A Note to My Birthday Boy

Connor, 

You are a whole two years old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! It seems like just yesterday that you were just a sweet little baby. 

You were so small then that you didn't seem real. You're so much bigger now. You're so smart and creative and funny. Here are some things that I hope I never forget about you at this age:

How you would laugh maniacally at random things. 

How you would say "I wub you" and "Peas" (please) while nodding your head. 

How you would say "Stop it" and cry a little when your sleeves wouldn't stay down. 

How I would ask you for a hug and you would wrap your arms around my neck so tightly. 

How I would ask for a kiss and you would press your cheek to mine and wait for me to kiss you. 

How your laugh would make my heart ache with happiness. 

How you were fascinated by all moving vehicles, but especially trains and cars. 

How you would stop what you were doing at the playground when a truck passed by, point, and yell "Bus!" 

How good a climber you were and your love of slides. 

How even at this age you would say "please" and "thank you" and wait your turn to go down the slide. 

How you loved all animals, sometimes a little too much. 

How you loved to draw, on everything. 

How you would rock back and forth on your feet to dance to tv theme songs you liked. 

How you would instantly charm everyone you met.

And most importantly, how much you were loved by everyone who met you and how thankful I am to have you in my life. 

So Happy Birthday Connor!!!! I look forward to celebrating many more with you!

Changes & Parks

Sorry for all the changes in the appearance of this blog lately. I've been trying to figure out what I want it to look like so I keep trying things out. I should have one look pinned down soon, so bear with me until then. 

On another note, we've been enjoying more nice weather today. Connor and I went to the park near the commissary (military grocery store) for a little while before we went grocery shopping. It was right near the water, in a wooded area, and empty. We hadn't been there before, so it was nice to be the only ones to enjoy it. 

My favorite part was that they had a toddler play area. The slides were a bit shorter and the climbing things were chunkier; less of a chance for him to fall through. This didn't stop him from tackling the big play area anyway. He wanted to go down the fireman's pole and tackle the big slides. 

My little crazy man. 

Yet somehow, the wobbly bridge proved too scary for him. I had to hold his hand across it once, and then give him reassurance from the sidelines the next couple times. I can't quite make sense of what scares him and what doesn't. I know he doesn't share my fear of heights though. If he's anything like his father, I know he'll only get more adventurous.

New Activity

Yesterday, Connor got to enjoy some new activities. 

First, I took an empty plastic jar and filled it with about 1/2 an inch of dry navy beans and put the cap back on. Then I gave him a bowl and some measuring cups. He spent about 20 minutes unscrewing the cap and transferring the beans from jar to bowl and back again. He would use the measuring cups to scoop some out of the bowl and put them back in the jar. We stopped when he tried to eat the beans. They're edible, but not great when they're dry. The activity helps expose him to a new texture and practice his fine motor skills. 

We also drew for a bit using colored pencils. They're narrower and longer than the crayons he usually uses, so it provided more of a challenge to hold. Again, this works on fine motor skills, and stimulates his creativity. His drawings have started to be more purposeful, more straight lines and circles, less random. 

We've also been working on up and down. He loves to to jump up in the air, even though he only gets about an inch of the ground. Luckily though he hasn't quite gotten brave enough to jump off things. He prefers to climb them right now. 

Next week we're going to work on the alphabet and dressing himself. He's good at taking off his sweaters or jackets, but he hasn't quite gotten anything else. Although he is very good at putting his socks on his hands. 

New Words

I am amazed every day by how big Connor is getting. He just learns in leaps and bounds and spits out new words every day. 

Today in the car he says to me "Put shoe back on." This from a boy who usually only says one or two words at a time. 

Some of his other favorite phrases: 

"Get down!"

"What happened?"

"What are you doing?"

"Where's the ball?"

"Where'd it go?"

Can you tell where he got those from?

and my personal favorite "I love you"

Although it ends up sounding more like "I wub you." I still know what he means. 

