Phoenix Winter

Phoenix kind of skips winter all together and goes from fall to spring in about a month.

Click on the pic to see a larger version.

Wordless Wednesday - February 3, 2010

Our Boucy Castle Weekend

We were invited to two little kiddo birthday parties this past weekend (which meant plenty of yummy birthday cake!). Both parties had "bouncy castles."

Christian had never been inside one before. For the first party, it took him a while to get interested. The little girl he's in daycare with, Abigail (it was her party) walked over to Christian and held out her hands so Christian would jump with her. She just turned two herself, so it was adorable to see her helping Christian have fun.

At the party the next day, Christian knew exactly what goes on in a bouncy castle, and he was having fun from the moment he went inside.

And it was rather convenient that Sunday's party took place at the park across from our house. If you look closely, you can see our house in the background in the pics where Christian is wearing his Thomas shirt.

Ahhh, to be kid again. We might need a bouncy castle for our backyard. Not necessarily for Christian, but for ME! Wow, it's great fun to jump up and down and be silly and laugh like crazy!

Shapes, Shapes Everywhere!

I am delighted to report that Christian is now saying "shape," with the emphasis on "p" at the end!

Christian's Granny and Grandpa got him this nifty clock for Christmas and he just loves taking the shapes out and putting them in again. And he's learned three new shapes: pentagon, hexagon and octagon. He loves to say them - with each syllable very specifically pronounced. He carries around the three "gons" everywhere (hmmm ... where is hex (6) and octo (8)).

Christian is figure out the prefixes, too. He tells us, "Pen-ta-gon, five sides!!"

There is an old abandoned racetrack along I-10 and along the roofline there are some decorative features that I hadn't really notice before. As we drove by the other day, Christian happily proclaimed, "Triangle!!" I looked, not to sure what he was seeing ... and then it occured to me, he was looking at the abandoned building we've seen dozens of times in passing. Sure enough, the decorative features are triangles.

Today we took a walk and he saw the back side of a stop sign and yelled out, "Oc-to-gon!" I praised him for recognizing the shape, and I looked around to see what other shapes I could point out to him.

On the sidewalk below, the lines formed part of a triangle, and I pointed the triangle out to him ... and he was excited, "Triangle!"

Then, on his own, he looked at the next section of sidewalk and said, "Square!!"

"Yes, honey, that is a square!!"

Christian kept looking as if on a treasure hunt ... and saw a section of sidewalk that was curved inward to form a 1/2 circle and he said, "Circle!!!"

Well, I've got to tell you that by this time, I was just floored! My two year old was finding shapes everywhere he looked. And how many two year olds do you know who can recognize "pentagon," "hexagon" and "octogon" ??

Then we came across another sign and I pointed out that it was a rectangle. He giggled, walked up to it, checked it out and said, "Rectangle!!!"

What a joy to watch this precious little boy discover new things ... and to see shapes everywhere and get as excited as he does when he sees them.

He's been doing that with words, letters and numbers, too. But that is another blog post ...

Soon!

Wordless Wednesday - January 29, 2010

Christian's First Trip to the Dentist

Today we took Christian to his first visit to the dentist. Some books say a child should see a dentist when their teeth start coming in ... other books say by the time they are one. Our pediatrician recommended we hold off until Christian turns three, because Christian gets really upset when he's handled by somebody "medical."

We chose a pediatric dentist who is nearby and runs nice ads in the local paper. Just look at this adorable waiting room. It is decorated in jungle island theme with a huge tree inside that holds colorful monkeys, butterflies, birds, etc. It also has a little arcade, which really impressed Jonathan ("I was legendary at Galactica!") and also a little coffee bar (which really impressed Jonathan, too).

Alas, it was a difficult exam - Christian was very, very upset as the hygienist cleaned his teeth. The hygienist handled it well and had the patience of Job. The exam seemed to last forever, but he made it through and was in a good mood by the time we left.

The main reason we took Christian to the dentist is because there just isn't enough room in his mouth for all of his teeth and I was becoming increasingly concerned about the situation (if you know me, then you know I have an obsession with teeth).

The X-rays revealed Christina has TWO extra teeth. He should have just 20, and he has 22. The obvious solution is to remove two teeth - but why torture a two year old with that procedure?

I asked the dentist if maybe Christian's mouth would grow big enough to accommodate the teeth - and the answer was no. In the X-ray, the future adult teeth are visible and we briefly discussed that Christian will likely one day need orthodontics.

The current concern is that because his mouth is so crowded, it will be tricky to clean his teeth well. The good thing is that we don't typically give Christian sweets, and he doesn't drink juice - just milk and water. But, we were told to be careful with raisins and dried fruit, as they are sticky and tend to stay in between the teeth where it's hard for us to reach.

So we'll take him to the dentist every six months for a cleaning and have the situation with his extra teeth re-evaluated.

Crazy Weather

UPDATE: There were two tornado warnings issued in the East Valley ... but we live in the far West Valley up against a mountain. So aside from a ton of rain that formed "Lake Lucero" in the backyard, we didn't see much action.

