Two Years and Four Months Old

At 28 months, Rocco is a happy little boy. He gets tickled at anything and laughs so hard he gets us laughing. Below is the latest with our little man. . .

1) His phone conservation consists of two words, "Hey! Bye!"

2) Curious George is his new cartoon of choice. When the monkey makes his noise, Rocco laughs and laughs. When he wants to watch it he'll make monkey sounds himself, "Ooh, ooh, aah, aah."

3) We've allowed him to begin playing with play-doh.

4) He loves listening to books. A few of our favorites are I Love You Forever, Tractor and Truck Sticker book, The Cat in the Hat, Thomas the Train's ABC.

5) His first two words finally came together. They were, "Drew play." A few days later he learned to say, "Drew home." Although it's not actually a sentence, he runs through the house yelling, "Blue, red, blue, red!" I believe he has discovered the power of using words and enjoys saying the ones he's learned.

6) Rocco pays close attention to us and likes to mimic. The other day when Carolyn got out of her chair, he slowly rose up and grunted and moaned. It's a big joke now how granddaddy and nana get up after sitting down.

7) His imigination and way of looking at things is growing. The other day he had two pretzels. One was longer than the other. He named the long one daddy and the shorter one mama.

8) If we ask him if wants to eat a bite of chicken, he grins and starts flapping his arms like chicken wings.

9) After a great summer filled with lots of fun, Rocco is back at nana's house while mama goes to work. He loves to watch the The Little Engine that Could. He says the character's names (Tilly, Rollo, and he calls the blonde headed woman "Mama.") We also have the book at home. When he wants to read it, he'll bring the book to me and make his train sound. "Whoo whoo!"

10) In the swimming pool he will finally wear his life vest. Last year he would not have any part of the jacket.

11) His waist is still very small. Some 9 month shorts still fit him, but when it comes to pants he usually needs a 2T for the length because of his height. His favorite pair of pj's are Thomas the Train. He fits in a 4 diaper. Lately after his nap he is dry and pee pees in the potty! Way to go, Rocco!

The Wiggles Concert

Lights. . . Camera. . . Action!! The Wiggles we've watched for the last year came to life right before our eyes on stage tonight. Rocco didn't know what to think. I told him over and over today that we were going to see the Wiggles. Tonight when the dancers came on stage, he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Where are they?" And within the next minute, there they were in the big red car. Anthony, Murray, Jeff, and Sam. For all the hours we've watched them, we felt like we knew them. It was up close and personal! When Jeff ran out in the audience we were on the end of the aisle. He could have given us high five! Our seats were great. Tenth row on the floor. And our company made it the best. Teresa and her 3 year old son, Matthew, went with us. Both boys had a blast. Near the end of the hour and a half concert Rocco finally began to dance. Some of our favorites through the night were "Do the Monkey," "Can You Point Your Fingers and Do the Twist," and "Fruit Salad." Of course all of the Wiggles' friends were there, too, like Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, and Capt. Feathersword (the crazy one climbing out of the window upside down on the rope).

Before we left, I made sure Rocco had a souvenir. He ended up with a sticker book, a plush big red car, and a back pack. I think it was almost as big as he was.

Tonight was so much fun! It was well worth the drive (3 1/2 hours total), and it was a fun time I'll always remember. Hopefully he will, too.

Two Year Check-up and a New Schedule

Rocco had his 2 year check-up on Friday. Other than a runny nose and sneezing due to allergies, he is doing fine. His weight over the last 4 visits has continued to increase, but he is still below the growth chart averages. At 27 months old, he is 23 pounds. His height is also below the average but somewhat higher than his weight. He is 33 1/4 inches tall.

Receiving two shots was no fun, but his Tetanus and Hep A were due. They also drew blood from his middle finger. He was so cute with his Hot Wheels sticker on his shirt and a large cotton ball and bandaid wrapped around his middle finger. Not to mention the sticky sucker mess on his lips. He was glad to get out of that place. Poor guy didn't even like getting his height taken. Over the past year he's learned to be cautious of those in the doctor's office.

