Camera training

When we were getting John's 2 year pictures done with Jonnye, I noticed that one of her services was camera training. I had asked her about it and then one day she called and said she had a cancelled session - so I rushed over there for some tips and tricks.

I was only there for a couple of hours and there was a lot of information to absorb. I am one of those people that learns by doing something, so it is going to take a lot of practice. But I already feel like I can implement some of the techinques and take better pictures.

I post this becuase if you have the opportunity to do this with Jonnye (I know at least 2 of you blog readers use her too), or if you know a photographer that offers this service I recommend it.

Here are two examples:

I was practicing one evening with bath time and this is me taking a picture as I normally would:



And this is me using some of the lighting and other techniques I learned:




Also, here are some taken the day we went fishing from Carl's phone (not the best example, but shows what I mean)


And here is one I took:


I am not saying these pictures are great, in fact, they both are probably a little over exposed, but I am learning. It just amazes me the different things you can do with a camera if you know your way around.

First time fisherman

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed to East Texas with Nana and Da to take John on his first fishing trip. We went to Gary Yamamoto's ranch (www.innatbkranch.com)in Palestine, Texas. It was beautiful and a really cool experience.

There were 8 lakes to choose from, including 1 really large lake. Carl had some inside scoop from some friends that had been earlier and told us which lake was the best. So we pulled off the main road and onto some dirt roads filled with cows! John loved this, although he was a bit concerned that we were driving in the grass ("go in the grass?! go in the grass?!:). When we got close to the cows John would scream out the window "moo cows moo", he thought they were moving because he was talking to them.

No time wasted, we pull into the field and started fishing. John listened really well and did not seem to be tempted to get in the water which was my fear. John had his own fishing pole. One of us cast it and then he would hold it and reel in the worms. He was loving life! He actually caught some fish on his pole, and with some help would bring them in. He loved to touch them and then give them a kiss and put them back in the water. The rest of us had some good luck too (Da caught the first fish, but I caught the biggest!).

There were cows sharing the lake and surrounding pasture with us and this was John's other favorite thing about the day. He would try to get up close and of course they would run away. He was "chasing the cows".

After a picnic lunch we are did some more fishing, but John was wearing down a bit. Him and Nana built a tent out of the picnic blankets and chairs. They had fun in their pretend world of orca whales and dolphins and alligators, etc., etc. Great imagination!

We headed home around 2:30, but I think we could have all stayed all day long. It was a really good time and I can not wait to do it again!

Here are some pictures from the day:

2 year birthday party!

We had John's Dinosaur themed birthday party with his little friends at The Little Gym. It was a huge success! I have to say that for a friends birthday party at this age, Sunday afternoon seemed to be a great time slot. Thank you to all of his friends for coming to share with us!

We sincerely missed our Oklahoma clan and LOVE them for thinking of John on his party day!

For the first half of the party John was a bit overwhelmed, which surprised me. I chose the Little Gym because he was so comfortable there and he could run around and play. It must have been all of the parents, or the chaos, or the new teacher, or something; but after he relaxed a bit, the thumb came out of his mouth! He had fun the whole time though!

The teachers led the kids through different activities and then some free time on all the equipment. Then we had cake and ice cream. The Little Gym employees did a great job! They set everything up, served, and then took it all down. I highly recommend going there for any one who has them in their area.

We did not open presents, as there was not enough time for John to enjoy it, so we did that later at home. He loved all of his presents, and favorites have come and gone since the party, but some big hits included: play dough, the slide, Diego bubble machine, legos, Junior Leap Frog, his monkey plate, a "Cars" cd player, cars and trucks, and a pretend doctors bag.

Here are some pictures from his actual birthday and party day:

2 year Dr.Visit

The next couple of posts are a bit outdated, but I really want them on the blog to look back on.

Our 2 year doctor visit went as smooth as usual. Here are his stats:

Weight: 31 pounds (82%)
Height: 35 inches (66%)
Head: 19 3/4 (85%)

I measured him again when we got home because he was all over the place when the nurse tried to do it. But sure enough, she was right on; I guess she is used to hitting moving targets. So, Dr. said that meant that he would be right around 5'10'' to 6'. Not that this was surprising, but think it is fun. :)

He is not quite ready for 2T stuff yet. In fact, I bought all of his new shorts and short sleeved shirts in 2T. I am HOPING he will fit in them by the end of the summer. 18 month stuff is a bit small, but especially with no diapers, that is what we are buying. However, I do think it is right around the corner and I think we are going to change sizes during the same season. Which is fine, except on the wallet!

Dr. said we could start in with the 2% milk. I asked why and he said to switch if we were worried about his fat intake! WHAT?!?! I am trying to fatten that monkey up! We will be sticking with the whole milk for now (My big brother STILL drinks it and he is skinny as a rail, I think we are good!)

