Our Tiny Baby

Since we just did an update on Tiago, Ian probably needs one also.  He is almost 11 months old (when did that happen??).  He is a very busy fellow, crawling, pulling up on the furniture, babbling, pestering his brother, eating every scrap of anything that he finds on the floor, and generally just growing!  He loves his Papa and his big brother, and often gets Tiago up in the morning.  If Tiago is sleeping, I will put Ian in the bed with him, and the baby will crawl to his brother, and hit him on the back and crawl up to lay on top of him.  It is cute, and Tiago takes it really well, wakes up and gives the baby hugs.

He is moving well into the world of solid foods.  Last night, he had pears, bananas, some smashed beans and a little bit of avocado.  He took his first official step last night, and has been standing well for several weeks now.  He has 5 teeth, and is drooling so much that I think that more must be on the way soon.

He is not sleeping through the night, which has been hard on his Mama - but we will survive.

He seems to be like his brother in recreational preferences so far.  If I put a soccer ball in his car seat with him, he will kick at it with his feet until he kicks it out of the chair.  He likes to sit and bounce a basketball in front him on the floor.  He seems to prefer the cars out of the toy box.  So another boy, in other words.  He loves to be outside, and will happily sit in the Ergo if someone is willing to take him outside.

 I only load the dishwasher when he's sleeping.

 Who wouldn't enjoy a ride in a dump truck?

 Beautiful day at the park in Long Beach, CA.

 Different park in LB.

It's all just so tiring!!

2015 Happenings

Hard to believe we are already 3 months into 2015.  Also hard to believe that someone in our house turned 4 last month!  Seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  But it was actually 2 homes and 2 states ago, which is also a little difficult to believe.  Lots of changes in only 4 years!

So, just a quick comparison:

Tiago - 2 days old

Tiago - 3 years and 11 months old

The second picture is him with his car which he painted at school.  I have been amazed at the amount of "homework" for Mom and Dad for PK-3.  I have gotten very creative with paper bags, cardboard boxes, and am even learning how to sew enough to put together the odd costume.  But I have to love this kid; he has never been much of a fan of costumes.  Even when we tell him that "all the other kids will be..." (dressed like kings and queens, wearing red, jumping off cliffs...) he tells us that he doesn't care what they are doing.  It does bode well for the teenage years.  

He is doing really well overall.  Now that we are out of the tantrum threes, he is pretty agreeable most of the time.  We are working a lot on communication, and instead of screaming/moaning/whining talking and explaining what he wants.  I am very proud of his vocabulary.  He is open to learning new words, and I try to use big ones so he can add them to his vocab.  Vehicle is one he learned recently, since we are constantly discussing cars, SUVs, buses, tractors, boats, and everything else with wheels.  

We had him in two different soccer programs, one at school two nights a week, and one through an MLS team which runs a  youth league here. He is playing with kids up to kindergarten at school and is generally quite intimidated (comes from having no competition at home), but he is more comfortable with the group of kids his own age.  And doing pretty well - last practice during the scrimmage at the end he kicked a goal at each end.  :)

Tee ball starts tonight.  He likes to hit balls that I pitch to him in the backyard, so it will be interesting to see how he does with the tee.  We have been discussing it, but he doesn't seem to quite understand how it works.

Tiago is still a boy who is all about his people.  Every time he gets upset about anything, he tells me that he is crying because "I miss my family!".  And he does love them all - my side, Jaime's side, aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone.  He drew a picture over the weekend with about 20 stick figures in it, and told me that it was the family, so he wouldn't miss them so much.  He is just all about his people.

And now the fun part - some recent pictures:

Our King Cake this year.

 Mardi Gras crown they made at school.

 Happy Birthday! (maybe next year we will comb his hair...)

The scientist.  He had some test tubes and pipettes and was mixing colored waters together.