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Saturday, December 24, 2011

My little Pooh Bear




I should have posted this a long time ago, today I saw these pictures on our "family computer" . As I was laying down with the boy to get him to take a pre-Feast of the Nativity Service nap I was thinking about all the blog posts I could write. A nap would have been good for me too, but I'm a horrible napper and I guess Simeon's excitement about Christmas wore off on me:)

These pictures are dated August 24th! I can't believe it was that long ago. This was my brother's Winnie the Pooh costume, my baby brother. And he'll be 17 in a few days. I can't believe it is that old. We don't really celebrate Halloween but I'm all for imagination and dressing up as long as we keep it pretty positive. So I pulled this costume out and Simeon had fun with it. I need to put it somewhere where he can access it, because he'd probably like to wear it again. We loved dressing up as kids, and we definitely didn't have any fancy dress up clothes. I would like to have a dress up box or something for Simeon but our house seems kinda crazy right now and his closet is pretty packed.

So back to the topic. I've mentioned the Pooh obsession on this blog, it really is cute and we play it up. Simeon really latched on to a book we had about Pooh and as Pooh was popular when Daniel and I were growing up we had other Pooh stuff around. So it kinda reinforced the idea. Daniel has a handmade Pooh bear from his youth, I have some books and figurines. We have also allowed limited viewing of Winnie the Pooh on the computer, unfortunately turning it off is a problem:(

Some of my favorite Simeon Poohisms:

For a while if I sang the TIgger song, he would jump up and down in the bathroom and watch himself in the mirror and laugh

Running around like a wild man, holding something over his head saying "tut, tut, looks like rain" (well it sort of sounds like that)

If we drop something or his lovey falls "Oh dear"

Recently, he taps his cheek and says "think, think, think"

We have a book that is modeled after the classic stories about Pooh in the snow, not the adult favorite around here. It's a bit cliche, but Simeon loves it and they mention drinking hot tea. So he is into hot tea, I actually got him a manly enameled steel blue tea set for St. Nicholas day and he makes us hot tea.

I guess many kids love Pooh, Daniel and I particularly love to read the A.A.Milne version "big big Pooh book" but it is a bit wordy and doesn't have many pictures. Simeon requests it often, but drives us a little nuts because he'll hardly let us read it. It is absolutely hilarious, at least to us and I hope Simeon grows into it some day. I like that he loves one of the classics and I prefer Pooh to Richard Scarry, his other favorite books. Not that I really dislike Richard Scarry it's not my favorite and we're a bit burned out. But I am glad he lets us read. It took us a while to get to the point where he would settle down enough for a book.

My little Pooh Bear seems to be growing up so fast, I'm savoring these sweet little moments.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Preparations at hand



Here is one of the awesome pictures my cousin in law of Quinntography took of Simeon in the fall. We ended up choosing a different one for our Christmas card. They were all so good it was hard to choose. I'm glad I have a family member who is a photographer, actually we have a few! Otherwise the child would probably not have any professional pictures made.

I can't believe how fast time flies! In a way I'm so very glad to be out of the the first trimester, let me tell y'all it was no fun. I had it easy my first pregnancy, I wasn't that sick and I was working from home so I could nap when I was tired, oh yeah and no delightful energetic person wearing me out all day. I know it was a hard time for Simeon too, and I'm honestly glad it's behind me. A wise lady from church, whose children are grown, told me that a "strong willed child" will teach you humility. Now I'm not a fan of negatively labeling children, but Simeon hasn't been the most easy going from the first. Now his personality is really fun, he is talking more and really expressive with his hand motions. I'm sure any child will teach one humility, but being pregnant and really not feeling well with a spirited, enthusiastic, non-napping 2 year old all day long taught me that I'm not nearly as gentle and patient as I'd like to be.

Since then I'm sleeping better and my tummy is better, so we are getting out more which always helps Simeon's behavior. He is so much fun these days. He wants to play all day long, when Daniel is here he is less interested in sitting with Momma and reading. I love that he becoming more and more a Daddy's boy too. Since my pregnancy especially he is kinda clingy to Momma, wanting me to put on his shoes, take him to potty, etc. But if there is fun going on with Daddy he's not as concerned with me. He is saying almost anything, it's not super clear but I understand him most of the time. He comes up with some very interesting thoughts in addition to giving me a running commentary of what is going on in his head. He loves Pooh bear and gets to watch a bit on youtube especially while I shower. It is addictive and I hate we started it, but I was losing my mind and for a length of time he is occupied. He also loves the stories and we read them often. He loves Richard Scary and we have a few books that I'm honestly wishing would disappear. I'm glad my boy loves books and I'm super excited when he'll let me read one of the Christmas books we have or something else beside Richard Scary! He seems to be grasping the concept of manners, and gentle touches to people and Barley, not that we don't have issues with these things from time to time but he knows what is expected of him.

