Thursday, January 31, 2013

Dear Callan: Month 21

Dear Callan-
Yup, it's that time of month again -you're month-a-versary of being born! You are now a 21 month old. If this was in years you would celebrate by having your first sip of legal alcohol and stepping foot into a casino. However, you've got a long time for that (231 months to be exact).

As a 21 month old you've come a long way. I'm not sure there's anything terribly exciting that happened between your 20 and 21 month, but it was a fun month. I'll take this opportunity to document and catch up on a few things you currently love saying/doing. They didn't necessarily start this month, but since I've (probably) forgotten to document it up until now, we'll use it as page filler (some of these pictures don't go with anything, but were just too cute to not post).

Callan and his buddy Ellis

1. You LOVE doing things yourself. No matter what it is -filling up a glass, washing your hands, eating or trying to lift up a 200 lb box, you want to do it. And you'll point to yourself and say "me" in your little toddler voice. It is both the most darling thing you do and the most annoying.

2. You LOVE to give out hugs and kisses. You need to give everyone a hug and kiss when they leave (and you'll now wave bye to strangers although you don't really like to say hello, which is kind of a rude first impression, but, thankfully you leave them with a good one.). The best part of your hugs though is that you have started to pat people's back when you give them out, like a consolation that they have to say bye to you. I'm not sure how you picked it up, but it is amazing.

3. You love taking a bath -although usually when asked if you want to take one you say no. However, once you hear the water running you can't get your clothes off fast enough. The funny thing is that you hate getting your hair washed. I don't know if you get water/shampoo in your eyes, but you refuse to tilt your head back which makes rinsing out your hair a challenge. The funny part of this is that you like to get water poured in your ears (so it's not like you're afraid of water) and you put your face and the side of your head in the water. You pretend to swim and will lie on your belly kicking your feet, blowing bubbles and dipping the side of your head/submerging your ear in the water. We haven't gone swimming or taken lessons in a long time, but we need to find a place asap since I think you're really going to love it.

4. Your bedtime routine needs to be changed... but I'm being lax about it b/c you are (usually) sleeping through the night, sleeping until about 8 and there will come a point when you no longer want the bedtime snuggles. The problem is that you go to bed really late (usually not asleep until 9:30ish) and your bedtime routine can drag on for over an hour. The other problem is that when I'm home you like to snuggle, so that means you either fall asleep in the chair with me (seriously, this chair is dangerously comfortable) or on the floor with me. This is a habit I should probably break, but you're able to go to sleep on your own when I'm not home and you have a sitter (or dad) and I can't help but think that in a few short months we might not have the luxury of falling asleep together... so I'm going to keep it (for now).


5. I never wrote about it on the blog (even though I wrote about our earlier trials and tribulations), but we fully weaned a few months ago. Before people get too grossed out about the fact you were nursing as a toddler, it really was only right before bed (or sometimes naps on the weekends) and always at home. I was (am) a huge advocate of nursing (when/if possible) and fought really hard to do it. I didn't really have plans for extended nursing, but figured we'd stop eventually. Although I didn't have a deadline, I definitely didn't want to tandem nursing (I'm sure it's great, but not for me) and I also said if you ever started asking for it in public or trying to undress me somewhere that it would stop and thankfully it never got to that. You did always ask for it before bed -probably just part of our routine, but at some point it started to get uncomfortable for me and I'm pretty sure you weren't drinking anything, so I thought it would be a good time to stop. Funnily enough, because I don't think you were really drinking, I think one night I claimed they were "broken" and the look on your face was pretty hilarious. After a few nights of trying and me reinforcing that they were broken until the baby came, you were convinced that it was time to move on. I think we were both ready and it went as seamlessly as possible.

6. You are trying to communicate with us, but having a conversation with you is like playing a really complex game of charades. I'm a little worried that you aren't stringing words together, but you have a great 1 word vocabulary, can recognize/name letters, colors, animals and through an intricate series of signs, gestures, showing and 1 word answers to questions can get your point across.

7. You also have these amazing faces. When we ask if you're excited you'll open your mouth real wide and you have a "thinking" face too, which is just you rubbing your chin. I don't know how you picked these things up, but I love it. Other fun things are your "robot" (dance) and your moonwalk.

8. You LOVE watching videos of yourself and looking at pictures. I guess every kid your age does, but as soon as you get your picture taken you ask to see it (by pointing at yourself and saying "me").

Wow, this ended up being quite a bit longer than I expected! Guess there has been a lot going on. I'm hoping to get better about updating and documenting, but seeing as our lives are about to get a bit busier, I'm not sure how that's going to work. Just know munchkin that mama loves you and thinks you're the funniest, most entertaining and charming little person she knows.

Happy 21 months!
Love,
Mama







Friday, January 25, 2013

Hidden agenda

Should I be worried that Huge is trying to brainwash Callan when I'm not around? If he starts singing Oh Canada instead of the Star Spangled Banner and wanting to celebrate Victoria Day I might have to intervene...


Thursday, January 24, 2013

2012 Santa picture

Wow, I'm behind. It's been (almost) a month since Christmas and I never posted Callan's Santa picture! Bad mommy.

Huge's family was here for Christmas and we went to Christmas dinner at the Four Seasons. Thankfully there was a Santa there so we could take a picture. We tried to go the weekend before, but the line up was ridiculous! This picture cracks me up b/c Callan looks so confused. Of course that day the little bugger didn't want to take a nap and somehow on the short cab ride to the Four Seasons he fell fast asleep. And didn't wake up until he sat in Santa's lap! Guess that would scare me too :)



This was his picture last year -guess Santa makes him look dumbfounded.


It's amazing how much he's changed in a year. Next year's picture should be interesting as there will be 2 of you! EEK.



Wednesday, January 23, 2013

A little song

A little song to lift your spirits on this cold Wednesday morning!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Third trimester already?

So I logged into my pregnancy app the other day and it welcomed me to my third trimester. Um, excuse me? How'd that happen. Here we are at week 27/28 coming around to the home stretch and I have done zilch to get ready for this baby (other than buy a couple of cute outfits and read Callan a Big Brother book that he got for Christmas).

Anyway, here's the roundup. I've been pretty inconsistent with these -this child is already being neglected! haha.

Weight: I stepped on the scale and oops, I'm up a few (4ish) pounds since my last appt. I'll get an official weigh in at the doctors next week, but according to my scale it'll be about 24/5ish pounds total, which holy moly is a lot.
Maternity clothes: I'm definitely carrying higher this time around b/c I can get away with non-maternity bottoms that are low. Like I'm in non-maternity tights and leggings, weird.
Baby movements: About the same. Although I haven't felt hiccups with her. I remember with Callan he got the hiccups a lot.
Cravings/Aversions: No aversions, but I've been eating a lot off SUGAR. I need to do a serious detox. I'm on a huge gummy worm kick and can plow through an entire back by myself (which I discovered recently is about 600 calories... oops).
What do you miss: Nothing new. Although I do miss shopping. There are all these great after Christmas sales and I have Christmas money to spend, but I can't buy clothes.
Other: My tailbone is starting to hurt when I sit for long periods of time and I haven't been exercising, but if I walk too briskly or for too long I start to get weird cramps/aches. The funny thing is that I complained of my tailbone hurting during my last pregnancy right around this time too.

Here's the pic of the week -definitely got a baby in there!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Always time for a little dance

Argh, there's so much going on and I want to update you on everything... but until then, here's a little video shot last week. The kid's got moves and he likes to show them off!