Our Trip to AZ

Paul and I had a really nice trip to Tucson, AZ to visit my younger sister and niece. I brought my work laptop with me but didn't end up having to work much. I had planned to work on the plane ride back but it turns out that the free Wifi on Delta is kind of crap as I can't open files from or save files to my work drive. Which means I basically can't do much of anything. So instead of working, I'm getting started on this blog post! 

On Monday morning we found out our flight would be delayed by 3 hours. At least we found out before we got to the airport, though! When we got to the airport, we were further delayed by a maintenance issue but we still got in about when expected (around 4PST). 

Sooo excited about our trip!

Delays are no problemo when you have an iPad

Shortly after we arrived, we headed out for a delicious Mexican meal. My BIL was supposed to fly out that day, but his flights got canceled so we got to see him that night! 

We spent 3 nights/2.5 days in Arizona which was the right amount of time for Paul's age. He struggled with the time change (we gained 2 hours) so we had some very early mornings. He was up around 4-5am each morning but was happy to lay in bed and play on his iPad while I snoozed on and off. 

We spent a lot of time outdoors on this trip! This swing in my sister's back yard was a HUGE hit!

It was quite hot while we were there so we tried to do things in the morning and had more low key afternoons. The first morning we went to the zoo. They have a great zoo that isn't too big/?overwhelming for little ones. The highlight of our visit was seeing 2 elephants playing in the water!

We also went to a splash pad that afternoon after quiet time. 

Lots of time was spent in their backyard. Paul was entertained by new-to-him toys and was great with his little cousin - albeit a bit bossy at times!

On Wednesday morning, we went on a hike at Sabino Canyon. We did a pretty short hike since we had little hikers with us. I'd love to do more hiking next time I come back to Tucson!

Selfies during a hiking break

 

We went back to the same splash pad after the hike to cool off.

I soaked up lots of time with my little niece and was thrilled when she let me read to her! She's about 3 months younger than Will and they are so different! Will is a bit, um, moodier than she is. But I think they'll have a blast together when they see each other next in August!

I'm glad Paul got this special one-on-one time with his cousin! Both my sister and I get comments about how our kids do not look like us (why do people feel the need to comment on things like that? Abby's gotten some pretty hurtful comments) but these 2 blondies definitely have a resemblence! 

Besides watching Paul and Maddy get to know each other better/play together, I loved catching up with my sister. We talked a lot about the challenges of parenting. Her husband travels quite a bit for his job so I think/hope it was helpful for me to emphasize how hard her job is - especially since she is 32 weeks pregnant so extra tired! 

Abby and I are 7 years apart so we didn't have much time to bond when we lived under the same roof since we were in completely different stages of life when I left for college. I never lived with my parents again after graduating from college as I did summer school/work in my college town the first summer and then worked elsewhere the other summers (job opportunities were not plentiful in my hometown of 500). So I have really enjoyed getting to know my sister as an adult and I love that we are in similar stages of parenting. I can't imagine not having her to vent to when we were sleep training or dealing with endless strings of viruses. I wish we lived closer but because we are far apart, we tend to get lots of time together when we do see each other since we are usually together for a string of days. 

Do you have siblings? Are you close in age or spread out? I’m 1 of 5. Mg oldest sibling is 10 years older than me, I’m the 4th child and then Abby is 7 years younger. So we have a 17 year span!!

Birthday weekend recap

This past weekend was all about celebrating Paul’s 5th birthday! Some of his birthdays have been very snowy, like his first birthday when we got something like 15” of snow! But luckily we threaded the needle between snow storms. 

The party was on Saturday at 5 so Paul and I made his cookie cake after breakfast so it’d be ready to decorate when my parents arrived at lunchtime. We are solidly team cookie in this house, especially when it come to gluten free baking. In my experience, cookies turn out better and cookie cakes are very fun and festive. 

We finished making the cookie cake in time to do our usual library and gymnastics routine. The library had new toys out and a new search and find activity! 

My parents had arrived by the time we got home from gymnastics. The boys enjoyed having their grandparents around! 

Will is wearing Paul's shoes in this photo. His feet aren't THAT big!

While Will napped and Paul had quiet time, my mom decorated the cake. I am terrible at decorating so am glad she could do it! 

Phil’s mom came over mid-afternoon. Paul impressed his nanas by reading to them!

Around 5, my brother, SIL and nephew arrived and the party began. We ordered pizza and I made a salad. Paul opened presents in between dinner and cake. 

His favorite gift was this rover toy his Nana Joan got him from Lakeshore Learning. When he opened it he said, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!!’ It is a very cool toy and very very sturdy! 

Then it was cake time! 

Our guests left around 7 and everyone played Uno while I did Will’s bedtime. My parents spent the night since they live about 3 hours away.

Sunday was quieter since we were recovering from the previous full, busy day. My parents left around 9 and I headed out for a 4 mile run (with YakTrax, of course, as many of the sidewalks are still treacherous). 

Since it was mild outside and our sidewalk was in good shape, the boys did some biking/scooting. As you can see, we have SO MUCH SNOW. 