He also said that we should start using fluoride toothpaste, just no whitening. I asked when we should take him to the dentist and he said that unless we see any problems, not to go before the age of 3. He looks as if he is going to have a bit of an overbite, but I am sure that is due to the thumb sucking. I think we will wait on the dentist, especially if it is anything like sitting in a chair at the hair cut place - I would rather wait until he is older than traumatize him forever.

Dr. also said to start potty training (if you will remember, he told me to start this at 18 months too!). At the time I had no intentions of starting until it was nice and warm outside. Well, fast forward a few weeks and read the previous posts for that update.

My potty champion!

At the ripe old age of 25 months, John is WELL on his way to being potty trained. Had I written this post 2 weeks ago, I would have called him 100% potty trained, but as most first time parents do, I would have been jumping the gun a bit.

The week after his 2nd birthday, John told me "no more dap daps... so for the rest of the evening we went with no diapers. I told him he had to tell Mama when he needed to pee pee....sure enough.... he did! So, the next day I thought I would play with it a bit. He had a couple of pee accidents the first day, but basically for 2 weeks, he was accident free (yes, including poo). SO PROUD of him!

The first time we went out to dinner, I went ahead and put a diaper on him, but he told me during dinner that he had to go and we went to the potty, he was dry! So, after that - no more diapers at all during the day.

We were either bare bottomed or in underwear, we chose not to use pull ups at all. It seemed to work for us, but every child and situation is different. We started doing a "pee pee dance" after he used the potty, he REALLY liked that. He then got to flush the big potty and wash his hands. All of this was fun, fun, fun!

Now, all of a sudden, the fun is gone and he does not want to stop what he is doing to go to the bathroom. He starts to hold himself, so I can tell. He knows when it is coming too, because he will go behind the couch or something. He will let out just a bit, almost to relieve the urge. When I realize the accident has happened, we go sit on the potty and he goes A LOT! So I know he is controlling the off switch. :)

He never fights us when he is ON the potty, but sometimes we have to trick him into the bathroom all together.

After worrying about how to handle the accidents, how to make it HIS responsibility, etc. etc., and after reading many articles and books, I have come to the remember that he is still a baby and he needs to us to remind him and take him to the bathroom. Sometimes I forget that John is only 2, he seems like such a little boy in so many ways, but in the end, he still needs us to remind him to brush his teeth, eat lunch, pick up his toys, take naps, and a lot of other every day tasks, why should reminding him/taking him to the bathroom not be on this list too. I suppose it could take several months and even a year, but I am ready and willing!

If there is anyone else out there reading this that has any suggestions or advice, I am ALWAYS open to hearing it. In my 2 years of parenting, the most successful thing for me is to take advice and information from several different (almost always conflicting) sources and pick the pieces that work best for my little family of 3!

PS - I am OBSESSED with buying him underwear. I am not kidding, he probably has 30 pair right now. My favorites are the little boxer briefs from Gymboree! hehehehe!

Recent updates (25th month + a little bit)

It has been awhile since our last update, and I am going to do my best to post things as they happen. I am not sure what has happened over the last couple of months - they were here and gone before I knew it!


- The fits have started. I hate to admit it, as I was fooled into thinking we were going to skip this stage. I am still hopeful that it is short lived (I guess everything is in the grand scheme of things). The typical things that you would expect break him into hysterics. Mainly he does not much care for change or things not going his way. Right now, we can still just calm him down within a few minutes and move on. However, we have also had to pull out the time-out until he has calmed down. These are frustrating times for all three of us, but I am trying to look at it as opportunities for life lessons (okay, so it is not that easy sometimes, but it gets me through it.

- He has full blown conversations with us now. He will tell us about his day or what he sees. He tells us when he likes something or dislikes something. He asks us what we are doing or eating or watching.

- He loves to sing or be sang to. He knows the following songs: 'ABC's', 'Twinkle Twinkle', 'Old McDonald', 'Row Your Boat', 'Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes', and 'Hawaiian Rainbow'. He really sings them along with the tune, SO CUTE!

- Still loving his animals, but the newest obsessions is with fish and sharks. He has a little toy "cars" fishing pole that he loves. Daddy tied a small plastic shark to the end, so he can cast it and reel it in. He is really good with it too. Daddy can not wait to take him fishing.

- Still loving his books, we have progressed into short stories now more than his board books. He will sit and listen to longer stories. He loves two short story book in particular that his Uncle Chris, Aunt Adrienne and Cousin Tyler got him. One has a ton of short stories about all of the popular pixar characters (Nemo, Lightening McQueen, Toy Story, etc.); the other one is all about baby animals. Both are PERFECT for him.