We have had some mega tantrums thankfully at home that seem mostly brought on by exhaustion. I have tried different ways of handling them and depending on the situation different strategies are required. But after talking to our moms, and getting input from my AP group I feel more confident in the way I'm handling them and pray that they will pass. I hate to dwell on this because it is such of a small part of the day, but the negative events even short lived seem to overpower the positive ones.

Ok on to the title, the preparations I was referring to were for the Birth of our Lord. We haven't done too many for our baby yet. We will find out next week pink or blue! I managed to get our Christmas tree up this year and Barley and Simeon are having great fun undecorating it. I do love the excitement Simeon has had about Christmas. He gets so excited about the Christmas decorations at our house and around town. One thing I have tried to do this year is at the start of Advent I pulled out the Nativity set, advent calendar, and the Christmas books. He isn't interested in reading the books daily, but occasionally will let me read to him. He has a nice assortment, we aren't into Santa Claus except for teaching about who Saint Nicholas really is so all of our books are religious. But that doesn't mean we don't have variety. One of Simeon's favorite's and mine too is The Adventures of Spero the Orthodox Church Mouse! The Nativity of our Lord. We have a nice assortment with some from Orthodox authors and some classics, The little drummer boy and Babouska and the three kings. He would probably play with the nativity set every day if I would take the time to play with him and most days Daniel or I do, but not every day. I got him a wooden set that is very sturdy and he has really learned the Christmas story by playing with it. We also have an advent calendar that was given to me that he loves, it has 40 flaps that are numbered and you fold them back each day. Behind each flap is one of the Saints we commemorate for the day. We have been fairly faithful about doing this when we pray and I hate I don't have one for the rest of the year. He loves it and having a task seems to involve him in prayer time more each day. Our Christmas preparations aren't perfect and we're behind but I'm grateful I've been able to plant some seeds of our faith and teach him about God and how he came to become a man and walk among us for our salvation.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Guess What

This is brief and non-clever. We are expecting number 2! No Simeon in a big-brother shirt or a baby picture, because I lost the ultrasound pic at the office after I was there for too many hours. But we are very very excited. Simeon is confused, and to a child I guess it is kinda confusing. We were hoping to get pregnant and are blessed it didn't take as long as it did with Simeon. This first trimester has been worse than my first pregnancy but it seems to be getting better. So keep us in your prayers. After that long wait at the OB's office I didn't get a due date, but I think it will be the beginning of June or possibly the end of May!


Simeon's "hero party" outside the doctor's office. He got to come with us for the happy occasion after the babysitter fell through. And after waiting for a very long time he and Daniel took a fresh air break.

Silly Like Daddy


We were at church Wed night for Vespers and Simeon was fairly well behaved, especially for a 2 year old! When the pastor's wife arrived halfway through the service and sat behind us Simeon clowned, playing some kind of peek a boo involving a lot of giggles. I didn't think much of it as he was kinda on the verge of loosing it. After church we were standing in a little walkway with the few other people that were there and Simeon ran over to the water fountain and fell out laughing. Khouria (pastor's wife) told me that his behavior reminded her of little Daniel. I was confused as I've always heard that baby Daniel was happy and laid back. But it seems toddler Simeon is exhibiting some of toddler Daniel's hysterics. It makes me happy as I love my husbands sense of humor, perhaps because it's in contrast to the one my mom says I don't have. Guess I stay on the serious side more. It is fun to watch his little personality grow. This defiant behavior seems to be worse some days and better others. I know there is a purpose to it, but I'm glad we are enjoying his giggles and it's not constant nos and tantrums all the time.

Friday, October 21, 2011

To a two year old


So what matters to a 2 year old? Well to mine beyond having his usual needs met last week and this week it has been the road construction on our road. The city decided to do some patch work on our street. Never has the boy stood at the window so long, or wanted to go for a walk to anywhere else but the park! He is still in hopes that they will come back and when we walked post road work he is finding all the cracks that they need to come back and fix.

Simeon's independent self seems to be springing forth. We have a lot of "not" speaking around here. And he seems to be into everything, things previously he would occasionally be into but could be persuaded to play with his toys. I will say I'm really glad that it isn't all gloom and doom. His sense of humor seems to be expanding, that is exciting. I'm sure this stage will pass like all.


