Baby Blog

Wow, it has been a busy summer and I am QUITE behind on blog posts! Ok, here goes…

At the start of June, we went down to NY for a visit to Grammie and Pop-pop’s while Dad went to Matt Leitao’s bachelor party. While we were there, we went to a fair, where you rode a bunch of rides and your FIRST ride solo. It was a boat that went around in a circle and up and down and you sat looking very proud of yourself until you decided you’d had enough and tried to exit mid-ride. Luckily you were the only one on the ride and the man operating it stopped it quickly! You loved feeding the ducks from the dock and Pop-pop got you to eat Italian bread (finally) and it has now been dubbed “Pop-pop bread.” They also took us to Chuck E. Cheese’s – you wouldn’t eat the pizza but loved the rides – and Carvel. We finished off our Isis class with Carol and started a new one with our favorite teacher, Rebecca. Dad took you to a make-up Isis art class and you came home covered in marker, although spent most of your time putting buttons into and out of a container. We went to a new playgroup in Charlestown and hosted once at our house, although only one person was able to come. We went to the Scooper Bowl in Government Center, where you ate your weight in ice cream and loved every flavor except for chocolate, which you still think is poison. We watched Dad run in the Bunker Hill 8K and because of the race course, got to see him pass three times. You loved to see him approach and give you a high five, but started to whimper when he would leave again. We went to the first summer concert in City Square Park. You seemed to like the music (and ice cream) but didn’t want to dance with the other kids in front of the band and preferred to sit in the background with me. We went to a touch-a-truck day in Danvers and visited a nearby farm for strawberries, your first pony ride and a hayride. Dani, Gabi and Natalie spent most of the month in RI and came to visit us in Boston for a few days. We took them to the Museum of Science and the Aquarium and made vanilla ice cream. We went to a BBQ at Joe, Shannon and Harper Ewer’s house and you were in the worst mood I’ve seen you in awhile (molars, I think) so we had to make an early exit. Grammie, Pop-pop and Ashlyn came up at the end of the month and we went on a whale watch out of Gloucester. (Pop-pop made a very cool super 8 video of the day.)

Over 4th of July weekend, we had two weddings to go to, so Grammie, Pop-pop and Ashlyn took you down to LI on Thursday, then down to MD for your first overnight trip away from us. (We celebrated with a nice dinner at Grill 23 and I got a haircut, mani/pedi and had lunch with a friend.) You did great, other than a small awake-all-night hiccup on the first night, and we flew down to meet you all on Sunday at A. Gail’s. You were apparently a perfect angel while we were away, but you became a bit of a clingy, crying mess once Dad and I were there with you. You only wanted to be “outside” and in the pool, even when it was pouring rain and got very upset and frustrated when we couldn’t or didn’t take you there. (In class, they asked us to describe our kids using one word and I picked “opinionated.” You definitely know what you want, when you want it!) We flew back to Boston on July 4th, so didn’t get to see any fireworks, and spent the rest of the week at Ra and Papa’s, visiting with Dani and the girls before they left and spending some more time at the beach. On the way back home to Boston, we went to our first Pawsox game. You really liked pointing out all the “hats,” eating hot dogs and ice cream and the bits of action in the game, but whenever there was a break in activity, wanted to walk around the stadium. We made it all the way through the 8th inning. I had another wedding in VA that I went to by myself and you stayed with Daddy. You guys drove down to Grammie and Pop-pop’s house to visit with A. Celeste, U. Greg, Emily and Alana who had rented a house in the Hamptons. You were a little clingy with Dad and had a not so great first night, but otherwise you didn’t seem to miss me. We went to the second City Square concert together and you watched the musicians for awhile, but then wanted to watch the buses, cars and trucks on the road instead. We spent an afternoon at the spray fountain on the Greenway with Belle and Avery, took a ride on the carousel (which you did not want to get off) and ate lobster rolls for lunch. (You would not try the lobster, big surprise, and had a half a hot dog and some chowder instead.) We had an ice cream date at JP Lick’s in Harvard Square (one scoop of vanilla, one of mint chocolate chip to share) and went to story time in the North End. We took a trip to the Harbor Islands and spent the morning riding the ferry, swimming in the water and eating lunch at Spectacle Island. You were so tired on the ferry ride home, you almost fell asleep drinking your milk.

The big news is that at the beginning of June, you started sleeping in your own bed – first a mattress on the floor of your room, then in your big bed with bumpers blocking you from falling off the edge. I had a feeling you always just hated your crib so even though 16 months was a bit early, I thought we’d give it a shot and within a week, you were FINALLY sleeping through the night (or near close to it). Ashlyn makes you go rapid fire through your animal sounds and you’ve added a few new ones – bee (finger in your mouth? The only thing we can guess is that we say “bzzz” to the electric toothbrush and since a bee says “bzzz,” you have merged the two…), rooster (cock doo doo), worm (wiggly finger), dolphin (swimming up and down through the waves with your arm), giraffe (stretching your neck), and alligator (clapping your hands like an alligator’s mouth). You are babbling a lot more, in what sounds like full sentences. You like to point out the fan at Ra and Papa’s and say that it goes “around around around around.” Balls are still #1, but trucks (“dit da” for big truck), cars (zoom zoom), buses, taxis, airplanes, helicopters, motorcycles (“cocos”) and bicycles (“bi-cocos”) have overtaken dogs and birds. For some reason Rara has become “yaya” and you love to play with the “yocks” in their driveway. If anyone says “uh oh,” you automatically say “dropped it!” as you pair those two things together. When you lose a ball under the table or otherwise need help, you rub your chest for “please” in sign language. You like to point out things that are “empty” or “bull.” When you want something, you take our hand and lead us to it, which makes it much easier to figure out what you need!

You are basically running now and really steady on your feet. You can follow directions like jump! march! spin! and you would rather watch the tennis players at the playground than go down the slide. Your bottom molars finally broke through on June 25th and June 29th and the other top molar on July 27th. They really took their time coming in and made you absolutely miserable for a solid month. You hate potatoes (other than chips), chocolate, any cheese besides American, and refuse to try watermelon. You love hot dogs and that has become our go-to restaurant order for you because you will almost definitely eat it (along with pancakes and sausage for breakfast). On the way down to MD, Grammie claims you ate an entire hot dog, a juice box, a yogurt, French fries, three pickles and part of a cinnamon pretzel for lunch. (You are a much better eater for her than for me!) You have gotten much better in restaurants – you are starting to really eat independently and will sit happily in your chair once the food arrives which makes for a much more pleasant dining experience. You like to “dip dip” in ketchup, although mostly you just lick the ketchup off whatever you dipped in it. And – for something a little embarrassing – you have this really funny habit of standing up at the end of the bath and peeing as though to signal the end of bath time. You’ve become really affectionate in the last couple of months and love to snuggle, especially when you wake up in the mornings and after your nap. It has become one of my favorite times.