Mother’s Day Weekend 2009
May 10: Tizi’s second Mother’s day. It was a great one…at this point mainly thanks to Matt, but still.The extended weekend started out with Keegan waking up at 6.30(!!) without crying (!!!!!!!!) on Friday. Which meant we had 9 hours of sleep. It felt nice!
It also happened to be Teacher Appreciation Week, so they had a nice lunch prepared for us at work after class. Later in the afternoon, there was a Mother Day Tea event at Keegan’s daycare. Since it was at 3.30, Tizi got an extra hour for herself, which is a gift in itself.
The tea was a cute event, but maybe geared more towards older kids: they had tables set up outside, where mom and their children could have muffins, cookies, teas and juice and the kids could run around, and play with bubbles. However, Keegan did not really want to have anything to do with it: maybe there were too many older kids for him, and he is definitely not the kind of kid that likes to sit down. So, we ended up visiting next door with his old teacher and in his old room (and toys) with one of his buddies that only recently moved into his bigger kids room. It was a lot quieter, and Keegan loved playing with his old pal Eric (who should be moving to his room in June) and running around. Tizi enjoyed quiet conversation with the other mom and the teacher.
Keegan “made” a nice big card, with foamy stickers and his hand-prints. Very cute. The challenge was keeping him from pulling all the stickers off and eating them. Anf of course, trying to get him to pose and smile for the camera…not quite as easy as last year.
On Saturday, Tizi met with two other mom friends, Jennifer and Lina, and their little girls, Hannah and Mila. It was really fun to see them, especially because it has been a little while. The kids played on the playground, not exactly together, but still, and the moms chatted and got all caught up.
And check out what a difference a few months make! These two pictures collaged by Lina (thank you) are taken about six months apart. They all grew so much.
Yummy pasta lunch! |
One thing we have noticed latley, is that Keegan enjoys feeding other people. We could see it as he likes to share, but we are not that deluded. He is not that generous. In fact he has started defining what it is his by using the word “ma”. However, he gives away his food when he does not want it himself. So, he insisted in giving Hannah his apple: maybe he was trying to impress her. And he was quite insistent.
HEY, look at me cutie! Do you want some apple?
Here you go!
Sunday was a really good day. Keegan woke up around 6, again with no crying. After the standard cuddles and reading in bed, Matt took him outside, so Tizi could get a couple more hours of sleep. Once she woke up, she of course called her mom (and dad) and we had a good Skype conversation. It was the first time we video called since they left and Keegan was excited and confused at the same time. He has been talking with grandma on the phone in the past couple of months…seriously: she sings to him or talks and he responds to her, either by repeating some animal sounds, or sending kisses or even mimicking some song. It is very cute to see. Skype, however, was different. He recognized them, and waved at them and smiled, but he still could not understand why he could not touch them.
Matt started cooking and Keegan went in the driveway and grabbed mommie’s newspaper and brought it to her.
Isn’t this pampering or what? Yes, he now recognizes our “stuff”, and he identifies it by saying mamma or baba. He has also become quite the helper. He now imitates a lot of what we do: this is the only way we get some minimal teeth brushing, for example. In the morning, after his milk, when Tizi and Matt are getting ready, we all brush our teeth together.
Matt prepared his excellent breakfast, so we all ate together. Keegan was falling asleep in his chair, so we thought we had a shoo-in. Alas, no way. As soon as we got in the room, he started crying and screaming, and nothing soothed him, except us holding him and rocking him. So back to the car we went. We should have known better, and go straight to the car.
We drove to pick up an inflatable house with lots of balls (another Craigslist find), and then drove to sunset Cliff to park: at least we had a nice view. We brought a game to entertain us.
He woke up pretty soon, so off the zoo we went. This time we brought the backpack instead of the stroller, and I have to say he enjoyed more than usual. He was in there for more than an hour, without fussing. It was fun to see the animals from up there for once.
Back home Tizi and Keegan had some yummy strawberry cheesecake ice cream, with graham cracker. What do you think, did Keegan like ice cream? This is a toughie! He was a little surprised at first by the cold stuff, but then he could not have enough. So he got his own bowl. We don’t usually give him sweets, but it was Mother’s Day and Tizi really wanted to eat some ice cream in peace…which is not possible with Keegan around, as he begs for food (wahoo, he is fetching the paper, begging for food, whining for attention…do you see a pattern here? Hey, is Mother’s Day, so I can be mean if I want to. Come on, now, we do LOVE our little puppy…I mean little boy).
Then is was Ball Time! We poured some balls in the baby pool and let him go wild. He had a blast, and didn’t even throw them all out right a way.
And when he was done, he helped us putting them away, and he brought them inside. I am telling you, he is really helping. We even get him to help us bring his toys inside at bedtime!
Lately we have also noticed that Keegan is trying to communicate and talk a lot more. We started introducing more signs, but he also tries to repeat words. He even tried to say “coccodrillo”(with limited success, but hey, it is a tough one). He says “bro” for book (libro), “ma” for mine (we think), and he says his second full word: “cackers”(for crackers). It is funny that when he is learning a word he repeats as a question, as if it was not sure it is the right word. He has also started saying “Baaa” and waving for BYE or ciao…It looks like , while he is understanding Italian slightly better, his words are mainly in English. We think because it is a little easier, but we are still hopeful he will speak both fluently.
One more big event on Mother’s day: we trimmed his hair for the first time. It was somewhat emotional…he has been bold for so long, that it feels weird to thing he now needs a haircut. Tizi was not too excited about this, but it needed to be done: they were down in his eyes. He did not like this much, but it was quick. It is amazing how a small trim make him look so different. Even the teacher at daycare noticed and mentioned he looks so much older. I don’t know about older, but definitely different…we will post an after picture soon, so you can see the difference.
After Keegan went to bed, Matt had one more surprise up his sleeve. He cooked an exceptional filet dinner, and we had a beautiful romantic time, with the sweet smelling lilies and tulips he bought for me, and a good glass of wine. We played the Baby Smarts game, and we realized, that even after 17 months, there is still lots we don’t know about babies. (-:
I am really blessed to have such a wonderful hubby and son. They made my Mother’s Day a wonderful one. Thank you to my two favorite guys!
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