interview with Arlo

An interview with Arlo, three years old.  While the majority of this is true, the rest is completely silly and I think it got sillier as the questions went on and on.  Anyway, I am curious to see how he answers these questions now and again in six months or a year.

What is your favorite color?  blue 

What is your favorite animal?  pig

What is your favorite kind of truck?  garbage truck

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Handy Manny for the airport

What is your favorite show?  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

What is your favorite movie?  Elf (last movie we watched as a family)

Who is your best friend?  Carter and Oliver

What is your favorite toy?  flashlight, it's really cool!

What is your favorite food?  tacos

What is your favorite drink?  milk

What is your favorite place to go?  the big big park and the airport

What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  whale and mickey mouse

What's your favorite thing to do at the park?  the big slide

What's your favorite book?  my nest is best (a Dr. Suess book that's really titled The Best Nest)

What makes you happy?  mommy

Really, mommy makes you happy?  no.  daddy makes me happy (giggles here)

What makes you sad?  Oliver

Why does Oliver make you sad?  Oliver wants to hit

What makes you laugh?  daddy (giggles again)

What makes you feel scared?  alligators

How old are you?  3

How old is mom?  3

Hold old is dad?  4

How old is Oliver?  2

If you could do one thing tomorrow what would it be?  See Lyra and play with turtle puller

What does dad do at work?  computers

What does he do on the computers?  says something is okay

What does mom do at work?  ummm.  hospital.

What does mom do at the hospital?  give shots to people and feel them all better

Where do you live?  North Carolina

What does Lucy like to do?  chew things up

What is something mommy says to you?  stop.  daddy's mad.

What is something daddy says to you?  Three Musketeers!

Arlo: 3 years old

Having left toddlerhood behind him, here is what our now three year old is up to!

What a fun age.  I feel like a broken record here, but I am constantly feeling like the age he is at is my absolute favorite.  Arlo is growing into such a sweet little boy, and is only more and more fun the older he gets.  He is more independent than I imagined him being at this point.  He wants to do as much as he can for himself, which is helpful now that there is another kiddo in the family.  He has so much concern and compassion for others, and I hope this never changes.  He has always been something of the adventurous sort, but definitely knows his limits and will ask for help when he needs it.  He's a social little guy and it's not uncommon for him to try and chat up other kids and adults when we are out and about.  He's always been my little buddy and my sidekick, but now it feels more like I am hanging out with a friend all day.  I can ask him things like "what should we have for dinner?" and "is there anything special you want to do today?" and he will answer with his requests.  That being said, his requests are usually "waffles or cereal" for dinner and this morning when I asked him what he wanted to do today (it's early January, cold, and pouring rain right now) he responded completely seriously "how about the beach?"  Ha.  He's such a fun little person and I am so proud of the little boy he has become.

Arlo is continuing to thrive on a fully plant-based diet.  We have only very recently started discussing what meat is and kind of planting the seed to help him understand why we eat the way we do.  I know in the coming year he will likely start to question our dietary choices and we are prepared to answer his questions when he does.  We are lucky he is a kid who will eat his veggies, loves beans and grains, and doesn't reject too much of what we offer him.  I think this has a lot to do with the fact that this is how he has eaten his whole life and he just doesn't know any differently.  He still drinks his plant based milk blend (hemp, oat and soy) daily.  He knows he gets a cup in the morning and after dinner and will now go to the fridge during those times and get it himself  - we keep already filled cups on the bottom shelf in the fridge for this purpose.  He's still not big into sweets but has enjoyed a few bites of baked goods on occasion.  Favorite foods at this age are: nuts (ALL kinds, he asks for them daily), baked tofu, green peas, rice, in-shell edamame, pasta, bell pepper strips, veggie pizza, burritos, apples, grapes, berries, and dried fruits.

