Gratefulness begins where Entitlement ends

This title of this post was a quote that the pastor gave last Sunday at the church service Teddy and I attended.  The quote was in the context of a sermon about giving, why you should give (because you are blessed beyond measure), how you should feel about giving (obviously, it will make you feel good), etc.  Instantly, I went to thinking about Teddy and wanting to teach him about the gift of giving and how good that can make you feel.  Now, I realize that teaching a 15 month old how to share is difficult enough at this point and I may need to lower my expectations some, but it is a good point (I mean I am happy when he shares without hitting someone, so baby steps here.).  We (the Adams-Azer family) have many blessings and many things to be grateful for and acknowledging those gifts is a powerful potion for my soul (I someday dream about winning the lottery and giving most of it away; I really think that would be fun in a Mr. Deeds sort of way.). 

Here is a partial list of the things I am grateful for that I am not entitled to (because as the quote says, you are only grateful for things you don't feel entitled to, ergo, to feel grateful you must stop feeling entitled):

1.  Teddy Azer--the ultimate gift in our lives, he has taught us many things and continues to make every day brighter and better.  Most of all, he does make me want to be a better person, not just a better mother, but a better person and help make the world a little better while I am at it as well.

2.  Adrian Azer--the ultimate other gift in my life who also teaches me things (and puts me in my place, even if I would prefer to just stay on my highhorse a little longer).

3.  Family--wow, sometimes you just cannot underestimate what family can be for you.  Pick you up when you are down, unconditionally love you, support you and help you.  I can say without fear of contradiction that I would not be where I am today without my family.  

4.  Friends--as an only child, friends have always been very important in my life and have had to be in many ways my family.  I would not be the person I am without the love and support of my friends.
5.  Job--I am grateful to have a job.  I complain about it a lot but it does keep me centered and allows me to afford things for Teddy and others that I would not otherwise be able to.

6.  This blog--I am grateful to have a place to share my family, my thoughts and forever immortalize embarrassing moments with you all.  I get a boost with every post and love hearing from people that they like a post or a picture. 

7.  French fries--I love french fries (if they are on a menu, I almost always order them, as in almost everywhere I eat) and, many days, they are the only things that Teddy will eat, which gives them an added boost in my book. 

8.  Holidays--I love that we all have traditions to share, music to sing and gifts to give. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

9.  Photos--I am a picture taking freak and I love that I have them.  When we lost everything in the fire, I cried the most about losing my photos.  (I am a sentimental soul.)  Another nod to Sandy Roberson, a friend who is like family, for giving me this passion.

10. You--because if you are reading then blog, then you must care about us in some way.  Caring about others is really special, so if I know you, then here is a big ol' hug and if I don't, I hope to one day meet you and learn more about you.

Watching your child grow is a really special thing.  I know many who have lost someone and it is heartbreaking to hear them talk about what they miss.  I am grateful for every minute on this Earth that I can watch Teddy grow, play with his friends and mine, and create this life we are living.  I am just...grateful for everything right now. 

A big shout out to Teddy's PopPop for making him this amazing wooden toy chest.  Dr. Azer, is an orthopedic surgeon but has taken a shine to woodworking and made this by hand as a special heirloom for Teddy's 1st birthday.  We love it!

New Haircut, New School and Eating French Fries

So Teddy Roo went and got his first big boy haircut last weekend!  He did not cry, but boy did he squirm.  I almost cried because, well, my baby has been replaced by a little boy now.   The older gentleman who cut his hair asked if I could keep him still and I said, umm, No. So we did the best we could to get it cut.  

We also joined Gymboree to help Teddy burn off some pent up energy....he LOVES it.  He just ran around, climbed every obstacle, poked the bubbles, ran under the parachute, and even played with Gymbo the Clown (who is a little scary looking but whatever).

We also got some crazy news this week....Teddy will be starting a new pre-school in December.  No longer will he be just 6 floors down from my office but now he will be in a full fledged pre-school in our neighborhood.  I am excited for him to begin his learning journey but really sad to not be able to just run downstairs.  I am not sure who will have the bigger transition in this, me or Teddy.  Having him downstairs made work bearable to come back to and it was definitely my security blanket to know he was just right there.  I guess I will have to accept that he is growing up and getting bigger.  His teacher Miss Helena was very upset too but I told her that Teddy will be back in the Center on days when the school is closed and she can see him.  We love the Teddy Roo.

