Theo's First day of Nursery School

Theo has been ready to start "school" for some time now, but between his EI Speech sessions and EI playgroup, he had enough going on.
When he turned 3, he aged out of EI services, which was perfectly timed with the late winter session of Tot-Time at the rec center down the street.

He was so excited his first day - new backpack and all! He went right in, played with the train table and didn't look back as Sophia & I left.

Day two was a bit tougher on everyone. What I hadn't realized is that his routine, since he was 2 weeks old, was having Nonni & Milla show up every day to play, talk, read and take care of him. And this was an epic change for his routine.

When I dropped him off on the second day, he dissolved into tears and wouldn't let go of me. I had to do the handoff after we read books, went the bathroom and found more trains. The teachers said he settled down pretty quickly, but still, it broke my heart to leave him.

The 3rd day was more of the same - but then, Nonni brought Milla with her to pick him up. And he got to show her off to all his new friends.

From that point on, whenever I drop him off, after we say goodbye he says "Nonni come? Milla come?" Yes buddy, they'll be there.

#ittakesavillage

17 Months and couldn't be happier

It's rare I hit a monthly "birthday" on a blogging day, but today is Theo's 17 month "birthday". At some point I will stop acknowledging the months, but I think that doesn't happen till he turns 2.

With his newfound walking skills, he's a man on the move. He went from not walking, to his first steps on a Wednesday night to walking on the soft sand that weekend! Clearly he was ready physically, but mentally, had to get there.

He's got 8 front teeth in and 2 molars mostly in. Poor guy, those things are taking their sweet old time. He is a trooper, but man, those have to hurt!

He's also working on the words. It's interesting when the second child begins to speak. I've become so accustomed to Sophia's full and rather extensive vocabulary, that I forgot that baby speak starts as exactly that.

Theo's had the Mama/Dada words for awhile. But he's not particularly interested in using them. We had a mad range of gestures and he made it pretty clear what he wanted and we got it. There was minimal frustration. He can go completely quiet for awhile, especially with new people or if he's tired. Only recently has he really begun to chat it up.

The two big advances he's made with language are

1) Picking up more sign language. This has been propelled by Sophia being re-excited about it (we have the Baby Signs book and she loves reading it). Anything Big Sister does, little man has to do too!

2) Actual verbalization. Again, I was forgetting and expecting "real" words to come out, so my guess is there have been more of these happening than I realize or have noticed, sadly. The other night at dinner
he was intent on dipping his cracker into his Tzatki sauce. I had been doing it and handing it to him and he blurts out "IDOIT!" When I handed him the cracker to do it, he just smiled, dipped, and ate. So very cool.

It's amazing to watch the development from a whole new angle. My little snuggler is growing up.

Theo's First Steps

I had always heard that second children did things on their own timetable, mostly because they don't have the undivided attention of parents like the first. That couldn't be more true in Theo's case. Between getting a late start on core strength because of his helmet and just the general insanity of life, we haven't spent as much 1:1 time helping him with walking. These past two weeks on vacation have let us really focus on getting him up on his feet and building his confidence. Prior to this, he could squat, pick up things, surf on everything but just wouldn't take an independent step.

But tonight he took his first series of steps - 16.5 months old.
Sadly, blogger won't let me upload the video, but here is a link to it on Facebook!
I'm always proud of my little man, but I'm just ecstatic at his new found skill and it makes me realize even more the importance of treasuring these moments.

Theo's First Haircut

Theo was born with an amazing head of hair. It was actually quite shocking when he first came out - a whole head of dark, curly hair.

Fast forward over the year, through the helmet and the hair kind of took on a life of it's own. The curl got squished out a bit from the helmet (at least in my mind) and quickly went from adorable baby with lots of hair to "Wow, what a cute little girl!!" remarks at the grocery store. (It probably didn't help he was often wearing Sophia's purple/lavender coat).

At 13 months we decided it was time for a trim. Thanks to the wonderful woman Melissa at Lulu's family cuts, we walked
In with a baby...                                                                                            And out with a little boy!

Here are a few action shots of the experience. I didn't actually cry. But it was far more emotional than I thought. I saved a few locks of hair and actually got them into the baby book. 

Checking out the toy bucket

Thinning out the baby hair

Good fake ice cream

A very happy customer!

Checking In..

