First Day of Toddler Time

Today was Diego's 1st day of Toddler Time. Toddler Time is a program through Creative Discoveries Preschool for kids ages 18 months to 3 years and is sort of a pre-preschool. The class is once per week and Diego and I go together. I of course had to take the traditional first day of school on the front porch picture, and it turned out pretty cute even though he was trying to get away!
Diego had sort of a rough start with a lot of tears when we got there and a lot of "home" requests, but after a few minutes he calmed down and really enjoyed himself. The first hour was playtime and there were all sorts of fun things for the kids to do. There is a big bin of dried beans for them to play in sort of like a sandbox, a wooden castle, puzzles, play dough, paint and fun puzzles. After playtime, we clean up and have circle time on the carpet. The teacher plays songs and brings out props for the kids to play with such as shakers and pom poms and they all sort of dance around, its really fun. Then its snack time and playtime outside. We had a great time and I look forward to continuing the class with Diego!

Great Wolf Lodge

We went to visit The Great Wolf Lodge with Erica, Bryan and Jagger and had a BLAST! We stayed one night and I wish we would have stayed for two! Diego absolutely loved the water, but spent most of his time in the same place you see here in the picture....the boy is completely obsessed with steering wheels and gets so excited to see them. Eddie and I didn't mind just following him around the platform and watching him enjoy himself. I got him down the little kids slide once but not again!
We were all shocked how much Diego loved all the water splashing around him! Diego and Jag had a great time together too. Jag is always so sweet to Diego, he even really wanted to share his grilled pb&j dinner with him! I loved that my magical wrist band bought us everything we wanted while we were there too, but then we got the bill. We cannot wait to go back and play at Great Wolf Lodge many more times!

19 Months

At 19 months, Diego is learning to feed himself with a spoon and fork! He is doing pretty well too, you can't tell by this picture because he made a huge mess with applesauce, but he enjoys himself and does a great job! He uses the utensil about every other bite, and his hand the other bites. Its pretty funny to watch. If I remind him to use the spoon he does for every bite and is so proud when the bite makes it to his mouth. I love to watch all of his new accomplishments each day. Whether its feeding himself, saying a new word, catching or throwing a ball...its all fun to experience right along with him.

Lately Diego has begun hugging Daddy and I's legs when he see's us. He's a big snuggler, especially at bedtime but I love the random hugs we get throughout the day now. I'm working on giving kisses, but he doesn't seem to interested in that yet. :) He does let me give him kisses anytime I want though!

Race for the Cure

Today was Diego's second ride in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Portland. We had an early start to the day, on the road by 6 am! I had to wake both Diego and Olivia (who was staying with me), and I learned its much easier to wake an 18 month old than an almost 13 year old. Diego woke up super happy and Olivia wasn't as excited. We met Erica, Bryan, Hank, Jagger and Miranda at the Wilsonville Starbucks and with Latte's in hand made our way to Riverfront Park in Portland for the walk. We spent our first hour picking up race numbers, t-shirts and all the freebies....man are there a lot of freebies at this race! We picked up lots of snacks and lots of race paraphernalia. Last year, Diego fell asleep before the race started and slept until we were just about done. This year, he was awake until we were almost done! He did a lot of snacking along the route (thank goodness for all the freebie snacks available). The boy at 2 1/2 bananas! He loves them! This year it was Jagger who slept the whole route and woke at the end! We didn't even break a sweat during the 5k because there are so many participants in the walk, you can't really walk fast, especially with a stroller. After the race we stopped at Red Robin for lunch and then headed home. Another fun walk, looking forward to next year!

Little Clippers

After 4 tear filled haircuts, I decided to take Diego to the children's haircut specialists at Little Clippers in Lake Oswego. My friend Misty recommended them to me a while back and I just couldn't see driving 40 minutes to get my child a hair cut, but the first 4 cuts just didn't go as happily as I'd hoped, so I finally decided to give it a shot! This place is a playland! They have big toys, slides, video games, movies and all the haircut seats are vehicles (motorcycles, cars, jeeps, etc). Its a playland. We walk in and Diego is in heaven! We chose the red mustang for his seat, which I knew he would love because he loves "wheews" (steering wheels). Here is how happy he was when he got in the car.He's too smart for his 'ol Mom. He knew exactly what was going on. He was unhappy, there were lots of tears and even a few snot bubbles, but he did calm down a few times to turn the wheel and watch the video he chose (Thomas the Train). So, I think we'll continue with Little Clippers until he gets used to the haircuts. I wasn't super impressed with the stylist we had, so we may choose a different one next time, but all in all I was impressed. He got a fabulous haircut and even made it through a few snips with the electric clippers!

Here is the finished cut, isn't it cute? I loved this place and loved that after the haircut was done, he did get to play for a while with the toys and he LOVED that. Hopefully one day soon my sweet boy won't be scared to get his haircut.

Poop in the tub.

