Monterey Bay Aquarium

Some of our favorite friends were in town last week. We joined them in Monterey for a day at the aquarium before they headed up north to stay with us in San Jose. Luke had not been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium since he was about Mia's age, and Mia had never been, so this was an exciting day. The kids had fun together and were really engaged in all there was to see and touch. A few photos from our fun day:

Watching as the fish and sharks in the large tank are fed


Fast friends


Touch pools and water play


Observing the bat rays and ducks


The kids LOVED the tunnel where the waves crashed overhead and around them


The seahorses - Luke was mesmerized


Ava and Luke at the end of the day (don't they look exhausted!?)

More Tahoe Time

Before the summer comes to an end we wanted to be sure to get up to enjoy the glorious-ness of Tahoe in the summertime one more time. It is just so beautiful there during this time of the year, so much for the kids to do, so peaceful, fresh air, lots of time to relax. We took walks, spent time in the village (Luke did bungee cord jumping for the first time ... he loved it and Mia spent the entire time telling us "I want it"), visited the playground and the pools, swung in the hammocks, and just spent a weekend together. What fun!

Some of my favorite moments

Quite often I find that I only have photos of the kids when we are out and about, doing new and fun things. Which is totally awesome, but it means that I tend to forget to capture those moments that I often think back on as some of my favorites ... the everyday moments. The late afternoons after Mia's naptime when the three of us play, or the mornings when we have nowhere to go and I can sit back and watch and listen to the kids create games to play together. So every once in a while I grab my camera and try to snap a few of them just doing the things that they do ... here are a few of those:

Mia in her baby's cradle

Luke rocking his stuffed kitty, Lucy

Cheese!

Rock

Taking care of her baby

Mia is 18 months old!

Mia also saw Dr. Dugoni this week for her 18 month well visit ... in fact, the kids had their first "sibling appointment," which was really convenient and worked out great. Dr. Dugoni spent a ton of time with us and the kids, and Luke went first so that Mia knew what to expect.

Mia's stats at 18 months (+ 3 weeks)
21 lbs, 10 oz (10th %)
31.5 inches (25th %)

Overall Mia is also doing very well. Since she sees the Dr. more frequently right now, we had fewer questions about her development. Our (my) main concerns were her language acquisition and behavior. After we went through the list of words and signs that Mia knows and uses, Dr. Dugoni told us that she has more than enough language for her age. We were easily able to count more than 25 words/signs. In terms of behavior, we talked a bit about how we should be reacting to her outbursts and tantrums (ignoring, time out). Sleeping and eating really aren't issues for Mia - she does both well. In fact, the Dr. was surprised to hear how long and how much Mia sleeps. I guess we are lucky now and she's making up for lost time! At 18 months Mia's schedule includes: 12 hours of sleep at night (typically in bed by 7:30pm, up around 7:30am), and a 2.5-3 hour nap in the afternoon (around 1pm-ish).

Mia also received two immunizations, which she took like a champ (much more reasonable about them than her older brother!). :)

What is Mia like right now? Well ... she's a handful! She is a very passionate little girl who has mood swings like a teenager :). She is often happy - squealing, laughing, running, and playing. Then, when something doesn't go her way, all hell breaks loose. She quickly can turn into a screaming (crazy-loud), crying, kicking and rolling on the floor mess. This happens regularly and is triggered by very normal activities such as changing her diaper, putting her in the car, or removing her from a dangerous situation. HOWEVER, it is MUCH more likely to happen if Mommy is doing any such activities ... when Daddy does these things she generally is much more amicable (hmmmm?). That being said, she is definitely still a cuddly girl who loves to be rocked at bedtime and happily snuggles in with her head on your shoulder. As I've said before - a little sweet, a little sassy....

Mia's list of favorite things include: bananas, ravioli with marinara, Daddy, Paw, her baby dolls, Woody from Toy Story (a little obsessed with him, actually), Buzz Lightyear, Jack's Big Music Show on Nick Jr., dancing and singing, playing outside, and anything and everything her big brother likes.