Teddy is also saying a lot of new words:  Thank you ("tankoo"), ball ("baaaal"), and everyone he sees is either Mama or Dada.  We are working on car and bus.  He sometimes will say "Choo Choo" but less often that just pointing.

Which brings me to food--Teddy is still a picky eater.  I have resorted to just feeding him whatever he will eat, which sometimes means French Fries for breakfast.  I know, I know but what can I say, I want him to eat something.  (Not sure where this comes from as you know me, I am an EATER, always have been, always will be.  Never saw a plate of food I did not like.  If I had not been pregnant in the summer of '09 I would seriously question if he was my child.)

Teddy the Tiger

Well October has certainly been lively in our house.  We went down to visit good ole' UVA and Teddy loved the Lawn!  But then he gave us quite the scare and were ended up in the ER with him severely dehydrated among other things (somehow Mommy also is the only one who gets the stomach virus from Teddy yet again...).  Once we got through those little issues, it was already almost time for (dun dun duh) HALLOWEEN or as we have renamed it Teddy-Ween.

This year Halloween came with the long awaited visit from GrandNan and Papaw and, the surprise guest star, NANNY!  who made a flight up to see us here in DC!  We were all very excited!


Teddy started the Halloween weekend off right by charming the mommy's in daycare with his outfit.  (Seriously, he has the women fooled.  He flirts with them and one mommy even told me he gives her a hug everyday...he also apparently tried to pat her leg one day...no clue.)  He gave his girlfriends lots of kisses and waved in the parade (around the DC city block) to everyone and thought they were all there for him.  (Such a show-off.)  He even began clapping for himself and throwing kisses...hilarious.

 We dressed up as a tiger this year and Teddy showed everyone why...he is rambunctious and will jump on you almost immediately.  He also likes to swat at everyone with his paws and bite you, so a tiger seems fitting.  (When I asked his daycare teacher if he should be Pooh or Tigger, she said, without hesitation, "he is not meek like Pooh, he is Tigger, jumping and bouncing everywhere".  Um, yeah, that about sums that up.)

  

 
Teddy gives meaning to the phrase "bull in a china shop."  He will destroy it or you (ask Adrian, who got a Harry Potter-esque scratch on the forehead from Teddy just in time for court hearings and meetings...yay!).

He had a Halloween play date with Jack, his due date twin, and they had fun, except Teddy was mean (of course) had to be spanked multiple times (yes, we spank, no choice) and made Jack cry a couple of times (well, I don't know what to say).  They were successful at giving each other a high-five!

 And I think Teddy's shirt speaks volumes about where we are developmentally.....

I swear he is a sweet boy...just not all the time...and, well, as they say, he is all boy.

Little Cassanova



Little Cassanova



I have not posted in some time because, hmm, well, how do you write a post about your son and his already pronounced "chasing" (literally) of women.  The past few weeks have been filled with many tales of me picking Teddy up and asking (demurely) "What did he do today?" only to be answered with "He stole the Boppy's from the babies, tackled a little girl to kiss her and rubbed another mother's leg when she came to pick up her son."  That has been our past 2-3 weeks in a nutshell. Seriously.  Stop laughing, it's not funny.  (Okay, it might be a little funny but it is really embarrassing.) 

The stories about the babies goes like this:  in the past month Teddy went from being the youngest to one of the oldest as many of the older toddlers transitioned out.  Now there are 5 babies and 3 toddlers in his room.  Given that he wants to always be the center of attention, when the teachers started holding the babies, playing with them, etc, Teddy decided he had enough and stole their Boppy's when the teachers were not looking.  He also taught the other 2 toddlers this fun trick so they were all stealing the Boppy's.  Yes, Teddy got time out--a lot.  We had many talks about sharing, being gentle, etc.  Apparently, now he is better with them and not stealing Boppy's but that was a stressful week.

