We celebrated our baby's SECOND birthday! Boyd says "noooo" when we ask if he's a baby, but I tell him he'll be my baby for a long time yet. My mom taught Boyd how to say his age, so his answer to "how old are you?" is "TWOOOOO!" with outstretched fingers. Actually, everyone is two if you ask him.
His birthday party was a small affair at our house. I'll have those photos and a recap later.
- Our boy is a great helper. I'm a fan of some aspects of Montesorri education and one of them is teaching children to take responsibility by helping with housework and small tasks. It's appropriate for a child to clean up after themselves, help us tidy a space, throw things away, etc.
- If there is something that I worry about with Boyd, it's his physical development. He invariably hits gross motor milestones but it's almost always at the later point of the scale. The doctor says not to worry since everything is basically on track but this is my first baby so I'm hypersensitive, I think. In that vein, he's still not really jumping - he knows how to do it and definitely tries but both feet don't leave the floor at the same time. He is however hanging from a bar for longer periods so his upper body strength is much improved.
- We are getting a little more serious about potty training. I am attempting to bribe him with stamps (as opposed to food or candy), which works about 50% of the time.
- Much better about wearing sunglasses - see hilarious photo at the end of this post.
- We got a peek at Boyd's sensitive side while watching the Olympics. A snowcross skier or snowboarder didn't land correctly and totally wiped out - next thing we know Boyd is super upset about it and crying. D and I looked at each other like, what the heck was that? He doesn't watch much TV, but we have to be so careful about what he does see.
- He constantly wants to go "bye-bye," as in a ride in the car or out to do something fun. Or he'll say "bye-bye" and push us away if we're interfering with his playtime.
- I let him sit in the driver's seat of my car the other day and he proceeded to pick up my keys and insert them into the ignition! He can also automatically lock the doors on our cars so I told D that he can never ever sit in the vehicle by himself or we could potentially see him driving down the street.
- Knows how to turn on most items - computers, phones, electronic toys. He can play videos on my phone and swipe from photo to photo.
- Is obsessed with swiping my credit card at the grocery store.
- Loves, loves, loves his two teachers - Miss Angel from gymnastics and Miss Hannah from music class. Gets a big smile on his face when we mention them and always gives hugs when in class. Miss Angel has told me in confidence that he's her favorite, ha ha. :-) He has been sitting in her lap during circle time and is always game to try the featured skill in class.
- Boyd's 24 month appointment is scheduled for this Monday.
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| Lining up his toys - a pretty normal occurrence around here. |
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| The tent is still a favorite. |
D purchased an annual family membership for the Anchorage Museum of History and Art downtown, so now we are able to visit whenever we want (not just once a month of free days, yay!). The three of us went earlier this month and spent a lovely few hours. The kid space/Imaginarium is always our first stop and then we check out the adult areas if we have time.
One of the major exhibits was centered around the world's consumption of plastics and the effects of that on our beaches and oceans. Really, really cool. There was a photographer taking marketing photos of the exhibit and he happened to be someone we've hired for projects at my workplace. He had the three of us pose next to a life-size dogsled team made entirely of plastic products. Supposedly we'll be getting a digital copy of the image soon.
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| Water table fun. |
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| Turtles are one of Boyd's very favorite animals, so he looks forward to visiting "Chomper." |
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| I always like to get to the Museum when it opens and is less busy. More room to play and no waiting! |
The next day we took another family trip out to a small lake up north that we really like. D brought the snowmachine and hooked it up to a utility sled, which is where Boyd and I hunkered down during the ride. We were all dressed very warm, but the day itself was chilly and the wind on the lake just made it worse.
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| Loves to pretend drive. |
Boyd was actually fine on our short ride down to the lake. However, once we let him out of the sled for a quick walkabout he did not want to get back in and pretty much cried on our whole short ride around the lake and back up to the truck. Ah well, it's always good to get out and every excursion is a learning experience!
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| The view for Boyd and me. We had a cushion to sit on and then were covered by a big wool blanket. |
When we're in the car or out and about, Boyd absolutely hates to have the sun shining straight into his face. I usually have a pair of sunglasses for him, but last week I forgot and he was fussing up a storm in the backseat. Finally I handed him an extra pair of my shades and laughed so hard when I saw him in my rearview mirror. He looks like an old lady! I felt like I was driving Miss Daisy around town.
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| Yes madam - where can I chauffeur you today? |
