Constructingalife.com

Introducing www.constructingalife.com. It will be the new space for this blog in the future. The new site is still somewhat under construction, but all posts have been migrated to the new site.

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Colors

Sean went out of town this weekend to New Mexico for his birthday to go golfing. That left Stephen and I this weekend on a rainy, wet weekend. We had fun coloring with crayons, eating, and trying to take rain walks. We found that crayons are a lot less messy than markers, and they have a cool built in sharpener in the back of the box of 64. He says pretty much a new word everyday now. He likes "off" to take off his clothes, "Mo" for "Elmo", "up" to get mommy up.

And he's out like a light

The rare times when I can just sit and watch him sleep when I can actually see him in the light, I think to myself that he is so angelic. All sins are forgiven and he is so peaceful. There's no 2 year old devilish ways, no "no", just being. The past couple of days, he's been napping in his stroller while I take a walk with the dogs after being tired out at school, but unable to sleep. It's only in the low 90's here :), so it is "cool" enough to take a walk in the afternoon without getting too hot. It's good for all of us, good for the dogs to be getting out, good for Stephen, and good exercise for me.

Dallas Aquarium

Sean, Stephen, and I had a great time at the Dallas Aquarium today. It was packed, but Stephen loved to see all of the animals. I think it was more accessible than the zoo, because the animals are mostly small animals and he could walk around a lot. We got him a rubber snake at the end because at the wedding in Atlanta he loved playing with a rubber snake.

What a week

Stephen hated school. It's official. He had a tough week last week. He didn't nap and cried and whined all day, saying, "ma ma", but apparently he did learn some artistic skills, as he has created his first marker masterpiece for mommy this weekend. After school he was plastered on mommy until an early bedtime, and woke up a bunch during the night, apparently scared that we had left him forever. This weekend he has a runny nose, but finally (and thank goodness for 3 day weekend), we have all three of us caught up on sleep and feel a little better. I know in my heart that it really is the best thing for him, as it gives him opportunities for socializing, art, and other things that he may not get at home (although I need to add to my child art supplies, which should be fun) There were bright sides to school, apparently they have an 18 year old high school student as an intern one day of week, and Stephen had an instant report with him and was just his buddy the whole time he was there. It is just going to take a while before he really feels as comfortable as he did with Juana or with us.

We had a nice time with Nancy and Frank this weekend, who came up for Kaitlyn's soccer game on Friday night, which they won. Stephen didn't make it to the game, but he did to the tailgate. We also had a really nice time at the SMU boulevarding, essentially their tailgating for their football game on Saturday. Stephen really enjoyed the parade with a band.

Stephen is REALLY enjoying playing football. He has several footballs that I've developed a game with him to play. He goes back to pass, he can tackle, kick an extra point, and do a touchdown dance (essentially 2 fist pumps). He says "ball" every time we pass the Highland Park football stadium or the SMU stadium or see anyone in the park play pee wee football or etc.

We are off to the Arboretum and/or the Aquarium today for a little family time.

Not Sick Anymore

So, Stephen didn't go to preschool because he hasn't been feeling very well, but following a doctor's appointment, where she pronounced nothing was seriously wrong, he is better. We think it might have been some kind of stomach bug where Stephen didn't really want to eat much for the past week and has been uncharacteristically lethargic. Not even his favorite Yo Baby Yogurt, which is when we know that something is really wrong, when he won't eat his yogurt. We think he is going to be well enough to go to preschool tomorrow...Here he is napping on our bed, which he rarely does.

Big changes coming

On August 31st, Stephen is going to preschool at Carlisle School just on Lovers Lane near our house. It is a Montessori school and they have uniforms...right now he just has to wear a blue shirt with the school name on it and blue shorts. He will go every day and we will let go our wonderful nanny Juana, who has been such a help to us in the last couple of months. We think it will be good for him, very good for him, but we are bracing for the transition period.

Wedding in Atlanta, toddler style

This weekend was a friend of mine, Betsy's, wedding in Atlanta. I went on Thursday of last week, while Sean took Stephen on Friday. We were all in the wedding. I was a bridesmaid, Sean the officiant, and Stephen "junior ring bearer". On Saturday, we tried to go to Stone Mountain, where I had never been, but we went to a barn type of place where they had activities for kids about 5 years old and it scared Stephen. So then we headed over to the free playground, where he had fun for a while. We went to lunch at Sean's friend's house over near Turner Field, which was nice, although Stephen bit Rybolt, who is only 2 months younger. Fortunately the parents were really cool, didn't freak out, and we are still friends. Stephen then took a 10 minute nap in the car on the way back to the hotel. :) During the ceremony, he didn't really like the heat and just melted. I ducked out after walking down the aisle and held him inside while Sean did the ceremony. As I walked back down the aisle, I handed him to Sean, where he was fine. At the reception, he was a ROCK STAR. He danced and danced and danced until 11pm. Then he fell asleep on Sean's shoulders and Sean and I got to dance with Stephen asleep on Sean, which was actually very nice. We stayed up until 12 and then walked back to the hotel. He proceeded to be pretty much a rock star on the plane the next day when Sean got upgraded and poor mom was in coach. We traded him back and forth; he liked the cookie from 1st class. We were too busy to make a lot of pictures, but hey, that's what the official photographer is for. She showed me some good shots she got of Stephen, so I'm looking forward to seeing those prints. Stephen had a fan club in my friends who were very impressed by his dancing. During a lot of the evening he was imitating a five year old boy who was breakdancing and having a lot of fun too. All in all a good trip, although tiring at times, but fun.