Then he decided that he wanted to give another little girl lots of kisses.  So he tackled her and just sat on top of her as he planted lots of slobbery kisses (and I wonder how he is always sick...).  I have taught him to blow kisses but he apparently prefers the real thing with the little girls.  This all in all makes me scared.

So imagine my surprise when I went in to pick him up one Friday and they told me about him hitting on another Mommy!  She has a baby in the room, so she bent down to pick up the baby and Teddy came over to stroke her leg.  This was very disturbing.  They said the other mother laughed and Teddy just giggled at her.  Such a flirt.  This makes me doubly scared.



The "owl-neck" move



Then another day, we ran into two of my female co-workers.  Teddy blew them kisses and did all of his tricks.  They were showering him with praise.  But then a pretty lady walked behind them and Teddy moved my head so he could see her.  He began shouting at her to notice him and he literally did the owl-neck move to watch her walk by.  Already a ladies man. 



Flirtling with the ladies



Then we went to the sushi restaurant in our neighborhood.  Teddy LOVED the waitresses and they just spoiled him.  He stopped eating when they walked by and then decided he wanted to play with them instead of eat.  And let me tell you, he ate up all the attention. 

In development news, Teddy is babbling constantly.  Sort of saying words (well, I count the "sha" as "shoe" when he says it as we point at the shoe) and pointing at things all the time.  He will be a talker, which will not surprise anyone that knows either of his parents.  He is also wild.  Just running everywhere and asking to be noticed.  He gets very upset if you do not notice him.  (Right Cara?) 

 Every morning on our way to daycare we have a routine.  He gets off the elevator and must walk over to the female security guard and have her say hello to him.  If she is not there, he gets very flustered. Then he has to walk over to the building manager's window and make her say hello to him.  There is not a shy bone in his body.  He literally runs away from me now at daycare and just charges in and does not even blow me a kiss bye-bye anymore. 

Teddy also wants to do everything that Daddy does.  Everything.  If Daddy says a word, then he wants to say it.  If Daddy plays with a toy, then Teddy wants to play with that toy.  They are peas in a pod.  Literally, twins in every way.  Same facial expressions, mannerisms and everything. 

That Mom

I am working very hard on not being "that Mom" on the playground/in the office/at the activity.  We all know the stereotype: talks incessantly about all her child's accomplishments while degrading your child's (e.g. "Bugaboo is walking now." "Superhumanchild has been doing that forever, he is really almost running."  As if next week she is signing him up for the Olympic trials.) , lectures you about what you feed your child (e.g. "Are you feeding your child processed food?" Asked while you feed your kid applesauce that has high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.), lectures you about your parenting style (e.g. "Spanking is not good for children-it's barbaric." Said while you are spanking your kid for throwing a tantrum after they pulled some little girls hair and she cried.) and in general makes you feel like you are behind in every way (e.g. "Have you got Bugaboo on the list yet for [insert name of incredibly expensive and snobby pre-school that feeds into the incredibly expensive and snobby private school]?  I put Superhumanchild on a year ago.  Did I mention that I got a promotion and the volunteer of the year award last week?"  Said to you when you have not slept in days, you have no makeup on and the shirt you are wearing has dried up food and spit up stains, while you check your blackberry and see an email from work needing something else after you left and forgot the papers at work.). A friend of mine sent me a really funny link to an animation about this Mommy-centered competition that we do.  (Maybe Dad's do it too, but Adrian likes to retort that Teddy is so advanced that he still needs a diaper and that his puppy was easier to potty train than Teddy.)   I am really trying not to be that Mom. 

Now don't get me wrong, I am incredibly proud of my darling son and, if you read this blog regularly, you probably know that already.  I love that he rolled over quickly (even if it was because he was born superhumanly large and was already in 3rd grade at 2 weeks old), crawled early and walked early.  I am very proud of all of these things, but they have absolutely nothing to do with me or with Adrian.  In fact, I am 100% sure they are attributable to being in daycare and watching his friends do them all day long and wanting to be like them.  I wish I could take credit for them but the simple truth is that much of his advancement has little to do with me and is all about his personality.  My amazing Godmother Ernestine wrote me about my last post and said that maybe they treated us like little adults but that we have to let kids be kids.  And frankly, kids are messy, develop at totally different paces, learn to walk, talk and eat regardless of what we do, and will misbehave no matter style of discipline we adopt.  So I am going to take this good advice and try to be less caught up in the pace of Teddy's development (but really, I long for the day that he will just tell me what is wrong instead of throwing a tantrum and will just do what I tell him to do instead of what he wants to do, is that really asking too much of a 1 year old?). 

