Sabien - Month 11

Sabien is 11 months old today.

He is a busy guy. Fairly confident on his feet, he waddles with his wide spread, chubby leg gait throughout our house. He shakes his arms up in the air as he does it. He works on speed and squeals with glee. He is now an established walker and can walk nearly as quickly as he can crawl. He truly toddles, and it is the kind of adorable that makes you laugh out loud it is so funny and cute.

He is a happy little guy most of the time. Content to explore the house on his own and happy to follow his brother around as much as possible. He loves to push trucks and trains around making "vrrrrrm" sounds. He flies his planes through the air "wwwoooossshh". Most animals are either fierce lion sounds "grroorrr" or what seems to be a cross between a kitty and a cow "meeeoooo" except fish which are "sssssshhhsssh".

He all of a sudden is patient with books. At the beginning of the month, he would only bat the book away or swipe at it and close it up. By the end, he is taking his favorite books off of the bookshelf and sitting with them, asking us to read them (by calling out loudly for our attention as he holds it). His favorites are books that involve textures and flaps that he can touch and open.

Sabien is full of sweet smiles and sweetness. His big soft belly, bald head, and chubby little legs give him quite the baby look, but he's getting so much more capable! He has little interest in being fed by us and prefers finger food or using his own spoon. However, spoon skills are not very effective. He does get some bites in, but prefers finger food. He does love spoons, though. They are his current security objects. At most times of the day, he will be walking around with either a spoon or a small ball in his hand. He loves balls, throwing, and catch. He also continues to love to climb anything and everything he can manage.

He loves song and music and dancing. He gives strangers many smiles and then flirts shyly into my chest, only to call out to them a few seconds later and repeat the scenario again. However, being in my arms is not quite as perfect a spot for him as it was a month ago. He is a boy on the move who does not want to be hemmed in. He wants to walk around and explore, unless he's tired, in which case he is happy to zonk out in a stroller or car seat (yipppee!).

He hasn't yet learned to be gentle in all capacities, though his improved care of books does signal a shift. We are working on being gentle the plants in the garden. Hopefully that will translate to gentleness to humans, too. It's a hard concept to realize that you can bang the spoon on objects, but not on people's heads, or that hair is not indeed for pulling.

We had a doctor's appointment this month and he's about 83-85 percentile for height and weight. A proportionate, big little guy.

I can hardly believe he'll be a year old next month.

Happenings

It's not totally unheard of, I suppose, but I was surprised when it rained for a few days straight. We took full advantage of it. Puddle jumping!

It is no longer raining. In fact it has been 95+ degrees for days. I'm not complaining. We have air conditioning, and we harvested our first ripe tomato from the garden today. Thanks to the heat, I am sure. Yum yum! Wes gobbled it up immediately after picking it. He shared a bite, and it was amazing.

Is it just us, or do all parents get themselves into ridiculously painful situations like the one below...

We find it difficult not to let these cute little rascals crawl all over us, but that little muffin of cuteness can bounce on one's stomach or neck with amazing force. Laughing all the way...it's harder to extract oneself than an outside observer might suspect.

They really wrestle and tumble and chase each other, too. Are we setting the example? I don't know, but refereeing their physicality with one another is a full time job these days. Boundaries and safety and respect for bodies and babies not knowing how to be gentle and sibling jealousy traveling both ways and over the top excitement with limited coordination create some complex situations.

Hello

If I don't just post something, I never will. The thought of updating on everything from the past months when we were without computer is overwhelming, so I will just post something. Here it is...

Wesley will turn three next month. The following month Sabien will turn one. They are getting so much bigger. Sabien is walking and has a number of words words (five+ mama, dada, wesley, brother, bird, airplane, vrrrrrmm, whoooosh) . Welsey's comprehension and subtle understanding of the world continues to amaze me.

They love each other and miss one another when they are separated. They are also wildly jealous of attention the other one receives. This results in a lot of chaos in our house. 