I've read from multiple sources that the best way to help your kids grow a vocabulary is to talk to them all the time: Describe what you're doing as you cook dinner, or as you go grocery shopping. It sounded extremely silly to me. They really wanted me to say "Now, I'm chopping up the green broccoli and putting it in the black pot"? But since I've been doing this, his vocabulary really has taken off. I don't baby talk to him, never really have. Instead, I talk to him as if he were an adult. I simply use fewer words when I need him to do something. Three word commands are easier to follow than more complicated ones. 

So try it! Be silly and describe your day in detail to your little one. Pretty soon they'll be telling you "I wub you!"

Building onto the schedule

What I've been trying to do to flesh out the schedule a bit is a lot of research. I don't have a degree in child development, but I still want my son to be stimulated. He's at the age where he will sit down and watch tv if I let him, but that is no way to spend an entire day. 

I do however allow him an hour in the mornings while he eats breakfast. It's still more than the recommended amount for his age, but it makes it a lot easier for me to catch up on the news/blogs and do some quick cleaning. 

But I digress, what I want to talk about is research. There are a lot of websites out there dedicated to homeschooling. These are dedicated more to the school-age kids (as they should be) so they weren't exactly helpful for me. I did come across a lot of great news and information websites for parents, which are fun to read but not exactly helpful for my purpose. But then I came across www.babycenter.com which is the most helpful one I found. It goes into a lot of detail about kids' development at every age. It even had sections where it recommended some activities to do with kids and help them learn. 

The next thing I did was go to the library. I picked up a bunch of books that have activities for toddlers. Then I looked at his schedule from his old daycare to see how they broke up the day. Finally, I've been paying attention to what my son's interests are so I can make sure he will like what we're doing. 

All the research I've done says that kids learn best through play. I'm not planning on trying to make him sit down and do flashcards or drills. Instead I plan on asking him how many trains he has as we're pushing them along the tracks. If I can teach him to count or know his colors while we're playing, I think that's a great thing. 

Of course, I'll also make sure there's plenty of time for free play as well since that's just as important as anything else. 

And that, in my long-winded way, is how I'm creating a schedule for my son. 

Lists

I love lists. 

They help me feel organized and accomplished. My first post-college job involved a lot of tasks that needed to be done at specific times. So in order to keep them all straight, our department had a Task List. We would meet everyday and sign up for the next day's tasks. It was very organized and wonderful. The next job I took wasn't quite like that. I was forced to make my own lists and what needed to get done changed all the time. But there was still some sense of stability. I felt productive whenever I checked something off my list. 

So when I became a stay-at-home mom, I was a bit lost. Kids don't come with lists. With a baby, there's basic needs that are fairly easy to take care of. They're exhausting and needy, but you can check things off in your head. 

Feeding. Check!

Burping. Check!

Diaper Change. Check!

Sleeping. Check!

Make crazy faces at baby to get a laugh. Check!

But as time goes on, the list gets bigger. You worry about them learning words. Are they practicing gross and fine motor skills? What's the difference? Am I reading to him often enough? Should he be having more playdates? You want your child to have everything he needs to become a well-adjusted, successful adult. So where are the lists to help you accomplish that? 

I scoured the internet looking for advice and suggestions. I found some helpful websites, some funny ones, and a lot of mediocre, general advice. I wanted specifics. I wanted "On Tuesday, practice letter recognition by doing x." But that doesn't exist. So I've been forced to come up with my own lists. I'm still working on them. 

In the Beginning

Hello all!

This being my first foray into the world of blogging, I'm not quite sure where to begin. I feel like I've come a bit late to the party. Blogging has been around for a while, and yet I haven't had time to participate. Well, today that changes. 

So, let me introduce myself. My name is Kat. I'm a work-at-home mom to a 2-year-old boy and wife to a sailor. I grew up in the Northeast, but the Navy move us around every few years, and we currently reside in the mid-atlantic. Until recently, I worked full-time with aspirations to be a freelance writer someday. Then, the economy forced my company to do layoffs and I was a casualty. So, now I'm pursuing my freelance dreams and trying to be a good mom at the same time. I'm quickly learning that both take a lot of effort and hard work, and I plan to chronicle my efforts in this blog. Hopefully, this combination of kids, work and random things will be interesting to you. 

Please visit often as I find my way!