First just some general updates.
- Isaac's language is really expanding each day. We've been practicing "using complete sentences" which Isaac has now most associated with adding a "Can I have..." to the beginning of whatever he wants (said with a thoughtful pause after each word), and ending it with a "please". He also just dictates what he observes in a pretty complete sentence. "Mommy's having breakfast", "Allie is barking", "stack the cups. Oopsie!", "Come on, Allie!", "Lady! Eat your food!"
- He has also been consistently saying, "I love you...TOO!" when we say I love you. And we've started to do "I love you THIS much" while we stretch out our arms. And he'll laugh and say, "Again! Love you this much!"
- He recognizes a few letters, and when he sees signs, or words or even one of our crossword books, he says, "ABCDs!" which seems to show he recognizes that letters are in print. He's also been better with his colors and shapes. While eating a piece of watermelon the other day, he just held it up and said, "triangle". And the piece was in fact cut in a triangle shape. He calls a square a diamond, which is kind of interesting. And recognizes circles and heart shapes too.
- The other day after a super long afternoon nap, the very first thing he said was, "Go to Sandy's house?" I told him we weren't going to Sandy's today. To which he responded, "Have fun Sandy's house...tomorrow?"
- And whenever he's asked to do something like clean up his toys, or put books away, or if he knows he get do something once Mommy finishes doing something, he says, "Almost all done?" even if he's just started the task. It seems to be his mantra for getting through the waiting.
He impresses us each day with something new that's come out of his mouth.
OUTDOOR WORK:
The main thing keeping us busy this past month has been a variety of outdoor projects. On the few non-rainy days we had this month, we were hard at work on our vegetable and fruit gardens (5 raised beds with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, leeks, carrots, strawberries, and peas, lots of herbs, some lettuces, plus a kiwi vine, peach tree and garlic!), clearing out space for our new compost area, planning an outdoor play area for Isaac, and perhaps the most exciting for Mommy: getting ready for our chickens!! Isaac has "helped" with all of this work by either taking some nice long naps, having visits with Mommom & CharliePop, or hanging out in the Tula on Mommy's back while she shovels soil and hauls the wheelbarrow around the yard. Isaac even got to go for a fun ride around the yard with the dogs one afternoon.
Here's how the garden is currently looking:
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| Isaac "helping" to untangle the pea trellis |
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| compost area: before |
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| compost area: after being cleared and mulched. Thanks, Isaac! |
Off on a wheelbarrow ride!
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| "That way!" |
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| "Hole! Big hole!" |
OUTDOOR PLAY:
When the weather is nice we try to be outside as much as possible. Isaac mostly likes exploring the yard, but he also plays with his trucks and wheelbarrow and bubble machines. He's also started to practice his overhand throw with pine cones. And he has a very unique technique where he first rubs the pine cone behind his neck, and then throws it. But he's been throwing so well and straight when he does this, and this technique has transferred to throwing other things as well. (even though it does leave his neck full of dirt and pine cone scratches!)
Over Memorial Day weekend Isaac got to enjoy his first time running through the sprinkler. HERE is a video.
This is just a funny sequence of pictures as Isaac sang "In the Kitchen with Dinah" We/He really enjoys exaggerating the vowel sounds - here, he's in the process of the "fee-fi-fiddly-ay-OHHHHH" part.
Memorial Day weekend brought lots of time outside working on the deck and yard, and grilling for dinner, as well as a weekend full of fresh corn on the cob. Mommy taught Isaac how to help shuck the corn, and he really gave it 110%! Mommy was really impressed by how helpful he was being..until his motives became clear and he took a huge bit out of an ear of freshly shucked corn. Mommy quickly moved him on to shuck the next ear while she frantically Googled if it was "safe" to eat raw corn. Apparently Mommy's been missing out because not only is raw corn a-OK, but it's pretty delicious! Isaac was then able to enjoy a whole raw ear, which he munched on proudly. Thanks for teaching me something new, Isaac!
