Vinny’s First….Stitches!

In the waiting room

Yikes! I get a call in the morning from my sitter, just an hour and half or so after i dropped him off at daycare. “Vinny fell face first into the entertainment center, you should bring vinny to the doctor, he might need stitches”  — oh great.

I pick him up, he has a cotton swab on it.. we take it off so i can see it and GAH!! I see like a ‘white’ part on the inside — its super deep! Right between the eyes.

So off to the doctor we go!

He was acting fine… just hoped he wouldn’t touch it – the bandaid would not stay on.

When we got to the doctor, he went right in playing with all the toys in the waiting room. I just hoped he didnt bleed everywhere!

We got put into a exam room – waited another 45 minutes. He was still fine — only got interrupted when the blood started dripping down his face and he could tell, so he grabbed at it (eww).

Little bench at the doctor

He loved this little bench that was in the waiting room.

Finally Dr. Rosen comes in and says, yep – he needs stictches.

Have to go to the little surgery room they have in the corner of the office. They put him in a little papoose board, instant crying. He’s scared.

After getting stitches

Nurse holds his forehead down, i’m there sort of holding his hands through the papoose wrap. There is no consoling this guy.

Takes about 15 minutes to get 8 stitches.

At the end, when we ‘re done, he is still strapped in, but stopped crying. He is sweaty and exhausted!

Stickers after Stitches

They gave him a bunch of stickers for being so good.

Eating McDonalds after stitches

We drove to McDonalds for lunch and had ice cream for dessert. He gets his stitches out in a few days. The doctor said his scar will look it’s worst in 6 months and will look like what it will for the rest of his life at about 1 year post incident.

 

Visit to Hawaii for my Grandpa’s Funeral

My grandpa passed away March 19th. He was in the hospital for a month or so i think, and my mom e-mailed me earlier in the week before he passed on, to say that the doctors did not expect him to live much longer. They think he had a stroke. He was 93 years old. It all happened pretty quickly and unexpected, as my Grandma was the one who was already in the hospital since November, we certainly did not expect my Grandpa to go first.

My grandpa has always been very close with his grandchildren. He loved kids! He was a “man of few words” as my Uncle put it, but he always had a smile on his face, welcoming you. We always remember him as the one who wanted to take a nap outside when we had family parties, or alternatively would be out in the driveway wiping down people’s cars just because. He had an obsession with flashlights, and would always sport beanies even though its hardly ever cold in Hawaii!

It didn’t take much thought to know that i wanted to travel to Hawaii for his funeral. It was so stressful trying to pick the right flight … since we had to leave so quickly AND it was spring break, AND we wanted a seat for Vincent, it was $4,000+ for 3 flights. * sigh *

After that was all figured out we were really excited to see my parents (after we just saw them a few weeks ago!), my sisters, (Jill was coming all the way from Australia) and other family members. And of course spend time at the beach.

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Departure Day (Night) | From SFO to HNL

All our luggage

Here is all the stuff we had to lug with us at the airport (not including the carseat), We had to wait forever for Jeff to drop us off, park in long-term parking, remove the carseat, and then catch the shuttle back. Vinny was getting inpatient. Oh just you wait little one.. we have a 5 hr airplane ride coming right up!

We thought we were being SO smart, buying a flight that was around his bedtime. OH! He’ll sleep the entire time, right? Hahahaha, wishful thinking. He played for a while, was fascinated by a new snack bowl i bought him, and a few of his favorite toys, but that wore off quickly, even the iPad (not so into it yet) didn’t keep his interest for very long. He took about a 1/2 hr nap, then he just didnt go back to sleep at all. He was in his carseat because we thought it would keep him most comfortable. BUT he could not sleep in it! Just kept waking and fussing and even when we held him to get him to sleep, he would not. Felt bad because it kept people up I am sure, and there seem to be like NO other babies on the plane! So we were that one family, with the crying baby, yes…

When we landed, my dad picked us up. We arrived home to my Mom and sister Jill waiting for us. Even though it was about 1am Cali time, Vinny got a spurt of energy and was laughing and smiling, running around the living room. I think he knew he was with his family now, not a stuffy airplane!