I tell a single girl I work with here in the office that I have 2 pieces of advice about your single years:
1.  Spend all the money you want to on all the clothes, purses and shoes while you can.  In fact, stock up because when you marry someone like Adrian, that will quickly be put to a screeching halt. 
2.  Travel all you want and veg in front of the TV all you want.  Free time becomes a thing of the past.  All my "free time" now is devoted to Teddy and I LOVE LOVE LOVE every single minute.  (In fact, I actually cannot remember what I used to do at night and on the weekends before Teddy.  Apparently, I used to do things but I have no idea what they were and how I filled up that much time...oh wait, I watched a lot of TV, cooked meals, had dinner with friends, saw movies, got manicures and pedicures regularly, went to the gym and went on weekend getaways.  Yeah, I would not trade it all, not even for a minute.  I even find that the nursery rhymes get stick in my head and I sign them instead of whatever is on the radio...Allee Galoo Galoo.)

So if I have an episode of being "that Mom" please excuse me, I am a work in progress. But if you hear me tell you that I just heard a seal crying, then slap me, I have gone over the edge and way too far.

Teddy is causing trouble....Again

Well folks, after a long hiatus, the terrorizer of the Koalas Room is back.  We thought we had taught Teddy to be gentle and play with the others kids, but of course, we were wrong.  I came to pick him up on Thursday only to find out he had pushed all the other kids down, pinned one little girl down and pulled her hair and insisted on eating lunch with the teachers and not the other kids.  What are we going to do with this kid?  Apparently, he intends to prove that even if he is the youngest and smallest, he is going to try and be the alpha in the room.  Yikes!  (Yes, this sweet little face he gives you after he misbehaves does make it hard to punish him.)

Back story is that he is still the youngest toddler in the room but likes to "fit in" with the bigger kids.  I think when they don't do what he wants, he gets upset and does not really know how to express it except by being a bully to older and bigger kids??? <<>>  Then when his favorite teacher went to lunch, he apparently threw a tantrum (yes, he is learning from the older kids to throw a tantrum at 1 instead of 2, thanks) and insisted to go with her.  Then he ate her food, another teacher's food and got mad when they got in his view of the TV in the teacher's lounge.  (He does not watch TV with us, it may be on but he does not watch it.  Not sure what was on, maybe soap operas!)  I have no idea where he gets this from.....okay, maybe we do but I expected this later not at 1.  His personality is certainly developing early!  Needless to say, he was in TIME OUT again that day.  

In other news, the pediatrician diagnosed Teddy's Exorcist ways as severe reflux, so we have him on Prevacid, and so far, (crossing fingers and knocking on wood) it seems to be a big help.  He is eating and sleeping better (Praise Jesus!) and we are not having as many Exorcist re-enactions and spit up episodes. This is all after a rough two weeks of a cold that led to an ear infection while we were in Chicago (yes, we made him fly with an ear infection but in our defense, we had no idea it was an ear infection...).   Being the little trooper he is, he smiled through almost all of it (biggest exception to this was when we tried to give him the antibiotic, he would scream and spit it out all over us causing a huge dry cleaning bill).

Teddy is showing an early interest in golf, or at least, eating golf balls!

Teddy's First Birthday

Where, oh where, to begin.  You see, we have an incredibly spoiled child (what you thought that an only child of an only child could somehow not be spoiled...ummm, No).  Not only did the Tedster have a birthday party in daycare with his friends there, complete with cupcake mashing goodness, he had another family birthday party on Sunday.  It was a weekend of Teddy (I personally celebrate a week to month of my birthday, so Teddy has a ways to go).  My parents flew in to spend the weekend with us and praise Jesus they were here.  Poor Teddy came down with pinkeye on Thursday so he had to stay home on Friday (his actual birthday) with my parents as babysitters...dun dun dun.  They survived, barely!  He is a handful and into everything and lightening fast.  I think he had them on their toes!

