Happy Father's Day!

It my be a day late, but Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, even the little dads-to-be!

Felix: 23 mos

Counting up and down

We had an interesting week. After getting missed by pretty much every thunderstorm in the vicinity this spring, I had a gnawing feeling that we were in for a bad one. Sure enough, we gazed out on a green-tinged sky at a very dark, low cloud to the west as the tornado sirens went off on Wednesday night. Of course, we had just put Felix to bed 10 minutes earlier, so we grabbed him, our phones and shoes, and went down to the basement. We got off easy, with only a little bit of hail and no damage to our property. But it definitely sent me into panic mode, since the tornado went just a few miles south of us.

We were invited to a dinner party Friday by friends of ours, and it was nice to meet other people. Lindsay's going to be a stay-at-home-mom with their 3-month-old daughter. I asked her to tell me about the crappy parts about being a SAHM, and I said I'd do the same about working (shouldn't be too hard... :o\ ), so neither one of us gets too jealous.

Felix has been learning his numbers at day care, and surprised me on Saturday by stringing them together to count to 10! Well done, little man. We had a busy weekend, going to the Farmer's Market at the Capitol (we've decided we're always going to stop at the Amish pie stand for a breakfast turnover or two), shopping, and enjoying a visit with my parents. We went out to brunch on Sunday for Cassie's birthday (today), and a bike ride after Felix's nap because it was nice.

And lastly, counting down. It's now less than a month until Felix's 2nd birthday! Deep down, I'm not surprised that he's nearly 2, because of everything he does now (talking, running, throwing, his independence). I'm just surprised that it seems to have happened so fast! I'm probably going to be saying that every year from now on...

Felix: 23 mos

Catching Up

We've had a lot going on the past two weekends! On May 20th, Nick and I both took the day off. We bought a new car, had a nice lunch out, took Felix to the zoo, and wished my dad a happy birthday! Cassie bought my old car, so we didn't have to worry about that. Felix has been very interested in the new car, and likes to pretend he drives it.

 

For being a holiday weekend, we didn't have a lot going on. Saturday, we took a nice bike ride in the afternoon. Sunday was very rainy, but we got in a short hike at a prairie park near us. Felix enjoyed that, running along the trails and suddenly stopping to look at ant hills. Today, we went to Brat Fest, the first time for all of us. Felix at nearly a full brat himself, and as you can see below, really enjoyed the ice cream (for the curious, it's special Brat Fest Cookie Dough, with a mustard yellow and ketchup red swirl). We got home in time for his nap, and spent the rest of the afternoon in the nice, cool basement. 

Felix is getting very curious in the world around him, which is really making things fun. He has a lot of interest and seems to like learning and refining his knowledge already. We're so proud of him!

Felix: 22 mos

Naughty...

Yes, Felix has become a Naughty Boy. Or, as his daycare puts it, aggressive. He's taking out his frustrations by biting and hitting, pinching and pulling. I bought him two books this past weekend: Teeth Are Not For Biting and Hands Are Not For Hitting. We've read them several times (all but twice because he just wants to read them). The other two times were because he hit or bit. I'm hoping he finds a new, non-violent outlet for his anger, and soon.

On a brighter note, his vocabulary and understanding of things around him is continuing to astonish us. He says the names of all his classmates and most of the people in our neighborhood. He uses possessives correctly most of the time (Mama's car or Ari's mama). One of the most interesting phrases he's used so far was "water tower broken, new one". A few weeks earlier, I had pointed out the broken water tower near our house and told them we'd be getting a new one soon. It's amazing that he retained that and randomly decided to use the phrase. His memory is definitely getting better. And last night, he was cracking himself up by trying to repeat the EIEIO part of Old MacDonald. It came out EEEIO instead.

Felix likes to run around a lot and he's rather amusing to watch. Yesterday, he ran all the way down to the park, his little legs moving this way and that, like he'd be a perfect candidate to work at the Ministry of Silly Walks. We've got our own little Crazylegs. :o)

Felix: 22 mos

Felixese 201

Welcome to Advanced Felixese. I realized that as Felix gets older, he won't pronounce words in such cute, mindboggling ways. Therefore, I wanted to make a list of some of his pronunciations before they're gone.

• "Dongizoo" = triangle
• "Dockiloo" = crocodile
• "Epilat" = elephant
• "Lilad" = lizard
• "Apatis" = octopus
• "Buttaby" = butterfly
• "Diesisor" = dinosaur
• "Buckaball" = basketball
• "Myno" = tomato or guitar
• "Buckabus" = asparagus
• "Civiyoos" = cinnamon rolls
• "Ovove" = olive
• "Raisis" = raisins
• "Boobolly" = blueberry
• "I love lou" = I love you
• "Bucking" = building
• "Segung" = ceiling
• "Abisass" = ambulance
• "Acopyou" = helicopter
• "Vyos" = flowers

By the way, he's just two words shy of 500! He's got two word phrases down, and is starting to string three words together (though often unconnected). He's also quite good at naming all the big trucks while we're driving. He likes to see garbage trucks, tankers, cement trucks, semis, buses, delivery ("divvy") trucks, among many others.

Felix: 21 mos

Happy or Merry?

The time of chocolate and ham, eggs and bunnies is upon us. Of course, I mean Easter. Usually, I feel Eastertime is the beginning of spring, but after yesterday's daylong rain/sleet/snow/thunderfest, I'm having doubts spring will ever get here.

Felix is doing well, mostly. Everyone says he's growing taller, though his pants still seem long on him. He's starting to use two word phrases with more regularity, usually describing the scene around us (e.g., "bird fly" and "Rugby naughty"). His longest phrase so far is "delivery truck, beep beep beep". He's liking all the sports on TV, easily differentiating between basketball, hockey, baseball and football. On the downside, he throws a tantrum every time we bring him inside, regardless of the time, weather, or his hunger. It's just a phase...

In honor of Easter, a little comparison (April 4, 2010 and April 1, 2011):

Felix: 21 mos

400 Words!

I've been trying to keep track of all of the words Felix knows, says, and uses correctly. And this morning, I realized that he has hit 400 words! Not surprisingly, foods edge out verbs for top spot. I'm sure there are others that I've missed, but this is pretty amazing, considering the average number of words kids are supposed to know and use at his age (20-21 months) is 10 to 40. Wow!

Also on a slightly different note, we decided it was time to break Felix of his Nuk habit, starting on the 1st. We did it by "breaking" his Nuk (I snipped off a tiny little bit from the end). He immediately decided something was wrong and that it was broken. That first night was rough. He cried for an hour. Each night has gotten progressively easier (in fact, he's slept through the night the last two nights - knock on wood). The only downside has been that he's been waking by screaming a few times - I think due to growing pains, and he's been tougher to put down. He no longer lays down quietly while awake and I walk out of the room. Now when I leave the room, he cries for Mama for a few minutes before settling down. Hopefully this will end soon, but so far so good!

Felix: 20 mos