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Day 1 | Hospital, Shave Ice, Visiting Family

Running around at 11pm

The first thing we wanted to do the next morning when we got there was visit my Grandma Okuda, but before we could, she had to be admitted back into the hospital. She was out for maybe less than a week — she was supposed to actually go back home the DAY my grandpa died (in the same hospital) but they kept her a bit longer for her sake and my parent’s sake. So we chilled at home a bit and then plan to go visit her later in the day. She looked very weak, but she was talking a bit (a little hard to understand) and kept saying that Vincent should take a nap! Vinny was making lots of noise of course.

Sitting on the piano bench

Vinny discovered the piano!

Do re mi fa so la ti do

He loved climbing up on the bench, and then when he discovered you could actually bang on it… he was in love.

Also, he liked that the piano bench opened up to reveal all kinds of goodies on the inside…, but we had to turn it around the other way so he didnt pinch his little fingers. He managed to stand UP on the bench as well.

Standing on the piano bench

There is that mischievous grin he always gets when he stands on anything he isnt supposed to be.

We got our shave ice!

He gave me a hibiscus!

Early in the morning, Vinny went out in the yard with my Mom and Dad and picked me a hibiscus flower and marched it all the way up to me on the second floor! It was cute — didnt have the camera till after the moment passed.

Down the stairs with Aunty Susan

Oh yes– so the stairs. Up and down, up and down… though he definitely needs help still going down, and an adult spotting him for going up. He will literally roll down the stairs on his butt, just for fun.

After we visited my Grandma in the hospital, we went to go eat shave ice at Matsumoto’s in Haleiwa. Last visit, we didn’t have a chance to go, so it’s bee YEARS since i had Matsumoto’s! I just had to make it a priority this time! It was so dang hot that day, so it was a perfect snack and entirely worth the wait! In fact, it makes it even more delicious when you’re sweating and so desperate for a cool treat. Poor Vincent was really uncomfortable in the heat — his ecezma was acting up and he was stuck in a stroller as we waited in the long line. He is so used to the Monterey fog.

Matsumotos

I ordered a rainbow with ice cream and azuki beans. I think Jeff ordered a Rainbow with ice cream.

Shave Ice time!

Vincent LOVED it! He shared with Dad and he was jealous when he didnt get his turn at a bite! Luckily i brought his plastic bib – it could have got a lot more messy!

After shave ice, we stopped by to see my Aunt Lilian and Uncle Yosh who were staying at my grandma’s place. It was still really hot and humid — not sure if it was just us adjusting or of it was actually that hot.

Henry Okuda - as a boy

Jill and i looked at old pictures for my grandpa’s funeral.This one above is the oldest known photo of him.

Jerrie and Harris as Kids

This pic of my mom and my uncle  – so dang cute.

Aunty Lillian and Vincent

Meanwhile, Vinny (and dad) were just plain bored – i hadn’t thought to bring Vince any toys so he was left to his own devices which mean standing on things he wasnt supposed to stand on, tearing apart the kleenex box, and watching tv.

So hot - fan feels good!

He was so over heated, he loved that little fan. He was being so funny!

Running on ramp

And he was beyond in love with the walking ramp that was made outside!

Running Down

He would run up and down, up and down…

So funny!

peer in though the screen door, laugh, and run… I am surprised he didnt fall. Actually, he did fall a couple times but we caught him before he hurt himself to bad.

Hanging over the edge!

Then he got adventurous and wanted to climb over the railing. That is when he had to stop. And he would just cry and cry for us to let him out into the ramp again!

Hanging out in wahiawa

We went for a walk after that to calm him down.

Eating Dinner and grandma's

We had dinner at my grandma’s house. Here he is with his grandparents! Look how tired he is. No nap today.

For night-time – he cried for i think an hour the first night. Guess he was just scared/not used to the place. He eventually fell asleep but i had to tell my parents multiple times to NOT GO IN THERE! LOL.

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Day 2 | Easter & the Park

Bunnies!

The next morning was Easter! I dressed him in his plaid shorts and easter bunny bib. Grandma made a bunch of easter basket for him (even though she technically already gave him an Easter present on the mainland!)

Thanks Grandma Jerrie!

He checked it out for a little bit and of course was not interested in sitting still for a nice photo.

