Theodore: 1 year

Theodore is a year old now! 

remnants of the birthday cake adorn the birthday boy

He loves to:

flip light switches

play peekaboo

 put things in containers

eat cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden

swinging at the playground

eat blueberries straight off the bush 

get wagon rides from his big brothers

Some things he does now:

Goes up and down stairs with ease

Points at something interesting and says, "that"

Stands on his own for brief moments

Copies everything Lincoln does

He'es also adorable, but that's nothing new!

January

Hey guys! It's been a while, but I love sharing my life with you, and I'm looking for an alternative to Facebook. Hopefully I'll find this to be a better way of sharing my life with my family and friends.

Here are some pictures from January:

Big L did a science project to see what size balloon has the most potential energy. He hypothesized that the biggest ones would have the most energy.

We used the balloons to propel a straw along a string and measured how far they went. The big ones went the furthest, just like he hypothesized!

I've had to cut short little L's naps ever since our dear carpooling friend moved away. He used to wake up as soon as I opened the door to his room, but you see that he's still soundly sleeping even though I turned on the light as well. We've worked it out so he gets more sleep now, but there were a couple weeks where his naps didn't work out so well.

Little L figured out how to open up our doors! Since the knobs are an unusual shape, I had to make the knob covers myself. I found some examples of crochet ones, made up a pattern, and whipped out a few during a movie with Austin (Ant Man and the Wasp). This photo comes to you courtesy of C, who loves to take pictures with my phone anytime he can.

Big L recently started the gifted program at his school. On his first day, they made "brain focals!"

Eating frozen blueberries makes him look like a monster!

Sitting in the toy box

A was asleep, so the boys got a hold of his glasses

Lots of cuteness ensued!

"You'll miss this"

I've been thinking about that thing that people always tell young mothers: "When they get older, you'll miss when they were (babies, toddlers, etc)." or, "When they're teenagers, you'll miss this," meaning constant cries for mom, constant touching, questions out the wazoo, or any of the myriad of things little people do that drive us nuts.

I find that kind of unsolicited advice annoying. I think I do a fairly decent job of savoring the cute and fun things my kids do and say now, and I'm pretty sure that they'll like me just as much when they're older (as long as I keep the relationship strong). I love cuddling with my adorable, precious little baby, but when he's an energetic toddler running around on those adorably chubby little legs, a preschooler asking "why this" and "why that" and really thinking about my answers, a grade schooler learning about the world around him and becoming more independent, a teenager trying to figure out who he is in a complex and sometimes baffling world, or even a young adult leaving for college and trying out his wings, making mistakes as he learns how to live without mom and dad, I hope that I appreciate and love him just as much and more than I do now.

I think that we need to plan for the future and remember the past, but the best thing we can do for our kids in this regard is to focus on the present. They will remember that we like them as they are, not as they were or as they will be.

I also contend that this method is best for the parent. This way we are not constantly hoping for something we don't have, which is a surefire way to guarantee that we will be unhappy.

Cecil's first words

Cecil has had several "words" for a while, and recently he started trying out some new ones.

signs:
-more
-all done
-sleepy
-hungry
-diaper change
-thirsty
-milk
-water
-yes (nod)
-no (shakes head)

vocals:
-ma (mama)
-da (daddy)
-Kkk! or ka (kitty/cat)
-'ot! (hot)
-mo (more)
-meh (pacifier-don't ask. I don't know why he calls it this!)
-ar! (arf, barking like a dog)
-uh-huh (soooo cute!)
-ow

Yesterday, he repeated a lot of words after us. Here are a few:

-wall
-castle (didn't sound like castle; I don't remember what it was)
-sock
-shoe
-food
-bowl
-box
-ball

A year of Levi, according to Facebook posts

I thought it'd be nice to put all of the Facebook updates I've made about Levi in one place, so here they are! Spanning Levi's second year of life from November 10, 2012 to November 10, 2013. I love my boy so much!

Nov 10, 2012

The birthday boy!

Nov 15, 2012
Tired, tired boy. This is the first time he's fallen asleep in his high chair! He was so hungry that even though I knew he was tired and I'd already fed him, he still couldn't go to sleep. You would be amazed at how much food he'd eaten in the 10 minutes before this picture was taken.