Mia still wears 12-18 month or just plain 18 month clothes. She does have some 18-24 stuff, but generally it is still very big for her. She also still wears size 3 diapers (when not in cloth), but I just bought a new box in size 4 so I will soon see if those will fit her. Her feet seem to be growing the most right now. Her feet are somewhere between size 4 and 4.5, which means that she'll be needing some new shoes soon (fun for Mommy!).

It's hard to imagine life without our sweet Mia. 18 months has come and gone in the blink of an eye. We love you more each and every day, baby girl. So glad you are ours...

Our 4 Year Old

Luke at 4 years old

We visited Dr. Dugoni this week for Luke's 4 year well visit. He looks great and is right on track devleopmentally and health-wise.

First off, his stats:
38 lbs *clothed (67th %)
41.5 inches tall (75th %)

She tested his some of his large motor skills (hopping on one foot and skipping), and he did well. She was impressed with his ability to hop, saying that it is usually something she looks for at a 5-year old visit. She also asked him about colors, shapes, and then had him write his name and draw some shapes. Again, he performed closer to the 5-year old range, particularly when he was able to draw a triangle (apparently that's more difficult than some of the other shapes - I had no idea!).

In terms of his health, she checked the tubes in his ears (which were also recently checked by his ENT), and found that they were both basically out, but still floating in the ear canals. We talked a bit about his speech and the very slight hearing loss that the ENT discovered during our recent visit to him in Luke's right ear. We will continue to keep an eye on that. Dr. Dugoni felt that we should go ahead and have his speech screened again by the school district, so I have a call into them and we will likely have that done shortly after schools are back in session. Although his speech has improved dramatically, and in general people do not have trouble understanding him, he is still missing some specific sounds. She was happy to hear about the progress that's been made with his eyes. We're seeing Dr. Alcorn at Stanford again at the end of August, so will have more of an update on that soon.
We also talked quite a lot about his eating habits (he continues to be extremely picky). She told Luke that the new rule would be that he has to try two bites of one new food each day. He seemed to take it well hearing it come from her, so we'll see how that goes. That being said, she didn't seem overly concerned since we do try to squeeze veggies into things he likes (smoothies), and his fruit intake is fabulous (he really likes it all). Another topic was bed-wetting. Again, she didn't seem at all concerned, assuring us that it was very normal and much more of a sleep disorder than a "potty" disorder. She gave us a few suggestions for attempting to break him of diapers/pull ups at night, but I feel pretty confident that he's not ready to try those just yet.

Finally, he received two immunizations (which he was VERY unhappy about - thrashing and screaming the entire time). These were primarily to avoid him needing 5 or 6 next summer in preparation for Kindergarten.

What is Luke like right now?
I have to say, he is a complete joy. He is a very easy and fun child to raise - seriously, we have very few "challenges" at the moment (I realize that these will come and go, but right now we are SO enjoying him). He continues to be very sweet and loving, telling us often how much he loves us ("Mommy, I love you to the moon and back 200 times" ... be still, my heart). He also loves to snuggle and have someone lay with him in bed at night as he starts to fall asleep.


He wears 4T/4 in just about everything now, but can also wear 5T shirts in some brands now if they tend to run small. His feet hit a bit of a lull in their growth this year (thank goodness), but I'm now starting to pull out the size 11 shoes - his feet are at about a size 10.5 right now.

Naps are completely gone for Luke, but he sleeps somewhere between 12 and 12.5 hours at night. He is usually in bed around 7:30pm.

Luke loves to color, play with play-doh, build blocks, dress up, jump in his new bounce house, watch his favorite TV shows, swing, be read to, play with tools, play board or card games (Uno, Scrabble Jr., Candyland), and SWIM. And, oh the swimmer he is becoming (more on that in a separate post). He is very attached to his Yankees baseball hat, and will put it on as soon as he gets out of bed in the morning and not take it off all day.