 

Arlo's bedtime is somewhere between 8 and 9pm, usually falling on the earlier side of that range.  He's allowed to stay up a bit later on a special occasion, such as for a family movie night or if we have relatives in town.  He is up for the day between 6:30 and 7am, occasionally sleeping in a bit later.  Thankfully, he still takes a mid-afternoon nap, most days.  We are no longer at a point where it's a struggle to get him to stay in his room and lay down and after reading a book or two together he curls up and goes to sleep without issue.  Some days he tells me he isn't tired and I will let him play or read in his room, but the vast majority of those times I check on him 20 minutes later to find out he has climbed into bed, covered himself up, and is snoozing away.  Usually I try and get Oliver to nap around this time so I have some "me time" during the day.  Occasionally I get a 2-3 hour window where both boys are napping and my productivity during these hours is impressive.  Days where no one naps are usually pretty challenging and I find myself drained and wanting to crawl in bed myself by 7pm.  I'm secretly hopeful he's going to be one of those kids who will nap until they are five but that might be wishful thinking. 

Arlo had his three year well-visit with the pediatrician this week and is currently weighing in at 28.5 lbs.  He went from the 10th percentile at his two year checkup to the 16th percentile at his three year visit.  He grew nearly 3 inches from his second birthday and is now up to 36.5 inches tall which is the 28th percentile for his age, exactly the same as last year.

Clothes-wise he is still pretty comfortably fitting into 2T stuff.  Aside from a few pairs of sweatpants that are 3T, and pajamas which are now all 3T, his shirt and pants are still all much of what he wore last winter.  I did have to buy a few new pairs of pants at the beginning of the fall, some size 2 pants that are on the longer side but narrow in the waist to fit his long and lean frame.  Current shoe size is 7-8, and I will mention here that this kid loves all kinds of boots and jumps at any chance he has to wear them.

Arlo is still really, really into books and reading, and if he's playing independently there's a good chance he's sitting in his playroom reading to himself.  He has memorized most of the books he has and while he doesn't know the words verbatim, he will turn through the pages and describe what he knows is going on.  It's pretty amazing and I love that he is still so into books.  For Christmas this year, Arlo received a few games and we are just starting to get into playing them.  Memory matching games are his current favorite and it's a lot of fun to play them together.  He's not so into drawing or coloring right now, given the option he would rather play with play doh or kinetic sand.  Puzzles are also not really his thing but give him wooden blocks to build with or pillows to make a fort and he can entertain himself for a long time.  So, it's kind of obvious he is more of a builder than an artist.  He is also really into tools and fixing things, which comes as no surprise given who his parents are. Still obsessed with the Harbor Freight catalog dad gets in the mail and will pour over it as soon as it arrives.  He loves looking at maps and we just started teaching him the 50 states, he already knows several of them (and when he points to Ohio always says "that's where the Buckeyes play!" ha.)  Imaginative play has taken off even more since his last update.  His toys all have voices and are good at conversing with each other now, and if I walk into the living room and there is a row of pillows lined up I know that I am now standing in "the ocean" and that it won't be long before he excitedly tells me to quickly get on "the bridge" (pillows) or "the boat" (the couch.)

He also enjoys riding his bike outside and is getting better at using his balance bike.  He can get going on the green way by our house and pick his feet up to balance for short distances.  He is very observant, noticing if the tiniest thing has changed in his environment.  The other day I put a different hand towel in the bathroom because all the usuals were in the wash and he immediately asked me why we were using Lucy's towel, which I guess technically it was.  He notices the tiniest noise and always wants to talk about what made it.  He is also very into opposites right now and is enjoying identifying things that are the same or different. 

Arlo loves his little brother like crazy and is happy to help where he can when with Oliver.  The other day I walked downstairs to find that Erik had Oliver laying in his play gym and Arlo was sitting next to him in the bumbo chair (yes he still fits in this, and I'm convinced he probably will until he's five), and Arlo was reading a book to Oliver.  I watched them for a moment and when Oliver started to make a little noise Arlo said "it's okay, I'm right here Ol-vi-der."   He loves to play with other kids at the park and community center, and becomes very concerned if someone is crying or upset.  He seems to gravitate to the older kids, and talks all the time about his cool, older friend Carter, who is five.  One morning a few months ago he played at the park with a six year old boy named Max and told me for weeks and weeks that Max was his best friend.