To the book store

The other day, I took Stephen for his first trip to the book store, and boy did he LOVE going. A whole store just for books. I told him we were looking for books we didn't have, and he did a good job of choosing some classics, like some Dr. Seuss books, while I reached up high and got, "Where the Sidewalk Ends", one of my FAVORITES (partly because his name was Shel I'll admit). He also reached up for a Grover stuffed animal, so we got it.

We're off to Atlanta for a friend's wedding this weekend with Stephen. We're looking forward to seeing Emory and seeing some old friends as well.

Sunday Night at the Park with Friends

Sunday night, Sean, Stephen and I met our friends, the Smaardyk/Bell's and the Gray's for swimming, park, and cook out. The kids had a lot of fun. We picked up some random kid whose parents were somewhere else in the park...

Eating at the Table

Stephen likes to eat at the table sometimes with his own plate. Tonight he had dinner of hot dog, chips, broccoli, a couple peanuts, and then a little later, watermelon which he loves. He has started to use his fork sometimes, but not always.

Tricycle

Sean got Stephen a tricycle. He's been a little frustrated because he doesn't exactly know how to do the pedals yet, but he really likes being on it...

I'm an aunt and other milestones

I'm so pleased to announce I'm an aunt to Violet Kirkpatrick Smith, born Saturday August 1, 2009 at 5:55am. I'm so proud of my sister for giving birth naturally and gracefully. I'm so excited to see her and take pictures of her being so beautiful.

Stephen has been just going through a growth spurt. He now says, "aqua", "no", "mil" for milk, and "pa da" for diaper. He is eating like a tree, wanting meat and protein. He's swimming underwater (voluntarily going under water, kicking, and moving forward for a bit), climbing the playground equipment with growing ease, and LOVING sports. all kinds of sports. It started with golf and has now grown to include baseball and soccer. We got this ABC book of baseball from Summer, his aunt, and he has grown to LOVE baseball. In fact, this morning he went to the playground that has a baseball diamond, and he went on the pitcher's mound and proceeded to "bat" from there, which means he uses his little wooden bat to bat a tennis ball like a golf ball. He does have his sports mixed up, but at least he has dedication.

Busy Weekend of Fun in Houston

This weekend, Sean, Stephen, and I went down to Houston. Sean helped the family buy a car, we went swimming, and to a baseball game on Saturday night, Stephen's first. He liked the game, but the far away seats didn't keep him involved in the action. It was a horrible game against the Mets, ending up 10-3, but it was fun none-the-less. Stephen almost got hit with a foul ball. Frank tried to shield Stephen, who was on Grandma's lap, and the ball bounced off Frank's hand. I tried to get the ball, but the woman in front of us got to it and wouldn't give it up. I think for his next game we'll go to a minor league game where we can get closer to the field and he can keep up with the action. He loved running down the ramp and walking to the car, and was able to stay for the whole game, which was fun.

One more golf picture from Top Golf

Sean wants me to show that Stephen has a great follow through...

More Top Golf Stories

So Top Golf is a driving range/miniature golf/batting cage place where the driving range has balls which have RFID and you can hit them to targets which gets you points depending on a couple of different game rules. They also have a putting green where we waited for a slot for the driving range. Stephen loved the putting green and the driving range, but did NOT understand taking turns, so Sean got almost no time to hit balls himself. But, we were there for 2-3 hours each day, as Stephen just couldn't get enough of it. The driving range also has a restaurant that serves beer and food, including kids food, so we had dinner there both Saturday and Sunday nights. On Sunday, we had gone to get Stephen some new clubs (they were inexpensive) which were not plastic, but they turned out to be way too heavy for him, although that did not deter him from hitting with them.

Top Golf

Last night and today, Sean, Stephen, and I went to Top Golf. Last night, we went with some friends. Stephen had such a good time that we decided to go back today. This picture is last night, after he came home and before he went to bed. He was so tired, but so happy that he had played golf with dad....more pictures to come.

Official First Word

Stephen has started saying, "no" with quite an vengeance. Its the first word he has really used to convey his wishes. While it is quite cute now, I think it might get old in only a couple of days.

Return of the Video

Curls

He now has curls on top of his head.