A wish for my son

Last week I experienced a phone call from a parent that really rattled my bones.  Let me set the stage:

My fifth graders switch rooms for their math classes- I have 30 kids, some that are mine for homeroom and some that come from two other classes.  It was the end of a particularity trying lesson, the kids were rambunctious, my two tough kids were completely out of control, even my good kids were out of sorts.  Near the end of the 2 hour block with them I was WAY over fifth graders and way over teaching math. "J" who is normally sweet little boy, had received one too many warnings for the day.  He and another boy had goofed off every time I turned my back.  I had had it and gave them their first "strike." J began muttering under his breath something directed at me but clearly didn't want me to hear.

Let me insert a side note here- 5th graders in the spring are basically no fun to be around.  They are hormonal, self centered, flirting, giggling, smelly, sweaty, gossiping, loud bundles of annoying.  They would much rather be on the playground, milling around, setting their friends up to "go out" with someone than be in math class.  My team and I have started to crack the whip on disrespect.  If you are disrespectful to your teacher, you go to the office and call home, no questions asked,  99.99% of the time, this happens and the student apologizes to us.  A few weeks ago I received an amazing letter from a little girl who's mom had her write one to me, a boy in my class and the music teacher, who were all affected by her disrespect. This is not how things happened on this day...

J headed down to the office to call home.  He couldn't have been on the phone with his mom for more than a few seconds when she demanded to be connected with me.  My phone rang and if I had only known what was coming, I would have never answered the call.  She spent the next two minutes telling me that I singled out her son and how dare I call him out and humiliate him in front of the class.  Not once did she ask for my side of the story.  Not once did she allow me to talk.  And to top it off- she hung up on me before I had a moment to do either of these.

Not only did she undermine my authority, but she taught her son that he can continue to be disrespectful to teachers and not have to take responsibility for his actions.  She taught him that he can be rude to a teacher and all will be okay because his mom will "take care of it."

Porter- my wish for you...
May you always be kind to everyone: friends, parents, strangers, and most of all, your teachers.
May you hold doors open for everyone, not just women with strollers and old people.
May you say thank you and please and excuse me.
May you tell people what you feel in a way that is respectful and sincere.
May you chose your battles carefully.
May you listen when people talk to you.
May you think before you act.
May you admit your mistakes.
My you make eye contact when talking to others.

Love, Mommy

I'm glad to see you have already mastered please and thank you, sweet boy.  <3

Mama- Momma- MOMMY!

Porter is figuring out this whole speaking thing and it is just blowing my mind!  He now says "words" back to me when I ask him to say them and many of them actually-sorta-maybe sound like that word.  My favorite is "beanbag."  It comes out something like "bebe" but I know exactly what he's talking about.  I ask him to say a lot of words and he always tries to spit out something that he thinks resembles the word.  It's interesting- I have felt like he's been taking off when it comes to language over the past week and look at this!  Below is how many words kids say on average at certain months:

12 months- 3 words
15 months- 14 words
16 months- 40 words
18 months- 68 words
23 months- 200 words

Porter turned 16 months this week and it all makes perfect sense.  He's not at 40 words, but for a kid that listens to Spanish for 40 hours a week, I'd say he's off to a great start.  I keep meaning to ask Irma what words he says in Spanish.  Certainly, if he has 20 or so in English, he has to have just as many in Spanish.

New words:
Ball, duck, beanbag, banana (no longer nana) and mouth

New sounds-
Gorilla, duck, train, and car

New signs-
Please (adorable)

My newest favorite word is officially Mommy.  Daniel and I refer to each other as Mama and Dada and I'm not quite sure where he picked up Mommy and Daddy but he likes to say them often and he likes to say them loud!  He has realized that yelling them in his crib usually pull at our heart strings and can't resist but to go in to get him. He also just likes to yell them intermittently during his play- maybe he likes hearing them as much as we do, maybe he just wants to check that we're still in the room with out looking up.  Who knows, but I swear, my heart will melt forever whenever I hear his little voice say Mommy. <3

We have a walker! AND we have a runner!

It look Porter 14 1/2 months to figure it out but we officially have a toddler! It's amazing how just before my very eyes my baby transformed into not a baby anymore.  In my arms he feels like a baby but when I see pictures of him, he looks so much like a little boy-it's crazy.