Overall, he's a pretty easygoing and mindful little guy.  He is still a three year old though and at times it's more obvious than others.  He likes to have his voice heard, most often when Erik and I are trying to have a conversation between ourselves.  He will butt in with a very serious "No!  You stop talking.  I need to talk to mom."  It's actually hard to keep a straight face during these times because his attempt at complete seriousness is so stinking cute.  There are also small meltdowns here and there over little things, fortunately those are not too common.  When he gets worked up over something we tell him he needs to calm down before we can proceed and sometimes this involves going to the calm down corner.  There is technically no "corner" dedicated to this instruction, he will just go pick a spot on the floor and sit there a moment before he comes back and states that he is now calm and feels better.  We don't use time outs and for now the calm down thing seems to be working well to help him work through his moments of overexcitement.

Three busy, exhausting, crazy, fun, trying at times, but so filled with joy years with this kiddo.  Can't wait to see what changes this next year brings for Arlo and our family as a whole!

Arlo turns three

Since this year was his first birthday we were celebrating with just the three (now four) of us, we decided to let Arlo choose what he wanted to do all day.  His birthday requests were simple: waffles for breakfast, a morning spent at Marbles kids' museum, pizza for dinner, and to have strawberry cupcakes as his birthday cake.  Being such reasonable requests, we did our best to make sure his wishes were fulfilled.  Erik had the day off so after Arlo's requested breakfast of waffles, we packed up the fam and headed downtown to the kids museum.  We didn't know it until that day, but being New Years Eve the museum was having it's own celebration, a "countdown to noon" party for the kids.  So the place was packed, but Arlo still had a blast.  His favorite areas during this trip were the tool/construction tables and the room filled with giant foam building blocks.  Although the latter could have something to do with the fact that Erik was more into those foam building blocks than any of the kids were, building huge towers and letting Arlo knock them over.  Always a kid at heart that husband of mine is.

After we arrived home, we had lunch and then the boys took their naps.  I spent the afternoon working on the requested strawberry cupcakes, and never having made a fruity cupcake before it was something of a challenge.  Let it be known I am not a baker, and am much more comfortable in the kitchen where I can put in "a little of this, a pinch of that."  You just cannot have that mentality as a baker.  Anyway, I digress.  For all of Arlo's birthdays this far I have made him cupcakes from scratch, and I didn't want to break tradition.  So, I did my best to veganize the best strawberry cupcake recipe I could find.

Arlo took a wonderful three hour (!!) nap, and woke up excited to finish his requested birthday festivities.  We had originally planned to go out for pizza (Mellow Mushroom has vegan options in case you are wondering) but since it was getting late we thought it best to just pick it up and eat at home.  After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to Arlo and ate the strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting and a strawberry on top (can you tell I really wanted these to have as much strawberry going on as possible??)  Sadly, the cupcakes were not very good.  The cake part was gluey due to a new egg replacer I tired, and the frosting was runny from the pureed strawberry I put in it.  Surprisingly, Arlo took one bite, told me he loved them, and proceeded to eat nearly the entire thing.  Which, is actually one of the first times he has ever enjoyed a baked good.  Go figure!

After dinner we watched the OSU game (which obv didn't go well for them, womp womp) and put the kids to bed around half time.  We originally planned to not buy Arlo any presents this year for his birthday and let the "day of fun" be a gift instead.  His birthday falls so close to Christmas and the last thing this kid really needs is more stuff.  However, we had a stuffed Corduroy bear on hand that we had planned to give to him for Christmas but ended up not, so we decided to surprise him with that before he went to bed.  I had it sitting on his bed next to his favorite Corduroy books when he came in after his shower and he was super excited to find it.  At the end of the day Arlo told me his favorite part of his birthday was "the candle and Marbles museum." 

Another special birthday for our super special little guy.  We hope he enjoyed it as much as we did.  Happy third birthday, Arlo!

Oliver: four months old

spoiler alert:  he did not get what was on his wish list this year....

Sleeping:  Mid-month, we had a challenging week in this department.  Teething, a runny nose, and a growth spurt had us constantly trying to figure out what was wrong with our usually happy little man.  He had about a week of waking up between 4 and 5am, sometimes wanting to go back to sleep and sometimes not.  Fortunately, it was short lived and now, even though we are still feeling the teething pains, sleep is back on track.  Bedtime is between 8:30 and 9pm and he is up for the day between 6:15 and 7:15am.  I do realize how lucky we are to have had not one but two good sleepers and I do not take this for granted.  I feel a little guilty when other moms ask me if he sleeps through the night yet and I tell them his sleep schedule.  But... I also really, really enjoy my sleep so I don't feel that guilty, ha.