Walk to the park in stroller

We walked to the nearest kid park a few blocks away for some playtime.

Bridge

The bridge!

Sliding

Goin down the slide.

Up i go

Trying to climb up.

Great portrait at the park

Oh i’ll smile for mommy!

Climbing the bars

More climbing!

Upside down

And more monkeying!

Wow! Cool skirt dude!

Cool skirt dude! There was a birthday party going on so lots of kids on the jungle gym — made it fun for Vinny. He loves other kids.

On Daddy's Shoulders

Quick pic of the boys.

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Day 3 | Beach at Ko Olina

They still have the child lock

Ok now this is funny — my parents have had the child lock on their kitchen AND bathroom cabinets since my older sisters where toddlers! Ok that is over 30 years ago! Well they were put to good use this week.

View from the restuarant

We plan to make a weekday a beach day since it’d be less busy. We went to Aulani hotel to check it out (Hawaiian inspired resort by Disney), eat some lunch, then go to the beach. We were going to just park at the hotel and walk to the beach but decided to just move the car to the beach lot after lunch since its closer access.

Disney Aulani

He got a Disney sticker from the waitress! Ooohh…

Are you dancing?

So, it was super cold today! Ugh! Dressed Vinny in a tank top, and had no warmer clothes for him… He was shivering at first! Poor guy.

Water!

Getting in the water.

Dunk!

REALLY getting in the water — daddy dunked him 🙁

Wheee!

He was not a fan.

Beach time

Oh, a pic of me, see i was really there too…

Side view

I like this side angle shot of Vinny – he looks funny. Flat head, big belly. Nakkid.

Big boy smiles

He was having fun the entire time!

Throwing sand

He knows how to play with sand!

Beach Time!

Kicking down sand castles.

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Day 4 | Dole Plantation | Grandpa’s Funeral

On our last full day we decided to checkout Dole Plantation. Oh but first — when i went to get Vinny in the morning, it was so quiet – i thought he wasnt up yet. But i went to look in his crib and he was quietly poking at his stuffed bears.

Poking his Bear's Nose

OK i thought this was hilarious because 1) He ALWAYS cries when he wakes up in the morning and 2) He will throw out any toy, book, or blanket that is left in his crib for more than 30 seconds (and while he is awake). So i cannot believe he was just SITTING THERE and only POKING the bear’s noses, not chucking them out over the railings! Amazing what a new environment will do to your kid.

In his crib, not crying!

He looked so cute! and his special “hot weather” (light) PJs worked wonderfully.

Red dir

When we got to Dole Plantation, we went into the maze and first thing Vinny does is get down on his hands and shuffle all the gravel around! Weirdo!

Funny

We got him to go into the ACTUAL maze…

Forehead to gravel.

But he kept wanting to mess up the gravel with his hands, and forehead! Never seen him do this before. He left MARKS on his forehead!

Gravel Time

We were just getting into it when… he fell and scraped his knee.

Loved the gravel....

So we decided to exit — he was acting weird anyway. It had only been maybe 10 minutes?

Uncle Woody's Corn!

We thought he’d like a snack — corn! He loves corn! Oh and a photo op too!

Yum

Yummy corn! He liked it at first. Then just started crying…ugh.. it wasn’t fun. We left and went home!

Fell asleep in the car

Fell asleep on the ride home.

Zippy's Orange Bang

Zippy’s for lunch! He’s drinking some of our Orange Bang! LOVED that! Haha! he’ d cry when we took it away. Also loved the chili!

Spend the afternoon playing in the patio.

Patio Hoky

The carpet sweeper was by far the winner amongst all the patio toys.

Cat and Rocks

Followed by the rocks in the cat planter.

Oh a buddha!

And the little buddha that he loved to tip over when no one was looking.

Running to everyone

In the Patio

Walking up to everyone with the beach toy basket over his head was a cool trick.

Everyone left for the funeral before us – we took our time since we wanted vinny to get his nap in.

Flowers and picture

The service was very nice – my cousin taped  a nice eulogy from her apartment near SF. I cried of course, but not too bad.

Vinny did ok for the first few minutes (surprised) but then he saw his backpack and snacks and started crying, so he had to exit with dad.