Daniel and I had been waiting for Porter's first steps for several months.  We must have said, "He's so close to walking, " about 900 times.  One afternoon after school the three of us were in the back room and Porter was cruising the furniture, per usual, and just like that he let go and stood for several seconds.  I put my arms out and BOOM he walked right to me! We both squealed with delight and he let our a huge belly laugh because we were so excited for him.  The best part was he did it over and over and over again!

Walking isn't the only big change we have seen in Porter over the past few weeks.  The kid is a walking, talking, signing ball of energy.

Words he can say:

Mama/Mommy

Dada/Daddy

Irma

hi

up/down

opie (open- this is my favorite word he says, after Mama, of course)

agua (water)

appa (apple)

woof woof (for all dogs)

ni ni (night night)

bye bye

eye

doggie

Animal sounds:

woof woof

moooo

oooh ooooh (monkey)

who who (owl)

elephant sound (I have no idea how to spell this!)

sssssss (snake)

Words he can sign:

more

all finished

milk

book

help

hot

eat

Words we're working on- jump, egg, dance, music, cheese, wait, please, thank you

Body parts he knows and Spanish and English:

head

ears

mouth

tongue

teeth

belly/belly button

eyes

and my favorite, "Donde esta Porter?" (Where is Porter?)  He points to himself with a huge grin. :)

Ahhh! Reading back over this makes me so joyful.  Being with him is incredibly entertaining.  I can't believe how many times I told Newborn Porter to never grow up, and now that I have a communicating little boy, I realize how sorta boring a tiny baby is. (Did I just admit that out loud??) I mean seriously- look at how stinking cute he is!

Putting on our shoes- his newest obsession

In other news- my new year resolution this year was to participate in a little competition called 2015 in 2015.  Running 2015 miles in the year 2015.  My two amazing running buddies (that I trained with for the October Rock and Roll 1/2) and I joined as a team and pledged to run 56 miles each, per month.  What an amazing motivating pledge it has been.  Not only do I run when I really don't want to- but I FINALLY inspired Daniel to start running.  (I say finally, because when I started training in July, he said that he would like to run with me.)  This took 7 months but he did finally buy a new pair of shoes and we run together (with P and Eazy) a few times a week.  

2015 is a group of 17,000 people around the world, that are all competing in various groups to conquer this challenge.  Some people are running solo (running 6 miles a day), some are in groups, some are walking, many are recovering from having surgeries, others are starting over after having a baby.  Some people only count runs (that's me), others are counting all their walking during the day plus any running they do for exercise, and everyone is totally excited about participating.  There is a FB group that we all belong and the amount of love and support for running and for each other is amazing.  

I meet my girls every Saturday morning at 7:30 and we usually run anywhere from 6-8 miles together and ALWAYS take a picture. :)  We talk kids, life, jobs, houses, husbands, food, and about our week. We ran into two women the other week on the Highline Canal who told us that they have run together every Saturday morning for the past 6 years.  Running away, we decided that that wanted to be us!  I LOVE love love the anticipation of Saturday mornings and meeting up with my running mamas.  157  miles down, 515 to go!   

Another 1/2 under my belt! Conquer the Damn 13.1

  

Gratitude

I feel like I've entered a new world of chaos- one that I sometimes just feel caught up with and then, BOOM, something happens and I've spiraled back onto the whirlpool.  It's something that has been magnified since becoming a wife and mother but that I've noticed becoming increasingly worse over the past few months.

Welcome to my chaos: 

I love the feeling of finishing my laundry.  I separate it into nice little piles so that I can put each one away quickly and efficiently.  And just when I get the last pile into the dresser, Porter wets through his diaper at nap time and I now have a whole day of clothes, a sleep sack, a sheet and a blanket to wash.  Around this time, Daniel walks in from working in the garage and peels off his sweaty clothes and tosses them into the empty but-only-for-45-minutes hamper.  Ug.

Now that Porter is playing with toys- he seems to take EVERY SINGLE TOY out of EVERY SINGLE BIN and play with it for exactly 2.5 seconds before coming over to me, throwing his arms in the air and saying, "up." Which translates to, "I am so over all these toys, would you please read to me?" (Side note- Porter is absolutely OBSESSED with reading.  We are having trouble doing anything in his room these days because all he wants to do is read.  I'm quite sick of: The Wheels on the Bus, Lamma Lamma, Five Little Pumpkins and Vroom Vroom. He is very particular about what books he likes.  Often I try to "sneak" a new book and he instantly closes the page and pushes it out of my hands.  My little opinionated boy.)