Naps are kind of all over the place right now.  I feel like we were on a better nap schedule in months prior.  Once he wakes up for the day he's usually up for maybe and hour or two then wants a short morning nap.  Then awake again for a couple more hours then wants to take a long morning nap, however this usually falls around the time that we are trying to head out for our morning excursion.  So the poor kid just has to kind of catch sleep when he can.  Sometimes he sleeps while we are out and about, sometimes not.  Depending on how the morning goes for him, sometime in the afternoon he will snooze for another 3-4 hours, but this could start at 2pm or 4pm, I never really know.  Maybe in the next couple of months we will have something more consistent going on but for now everyday is a little bit different.  He is also still taking all of his naps in his swing which we keep downstairs in the living room.  I like that I can watch him nap and am always nearby when he wakes up but sometime this month I am hoping to transition him to napping in his crib.  He still sleeps in his rock and play in our bedroom at night.

Eating:  No change from last month.  Still on donor breast milk and formula.  Our milk donor mama is a rock star for providing us with milk for this long.  Oliver still eats 4 oz at a time, every three hours or so.  Definitely tanks up at bedtime which is something I think helps contribute to sleeping the whole night through without waking up to eat.

Weight and length:  The reason this post went up a little late is because I was waiting to add in these measurements that were taken at his well child visit this week.  This little chunkster has gained nearly three pounds since his two month check-up.  He now weighs in at nearly 15 lbs, putting him in the 26th percentile for weight.  He grew almost 2 inches since his last visit and is now measuring just under 25 inches in length, which is the 19th percentile for babies his age.  Head circumference is up to 17 inches, 86th percentile.  Don't worry kid, your older bother already has quite the collection of abnormally large hats that should fit you just fine.

Wearing:  6 and 9 mo onesies and 9 mo pants.  At the 4 month mark we stopped swaddling him at night and surprisingly he had no problems with it.  So now he wears footed jammies to bed, also size 6 or 9 mo. In the last couple of weeks I packed away the newborn cloth diapers and got out the stash of larger sizes, which he is fitting well into.  So happy to have him in my favorite diapers now, the Coqui Hero's.  

Likes and dislikes:  No big changes here.  Loves to look at faces and just seeing mama or dad will bring out his wide, gummy smile.  Also loves to look in the mirror.  Laughs like crazy when we pick him up super man style and put him up in the air.  Still likes his swing and play gym.  Loves being naked and taking baths.  Also loves being in his walker and playing with the toys on it.  Loves to watch Arlo and has recently started smiling at the silly things his big brother does.  Enjoys holding onto toys and rattles and is mesmerized by ceiling fans.

Still showing all the signs of teething although nothing has popped through yet.  I would be surprised if by his next update he doesn't have his first tooth.  Teething is still his biggest dislike.  However now he can better hold onto teethers and frozen washcloths so those have been a minor help, or if nothing a short distraction from the pain.  Poor kid. We also learned this month that Oliver does not like to be deprived of his afternoon nap and then held by strangers, ha.  During three separate social gatherings he had a complete freak out after being passed around by new people.  He's still way too young for the whole "stranger danger" thing so I am sure it was due to overstimulation.  These next few months will be spent working on his social gathering etiquette, so not to worry if you were one who was offended by his rude conversational skills this month. 

"hurts right there, mom."  : (

New milestones and developments:   Right at the four month mark we saw some big changes with this guy.  He is suddenly so much stronger and can wiggle around in his swing and rock and play so we now have to make sure he is buckled in.  He has started to reach out and grab toys, and will now take things from us when we hand him something.  Mid month he started rolling over belly to back but hasn't rolled the other way yet.  It's not far off, he can roll completely to one side from laying on his back.  He laughs and coos often and occasionally seems to be having complete conversations with himself, babbling away in complete baby talk.

Looking forward to all the new changes we will see in the next month with this sweet guy!

things my toddler says...

Arlo has become quite the chatterbox and we all know that the things kids say are the best.  Here are a few of my favorites from recent months.

earlier this summer...

While eating dinner one evening, Arlo suddenly starts talking really fast and says very excitedly: "the shark came out of the ocean, over the bridge, into my house, and ate my macaroni!"

