Christmas Traditions

I am a complete holiday nut. I love everything about Christmas and have so many memories and Meister traditions I want to pass on to Hunter. This is the first year he is really interested in Santa and starting to get into the idea that he brings presents. So I have started the first tradition that kicks off the season. Hunter and I made a construction paper link chain with the number of links for each day until Christmas. Each morning he can pull off a link and when we get to the top Santa will be here. He doesn't really get the reason why we pull off the links, but likes doing it.

We also decorated our first gingerbread house when Amy and Dean visited. Both boys loved that. Each different candy was in a cup and they could put on as much as they wanted. One of the options was M&Ms, but not a single M&M ended up on the house! My mom used to bake the pieces each year and assemble it so my brother and I could decorate. Yet another task my mom did I didn't even appreciate.

Next there is the Christmas cookie baking. Hunter loves to help me cook, so he was so excited when he could get the stool out and cook. The simple task of making the dough turned into competitive baking, trying to guard the bowl, read the recipe and let Hunter add the ingredients. We assembled the dough much faster than I would normally. His hands were everywhere!

All there is left to do now is leave cookies, milk and carrots for Santa and his reindeer and open his Christmas Eve present from his Elf, a new pair of pajamas.

Reunion Weekend

My college roommate Amy and her almost 3 year old son, Dean came to visit this past weekend from Tampa. Crazy time of the year to pick a trip north, but we were so excited to have them. Hunter and Dean got along so well. We made a trip to see Santa, decorated a gingerbread house and played a lot. Unfortunately Hunter will only smile while squinting his eyes these days! We can't wait to see them again.

Thanksgiving 2007

We had a great Thanksgiving at the Meister's this year. Kerry's nephew TJ spent the holiday with us on break from his Freshman year at Penn State. We probably overwhelmed him with the joys of parenthood.

Hunter was able to spend the afternoon jumping in a huge pile of leaves my dad raked for that occasion and had a blast.

As usual my mom outdid herself with the food and everyone had a great time. Hunter had his own table set but by dessert our little social butterfly had to be part of the action.

For dessert he had ice cream, his favorite and decided to use the centerpiece gourds as utensils.

New Developments!!

Ever since Hunter turned 2, daycare has been putting him on the potty every 3 hours. He started using the potty there almost immediately and off and on at home. I started thinking that we should seize the moment and start potty training ourselves, but the summer was pretty busy with vacations and road trips, I didn't think the timing would be right. Then a few months into it, he just stopped using the potty at school and home. My mom asked if he used the potty and he replied, "not anymore!" Still I didn't really think too much about it.

So about 2 weeks ago he started going at school again and they started making a bigger deal about it, giving him a star when he went and he was pretty excited about it again. I asked his teachers how I should encourage him and they said to bring underwear and they would give it a try. I was a bit skeptical. I mean he wasn't even using the potty consistently. But I wasn't going to be the one to clean him up so I decided to try it.

In the beginning we had 1-2 school accidents a day, and 1 at home. But by the end of the first week we were down to only 1 accident a day. He still wasn't asking to use the potty but we were making progress. By Thanksgiving Day he was asking to use the potty (although the window was very small and it was a race against time to make it there!)

Now he is asking to go all the time, haven't had an accident in days, and is staying dry all night! I am shocked. Just 2 weeks ago he was peeing so much at night he was waking up wet and now he can hold it until he gets up. Amazing!!

Finger Painting

Everyday Hunter is sent home with an activity report listing how long he napped, what he ate and things he did. Yesterday it said that the kids really enjoyed finger painting and were surprised that the teachers let them paint with their hands and get so messy. Hunter has never been a fan of getting his hands dirty. When he falls on the ground his arms and legs immediately go up in the air so he can't touch the dirty ground. He waits like that for someone to come get him.

I was very curious to see what he created since the last time we tried finger paints we ended up getting a paint brush because he wouldn't touch the paint. Well here it is:


No surprise here. I can only imagine what the other kids produced, probably filled the page with color!

Halloween 2007

Hunter seemed to have a great time at his school Halloween party and parade. One of the mothers sent me this picture of Hunter with his friend Haskew and yes he is wearing his entire costume!
When he got home he was just wearing the fireman pants, so we tried to coax him back into the full outfit. Once his friend Eli came out, he agreed to put his jacket back on, but no hat. He has grown very fond of the Red Sox hat and wasn't about to take that off. Funny since the fireman hat was the only thing he wanted to wear around the house for the first part of the month.
The boys went trick or treating on our street and had a great time. After about the third house of getting candy, Eli said "wow, this works!" They would have done even more but it was getting dark and we still had to do dinner, baths etc. Next year maybe he will wear the entire costume!

That's Our Boy!