Dec 8, 2012
Gotta stand up to get a good view / Levi loves studying security on the computer with his daddy!




Dec 11, 2012
This is probably the cutest video of Levi I've ever taken. Prepare for the giggles!




Dec 13, 2012
Levi is big on imitation...before today, he HATED when I'd wipe his nose with a tissue. Today, however, I also have a cold and he saw me blowing my nose. He started blowing out of his nose, and it was SO cute! When I realized that he was trying to be like me, I wiped his nose and he seemed to enjoy it. Silly boy!

Jan 9, 2013
This morning I talked to my sister Becky on the phone. Levi wanted to do what I was doing, so I held the phone up to his ear so he could hear her, too. At first he just wanted to take the phone away from me and play with it, but when he realized that someone's VOICE was coming out of it, he got really excited and chuckled to himself. It was really cute!

Jan 20, 2013
Levi took a step yesterday! He has taken steps before, but this was his first premeditated step. He took another premeditated step today. I'm so excited for him!

Jan 24, 2013
Update on Levi walking: He can now walk 5 or 6 steps without falling! He's so cute--he'll take a few steps and then almost start falling into each successive step but takes another step so he doesn't fall--so he's going pretty fast. And he also can only go in a straight line.

Jan 31, 2013
Got some of Levi's walking on camera. He always gets excited when he sees the camera, so it isn't as good as I'd have liked. Still cute, though!




March 6, 2013
Earlier today, Levi gave me one of his socks to signal he wanted to go outside. My little boy is growing up so much!

March 7, 2013
I hear Levi laughing to himself and what do I find? ... this. Hehe!




March 17, 2013
I had no idea slobbery wet baby kisses could make me so happy! Levi kissed me on the cheek each time that I asked him to before he went to sleep tonight. Eeee!

March 21, 2013
Levi is showing off for me by walking around the apartment with one (folded and unused) diaper in each hand, giggling and laughing and looking at me every 10 steps or so. So adorable!

April 8, 2013
Levi still hasn't figured out how to open the childproof stuff on the cabinets. What he HAS figured out is that when the cabinet's open just a crack, he CAN put stuff INTO the cabinet. It's really funny finding random stuff in the cabinets. Today I found a diaper and a bag I'd given to Levi earlier today

May 13, 2013
Levi really likes the cabinets at our new place in Atlanta because he fits in them so well. He also likes shutting himself in the cabinet and giggling where I wonder aloud where my Levi boy could be




May 17, 2013
Levi figured out how to walk backwards today. So. Cute!

May 31, 2013
Love sharing smoothies with this little guy!




Jun 7, 2013
One of the cutest things EVER is to watch your toddler try--and fail--to make a fish face because he thinks yours is too funny and can't help smiling. Happy!

Jun 21, 2013
Today, Levi:

-pulled all the toilet paper off of the roll

-gave me a kiss on my owie (that he gave to me)

-asked me to cut his nails (he usually resists this)!

It's a good day.


Jul 1, 2013
This was Levi an hour before his official nap time. He wasn't asleep, but laying quietly. He might have fallen asleep if I hadn't taken the picture. I put him down for his nap soon after this picture and he just woke up from his nap. That's a 2-hour nap, folks!




Jul 2, 2013
Folding clothes within reach of a toddler is an exercise in futility. It's cute that he's trying to help, though ....

Jul 15, 2013
Ok, I'm now converted to teaching babies to sign. I learned the sign for "finished," taught it to Levi, and now he does NOT throw food on the floor anymore when he's done eating, but signs to me instead that he's done. Now to teach him some more useful words ...

Jul 24, 2013
I see something pink out of the corner of my eye and look up to see this. Haha!




Sep 2, 2013
Happy to be in his fort! He liked it so much that it was hard to get a picture of him looking at the camera!




Sep 7, 2013
Levi fell and cut his chin this morning. He's had a rough day, but I've tried to make it up to him by playing with him more than usual. He's been a real trooper and hasn't complained since his nap except to point at his chin and say, "owww"



Sep 8, 2013
Today during church we sat behind a family with a baby. Partway through the meeting, I started listening to the sounds Levi was making--he was saying "beh-bee" over and over again. He has a new word!