October:

One morning while getting him dressed...  I hadn't washed my hair in a whole week and I am pretty sure I had been sporting the same messy bun for three days straight, he tells me "your hair is so beautiful" as he reached out to touch it.

After baking banana bread with Mimmay before he took his nap, he was finally allowed to try some after dinner that evening.  Even at almost three years old, Arlo still does not like sweets - muffins, cake, ice cream, candy, chocolate - he won't eat or even usually try any of them.  This time he actually tried a bite and said "I like it!  Thanks Memere.  It's my favorite food!"  I think he actually ate maybe three bites and then didn't have any interest in eating more.

Eating dinner one night, me at the table and Erik in the living room bouncing Oliver on the exercise ball.  Erik and I were talking about the day and Arlo, sitting in his high chair, suddenly spreads his arms wide and says "look at this whole kitchen!  look at this whole kitchen!!"

Arlo was playing with bubbles on the back deck while I was inside washing dishes (I could see him through the window.)
He comes to the door with a hint of panic in his voice: "I need a washcloth!"
me:  "for what?"
Arlo:  "I got bubbles in my mouth!!"
me:  "ok hold on let me get one."
Arlo:  "It's spicy!!"

This happens quite often these days...  I ask Arlo if he will go wash his hands before a meal and if he's too busy playing or just doesn't want to he will whine and tell me "nooooo, I washed my hands this morning!" (usually this is at like 5pm.)  Same applies to going to the bathroom.  After getting up from his nap I sometimes ask "do you need to use the potty?"  And he replies "Naw, I already went potty this morning."

Arlo pronounces Oliver's name "Ol-vi-der."  One day I pronounced Olivers name like Arlo does and Arlo said "No.  Don't say Ol-vi-der.  Say Ol-vi-der!"  So, in his mind he is pronouncing it correctly and totally picks up on me saying it differently.

November:

Arlo is obsessed with the weather. Every time he gets his hands on my phone he says he's going to check the weather, goes right to the app, and scrolls down to the radar to see if there's any rain coming.  He can also identify where there's rain and where there's snow.  One morning I had the news on and Arlo heard the meteorologist say it was going to be 64°.  He stop drinking his milk and with a completely astonished tone said "64°!?" like he just couldn't believe that would be the temperature.

Pronounces exclamation point "ex-cla-moosh-ion point."

When he hears something he likes he says "oh.  nice!!"

When agreeing with you he often says "yeah, yeah, yeah."

Instead of "ready, set, go!" He says "ready, steady, go!"  I don't correct him because really, there's nothing wrong with being steady before you go.

December:

When I asked him at the beginning of December what he wanted for Christmas his response was a confident "a pillow, a Christmas flower, and a spoon and fork."  He later asked for a flashlight and when I asked him to be more specific he brought me the harbor freight catalog and showed me a 24 inch LED work bench light telling me he wanted "one just like this."

On a couple different occasions, completely out of the blue, Arlo will tell me during a meal "mom, thanks for making my favorite food."  It can be something he doesn't even really love, but he just feels the need to thank me for making it.

Then there is the threenager attitide that emerges on occasion.  If Erik and I are talking and Arlo is feeling ignored and wants to say something he will point at one of us (usually Erik) and say very, very seriously "NO!  You stop talking.  I'm talking to mom!"   It's hard not to laugh when he tries to be so serious.  And he never really has anything urgent to say, it's pretty clear that he just wants his voice to be heard.

Whenever he is trying to convince us to do something his face will completely light up and he will say "Come on mom.  It will be fun!"  It can be something simple like reading a book, or going to find out what Dad and Oliver are doing if they are in a different room.  But no matter what he is convinced that it's going to be a really good time.  I really love your positive outlook little man.

One day after Christmas, we were playing a new matching game he had just received.  The characters were all from Disney movies and shows, and he kept asking me who the ones were that he was not familiar with.  I knew the vast majority of them, but when we came to two modern looking cartoon boy characters, I had no idea who they were.  I told Arlo just that and he replied "oh. well they look like troublemakers!"

I love this kid so freaking much.  Since he's no longer technically a toddler, hopefully a "things my preschooler says" will soon follow. I have a feeling these posts will be fun ones to look back on.