The Lion at 28 Months

I WILL at least get these monthly posts up.  Though at what age is it ridiculous?  Since they're mostly for my memory, I want to still have them, so...there.  Robby is still a pretty great 2 year old.  Chris might not agree after getting bitten twice tonight, but generally I think it's going well.  Still independent, demanding, willful, but he has been since he was born.  Woah to the teenage years.

We've definitely been having some behavioral issues recently.  He ends up in time out at daycare daily, but they assure us that's normal.  I don't know.  It doesn't seem ok to me that he hits/bites/fights over toys.  I feel so powerless as a working mom that just isn't around that much.  I WISH I felt like I had more influence on him.

On the flip side, he is very perceptive, which means he can either be manipulative or sweet.  He has started telling "stories".  For instance, I came home today, and he told me that Chris had hurt his back when he fell on the floor in the kitchen.  Not true.  Not sure where that's coming from.  He will say, "Daddy's not listening" if we bicker and he notices, but also he out of the blue will say something like, "Daddy, thank you for football.  Fun." after we went to our local high school's game last week.

His best recent comment was when we went apple picking a week ago.  I thought, "Oh, great!  Teachable moment!" And, thinking I was smart, said, "Robby, if apples grow on trees, what else do you think grows on trees?"  Without pause, he answered, "Logs".  Well played, kid, well played.

Physically, he's pretty impressive.  He is coordinated and can do any piece of playground equipment, even if it's meant for older than him.  This includes ladders, being pushed on a big swing (slowly), scarily big slides, etc.  His favorite park activity is running the bases on the baseball field, though.

He is social, but I feel like he's starting to clam up a bit from the truly outgoing boy he used to be.  He does not talk about friends at school nearly as much as he did at the old school, though he talks about his teacher a lot.  He still will talk to strangers, but it usually takes a little prompting.  This might actually be a relief.

MUSIC.  Robby LOVES marching band music and singing.  Most nights during our dog walk, he sings a good 75% of the time.  Usually the Penn State fight song, "Old MacDonald", or "Wheels on the Bus", though he enjoys "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "Twinkle Twinkle", or "ABC's", as well.  He has also declared that he will be a "drummer man" for Halloween, so I need to get on that.

Eating is still pretty varied.  Some days he pigs out, some days he barely eats.  He is not particularly picky, though he would eat all junk if you let him.  He LOVES lollipops, grapes, carrots and hummus, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagels, and apples.  But he'll really eat most things most days.  Tonight's dinner was spaghetti with pesto, salad, and bread and butter.  Gorged himself.  Love that this isn't an issue.  Though, maybe sometimes I worry that he eats too MUCH.

I love that he's completely still my little man, even though I'm not around.  He is so excited when I get home, and then is suction cupped to me.  I love that we can now have conversations.  I love that he is smart, funny, creative, and eager to try new things.  I love that he loves to read, sing, and just play.  Generally, I love you, Rob.

Penn State Visit

We went to Penn State almost 2 weeks ago, but with my posting track record that's almost like yesterday. I ended up with the flu and slept in the hotel on Friday while Chris and Robby toured campus. 

Fortunately, I managed to pull it together by Saturday, and we had a great time. Still can't stand posting on my phone, though!  So I'll just say we only made it to half time because Robby was melting down, and that my child is INCREDIBLY obsessed with marching bands. 

He hasn't stopped talking about it since and asks daily if we're going back. Here is a fairly poor video of him singing the fight song. He really does know all the words and sings it all.the.time.  So fun!

http://youtu.be/n7jl6XrcpS4

The Lion at 27 Months

I know, I know. I was going to catch up. Anyway, jumping back a couple weeks to when Robby hit 27 months, and we went next door to our community fair. One of the best things about the new house is living next to a huge park with tons of walking trails. Also, they had a community day with horses, fire trucks, ambulances, helicopters, bounce houses, face painting, etc...all free!  There of course were vendors with food or crafts too, but soooo many kid friendly activities. Robby had a blast, even though he didn't nap that day. 

He's so smart, active, and surprising these days. He's talking very well, though doesn't have his tenses perfect. (For example:  Mommy, where is you?)  He now definitely knows colors, though almost always says red is blue and blue is red. He says the full alphabet, and can identify a few letters on sight. He can consistently count items to 4, but I've heard him recite to 20.  "Why" has started to make an appearance.  

He loves to run, jump, dance, climb. He goes on the "big kid" playground daily, and can climb every slide, do monkey bars with help, climb a rock climbing wall, and a spiral ladder, and hang onto this circular spinny thing and a zip line while I push him.  He just learned to keep his feet up on our neighbor's tire swing and to hang on a regular swing well enough. 

He is OBSESSED with marching bands right now, and spoiler if I ever write about today...his life was made when we saw the blue band at Penn State. He also generally likes music, drumming, and SPORTS. Another positive with the park is getting to watch all the local baseball and soccer. He loves watching the big kids play. 

