Negative Feedback

We had a first at school today - we got a little bit of bad news about the boy's behavior!

Marcos and I went to pick Dominic up together.  Ms. Beth was doing circle time with the class when we got there.  Dominic ran to get his water cup when he saw us, and then came to me to be picked up (because it's not enough that I'm carrying 25 pounds of extra weight already).  Ms. Beth  stopped what she was doing and said something along the lines of, "I really hate to have to repeat something negative from today, and we really love having Dominic in our class, but...."  She went on to tell us that he scratched someone kind of badly, but she saw him observe another kid doing it earlier in the day so she knew he was repeating what he saw.  And he also grabbed some kids' shirts (it sounded like this happened more than once!) pretty forcefully when he wanted something they had.  Eeek!

She told us that she talked to him and he's learning that it hurts people when you scratch them. And she suggested that we just talk to him about it and remind him in the mornings before school about how he needs to behave.

Wow. I have to say this was totally unexpected. We rarely get to see Dominic interact with other kids, and he has NEVER scratched us or acted physically aggressive to get something.  I was also very surprised by how worried he was about me and Marcos being mad.  As we were getting out of the car, I could tell he was watching Marcos' every move and waiting for him to say something.  It seemed like just what you'd expect from an older boy who'd been in trouble a hundred times and wondered what Dad was going to do this time!  When we got inside, we talked about it a little and he acted pretty timid and ashamed.  I think he really, really hates for people to be disappointed in him.  Marcos told him he cannot scratch people and he can't pull on their shirt.  Dominic sat by me on the couch for several minutes, and I tried to move on and get him to play with some toys, but he wouldn't have it.  I asked if he wanted to go say sorry to Dada.  He ran to the bedroom where Marcos was, and said "Sorry, Dada" about 5 times in a row.  Then he ran back to me, climbed in my lap and said "Sorry, Mama" over and over.  I gave him a hug and in an attempt to change the subject, talked about how Harper has a new baby sister.  I asked if he wanted to give his sister a kiss and he said "Sorry, Sister" about 3 times!  Poor boy. I told him he doesn't have to say sorry to sister!

The rest of the evening, whenever I would bring up school (I always talk to him about what he did, what he ate, who he played with), he looked nervous like we were going to talk about the incident again. 

He's really sensitive about people getting hurt - he talks about kids at school that were sad, and I've seen him trying to hug sad kids lots of times.  We built a house out of blocks for his toy Bert (of Bert and Ernie) the other day.  He accidentally knocked the whole thing over, and sobbed and started hugging and kissing Bert profusely.  I think he felt bad that 2 inch plastic Bert had a house come toppling down on him! 

My point is, I hope his sensitivity helps him remember not to act badly again! 

Working Hard

It's hard work making sure your front yard looks respectable, and tending to all those little things that keep your household running.

There's always some gardening to be done.

Sometimes you have to get right in there and sit down in the dirt to do the job properly.

Itchy skin is just part of the job.

No one ever appreciates how hard you're working.

Sometimes your belly just needs a breather.

You have to survey the yard and make sure there's nothing amiss.

And check if Mama locked her car.

Don't forget to check the tires.

Which leads to sooty fingers.

Gotta sweep up before you go in.

And there's always one more weed that needs digging just when you think you're done.

It's a good thing we have Dominic on Dapplegrey Lane!

Birthday Videos

Here are a couple of videos we took of D's first reaction to his backyard birthday toys.  The first one is his radio flyer 500 from Mama and Dada.  Notice how he showed no hesitation before hopping on and taking his first ride?  He had watched kids on YouTube play with this and similar toys.  I think this video could be in an advertisement labeled "PERSEVERANCE."    I really do admire the kid's spirit.

And the next one is the new slide from Ita!  My video skills aren't great, but I think it captures his excitement.  I like how he says "woah!"

And lastly, here is a pic of the kids at school having a cupcake for Dominic's birthday.  The teachers and I sang to him.  Dominic and the other kids kind of just acted like it was any other snack time and waited for their cupcake.

