Easter 2014

Easter festivities began a week early this year with an egg hunt and petting zoo at a local church. 

We did not make it to the actual egg hunt, Cedric was too busy coloring, taking photos and hanging out with his friends. 

The petting zoo was awesome. Top notch, but it's only the best for Wellesley. 

There were puppies, 

lambs, 

chickens, 

bunnies, 

pigs,

goats,

and kittens. The chickens, bunnies and kittens were all wrapped in blankets, to keep them calm and keep the kids "dry". The larger animals were all wearing diapers. All of the animals seemed overly subdued and I began to wonder what PETA would do if they ever found out about Barn Babies. It was very cute and Cedric was overwhelmed which means he appeared underwhelmed. Bob was just whelmed. 

One of the surprising highlights was the bouncy castle. There were lots of "big" kids and Cedric bounced until things got dicey and Bob pulled him out. 

This morning was Easter. Cedric didn't get it and really didn't notice that the toys in the basket were new. The kid has too many toys. 

The grass was the best part, even over the Reese's peanut butter egg. He barely ate half, I think it was too sweet!

We did make it to church, though Cedric only made it for about 45 min before he started shouting "milk" and "mommy". At least we all look good :).

Happy Easter!

Curling or Happy Birthday Bob

Tomorrow is Easter, one of the official starts to spring. After six months of winter, we are in desperate need of some real spring. So in honor of spring officially being here I realized that I better post about one of our great winter outings. Did I say spring enough? SPRING! 

Bob loves to watch curling. Every 4 years he gets really excited for the Winter Olympics and tapes (or has me find and tape) all the awesome curling action that plays on random channels in the middle of the night. Then we watch them. PS - they are not short. 

Bob knows the rules, understands the strategy and gets angry when the network plays commercials and he misses an end or two. The thing is, he has never actually played. The Olympics were over his birthday this year and so I got the idea to google "curling". Turns out there is a curling club, Broomstones, and it is not far from us that was hosting an Olympics open house. Awesome. 

I organized a babysitter and signed us up early, good thing because the event quickly sold out. I kept it all a secret until Bob's birthday, he needed a little cheering up and something to look forward to during his long busy season. I also was lucky that I picked the last time slot, which had fewer people and so we got extra ice time. 

Stuff I learned about curling: 

1. The stones are super heavy (40 lbs). I fell a lot trying to push the stone. That is because they give you one super slippery shoe so you can slide. We had to use a stabilizer so we didn't fall. 

2. The lanes are LONG. It takes a lot of power to try to get the stone across the ice. I couldn't even push the stone a fourth of the way. 

3. The ice has little beads of water sprayed on it before each game, which makes the ice bumpy. The Broomstones Curling Club was founded from the area country club curling clubs that were pushed out back 40+ years ago. They have a great facility with a viewing box, lounge and bar with TVs showing all the awesome curling action. 

4. Sweeping is super hard. Like very very exhausting. It is hard to keep ahead of the stone. It is hard to push down and sweep at the same time. The "broom" doesn't have bristles just some mesh over something like styrofoam.  Does sweeping really help? They say it does yet the Canadian Olympic team had some physicists do research and the theories to why it works didn't hold up. But they say it works so, we sweep. I was bad at that too. 

5. Finally, I learned that the ice is cold (duh) and you should wear shoes with thick soles while curling. Gloves are also a plus. 

All in all, we had a good time. We had to wait a little at the beginning but it was nice to have the extra time on the ice. Will we  be curling in the future? Possibly. Bob is already looking forward to 2018. 

Why does Bob like curling so much? I think it may be because curling was first introduced to the Olympics while we were in college and I'm sure the sport seemed awesome in the middle of the night. Also, it is a sport where it seems anyone can play and be in the Olympics. Especially from America. We aren't as organized as a lot of the other countries and any of the club members from the clubs around the country have the potential. I will say to anyone who thinks curling isn't a "sport" that I'd love to see you out on the ice. It isn't as easy as it looks!

20 Months

Amazing we've made it to 20 months. I have to keep reminding myself to call Cedric a toddler and not a baby. 

Cedric is still a picky eater, though sometimes we find random things he likes when we are out to eat. Below he is using french fries as a means to eat ketchup and he is stuffing his face with plain white toast. 

Now that Cedric is getting older I try to give him a little more space around the house. I'll head in the kitchen to do some cleaning up while he plays in the family room. His vocabulary is quite large for his age and he can say "play", fully understanding what that means. He has a good attention span for someone so young and is pretty good at independent play . . . for a bit.  

Sometimes Cedric is very cranky, tired or sick (or I am) and we turn to the iPhone or TV. Judge away but I've learned that until you are in a situation you'll never know how you'd react. I think that Cedric's vocabulary expanded thanks to a few flashcard apps I downloaded for him. 

