A Strange Little Bird

I've always said this but now it's official - Rowan is JUST like Jason.  Rowan has always been very similar to Jason but it's even more evident now.  He loves to paint and color but somehow it always ends up very messy, as evident in the pictures below.  Thank goodness for washable paint.

Rowan isn't satisfied with only one color.  He will pick each one up, use it for a bit and then move to a new one.  During a few desperate moments, I've even handed him a pen and crumpled up receipt and he's happy.

Now to change subjects...for as many meltdowns and temper tantrums Rowan has, he's also had some very sweet, endearing moments.  Any time he sees a picture of Jason or I, he points to it and says "Mama" or "Dada" and smiles really big.  Several times over the past few days, he's asked "where's Dada?" if Jason is gone.  I've learned to take the good and bad behavior together.

His vocabulary is rapidly expanding but he still doesn't like to talk.  You can point to something and ask him what it is or flip through flash cards, and he will identify everything correctly but he doesn't in turn use the words.  I guess I'll have to ask the pediatrician about it.  Although he is stuck on calling any animal he can't identify a "cow" and continues to call a tree "a house."  He's really good about saying "thank you" but he sometimes says it when he should say "excuse me."  For example, he bumped into me with a car tonight, looked up and said "thank you!  I keep reminding him to say "excuse me" but he's stuck on  thank you.

Oh well, at least he's learning manners.

"Little" Rowan and Learning to Let Go

Take a look at picture below.  What do you see?  A happy little toddler at the splash park?

I see a little (almost) 22 month old wearing a pair of size 18 month swim trunks that are obviously falling off.

It's no secret that Rowan has always been on the small side, and at one point, really small.  Even though he's always been very healthy, it's been hard for me to move past his small size.  When you have friends with kids the same age who weigh almost 30 pounds, it's hard.  I've tried lately to pinpoint exactly why I can't move past it.  It's sounds silly but I can vividly recall the day at his pediatrician's office when Rowan was labeled "failure to thrive."  It's such a loaded term that conjures up images of sickly, thin babies who aren't being cared for properly.  It mad me sad to think my child was being lumped into that group.

Fast forward to now and a toddler who will barely sit still long enough to eat.  Some days he eats well and some days he doesn't, and I've realized there isn't a single thing I can do about it.  He will eat when he's hungry.  He will be fine.  And in the meantime, thank goodness for adjustable waist shorts from Baby Gap!

I'm Back!

There are no excuses. Life and work and poor time management just got in the way. But I'm making myself do it now, if for no other reason than to remember the funny, sad, cute, incredibly frustrating things that happen on a daily basis around here.

For example - the fact the the post below written in November of last year could have been written yesterday. Except now Rowan gets up even earlier, like 5:30am or 6am. I can't ignore it like before, when he would just whine some from his crib. He would usually drift off back to sleep for another hour or so. Yes, I admit it. I was one of those moms who let her child whine for a bit before getting out of bed.  But I'm also a believer in cry-it-out for babies, so I guess it all goes hand in hand. Now that Rowan is out of the crib, he just gets out of bed, opens his door and comes into our room. Then he stands next to the bed and taps me and says, "mama, mama, mama" over and over again until I roll over.

Have you ever seen the "Family Guy" episode where Stewie drive Lois crazy? It's kinda like that.



Several people have suggested I just put him in the bed with us and let him go back to sleep. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Rowan can't be still when he sleeps and I would probably end up with a black eye from getting kicked or something. I assumed the early mornings and lack of sleep would have ended by now. I obviously assumed wrong. Hopefully this is just a phase and will pass soon. My lovely mom always says, "This too shall pass."

In the Morning

Rowan has always been an early riser. If he sleeps until 6:30am, I'm overjoyed. Most of the time, he wakes up at 6:04am. Sometimes, it's as early as 5:30am. If it's the weekend and it's earlier than 6:30am, I'll get him out of the crib and put him in bed with us. Sometimes he'll doze off for another 30 minutes or so, but most of the time he tries to jump up and down or hit your face until you pay attention to him. And he isn't one of those kids who like to lounge around in the morning drinking coffee. Once he's up, he's up and ready to go.

Jason decided to document Rowan the other weekend. Here are some shots of our mornings with Rowan.

We're still here!

So, um, yeah....there's been a bit of a delay since my last post. No real excuses, except normal, busy life stuff.

So here's a brief catch-up on Rowan's latest happenings at 13 1/2 months:

• Walks sometimes, crawls sometimes. Still working on walking 100% of the time
• Moved up to the 1 year old group at his "school," which was a difficult adjustment but seems to be doing better now.
• Still no real words, just makes a bunch of noises and sounds. Although I swear he says "I got it!" and bathtub.
• Still gets up at an ungodly hour of 6am. If he sleeps to 6:30am, we're ecstatic.
• Loves petting and playing with the dogs but we're still working on being gentle.
• Eats great most of time, which is a nice change. In fact, at the last parent-teacher meeting at school a few weeks ago, they said he was one of the best eaters in his class. Go figure.
• Loves chicken, turkey, cheese, eggs, yogurt, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, sausage, cheerios, goldfish, french fries, milk, mashed potatoes, melon, bananas and any kind of bread or crackers. Not crazy about carrots or beef.
• Favorite toys include anything he can push or ride on, trucks, balls, blocks and anything that he can throw or make noise with. He also like looking at books with pictures of animals. He has started getting books down and looking at the pictures.

That's all I can think of right now. Now that I'm back in the swing of things I promise to post on a regular basis.

Monkey Butt

Feed Me

We started Rowan on solids a few weeks ago.  The previous attempts at getting him to eat cereal failed miserably, so I gave up and just decided to skip ahead.  Initially, things went great.  We started with sweet potatoes and he gobbled them up, half a jar at a time.  Ever since them, he's been all over the map.  Loves sweet potatoes, green beans and peas; hates squash and pears; still iffy on carrots and apples.  If he likes it, he will grab the spoon out of my hand and attempt to feed himself and suck down a whole jar in no time.  And if he doesn't like it, he clamps his mouth shut and refuses to eat.  It can get ugly, as he's mastered his fake cough that quickly turns to gagging and then puking on the floor.