Sep 14, 2013
Levi likes peaches! I have succeeded as a mother and as a Southerner

Sep 18, 2013
GUYS ... Levi is just too cute for words! Here are some of his new words--baby, mama, Elmo, and bubble. Sorry about the sound quality of my voice. Also, look at the socks on his feet! He put them on himself :)




Sep 21, 2013
Levi is so cute! We were just outside, and he'd found a twig with some dry leaves attached. On his own accord, he held it aloft like a flag and started running around in circles! I had to laugh. What a fun kid!

Sep 30, 2013
Levi has been skipping his naps recently. He's been playing nicely in his room for an hour or so after I put him down, then begs to come out, usually with a dirty diaper or pleas of hunger, and I just let him stay awake. However, he's grumpy for the rest of the day when he skips his naps. Well, today I decided that he'd stay in his room until he did take his nap, and I told Austin so in Levi's hearing. I'm pretty sure that Levi understood, because within 20-30 minutes after that, Levi was asleep! Victory!

October 5, 2013
I guess Levi noticed that I usually say, "Thanks," after he gives me something, because he's started saying, "dei," when I give him something. SO CUTE!!!

October 12, 2013
Levi said "knee" today! It's exciting because he hasn't really used the "n" sound much in the words he knows. He also pretended to be a cat ... he'd rear up from being on all fours and say "mow!" as he came back down. Hehe

October 16, 2013
Levi's putting one of his socks in mine and Austin's shoes and repeating, "ha-sigh" (inside) over and over again. Eeeeeee so cute!!

October 23, 2013
Levi likes to "say" prayers. He'll repeat gibberish after me, and then when I say, "in the name" at the end, he also says "name" (sounds like meme, but I'll take what I get!), and then won't even say gibberish for "Amen". So funny!

November 1, 2013
Levi has recently learned to say "Jesus". I wanted to make sure he wasn't saying it for every long-haired bearded man, so I showed him a Smooth McGroove video on YouTube. Levi thought he was Jesus. I ... don't know what to say. It's funny, though!

November 10, 2013 

Two years ago today at 8:00 in the morning, a little boy was born. Levi is such a sweetie and I love having him as my son. Happy birthday, Levi!





Funny faces for a fun day. Two years old and growing every day!

Oh, just some more cute things that Levi does :)

Oh, Levi.

He's continuing to learn more and more words, and to use them more and more appropriately. Just today, Levi climbed up on my chair next to me and crowded me, so I moved to the couch. That made Levi sad, so he patted the seat of the chair next to him, said, "Hsit. Ma-ma," and I couldn't resist. I came and balanced on the chair next to him. It's so easy to love my boy!

We went on a Sunday afternoon ride earlier today, and Levi hadn't taken a nap yet. About five minutes into the drive, I heard him saying, "shhhh, shhh," which is Levi-ese for "sleep." I asked, "Are you going to sleep?" and when I looked back at him, he nodded his head. About a minute later, he was asleep. Aww. :)

On a side note, Levi has learned how to say "Nanner," which is my mother-in-law's "grandma" name. His other grandparents' names are much harder for him to say (all starting with Gran-), but he knows Nanner. We recently got a photo book featuring Levi, his parents, grandparents, and some of his great-grandparents, and I'd have to say his favorite pages are the ones with his grandparents. He loves looking at them and their faces. Levi's second favorite page features him as a little baby, from a few days old to about 3 or 4 months old, with parents mixed in.

Levi's language explosion, week 4

I think this is the last time I'm going to do one of these, but it's just so fun when he learns a new word!

Levi's new words this week:

Star
Stove (used frequently)
Go!
Thanks ("dei")
Pop

He's also saying a lot more gibberish than usual, and using his words to ask for things more often.

Language explosion, week 3

Levi is still picking up words, and the pace is staying pretty constant. I'm so happy knowing that he's finally ready to experiment with words and that he has already gained so much. Also, it's good to reinforce the words he has already, and he has been using them consistently. Here are his new words for this week:

Ball
Bus
Bowl
Stick
Moo (like the cow)
Mama (used properly!)
Katie (Dayee instead of Aieee)

I love how you get an idea of what he's interested in by the words he learns. Some of them are determined by the consonants that he can pronounce, but some (like "stick" [said like "tih"] and "Katie") are learned because he just really likes those things.