The boys also played with Paul’s new birthday toys! 

It started to snow again around 6pm. It’s supposed to snow today, too, and there’s more snow forecasted Wednesday-Friday. Spring is never coming but at this point we figure we might as well go for a record snowfall for the season. We’ve had over 70”; the record is in the 90s so it’s definitely possible. Spring feels so far off! 

Has spring arrived where you live? I’m thinking we won’t see grass until April! 

Paul is 5!

Paul is 5! While there is something to love about every stage, I'm finding that 4+ seems to be the sweet spot for me. But before I dig into Paul at age 5, let's take a trip back in time to his previous birthdays!

Paul on his birthday! He's rocking a jaundice tan and is so puffy in this picture (probably since I was on IV fluids for days before he was born - his delivery was pretty complicated).

Paul at 1! I don't have great photos from his 1st birthday party as I stupidly scheduled his 1-year shots the day before... rookie mistake. He's crying/not happy in most of his birthday photos. But we had a fun brunch with my younger sister on his actual birthday!

Paul at age 2... This was March of 2020 - little did we know how our world would change in a matter of days!

Paul at age 3! Are you noticing the theme of cookie birthday desserts?

Paul at age 4!

Growth: He's still very, very petite - he only weighs 33 pounds. For context, Will weighs 28 pounds! Paul has been around the 5th percentile for weight since he was about 2 months, though, so it's not concerning as he has been staying on his growth curve. He has been asking when he can move into a booster seat, though, and that feels VERY far off since you need to weigh at least 40 pounds to move into a booster..  When will he be 40 pounds? Age 8? He wear size 10 shoes, 3T/4T tops, and mostly 3T pants. 

Words and phrases: He is still very chatty and talkative. His latest clutch phrase is to say "speaking of..." Like last week, we were talking about the US (I can't remember what exactly we were talking about) and Paul said, "Speaking of America, today was Presidents' Day!" He's starting to sound like a mini-adult! 

Likes:

- He loves being outside! When the weather is nice, his favorite thing to do is use his scooter. We bought him a bike last spring but he has only been on it a few times. I figure eventually he'll be interested in his bike. But for now he is very fast on his scooter and can handle 2+ mile routes. He also was more interested in swimming and water sports/boating last summer! Since we are in the midst of a brutal winter I should also mention that he loves sledding, making snow angels and playing in the snow.

- We introduced him to LEGO this Christmas and he is a BIG FAN! I'm a fan, too, so am glad we have a go-to gift idea for years to come. 

This was the start of a Spiderman character - it took us 3 nights to do this set!

- His favorite show is still Wild Kratts. He shares so many facts with us, like did you know the eyes of a giant squid are the size of a basketball? Or last week he told us he could run on the top of the snow like a snowshoe hare. I can guarantee I did know anything about giant squids or snowshoe hares at age 5!

- He still loves to read. We mostly read picture books but I've started to introduce chapter books, too. He is starting to learn to read. My MIL got him the "Bob books" for Christmas and he can read several of them on his own. 

Firsts:

- I've started to do some one-on-one adventures with him! Last fall, we went to a pumpkin exhibit at the zoo, saw The Grinch, and I took him to a winter light exhibit. In April, we'll take our first one-on-one trip to AZ to visit my sister. He's very very very excited. 

- He'll also have his first friend birthday party but we are going to wait until April or May when it's reliably nicer to have his party. We made an arbitrary rule that friend parties don't start until you turn 5. I love the way families celebrate birthdays at school - it's basically a big park play date. Everyone is invited, the invite says "no gifts" (and people comply!), and you bring birthday treats. It's "easy peasy lemon squeezy" as Paul would say!

Dislikes:  There is not much that he doesn't like. He is a really positive, upbeat kid! I will say he is obsessed with being first... Ideally he wants to be the first one to get dressed, first to brush his teeth, first to get in the car, etc etc... We are trying to explain that you can't always be first and that being the first one dressed really does not matter in the grand scheme of things but he hasn't quite accepted that. 

Eating: is still kind of a challenge... his pediatrician has assured us this will get easier. I hope she is right. He really loves carbs and dairy. His favorite foods are cottage cheese, yogurt, banana pancakes and pizza. And he definitely has a sweet tooth - he loves donuts and cookies!

School: He's in the Pre-K room at school. He has really thrived in this room and has come out of his shell quite a bit. He used to be so shy and reserved but seems much more outgoing and social in this room. He'll transition to the public school summer program in June and then starts kindergarten in the fall at our community school so he has a lot of change ahead of him! He is VERY excited about kindergarten!

His school photos from the fall cracked us up!!

Big brother adjustment: He continues to be a very sweet big brother to Will! He's had to be patient with Will quite a bit and he's handled it pretty well all in all. I love watching their relationship grow!

I can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet, smart little guy! Last year he spent his birthday puking from a stomach bug so hopefully the celebration is MUCH MORE FUN this year!!

Paul at age 4

Time for a more fun post after yesterday’s post about the illnesses plaguing our house! 