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We had lots of rain Tuesday ... clear day yesterday ... and a ton of rain today. We're talking several inches here in the Phoenix metro area. Our backyard is "Lake Lucero."

And I just saw this:

"PHOENIX – A Tornado Watch has been issued for several parts of Arizona, including Metro Phoenix. The watch continues until 10 p.m. tonight."

The news says we're getting more rain this week than we typically do all year.

Crazy weather!

"Shape" with an Emphasis on the "P"

Christian has really excelled lately at reading / pronouncing / imitating new words. It's really very entertaining!

The other day, he picked up the case for an Elmo DVD called, "Guess That Shape and Color" and he started saying "sh*t ... sh*t."

I was dumbfounded.

It soon occurred to me that he was trying to say "shape," but can't seem to tell the difference between a "P" sound and a "t" sound at the end. I very quickly started over-emphasizing the "P" sound ... but he continues to hear a "t."

It's funny ... but it's not, you know? The last thing I want is to have our two year old walking around and randomly saying "sh*t."

Ah parenthood ... never a dull moment.

The Sandbox Solution

You might recall last summer, we were "Desperately Seeking Sandbox." The problem was that we need something with a tight lid because scorpions like to burrow in sand - and I can tell you from experience, a scorpion sting is not pleasant. We never did come up with a solution at the old house - and then it just go too hot to be outside anyway.

So ... what to do ... what to do?

A-ha! Here's a solution we all like - and required just one bag of sand. The lid goes on when he's done - cleanup is easy.

Cookies and Coffee

What is the holiday season without some homemade cookies - and a two year old decorating them?

Jonathan has a bit of a coffee obsession, which means Christian is a bit obsessed with what is in those mugs his daddy is always holding.

Enjoy the show!

One, Two, Three, Four ... FIBE

Merry Christmas!!

I used to be able to combine videos using "Photobucket," but they no longer offer that service. So ... here are individual videos.

Wordless Wednesday - December 23, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - December 23, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - December 16, 2009

Oops! We aren't "Los Luceros de Santa Fe" anymore. Old habits die hard!

Moving Day

Today is the big day ... we are MOVING! Jonathan and my sister's boyfriend have loaded the big stuff and and driving to the house right now. Christian is napping here with me and will surely be surprised when he wakes to find our house is empty of all furniture.

I was greeted by a visitor when I started moving things around. Thankfully, this scorpion made its way into a glass jar, was unable to escape (scorpions cannot crawl on glass), and DIED.

I am NOT fan of scorpions. We've had a bit of scorpion issue in this rental home, and I was stung earlier this year. It is not a pleasant experience, and I've been concerned about Christian getting stung. However, I am the only person in the household who had a chance encounter.

We paid to have our new house "sealed" and got a "scorpion intensive treatment" to ensure we wouldn't have scorpion issues there, too.

The scorpion is on a pad of pink sticky note pad, and so you can see it's a good-sized scorpion! EEEEEEEEEW!

A Lil' Preview ...

Christian had Christmas photos taken today, and here's a lil' preview:

Wordless Wednesday - November 25, 2009

Okay, another not-so-wordless Wednesday.

Christian is so obsessed with dirt these days. As soon as he gets in the backyard, he heads straight for the dirt. In this photo, he's been playing in the dirt and has two handfuls to give Mommy. Aw, I'm feelin' the love!


I had to capture this moment in time with the book. Christian is obsessed with Dr. Seuss books and videos, "The Sneetches," in particular. He gets that book and says, "Sneh ... Dah Sue." (Sneeches ... Dr. Seuss). We read that story over and over again ... and he is mesmerized when we show him The Sneetches video.

"One ... two ... three ... four ... FIVE!"

As I mentioned, Christian knows his numbers 1 - 20. We show him "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" on our fingers a lot.

If we say, "one ..." He'll say, "two." If we say, "two," he'll say, "three" and so on up to 20.

And he knows his numbers visually. He'll point at a number - be it on TV, in a book, on a sign, and say the number. My favorite is "16" ... he says, "siss teen."

But, knowing numbers is different than knowing how to apply numbers in a tangible way. That understanding comes later on.

Or does it?

Today at breakfast, Christian was studying his plate of food ... in particular the pieces of pancake before him.

He looked at one piece, said, "One."

Pointed to another piece and said "Two."

Another piece, "Three."

The next piece, "Four."

The final piece, "Five." (which was actually the first piece he counted ... ha ha!).

Jonathan and I just sat there in silence ... amazed at our little boy! He looked to us for a reaction, and then we clapped for him and said, "YAY!" and Christian was pleased.

Wow, he counted in a tangible way!!! And he's only two weeks into being a TWO YEAR OLD!

"Mommy"

For many babies, their first word is "Mama" or "Mommy." Early on, Christian would randomly say "Mamaaaaa maaamaaamaaa," but it was never directed towards me. It was just a random sound he liked to make.

Actually, his first word was "Bubble."

For quite some time, he's been saying "Papa," and even doing the sign for Papa. But still no "Mama." Although, if you asked him who or where Mama is, he knew it was me.

