shot is funny because you can see him spilling the milk ALL OVER himself… he doesnt get the concept of ‘straw’ because he is so used to sippy cups you need to tilt the cup all the way up to get the liquid to come out.
I’m not sure how much fun Vinny had at the park looking at these pictures! But it was an outing nonethless and got us out of the house doing something together!
Happy Father’s Day!
We had a low-key weekend, but snapped some fun pictures i’d like to share!
I got Jeff a iDad card that had a iPad looking interface and when you pressed the buttons it had different sound effects, like a beer opening, etc. I also printed some coupons — taking out the trash, 1 hour nap time, game day, etc.
We were playing with some cups that Jeff had won as a prize at work this week. Showing Vinny how to stack them.
It is so funny to watch the excitement in his eyes right BEFORE he decides to demolish them to the ground!
We had steak and corn for dinner. Jeff wanted to treat vinny to a popsicle – his first ever! (Though he’s had shave ice)
He seemed to like it! He also thought the airplane flying above him was pretty darn cool.
Mommy helped him finish the popsicle!
Vincent is 22 months!
As you can tell, i’ve given up doing monthly blogs on Vinny! I got so behind after February/March – been pretty busy and when i have extra time i just want to rest and sleep early! I spend all my time at the computer for my real job, so.. dont normally have the urge to do that all night too.
Anyway, so im sure a lot has changed since i last updated you (whoever you guys are…My mom, my mom-in-law, and Christina and Patti? HEY! Shoutout! LMAO…) on Vincent. Of course i dont do this for YOU i do it for me, and Vinny. So i know sometimes my posts are incredibly long and boring, and i dont expect you to read any of it really.
Here is the scoop in no reasonable order:
Teeth
He has so many teeth now! I dont even keep track really. I think he has 8 on the top (2 of which are molars) and about 8-10 on the bottom (some are molars). We brush he teeth every morning and every night. I noticed his ‘infant/toddler’ toothbrush was getting mashed up so i bought him a new one today at Target that has Jake from the Neverland Pirates on it and it is also electric! He did really well with it and i think he actually had fun with it suprisingly. He went through a phase where he wanted to brush his teeth “himself” but now, he lets us do it mostly (so we can get it good). We’re also working on teaching him to rinse/spit after brushing teeth.
Morning Routine
So i have finally cut out evening nursing sessions but i still nurse first thing in the morning. I think i could stop if i wanted to (and sometimes i do skip mornings if im busy or he doesnt want to). After i nurse him, he grabs my iPhone (i usually always have it with me to pass the time while nursing), swipes to whatever app he wants (he knows which ones are “his”!) and sits there and watches it the WHOLE time i get ready for work! Its probably not a good habit, but it keeps him entertained and out of trouble? Before this habit developed, he would just play in our room, with the cabinets- or our in the sunroom.
Stacking and Building with his blocks
He’s gotten really good and stacking now. He has finally learned how to play with is Megabloks he’s had since he was uber little. He cant’ snap them on really good, but good enough that it will form something pretty tall. It is so funny because when he wants to play with his Megabloks, he lifts the whole bag (its almost as big as him!) and comes up to us “uhh uhhh uhh…” wanting us to open it. Then he turns it over and dumps it out all over the floor!
Changing his diaper
So it’s hard to change his diaper without him getting all rambunctious — turning over, and then playing with his blanket wall hanging. So my new thing now is to just move the changing pad to the floor (its usually higher up on the twin bed) — usually into the hall or in the living room. This way, he just gets right on down, (flops his whole body) and is like “OK ready for my change” — its strange but it works… If i have a clean diaper down ready for him, he will be sure to come over first and fling it out of his way. LOL.
Ringing the doorbell/Opening the garage door
We taught him to ring the doorbell and open the garage door with the button. I let him open the garage door every time we go somewhere. He loves “pressing the button”.
Saying “Uh Oh” and other words
Not quite sure when this started – but he still says it all the time and at the appropriate time. Like,… *rip* — “uh, oh” (see video at end of post) he just tore the pumpkin from the pop-up halloween book. He’s been wanting to do that since — forever. It is pretty funny — especially since he cannot say any other words, besides “no” and “dada” and gibberish ‘d’ words such as dah, doo, dee.
He has also super recently started saying “mama” OTHER than when he is mad/upset/crying. Yay!
He can say “no” and “yes” though mostly no, probably because we say no all the time to him. I am not sure if he knows the difference between yes or no, because when you ask him if he Cheerios and you know he really wants it, he will say “no” and shake his head…? But get mad when you dont give it to him. Confused child.
Loves his Train set
He can say ‘Choo Choo” now to refer to a train! My friend Patti got him a Snoopy train set that we keep in the “office” along with other cast-off toys (toys we keep out of rotation so he doesnt get bored). He loves to go in there and pull out the box so we can open it up and set it up!