- I would list his favorite TV shows, but he actually has stopped watching TV shows. I normally would turn them on when I needed to get something done, but now, he will totally play on his own and entertain himself for up to 20 minutes sometimes(see imagination discussion below). He does love his movies though; favorites include: Toy Story (1&2), Jungle Book, Cars, Ice Age:Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

- His imagination has really started to show itself lately. He is sort of out of the 'baby' toys and is more into things that he can build stories around or play with. Loves to play with his Dr. bag, build tents with blankets, build his legos, fish with his fishing pole, etc. He will talk and narrate the story the whole time. I LOVE to watch him!

- A couple of bad things that have come along with the imagination discussed above is that he is having dreams that are waking him up at night. I will go up there and calm him down and he will tell me about it "orca whale doesn't fit in the basket" or "give me my phone back", etc. Another thing is that is has started showing fear of the most random things, one in particular - the wind! There for a few days he would go into hysterics, but we have managed to convince him that the wind helps the birds fly, it tickles the trees, and it makes Mama's hair look funny.

- And of course - POTTY TRAINING! A separate post to follow...

Happy 2nd birthday week: Dear John:

Dear John:

Today you turn 2. You are no longer a baby, but a little boy all your own. It is hard to believe how fast the time flies. I have said this at every stage of your life, but again I say that this is my most favorite age, and I think yours too.

You take your time with new things and when faced with a new environment you would prefer to soak it all in for a few minutes until you decide how you feel about it. And MAN, if you do not feel right about it, Mama has learned not to push the issue because you are going to stand your ground. On the other hand, when you find something that you like, you go all in! Some of these things are a passing phase, but some things you fall in love with and can't get enough. These are the things that Mama and Daddy live for; because to see your face light up like it does is the best feeling in the world to us.

When you are at home and in your element, you have fantastic level of confidence, but are still very careful. I love this balance. You totally trust us to catch you or hold you, sometimes to the point that it scares us because we don't know your are going to jump! :) You are careful though and seem to know where the limits are when we are not right next to you.

You demand acknowledgement and will repeat yourself and/or get louder and louder until you get a response. But you also are quick to give thanks even when we are not sure what you are thanking us for.

You are the sweetest boy that I have ever met. You are free with your hugs and kisses and would sit and cuddle ALL day if we would let you. You rub our cheeks or play with our ears or chin while you cuddle or when you are tired. However, you have not said the words "I love you" quite yet; I know you will say it on your own terms and that day will live in infamy and melt our hearts. You love when we have group hugs. You love on Bailee and Kallie and your stuffed animals and you make sure that they kiss and hug each other too.

You are all boy and can be super rough, but also know how to be gentle ("easy"). You are a good listener and you totally know when you are doing something you are not supposed to; evidenced by the mischievous look on your face. You are very well behaved and we are so proud of you.

You are starting to really get an imagination and we love watching you play and be creative. You can find true enjoyment in the most simple things. I hope you keep this attitude throughout life.

Today, baby boy, we wish you the happiest birthday and pray that you enjoy life, as you do today, for all of the years to come. We love you more than words.

Happy 2nd Birthday Week: Buddies

Another big part of our 2nd year was play dates and making buddies.

In the last year, John has gone from not even knowing other children are in the room - to standing back and watching them intently - to trying to play with them and make friends. Overall he is pretty passive when it comes to play dates, although if they are at our house he is more comfortable. He shares really well. He loves going to the park with his friends the best. I think it is because he is on neutral ground and he does not feel smothered.

There is one particular little girl that he is most comfortable around, Amelia. He hearts Amelia. :) It must be her gentle personality that he likes so much; he is super relaxed with her. They will play and laugh and run and share, all with no warm up time required.

He also loves all of his neighborhood friends and asks about them a lot. Again, there is one older little girl (4), Elyse, that John is fascinated with. He will follow her around, is always looking for her to "show" her things. She is so sweet to him and shares and plays with him so well. When it comes to his little boy buddies, he likes to run and swing and play with them too, but John is a few months younger than all of them. The age difference is pretty noticeable right now, but I think as he grows up a bit more and that age difference isn't prevalent, he will be asking for them all the time. Then I will have to adopt the "boys will be boys" theory.

When we see his cousins or friends we have not seen in awhile, he remembers them because we always go through pictures and talk about who people are and what we did with them the last time we saw them. He is enamored with his cousin Maggie, absolutely adores her! He talks about Brendan when we talk about swords or birthday parties. John and Brendan are going to be pretty fun as they get older!

He does not talk much to the other kids, but each time we see them he gets more comfortable and steps a little farther outside his comfort zone.

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful families in our lives and buddies for John to grow up with!

Happy 2nd Birthday Week: Language

In my mind the first year of life was all about survival and physical development. Obviously there is overlap, but the 2nd year has been more about language and personality development. Language development is such a big part of our lives right now. There for a while I was worried that John was not talking as much as he should be (silly Mama!), but then....he turned it on full force.