 

The grocery store is somewhere I can bring Porter and I know that I can do all my shopping while he entertains himself saying "hi" to everyone that will catch his eye.  If things start to deteriorate, I can always hand him an apple and that will buy me at least 15 minutes. (This kid loves his apples, I never leave home with out one!)  It's the coming home and cooking dinner that I am no longer able to do with him in the kitchen.  He has discovered how to open the dog food bin and I will admit that he has sampled a few of the kibbles!  He can also open all cabinets and would take everything out of the drawers if I let him. (I have such an appreciation for single moms.)

This is what I'm starting to get when I take
pictures of him- such a goof ball!

We share P duty in the mornings before work.  The bathtub makes an amazing holding pin for him and he usually plays there while I finish my morning routine and while Dada is in the shower.  The other day I left the room and came back in to see him attempting to swing one leg over the edge.  My days of using this as a mock-crib are numbered!

I can't believe I don't have any pictures of him
playing in the dry bath - this
one will have to do!

As chaotic as life is these days,  I have to take time to sit and reflect on what a great (and chaotic) life I have. Daniel and I have a healthy baby who is ALWAYS happy and seems to already laugh his way through life.  He makes my belly ache with giggles, even when I feel like life is caving in on me.  He makes a gray sky turn blue and tuns my frown upside down.  Life may be crazy, but this perfect little dude makes me happier than I ever imagined.  It is through all this chaos that I realize my life isn't perfect, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Happy Birthday Porter Pie!

My baby is one!!

An entire year has passed with Porter and I keep playing the game, one year ago we were doing this and one year ago we were doing that. It is truly amazing how a child can change in the course of a year from being a blob of baby to a communicating laughing, clapping, almost walking, always smiling baby boy!

This time last year I was beyond exhausted and I asked Porter every day to not grow any bigger. I loved that he slept on me and made little cooing noises all day long. An entire year later I am telling him to stop growing up still because my little baby is almost not a baby anymore.

He is truly a joy to play with these days.  He can express happiness when he is pushing a toy that helps him walk around the house and can express frustration when we close him into his car seat. He can tell me using sign language that he is "all finished" and when he wants "more". He laughs when we laugh, and laughs even harder when we drop hammers on our toes. He loves to flop upside down and be carried from his feet.  He loves reading books, mooing like a cow and touching his nose when you ask him.  He loves broccoli and sweet potatoes and hates cow's milk.  He laughs hard when we chant "chug chug chug" when he's swigging water from his sippy cup. He has this infectious fake laugh that he does when he wants to entertain us or a crowd of people.  It makes us laugh until our belly's ache and makes him do it more and more.

Last weekend we threw Porter an amazingly fun birthday party.  The thought of having all our friends and the explosion of babies in our tiny house was not something that could work.  Daniel discovered a small brewery called Asbury Provisions, a stones throw from our house, when he was writing his thesis.  We talked to the owners and decided to throw his party at their place.  It was absolutely perfect!  The space fit all our friends, the kids played with toys on the floor, the food was delish and Porter ate his cake with a smile on his face the whole time.  The best part was that we didn't have to clean up or do any dishes after the event!  We were able to talk with all our friends and Uncle Lex documented the entire event on camera.

I can't wait to see what the next year holds for Porter.  Soon he'll be walking and talking and that just blows my mind.  I can't wait to learn more about his personality and see who he becomes as he grows into a child.  I love you P.

Tricks!

OMG! Where did the time go? It feels like just yesterday I had a baby!  When I look back at the last year, I cannot believe how quickly it went.  Porter grew from a little baby to a little boy.  He learned to hold his head up, to use his voice, to eat his hands and then his feet.  He learned to sit up, to stand up and to scream to get his way.  He discovered his doggie brothers and how to play peek-a-boo.  He learned to sleep through the night and to take off his own socks.  All of this happened right before my very eyes.  I am amazed at the amount he has changed in a year and cannot imagine what the next year will bring us!