Out of 60 points, he scored. . . 60 on gross motor, 60 on fine motor, 55 on problem solving, and 25 on communication. We've been doing a lot to help him in this area in which he is lacking. His receptive vocabulary is outstanding, but he's not saying as much as most kids his age. He has yet to use two words together such as Mama play, Daddy sleep, etc. He also does not refer to himself with I, me, or mine. I have to brag on him though and say that his vocab has improved tremendously over the past few months. He now says mama, dada, nana, granddaddy, Drew, home, ride, slide, hey, bye, kitty, ice, Duke, drink (dink), more, yum, candy, up, blue, red, green, yellow, purple, orange, bubbles, Bible, tick tock, horse, poo poo, book, please (eeez), and makes sounds like a train, car, monkey, and King Kong.

School is about to start back for me so I'm making a schedule of books for us to read with Rocco every day. We're already reading to him and having conversations with him like an adult, but I believe reading more books will only enhance his vocabulary. Too, I have many books in my library that I've been collecting over the past 12 years, racking up at Christmas, my birthday, at yard sales, library book sales, and ordering them school. With all these books, I find I'm not reading a variety to him like I could be. I have lost count on how many children's books I own, but I know they are on 5 - 6 shelves and there are more in the basement boxed up.



Here's the schedule of books I have for the upcoming week. Each day has a day time book as well as a night time story. I also hope to read the Bible more to him. He loves that and it really calms him at the end of a busy day.
Monday: If You Give a Pig a Party, Going to Sleep on the Farm
Tuesday: Potty Time with Elmo, Goodnight Moon
Wednesday: Thomas the Train Helps Out, Little Quack's Bedtime
Thursday: The Little Red Caboose, Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose Best Loved Verses
Friday: He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, There Were Ten in the Bed
Saturday: Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too by Eric Carle, Sleep Little One Sleep

If you have any books you'd like to suggest for a 2 year old leave them in the comments section.

Florida Trip

Our first trip to Florida turned out to be a great success. We left on July 6th and returned the 12th. Although we've been married for 11 years, we've never taken a trip to FL. Growing up, we both vacationed there with our families, but as a couple we just always went to the mountains or to Myrtle Beach. Being at the beach this week was not all play though. It was actually a staff retreat for our church. Our youth leader, Carol Ann, and the three of us stayed in a nice 2 bedroom condo that belonged to one of the church members. He allowed us to stay there for free so that we could get away and pray and plan for our upcoming year. We accomplished a lot, and I'm excited about the children's ministry that I'll be taking on soon.

While we were in Panama City, we mainly relaxed on the beach and beside the pool. Rocco didn't play in the sand that much. He didn't really dig it. When he was sitting in his beach chair he wanted to go to the pool, and when he was at the pool he wanted to be on the beach. His newfound "power" and the ability to shake his head yes and no drove us a little crazy. On certain days he would shake his no to anything you asked him. This made it particulary hard to figure out what he really wanted.

The only bummer for the week was that the golf cart didn't work. We rode around the other condos/campers and it would go dead on us. On one occasion some young boys helped to push us back home.

The things that we'll remember from this trip are the meals (Angelo's steak, Scampi's shrimp, Jason's grilled out steak, Carol Ann's mexican dish), the playground, pool, the beach (riding the waves - Rocco just watched), catching over 60 jellyfish in a matter of minutes, the Choo Choo kiddie ride and swings, and playing in the room (especially hide and seek in the closet). And yes we all got really nice and tan. We're back home now, but we're ready to go back!

No Fourth of July Celebration

The Fourth of July was very different this year for me. No fireworks. No small town parade. No picnic. Not even a birthday celebration for my mom which has been a tradition since I've known her (yes, all my life).

This year was very different because my nana has been in the hospital. Below is a picture of my nana and papaw. She went in on July 1st for severe pain in her back. What they thought was a tumor ended up being a large abscess of staph infection. Within a matter of days she was put to sleep four different times and had 3 surgeries. She currently has MRSA, a serious bacterial infection that is resistant to penicillin type drugs. Within the last week it has spread like wildfire and is currently in her blood stream. She is in a lot of pain and needs a miracle. I hope those of you who read this will remember our family and especially her in your prayers. My mom has spent eleven nights out of twelve by her side at the hospital. I know she needs extra strength at this time, too.

So what used to be a big day of celebration for our country and my mom's birthday ended up being a stressful one in the hospital. We did manage to go get a BBQ sandwich though. And it was an honor to spend the fourth with my papaw because he is a veteran who served our country across the seas during Desert Storm in the early 90's. He's one of my heroes. And for my mom's birthday we had some donuts in the surgery waiting room. As for fireworks, we did manage to see a few out the window just over the hospital parking lot.

Lord willing, next year will be better and we'll all be well and able to get back to our family cookout again.