Just the other day he counted to twelve (replacing 11 with 7) which blew me away! I knew he could say the numbers and sometimes could put a few in a row, but had no idea he could go all the way to twelve. He starts the alphabet, but stops with D, unless you pause while singing it, he will fill in the blank wherever you are.

One of my favorite parts of the day is when I go get him from nap or night time because he is so talkative and says the most random things. I just sit and listen to him tell me a 5 minute story. I love it.

He can communicate pretty much anything he needs to tell us and it makes life so much less frustrating for us all.

His most common quotes:

"I did it"
"Mama do it"
"Daddy fix it"
"Get Kallie/Bailee tail"
"Mines"
"Chocolate milk"
"Play Diego"
"Watch Dido train"
"tickle, tickle, tickle"
"wipe my boogers"
"Daddy go work"
"I wanna draw"
"Play monkeys"
"Nana and Da coming?"
"Hawaiian Rainbow"
"ABC"
"get me, hold me"
"Mama/Daddy sit down"
"pease" (please)
"Thank you"
"feed dogs"
"stinky poopy"
"change my dap dap"

There are countless phrases, but these are the ones that I hear at least once a day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Week: My favorite Things

To take a snapshot of John's life as he turns two, here are a few of things that light up his life:

Books: This was his first word and they continue to be one of his favorite activities. He will let you sit and read to him for an hour sometimes. He is not particularly stuck on one type of book, he still loves his Sandra Boynton books and can recite all of them to you by memory. He also loves books that have activities (pull tabs, touch and feel, sound buttons, etc.). Even if you have not read that particular book in months, he still remembers the words. Just recently he sat through a longer book "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss. He really learns a lot from books, he understands and can apply it. I am hoping that this is beneficial when it comes time to potty train, and go to school, and any other issues that we might need a creative way to get something across to him.

Dinosaurs: I think this must have started one day when Granddaddy was watching a dinosaur movie with Brendan and John, because before then the obsession had not started. Since then, my house is full of roaring (loudly) and stomping dinosaurs. He calls them "didos", although he can identify and say "t-rex" and "triceratops".

Park: Going to the park is a favorite of mine and his. I love to get him outside. He likes to take his "bikacycle" that Nana and Da got him for Christmas. He plays on the big toys, and swings, but a lot of his time is spent people watching. The other kids at the park are fascinating to him. I have to remind him to go play. He also likes to walk across the big field and play down on the trails.

Bath: This took some time, but ever since he could sit up on his own, he has loved the bath. There is NEVER a fuss to go take a bath with bubbles. He does not like to rinse his hair, but other than that, he would stay in there for hours if you let him. In fact, that is the only frustrating part - getting him out. He lays down and pretends to swim, he plays with his fish and talking frog and his little tug boat. Although is favorite thing is the plastic cup and bowl that he can fill and empty 1000 times.

Playing chase: This it the cutest thing. He and Daddy will run around the house chasing each other. If Daddy is chasing him he says "hide, hide" to himself; or he will scream "Daddy get me, Daddy get me". If he is chasing Daddy he screams "I get Daddy, I get Daddy". With a HUGE smile on his face. And as Daddy gets close to him or touches him he go limp and lets out a belly laugh. It is so funny.

Lights/Dark: Taking a lightsaber, ray gun, flashlight or a head lamp into a dark room might be the coolest thing ever. He loves to be in a dark room (we have emptied his closet for this very activity) with any type of light and play and run. He has discovered shadows which makes it even cooler!

Animals: Another items he has loved since day one is animals of ANY kind. Live animals, stuffed animals, plastic animals, movies and books about animals, drawing animals, you name it, he loves it. He feeds them, sleeps with them, plays with them, talks to them, reads to them, takes them with him in the car, again, you name it, he does it. I could write an entire entry on just his love for animals (in fact maybe I will later), but for this purpose, just know that he would be a-okay with getting lost in the jungle to be raised by the animals.

Foods: Well, I am going to back up 2 weeks and take a snap shot of that, as ever since he got sick, he has been PICKY. Some of his favorites: chocolate milk, applesauce, chicken and french fries, jello with whip cream, cheese, hot dogs, fruit of any kind (peaches, strawberries blueberries, bananas, oranges, etc.), fruit snacks, M & M's.

TV/Movies: Backyardigans, Go Diego Go, Zobamafoo (i.e. "animal show"), Garfield, Dinosaur Train, Jungle book.

iphones: He loves to play on our iphones. Particulary "monkey preschool lunchbox" and "peek-a-boo barn". I really think those application helped to teach him colors and shapes. He can navigate the iphone better than most new users :). He also likes to find the pictures on the phone and scroll through them and name everyone.