We may have a cat person on our hands

Rohan seems to take well to cats. Maybe it's because we have a couple of really friendly cats in our neighborhood that he's become friends with. A couple weeks ago when we visited Valhalla Farm, where Beth works, he had a great time playing with "Precious". She let him poke and pull at her like I've never seen another cat tolerate! Here's the video:

Rohan discovers the microphone

A while back, Nanna brought Rohan a little electronic piano. It came with a microphone that I didn't even know worked - until I caught Rohan singing one day!

Here you can see his rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. See if you can pick out the words - I think he goes through the whole first verse!

A day at the farm

Yesterday we went to visit Beth where she's working in Wellborn, Fl, at Valhalla Farm. We watched Beth have a riding lesson on Flex, and then she drove us around on the golf cart. Amazing! Rohan loved the horses and the cat, Precious.

"More money!"

This morning we grabbed our stuff and ran out to Starbucks on the way to Cofrin Park. After only 10 minutes at the park, it started to rain. One of Rohan's favorite books is called What Can You Do in the Rain? So, as we headed for shelter under the trees, he stood there sticking his tongue out like the character on the page that says "Taste a raindrop". He was so thrilled to be doing just what the boy does in the book, it was cute!

When it really started to pour, we headed for some indoor fun at the mall.

We avoided the Sears entrance today, because he goes berzerk over the ride-on lawn mowers they have set out front. (We let him sit on one last time--little did we know we'd never get past them again!) So we went in the main food court entrance where there is a little fountain that people throw coins in to benefit a cause. Sameer gave him a few pennies to throw in. After they were gone, Rohan demanded, "More money!" I guess that's a phrase we will hear for years to come!! Ha ha...

Rohan and the Baby

This morning, Rohan and I went to Cofrin Park for an Alachua County Mamas meetup. It was our first time in the 18-36 months-old group, so everyone was new to us. But people were really friendly, and it was so precious to watch all the little kids running around the park. Rohan really enjoyed the playground, and there was even a craft around the letter K (we glued things together to make a kite). But by far, the thing Rohan enjoyed most was hanging out with this little baby. She was poking his face and pulling his hair, and he didn't even care! She was just sitting randomly in a stroller - I couldn't even tell who was her mother! Turned out her mom was helping another of her kids on the swings. But we got to entertain her in the meantime...

Dinner at Mandy, Vikram and Jasmine's

A couple weekends ago, the Gill's invited us over for dinner, along with a few other friends who they needed to catch up with. Rohan and Jasmine seem to really love each other, though they don't always play together directly. Rohan talks about her all the time, and she cries whenever he leaves.

Splashpad at St. Augustine Beach

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, we took a quick trip to the St. Augustine beach. We left as early as reasonably possible and spent 10:30 - 12 there. The tide was so high at first that we couldn't even access the beach. But when we did get down, it was so nice! The perfect day, start to finish.


The beach is the perfect place for a dumptruck.

Doin' some splashin' at the splashpad

The scene at 10:30 am, while we waited for the tide to go out enough to get onto the beach.

Sprinklers on low

Potty Training - Pros and Cons of Starting Young

We got Rohan a potty when he was 4 months old. Until he was about 1 year, he enjoyed using it for a couple times each day (we held him above it in the beginning and then helped him sit on it later when he could sit up well himself). Then from about 12-17 months he wanted nothing to do with it. Well, it did make a fun toy sometimes, as he liked to put his toys in it.

Around 17 months, after still letting him spend some time diaper free each day and reminding him that pee goes in the potty whenever there was an accident, he woke up one morning and said "potty". We put him on it and he did his morning pee! After that he requested it every morning and many more times throughout the day. By 18 months, he was diaper free throughout the day. We kept him diapered for naps and nighttime, though. But we even ventured out in the car with no diaper! (Well, at first a cautious mommy put a waterproof pad under him until it became apparent it wasn't needed - have you ever tried to dismantle and wash your car seat? Ugh!)

Then, as he started to stay dry all night and through naps, we dropped the diapers completely. After a couple weeks, he had two bed wetting incidents in a row. Back on went the diapers for a week. Now, at nearly 20 months, Rohan is saying "no diapers!" when I try to get one on him and getting up in the night to pee.