Today was the Halloween parade and party at school. Hunter is going to be a fireman, I thought it was an easy choice given his love of a Welch kids show Fireman Sam which Hunter loves. So this morning it comes time to put his costume on. Fleece pants and a fleece jacket. Kerry got the pants on him, but he took them off about 5 seconds later asking for jeans. Ok, no problem, we will bring the pants but he can wear the jacket and the hat, good enough. Put a tshirt on underneath, now for the jacket. "I don't wanna wear that, I want my Cal jacket. (University of California sweat jacket.) Ok, well we will bring the jacket but put the fire hat on, good enough. "No, I want to wear my Red Sox hat." Once the entire outfit was to his liking, he said "Look mommy I wearing my Cal Jacket and my Red Sox hat." Throwing it in my face that he won and I lost! He does this each time he gets his way. Too much.

So Kerry drops him off at school with the costume, explaining that we couldn't get him to wear it. Within 2 minutes of being there, the entire costume was on and he was fine. The things they can get him to do there.

Hopefully we will be able to take a couple pictures of him in costume tonight. That is if he lets us!

New Baby

We had our ultrasound yesterday and all is well, healthy baby with a revised due date of 3/19/08!
















PS. It's a boy!

Long Overdue Post

It has been way to long since I last posted. Life has gotten pretty busy for us. I hopefully had my last trip to France until much after the baby is born and our weekends have been taken with weekend trips and just a lot of activities.

Hunter has gotten much better and isn't in time out as much, thankfully. He is still quite opinionated especially about what he wears and how we prepare his food. I don't think that will change.

It seems most of the kids in his class have a sibling already and Hunter clearly wants one. One morning when I dropped Hunter off at daycare one of his caregivers asked me if I was preggo. I said yes, she did the whole congrats bit. She said she wanted to check because Hunter has been saying that his mommy is going to have a baby and there is a baby in his mommy’s tummy. She said they bring the babies over to his room and identify the ones that have siblings in Hunter’s class. The ones that aren’t claimed by any kid Hunter says are his baby brothers and sisters. Too cute!

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend and although Hunter was hard to keep still long enough to get a picture we managed a few.

Naughty, Naughty, Naughty

For the last month Hunter has been possessed with the terrible twos! He is quite independent and wants to do everything himself, which leads to his frustration and anger when he can't do it.

This is not limited to home, he has been very naughty at daycare as well, being sent to time out every other day (sometimes every day) for the past 2 weeks. His infractions include: biting (twice), hitting, throwing crayons (after being told not to), chewing on a marker (after being told not to.)

Each morning we go over the ways to be a good boy, no biting, throwing, hitting, the latest, chewing on markers. He repeats them and says no timeouts, no office (where timeout is held). But it seems every evening when we pick him up and I ask were you a good boy and look at the teacher she shakes her head no. When will we have a good boy again????

Our Controlling Boy

Hunter has exhibited the need for control for some time now. For example, he needs to know what we are doing the next day. It has become part of our night routine. He will ask a series of questions, “Go to school tomorrow?” “See Eli, Aiden?” “Go in mommy’s car?” With each answer comes another question. If I tell him that the garbage truck is coming tomorrow, he will ask, “The white one or the red one?” (white is garbage, red is recycling.) Then he will repeat everything throughout the night process. Like he is trying to sort out all the details in his head.

He has also started asking us to wait at the top/bottom of the stairs so he can go up first. Then when he is at the top/bottom he will say, ok mommy your turn! Kerry thinks this is giving Hunter just too much power so he will make Hunter wait until he is up/down the stairs.

This morning we were all getting dressed. I have known for some time that Hunter doesn’t like button down shirts, so we no longer even attempt to get him to wear them. (He is actually quite particular about what he wears, and we have found it easier to just let him pick out his shirt in the morning.) Well this morning Kerry was getting dressed for work and put on a button down, Hunter told him to take it off. Kerry said this is what I am wearing to work. Hunter let it go. When I put my button down on this morning, Hunter lost it. Started crying, saying take it off, take it off, mommy! Hilarious. Finally I convinced him that this was all I had clean and I wouldn’t wear one tomorrow.

Our Trip to Erie

We went to Erie, PA this weekend for the McKay family reunion. 7 hours in the car with a 2 year old is a very ambitious task! Hunter did as well as can be expected for such an active boy. Both ways he took 2 one hour naps, not as long as we would have hoped. We brought the dvd player but that only worked when he was willing to sit in the seat, once he wanted out there wasn't any distracting we could do.

(We thought this picture was funny since he was sleeping with his leg crossed.)

Saturday we went with Aunt Patty and Joyce to see the boats along the water and play at the park. In the evening we had a picnic dinner with the family and went to another park with his new friend Aiden, (Dave's grandson.)

Sunday was the reunion at the Presque Isle State Park where Hunter was able to go to the beach and go fishing. He had a great time.

Newfoundland

We vacationed in Newfoundland, Canada this year to celebrate my friend Judy's wedding (where she is from) and see the sites. This is the perfect type of vacation for Hunter, activities center around being outside. He did as well as can be expected on both plane rides and really enjoyed the taxi trips to and from the airport. He kept pointing out the water to the taxi driver on our way to the hotel. Most importantly he slept through the night every night we were there and only fell out of the bed twice (didn't even seem to notice)!

The hotel was centrally located in town so we were able to walk to breakfast/coffee and most sites. There was a pond right outside our hotel with swans and lots of rock throwing. Newfoundland did have the hottest temperatures on record, around 90, so the days did get hot!

