5 on Friday

Here are 5 specials reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. I wanted to show you a graphic representation of how the boy loves his clementines. They make him very happy!!

4. We've been putting some extra effort into encouraging Marino to eat with a fork and spoon (as appropriate and until he gets too frustrated...he needs to eat!). He gets sooo happy when Evan and I cheer for him! On Monday night, we all had dinner together and he was clearly done eating but he would take tiny pieces of food on his fork and eat them to get us to cheer for him. His favorite is the Arsenio Hall fist motion with the "whooo whooo whoo. "

3. We've been working on 2 lessons in regards to throwing: 1) we only throw a ball; we don't throw anything else and 2) if you throw a ball to someone, say "catch" so they know its coming. This morning, I was picking Marino's clothes out while he was in his crib. He asked me for a book, and when he was done looking at it, he threw it. Before I had a chance to say anything, he shook his finger and said "No! No throw book, ball, catch." Apparently he is remembering what I've told him (just not doing it)!

2. On Wednesday when we got to daycare, Marino got really excited and started saying "KING! KING!!" and pointing frantically. I looked at what he was pointing at and it was a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His teachers at daycare said he got such a great reaction from showing people "King" that he showed every single person who came in the room during the day. Such a ham!

1. My boy loves hats! Everytime he sees one, his eyes light up. He also tries to make everything into a hat: socks, goldfish crackers, clementines slices, etc. Here are some hat pictures I took over the weekend.

Did I get it on my head?

So, this isn't a good way to get the hat on?

Daddy's hat is easy to get on!

My Baby Can Read!

My child is a genius! He is already reading by himself. We never even taught him! A self-taught genius!

For Christmas, one of the things daycare gave us was a box with 4 little books. These books are the perfect size for entertaining Marino during diaper changes, getting dressed...you know the times when he tries to flip over like a maniac (and shout "ouch" which is what he says anytime we do something he doesn't like, whether it hurts or not).

On Sunday, I gave him this book to read for the first time during a diaper change.

As you can see, first he chewed on it some, like a true prodigy.

Anyway, while I'm changing his diaper, he opens up the first page and says "baa, baa, baa, baa."

I checked it out and look at what it said...

Can you believe Marino is already reading?!

(in case anyone thinks I am serious, I am completely joking)

18 Month Appointment

We had our 18 month appointment today. Marino is now 22 pounds, 14 ounces (10th percentile) and somewhere between 31.25 and 31.75 inches (we measured twice and got 2 different measurements). The latter would put him in the 30th percentile, the former in the 17th percentile. His head is still enormous:) The pediatrician is very pleased with his development (signficantly ahead of actual age in all categories). We discussed taking him to a Pulminologist (a specialist in lung/respiratory issues) and she thought it was a good idea.

One of the things she asked about developmentally that Marino cannot do yet is jump. Generally when you tell him to jump, he just bounces up and down. Evan decided to try to show him how to jump and this is how it turned out...



(before you call animal control about the wild beast in the video, let me assure you the Max is only nibbling on Marino with his teeny tiny front teeth. He does this when he wants you to play and it tickles!!)

Clearly, we still have some work to do on the jumping...

5 on Friday

As always, here are 5 special reasons I am loving my boy this week:

5. I've mentioned this before, but toddlers are kind of like little parrots and you realize how often you say things when there is someone modeling your speech on a regular basis. I find this adorable: Marino says "k" in response to things instead of "okay" because that's usually what I say. So, I'll say "Marino, do you want to eat?" and he'll say "Eat? K." I love it (its really only cute because I didn't realize how often I say that until he started saying it, too).

4. The boy is seriously obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. We can't watch anything else in our house. If the tv is on, it has to be on YGG. Not only that, but at the end of each episode, they do a little muscial recap of the episode. Before that even starts, Marino wants to watch a new episode. Once DJ Lance Rock says "Let's do it. Break it down." Marino starts saying "uh oh. Mote! Sass!" and handing us the remote to watch a new episode. We created a monster!

3. Interesting new words the boy started saying this week: "garlic" (pronounced "garkick") and broccolli (pronounced "brocci"). He picked these up from playing in his new play kitchen that Santa brought.

2. AND he has a new sentence "you broke it" (pronounced "u broke kick"). This is said about anything that is in more than one piece, whether its broken or not. When he drops the "mote" and the batteries come out, "you broke it." When he sees the cover off of the calculator "uh oh. You broke it." He does try to fix the "broken" things as well, which is sweet.

1. "CHEESE!!"

Asthma Sucks!