Let's amend that. He's getting Mommy up in the night to pee. Last night at 4 am, he wanted to pee but didn't want to sit on the potty, then wanted to pee again. Then finally peed. 20 minutes later, wanting to pee again. Saw the basketball in the bath area, wanted to play... We were up until daylight! Slept 30 minutes and back on the potty... Mommy is so tired... Rohan is grumpy...

Pros of starting potty training young:

1. Save on total diaper costs
2. Don't have to clean as many messy diapers - potty poops are a simple little wipe and then all done
3. Diaper rash is not a problem
4. No power struggle issues as with an older toddler
5. Confidence booster for the child (not sure about this one, but proponents say so)
6. Satisfaction of being done early with this sometimes stressful rite of passage

Cons:

1. Still have a messy potty to clean each time, until you get them going on the toilet
2. Accidents will happen - changing sheets in the middle of the night is not fun (and make sure you have a waterproof mattress pad!)
3. Infants and young toddlers still can't do much on the potty themselves - you need to undress them, place them on the potty, make sure they stay there through the whole thing (and don't put their hands in it!), clean up their bottoms, redress them, and then clean the potty.
4. When they've gotta go, you've got to listen - if you're driving, you pull over and hopefully there's an accessible bathroom nearby. We've had Rohan peeing in a field on a drive through High Springs one day.

I confess, we weren't quite ready for Rohan to be so ready all of a sudden. It's more work than we bargained for. When he started requesting to go to the potty, there were times we told him to go in his diaper. Of course he didn't listen to us and became very vocal until we got him situated properly. Then we realized we could be potentially shooting ourselves in the foot here and we should be overjoyed that he is demanding to pee properly.

Laura had bought him a book way back when we got the potty for him, called "My Big Boy Potty". He loves that book now, especially getting a kick out of the page where Michael learns to pee standing up like daddy! (Not sure when that's supposed to happen, but I'm in no hurry, as it would be disastrous with his coordination level at this point.)

However, though Rohan was mostly potty trained by 18 months, I'm still eagerly awaiting the day when he can go to the bathroom by himself!!!

Growing in Leaps and Bounds - New Sentences, Counting to 20

I'm told most kids know 10-50 words by their second birthday. Rohan knew about 15-20 at his first birthday. Now at 19 months he's coming out with new sentences nearly every day.

He just amazes us. And it's not so much the fact that he can string together words, it's that the ones he says are all perfectly correct! Here are a couple examples.

1. Sitting at the dining table to eat lunch, he often plays with a little toy airplane hat he brought home from his friend Jared's house one day. The propellor falls off, as it is broken, but you can actually stick it back in the hole and spin it a bit. HE LOVES TO SPIN THINGS! So the other day as we were eating lunch, he holds the two pieces out to me and says, "Put it in", since he can't quite put the pin of the propellor in it himself.

2. Driving in the car, he often specifies which music he wants to listen to. Lately it's all about "Nanna's music". (Mom sent us a CD of her iPod playlist he really liked last time she visited. There's one song at the beginning that's a mix of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World set to the ukele - that's his favorite song now.) Yesterday we were driving home from the park and he started saying "Nanna's music" even though it was already playing. We were trying to figure out what he wanted, when he paused and then finally said, "Turn it up!" We have no idea where he even learned that!

He also says "pick it up" , "put it back", "take it off", "put it on". "Just yogurt" if I try to sneak a bite of fruit in between his spoons of yogurt". "Mommy needs the ball getter" - this one is funny. Daddy has a way of saying "Mommy NEEEEEDDDSSS to blah blah blah". Now Rohan is copying how Sameer says this and adding his own things on the end! We have a long lint remover for the dryer that we've dubbed the "ball getter", since it's good for getting balls that have rolled under the couch. He says "Rohan's room" when he wants us to go to his room to play, "sit down" once we get there to make sure we stay.

I think his first little sentence was "Eat this" when he'd go to the fridge and pull out a yogurt. Next, it was "Mommy get it", when didn't want to get something himself.

Probably his cutest phrase is "be careful". He says this every time he slides himself off the bed, as we said it so often to him as he was learning to get down himself. Now, if we're walking somewhere and I say "be careful", he stops and looks around and is super cautious about making a move. He knows that phrase means business!