We were supposed to have cupcakes on Monday around lunch time, right after I brought Dominic back from his 2-year well child visit with the doctor.  That plan went out the window when he had a low fever at his appointment and we decided to keep him home the rest of the day.  His ears, throat, lungs etc checked out great but then the doctor mentioned he could have a stomach bug that's been going around. (I believe that was prompted by a poop comment I made, which I will not get in to here since some of my readers may not be comfortable with poop). She gave me a handout and prepared me for what to do if he started having severe diarrhea and vomiting.  Yikes!  He got his nasal spray flu vaccine before we left, and she said that could cause some mild flu symptoms. Sure enough, his temp went up to 101.8 Monday evening.  But he had no other symptoms.  Tuesday morning he had no fever and was acting completely normal, so I took him to school and he's been fine ever since.  The doctor was even telling me that we should do a ton of hand washing because the stomach bug would be no fun for me while pregnant.  How do you not share germs with your two-year-old??  Luckily we're all feeling good and it looks like we may have dodged that bullet.  (Knock on wood!!)

In other news from the doctor's office, he was 34 inches and weighed 27lbs, 3 ounces.  His percentiles were almost exactly the same as 6 months ago.  25th height, 55th weight, and 85th head.  I was thinking he must be a little pudgier than the average kid his age, but surely his big head adds a lot to the weight.  They did tell us he should switch to 1% or skim milk now.  Doesn't that seem a little drastic?  My inclination is to just go down to 2%.

Dominic is 2!!

Today is Dominic's 2nd birthday.  I'm kind of in denial that he is two.  We celebrated with a BBQ at home yesterday and some great friends: Sean, Leslie, Jen, Andy, Erin, Scott, and Stephanie.  Marcos smoked a pork loin, just like on Dominic's first birthday.  It may have been his best one yet. Here are the pics, starting with the fire truck cake I made for the boy:

It looked great for about an hour.  Notice how the front is leaning?

Here it is after the front fell forward and I did my best reconstructing it.  So sad. :(

Random pic of the bacon-wrapped jalapenos. We also had 7-layer dip, creamed corn, and Judi's Famous Coleslaw

New picnic table Andy and Erin brought for Tony and Judi. He loves it!

New slide from Ita!! Another big hit. Video to come...

Radio Flyer 500 from the parents.  Dominic really got spoiled this year!

Then it was time for cake.  Dominic has seen a lot of birthdays lately. He went to 2 classmate birthday parties in the last few weeks.  This past Wednesday, Ms. Beth told me that they had 4 birthdays in the class between the 6th and the 9th, so they've also had several classroom celebrations.  (I found this interesting because the maternity ward at St. David's was slammed when he was born). So when we talked about his birthday in the last few days, he kept mentioning cake and making blowing sounds.  It seemed like he pretty much knew the drill.

The new picnic table was the perfect place to put the cake.

He made some funny faces when we sang.

Still singing. I think he was kind of like, "Uhhh... this is awkward!"

And then when it came time to blow out the candle, he wasn't really ready.  He got up and walked away, but we brought him back and said Dada would help.

He wanted a cupcake instead of a piece of the fire truck cake, and even chose one of the small ones.  We still have not cut the cake! I think we will tonight and will try the candle again and see if he'll blow it out with just us for an audience.

Then he got three cool new cars from the Weiss'! He slept with them lined up on his ottoman, and ate breakfast this morning with them lined up on the kitchen island.

The rest of the pictures are from this morning. We were outside playing at 7:30am and went back out several times.  It's so nice that the backyard is fun now.  We really have not been spending much time out there.  And the weather was so nice - I had to put on a sweater the first time we went out!

The plastic chicken even got a turn.

Daredevil.  I think he might have a future in surfing?

He also raced some cars down the slide.

And took several turns himself, of course.

He still has some more presents to open today from San Diego and North Dakota.  It seems like so much! Hopefully all these new toys will provide some entertainment when the new baby gets here. 

Thank you everyone for making the boy's birthday weekend so special.  I will blog again soon with some videos from Saturday.