Grandpa's Urn

Flowers for our grandpa. Thanks Mom!

Henry Okuda Program

I helped my mom design the program and thank you notes.

Playing with the microphone

Vinny liked running around after the ceremony.

Here are the photo boards we put together.

Funeral Pic board 1

Funeral Pic board 2

Funeral Pics

My grandpa and my uncle at their sign store, featured in a Japanese magazine.

The funeral food was so good! The dessert was fried/battered okinawan sweet potato. HEAVEN! Oh… is that ironic? Hah!

Grandpa, i miss you.

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Day 5 | Leaving to go home | Visiting Great-grandma

Saying Bye to everyone

Saying goodbye.

Saying bye to Grandma Segawa

On our way to the airport, we visited with my 102 year old grandma at the care home. She didnt say much beyond… well, ‘vinny’ talk — single syllable ramblings. Our visit was short. But it was nice to see her, she looked ‘healthy’ as far as her weight — probably the most ive ever seen her weigh, she was always so skinny. This would actually be the last time seeing my great-grandma — she died a few short weeks after our visit.

iPad

On the airplane.

Walking the aisles

Walking the aisles with dad.

Airplane - walking around

We decided to not do the carseat on the way home — it actually turned out way better, though.. he did end up throwing a big metal toy car at the lady behind us AND spilling a bunch of milk on her at the very end of the trip. Wanted to die.

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Overall a great trip to see family and have an impromtu vacation. I can’t believe my Grandpa’s gone! But he’s left a great legacy and I’ll cherish him forever. Probably won’t be back to Hawaii for at least a year….

 

 

To view all the pics from this trip, click over to my Flickr album – Hawaii 2012 trip.

 

 

Grandma Jerrie and Grandpa Don Surprise Visit

Visit with Grandma Jerrie & Grandpa Don

My mom emails me her flight itinerary over the weekend to say they are coming on Thursday for a week! We were so happy! She wanted to take the opportunity to come up since both my grandparents are in the hospital (i.e., being taken care of by someone else that is not her) and she wasn’t sure when the next time she would have the ability to travel without responsibility back home.

Jeff and I were just finished with our majors all and roof repair luckily enough… So there was room to clean our the spare bedroom which was full of desk stuff that got moved there temporarily.

Well-baby check up

The day that my parents flew in, Vincent had a well baby check up though he had started getting the sniffles again earlier in the week.

He measured 34″ long (75th percentile) and 25 lbs and 8oz (25th percentile). He got his measles (MMR) vaccine and chicken pox. Behaved really well!

On Friday, parents first day watching and he woke up super early crying! Same as day before. Ended up grumpy and sick with a high fever all day. Not a good way to start! Gave him Tylenol and as soon as it kicked in he acted normal. Without it he was lethargic and wimpering. At first we thought the vaccine affects but it was actually a cold I think since he had symptoms earlier and his snot was gross! (He did end up with measles on his face and ears about two weeks afterwards though – went away by the next day)

Sick... cuddle time

Vinny got lots of snuggles from grandma and grandpa which normally wouldn’t happen had he been feeling well!

Vinny started feeling better by Sunday afternoon/Monday. We didn’t get to do much though besides go shopping.

Car Garage toy

Vinny got an early Easter present – a vtech garage with talking cars. He loves it!

Visit with Grandma Jerrie & Grandpa Don

Driving in his car with Grandpa.

Visit with Grandma Jerrie & Grandpa Don

Helping with the groceries.

Grandma Jerrie on a swing!

Watching Grandma swing — since apparently we don’t have swings in Hawaii?!?!

Visit with Grandma Jerrie & Grandpa Don

Visit with Grandma Jerrie & Grandpa Don

Pictures before bedtime — he was ok at first but then was like get on with it! I’m tired! Haha!

Roof repairs

Shake Roof
Williams Roofing tearing off our old roof.

Leak Before Demolition

A few storms ago we noticed a leak forming where Jeff’s computer desk is in the living room. We know its because of the connection from the sunroom addition and the living room. Well after a particularly bad storm this season, I come home from work at night and notice a musty smell. First I thought it was the litter box but that wasn’t it. I followed my nose to under Jeff’s desk and the carpet was very damp. I suspected it was there at least a few days and sure enough mold was growing everywhere! We tried to get rid of it but it still stunk and was mildew stained.

