Changes....

There are some big changes in store for us...

First off, Alan landed a new job working as a web developer in downtown Seattle. Yay! :-) Needless to say, he is very excited and we are happy to be moving back to Seattle.

Now comes the stressful part.... it begins on July 5th and we're trying to move on July 1st. Yikes. We were in Seattle today (Sunday) to look at some rentals and can't get over how expense housing is.... I swear it's gone up even since we last lived there a year ago. We only saw one home that would work for us and are crossing our fingers that we get it (there were other applicants). *sigh* We might be going up again on Tuesday to look at some more (further away from Seattle).

Anyway, to all of our Seattle friends, we'll be in touch with you soon! I've been *so* behind in e-mail, photo editing, blog posting... anything "recreational" related has been put on hold for awhile. Not only are we trying to get housing, selling stuff, and packing, I am also still applying for jobs (yeah, I still don't have one lined up). Oh yeah, and there's still a certain little man that needs my attention most of the day.

So stay tuned... I'll update this blog as soon as I can. Reshen has been doing some amazing things lately (well, at least they are amazing in my eyes) :-)

"Talk" with you all soon!

Links

Just a couple of things.

First off, we've figured out how to upload videos fairly easily to Reshen's Webpage, so we're putting them there again. So if you want to check videos of our little man, they will be at www.baby2.memanproductions.com, in the Movies section.

Secondly, I've started a blog about the adventures in feeding a toddler at www.mykidsplate.blogspot.com. Mostly I talk about what I feed Reshen from day to day and share recipies, ideas, etc., but I'm hoping that others will come and comment and give their own ideas and advice as well. Feeding a picky toddler well-rounded meals can be tricky and I'm always looking for new things to feed him and ways to get veggies past his picky palate.

That's all for now :-)

A Little Man with Big Ideas...

Our little man has many ideas these days. Now don't get me wrong, Reshen has *always* had ideas and opinions about things, even as a newborn and has always been good at expressing them. But lately it seems he has strong opinions about anything and everything. I will share some examples:

1. His clothes- I put overalls on him the other day and he began crying and pulling at the "bib" part and saying "off!" This was quite sad for mommy as he is *so* cute in overalls. I put khaki pants on him this morning and, again, he started crying and pulled at the legs. Not sure why he didn't want to wear them, but I put him in some softer pants and he was fine. He also cried when I changed him into jeans later today, but I was able to distract him this time. Who knew he would get so picky about what he wears?! He also prefers to wear his sandals or boots rather than his tennis shoes, and we have gone to the store with him dressed in froggy boots and shorts.

2. His bibs- He won't wear them anymore. Pulls at them and screams until they come off. *sighs* It's either deal with a tantrum or put a new shirt on him when he's done eating. I've chosen the changing shirt route. We have enough tantrums as it is. Pick your battles is my motto.

3. His highchair- He really does think he's 4 years old sometimes. He wants so badly to eat at the table with Luke and Lucy, so at their house he is now allowed to sit on the bench with them, as long as he actually *sits* there and doesn't climb onto the top of the table (which I've caught him doing when I left the room for 10 seconds). He is *so* proud of himself and it's really adorable to see him sitting there like a big boy with his friends. Only problem is now he doesn't want to sit in his high chair at home either. I began letting him use his booster seat and that was OK for awhile, but today he threw a fit because he wanted to sit in daddy's *real* chair and eat at the table that way. The chair is too low and not sturdy enough for him to sit in and eat, so I told him he needed to use his booster seat and even pushed it up to the table (without the tray), but he knows the difference. This was something I couldn't give in on, so the crying ensued. Funny thing was he still ate, only between cries for the "chair." He would take a bite, say "um" (yum) and then point to the chair and start crying again. *sigh*



4. His Food- He always has very definite ideas of what he wants to eat during the day. I can't count how many times he asks for milk, juice, crackers and cake... all of which are restricted to a certain degree. By the way, cake really means any type of "cakey" thing, like banana bread or muffins. Of course, if he doesn't get it the crying begins, but this is something I for which I stick to my guns. He has to eat fruit and veggies *sometimes*.