MOTHER'S DAY:
During the days on Mother's Day weekend, we spent as much time as possible getting our fruits and veggies in the ground. On Saturday night we took Mommom out to dinner at Nacho Mama's and then Mommy and Mommom went to see the Little Women musical performed by the theater department at Mommy's school. On our walk to the car after dinner, Isaac became very interested in a man washing his motorcycle on the street, and the man made Isaac's day by inviting him to sit on his bike!
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| reading Mommom's card |
On Mother's Day proper, Mommy played piano at church and then Mommy and Isaac went to visit Mom-mom-mom. Mommy caught some very sweet footage of Mom-mom-mom and Isaac singing some nursery rhymes together. VIDEO HERE. Then as a special treat, we got crabs and corn for dinner. Yum! Isaac wanted nothing to do with the crabs themselves but was happy to eat any picked meat that we shared with him.
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| sucking on a crab leg |
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| deciding the laundry can wait until after Mother's Day |
SING ALONGS (4 video clips!):
Perhaps one of our favorite developments is Isaac's ever-growing interest in all things music: singing, recognizing so many different types of instruments, and trying his hand at guitar, drums, harmonica, piano, and even violin. We've had so much fun singing songs with him. At bedtime he's been surprising Mommy with which songs he knows the words to. His repertoire goes beyond the basic nursery rhymes. He can also sings along with You Are My Sunshine, the tune for Love me Tender, and several songs from the Where Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack! We've been trying some piano duets, with Mommy assigning Isaac a single bass note to play (a note that fits in with most of the chords in the song), and Mommy plays the melody as they sing along. Here are two videos of some piano time the other night after dinner.
HERE is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
And HERE is Isaac's latest favorite, Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah (this is always his first request at the piano. He just loves those oh-oh-oh's!)
HERE is a video of him dancing to Daddy's lovely guitar playing. Pardon our bad table manners. (warning: the guitar is very out of tune!)
HERE is a video of him at Atholton Park, singing the ABCs while drumming (after he observed some kids earlier in the day using sticks as drumsticks).
BIG BOY BED:
After so much climbing out the crib, we finally took the plunge and transitioned Isaac to a toddler bed a few weeks ago. We put a baby gate at his bedroom door, and did a deep baby proofing of his room. Here is a VIDEO of his first sighting of his new big boy bed.
His first time in it was for a nap. He spent about an hour pulling ALL of his books and stuffed animals in his room, but he did eventually find a corner in his bed to fall asleep in.
His first night in the toddler bed didn't go as smoothly. Mommy laid him in his bed and left him laying there awake, just like she used to when he was in the crib. Isaac quickly came to the gate in protest (he was here for a LONG time before Mommy intervened. He wasn't crying, just hanging out between the gate and the door, clearly unimpressed with the situation.). But after just a couple of hours of Mommy putting him back in his bed, and eventually staying in his room singing him to sleep, he did finally fall asleep.
The rest of the week continued to bring...adventures. Even though he can now climb out of his bed on his own, he still insists on climbing up on the attached changer, and then up to the windows to look outside (we are in the process of looking for a new bed altogether).
One day he pulled out every last piece of his clothing from his drawers, shamelessly telling Mommy, "wear this!" when she discovered the disaster.
Then she overheard Isaac whispering to himself, "Careful, careful..." And then more loudly, to Mommy, "Help, please!" And Mommy came in to discover this sight:
Shortly after, she "caught" him kneeling by his bed reading his bible. Uh huh...Mr. Innocent, you're not fooling me!
Another day he pulled ALL of the dirty diapers out of his diaper pail. Gross! (we have since relocated the diaper pail).
**It only took Mommy a full week to learn that the "trick" to getting Isaac to nap and fall asleep in his bed the most efficiently was to just obey Isaac's request of "Mommy, stay here?", and now sits on the floor until he falls asleep, then holds her breath as she sneaks out the door and closes the baby gate behind. Yep, easy-peazy!