Cedric likes Elmo, though we never watch Sesame Street. He loves Chugginton and has recently started asking for Mickey Mouse after I taped a farm episode of the Clubhouse show. His favorite songs are still Old MacDonald, If Your Happy and You Know It, The Wheels on the Bus, and Row Row Row Your Boat. He gets VERY happy when you start singing any of them!

 Cedric loves animals, real and stuffed. He loves to walk the dog and chase birds. Any animal is fair game and is very good at naming a lot of animals. 

 

We acknowledge Cedric is getting older and so are flirting with the idea of potty training. We bought the potty and have been trying to build some excitement. Today I bought him some little undies that he proudly wore around for a bit this evening. Then he went potty IN the potty before his bath. Granted, he was standing but I put the potty in front of him and asked him if he'd like to go and he went. I'm going to call that a win. 

We've done some fun outings lately, which I need to post this weekend. Cedric moves so fast and grows up so much I'm always exhausted by the end of the day. Bob's busy season is over so things are getting a bit easier around the house. 

I'll leave you with the photo below. The jury is still out on hair color. Some days it looks a little strawberry, dirty blonde, or golden blonde. His eyes are still blue though, doesn't look like that is going to change!

He's 18 months!

Ready for some shocking news? Cedric is 18 months old. Wow. I'm shocked. Where is the time going? I see people out and about with these little bitty babies and when I find out their child is 6 months old I realize that I really don't have a baby anymore. I have a toddler. A talking, walking, climbing, whining, picky toddler. A toddler that already knows that the iPhone and computer are awesome. A toddler that can distinguish between the different tv remotes (and we don't even watch that much!). A toddler who knows all about cookies and where they are hidden in the kitchen. A sweet toddler who can give you a kiss, when he is in the mood. 

Here are the stats (taken on Mar 10th, almost 19 months): 
Head - 50 cm 97th percentile
Length - 34 in - 89th percentile
Weight - 26 lb 7 oz - 77th percentile

So, what else can Cedric do? Since his 15 month appointment he went from maybe 15 words to maybe close to 50. He learns new words and concepts every day. He doesn't talk a lot in public and I wouldn't call him a chatter box a home either. He is talking more than grunting and whining, which is my goal. Occasionally he has used two words together, which is exciting. 

Cedric's memory is good, which can be frustrating at times. One day he was sick and so we watch some Elmo videos and then all I heard for a week was "Elmo, Elmo, Elmo". Then he got sick again and we watched a show called Chuggington and now it is "Choo-choo, Choo-choo, Choo-choo". He finds the Apple TV remote, opens my hand and put the remote in it and asks for more. Very hard to say no, he can be quite persuasive. On a positive note, he can now remember 5 verses of movements for "The Wheels on the Bus". He can identify and say head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, cheek, knee, toes, and belly. He can count to three, sort of. If I say one he will say two and three and then sometimes says go or something that sounds like it could be four. He can identify purple, green, yellow and blue - when he is in the mood. He loves animals and can tell you all about dogs, cats, birds, horses, fish, sheep, and cows. 

Cedric has some favorites. His favorite little bedtime buddies are Boo the dog (aka doggie) and a grey cat from IKEA (aka meow-meow). He loves that Boo the dog video on youtube but he found the stuffed animal first at a Paper Source. Those videos have kept him awake during a number of poorly timed car rides. He loves cars, trucks, TRAINS, balls and emergency vehicles - especially fire trucks. He gets very excited to watch them drive down Centre St. And of course, he loves the dog. 

 

 Cedric is pretty picky when it comes to food. He loves his milk, hummus, toast, yogurt, fruit pouches and crackers. His favorite food is apples. We actually had some trouble with his apple obsession for a few weeks there. Below are some shots of a happy apple eating boy, followed by a day in the life of a boy who just wants apples. 

Basically, Cedric is getting big. He gets into everything, nothing seems to be off limits anymore. We are learning more about his personality. He seems to be observant, stubborn, understanding, and cautious. He definitely knows what is going on and has a plan of his own. He is very convincing when he wants something and very difficult when he isn't getting his way. 

What movie said "I wish I loved anything as much as my kid loves bubbles"? No matter, it is so true. 

 Little Cedric isn't so little anymore. Here he is on a riding lawn mower for the first time and he already knew how to steer and shift. Seriously, some kids just are born with gifts. 

I'll leave you with a classic video of Cedric dancing to his favorite song "Pompeii" by Bastille. I'm sorry for the duplicates Instagram followers, but sometimes he is just very cute and I have to share it lots. Happy half birthday little boy, soon you will be 2. YIKES!!!