5. What he wants to play- He will think of a game or toy and announce it to me. He then runs to find whatever it is, or takes my hands to prompt me for a game. It's really adorable and I love to get a glimpse of those little wheels turning. It's especially funny when he's looking for a toy and holds his hands up and says "go?" like "where did it go?" Then he says "hmmmm.." like he's thinking about it. He also looks for specific books and objects in the kitchen cabinets.

6. His Cup- Milk has to go in the milk sippies, water and juice in the other sippies, and then sometimes it can't be a sippy at all... He sometimes wants only a cup with a straw, or like today a big kid cup. I was reluctant to let him drink out of a big kid cup, but he actually did very well. He's really growing up, isn't he?

He is just so independent suddenly and is trying so hard to have some control over his world. He is becoming self-aware and has been referring to himself as "shen" (for Reshen). He is also really into other people and talks about our friends and his family constantly. He has started saying "Hi" to everyone and everything for that matter. With this I have seen some separation anxiety again, especially at nap times and in the middle of the night. He also calls for me when I leave the room and sometimes is like another appendage (the way he clings to my leg).

He loves to imitate and repeats nearly all our words and actions. He especially enjoys mimicking Luke (one of his 3 year old friends). I love watching him run after the kids and join in their games (as much as an 18 month old can). He soaks up everything we say and do. Perhaps this is part of the reason his vocabulary is constantly expanding.

He talks *so* much now. I can't possibly list all that he says, but here are a few examples of things that have shocked me:

1. "I want find a car" (sounded like "I un fine uh car). He was looking for a car in a book.

2. "Cold. I want shirt on."

3. " I want see truck." He wanted to go over and see a large truck more closely.

4. "Hear Choo Choo. " He heard a train.

5. "I want two dog." He had one stuffed dog and wanted another.

6. "More guitar!" This shocked me because he heard guitar in some music and wanted to hear more when it was over.

Actually most of his sentences involve "I want" He can say pretty much any noun, and if he doesn't know the name of what he wants he says "I want this" and points to it.

He also says a lot of "sentences" (if you can call them that) that involve a string of nouns. Such as "Rik Car Neigh-Neigh." Which means he rode in Rik's car and saw a horse while he was in it. Or another one we hear a lot of recently "Ye Ye Boat Water." Which means Ye Ye (his grandpa) was on the boat in the water."

Other phrases he says are "in there" and "on there," and he uses them correctly. He also likes to assign people to objects (Mama Shoes, Dada Cup, Tookie (Luke) Potty, Shen (Reshen) Sock.)

He counts... sort of. He usually says "three four, three four" over and over again. Sometimes he makes it to five, and sometimes he'll start at two, but three and four are his favorite right now.

Anyways, he's *so* communicative. He really has those words down and is working on the sentence structure and picking up some more verbs. I wonder how far along he will be in one month from now! I can only hope his increasing vocabulary will gradually ease his toddler frustrations.

Our Cruise- Day 5 (going home)

Day 5- May 25

This was a long day of traveling. We were up early with Reshen and were already packed and eating breakfast by 7:30 a.m.. We had to check out of our rooms by 8 a.m. but couldn’t get off of the ship until our color was called (they disembarked the ship by groups, each assigned a color). Reshen was so tired that he fell asleep in my arms while we were waiting in the ship’s theater. We hung out there for over an hour... at least the seats were comfortable and they had a large TV.

The disembarking process was long… we had to wait to be called, then we had to wait in a line to get off the ship, then we had to wait in another line to go through customs. I think it took close to 2 hours. Reshen had some antsy moments, as can be expected, but overall he did great.

We still had a long time until our flight left Los Angeles, so we all went to Long Beach and let Reshen stand in the water. He loved it!

Then we had some tasty dim sum for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Reshen had fallen asleep in the car and got maybe a 30 minute nap. He woke up on our way into the restaurant and was happy to sit in his high chair and eat. It was really the first good amount of food he ate on the trip.