After almost 19 months, Diego pooped in the tub tonight. I don't think I need to see anything else about it except that it was gross and then I had to clean the bathtub and I didn't want to. I hope it never happens again.

18 Month Stats

Today Diego had his 18 month well child checkup, and I'll be honest, it wasn't fun. Since the 9 month check up he has had a hard time at the Doctor's office. He cries as soon as he see's the nurse, who is a sweet sweet young woman, but he remembers that she gives the shots. He cries while he is weighed. He cries while the Doctor examines him. He did calm down for a few minutes this time while the doctor chatted with me, but all in all my poor little guy was upset and scared the majority of the time. And when he's upset, he's upset and usually its hard to calm him down unless we go home. :)

At 18 months old, Diego is 36" (3 feet) Tall, which is the 99% for boys his age, which means he is taller than most other boys his age! He weighs 27 lbs and 8.5 oz, which is the 70%. His head measures at 50 1/4 cm, which is the 96% and as the doctor so tactfully put it "he's got a nice big head"!

"Yee Ah"

Eddie was gone to Bend for two weeks for some training for work and my niece Olivia came to stay with Diego and I during the second week. We had so much fun with her! Diego calls her "Yee Ah" and loves having her around. We played around the house, took Via school clothes shopping, went to the fair and made pumpkin bread. Diego had such a fun playmate while Via was here. They liked being silly together. I loved having her around too, it was kind of like having a built in babysitter. She was really super helpful and I had a great time spending time with her. We had to take her home on Thursday and Diego and I were both sad to see her go. Diego still asks for her and calls her name everynight at bedtime looking for her so he can say goodnight. Come back and see us soon "Yee Ah" we love you!

Kah-Nee-Ta

A few weeks ago Diego and I headed to Kah-Nee-Ta to spend the night with my sister Erica and her family in their HUGE trailer! Eddie bought us a GPS a while back and I've had nothing but success using it, so when we decided to go to Kah-Nee-Ta I just figured I could type in the address and it would take me there safely. Now, yes, I've heard lots of horror stories on GPS devices sending people on gravel roads/back roads, etc but I was just certain Eddie and I had put the settings correctly and we would be fine. A few hours before we left my nephew Hank called and wanted to ride with us, and I'm SO glad he did! I picked him up in Silverton and we headed off. I trusted the GPS at every turn, but then it told us to turn off of Highway 26 and the road turned to gravel. I began to sweat just a little. I'm thinking to myself, ok, we'll get there eventually. There were lots of other cars on the gravel road, so I figured we had to be going the right way. Then, Hank (my nephew) started to make jokes and I started to freak out a lot more. We ended up on the gravel road for 11 miles and it took us at least 45 minutes. I was sure glad Hank was there with us and I had someone to talk to besides Diego (who was asleep in the back). We got off the gravel road and back on to a main highway and I breathed a sigh of relief, a BIG one! It wanted me to turn onto another one, but I kept on the highway and it recalculated itself and we stayed on main roads the rest of the way. Lesson learned: Never drive on a National Forestry Road (NF-anything is bad), and make sure your GPS is set to avoid all unpaved roads. The trip home was much smoother. :)

We had a great time at Kah-Nee-Ta just relaxing, swimming, playing outside, watching movies, etc. I didn't take many pictures and I guess it was because I was chasing Diego around the whole time. My sister got some cute pictures and posted them on her blog. Diego is a champion traveler. He LOVES the car. He never makes a peep unless we stop, then he wants to "gdout". He had a bit of a hard time in the trailer cause its such a small space, but did great. We had our own little room to sleep in in the back of the trailer and it worked out great since he wakes up early. He was pretty quiet and we played for about 45 minutes before everyone else got up. I want to get a trailer someday, its just like a home away from home. We ate all our meals in there and everything! After Diego went to bed, Erica, Hank, Jagger and I all played Old Maid. Jag "won" both times. :) Then Erica, Bryan, Hank and I all crammed on to the masterbedroom bed and watched "I love you, Man." Which was hilarious. I really wish I would've got a picture of the 4 of us laying there watching the movie on the 8" tv screen. LOL! Fun times!

This picture is of Diego in the floatation swim suit Jagger gave us (it was his when he was Diego's size). It was pretty funny to see him in it, and he didn't seem to mind at all until he wanted to sit down or bend over. He's such a good sport.

Trip to Bend

Diego and I met Eddie in Bend over the last weekend in August while he was there for some training. We had a really fun and relaxing time. We visited several parks in the area, had some great food, and took naps together every day!

This first family self-portrait is a true capture of how much Diego wanted to go home on the last day. Our little guy is so much like both Eddie and I, a homebody. We had a wonderful and relaxing time, but he was really ready to go home. No matter where we are (even at home), if Diego is ready to go he says "home" "mail". He loves to be home and loves to go get the mail. Better family self-portrait.

Diego really enjoying the swings or "fing" like he calls it.

Finally, a new picture of Diego and I.