Levi's favorite words of the ones he knows are "baby" and "bubble". One of the things he loves during his bath is to look at all the bubbles after I soap him up. He excitedly points at the bubbles and exclaims, "Buh-bu!" and it's adorable.

We have a new way of reading books now. Instead of him pointing to pictures and asking, "Issat?" (What's that?), I ask him, "Where is the ____?" and he points to the item I named. He seems a lot more excited about interacting with books when we "read" this way, although he really enjoyed the way we did it before. We have a good time.

Language explosion: Week 2

Yes! Levi is still learning words by the bucketful! I get excited every time I think about it. I was disappointed when he didn't start learning lots of new words at 18, 19, 20, and 21 months, but had gotten used to the idea that my son wasn't an "average" kid. I expected to be happy when he started talking, but nothing like how I feel now. I think it's sweeter because I had to wait a little longer than I was expecting.

Levi's newest words of the week are "bye," "bi(ke)," "bubble," "girl," "Mo-mo" (Elmo), "dada" (used correctly!), "bibbee" (bib), and there are several others that he's repeated--or tried to repeat--after Austin or me. Stove is one of those words. Oh, and he also says "meow" when he sees a cat.

Usually Levi will just repeat words back to us, or say the word when he sees the object. However, when I was getting him ready for breakfast this morning, Levi asked for his bib!

Sometimes at night after I put him to bed, Austin and I hear him talking to himself, practicing his new words. We always share a smile at moments like that.

He's very proud of his new words, and will watch the video I took of him talking as many times as I let him. He even waves "Hi" and "'bye" at the appropriate places when he's watching.

You may notice that a lot of Levi's words involve a "b" sound--he still doesn't have a lot of sounds to use when he wants to talk. Sometimes when we're asking him to say new words and he's on a roll, we'll try one that he hasn't said yet. If it's a word with sounds he can do, he'll usually say it, but if it's a word that's too hard, we'll see him think about how he'll say it, then stay quiet.

Levi's language explosion

Levi is starting to have his language explosion (finally)!

Linguistic scientists say that most babies start learning new words more rapidly at around 18 months, but Levi decided to take his own time with that and learn other things first instead. However, he's finally started to talk more! At 22 months, this is what it's like:

One day before his 22 month mark, I commented on Facebook that Levi had been nodding his head to answer "yes" to a question. It's not verbal communication, but it IS communication. That's the first new word recently.

Two days before his 22 month mark, Levi said "baby" very clearly, and has been saying it several times a day since then. Second word.

Five days after his 22 month mark, Levi said "mouth" (ma-ma) and repeated "da-da" after us, though he still doesn't call my husband Daddy or Dada. On the same day, he also garbled out something that sounded like "eyebrow" (he thinks eyebrows are cool). Third and fourth words.

Somewhere in there--in the week around his 22 month mark--Levi said "mouse" (mau) as he pointed at a picture of a mouse in a book. He also started saying "oww" to refer to cuts and scrapes. Fifth and sixth words!

That's 6 new words in a week! That is more words than he's learned at any one time ever before. I'm excited! I'm looking forward to being able to hear his thoughts and learn what he cares about, even if it is just trains and trucks. I love that boy.

Daddy and Mommy being supportive of Levi protecting his owie.
Levi would point to my chin after I put on the band-aid and say, "oww."

Levi: 20 months

One of Levi's recent milestones is learning to pretend. He often pretends to be a dog while crawling around on the floor (instead of walking). There are other things he pretends, but I can't think of them. He also understands more of what I say and what's going on around him than he did a few months ago (let's say 2 months ago), and is very good at following instructions--as long as they don't conflict too much with what he wants to do.