Oh, and get this. Neither Sameer nor I knew he could count to 20. He surprised me one day when thought I'd start introducing the numbers after 10. Sameer said he'd gone up to 12 with him. But he kept going right up to 20! (Well, he really liked 17, so he kept coming back to that one afer 18 and 19...) Seems the counting app on the iPod is responsible for this...

A good Saturday

This was the scene until about 10 pm. Usually Rohan is in bed by 8 pm, but he was still going strong quite late today. The problem was that he had to keep peeing every 20 minutes. We must have given him too much to drink after playing at the park this evening! So I let him play with the iPod while I took a break to eat dinner at 9:30...



Earlier this evening, we were at Westside Park. There were so many other kids there, and Rohan was having a blast running from one thing to the next. We have some funny videos but I haven't figured out how to post them here, yet.

This morning, we went for brunch at Sisters in Haille Plantation. We forgot that it was also the farmer's market, so it was super busy.

Finally, a photo of mom and Rohan together! It always looks like it's just Rohan and daddy, since I'm the one taking the pictures...

And after brunch and putting the boys to sleep for their afternoon nap, mommy had some fun time cruising the mall...

Sun n' Sand in St. Augustine

We went to St. Augustine yesterday for a quick little mini vacation. We stayed at Casa Monica right downtown. Got naps over with upon arrival and then headed to the beach a little late in the day (6 pm) so it wouldn't be sweltering. Weather was gorgeous! Rohan didn't remember his beach visit last year, but he loved it this time, too!

Product Recommendations for Friends, Family and Other Readers

I was asked by a mom the other day where I got the folding portable potty seat I take everywhere for when Rohan's "gotta go". People routinely ask me where I buy his cute outfits. And many of the unique items around our house get comments, too.

I confess, I spend a lot of time online. Shopping.

Mostly I spend a lot of time online researching purchases before I buy. I know some great websites that have products you never even knew existed. I've found clothing sites I swear by.

I am going to start blogging more about these resources that have made life easier and enriched our family environment. Partly because I want you to know where to go to get the same style of rug that's now brightening our back porch if you want one, too. And those great quality clothes that you can't find in a mall. And the time-saving products any mother would benefit from. And also because I believe affiliate marketing is a great model. You pass along the good word on products you believe in, and enjoy commissions when others also discover those great products. Chris Brogan explains affiliate marketing better here if you want to know more...

Acupuncture may save me from surgery for DeQuervain's

About a year ago, I went to the Orthopedic Center here in Gainesville about pain in my left wrist. It had gotten so bad within a matter of just a few weeks that I couldn't lift Rohan.

At my first visit last May, the doctor said that a steroid injection might cure it, so they injected me then and there. By the next day, it was nearly perfect.

Then about 6 months later, the pain started to come back. It wasn't as severe, but it was gradually getting worse and worse. After putting up with it a couple months, I went back and got a second shot. They recommended surgery, but I declined since I was still nursing Rohan and didn't want to pass on all the antibiotics and anesthesia, etc., to him.

The second steroid shot helped for a couple weeks. It started to become just a dull, constanct ache in my wrist, and occasionally it would swell in the evening.

I hadn't actually started to look for an alternative, but I learned that acupuncture may provide relief after my sister Beth introduced me to an acupuncturist who was treating her. After just a couple treatments, it no longer became inflamed, and it seemed to be on the mend.

I've had 5 treatments now, and my wrist hardly bothers me. Instead of worsening as was completely expected, it now seems to be healing. I plan to continue treatments, as I will still be putting strain on it, especially as Rohan continues to get bigger and bigger. (The good thing is he can walk much more now, but he still needs to be lifted throughout the day for lots of things.)

I have found also that acupuncture helped me relax and look more carefully at how I was taking care of myself and us as a family, so there have been many good side effects that I hadn't anticipated. Oh yeah, and it cleared up my miserable allergies after just 2 treatments and an herbal remedy the acupuncturist recommended. You can't imagine how wonderful it felt not to have to blow my nose every couple minutes - not to mention the savings on tissues!

The acupuncturist who helped me is Ashley Dunn, working out of Lake City and Gainesville. He's very talented, and I'll be sure to pass along the link to his site once it's up soon.

