30 Months Old

Two and half! There is nothing terrible about our two's (maybe I should knock on wood.) Rocco is the most loving child in the world. He continues to love all over me, kissing each cheek, my chin, my forehead, and under my neck. Now that he can hold up 1 - 5 with his hands, he's started counting kisses.

Staying with his nana has so many advantages. All of the loving he gets is spoiling him, AND nana has been working with him on his letters and numbers. With all of us helping him, he has picked up his colors, numbers, and letters really fast.

Within the last month, he has learned the letters "A, B bubbles, C (sss), Dadda D, E, Mmm Mama, O (draws a circle with his hand when he says it), R me (He knows his name starts with an R), S, and T." As we go down the road, he'll say the letters as he sees them on billboard signs. He can also recognize all of these letters on the computer keypad.

Thomas the Train and the engines continue to be his favorite toys. James, Gordon, Thomas, and Henry get all the attention; he is still particular about which ones he plays with. And whenever we are in the car he thinks he has to watch the Thomas video (over and over and over and...)

Our most recent conversation with him goes like this. . .

Jason: What's your name?

Rocco: Me!

Rocco loves brushing his teeth. Throughout the day, he'll just make himself at home, go in the bathroom, pull out his toothbrush and toothpaste, then tell me "I do it!"

He will not get out of the bathtub until we've played a few rounds of "Bye!" behind the shower curtain. When bath time is over he insists on popcorn with his daddy.

Before bedtime, Rocco and I talk to God. He clasps his hands together and bows his head. Most of the time he lays face down while we say our prayers. Lately he has started repeating the people's names as he hears me pray for them.

When we are finished reading books, he'll say, "Bye read!" At other times when he has a choice over which drink he wants, he'll say, "Hey blue! Bye red!"

On Sunday mornings, he can tell when we are getting ready to go to church. He does the sign for it. In his Sunday School class, he is the top student (I can say that; I am his teacher). Rocco follows along and does everything I ask of him. I love being able to see him experience things for the first time, like scissors and glue bottles. When we're at home and I talk about something we learned in class, he does the sign for school. Thus far, he's learned about Noah and the arc. Recently we've started creation. Along with the other 2 year olds in the class, he's done a great job matching up the animal cards. During church he is very honest; if he decides Jason has preached too long, he'll do the sign for "Go!" He'll also proceed to do the sign for "Finish!"

In general he is just a happy, little boy. I love watching him run around the house. His sweet feet just pitter patter up and down the hall. When he's in a hurry or excited, he high steps it.

I can only imagine what he'll be doing next month. The rate at which he is learning simply amazes me. God has truly blessed us with an intelligent little fella.

Be sure to watch the video below! It shows Rocco and the letters that he has learned.

Rocco Knows His Letters

Rocco has learned eleven letters in just the last month. Little man is so smart! Notice how he turns around after each letter to find it on the keypad on the computer.

Two Baby Showers

Rocco and I had a busy day; we had two baby showers to attend.

Two of my best friends from high school had baby showers. Jaclyn recently had twin girls, and Heather is due to have her boy at the end of October. As soon as she delivers, she'll be able to sign acceptance papers for their sweet Lillian who is waiting on them in China. The picture above is of the girls that I hung out with in high school (From left: Heather and her son Samuel, me and Rocco, Jennifer, Jaclyn, Sissy, and Amy). Three of the six in this picture are expecting. Crazy how 13 years after high school most of them are pregnant at the same time.

Here's Heather and me. She was my best friend from high school and still one of my closest friends that I keep in touch with (it's a shame we live 1 1/2 hours apart). We have so much in common. Both of us married Jason's, adopted our first sons, teach elementary school, and have had a long, eventful journey to motherhood. I can hardly wait for her sweet Lillian (the baby she's carried in her heart) to come home. George has to get here first (the baby she's carrying in her womb).

Out for a Ride

The first day of fall was the perfect day for a ride on the four wheeler. Living out in the country does have its perks. We sandwiched Rocco between us and took off. The weather was sunny, and the wind felt so wonderful and free as we rode all through the woods and on our land. We stopped to look at our neighbor's field of cotton. Little man said, "Cotton," so cute.

Rocco would only have it if both Jason and I were riding. Our little boy loves it when we're all together as a family, it doesn't matter if we're riding on the four wheeler or eating popcorn at night. He just loves (and insists) that we all do things together. "Daddy, mama, me," he'll say. There's no way to quite describe the joy that being a family brings. It's really one of God's greatest blessings.

Fun at Music Class

Rocco continues to love music class. He is so at ease when we are there; his comfort level shows when he gets down with the music.

