Stacking Blocks

 

and letters.

Counter

 

 

Sitting on the counter, eating some green beans.

Damn Naps

 

 

He fell asleep on the way home from my parents, and stayed there for two hours! We were afraid he'd be up all night but my mom watched him last night and said he was quiet after like 9:00. Miracle.

No, No, No

 

He says, sometimes. Then he'll say "yes, yes yes!" It makes it hard for me to tell him NO! because when I say it, he says No! and then Yes!

Tough Guy

 

Dancing

 

He has the funkiest dancing style. I could barely get a picture, he was moving all around the kitchen (cock a doodle oodle ooo, for you Dan Zanes fans).

In our room

 

 

 

Mike took these

 

 

 

Aren't they good?

Hotel

 

 

 

More at the hotel. Mike took him downstairs, I think, before we left for church on Sunday. There was a fountain or two down there and Anthony liked to run around them. Trivia - my Uncle Leo got married in this hotel, right by one of the fountains.

New bathing suit

 

We stayed at an Embassy Suites in NJ and it was ... well it was kind of annoyingly full and kind of run down ish and they cleaning people had questionable standards. BUT after the weekend, everyone left and Mike and Anthony got to go in the pool for two hours and they had a lot of fun. Well. Anthony had fun, I don't know what Mike had. Anyways, this is his new suit.

Home again

 

We are home from NJ. Mike cut his hair with the clippers (!) before we left, it went a million times better than we thought it would.

Three Year Appointment

We sent the digital camera with my parents to NJ, we didn't want to mess with it on the plane, so I am putting up an old picture for this entry. Anthony went to his 3 year appointment yesterday, Mike took him. He is 39.5 inches tall and weighs 39.5 pounds, so that's easy to remember. It feels like more pounds when you're carrying him or holding him up over your head! His doctor said he seems fine, we got a recommendation for a developmental pediatrician and we are going to have another assessment in August. He also had a blood test, to see if he has lead poisoning (we don't have an old house but we have old soil, or something) and to check his iron, since he rarely eats meat. Our doctor called last night and said both things are fine, so that's good. He is as crazy as ever, he was in the damned toilet again today (face first - ewww!) and played in the car while I vacuumed it, but he's doing fine.

Happy Father's Day

 

There is no way I could say what a good father I think Mike is. I know that if Anthony would ever say that many words in a row, he'd say Happy Father's Day. And thanks. And I love you. And you're the greatest. :) Someday!

Maria, Anthony, Anthony

 

Tough Guy

 

in a baby swing.

Wow!

Some video of Anthony yesterday, on his birthday.

I will never know...

 

...how he can drive me so, so crazy all day and yet I look at a picture of him and I think 'who is that adorable child?' He was up until 11:00 last night, and only slept until 7:30 this morning so he is being kind of a rat today. But he still looks super cute.

Three Years Old - Nap Edition

For I think the second time since Maria was born, both children are sleeping in the day. I figured I would take advantage and write a little bit about Anthony and what he is like, today, at three years old. WEIRD! He is WEIRD! Ha - I am kidding, but only kind of. Anthony wakes up super early and usually - usually - is in a pretty good mood. Yesterday morning Mike brought Maria in to me around 6:00 and she was nursing, we were all three lying in the bed and BOOM! we heard our door open and Anthony strolled in. We usually lock his door with a hook and eye so he can't wander in the night, but because the door swells in the summer, we've been just closing it. But he is strong as can be and he just bashed his body weight against it and opened it. He came up on the bed and said "Blanket!" which sounds to the untrained ear like "Owanket!" so we covered him up with the blanket. Then after another minute he demanded "Wugs!" which is "Wiggles!" to those of you not in the know. He loves The Wiggles, Signing Time, to sing and dance, cheese sticks, the marshmallows in Lucky Charms, donuts (which he calls bagels), bagels (which he calls bread), watermelon, and 'ice cream', which lucky for us, is what he calls no sugar added frozen fruit pops.

He loves to be kissed and hugged, - well I shouldn't say he loves it. He demands it, but when you start to kiss him, he usually rolls away, laughing hysterically. He will sometimes come over to me during the day and throw himself against me and say "hug", which breaks my heart a little.

He knows how to count to 20, knows all his colors, knows all kinds of animals. He's funny though - today we went to the zoo and I was holding him and pointing out the elephants - we were so close to them and the baby one was really moving around a lot so I thought he would like seeing them. He kept saying something, but it didn't sound like elephant. It sounded like "wake". I had no idea, there was water, so I thought maybe he thought "lake" but that's not one of his words. So we moved on and the wind picked up and sort of blew his hair and he said "wake!" and signed "wind" and I finally figured out that's what he was saying. Only Anthony would look at a big giant elephant and say "wind!". He loves to look at books. He loves to rub Maria's head and say "baby". He loves to hold her feet while he's watching television. I always say "nice! be nice!" to him while he's rubbing Maria's head. I'm so nervous he's going to be rough with her. So now when he rubs her head, he says "Nice!" and then he says "Nice to meet you!"

In three years, he's been to Florida twice (three times if you count when I was pregnant with him), and New Jersey twice. He's flown on a plane three times, and is about to go again next week, the first time he'll have his own seat.

He is still a pretty bad sleeper - lately he falls asleep right after 7:00 and sleeps all night but only until around 5:30 or 6:00, which is too early, we tell him! Since he is napping today, I am going to assume he won't go to sleep until 11:00 tonight.

He loves bubbles, and will ask for them by name. "Wow!", he'll say when there are a lot of them, or there's a particularly big one. "Wowee!"

He loves Elmo and Diego, and asks for them by name. He loves to sing Elmo's song, and we all cower in fear when he starts' 'playing the piano' on a table or floor because he can't exactly carry a tune yet and it can be pretty painful to listen to.

He hates to have his hair cut. We are hoping to cut his hair this weekend with the clippers, it's super long. He hasn't had it cut in like three months. We're hoping that we can cut it if we do it in one minute increments, over the whole day. Sometimes I can't believe all the stuff that we do to make it work for him.

Mike and I were looking at his case conference thing from IPS and it had his stated goals on it for preschool, summer school. By August 1, he is supposed to respond to someone saying 'no' or 'stop' four out of five times. He's supposed to engage in conversation and say three syllable words, and follow three step directions. By August 1. 2008! Mike and I will just be happy if his summer school is a good practice run for him for regular preschool which starts in August. We just want him to be happy and start talking to us, so we can talk to him too.

He's waking up so I better go - happy birthday Anthony, we love you!

Pooped

 

 

 

We went to the zoo, I guess it wiped him out!

Happy Birthday Anthony

 

 

 

 

Three years old!

Friday

 

 

 

 

I forget if I said, but Mike got Anthony this outfit when he was in Spain. It's big but super cute.