The new daycare is a mixed bag. We like it, but Robby has had a hard time. He's been acting up and hitting a lot, which he never used to do. Also, he almost never talks about friends and just says he plays with his teachers. It makes me really sad. It doesn't help that they started him in the older 2 class, then just moved all those kids up except him and one other since they were younger. So he was with those kids for 3 weeks, and now new ones. I hope he starts feeling more comfortable soon. 

We'll see if I can ever figure out how to post videos from my phone, because I have some great ones, but...yeah. http://youtu.be/jTqkP5YrWzg

Long story short, I still feel like I'm missing out, and feel terrible since he's obviously having some trouble, but he's still a great kid. 

Trying to catch up Feb-March

Can you believe I have to go this far back?  And these will be BRIEF picture posts. Working in NY was actually a lot if fun. I made some great friends, ate some great food, saw a broadway show where Cory Monteith stood directly behind me with Lea Michele, and I learned a lot. 

But I sure was glad to get home to Robby and Chris on the weekends. Chris did a fantastic job as a single dad, but he was glad when it was over. 

This was the first time that 2nd cousins Robby and Reid met, but they've seen each other a bunch of times since, and man do they love each other. 

Here's to the goal of doing April/May tomorrow. 

The Lion at 26 Months

So...this was awhile ago, and did I miss last month?  I don't even know anymore. I'm so terribly behind. Robby is a new kid. He speaks so well, and gets into everything. There is literally not z singled "child proof" item he can't open. Wine cabinet?  Yup. Stove knobs?  Sure can. So the doors on the new house have gained lovely new features... Chains or hooks at the top of a few. Well, I can't shock everyone too much and do a truly great post. So a run down:

- Sleep. Rob's now in a crib without a side. He sleeps fine at night, but naps at home are a struggle. At daycare?  They're great. 

- The new school. He loves it and is doing great, though he was bitten on Friday and has been upset about it. 

-  Food. He's eating perfectly. Nothing to report. He loves sweets, yogurt, turkey, whole apples, eh, it changes. 

- Play. He prefers trucks and playgrounds. 

- TV. Favorite current movie is a Roger Waters concert that he calls "rock on". Favorite tv is Thomas still. 

-  Intellectual leaps. He speaks in intelligible sentences. Can answer concept questions. Can sing on pitch. Loves to drum rhythms. Can identify some letters. 

Alright. I can't take writing on my phone. Obviously we were just in NH. Hopefully I'll do a new house post soon. 

Week by iPhone

So, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, even if I took a paltry 6 pictures this week.  And...ok, some of them are really weird.  Anyway.  Here they are:

These are in reverse order, so starting in the bottom right: 1) Robby giving me some attitude while reciting his favorite book, 2) Ah, work conference calls, On to Father's Day: 3) Play place at the mall while dad shops for shoes, 4) Um...this is out of order.  My parents were off looking at houses and had Robby with them, and I took a picture of the kitchen.  Go figure.  5) We were on our way to "Day out with Thomas" and Robby had just seen Thomas out the window.  He was PSYCHED.  6) Daddy and Robby riding Thomas.

Maybe I'll get better at this next week.  But, even if I don't, you should check out other people who are fabulous over at Living Like the King's Week by iPhone Blog Hop.

Random updates

Since I never write, I will do a brief rundown on all our updates.

WORK
I have been with the new company for 4 months.  I like the job, though it's very busy and the hour+ commute is really hard on me. I miss the time with my family a lot. Therefore, I'm pretty psyched about:

THE MOVE
We sold our house after 2 days on the market. That fell through after inspection (though nothing was wrong).  We had to go back on the market for 2 HOURS.  We have ended up SUBSTANTIALLY ahead with the 2nd buyers. Worked out well.  It took us awhile, but we finally found a house, and are closing on both on the same day in about a month. We're actually downsizing a little, but its beautiful, in a great school district, on a huge lot, and should cut my commute down to around 40 minutes.  So, yay!

ROBBY
He seems so big!  He talks well, "gets" more and more, and has so little "baby" left.  Right now he is obsessed with Chicken Run, the pool, his truck book, Mater, and ice cream.  It's adorable that he says, "My do it."  Although he has started picking up on using "I" instead. It's a little sad how fast he learns  and grows up. He also has started saying, "Football, baby!" Which is hilarious and we have no idea where he got it.

ACTIVITIES
We went to a 2 year old birthday party today, I've been working on learning to drive stick (and am almost ready to do the commute!), we gave up on potty training after 2 weeks in underwear (he never had a pee accident at school, but there's another kind ;)), we've been doing a lot of packing, and hoo-wee we're just tired. I've been pretending I'm going to get back into shape, but I don't run more than once a week, and, folks, it's getting necessary. Trying.

Well, that's about that in 30 seconds or less.