Leak Before Demolition

We decided to call a professional to help clean it…($$$) And also get on with repairing the roof ($$$$)– which we had gotten bids on in the summer but didnt have the urgency until now (that its raining and our roof completely failed)

Jeff was a trooper through all of this — talking to so many different vendors to try to get the best value/price/expertise. After a lot of coordination and back and forth we finally lined up the water damage people to strip the drywall and carpet and remove the moisture. OH and can’t forget about the asbestos in the glue they used for the seams of the wall. Got rid of that too.

Leak Before Demolition

The blue tape is where the ServPro assessor said there was water damage.

Removal of drywall/mold

Stripped down to the beams

Removal of drywall/mold

Blocked off for asbestos/drying.

We picked Williams roofing for our new roof after getting 3 other bids. They seemed the most experienced and price was competitive. They did the work when I was home sick with Vinny. It was so loud and dusty!

After that we hired another contractor to put up new drywall and paint. ($$$)

We got everything done just in time for my parents to visit!

So glad that’s over with..!

The insurance paid for the internal repairs because we had a bad storm so it worked out for us on some level.

Two unfortunate side effects where that my laptop burned out when we had a power surge while the professional dehumidifier was on during the drying process. Cost $400 to fix. And also our tankless water heater’s air filter got clogged with debris from the roof repair and we had to pay $135 to clean it. In the midst if this I broke Jeff’s computer (on accident) and he had to get the whole thing reformatted and lost all his files.

So much bad luck… So much money spent!!! But at least it’s fixed and we have a nice new roof with no worries for another 30 years at least!

Here is the finished roof! It is a bit more gray then we wanted, but oh well, said and done. Doesn’t leak and a LOT better looking than that wood shake!

Our New roof

 

Bedtime Routine

My new Watering Can

Our typical bedtime routine consists of bath (or towel down, based on laziness of parents/dirtiness of child), brushing teeth, change to pjs.He loves playing in the water with his toys. Sometimes he tries to drink the water, or stand up. He loves it when we poor the water from a cup above his head.

Kisses at Bedtime

Normally, i still nurse him at bed time, though recently we are in the process of weaning him, so some nights daddy has been reading him a book instead. Normally after I nurse him I read a book, let him play a little in his room, then sing songs. I always end the night with Twinkle twinkle, and swing him up and down in front of the mirror. Then give him hugs and kisses and drop him in his crib.

He doesnt cry or anything, he just plays around in his crib, dropping all his toys over the end. Sometimes it takes him a long while to fall asleep though. He just talks to himself.

Hanging my legs off the side of the crib

He also has a habit of throwing his legs through the slats and sometimes getting them stuck..unfortunately we dont go in there when he cries, so sometimes we dont know for a while that he is actually in trouble. He is seeming to learn now though that its not a good idea to do that anymore.

 

Children’s Discovery Museum – Round 2!

Today was president’s day and we both had the day off work (and I didn’t have to teach at the gym!) so we went to the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose. The last time we went was exactly a year ago with Taylor and her family.

It was super busy!! Way busier than the last time we went. Vinny seemed overwhelmed by the chaos. But eventually he just grooved with it. We went straight to the toddler room and checked out the carousel light room. His eyes lit up!

Children's Discovery Museum

The sandbox area was lacking sand!

Children's Discovery Museum

He liked climbing on the Chinese dragon.

Children's Discovery Museum

Playing with some play food.

Children's Discovery Museum

Digging up some dinosaurs.

Children's Discovery Museum

Playing with the bubble water.

Children's Discovery Museum

The fire truck was cool too, but too many kids.

Children's Discovery Museum

The ball being floated by air was fascinating,.. He never quite understood he needed to let go of the ball over the stream of air.

Children's Discovery Museum

Of course we revisited the airplane.

Children's Discovery Museum

Children's Discovery Museum

We went outside and played in the dirt.

Children's Discovery Museum

His favorite part for sure was the water area with balls and whirlpool. The balls would fly up in the air and he would laugh and point.