We then went to the airport and found we had a small delay, due to some air traffic control issue. It wasn’t a big problem, though, and went got to Seattle around 7 p.m. with little problem. Reshen was awake the whole time on the plane and it took a lot of distraction to keep him happy… exhausting! He fell asleep in the car on the way home and stayed asleep all night. It was a fun trip, but we are happy to be back in our own beds.

Our Cruise- Day Four

Day 4, May 24-

Reshen woke crabby this morning- not a great precursor for the rest of the day. We made the mistake of not having milk in the room for him this morning, so we had to rush through our morning routine to get some from the cafeteria. After eating we did our walking and then nap routine and then met Alan’s family to go into Ensenada.

We took a private tour bus out to La Bufadora (an ocean blowhole). The ride was interesting, as it gave us a look at the local area beyond the tourist front of Ensenada. Reshen was very quiet on the bus, but every time it stopped or paused he would say “done.” “fun.”

Once we arrived at La Bufadora, we had to walk though a long strip of people peddling their wares. The blowhole itself was neat, but we happened to be there at low tide… it would have been much more impressive if we had seen it at high tide. Reshen liked it- kept saying “water.” After we were done, we had to walk back through the “street” of shops and ended up buying some churros to eat. This was almost the only thing Reshen ate today.



Next the bus took us to downtown Ensenada. Reshen fell asleep on the ride and took about a 30 minute nap in my arms. We went to the fish market area and had some authentic fish tacos. We also walked around the general downtown area and looked through some stores. I bought a carved bear to add to my collection. We looked for something for Reshen, but it was all kind of cheap and not good for toddlers.

We then went back to the ship and had a late lunch. Then we walked around some more and let Reshen play. He was crabby and we tried a nap, but he wouldn’t take another one.



Before dinner we had some photos taken of the whole family. Dinner itself was short for us, as Reshen was too tired. We were back at the room by 6:30 and had Reshen asleep. Tomorrow is our trip home.

New Reshen Video

I had to interrupt the cruise story to share a video of Reshen I took the other day. He's showing off his body part knowledge as well as singing a bit. Enjoy :-)

Our Cruise- Day Three

Day 3, May 23.

Reshen slept *all* night (12 hours) without waking. I can’t believe he fell asleep at dinner the previous night and actually stayed asleep until 5:30 this morning. He really surprises me sometimes. He woke up in a great mood, although he did need some extra tending too (considering he hadn’t had dinner or his diaper changed before bed last night). We played in the room for a little bit and then had breakfast at the buffet (once again, he didn’t eat anything).

He then had a little playtime with Ye-Ye and Nai-Nai and then went back to mommy for a short morning nap. After his nap and a bran muffin that he ate (under the guise that it was cake) we thought he would like to go to the toddler playgroup. Turns out he was the only kid there and he wasn’t interested in the toys. She set out this neat boat toy with people and animals to go along, but he just sat there with his little hands in his lap and stared at her and at the toy. He then pointed outside the window and said “Boat.” He was too interested in what was going on around him to play with toys, I guess. So we left and got ready to take the tender (small boat) to Catalina Island with Alan’s family.

It was actually sunny and warm today so we changed into our shorts, packed the backpack and got in line for the tender. The boat ride was short and soon we were on the island. Reshen had a fun time walking around and climbing up and down stairs. He walked through the sand and watched the waves. He stood and stared at the ocean for a very long time with a very thoughtful look on his face. “Water” he would say every once and awhile. Then he said “Fun.”

