Huston - September 2011

Huston, you have hit the two’s running. Literally. You are a very busy little man and unless you are ready to cuddle, you barely seem to need us around. From the minute you get home you play with your cars, trains, Buzz & Woody or read. Every now and then you will ask for a snack or milk, but other than that you are good to go.

You went to your last A's game of the season and had a good time.  It was really hot so we spent a lot of the time in the fun zone.  By next season you will be a pro and will know all of the players if Daddy has anything to do with it.  Yes, you call your Da "Daddy" now.

with Stomper

Huston and Daddy

We also made a trip to the San Francisco Zoo with your Nama, Great Grandma MaryAnn, Uncle Paul, and cousins Jazzmin and Aydin.  You loved looking at the animals and you ran from place to place so fast you couldn barely keep up.  You were especially interested in the Gorillas and the penguins swimming.  It was a great day with beautiful weather and family.

Loved the lion

Feeding the goats

Uncle Paul, Jazzmin & Huston

the only spider i'll kiss

You have become our little helper. You throw away anything that looks like trash (even if we aren’t done with it), you take our dishes to the sink when we are done eating, you help unload the dishwasher, you get your own dishes when you want a snack and you keep all of the doors in the house shut. Sometimes you completely surprise me because I will ask you to go get something and not really expect you to know what I mean, and before I know it you are walking up with it.

You also like to take care of yourself. You go and pick out your clothes (often several times a day), you put on your own shoes and try to dress yourself. You love to brush your teeth and take baths and if your hands are dirty, you make sure we wash them right away. You also like it when I fix your hair and you will come in my bathroom when I’m getting ready and ask me to spike it up in the front.

At school you are working with primary colors, object counting and social skills.  Ms. Preeti says that you like playing with the blocks and coloring.

building blocks

One of your new favorite games is acting like you are going to share your food and then popping it in your mouth when we reach for it. You also like to list off your family members’ names and can pretty much say them all. You can count to three and say “1, 2, 3, GO!” at any appropriate time (walking out the door, playing, etc). You love to play with Da and play “woah, woah, woah, woah” (he picks you up and you put your hands and feet on the ceiling and then he drops you on the couch on your back”. Anything where you can have a short free fall or get swung around makes you happy.  You also still love to color, Buzz & Woody and cars.  And you LOVE to swim.

You are still doing really well at bedtime. When we tell you it’s time, you get your “B” (blankie) and walk into your room and get in bed. Most of the time you will stay there all night, although we have found you rolled off and under your bed a few times. And occasionally there are some toys out so I know you got up at one point.  Stinker. You are so cute because you cover your head up with your blanket and pillow so sometimes it’s hard to find you.  Sometimes you do sneak into our bed early in the morning....

You have learned one expression that I do not like. “Uh-uh” (complete with shoulder movement). It makes me so crazy! If you are not in the mood to do it, I have to ask several times before you won’t respond with “uh-uh”. Your dad says that you get it from me. I have no idea what he is talking about...

You are really enjoying being near your CA family and there are so many things we want to take you to do now that we are all settled in.

You are so handsome, smart and funny and you make us so proud.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Doug has been working with Huston on all of the family names when they are driving home from school each day. I guess he has associated it with the car, because now on the way to school he has started doing it on the way to school to. This was our drive today:

Momma
Dada
Ay (Aydin)
ZhhZhh (Jazzmin)
Nana
Grandpa-pa (Grandpa)
Sean
Kadie (Katie)
Paul
Mayyy
Nana
Ganie (Grannie)
Mawme (Memaw)
Papa
Dawn Dawn
Wobert (Robert)
Dade (Deda)
Suston (Huston)

After completing the list, he then proceeded to do them all….and test me. He throws Ay and ZhhZhh in between almost all of them; he loves his cousins so much.

His vocabulary has just blown up and he is even starting some small sentences. “All gone.”, “Stop it.”, etc.

We try really hard to not say “no” (we save no for danger) and use some other phrase. Well, that kind of back fired, now he tells me “nuh-huh” if he doesn’t want to do what I ask. But it is pretty darn cute.

Our all time favorite though, is when he’s upset and he starts crying “Whyyyyyyyyyy, Whyyyyyyyyyy, Whyyyyyyyyy?” He does the same with “Ridddddddde” when he sees his stroller.

He’s our crazy boy and we love him.

Huston's Birthday Week

Huston's birthday week started off with a much needed haircut.  He's had about 5 and has always been pretty good.  Especially if he gets a cookie or sucker.

have cookie, will sit still

The morning of his birthday he went to school so that he could have his party.  He got pizza for lunch and got to blow out the candles on his cake while his friends sang happy birthday to him.

waiting for the party

Happy Birthday to you....

blowing out the candles

Nama Dede picked him up and they spent the day together. When Doug and I got off work we met his cousins, aunt May and Grandpa at Red Robin.  He got a trainset, clothes and other goodies.