Children's Discovery Museum

The toddler water area was a little lower to the ground and he could play with the balls — putting them in the stream of water.

Children's Discovery Museum

He got soaked even with the smock on.

Children's Discovery Museum

At first, he didn’t get what he was supposed to do with the balls – but once i showed him to drop them in the water whirpool he kept doing it over and over and over. He would grab multiple balls at one time!

 

Vincent is 18 months… actually almost 19 months!

[Edited April 6th, 2013wow i just found this post and realized i never added the photos to it!! I thought i had finished it up. So, now it is super de-duper late. Ughh…and in the middle of updating this my computer completely crashed AGAIN! Finishing up this post via mobile phone…]

This post is incredibly late – partly because my computer become broken after a series of unfortunate events (will post separately on that matter!) and partly because i am lazy and too tired to make the long post after a hard day at work!

High chair smiling

SPEAKING… slowly.

Vinny has been saying “MA-MA-MAMA-MAMAMMA” now when he is mad or upset, or getting up in the morning. He used to do it a few months ago, but now then it changed to “NA-NA-NANA-NANA” and then now it’s back to the “MAMA-MAMAMA”. He definitely knows his Dad’s name. When we were out for a walk around the block on one of the days he was home sick, Vinny saw his Dad in the driveway from a far and he goes “DAH!!! DAH, DAH!” and waved his arm. It was so cute, he was so serious! And completely silent before he saw him.

His most recent “real” word is “UH-OH!” — one day last week, he just started saying it. So cute. He will drop a ball or something and go “uh-oh!” so he knows when to use it. He said it a lot in the beginning but now its tapering off.

So to date, he knows the following words:

– Mamamamama (Mom)

– Dah (Dad)

– Uh-oh

– Bye

We think he says “i did it” but can’t confirm if we are just hearing what we want to hear, because that would be a 3-phrase word and quite bit for a toddler at his the level to really comprehend or say. The other day i thought he said “i like it” after giving him some orange juice. Again, just wishful thinking on our part.

We are STILL trying really hard to get him to say CAT, BALL, HELP and UP. But no go yet on any of those!! He just stares back at us in silence.

 

Watching TV

WATCHING TV

He still loves watching TV. We call him our couch potato. He LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. In the mornings, while i am getting my breakfast ready, he watches the ending of Super WHY with Daddy, followed by Sprout’s Birthday wishes (They sing happy birthday to all the kids who have birthdays that day), then watches the intro to Poppy Cat, where the title character waves. Vinny always waves back to him. Its so cute!

He seems to be laughing more at different shows, not only the Gruffalo’s child. Usually they are jumping up and down, or sliding, or something very fast and scary. That makes him smile and laugh!

A lot of these kid shows ask the audience (at home) questions, like, “is this the triangle?”, etc, followed by a long pause. Vinny has learned to “answer back” by just saying some random gibberish during the long pause. Most likely because of the iPad Mickey Mouse episode he watched which won’t continue the story unless you “say” something. Pretty smart guy!

 

POINTING

We’ve taught him how to “point to his ears” and he can point to his head when we start to sing the song “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”. Now we are working on “point to your nose”…. No go yet!

 

Climbing on his little chair

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sourskittled/8452782922 

ABUSING

Haha — ok well not really, but he is a toddler. When i am nursing him, he sometimes tends to pinch me with his little fingers. And when you are getting him out of the bathtub, if your arm comes close to his mouth, he will bite you! He also tends to bite you when you are wrestling on the floor with him (which he LOVES to do, btw). It’s not out of control or anything and from what i understand, really quite normal behavior for this age, but we are definitely discouraging it. He has also pulled my hair, but not too often. Usually when i am lying down on the floor wrestling him. He notices it more i guess when it is sprawled on the floor.

So I tell everyone he is ALL BOY because he seriously loves to tackle you, climb into the laundry basket, chase after you, hop on your back, run in circles, and just be physical! Its fun to watch and participate but i do wonder, gee, what is like to have a lazy baby? LOL. Is there such a thing?

 

20130406-233704.jpg

BLOWING KISSES

I taught him to blow a kiss shortly after he mastered the “wave bye bye”. He can do it pretty good. We were chatting with my mom and dad and my mom said blow kiss, and he complied! Made the smoochy lips and sounds and everything.

