Summer afternoon playground

Now that Sasha is very mobile the playground has been an entirely new experience. He seems like a new kid as he walks around exploring everything and trying to talk to the big kids. It felt like a real summer afternoon with a, well, a toddler. He was dirty and snacking and screaming and happy and walking everywhere. Instinctively I wanted to buy him water ice or ice cream or take him to the beach. I realized our little guy is growing up and he's truly amazing. See for yourself. 

I love this thing even though I have no idea what it is. 

What's interesting about Sasha is that his technique of play is his own style. When at the playground he's not the kid climbing on everything or anything he can get his toddler hands, feet or body on. Sasha is the kid that wants to know what make things tick. He immediately gravitates to the steering wheels, anything that makes a noise, anything that you can turn, click or bang. I often wonder if he will be an engineer or something very creative. 

I'm having so much fun!

Someday I'll have my own car and it will go fast. 

Having a walking toddler also means you have little control about where they're going since they get there fast. Last week Sasha found the sprinklers at the playground before I could say a word. He was having so much fun, all I could think was "thank goodness I have extra clothes in my bag".

Don't tell my mama I found this cup and now I''m drinking from it.

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Take A Walk on the Wild Side

Well my friends, it's official our toddler is now walking. He started this morning and has not stopped. Sasha tends to do things his own way which is why we love him so much. Here's a little recap of Sasha's gross motor development. 


Before Sasha crawled at around eight months he was standing without holding on to anything. This made us think he might skip crawling all together. Nope, not the case, he then spent an entire two months rocking on his hands and knees before he crawled at ten months. Then he was taking steps before pulling up on furniture. So we figured, okay he's going to do a short stint with crawling and go straight to walking. Nope, he took his time at his pace and as a result is quite a sturdy walker.


It all started this past weekend after a visit at the grandparents. Sasha was performing for a large group of family members relishing in the praise. He took a few bold steps here and there to get more "hoorays" and "applause" from his fan club, aka "the grandparents". Then I noticed he was doing squats and in a constant kneeling position. Next up he kept taking steps without me in front of him. And voila, on June 1st, 2012 we have our self a walker. I'm pretty sure we will have a runner on our hands momentarily. 


In other Sasha news, he is really a full on toddler now. He gets, um, how you say, well, PISSED, yeah that's it, he gets PISSED OFF when you remove him from such things as power strips, pots and pans at 6am, taking down curtains and taking the batteries out of remote controls. He continues to talk up a storm and is so happy all the time. He will not sit in the bath, he pretends that everything is a telephone, he still eats as much as I do and he has a great sense of humor. 


Unfortunately I can not figure out how to get the movie to load to show you the little walker, but here's a photo of the handsome fella from earlier today. Have a great weekend. 

So much for toys?

As you know Sasha turned one last Sunday. As you know he got many gifts. As you know we are very grateful for all the gifts he received. As we now know, Sasha is, well, interested in pretty much everything that's not a toy. 

After reading book after book about creating some stupid accessible cabinet for your toddler to explore I finally caved in and did it. And well, see for yourself. 

What me? Innocent little me?

Finally, Mama took off that darn baby lock. 

This stuff is awesome, why has mama been holding out on me? 

Yes, Tupperware my friends, tupperware is what my darling toddler desires. 

I'm number one!

It's official, I am the proud mother of a one year old boy. Sasha turned one on Sunday and I couldn't we more pleased with him. He had his one year check up yesterday and the doctor told me what I already knew. Sasha is indeed the best baby. Okay, so I'm a little bias, but in so many words she said we have a keeper. He took his shots like a man, er, toddler and flirted with the doctor so much so that she said "did you see that smile?" Sorry doc, he does it to every pretty lady that comes his way. 


Sasha is truly amazing in our eyes. He continues to eat everything, including organic blueberries ringing in at five six bucks a pop. Seriously, why am I eating bananas? In all honesty Sasha is very flexible, he goes everywhere, loves meeting adults and children and is happy most of the time as long as he's fed and well rested. 