Red Robin party

practing his 2

The next day his Poppop and Gramma came over and the celebration continued.  He got a cupcake, cars rug, clothes and toy story and cars underwear.

cupcakes!

blowing...but there was no candle :)

yum

where's that smurf audition?

licking icing

favorite present....underwear

thinks he needs to wear them all....he does poop a lot :)

And finally, it was the day of his party!  While he went down for his nap, I went out by our poolside "cucina" to decorate.  Unfortunately, the wind did NOT cooperate and all of the Hot Wheels decorations I bought kept blowing around and then the 20 balloons I bought came loose from where I tied them and floated away (carrying away the toy I had them tied to) much like the movie Up.  Nama saved the day and brought more with her when she came, but needless to say I was frazzled that his party wasn't all I planned it to be.  I pulled it together and Aunt Katie & Aunt May showed up early to help finish getting things ready.  Grandpa Ron grilled the burgers and dogs and we all had a great time.  The wind also stopped it from being a pool party, but at 2 he didn't even really know what was planned so thank goodness for that!

cheeeeeeeeeeese

eating the chips

the cake (yes, i made it)

cheese

By then, he had the candle blowing down and was very excited to do it again.  Now when he hears that it is someones birthday, he puts his lips together and blows out and goes "whhhhhhhwww".  I love him.

Save Me San Francisco

Shortly after moving to California, we spend the day with Popop and Gramma (Huston's paternal paternal grandparents).  We started out by going to the San Francisco Academy of Sciences.

with momma

with da

We weren't really sure what to expect, but heard that it was cool so we checked it out.  It has lots of "stuffed" animals, real animals, fish, rainforest, etc.

so many pretty butterflies

penguins were so cute

coolest turtle i've ever seen

Huston needed some quiet time, so I took him to the toddler area and he got to chill out for a bit.  It was such a cool room, it had a tree, puzzle tables, books, etc.

this tree house was amazing!



impressing me with his puzzle skills

Once we wrapped up there, we hit the Hard Rock for some lunch. 

he loves the videos and memorabilia

Then we went down to Pier 39 and shopped around and watched the seals.

he's shhhshhhing the seals

they were being lazy

It was a great day with beautiful weather and family.

poop happens

last night we were trying to get huston in the bathtub and he kept saying he wanted to go potty.  now in the past, that meant he sat on the potty 5% of the time and ran around the house naked the other 95% of the time.  he likes to sit on the potty but has never actually gone in it.  he kept going back and forth between the frog potty and the real toilet and finally i got sick of it and just put him in the tub.

i went into the next room to put away some laundry and heard this terrified scream.  i went in to see what it was all about and my poor baby was pointing to a big ol' piece of poop in the tub and screaming.  he looked so scared i didn't have time to laugh, but i sure do every time i think of it now.  doug dealt with cleaning the tub and toys and i had to hold him for awhile and do what i could  to prevent him from being scared of poop so bad that it interferes with potty training when we start.  my baby learned the hard way, poop happens.  even in the tub.

and i guess from now on when he tells us he needs to potty.....we'll listen.

What's up with the Jones'

Doug. My hunee is working at the Treasure Island Job Corps as a CMA Instructor. The Job Corps is a program for disadvantaged kids to learn a skill and hopefully get a new start as an adult. He helps them become Certified Medical Technicians. Even though it is definitely not a cush job, I think he really enjoys it and he has an AMAZING view of San Francisco.

Lisa. I am working as a contractor for a fiber optics company in Milpitas (near San Jose) as an HRIS Analyst. Basically they had a huge reorg and they needed someone to come in and learn their systems and document the processes and procedures and then educate them on how to use them. It is a contract position, but they have told me that they plan to extend it for a year and hopefully have the budget to hire me on later.

Huston. My baby boy has started a Montessori preschool and it is incredible. It is mostly Indian kids, so he is getting his cultural integration too. He is really doing well with the structure and his teacher said he often sits with the 3-4 year old groups and keeps up pretty well. Apparently he eats veggies there too, so that alone is worth the money. He also just had his 2 year well baby check up and the doc said he is going to be a big boy and is very smart and charming. He is almost 30 lbs and is 3’ tall now. We did a quiz that says he will probably be 6’2”.

Us. We finally moved into our new home and it is coming along. It is a beautiful apartment in Dublin and has so much space. It is so pricey to live here, but for the location we needed to keep our commutes down, I think it’s worth it. It’s a 2 bed/2 bath, but H’s room is so big it can easily convert to a guest room when needed (hint, hint). I already feel like we are all three so much happier being around family in a beautiful state with so many things to do.

2 Year Check-up

Huston had his 2 year well baby today.  I am always so proud when he had doctor appointments, because he charms the doctor so much.  He had the whole office playing with him before we even went back to the room.

He weighs 32 lbs (75%) and is almost 3 feet (80%) tall. 

I told him they if he'd let them poke him, he'd get stickers and he said "K".  So he got two shots and barely whimpered (but I did get a dirty look) and then when they put on Snoopy bandaids and let him pick out stickers he was back to his flirty ways.  He talked them into a Cars, Handy Manny and Thomas sticker even though a sign clearly said one sticker per patient.

He very proudly told the doctor he was "twwwwo" and pointed out his nose, ears and shoes without being prompted.  Little show off.

She said everything looks great and he doesn't have to go back until he is 3.  I'm sure that will feel like tomorrow.