Some of Levi's favorite things to do:

-opening doors, especially ones that require some strength
-playing in the car (yes I let Levi play in the car--it's funny to see what he's done to it when I get back in! Last time, he left the rear view mirror alone, but turned on the blinker and the windshield wipers and dimmed the dashboard lights all the way.)
-putting trash in the trash can. Thankfully, he usually only puts pre-approved trash in. Sometimes when he finds a piece of paper lying around, he'll throw it away without asking (daa? [trash?]) because he knows paper is trash ... let's hope he doesn't throw away anything important!
-playing in the pool
-making Mommy and Daddy laugh
-playing horsey
-waving at people. He always smiles when they wave back. It is so cute!

He loves many, many other things, too. One game that he made up recently is when I went to change his dirty diaper, he ran away and "hid" in the cabinet. When I came to get him, he turned away from me and sat like this in the cabinet:

It was actually kinda frustrating until I realized that it was a game. Usually he's really good about letting me change his diaper if it's dirty. Anywyay, he giggled so much through this "game" of his own making. He's such a fun kid!

One thing that has remained constant as Levi's developed is his charm. He's an incredibly friendly kid that also has such a classic cute look which so many people love. Pretty much anyone who sees or interacts with Levi falls in love with him. For example, we've been down to the office for our apartment building a few times during the summer, and evidently Levi charmed the ladies down there so much that one of them got a toy for him! Remember, we've only been in the office a few times this summer.

We also regularly visit our bishop's house so that I can practice the piano. The bishop's wife keeps Levi's attention away from the piano (her idea, not mine!) so that I can practice. Levi thinks she's awesome, and she thinks Levi is the sweetest thing. Levi always gives her a big hug and sometimes a kiss when we leave.

Levi's such a people person and loves being with others and making them smile. I'm looking forward to getting to know more of his personality as he grows up.

Reasons My Son Is Laughing

So, many of you have probably heard of Reasons My Son Is Crying on Tumblr. For those of you who haven't, a dad uploaded pictures of his son crying with hilarious real-life captions, such as, "He finished his chicken nuggets. I offered to get him more." I think the humor of the pictures/captions aren't just from the silly reasons toddlers cry, but also from the way the father worded the captions. Side note: the person who started the site is the funniest, but posts pictures of other people's kids with their captions, and most of them just aren't as funny. Oh well.

Anyway, Levi cries for plenty of ridiculous reasons, but he also laughs at pretty silly things. Here are some of the things I've caught him laughing about recently:

Mommy is crawling, too

He fell down on a mattress.

He "scared" me every time he took a step down

(bonus picture!)

The water fountain has a lot of water pressure

(another bonus picture!)

I just love my silly, happy boy. I hope you've enjoyed the pictures!

Levi signs!

Levi's language abilities have really taken off since a month or two ago (when he hit the 18 month mark). He attempts saying more things--although it's still difficult to understand what he's saying. I also recently started teaching him some signs, which he picked up on really quickly!

The first sign I taught Levi was the one for "finished." Now instead of throwing food on the floor, he (usually) makes the sign for "finished" to let me know when he's done. Score! Levi has learned two more signs since then: "please" and "more".

I had been trying to teach Levi to sign "please" for a day or two but to no avail because I'd eventually give him the thing he was asking for (food, etc). Finally, he asked for something unnecessary (to watch a segment of Pocoyo) and he knew I wouldn't give it to him unless he "said" please. Ever since then, every time I ask him to sign "please," he does! Sometimes he'll even sign before I ask him to--but that's only if he's asking to watch more Pocoyo. Signing "more" came about in a similar way, but he hasn't learned it as thoroughly and doesn't sign it as much.

On a side note, Levi's been waving "bye" and "hi" for a long time now (maybe since a month or two after his first birthday? I don't really remember, and wish I did!). I guess that is technically his first sign...

And since I haven't made a list of the things he says lately, I'll take the opportunity to do so now:

1. 'I! (hi)
2. Ah! (bye)
3. 'Ot! (hot)
4. No
5. Ahhhh (I'm hungry or thirsty!)
6. 'A isat? (What is that?)
7. ersey (thirsty)
8. Daa (trash, because he loves putting things in the trash...lol)
9. Euu, gah! (ew, yuk! -to food he doesn't like or stuff that goes in the trash :)
10. Ow!!! (when he hits me, whether or not it hurts. I guess he knows hitting and owies go together, even though he doesn't say "ow" when he's hurt.)
11. Eh shei? (where shoes?)