 

Eating yogurt with a spoon

EATING HIS FAVORITE FOODS

As much as i dont want to admit this, i am a full-time working mom, so, I usually just go to Costco and pick up a bunch of pre-made kind of stuff for Vinny’s dinner. He isn’t really to the point where he can eat everything we eat, so he normally eats things like meatballs (veggie, italian, or chicken), chickpea patties, chicken nuggets, mac n’ cheese. Pretty simple stuff. He still LOVES fruit and avocado, and for breakfast, yogurt, oatmeal and breakfast sausage. He does eat regular chicken and steak, rice, and stuff like that, but seems like he likes the other stuff better.

I am really trying to get him to eat more on his own still — he can do his own yogurt though only gets through maybe half of the container before he starts diggin his hand in it and making a complete mess. He’s not good enough to really fed himself any other kind of food… the yogurt works because the spoon is deep and so it kinda just sticks to the spoon. Hopefully he’ll be gettin better at it.

He did learn how to open the container of puffs…with his mouth!

He loves rice krispy treats — it’s our go-to snack for when we’re at the restaurant, along with those applesauces in pouches.

 

DRAWING

We have given him markers and crayons a couple times to draw. He is interested in it for a few seconds, but then he rather just eat the crayons/markers.

 

Climbing the coffee table

Climbing the coffee table

CLIMBING BETTER

Last month he was just beginning to climb stairs and stuff. Well now he can climb onto a the coffee table…and get into the litter box! Luckily he doesnt do it too much and i yell at him everytime he does do it…

I plopped him in the laundry basket one day just for fun, and straight afterward he began climbing in there himself! I have to watch what i teach him!

 

Getting scolded

LEARNING THE MEANING OF “NO”

I admit that we are pretty lenient parents. We let Vinny do whatever he wants for the most part as long as it is not dangerous to himself or others. And even then, sometimes that is questionable! Anyway, we do want him to know what is right from wrong, so we tell him “NO” when he is getting into things he should not be, like dismantling the shoes/shoe rack, or going behind our computer desk, or fighting us at diaper changes. He is known to just ignore us and continue on, or actually LAUGH at us and think it is funny or a game that we are yelling at him. Eventually he “gets it” and he starts BALLING! I try not to laugh, but its kind of funny. He turns his face all sad and tears come down!! At least he is understanding what it means… HOPEFULLY…. i dont want to have an unruly child later down the line and i know you have to start young.

 

Stacking Irish Soap

USING TOOLS / STACKING BLOCKS

His little hammer and ball toy — he now knows he can use the hammer as a “tool” to hammer the ball in. Before, i dont think he really understood that concept — he would just push the ball in with his hand.

He can now stack one block on top of the other. He doesnt have much patience to do it more than maybe once or twice while we are playing. He is more interested in tearing down the towers of blocks that mommy puts up and yelling in glee.

 

STRANGERS / STRANGE PLACES

I notice when we go out and he sees a strange person, or walks into the entrance of a restaurant or something, if he is walking on his own, he will “stop in his tracks” and refuse to keep walking! He is a little scared at first normally but he warms up after a few minutes.

Same goes for if he doesn’t want to follow where we are going, he will do the “sit down strike” as my sitter calls it.

 

High chair smiling

HIS FEET

When Vinny gets mad, or excited, he stomps his feet back and forth really fast.

When he is in the stroller, he likes taking his shoes off and placing his feet on the bar.

His toenails grow in funny! kind of like mine i guess — they curl under his skin so we have to dig them out to cut them. Already a struggle as it is!

He has been practicing “stepping off” his little chair. Sometimes he falls, sometimes he doesn’t. Either way he laughs.

When we were at Lilia’s house, he LOVED going up and down the stairs they had in their house.

He keeps getting his legs STUCK in the crib… not on purpose, but he purposefully sticks his legs IN the crib slats, not thinking that they CAN get stuck. We’ve had to rescue him a couple times. Not sure what to do about that, i wish the slats were not that big so his leg could fit through them?