We had Theo's 1 month appointment this past week and I'm happy to report he is growing long and strong. He gained 2 pounds since his first weight check a few days after birth. This was amazingly comforting as with Sophia, it took her about a month to get back up to birth weight, mostly because we were both falling asleep while eating at night and the whole breastfeeding thing was just foreign. Once we got it figured out, she definitely gained weight.
I think the other contributing factor to Theo's weight gain is the 2 days of bottle feeding he gets while I'm at work. He's getting 3-3.5oz bottles while I'm gone, so he is clearly consuming a set amount of goodness.

He is sleeping like a champ as well. We've settled into a decent routine too - he's down between 8:30 & 9pm (after an hour-plus feeding prior). He settles himself down fairly easily, but I think the key this time around is that we let him settle himself - just out of necessity. Trying to juggle getting both kids down to sleep somewhat simultaneously lends itself to that I suppose.

It doesn't help that Sophia is in a "Stay up and talk" mode lately - sometimes for close to an hour after we leave her. Hoping this one rectifies itself soon...In the meantime, she's been a trooper while traveling through nap and catching some zz's where she can...


He's been the perfect companion at work - I've got a lovely set up where he comes in with me on Wednesdays. I have a swing and changing pad set up in my office and have scheduled my meetings accordingly. He has cooperated (if you will) with the schedule and takes good naps and eats well. Everyone enjoys seeing him - it really lightens the mood. I most enjoy being able to spend the day with him. I will often just wear him in the Bjorn and snuggle with him while I work. It really brings down the street level. Sophia gets a kick out of the two of us leaving in the morning - "Baby Theo going to work!"

Here's shot of my work buddy!

Neck control is really strong and he is still rocking the hair - it is definitely his signature trait. In fact, after his bath when it is freshly cleaned, it has some serious wave/curl to it. It's so soft and luxiorous. Yep, my son has McDreamy hair. He's also started to smile - this cute, lopsided grin, which makes everything just so much fun and a bit more rewarding - no matter how tired I am.

We're off to an Easter egg hunt tomorrow - pictures to follow!

One month of Theo

I can already see that my time is going to become even more limited than it already is, but I have lofty dreams of being able to post multiple updates on Theo's development, as well as our life as a family. So here it goes...

Theo is officially a month old today. It is hard to believe it, as the time has flown by. We are so lucky that he is a good baby - an excellent sleeper (I actually got a 5 hour clip of sleep last night- highly needed) and a good eater. Though on the eating side, each feeding takes close to an hour. During the day, not so much of an issue, but at night...sigh...it's a bit much. But hey, if that is what it takes to get long bouts of sleep, I'll take it.

He happily sleeps in the bassinet, a pass me down from one of my closest friends Colleen. It has circulated through at least 5 children in her family, so it's got some good sleeping karma to it.
Theo is getting bigger every day - we have his 1 month check up next week. Weight gain was a big issue with Sophia in the beginning. Happily, I think we have most of the eating figured out, so we won't have to worry about that this time around. He also doesn't spit up hardly ever. But he certainly likes to fill a good diaper up and makes quite the face (which I've nicknamed the Mr. Frumple face, after the Richard Scarry character that Sophia adores) while making it happen.

The first thing everyone comments on when they see him is his hair. He still has his amazing mop of dark hair. No sign of it falling out (to quote the nurse at the hospital "It'll look like a rat molted in his crib! - thanks lady!) but I do see blond hair coming in underneath.Bath time is my favorite as he has clearly inherited the ability to create greasy hair in about 10 minutes from me. After bath he has gorgeous, soft brown hair with some curls (definitely taking after my dad in that department!) I've tried to catch a picture of it, but to no avail.

A rare shot of Theo awake.

He is just a relatively easy going baby. I'm not sure if it's because he's a boy and is not as piercing in his cries, because he's #2 or because my nerves are more accustomed to dealing with Sophia's constant toddler needs that his non-urgent cries don't affect me nearly as much as Sophia's did. For him, it's more like he's saying, "If you don't mind, when you have a minute, I'd love some food. But no rush..." versus Sophia was more in the, "Get me some F*ING DINNER NOW!" type of cry. I'm sure he'll have his moments, but for now, the low-key is great.

Here's a shot of the partners in crime...playing well together. Sophia is in love with her baby brother and, all in all, I couldn't have asked for a better transition. I'm very very thankful.