We couldn’t find much to do in Avalon with a 1-year-old, so we ate a blueberry smoothie and let him play on the playground (he *loved* the curly slide). Then we caught the next tender back to the ship. We decided to sit on the very top this time and as the boat was pulling away thick, black smoke began pouring out of one of the pipes. We thought it was unpleasant but normal, but soon found ourselves back at the dock. One of the engines was having problems and we had to get off and wait for another boat to pick us up. Inconvenient , it was, but at least we didn’t have any plans or schedule to worry about. Reshen was surprisingly patient and didn’t make too much of a fuss. Soon we were all on another tender and headed back to our ship. Reshen actually fell asleep in my arms and I was able to transfer him to his stroller when we arrived on the ship. Alan and I had some lunch while he napped beside us. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with food when he woke up, so we took him back to the room and let him really wake and adjust a bit.

When he was up, we walked around the ship a little bit and then let him have some more Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye time while Alan and I walked around together. Then it was time for dinner. Food tonight was so-so, but Reshen was in great spirits for most of it. Still not eating much of all…. We think it’s just a combo of constipation and excitement. Instead of eating, he drew on his magna doodle and entertained his family. He also really liked the dancing waiters tonight.

He stayed awake through dinner tonight and went to bed around 8:15.

Our Cruise- Day Two

Day Two- May 22, 2007

Reshen slept OK last night- not wonderful, but good considering, I guess. He woke briefly at 1 a.m. and then again at 3:30 a.m.. This last waking was when our troubles began. He was doing his fidgety half asleep/half awake thing that he does sometimes at home. *So* frustrating, especially here where I can’t put him back in his room and let him be for awhile. I think he was up for an hour and then slept till 6:30 a.m..

There is no bathtub in our room, so I held him in the shower this morning. He didn’t like the water hitting him, so we did an improvised sponge bath using a washcloth. After we were cleaned, we had breakfast at the buffet. Again, Reshen didn’t really want to eat and only had some juice and a little bit of yogurt. He also had some milk before we went down, so maybe he still a little full from that. He wasn’t great at breakfast- fussy and a little temperamental.

We then packed our backpack and walked to downtown San Diego. We met up with Alan’s family down there and took the tram to Old Town. We thought Reshen would fall asleep in the stroller, but the energizer bunny was still puttering along, so we let him out of the stroller and he walked around the historic area holding his Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye’s hands. He still seemed very tired, just trudging along, but he made it clear that he still wanted to walk.

After Old Town we parted ways with Alan’s family and walked about 6 blocks to In-N-Out Burger. Reshen finally fell asleep along the way and napped in the stroller for about an hour. We ate our yummy food outside and then walked back to the tram. He woke up just as we were getting on the tram and was in good spirits. He said “Choo Choo. Fun.” We gave him some leftover fries and he drank some water.

We then went back to the ship to regroup. We got the boy some lunch and let him run around for a little while… climbing stairs and “driving” cars in the arcade. We also hung out in the room for a bit, relaxing and catching our breath and letting Reshen have some quiet play with his books and drawing.

At around 2:30 we decided to head over to the ship museum which was very near our own ship. We had been there before, but it was mommy’s birthday and she requested it J Foolishly thinking the distance was shorter than it was and that the boy was lighter than he is, we left the stroller in the room and decided to carry him and/or let him walk. It was exhausting and it didn’t help that he was getting tired and crabby and defiant. We still managed to have a good time, and he really enjoyed walking around on the tall sail boats. We only went on a couple of the 5 boats, though, as he was beginning to show signs of tantrums, so we headed back to our ship.

We did some more walking around on our ship and then some more quiet time in the room. Reshen was really tired, but I was at a loss on how to get him to sleep. He just wouldn’t settle down. At 5:30 we went to dinner and Reshen actually fell asleep in Ye-Ye’s lap. He was so sound asleep we actually laid him down in the booth between us and he stayed asleep- through the entire dinner!! Alan and I tried Escargot for the first time… and it was actually very tasty! We also both had some wonderful beef fillet and I had some yummy Birthday cake. We left promptly after dessert and he even survived the journey from the dining room to the stateroom- through hordes of noisy fellow cruisers. I was shocked. He is *still* sleeping now at 9 p.m.. He is still in his day clothes and hasn’t had a diaper change in ages, so I wonder how long he’ll go before he wakes and needs tending too. This could be an interesting night…