Expanding Vocabulary and Structures

I've been amazed at Rohan's progress with words. He will repeat anything back to us, even if he doesn't understand the concept. When Heather, the nanny, told him I was at acupuncture, that word became a part of his vocabulary! He only has to hear a word once and he remembers it.

He's also becoming more sophisticated in pairing words. For about 6 months, he's been using two-word phrases, like Daddy's shoes, our car, biiiigggg anything (expecially "big truck"!)

Rohan has been saying the sentence "Eat this" for about a month now. He would go to the open fridge, take out a yogurt, and tell me "Eat this".

Just yesterday, he said "Mommy get it" when I told him he could go and get a ball to play with (some from Gayle's kids had come over our fence. And today he said "Put it back", after he was through examining the sun catcher I took down from the window for him to look at.

Peek a boo, I see you, is probably his biggest string of words now, but that's a phrase from a book he has, and he loves the rhythm of that.

His reading is also fantastic! He can pick out words from books now, mostly words he has learned from Your Baby can Read, but we're also pointing out new ones now. "Baby" seems to be one of his favorite words. If we ask him what word he wants us to write with the sidewalk chalk, he always says "baby". And he noticed that in a sign at Borders all by himself a couple months ago.

Okay, enough bragging for tonight...

Friday Afternoon Football in the Back Yard

Beth spent Friday afternoon with us. Our new outdoor mat had arrived, so we took the music and drinks outside and played a bit of football. Rohan could even throw the ball a couple of feet! The weather is glorious now, with frequent thunder and lightening at night. Rohan stopped the action to take a call from Nanna...

Picnic at Westside Playground

Rohan and mommy went to Westside one afternoon a couple weeks ago. We took some snacks and sat on the picnic blanket, then we played on the equipment. There were so many other kids there! Rohan particularly liked one boy about his age, who he tried to hug!

This little set was just the right size for Rohan - he could go up the steps and then down the slide all by himself!

Emergency Vehicles of Alachua County

Today we went to a family day event featuring some of Alachua County's services for children. They also brought in special vehicles to show kids, from a helicopter (which we got to see take off and land!) to a fire truck. There was also a bounce house and other fun things like face painting which Rohan isn't quite old enough to enjoy yet.

He loved seeing the Sherriff's star on everything.

There was even a robot for defusing bombs!

Finally getting to make a post about the trip to India!

Here we've been back for over a month and I'm just getting to post some photos. Actually I had put up most in Picasa while we were still there, so if you didn't get that link, let me know. But it's high time to get caught up in the blog, isn't it?

We were away Dec. 25 - Jan. 16. We stopped in France for a break on the way, and boy did we need it! We slept 16 hours once we got to our hotel and barely had time to enjoy Paris before we were on our way again. (Coming back, we realized just how good that break had been, as we were traveling more than 40 hours with no sleep by the time we got home! We got home at midnight, in the rain, with no running water in our house to even brush our teeth with. Some sleep along the way might have made it easier. Live and learn... Now, back to our time in India...)
We had various functions to attend in Nagpur and also in Pune. This photo below is from a function that Aai and Baba had organized for 100 of their friends to meet Rohan. It was held at an amusement park and was a fun time.


While in Nagpur, we visited many different parks. This was a pretty walkway by a lake.



Here's a shot from our weekend in Pune, where we got to hang out with some of Sameer's cousins, aunts and uncles on Baba's side of the family. Rohan was showered with treats!

He had a great time with everyone who came to this smaller family gathering in Nagpur...

And he just adored his "big boy" cousins he met in Pune. I still laugh thinking of Adwait trying to get a nap and Rohan sticking his fingers in his ears and nose and giggling. Somehow he slept, though! Gaurav shared his car collection and entertained Rohan one afternoon.

And of course little Leela was also subjected to his affections... it was the first time I'd seen him really pay attention to a younger child, but he just wanted to hug her, and I think she was trying to get away from being smothered.

He loved his panji and panjoba (collectively referred to as "pa") and especially enjoyed panjoba's "bat" (cane).

And there was lots of yummy food - aaji's "baat" became his favorite meal (lentils, rice and yogurt), and he developed a taste for these cookies.

This was an event for panji and panjoba, and also featuring the two great-grandchildren. They sat through a bunch of formalities, then got to run around and play with balloons and balls.

We had a great time! Rohan is still talking about everyone and looking forward to his next visit!