In just the past few weeks he has learned a ton of new "big boy" tricks, as I call them. He can now communicate with us and is able to understand what we are telling him.  It's amazing how he has morphed from baby to little boy.  His new tricks in no particular order:

#1- His first word is "hi."   He says it every time anyone walks in to the room and always does with a huge smile on his face.

#2- Waving hi and bye.  Daniel taught him to do this in a mirror and now all we have to do is say, "wave hi" or "wave bye bye" and he flaps his little arm in the air.

#3- "Go and get your ball."  I asked him to do this the other day and he crawled right over to his ball and threw it at me.  Daniel asked him to get his water today and the same thing, crawled right over and took a swig.

#4- Pointing- He just started this while we were in Texas and pointed to a lake full of ducks. Tonight I asked him where the doggies were and he pointed to Ralphie.  Too cute.

#5- When we ask him, "what does a cow say" he oooooo's back.  The "m" doesn't make the moo, but it's so darn cute, I hope he always leaves it out. :) (The only videos I have of the actual "ooo" are all on my camera and are too big to load onto this page.  I promise to have my phone on and ask him 100 times tomorrow!)

#6- He can play peek-a-boo by himself.  We throw a blanket over his head and he will pull it down and cover himself back up over and over and over (and over) again!

#7- Playing with ball toys.  We sat with him for just a few days showing him how to put balls in this super annoying chicken toy.  One morning, I looked up when I heard the ball drop into the slot and was shocked that he had done it all himself. It's amazing how quick he picks up on new things.  On the airplane I showed him how to put the window shade up and down and it he did it over and over and over again.  Just tonight I showed him how to move the light switch up and down and he did it all by himself (over and over and over again).  :)

#8- He's just starting to copy noises I make and one day they will sound like words: doggie,  uh-oh, bye bye, mmmm and duckie.

#9- We're pretty sure he has our names figured out. He cries for Mama when he's sad and says, "Hi, dada" all the time.

#10- Using a spoon- He can't load it with food just yet but my days of spoon feeding him are over.  He can take it from my hand, shovel it into his mouth and happily  hands it back to me for more food.  He also loves to brush his teeth.  I brush first and then hand it over to him.  Who needs toys when you have a $1.25 stick with bristles on the end!  He gums that thing for 10 minutes after I hand it over.

Rock and Roll!!

It's been two weeks since the Rock and Roll half marathon and I'm so very proud with myself that I did something so amazing. 10 months and 2 days after having a baby, no less!!  I went on my first run yesterday since the race and although my hips are still a little painful, it was great to get out there and enjoy some "me" time again!

Twelve weeks ago I signed up with a Fit-For-Mom's running group and pledged to stick to a running schedule, to run with my fellow mama's on Saturday mornings at 8 AM and enjoy every second of it- right?!  98% of the time, I did enjoy every single second.  I ran with friends, gave Porter plenty of fresh air, got Eazy a lot of time out of the house and saw some beautiful new running trails during the time.  

The training was great and I started my first run by taking a picture of P and me.  I then decided to take a picture after every run and document my 12 weeks of training. 

I remember this week being so difficult- I had to run 3 miles and did not know how I would ever survive!  I also remember thinking that 4 days a week was A LOT of running.  It's amazing how quickly 3 miles felt like a drop in the bucket and how 4 days a week was nothing when something becomes a habit. 

That bottom one's for you, KVV! xx

I can't help but notice how little hair P has at the start of these pictures.  Three months is a long time in baby time- he started crawling and pulling up all during this time. He became an amazing eater and a good sleeper during this time.  He had a five week breastfeeding sabbatical, I started back to school, he started with his first nanny.  He began to love books and started to dance to music.  He figured out how to play in his crib and let Mama and Dada sleep in a bit longer.  He began to notice kids and be entertained by them.  He mastered sitting in a restaurant high chair and sprouted three new teeth during this time.  It's amazing how fast he changed from a little baby into a little boy.  

Here's a group shot of our running group before the race. Some of us have one kid, some have two. Some girls stay home, others work full time.  Some had run half-marathons in the past, others, this was their first race. Regardless, we all made a pact to run together and did it- what an amazingly hard thing for any mom to do!

There I am! So fast they could only get me
after I wizzed by!

My cheerleaders!

Finished at 2:17:25! (10:28 miles)

4482/8129 overall

473/949 in my age category

2457/5266 for all female racers