February 2013

This month went a little bit smoother than the last. We finally got settled back into our routine, the weather warmed up a bit, we celebrated Justin’s birthday, and we celebrated the arrival of William Dillon – Lilly’s new baby brother! Oh, and Desmond got his first real haircut! There were lots of other fun adventures, painting parties, playing in the kitchen, etc. that you can see in the pics.

For Justin’s birthday week we hiked in Marin with Des – who is a great hiking buddy by the way – had snacks at the Pelican Inn, and made a New Orleans style dinner complete with Pascale Minale’s BBQ’d shrimp…and homemade cards from Des too! The following weekend we went to Yoshi’s for dinner (thanks Nonna!!) and a concert (Allen Toussaint)….pretty much the same weekend of festivities we plan every year actually.

William arrived safely on the scene on the 8th. Both he and mama are still doing great and he’s such a handsome and sweet little guy. Finally a buddy for Des!

You’ll see the haircut photos in the album below. Desmond handled it like a champ. Of course it helped that his seat was a miniature VW beetle covered in sparkly stickers but hey, whatever works. I did drive all the way across town to make sure he had good memories of his first trip to the barber shop and it was TOTALLY worth it!

Just a few words about our growing boy too. He’s been changing physically, emotionally, and just saying the most hilarious things on our commute lately and I’ve got to record it if only for myself and the three people who read this blog!

For starters:

“Look momma a princess! a black one!”

me: “you mean a prius?”

“YAAA!”

or this one, as I’m munching on cheesy crackers in the car with him:

“Mama! You’re a good eater.”

(mama puts the bag down).

He really tries to be good most of the time but can be VERY naughty and just frustrating mostly. Like NEVER coming when we call for dinner, or to brush teeth, or get ready for bed, or, or, you get it. And tantrums are starting to rear their ugly heads too so I’m really excited for that.

Still, he is our sweet and cuddly boy. ” I wannto snuggle with you!!!” is his favorite thing to say when we’re just about to say goodnight. It’s so hard to resist that! His favorite snuggle toys are now ‘Pear’ (a stuffed pear) and ‘Gorilla’ without whom he will not go to bed. He is obsessed (really) with cars, trucks, trains, anything that goes, still. He even passed up a trip to the playground to stay and watch the men in the local repair shop change tires, bring the cars up on hydraulic lifts, change oil, etc.

His speech is still progressing greatly but he did develop a bit of a stutter after the holidays. I researched it, spoke to his pediatrician, and talked to other moms and got the same message each time….it’s probably just a phase. It’s a very common thing that some children go through at this age when their brain is going a mile a minute but their tongue can’t keep up. The only thing you can do is wait for him to finish, speak slowly and don’t even let on that you notice. We’ve been doing just that and it’s literally almost gone now. Supposedly it may return from time to time but I’m just glad we can work through it. We just can’t wait to hear all the things he’s been thinking this whole time!