Tag: toddler

Holidays, Toddler

Bun Meets Bunny

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I was really nervous about taking Bun to see the Easter Bunny this year because our Santa experience was such a fail. But the last few weeks Bun seemed to be interested in walking by the Easter Bunny court at the mall so I decided to go ahead and arrange the visit. While in line the three people in front of us had to leave because their toddlers had more sane reactions to the giant bunny and wanted to have nothing to do with it. I expected the same from my son, but instead I got a Bunny fanboy

 I have this photo on our fridge and Bun loves to walk up to it and babble at the easter bunny and make his little bunny noises.

 It was a meeting of two very old friends, he waved and did his high pitched Hiiiiiiii at the bunny unprompted by me.

This is his “Can you believe how lucky I am” face.

My favorite moments however were the ones when he finally got to walk up to the Bunny after waiting in line. He waved Hi and was “nice” to the bunny , which is essentially Bun trying to pat him. He also tried to give him a hug and inquisitively looked up and down the giant creepy creature and I literally had to drag him out of there because we were holding up the line. I personally don’t get it but Bun is quite taken with a giant rabbit.

Bun365, Love, Mommyhood, Toddler

Because

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Some afternoons are just magical.  Simply because its spring. Because there is sunshine. Because I’m outside with my little family.  Because my boys are looking so handsome. And because they are smiling at the camera at the same time. Because a little boy is playing with a ball with his daddy. Because sometimes you don’t need a reason to be happy.

Because This picture of Bun and J looking at each other makes my heart feel all squishy

Because This picture of him looking at me makes my heart feel double squishy.

Because its impossible to not be happy while playing with a bouncy blue ball

Because these guys make it so easy to be happy

Baby, Bun365, Mommyhood, Toddler

15 months

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*Outside time is still Bun’s favorite. *

So this post is two weeks too late, but here goes. Bun’s 15 months has been really really fun and also really really challenging.  But geez, how this boy is growing, he is now a full fledged toddler, wanting to walk everywhere, climbing stairs (eek) and exploring the world. At his 15th month check up he weighed 21lbs ( 15th %) and was 27 inches in length (33rd %) and had a head size percentile of 58% so he is still on the smaller side and is a very very skinny boy with a giant head. His pediatrician says that he is growing well and thats just his body type.

*Daffodils*

Bun is also getting pickier and pickier by the day about what he will eat. The foods he eats are yogurt, fruits, bread and cookies.  I still try valiantly to offer him veggies and pasta and chicken but its pretty much useless. He just shakes his head and says “na na na”

*He has been doing a lot of Baby yoga lately*

The best part about 15 months is Bun’s desire to communicate with words. The favorite word this month is “Done” He uses this word like a pro and uses it to let me know when he is just not interested in doing what I want him to do. His other new words are “Pish” for fish and ‘Kawpee” for coffee, and “Appeeel” for Apple.  He also loves to make animal sounds and truck sounds and his repertoire includes Fire truck, Dump Truck, Truck, Cow, Dog (although his dog sounds don’t sound like any one else’s), Snake, Wolf, Lizard (not really a sound, but he sticks his tongue out), Duck and Birdie. He is currently working on learning hoot hoot for owl.

* I had to crop this photo down a lot but I just love his expression as he is stomping around.*

Bun also has been playing two new games with us lately, Ring a Round the Roses and Row Row Row your boat and will occasionally try to do the actions to Itsy Bitsy Spider but he doesn’t have the attention span and just starts clapping after the second line. He is also sleeping really well these day, well maybe not so well for naps but bedtime is such a joy these days. He sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:15 ish and he loves to cuddle with Scout in his crib before bedtime and he will now actually play quietly in his crib for a few minutes when he first wakes up rather than cry.

*This smile melts my heart*

The downsides of 15 months is the crankiness and whininess and when he wants my attention or a cookie or a book he wants it immediately. The kid has no patience ( I hear this is all toddlers though, so fingers crossed).