Paul is 4! I feel like we've been talking about his birthday for quite some time. He was way more excited for and aware of  his birthday than he has been in the past so that is a fun development. I feel like we are hitting the start of the sweet spot of parenting. Most of the behavior challenges we experienced around 3-3.5 have improved. He still will get upset at times, but nothing like the dysregulation we saw in the fall. I think I will start to plan some mommy/Pablo outings now that he doesn't need to nap and does so well when out and about! 

Growth: He's around 30 pounds and I am not sure how tall - probably around 41" or so? We'll find out at his well-child appointment on Friday. He's definitely petite for his age. I think the rule is that you need to be 40 lbs to move to a booster seat in the car and that feels like it's YEARS away for him! He is mostly wearing 2T bottoms but can still wear 18m shorts. He recently moved into 3T tops and pajamas. 

Words and phrases: He continues to be very chatty. I can tell that he picks up on things we say, especially Phil's common phrases. Often when we ask how his day at school was he will say "it was really busy!" The other night he was kind of hyper and was running around in circles and then stopped and said, "I got a little carried away." At dinner time when Will inevitably throws food on the floor, Paul will tell us, "He's just a baby!" 

He also has a great imagination. He still talks about his cat Jax who lives by a lake but also apparently has a house in California. Paul said he drives his convertible there to visit him and that Jax also drives a tiny car. He also pretends to be different animals, especially in the cat family like a cheetah. Much of his pretend play involves him being the daddy and me being the mama and Will being the baby. So last week, we were the mama and daddy birdies who went to find worms to feed to Will the baby birdie. 

Dressed up as Cat Boy, playing with his Cat Boy toy

Playing in his "space ship." This car seat box got a lot of use!

Likes:

- He loves sledding and being outdoors. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can spend more time outdoors. There are a couple of sledding hills walking distance from our house so we sled when the weather isn't too cold. 

- He loves board games and has gotten really good at puzzles. He is so my child as he will tell Phil, "we do the edge pieces first, right mommy?" He has also gotten very into magnatiles which are the coolest toy!

- His favorite show is Wild Kratts. Of the shows he's watched on PBS, this is my favorite. He has learned so many facts about animals and often shares them with us. We got him a refurbished iPad for Christmas so he gets to play on that during quiet time on the weekends. He uses the PBS video and game aps and ABC Mouse. 

- He still loves to read and mostly reads picture books now. We did read our first chapter book around the holidays (Mr. Poppers Penguins) but he hasn't been interested in reading other chapter books. He understands the concept of the library and will tell me what books to request. He also enjoys the Highlights magazine that we get every month. 

Firsts:

- He got his own seat on an airplane for the first time on our Tucson trip. It increases the price of vacations but it's really nice for him to have his own space. He did excellent on the plane rides since he had his iPad and our flight to Phx had tvs with lots of movie and TV options.

- He moved into a big boy bed last fall. It was a tough transition and he still struggles with bedtime at times, especially on week days when he naps at school. He really doesn't need a nap so isn't as tired on those days which makes bedtime challenging. He helped pick out some new art work for his walls - we went with some dino prints and a painting of the solar system. I moved the art that was hanging above his crib to Will's room. He dropped his nap late last fall so spends quiet time in his room on his iPad.

 

Dislikes:  Being on someone else's schedule. Getting him out the door on weekday mornings can be kind of brutal!  

Eating: is pretty meh. We keep exposing him to things but there is no forcing this kid to eat something he doesn't want to eat. He has been willing to at least try things (but pretty much immediately spits it out) so I guess that is progress? His favorite foods are dino chicken (which have blitzed veggies in them), banana pancakes, cottage cheese, mac and cheese (although he is particular about the shape of the pasta - like he won't eat shells!), pizza, Cheerios, crackers, and cookies. So basically mostly carbs. 

School: He's in the same room at school as he was at 3.5 - the intermediate preschool room. We continue to be impressed by what he learns there. He can pretty much count to 100 (just has trouble with a few numbers like 80 and 90). He doesn't really speak Spanish at home but we know he understands everything. He used to struggle with drop off but now it is very easy and he doesn't cry or complain like he used to. We had his pre-K assessment this winter and he did great. I got to sit nearby while he did the assessment and it was easy to see what he did great at and what was challenging for him. It seems like numbers/math is his strength right now but we'll see if that continues to be the case!

Potty training: He night trained on his own this winter so that was nice as I wasn't sure how to handle that. He's been night trained for several months now and hasn't had any accidents. We thought he would have a hard time with it when traveling and sleeping in a new location but he didn't have any issues!

Big brother adjustment: he's adjust well to being a big brother. He can be a little rough with Will at times but I think that is to be expected. They don't play all that much together and the surest way to get Paul interested in a toy is to give it to Will! They play best during bath time although Will can get a little too wild for Paul sometimes! He is very sweet towards Will most of the time and I can't wait to watch their relationship develop.

In past posts, I talk about changes ahead but I don't anticipate any besides moving up to the Pre-K room at school this summer. The next big change is starting kindergarten but that's over a year away - but will probably be here before we know it!

That's Paul at 4! We feel lucky to have a happy, healthy, smart kiddo.