Judy's wedding was beautiful, right on the docks of her parents lake house and so much fun!

Summer Fun

This weekend we finally had typical July weather. The only way playing outside was possible was with the sprinkler which he totally enjoyed.

Happy Birthday Alexandria!

On Saturday we went down to Old Town for the Alexandria's annual birthday celebration. There is usually a band, some kids games and fire works. This year there was a problem with the vendor so no fireworks. It was fine for us since Hunter was so hyper that we couldn't stay for them anyways. We went with Rachel, Todd, Reagan and Addison and met up with Hunter's friend Eli and his mom Alex. Hunter really enjoyed the music and playing with the kids, but thought it was a fun game to run away and have us chase him. We could only stand that for so long!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

We had Hunter's birthday party on Saturday and it was such fun. We had a full house, about 20 adults, 8 kids - Eli, Isabella, Clare, Michael, Reagan, Favio and Nora (not pictured) and 3 babies (Annabelle, Addison and Madeline). Hunter was in heaven with that many kids to play with.












We really lucked out because the weather was perfect. Hunter was so excited when everyone started singing happy birthday. He loves all the attention, plus singing and cake, what could be better.

Mom went a little crazy with the cake, but it actually turned out well and Hunter really liked it. He is so into trains lately it was an easy choice.

We ended up opening gifts the next morning, which was a good idea. That way he was able to play with each gift and open them at his own (slow) pace! He loves them all and is so entertained when he is at home now. Big hits were the trains, golf set, watering can, and trucks. A big thank you to everyone who came to celebrate!

He is also a big hit in the neighborhood these days thanks to Gigi and Papa who gave him a Cozy Coupe Car and Uncle Patty and Dave who gave him a ride on John Deere Tractor!

I'm 2!

Hunter celebrated his second birthday last week while I was in Paris for the air show. The mother's guilt was worse leading up to the trip. Kerry and Hunter had a great time, spending a lot of their time at the park and eating ice cream. I just can't believe he is already 2! How time flies. He is such a fun kid these days, talking up a storm and running everywhere. He loves the park, Elmo, and anything that moves. (His latest facination is with tires. Driving on the highway he frequently says, "Look at all the tires!") We are very fortunate to live on a street with two other boys Hunter's age, so they play outside most evenings after work.

On Monday I took Hunter to the doctor and he managed to grow a bunch since his last visit. He is 35" tall (65%) and 28 lbs (50%!) Not since his 3 month check up has he been in the 50% for weight. All the ice cream must be paying off! Although he still won't eat veggies, he has increased the foods that he will eat which is so helpful. He will eat most fruit now, loves hummus, anything sweet and anything fried! We are still working on a well balanced diet as you can tell.

He has learned so many things in the last 6 months. He recognizes his letters and numbers, knows basic shapes, can count to 10 or 12 depending on the day, knows all the basic colors, and can sing the ABC song and Twinkle, Twinkle, (sometimes the ABC song turns into Twinkle Twinkle.) In spanish he can say hello, goodbye, shoes, shirt, hair, (I didn't know that one and had to find out what he was saying) water, milk and probably other words I don't know.

He has also grown into quite an opinionated boy, deciding most mornings what he will wear, within reason, what he will eat for breakfast and the shoes he will wear. When he doesn't get his way a tantrum usually ensues.

The big news this week is that on Tuesday he went to the potty twice at daycare! He loves to sit on the potty and use toilet paper, flush etc, but this is the first time anything has happened. Hopefully this is a good sign for things to come but we will have to wait and see.

Tantrums and all he is a great kid, and we love to be with him. The things he says just crack us up. "There we go," "Good job Hunter," "And then cake" (or ice cream or elmo, basically whatever he wants that he can't have at that moment.)

A Zeoli Visit

We had a great visit from Kelly, Darin, Dominic and Luca a couple weeks ago. The boys all got along so well and have a great time. Hunter was totally in awe of Dom and Luca and spent most of his time watching them. Darin commented that Hunter was a quiet kid! I guess it is all relative. We managed to only get a couple shots of the boys playing outside as they were leaving, which I will try to get my hands on and add to the post. (Kelly sent me a bunch, but boy is it hard to get them all to look/stay still/and smile in one pic!)

Kelly just announced that she took a job in a suburb of Richmond so we will get to see a lot more of them in the next year. I am so glad the boys will be able to spend more time together. I love that Hunter has cousins that he can play with!

Picasso?

I am constantly trying to come up with new activities to occupy our very active boy. I went with my mom to her church's yard sale a couple weeks ago and was pretty successful. We bought a plastic Little Tikes easel that I thought would be perfect to keep on our patio so Hunter could paint and draw.

I bought him finger paints and decided to let him go at it this weekend. Well, I forgot to think about my son, when I purchased them. Since he hates getting his hands dirty, when I told him what to do, he looked at me like I was crazy! So as you can see we decided to use a paint brush.

He seemed to enjoy him self for about 5 minutes before he found it more fun to try to paint the patio door and the grill cover. Well at least he was occupied for 5 minutes!