Spring is in the Air

The first 2011 Cherry Blossoms

I would be lying if I did not say that Spring is one of my favorite times of the year, especially here in DC (actually, Charlottesville probably beats out DC in my mind (and memory) but the Cherry Blossoms definitely gives DC a boost).  Besides it being my birthday season (and I LOVE my birthday, your birthday, any birthday, because let's face it, I ain't a girl who turns down cake), it's a season of color, blooming flowers, fresh smells, warm weather--I mean it has it all in my book.  As I have written about before, Teddy loves being outdoors, and I am not exaggerating.  He will put his coat on (and his snow hat oddly enough) and beg you to take him outside, going as far as grabbing the keys and trying to unlock the door for us to get outside.  (I am not kidding--he apparently does it all day at school as well and they go out 2x a day, so he is just dying to get outside and look for puppies.  Seriously, he is obsessed with puppies and, no, we are not getting one any time soon.  He knows which neighbors have dogs and will go looking for them and their puppies.  Our neighbor Pam and has this beautiful Brittany Spaniel that he will walk over and knock on her door to beg her to bring that puppy out.  I swear, people are just so nice to him and it's spoiling him!)

Teddy taking his big boy steps at the Jefferson Memorial

We are also blessed to live in a city and area that believes in playgrounds and there are a ton of them all around.  We tend to frequent those close to us and Teddy LOVES the swings.  He cried today because we had to leave and he had to stop swinging.  (We would buy one for our house but no good trees; GrandNan already thought of that one.)  He is also into climbing.  Now I am not sure I can blame Gymboree for this, given that I signed him up for it and I encourage the behavior there, but he is trying to climb EVERYWHERE.  I came to pre-school to pick him up the other day and heard the Miss Shirley telling him to go to time-out (which, even funnier now, is that I can ask him if he needs and time out and he will respond "yes" because he knows he has been bad).  When I asked her what he did, she told me he tried to climb up the radiator to get on the window ledge.  I mean really?  Is this what I have created with Gymboree?  I had no idea that signing him up for Gymboree would lead to his future as a the Time-Out King, but I think everyone has a talent.....(if you turn your head for a moment, he is climbing and now trying to jump--he jumped off of our bed the other day, thankfully onto a pillow on the floor, but he has No Fear and a twinkle in his eye when he does it....SCARY).  I would be remiss if I did not report his biggest milestone, which is taking "big boy" steps all by himself.

Teddy and his cousin Faith

Those of you who have spent any amount of time with Teddy know that we will warn you about his Exorcist qualities.  He is known to just puke out of no-where and then go on about his business.  Well, Mommy finally reached her breaking point with The Exorcist (especially when he was losing weight and not eating, I mean, you all know me, I am not a girl who orders a salad on a date, so having a child that does not eat just baffles me, especially when he weighed 10lbs at birth) and I took matters into my own hands.  Yes folks, I called a specialist without a referral (I know, so bold and brazen).  I just decided to follow my mother's intuition and call a Peds Gastroenterologist after talking with an adult Gastroenterologist who is a friend (actually it was his wife, but I also count her as a GI specialist).  Anyway, long story short is that Teddy does have a more serious issue (not too serious, but not a "he will eventually grow out of it just wait it out" type of thing).  It turns out The Exorcist may be allergic to DAIRY, which again, also baffles me.  This is a kid who LOVES Cheese (brie, in fact) and loves his milk, so having to switch him to the amino acid $50 a can formula was painful, but so far, we are seeing a huge difference (as in actually eating a lot of food, multiple times a day).  Still some Exorcist episodes but those appear to be reflux associated, which we also need to get under control.  Bottom line is that my boy had gained some weight at his 18 month checkup, which was great news.  (24lbs (and change), 31" to be exact).  Now get this, his head is huge at 19", which apparently puts him in a very high percentile for head circumference.  Too funny that we have a little pumpkin head!

Not to be outdone by the ladies, Teddy is also talking up a storm.  Words like "butter" and "mustard" randomly come out but we love it.  He sings a lot too which is also funny.  And you better clap for him when he sings and dances because my boy thinks that this world revolves around his actions (no jokes here please).

Teddy and "The Tourist"

Aunt Linda also visited us and Teddy had a great time visiting with her, pulling her all around the restaurant to ask every other diner if he could sit with them.  (Today at the Jefferson Memorial he randomly walked up to a tourist and asked for him to pick him up.  (Dude was speaking another language before switching to broken English which is why I am calling him a tourist.)  The gentleman obliged and loved it.  So funny to have such a social little man and not totally unsurprising.  Then this other woman wanted him to blow her a kiss and he was not into her.  He just waved and said "bye bye".)  We were at Alexander Mahmood's first birthday party and Teddy was the oldest little man there, loving every second of his younger sycophants.  He is obsessed with baby's and wanted to hug Baby Lyla constantly, which both scared her mother and me.  He then gave little Miss Sophia her first kiss, which gave her Father his first heart attack.

The joys of parenthood are just an embarrassment of riches.  I revel in it everyday and love the whole process.  Adrian and I are truly blessed.