Favorites right now:
Movies: Toy Story and Cars
TV shows: Super Why, Bob the Builder, Handy Manny
Books: Cat in the Hat, Thomas the Tank Engine stories
Colors: blue, green, and pink (but, his "most favorite" is "bluish-greenish" ... otherwise known as aquamarine or teal)
Foods: grilled cheese, yogurt, fruit, chocolate milk, cheerios


Luke is quite the talker. During the second half of the school year Luke really seemed to blossom socially. He loves to talk to us, and will often speak up more frequently in a group situation than he ever would have before. His sentence structure and phrasing, despite missing some sounds, is very mature and adult-like, and at times, even surprises me. He attended 6 weeks of summer school at Mandala, and will be returning there in the fall for their afternoon preschool class that is geared towards children who will be entering Kindergarten the following year. Scary for me to think how quickly this time has gone and that in the not so distant future he will be off to elementary school ... I'll be savoring our days together this school year!

What a special little boy he is - we feel incredibly lucky to have been blessed with such a smart, healthy, energetic, inquisitive, and fun guy.

Birthday Celebration Part III: The Gifts

This year, for the first time, Luke was very serious about what he wanted for his birthday. You could have asked him on any day for the past 6 weeks and he would have told you the same three things that he wanted for his 4th birthday: a scooter, a bounce house, and a water shooter. Sort of a big birthday list, especially considering the bike that we knew he was also getting.

Well, this was Luke's lucky year because his every wish was fulfilled.

A water shooter from the Zylas (as well as some very fabulous books that will help us to answer Luke's recent line of questioning about what the "other sides of the world look like" and "why it is dark in outer space" ... more on this and other Luke questions/comments in a later post!).

A scooter from Grandma and Grandpa (with a set of knee and elbow pads courtesy of Mia!).

And, a bounce house from Mommy, Daddy, Great Papa, Great Grammy, and the Vitiellos.


The inital reaction: shock


And then....

pure happiness

What a lucky (and extremely happy) little boy! Thank you to everyone for making his day and weekend so incredibly special.

Birthday Celebration Part II: The Party!

This might have been the most fun I've ever had planning a party ... I was able to focus on all of the things that I "do," and not worry about those aspects that just aren't my "things" (i.e. cooking, serving food, etc.). I loved the theme, and especially loved the colors - just such fun and so perfect for a summer pool party.

Luke repeatedly requested a dolphin-themed party. Well, Google dolphin parties and you'll find that there isn't much. Plus, I knew that if we did goldfish I could incorporate the orange ... so that's what we did, with a few dolphin touches :). To set the tone for the day Luke woke to a dolphin waiting outside his bedroom door.


Perhaps my favorite part of the day was watching Luke on our video monitor in the morning when he first woke up, before he ever even opened his bedroom door. He had been so excited leading up to his birthday and knew that I had bought a special shirt for his birthday party. It was placed at the very bottom of his t-shirt drawer and I figured he forgot about it. Well, that morning we heard him awake and watched on the monitor as he jumped out of bed, took off his pjs, and dug the shirt out of his drawer ... so very excited to get his 4th birthday underway :). I snapped a few photos of the birthday guy in his shirt before I headed out to get everything ready for the party.

Luke's party was held at one of his favorite places: The San Jose Country Club pool.

Luke invited his best pals - Jack and Christopher, as well as several friends from school, and our new neighborhood friends. It was a perfect day for our boy filled with friends, swimming, treats, lunch, cupcakes, and sunshine. All of his most favorite things.

Luke also made sure to display his newest "trick": jumping off of the diving board without any floatation device and then swimming over to Paw. He is very proud and is now working towards making a cannon ball :)

Schools of fish cupcakes were made by my mom and decorated by the ladies (Mommy, Day, and Great Grammy) with the assistance of Luke. Many were very obviously decorated by a 4 year old, but I figure that was part of their charm. They turned out adorable!

Luke joined in when everyone sang happy birthday ... such a precious boy! He absolutely loved his yummy cupcake.

Mia has perfected her request for a cupcake. She now stands beneath wherever they are placed on a counter or tabletop above her and shouts "birthday!"

Speaking of our bathing beauty, she also fully enjoyed big brother's party (and the cupcakes!).

Colorful buckets served two purposes: centerpieces for the tables as well as party favors.

What a perfect party for our favorite four year old! Happy Birthday, Luke. We love you!