Looking back over the pictures from the past few months, the sweetness is, as always, what shines through. It is an odd therapeutic practice for me to do this blog. When I feel like a break from it all, sometimes what I really need is perspective. Seeing our lives in our pictures offers me a new vantage point.

Wesley...

 

Sabien...

Brothers...

We love them...

Family Vacation to Paradise

We just returned from a wonderful vacation in Kauai. We visited Grandpa Pizz and Gram. The weather was warm, the beaches were beautiful, the avocados were plentiful, and we had a very successful family vacation.

The airplane rides were long but went pretty smoothly. The trip was a breeze. They struggled a bit more on the return flight, largely because we had so much turbulence that I couldn't give Sabien a break in the carrier. But, it went fine. Wesley absolutely loved the airport and "jumbo jet" experience. It was adorable how much he loved to talk about it. "I really love flying on this jumbo jet", etc. We were prepared with a bag full of new books and toys wrapped up as little gifts. He was content for most of the travel.

Though family vacations still require a lot of work, I found Kauai to be about as relaxing as it gets. I loved walking through the shallows of the beach as Sabien slept in the carrier, I loved snorkeling, I loved watching Wesley busy in the water and sand. I so enjoyed the breathtaking views and the lushness of the island.

I mean, this is the view from their patio...

Lynn and Linda were such gracious hosts as they just went with the flow as we took over their house for a week--toys every whichway, four hour naps in the middle of the day, all kinds of wildness. But most importantly, it was so sweet to see them with the boys. Though Sabien is in a bit of a clingy phase (serious understatement), he gave them many huge smiles and had some great playtime with Gram and Grandpa.

Wesley had some homesickness, but had such a good trip. He would miss home especially around bedtime, probably because that is when his routine and his bed and things are most closely missed. We all like our own beds, I suppose. Even his protests are adorable..."I don't want to be in this house with the fans (referring to ceiling fans), I want to be back in our frame house with the heater and no fans".

But, for the most part, he had a blast. He loved his front loader and roller that Gram got for him.

He loved the beach. He loved digging and pushing his trucks around in the sand. He loved wading in the water with his fishing net catching leaves and trying to catch fish.

He and Casey and Grandpa went on kayak rides two mornings (once in the river and once in the ocean). Wesley just looooves being on boats, so this was a smash hit.

We were able to settle in and find a bit of a rhythm. There is a convenient swim area only 5 minutes from the house with a kiddie pool blocked off. This was ideal (short car ride, shallow water with no waves, snorkeling larger area for adults). We went there most mornings and some afternoons. The two days we tried to go on longer trips weren't quite as successful--Wes got tired and had a hard time. But we still had great meals out and fun beach time during those trips, too.

I loved the vacation. I felt like I was able to get some distance from the minutia that sometimes takes over. Even though there were plenty of times when both boys needed me and were vying for my attention, it was wonderful to have an extra set or two or three of hands to help all day and night.

Also, the time difference was amazing. Sabien was in bed by 6:30 and Wes by 7:30 which left us with so much free adult time to hang out and enjoy relaxation together. Despite valiant efforts, I have never been able to get the kids in bed that early here. Sabien goes to sleep earlier than Wesley did at this age, but Wesley still has a later bedtime than many kids. It was a special treat to spend the extra time with Casey and Lynn and Linda.

There was so much cuteness and fun...

Tot (un)School (2.5 yrs)

Things have felt a bit scattered lately, but we've been having a lot of adventures out of the house. We've also had some fun at home...

We did some letter soup spelling...

We got scissors out. Oh why have we not played with scissors for so long? Such fun!

More spelling and matching words. This time animals, their sounds and what they "do" (wag, swim, moo, etc)...

Helping baby brother eat...baby brother has interest in food, but no interest in eating it, not even from his big brother who is so very carefully and lovingly feeding him.

Reading his favorite book "C is for Construction".