 

Feeding dad chex mix

FEEDING MOMMY/DADDY

He thinks its funny to feed mommy and daddy food. He fed daddy chex mix and was fascinated with this! I also let him feed me a few bites of his food while he is in his high chair.

 

Brushing teeth by himself, stool

Brushing teeth by himself, stool

BRUSHING HIS TEETH

He can “brush” his own teeth now. We put a little stool by the bathroom sink and he climbs up there by himself, grabs the brush and puts it in his mouth. He likes to get the brush wet and suck the water from it.

My sister bought him some toothpaste with “low flouride” in it specially formulated for kids UNDER six, only sold in Australia. I guess the US doesnt sell low flouride toothpaste!

 

Nana! Video chat

VIDEO CHATTING with NANA

Vinny got to see his nana for the first time on video chat — along with his cousins in Florida!

 

CRAZY ENERGY

Loves, loves, loves, running back and forth from two different spots. This time, his little chair, and our bed.

 

New Basketball Hoop!

First day with the basketball hoops

We bought Vincent a basketball hoop at Toysrus. Daddy has to put sand in it so it can sit upright!

First day with the basketball hoops

But we practiced with it anyway!

First day with the basketball hoops

He loves running and putting the ball right in, then doing it over and over.

First day with the basketball hoops

The box was also fun to tackle.

Valentine’s Day 2013

Spider man cards!

Jeff and Vinny surprised me with Spider Man valentine’s cards with heart stickers! I got one on my glider, a bunch in my purse, and in my car.

Chocolate covered pretzels

Chocolate covered pretzels

I made chocolate covered pretzels using white and red chocolate (vanilla flavored).

Drawing with markers

Vinny tried to make daddy a card with markers.

Lumpia for dinner and stuffing

We picked up Gino’s for dinner – fatty but yummy blackened chicken fettuccine. Vinny had leftover lumpia from our work potluck. He ate a piece of garlic bread … kind of.

Eating a pear

He really just wanted to eat his pear that he picked out of the produce drawer all by himself before dinner. Dad was gonna make heart shaped cakes but he forgot to buy new eggs! (We debated using eggs from January 10th but decided againist it)

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At work, today was Rita’s last day (well second the last day since i have a vacation day tomorrow!) Robby (Cheryl’s hubby) gave all us girls flowers at work! That was so sweet!

Rita's Cut out Card

I made Rita this cut out card thing that says “Rita, you are sweeter than sunshine and lollipops”. I stole the idea online, but it took forever to re-create! I am glad Rita liked it! (I forgot to take a photo so i stole her’s from her Facebook!)

Vinny had his daycare party a couple of days ago. Here are some pics from the party:

Valentine Partty

Valentine Cookie

Valentine Goodie Bags

He got all kinds of stuff in his goodie bag — a card from each of the girls, chocolates, candy, a card from his daycare provider, stickers, and more!

U R Sweet Valentine's Day Card

Here is the envelope/card i designed for him to give to the girls.

U R Sweet Valentine's Day Card

The outside — U R SWEET

U R Sweet Valentine's Day Card

Inside – a pop up pixel heart!

Cuddles from the kitty

Butters is one of my valentine’s too!

Group photo fail

Family photo — a bit blurry!

Happy love day all!

Vincent Sick with a “narly virus”

Cuddles

Vincent got some weird virus that kept him home from daycare the past couple of days. It seemed to start off at the beginning of the year, where he had a really bad cough and sniffles that wouldn’t go away. We finally went to the Dr. for and got antibiotics. He had just finished the antibiotics (10 days) and his cough did not ever get better. My sitter called me at work on afternoon and said Vincent had a 102 fever. So i left work and took him home, and we were just a few yards from my house he threw up all over himself in the car seat! That was NOT FUN to clean! Omg. Poor guy. Took him to the doctor again and they said it was just a virus, so to just keep him comfortable with Tylenol and he should get over it in a few days, which he did. He didn’t throw up again luckily. His cough and runny nose stuck around for a while and now i think it is finally gone, though i think he might have allergies.

Playing at park with bucket

Smiling at other kids next to slide

At the local park the night before he ended up getting sick.

Playing in Yard

Playing in Yard

Playing in Yard

Playing in Yard

Hanging out in the yard while staying home sick from daycare. He sure loved that hose.


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