The group on Thursday night is really small, only 4 kids (Jacob, Liz, Emory, and Rocco). The kids take advantage of the extra space; they run, march up high, roll down low, "go into the kitchen and take a peep" (Rocco's favorite) and drag around on the towels as the mommy's pull them. Story time is an addition to the program that was not included last spring when he was in the birth - 18 month age group. While the other 3 become restless or wander around during the story, Rocco listens to the entire book being sure to point out the letters he knows like "A." He also tells Ms. Kay that it is "wet" on the rainy day page. Throughout the story he helps the other kids find the kangaroo, and he insists that the house in the story is "Nana's house."

Throughout the entire class, little man is very mindful to get me and his nana any scarf, sponge, bell, or other music prop that he gets to use. And he never lets us sit. He insists that "Mama" and "Nana" get involved.

As we left class tonight, Rocco and Liz walked together. It was really sweet; Rocco looked at Liz and himself and held up two fingers.

And here is a final picture of Rocco just being Rocco.

Rocco's First Football Game

It wasn't a big college game or even a high school game. No, Rocco's first experience at a football game was seeing my elementary kids play at the boys and girls' club. We could only stay for half the game to see the Jackets play the Dragons because Rocco had music class at 6:30 pm. He did watch them play some. I love this cute shot I took of him and the cheerleaders. Little man is somewhat of a celebrity at my school. Everyone knows Rocco. These girls are first through fifth graders that I teach in my science class (with the exception of the little girl on the front right). Oh yeah, don't forget to check out what Rocco's holding in his hands in this picture. You got it. His trains.

New Uses For The Crib Mattress

Now that Rocco is sleeping in his full size bed, we really have no need for his old baby mattress. Instead of tossing it aside or storing it in the closet, we have found some pretty neat uses for it.

1) We leave the mattress in the floor at night. If Rocco falls off the bed, he'll have a soft landing. Of course this is not likely to happen since Rocco sleeps against the wall and his daddy is on the other side.

2) Little man is getting taller, but he's still not tall enough to get in his big boy bed. With the baby mattress as a step stool, he can climb up all by himself.

3) When you raise up the mattress and lean it against the big bed, it makes a great slide!

And when you take the crib sheet off, it is really slick and makes for an even faster slide.

Enough playing. Time for bed! (But then a little voice begs, "Again!)

First Day of Sunday School

Today was Rocco's first official day of Sunday School! At our former church he went to the nursery a handful of times, but he never was really old enough to be in an actual Sunday School class. Since we moved back and began serving in our new church, Rocco and I have only been to Sunday School twice. He went with me while I attended a class for my age group. We just never got involved on a regular basis. Ever since Feb. of 2007 I have been a Sunday School drop out. This is a first for me since I've been in Sunday School since I was a little girl. My parents always took me to Sunday School, and I kept up that good habit all the way up into my adulthood.

I knew it was high time to get us involved in a class. There was not a class for Rocco's age group at our church during the Sunday School hour, so I began praying about it. Ends up that I felt the desire to begin a class for his age group. It's my first experience teaching an age group so young, but I'm up for the challenge. It's much more than a baby nursery where the children are babysat. During our first class today the kids learned about Noah and the ark through brightly colored flannelgraph. They interacted with the pictures and hid the animals behind the ark. Using Rocco's ark toy set they placed the animals in the big boat and pretended to make them float in the water. There was also some food involved...animal crackers. They sang some songs from our Kindermusik class, "The carpenter's hammer." We tied this into Noah building the ark and even changed the words to match our lesson. They even had toy hammers, saws, and screwdrivers to pound away with. The four toddlers really loved trotting in a circle while holding hands to songs like "The B-I-B-L-E". Later in the class they kids matched up memory cards with animals on them. The children also enjoyed the open the flap books and read along CD/music book. The hour went by rather fast. We only had one crier. Thankfully my assistant Tonya did a great job redirecting her cries for her mama.

It's going to be a lot of work, but I know God will give me the energy & creativity to teach these young minds about His wonderful love.

First Day of Dove Season

Every year, Jason and his hunting buddies always get together on this first day of dove season. All of his friends bring their wives and kids for a big cookout before the big hunt.

The food is outstanding: barbequed ribs, pork loin, and chicken. Rocco is still a little man and needs his nap, so he had to leave before the big hunt began. Maybe next year he'll get to get in on the action.

Here's a picture I took from last year's September cookout. He's certainly grown taller in the last 12 months, but he's still mama's baby.

Our Lil' Buckeroo

Gymboree had a really cute outfit that I couldn't pass up as my mom, Rocco, and I were shopping today. Yes, we hit the mall on this Labor Day. It was wonderful being out of school for the long weekend; we took advantage of it and spent some time with my family. Some of the pictures below are edited photos I texturized using my Photoshop Elements.

He didn't wear the hat that I bought him for long, so we also tried papaw's cowboy hat.

Rocco loved eating the freshly picked apples off of papaw's trees. He ate it, peeling and all.