Quick Update

Bulldog now has all of his teeth. Pwew! The constant nursing (helps with teething pain), plus 15 month sleep regression, plus not having Internet access for 2 weeks, plus enjoying summer freedom equals a neglected blog.

Bulldog is now walking up and down the stairs! My back is thankful, but my nerves aren't. He's bowlegged and still getting the hang of this bipedal locomotion thing, so he looks like he's about to go tumbling down every time he takes a step. The kid also had the nerve to outgrow his car seat! We have the Graco MyRide 65. We bought it because it has one of the highest rear-facing capabilities of any car seat on the market, and isn't insanely expensive. Babyzilla outgrew it at 13 months because he's freakishly tall (WAY off the charts). Bulldog isn't as tall -"only" 99th percentile- so we figured he'd make it closer to the AAP recommendation of 2 years. We forgot to consider that he's off the chart for weight. (I swear I make breastcream, not breastmilk.) At his 15 month appointment he weighed 35 pounds (the max for rear-facing in his seat). He loves facing forward!

Babyzilla is getting so big! He's 2.5 now. His language has exploded this summer. He loves to dance and help clean up. He helps me in the kitchen (adding ingredients and mixing) and around the house by picking up toys, pushing laundry into the dryer (supervised, of course), sweeping, making the beds, and loading the kid dishes into the dishwasher. I've never drilled flashcards with him. We're learning letters, numbers, shapes, and colors sort of organically. He's picked up most of his colors through my use of language. For example, "Yes, that's a ball. That's a blue ball." One of the TV shows he watches is Super Why on PBS. He LOVES that show, and it's really helped him learn his letters. He knows capital and lowercase a, c, e, g, i, o, p, r, s, t, u, and y. Not too shabby. (While I'm not a huge TV fan, I am a realist. I'm a full-time student AND a mom. When I have papers to write and projects to do, I employ the electronic babysitter for an hour. When I graduate and get a paycheck, I'm making a big donation to PBS for keeping me sane.) He also loves circles and finds them everywhere.

We had a soggy 4th, and our neighbors set off fireworks until 3 a.m.

So that's what we've been up to for the past few weeks.