*This is the “I’m going to do something naughty” look. I need to get a better picture of this look.*

And thats a 15 month wrap up or as Bun would say -Done

Funny, Life, Toddler

Contact Solution v. Me. The Epic Battle

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Sometimes it hits you like a ton of bricks or more like a squirt of contact lens solution that staying at home with a toddler is really staying at home alone. At fifteen months your toddler will only cry harder if you are also crying in pain.  This is the story of how the contact lens solution ruined our day

It started out like any other day only this morning Bun was grumpier and crankier than usual when he woke up, probably something to do with not eating any of his dinner last night. But still the morning was chugging along pleasantly until Bun decided he absolutely had to drag stuff out of our pantry. Meanwhile I was rubbing my eyes all morning since allergies were bugging me and one more hard rub and the contact came out in my hand. Out of my other good eye, I spotted the new contact solution the eye doctor had recently given me and thought,”Wow,I’ll give this one a try” So I did the contact washing routine and right when I popped it in, it felt like my eyes were on fire. On Cue Bun chose this moment to  empty a pasta packet all over the kitchen floor and started bawling because he realized he probably shouldn’t have done that. And thats how at 8:30 am on a Wednesday morning mother and son stood sobbing in the kitchen.

I took the contact out, washed it out with water and then tried putting it in again and succeeded and then the pain was just too unbearable so I had to down on the floor and by some superhuman strength I managed to open my eye, stick my finger in and yank that contact out.  By now Avi was crying harder and I was sobbing in pain and my poor tormented eye was bright red. It was at this point it hit me that I should read the directions where it clearly said- “Do not insert into eyes for atleast 6 hours after soaking. Contacts need 6 hours to neutralize.”

So now I have one contact in my eye, stuck at home for 6 hours since I can’t drive and honestly I’m too scared to put the contact back in at all today. I have no idea where my glasses are. Probably at my parents house somewhere.  Oh and did I mention the extra grumpy toddler.

Motherhood didn’t come with directions, but seriously, I should have at least thought about glancing at the directions to the contact solution.

Bun365, Life, Mommyhood, Toddler

Its Finally Springtime!

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It feels so wonderful now that the weather outside has finally warmed up a bit! Its been a crazy busy week with work and also loads of fun. One of my clients had a house go under contract and we also had a bunch of family activities that kept us busy and of course this blog fell off the priority list.

Anyway, speaking of the priority list, I have added this yellow potted primrose to my list of things to do. I have never been any good around plants and have never had potted plants around, but this spring, its all going to change. I will keep some plants alive, I’m even going to have them thrive.  J is seriously doubtful about this venture and has bet me $50 that this poor little primrose is going to be dead in under two weeks. But I have my secret weapon- Bun who is ready to point to it and remind me that it needs some watering!

Here are some pics of my boy enjoying the spring sunshine in his new toddler sandals.

Baby Boy, Life, Mommyhood, Toddler

Love. Hate. Shoes

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No this post is not about my relationship with shoes. That one is pretty straight forward- I love them. Always have, Always will. Hate, dislike, ambivalence, doubt were never words for that relationship.

No this is about Bun’s complicated relationship with shoes or joooewz as he calls them. On one hand shoes is one of his favorite words right up there with Dog. In fact it’s his go to word in a pinch, whenever he wants to have a conversation with me and runs out of his limited vocabulary, but wants to keep talking he’ll randomly say shoes, you know just for kicks. I cannot pass by the shoe aisles at target or payless at the mall without hearing a rendition of “joooewz, joooewz, joooewz” chant. Also, he now knows that if I want him to wear shoes, its a good bet that we are going out. Another very favorite word and activity.

Once he actually has his shoes on and pointed at them, giggled and been left alone with them, the hate part kicks in. He is adamant about taking them off. I’m forever putting them back on when I get him out of the car seat. But things came to a head last friday. I was meeting an old friend and we had to swing by Walgreens to pick up a prescription and run a few errands. Somewhere between Walgreens and the errands Bun had managed to take off his shoes and lose them. Yes lose them. They weren’t in the car or in any of my bags. I could not take my kid to a play area without shoes,so we had to add Target to our list of stops and pick up a pair. And the cycle continued, he was thrilled while we looked at shoes, tried them on, paid for them, left the store. I put them on him in the car and of course when we pulled up to Panera and I went to get him out of the car seat, the shoes were off.  He smiled at me and said “joooewz”

Toddlers. Sigh

Bun365, Food and Drinks, Love, Mommyhood, Toddler

Parks and Recreation

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Is one of my favorite comedy Sitcoms on TV right now.