MISC. BEDTIME STORIES:
Isaac has become particularly attached to both of the homemade quilts from Mommom (one being his dachshund quilt on his bed, and the other being the one of Mommy's, made from pieces of fabric from many of the clothes Mommom made for Mommy as a child...a prized piece!). He has frequently been asking for "THIS blanket!" and then being totally ecstatic to be snuggled in the quilt. It's been hard to get a good picture though.
Zonked out during naptime at Aunt Margie's:
Isaac's stuffed doll, Buster, has become more of a friend to Isaac with him wanting to include him in more and more of our routines. "Buster on Mommy's back?", "Buster drink water?", "High-five, Buster. Good job!" He really loves when Buster "interacts" with our bedtime stories and joins Isaac in playing. When I ask him what book he wants to read at bedtime he says "Buster, book?" meaning Buster should choose the book. Then Isaac loves showing Buster what's in the pictures. It's funny to watch how Isaac checks on Buster's "reaction" to things. And after watching Mommy do it a few times, Mommy has seen Isaac sitting on his floor with Buster, reading a book, and taking his hand to point to things he calls out. Too cute!
Oh, then there was the night he decided Buster also needed a bath...
Checking himself out in his "robe and hood".
Post bath selfies:
One of his last nights in his crib!
After a day of playing hard and refusing a nap, he couldn't even stay awake long enough to brush his teeth!
AROUND THE HOUSE:
Isaac went with Mommy to her MOPS meeting for the first time this month. Unbeknownst to Mommy, he was given a Capri Sun with the snack...his first ever experience with juice. He was brought back to Mommy with no pants on (He peed through after all the water and juice he drank) and was literally bouncing off the walls the rest of the night! But he did decorate and plant a nice flower for Mommy, and the next day had a BLAST pulling the stickers off of the flower pot and sticking them on Mommy's face.
He just loves to vacuum. We really need to get him one of those toddler-sized vacuums that really work!
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| Oh sorry, Mommy. Did you need this basket? |
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| these guys were so snuggled in together! |
a month of Mommy-son selfies...
One morning Isaac helped Mommy make strawberry pancakes. He was very good at mixing the batter. He was less helpful with slicing the strawberries (with a plastic knife). "Eat them, please?"
Yum! Enjoying his hard work!
OUTINGS:
We've checked out a lot of different parks and playgrounds this month in Howard and Anne Arundel counties.
We went to Atholton Park a few times:
We checked out Lake Waterford Park for the first time too. Isaac had fun joining in on a game of a chase with some older kids.
Kinder Farm:
Daddy and Isaac had a father-son day and Isaac got to eat breakfast at the Subaru waiting room, and then went to Farm Sprouts where he got to hang out with Jarrett and learn about chickens and ducks!
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| petting a chicken |
A visit with Grandma:
We went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival and while the wind kept us from being able to see much of any hot air balloons, Isaac got to have his first ride on a real school bus as we had to take a shuttle from the parking lot to Turf Valley. He was SO psyched! We had to wait over an hour for "our turn" and he was so patient, standing in line, watching the buses come and go. We also ran into Maddie while we were in line waiting for pizza and Isaac was happy to have some quality time with her and show off his hat, and tell her all about the yellow balloon that kept floating by.
school bus selfies!
Got a glimpse of a hot air balloon just as we were leaving!
Over Memorial Day weekend, Isaac got to enjoy his first snowball. He seemed to spill half of it on his legs (SO much sticky!), but needless to say he enjoyed this special treat.
For the first time ever, Isaac got to sit at Mommy's piano at church.
And we had a fun play date with Jarrett, June, and Jodi. Isaac was really interested in Jarrett's toys and that's all he talked about after we got home.
just two pals, chatting while they eat lunch:
Quick rest in the dog bed:
Phew! That's all for now!