Climbing on the chairs and couch / Becoming a TV addict
He can climb up on the couch and the dining chair by himself now. He will even grab the remote, or bring it to us so we can switch it on to youtube and watch his favorite videos which are currently Gangnam Style and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Getting Water from the Cooler
He likes to grab his own cup and run to the cooler so we can help him fill it up with water. Usually does this right after we get home from daycare. Guess he is thirsty! He also gets a morning snack the drive to daycare in the morning now — usually just some dry cereal.
Coloring
We like to color and put stickers on pieces of paper as a fun ‘activity’.
Laughing
We read him Hop on Pop the other day at bedtime and he laughed and laughed at the one page that says “No Pat, No, don’t sit on THAT!” — not sure why, but its the first time he ever laughed at a book! He keeps going to that one page so he can laugh!
Singing / Playing Harmonica
He can motion along with Happy and You know it — not very good but he does initiate the clap and the hooray parts. He can also play his little harmonica from the drumset/musical set from my childhood.
Fussy Eating
Still loves fruit… kind a picky on other things. Doesnt seem to like vegetables though when we went to Sapporos he loved brocolli but i cant get him to eat it at home — need to stir fry it with shoyu i guess! We pretty much have to distract/bribe him to eat food by giving him apple sauce and sticking food in his mouth inbetween bites 🙁 Of course at daycare, he eats like a champ. Still drinking Lactaid, at morning and snack.
VIDEO:
Here is a quick video of Dad and Vinny playing with the iPad app Seek and Find — its a Zoo setting where you touch a character and it will start to move. His favorite is the camel spitting on the zoo visitor! He laughs and throws his hands up in the air. He also says ‘uh oh’ towards the end….
Playdate with Charlotte
Today we had a playdate with our friend Bonnie and Kyle and their daughter Charlotte. We met at their house and made some sandwiches to eat down by the park on their housing development.
Vinny was excited to play with all her toys – she had cool bus that had lots of different activities, and a little zebra you could ride.
She also had a tricycle outside. I had to push him around, and he didnt seem to particularly like it, but when i would stop he would cry. And he put up a big fit when i had him go back inside the house.
The playground was lots of fun! A little bit under-used (cobwebs here and here!) but it had a good play structure meant for littler kids, a bigger kid one, and a wooden only structure that was there since the 70s Kyle said.
Vinny could go down the slide all by himself! Usually we try to ‘catch’ him at the bottom but he’s getting better and doing it solo. Though he is pretty over-confident and dare-devil-ish so we do have to watch him closely. I am sure he would do something totally dangerous and hurt himself.. .eventually. For now he’s only had one set of stitches and im ok with that.
Vincent’s First Haircut
Jeff wanted to cut Vinny’s hair because it was getting super long on the side and the top. So chop chop, he did! Strapped him in his snack chair and away the hair went.
I have to say, it looks good.
Hidden Beach and Whalers Cove at Pt Lobos
I saw that Patti and Christina had gone to Point Lobos the other weekend and wanted to take Vinny since he loves playing with rocks!
He was pretty fascinated with the rocks as well as the rough ocean — he really wanted to go in and check it out!
I really wished this picture came out… Look here vinny!
Oh, this one is better — wait now Jeff’s messed up.. .darnit.
Rocks feel funny!
Daddy showing him how to stack rocks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/9003269307
Then we went over to Whalers Cover to play with the trees and other artifacts.
What’s this?
He loved these whale bins that used to burn their fat in!
Everytime we took him out he kept crying to go back in.
nice backdrop!
Abalone shells — remember we took our maternity pics here!
Vinny is into this new thing where he hugs poles.. uhh, little embarrassing.
I snapped this last picture quickly because a car was coming down the road, and i guess vinny was falling asleep because he totally snapped backwards when the flash went off and Jeff barely caught him! LOL.
Pool Fun – then dinner with the Stratton’s
It was a pretty nice day today so we broke out the kiddie pool! Here are some fun pics!
Pouring water on himself.
He didnt know he could go in at first so he was just playing around on the outside. Then Dad hopped in and he got in right away!
Splash!
Didnt wear the hat for long….
He liked to get down on his belly and swim around.
Dad was throwing the ball in so he wanted to try too!
—–
The Stratton’s drove up to visit the Monterey area so we had dinner with them at Sapporo’s.(Ok didnt even get a picture of Jim or Christina or Maddie! LOL)
Patti was also visiting and we got to meet up with Torie and Orlando who are expecting their little one in a month or so!
The boys are all about the same age. It was a cute little photoshoot!
Patti got a nice one of my boys, though Vinny looks a little funny!
Hehee, Torie’s baby bump next to Vinny!