Recently, Christian has been calling me "Me." So ... he had the second half of the word.

So you can imagine my DELIGHT when Jonathan said, "Come check this out! Christian, say Mommy."

"Mommm-me."

MOMMY!!!!

It was music to my ears! MOMMY!!!!

So that was yesterday. And today when I picked Christian up from daycare, Melissa told me Christian was walking around all morning, "Mommy ... mommy ..." just repeating the word at random.

MOMMY!!!!

Wordless Wednesday, November 3, 2009

Christian Turns Two!

Our sweet baby boy turned TWO today. I suppose this milestone means he's no longer a baby, but he will forever be our baby.

As we are in between houses right now, we just had a small get-together at the new house. Liz and Terrill came over and we had pizza and cake.

I blew up a bunch of yellow balloons and had them on the floor when Christian walked in, and you would have thought he won the lottery. Christian LOVES balloons. It's nice that he's so easily amused (I know he won't always be).

I thought Christian would be more interested in opening gifts this year, but once he saw that Elmo DVD, it became his main focus. Christian LOVES Elmo.

Balloons and Elmo ... that's his life!

When I look back at the transition that has taken place with Christian over the past year, I am simply amazed. By his first birthday, he wasn't walking or talking, and that was a huge concern to his pediatrician. He's had numerous blood tests, a thyroid scan, CT scan, physical therapy evaluation, speech evaluation, etc. ... all to determine why he wasn't doing age appropriate things.

Everything turned out fine - Christian just wanted to do things in his own time. Today he's a walking, talking burst of excited energy!

We recently got inserts for his shoes (which actually look like mini-braces) to provide stability to his ankles (he has weak ligaments). We don't see a difference, but the Dr. tells us it's a long term solution, and we won't see short term results. He seems to walk fine either way, but we have the inserts and we'll use them.

Christian's speech has amazed us. He is finally imitating the words we say ... sometimes we say, "Christian, can you say _____________." And he'll say it. Other times, he will spontaneously repeat something he hears us say (we have now reached the point where we must really watch what we say around him!).

Of course, at this point, only a couple of words are pronounced perfectly, and we delight in the cute way he tries to pronounce words. His newest cute words to add to the collection are:

* "See you" ... this one is typically like this, "Bye bye, see you."
* "Easy"
* "Ahn-tee" (Auntie ... as in Auntie Liz)
* "Egg"
* "Wah-fo" (Waffle)
* "Mao" (Milk ... he also signs milk perfectly)
* *Washie" (Water ... last night he did the sign for water for the first time ... it came out of nowhere)
* "Bah-wah" (Bella)
* "Gen-tuh" (gentle)
* "Em-puh-tee" (empty)
* "huh-nee" (honey)
* "Pisa" (pizza)
* "Ow-s-eye" (outside)
* "Dad-dy" (we've been using Papa all this time - with the occasional "Daddy" thrown in, so we were surprised to hear Daddy all of a sudden)
* "All done" - This one is used in conjunction with the sign language for all done. This one amazed us! We'd been doing the sign for all done for months, but wouldn't do it himself. Then out of the blue, he started doing the sign, and saying all done when he was through with eating and wanted down. I had to laugh the other day when we were in the kitchen getting ready to go somewhere, and I was trying to make him eat and fill up his tummy before we left. He wasn't wanting anything, and I admit I was being too persistent. Suddenly he looked at me, did the "all done" sign and firmly said, "All done."

We are so incredibly delighted that he can communicate his needs either via words or via sign language.

And his ability to read words is just amazing to us. That "Your Baby Can Read" program we've been doing since earlier this year had done incredible things for Christian. I have so much to say on the topic that it must be an entire different blog entry! For now, let me just say that Christian can now read words that were NOT included in the Your Baby Can Read program. New words! He catches on very quickly.

Christian knows his colors, numbers 1-20 and the entire alphabet, too!

You know what? I could go on and on about Christian. He is the most amazing, adorable, wonderful, bright and loving little boy we could every hope for - a true gift from God. But I'll reserve the rest of my raving for future posts so you can see some pic and some videos from his birthday.

Happy Halloween!

Christian was a "Colorado Buffs Fan" for Halloween this year. Thought, I'd say it's closer to reality (or Jonathan's dream come true) than an actual costume.

Christian and I went to a kiddo Halloween Party in the morning, and then in the evening, we all went to a "Fall Festival" that our community's church was hosting.

For the first time ... ever ... I didn't decorate the house or hand out candy. You'll find a recurring theme around here is "We're too busy." But that's just how it goes these days.

Here's a slide show of pics from today. And beneath the slideshow are a couple of photos of Christian from last year. Awww ... he was so little last year!

Wordless Wednesday - October 28, 2009

Congratulations to Jonathan!

I'd like to shout out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Jonathan for passing his "boards" today at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.

Jonathan has been in long training program since we moved here in August 08. He's sat through endless hours of training classes, and has traveled a lot to take more training that was out of state.

But at long last ... he's passed all his tests ... passed his boards, and training is OVER!

Congratulations, Jonathan! We knew you could do it!