We have done a lot of fun activities with our Attachment Parenting group. It's been a great month for activities: pumpkin patch, children's museum, Ghatti Town, and today the zoo. There have been several others I'm leaving out. We had our two meetings a month. I'm so grateful for the blessing of pretty weather and fun times.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Return to Normalcy



Pictures from a teen outing about a month ago.

Ha, what is normal anyway? Today we have gotten a lot done, but Simeon has decided he didn't want a nap. Probably because he slept in till 7! And I haven't gotten myself cleaned up yet. Oh well.

Last week was definitely abnormal, because Daddy went on a 7 day fishing trip. I even told him to go the whole trip, I didn't count on Simeon teething all week:( It was a really rough week on Momma! Not only did I not get much of my attachment parenting application done by the end of the week I didn't feel like I was practicing my gentle parenting too much. I don't remember ever feeling so burned out. I had a lot of family support, but it's not the same as having Daddy home.

So we are glad that our hard working Daddy is home. He comes home after a hard day at work and does so much to help Momma not lose her mind. He's the best daddy and husband ever, thanks Daniel.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Change of Seasons


For some reason this fall has been kind of special among fall seasons for me, I've always been more of a spring person. Perhaps it's having such of a high energy child who wants and needs to be outside. Looking forward to going outside at least once a day in the blazing heat just isn't as fun. So we have been LOVING the cooler temperatures!

Thanks to Daniel we replanted our garden. I kinda skipped the summer posts about it because it was kind of a failure. We planted too late again and didn't mulch well. The weather was weird, but other people I know had far better gardens than us:( Oh well here's to the fall garden. We planted some plants from seed: "weird" greens- broccoli raab, lettuce (our only true successful endeavor), and carrots. Then we set out a few tomatoes and swiss chard from the nursery and half of them died after a weekend of rain from the tropical storm. I'll try to post pictures later. I'm trying to stay upbeat really so I won't go into the compost issues...

And it seems we are changing in other ways too around here: our baby is getting to be such of a little boy. Before he turned two he went through a phase of eating less and nursing more which was odd to me, but this book warned me it would happen. A few weeks and we are definitely past that phase. There were also signs that changes were happening, he has started independent play and you momma's with babies that have been entertained with staring with their own hands for hours might not see the significance of this. But my boy really hasn't been that into many of his toys which I carefully selected at all until a few months ago. We received a play table that is in our living room and it is a great place to put his hand-me-down train, legos, blocks, colors, etc. and keep the clutter on the floor to a minimum for me:)

He is less interested in the comforts that momma can provide and really craving more social interaction, he asked for his good friend all the time and wants her right beside him. He says her name and points beside him. It is so sweet. And if there is a group of kids he wants to go stand in the middle of them, his verbal skills aren't quite up to conversing and he mostly likes to observe. He is talking more and more, but only Daniel and I can understand him much of the time. It's kind of a sweet phase in my opinion:) He is more and more ok with going on a Daddy outing without as much concern of where Momma is. Interestingly enough he is more snuggly than ever, briefly but he is into hugging and kissing us. We love it! He's always been too busy to snuggle much.

Personally I have gone through a stressful patch of Daniel working a lot, trying really hard to do it all here and kinda burning out. When I was unable to sleep one night two thoughts came to me: "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved." St. Seraphim of Sarov. I love this quote and when I reflected on my life I haven't done a good job of acquiring peace in my life. And in my former life of listening to many podcasts on Ancient faith radio I remembered a priest's wife saying that in a very busy and stressful time of her life a nun told her that if you are feeling overwhelmed with the load that has been given to you pray that your capacity to handle it will be granted to you. It was to me an answer to my prayers. So I have restarted two podcasts via ancient faith radio: one scripture readings prescribed for the day and the other one a saint or two of the day. They are short, but with a very busy two year old sometimes it takes a while to have 7 minutes where I can really listen ! I think this has greatly blessed my life. I still struggle with trying to balance everything but I'm trying to put first things first. I hope everyone else is enjoying the beginning of Fall.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

More Party!






"More Party" is what Simeon told me today the morning after his party! I'm so glad he had fun. It was a lot of work, and a little crazy the morning of the party. I think Momma may have been a little impatient with the birthday boy as we were trying to get the cars packed, and get to the pool and set up. So I was really glad when it came together and he had a good time! He loved his crown, and of course I loved that. He also loved being the center of his family's attention. It was great fun being together with our families to celebrate this special day!

I still can't believe he's so big. My dad commented on the difference a year can make. Last year he had fun, but was a little clueless about what was going on. This year we had talked it up, and he was looking forward to the cake especially:)