I really hate asthma. I hate to tell you this, world, but I really thought asthma was no biggy until Marino developed it. I kinda thought you just sucked on an inhaler and "POOF!" you were all better. Not so. Asthma is a very scary and serious illness. Marino went from a stuffy nose to having a serious breathing issue yesterday (again). Daycare called and said he wasn't responding well to the nebulizer and he was developing a fever (and dehydrated). I took him to the doctor who said it was a small virus, but it triggered his asthma again. She said we were lucky we hadn't stopped using the nebulizer since it probably was preventing it from becoming a bigger issue (in spite of the fact he is on a daily maintenence medication for asthma). She told us to do breathing treatments every 4 hours (albuterol) plus Pulmicort twice a day and to give him an oral steroid (OraPred) for a few days. Her advice was to not stop the Pulmicort until the end of the winter.

Giving the albuterol every 4 hours wasn't helping, so I increased to every 2 hours, and even then he was having small chest retractions and wheezing within 45 minutes of a treatment. Evan and I debated an ER trip, but decided to see how he was overnight.

He was still sick today, but he was responding better to the nebulizer and we were able to back off to every 4 hours. Evan stayed home with him and watched a lot of "sass."

The steroid makes him a wild man! He's taken it once before and I don't remember him having this reaction, but after we give it to him now, he's bouncing off the walls for a good hour. This is him attempting to eat dinner after the steroid.

At least he was happy!

We're hoping tomorrow he will be breathing easier.

Our Last Holiday Hoorah

Sunday was the last of our holiday visits with friends and family. Don't you hate when the holidays are over? It really sucks for me since it also means back to school soon. Hopefully, this will be my last year of school and next January I will not have that to dread (I will dread finding a planning job instead).

Evan's friend Ishmael brought his son AJ over for a while on Sunday. What a good baby! He's always really pleasant and content. He sat with Marino and I and just chatted away I (especially when he saw Max). And how cute is this face?

In the afternoon, Marino and I went to my Aunt Kerry's house to hang with her, my cousin Sam, Miranda and Pacey and our friend Patti and her daughter Madelyn (who's 7 months now!!).

Here's a Pacey close up...are these some blue eyes or what? So pretty!

Pacey kept calling Marino "Mariano"...I told Miranda she is watching too much Dora the Explorer (that's her favorite show). I guess Marino isn't exotic enough for her;)
Marino and Sam

Patti and Madelyn. Doesn't Patti look great? I mean, what mom has hair that looks like this? I always fall asleep with wet hair, so the back on my hair is always wavy and the front is straight!

It was great seeing everyone and enjoying lots of laughs as we always do!

To My Boy at 18 Months Old

Dear Marino,

Today you are one and a half. I remember a year ago thinking "Gosh, Marino will be 18 months at this time next year. I wonder what he will be like?" Whatever good things I imagined you would be, you are all that and 100 times more. You are Mommy's best friend, my heart, my pride and joy, the very best part of every single day. I love you to pieces.

It was just a year ago we gave you your first taste of solid food. Who knew you would have such a sophisticated palate as a toddler? You are willing to eat everything we give you (the only exception to date is black beans). Yesterday at New Year's Dinner with Grammy Deb, you ate beef, potatoes, carrots, chicken, rice, collard greens, applesauce, bread, macaroni and cheese and black eyed peas. It is a marvel you are still such a thin boy! Your very favorite foods right now are applesauce ("appysauce") and clementines (which you call apples). I think you would eat those things 20 times a day if I let you!

You love to watch Yo Gabba Gabba, which you call "sass." In fact, if we ever turn on something else, you hand us the "mote" and say "sass!" You love to kick and throw balls (you are less enthusiastic about catching the ball). You enjoy building with your blocks and you like knocking them down even better. Anytime you hear music, you start to dance. Thankfully, you inherited your rhythm from your dad! If ever I need to make you smile, I can "drive" one of your toy cars over your head; that always cracks you up. You love to make Mommy and Daddy laugh with hats...you put them on your head all different ways and then on our heads as well. Your laugh and smile make my heart swell...I wish the whole world knew the joy of having you love them.

In the past few months, people have started saying you look more like me than when you were a baby. I think you have my eyes, complexion and lips and Daddy's nose, ears, face shape and head. You have gorgeous light brown curls, which need to be cut every 2 weeks; they grow so fast! Right now it seems you may have my small stature, but we'll keep our fingers crossed you grow into a big guy like Daddy. You certainly have Daddy's outgoing and friendly temperment...you love to talk and to be the center of attention.

I am so proud of the boy you are becoming. You've overcome so much and you are such a good boy. I love our quiet time together...snuggling in our glider together, with your head on my chest or when you bring me the Boppy pillow so you can lay down and stroke my hair while you drink your bottle. You are very loving and generous with your kisses and hugs now, especially for Daddy and I, as well as Maxis.

Happy Half Birthday, my Littleness! Can't wait to enjoy this next year with you!

My handsome boy at 18 months