And also the only title I could come up with for this entry. I ‘m terrible at titles. We have had fabulous weather in these parts (Up until today of course, its now cold and cloudy as I write this) and we had the added bonus of J not having to put in any work hours this weekend. Family time ensued. We grilled, went to the park twice, checked out Kidzu on Franklin Street. It was mellow, relaxing and lovely.

We kicked off the weekend on Friday afternoon with a play date at one of my favorite parks in Durham. Morreene Road park is a small park and most of the park is taken up by the large sprawling play structure and there are foam mats underneath. There are also large ramps that are wide and low to the ground- perfect for toddlers to run on. Also there is one big slide and 3 or 4 small ones, again perfect for toddlers. The swing set too is very baby friendly. As an added bonus, there is a tennis court right next door and Bun just loves to run over and watch the balls flying the air. The fence is pretty high so I don’t really worry about the balls hitting him.

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This is pretty much what we played with the entire time on Friday afternoon. The boy loves wheels.

He was finally persuaded to swing a little bit right before we left the park.

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Friday for dinner we had awesome grilled chicken kebabs in a greek marinade thanks to my very talented grill master – J and his trusty assistant. Bun even agreed to eat two whole chunks. I’m amazed every time he eats chicken.

Saturday was a little bit colder but we decided to head back out to Morreene Road park again because J wanted to check it out for himself. This time there were lots of kids running around and Bun just wanted to watch them. When he finally felt like he was ready to play, he went on the big slide with Dada

He also went down the slide on his own for the first time- We taught him to lie down on his back and slide down and of course we were right there to catch him. And of course we had him go down the littlest one.

Hair Static!

Bun wasn’t really as impressed with this concave window thingie as I thought he would be.

And finally, it was time to head home and J was very upset about having to leave the playground.

Finally, On Sunday we went to check out Kidzu the children’s museum in Chapel Hill but I committed a double sin and left my camera and phone at home so we have no pictures. I’ll just have to take Bun back there again and do a blog post then.

 

Baby Boy, Bun365, Life, Mommyhood, Toddler

Just the Backyard

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It seems like everyone is at the park today. I can’t blame them, its gorgeous, sunny and 75 degrees in February. I, however am not feeling like a social mama, so after seeing that two of our favorite parks are jam packed with kids, especially older ones, I decided just hanging outside our townhouse would be fine. And it was! Bun today has discovered sticks, weeds, flowers and grass.

I only had my phone with me so the pics are less than good, but it tells the story

Now that Bun is a pro at walking on grass, he is willing to go exploring anywhere, as long as I’m close enough to hold his hand of course

I debated long and hard about whether to teach Bun that these little white flowers were weeds or not. I decided to focus on teaching him “flowers” because it seems like a sweeter word to learn. He looked at these for a long time and even picked a few and handed them to me. He also tried to eat some.

Next he found some twigs and carried them around proudly. He started out with the smaller ones at first but eventually decided that he was confident enough to play with this big one.

And then in usual boy fashion, he went on a destroying rampage. He broke up all the little twigs into itty bitty little pieces.

He played happily with twigs and grass for at least 45 minutes and then we took our little walk around the yard and went home.

Baby Boy, Bun365, Life, Toddler

Sweet Little Boys

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Saturday afternoon Bun and I were hanging out in the front of our townhouse, getting into our usual trouble when a little boy maybe seven or eight walked by us walking his chihuahua. Bun was naturally thrilled and raced over towards the “doh” as he calls it. The little boy stopped and helped Bun pet the dog and told me the dog’s name and and spent some time playing . And finally it was time to say “buh buh” and “taaaaaaaaaa- ta” Just as the little boy and his dog was walking away he turned around came back to me and said this

There’s a car headed this way, you might want to be careful with him (points to Bun). I can’t see the color because the sun is in my eye, but I thought you should know.”

All I managed to say in return was “Thank You for giving me a heads up” How sweet for a little 7 year old to look out for some neighbors he has never met before. I hope Bun grows up to be this little boy.