The bottom ones are new starting at #5. Also, I feel like I'm leaving stuff out that I don't really recognize yet, but mean something to him.

Most of Levi's communication isn't through spoken words, but through body language after making some noise to get my attention. For example, if he wants to watch Pocoyo, he does a little dance like the character Pocoyo. If Levi wants me to pick him up, he lifts his hands up to me. If he wants to give me (or Austin) a kiss, he makes a fishy face (this is pretty much the cutest thing imaginable, by the way). If Levi's ready to sleep, he leans his head back while I'm holding him. I think this natural sign language has made it easier for Levi to catch on to the more standardized sign language.

Hot Indian Levi?

Levi did two things yesterday that I'm so proud of!

1. He saw some steam and said, " 'Ot!"
2. He followed some indirect directions: He was making a whining noise while I was holding him, so I started putting my hand over his mouth and then quickly removing it to interrupt the flow of air for a split second. Levi thought it was pretty funny, and liked the noise. He stopped whining, but kept making a noise so he could hear the interruption of air. After a few seconds of this, I was ready to put him down. Before I did so, I told him, "You can make the noise with your own hand, too," and Levi proceeded to make the noise himself with his own hand.

Eeee! What a fun little guy :)

A Day in the Life

So a few months ago I saw a blogging idea that I thought was pretty interesting. The idea was to take one picture for each hour of the day and then put it up on your blog. I finally tried it! Here we go:

We start out with breakfast. Levi is my alarm clock, and I get up when he does (~7:00 AM). As soon as he wakes up, he wants breakfast. Depending on his mood, he'll either yell until he gets it or desperately say, "Aah, aah, aah," (translation, "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry!") until he does.

 Playing with the tablet is not part of Levi's routine, but it was in his reach so I let him play with it this time. This picture was taken around 8:00 AM. In the time since breakfast, I cleaned up the living room some (gotta clean for those pictures, right??) and did some cleaning in the kitchen (dishes, I think?)

 "Mom, let's go outside!"

Going down the stairs, ~9:00 AM

 My son is so cute that I couldn't stop myself from taking a few more pictures ...

Mid-morning snack!

Losing it for no reason. We were both sad :(

~10:00 AM, Levi's favorite show Pocoyo. It's really cute and he can watch in either Spanish or English.

Levi was able to relax while he was watching, and he was fine for the next 2 hours.
[EDIT: Levi did not watch Pocoyo for 2 hours. 30 minutes was all that took to calm him down.)

Levi saw me cleaning up some food he spilled on the floor, and wanted to try it out, too :) (~11:00 AM)

I make about one smoothie per day. It's great for helping both Levi and me eat more healthily! (~11:30 AM)

Naptime! (~12:30 PM)

Me telling myself, "You're so cool!" to try to psych myself up for having a flattering 

expression for a selfie. It worked better in the next picture ....

A better selfie! I figured if I was chronicling MY day, then I'd 

better put some pictures of myself in there.

After the selfies, I did some FamilySearch indexing! If you haven't tried it, then you should. It's basically crowd sourcing out the work to make all of the world's records searchable by computer. (~1:00 PM)

Mmmmmm! I made lunch and ate it. Which of these three pictures do you think is the yummiest looking? I did a much better job with these pictures than with the soup that I thought was so good :) (~2:00 PM)

We went on a walk (~3:00 PM)

We splashed in the pool to cool down our feet after the walk. (~3:30 PM)

I got tired of and forgot to take pictures for a couple hours. This is Levi and me after driving to 

a missionary appointment that fell through (sad day!), waiting around for a while, and then coming 

back, all without air conditioning. We were both kind of pink when Austin took 

this picture, but you can't really tell here. (~7:00 PM)

Austin watched Levi while I cooled off and exercised at the same time in 

the pool for my apartment building. (~7:30 PM)

I forgot to take any more pictures at all yesterday, so this picture from today will have to suffice to represent all the hours after I came back from the pool, because I spent all of them with Austin!

I did a lot of things not pictured, so don't think that this was everything I did all day