But let me begin with the daycare party.  His beloved teacher, Miss Helena, made his grandparents a collage of all his fun at daycare.  It was a huge hit.  We brought down the cupcakes for him to share with his other buddies and they all had a lot of fun.  (Cupcakes are big business these days but these were good old gourmet Safeway specials.  The good stuff is to come.)  I took many photos and Teddy had a lot of fun.  He LOVES having people sing and clap for him (I think he just likes being the center of attention, but I mean he does have shy parents...okay, even I could not keep a straight face on that one.  A guy in the elevator the other day said it was a real shame I had such a shy son after Teddy spent the ride giving him high-fives and bahbahbahing to him.).

That night GrandNan and Papaw arrived and it was fun fun fun for Teddy.  He must have had the baby equivalent of a carnival with them.  It was presents galore and lots of attention.  We went to the park to play then we just let him run wild at the house (sugar rush I suppose).

In the middle of all this madness, Mommy ended up having to work some major hours and miss a lot of the fun.  Adrian, Teddy, GrandNan and Papaw went out to eat then took Teddy to the driving range (clearly I was missing from this escapade, I mean, I would NEVER choose to golf on a birthday).  It looks like they had a lot of fun.  Then on Saturday it was riding his new Choo Choo Train from Murad, Benedicte and Alexander, playing in the pool, going to the park to swing, getting all the love and attention that GrandNan and Papaw can muster, and playing with all his new toys.  We let him try some new foods, but like father like son, his favorite is fruit over chocolate (sometimes I question whether this is my actually my child, then I see the stretch marks and remember).  Probably the funniest story from Saturday was Mommy going to get the balloons for his party.  At his friend Jack's party the week before, Teddy stole Jack's balloons (literally, he tried to run away with them at the park, it was hilarious).  So I made sure to order some balloons for his party.  Problem that I did not consider was how to transport all these balloons in my car.  You see, Adrian took our SUV to Baltimore to his friends wedding (yay Jason and Michelle, mazeltov!) and left me with our little sporty coupe.  Umm, 40 balloons do NOT fit into a sporty coupe.  I seriously looked like a clown car, as I had them coming from every place possible and I had to drive like a granny home, plus had them hanging out of the trunk.  People were laughing and pointing at red lights...and I would have too, it was a sight.

Sunday was the big day of his Ferrari themed party.  Teddy was decked out in Ferrari gear thanks to his Auntie Viv and we were off to the races.  It was a super hot day, so we made sure to have everything outside of course.  (I figured if I had to endure having a 10 lb baby in August everyone can endure his birthday outdoors in August.)  We had a full speedway theme going on at the Azer estate on Mount Vernon Circle.  Teddy loved every minute of it, especially the singing, clapping and cake.  People showered him with love and spoiled him with many gifts!  We appreciate everyone sending us gifts, as Teddy has already tried them all out, and surprisingly the wrapping paper was not his favorite toy from the party (the cardboard however could be a close second).  It would not be an Azer family party without a story.  Needless to say, I made home with about 36 of the balloons I purchased and I made sure to keep them separated to get them to the party.  Guess who decided that they could just grab them all in one hand and try to shove them into our SUV???  Not naming names here <<cough cough Adrian cough cough>> but it was an unmitigated disaster.  They become almost hopelessly tangled and we could not get the doors shut to get to the party and try to untangle them there.  So, we spent about 30 minutes in our driveway untangling balloons while the neighbors laughed.  Now you know who to call when you need me to untangle your fishing lines, apparently I am an expert according to my Father (thank you hours and hours of prom decorating at JMS and LHS in the 90's!).

Thank you to everyone for helping us celebrate the Teddy Roo's first birthday!  Here are some photos of the event in a slide show.

Oh, yeah one more thing.  Someone though that Teddy needed a haircut.  I personally thought it could wait.  So someone just took our kitchen utility scissors and whacked at Teddy's hair cutting a gap.  I tried to fix it but I think we need a professional, when it grows out some.  Here is the evidence of the first cut before I tried to fix it....the guilty shall remain nameless <<Adrian>>.