I can't get enough of these tasty blue treats. 

Sasha's language continues to grow each day. He now says: mama, dada, more, me, nanana (banana), beep, baba, wawa (for water and waffles), berry, bird, bear, buy buy, toot toot, two and turtle. He loves to point to get his, well point across and is quite resilient until he gets what he wants. After his nap he now tells us he wants his baba. 

Sasha continues to move around the apartment at lightening speed getting into everything he can get his hands on. I can only imagine what it will be like once he starts running.

Sasha got a new ride for his birthday from his grandparents, which as you can see he took to right away. 

 

We were thrilled to get this awesome wooden guitar for Sasha that my mom brought him from a recent trip to Mexico. He took to it right away as if he was a natural. Amidst all the plastic (no offense Fischer Price, we do love you) it was lovely to have something made of wood. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Spring Outings

Now that the weather is nice we've been having fun playing outdoors and exploring outside the playground. Sasha has not been to the beach since last summer when he was napping the whole time and I was carrying him. Last weekend we went to visit Aunt Lex and took a stroll to an awesome all sand playground in Brooklyn Bridge park. Needless to say Sasha was mesmerized. So much so that as you can see from the photo I couldn't get a him to look up. Looks like we have some fun beach days ahead of us. 

What is this stuff and why does it feel so good and taste so bad?

We also took a nice little walk to feed the ducks last week in Prospect Park. As you can see we were much more interested in standing and posing for the camera. Sasha has been taking several steps unassisted for a couple of weeks now. I think we may have a full blown walker on our hands any time soon. 

Mama, you do realize I am dangerously close to the water. Oops

Peek-Ahhhh-BOO!

Where's Sasha? There he is!

I know babies enjoy a good game of peekaboo, but Sasha really ran with and made it his own. I have to admit that I am guilty of being the one who taught him to really put your all into it. I mean, why not, who doesn't like a good game of peekaboo. 

The sweetest thing is that Sasha initiates peekaboo at any opportunity. Whether there is someone actually playing doesn't even matter to him, he just loves the game. 

Today at the playground Sasha got his best peekaboo on. 

By the way, it's my birthday and I must say having Sasha around has been wonderful beyond words. And to think at this time last year he wasn't even born.  We can't even imagine life with him. 

Enough of that, on to Mr. Peekaboo!

Here's how it starts. Hmm, where's Sasha? Has anyone seen Sasha? 

Here I am down low mama. 

Oh there you are. Peekaboo!

Teething Woes

While teething is not a new phenomena to parents, having my baby quietly rest on my shoulder is. It's a rare occasion that this happens and lucky for Ari he got the cuddles last month. Don't get me wrong, I don't want my child to feel pain...ever, but it does happen. 


In the past Sasha never showed signs of teething rather than mass quantities of droll. Basically I saw a tooth bud then low and behold an entire almost adult size tooth appeared in days followed by another one. We haven't seen any new teeth in months until this one little bugger, the bottom "lateral incisor" that is taking it's sweet time to debut. 


Sasha had been gnawing on his fingers for weeks, a sure sign of discomfort in the mouth, but no visible tooth. Finally, about two weeks ago I saw the tooth making it's way out, but it's still taking it's time to fully debut unlike it's other tooth pals who have made themselves quite cozy. 


This past Sunday Sasha took an extremely long nap in the morning only to wake up miserable. He had giant tears on and off all day, didn't eat (very unusual) and was just down right in pain and unhappy. After a day of needing lots of TLC he finally settled into my arms while I was seated and not carrying him standing which he prefers. It only lasted about six minutes, but I loved every second that my little guy found comfort on my shoulder. 


Fortunately it's now Tuesday and Sasha appears to be feeling much better. 

Someone doesn't feel so good. 

Whatever it is, just make it go away mama, please.