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!

Arlo's 2nd birthday party

I am a bit late in writing this, and we didn't really have a big party or anything, but I still want to document what we did on Arlo's second birthday. 

Erik's parents, Scott, and Caitrin were all in town visiting for the few days surrounding New Years and Arlo's birthday.  Even though Arlo got an overwhelming amount of Christmas presents just six days prior, we still wanted to surprise him with something new on his birthday.  His present from Erik and I was an Ikea play kitchen with accessories.  The night before Arlo's birthday, Erik stayed up late to assemble and organize the kitchen after Arlo went to bed.  I really wanted it to be all set up so it was a fun surprise when he came down the next morning.  Here he is checking out the kitchen (also, this was during our pant-less potty training phase, hence the no pants!):

Later in the day Arlo's bestie, Lyra, came over with her family.  I knew what would make him the happiest on his special day would be surrounded by some of his favorite people, and I know he had a great time!  Here are the kiddos playing together:

We took the easy way out in the food department and picked up some prepared salads, veggies, and chips from Whole Foods for lunch.  When Erik ran out to the store, I spent the morning baking cupcakes, which I suppose is becoming somewhat of a birthday tradition since I did the same thing last year!  I also sent Erik on a mission to find Mickey Mouse plates, cups, and napkins, so I guess that was the theme if you want to call it that.  My parents bought the "ARLO" candles and they were such a cute topper for his cupcake!

 

 

We sang happy birthday and afterwards Erik helped Arlo blow out the candles.  Arlo seemed like he would have been able to do it himself, so we relit them to let him give it a try.  He did really well until the last candle where he leaned over too far and got a little too close to the flame.  He didn't burn his skin or anything but I think it really startled him because he got pretty upset, poor kid.  He wouldn't even try his cupcake but then again he isn't much for sweets and doesn't like any baked goods so I wasn't too surprised, and I had no problem finishing his cupcake for him!

Our friends went home in the afternoon so the kids could nap, and Arlo was so sad when they left.  He did not want his party to end, especially since he had to nap right after!  Later that day, we made an official mark on his growth chart that I made a few months back.  33.5" tall!  That evening we all went out for pizza at the local Mellow Mushroom.  Veggie pizza is one of his favorite foods so it was definitely an Arlo-approved birthday dinner.

Happy second birthday, Arlo!!!

thirty three.

Last weekend I had a birthday.  The big thirty three!  Historically, I have never been one to make a big deal or get very excited about my birthday.  I know that I had birthday parties as a kid, but the memories are foggy.  I was after all, a kid.  And although I have no idea what I did on my 16th birthday, I like to think it was a good one.  I mean, I could start driving on my own, and that was pretty sweet.  And 18.  I had just started college at WMU.  And discovered college parties.  And beer.  And the ability to stay out as late as I wanted with no one to answer to.  So although it is another birthday that I don't recall the details of, I bet it was pretty special.  I mean, I could start voting, and that was pretty sweet.  And 21.  Surprisingly, I do remember my 21st birthday.  One of my best ever, thanks to my college friends who threw me a crazy fun party at the bar.  And I mean, I could rent a car too, so that was pretty sweet.

So, 33.  How will I remember my 33rd birthday?  Like this...

My birthday started early.  I mean, really early.  At 1:30am the battery in one of the two smoke detectors right outside our bedroom door decided to crap out.  Erik sleeps through events like this, but not me.  So, around 1:33am here I was, half asleep and standing on a chair, trying to pull down the smoke detectors (why on gods green earth anyone would hang two detectors on the ceiling three feet apart is beyond me.)  Finally get them down, batteries out, and back to bed.  Around 3:30am the alarm on Arlo's clock radio that we let him play with so he can listen to music when he wants to, starts blaring.  Erik actually hears this one, goes to his room, and presses all the buttons until it goes off.  Thirty minutes later, a repeat alarm clock experience.  This time he unplugs it and comes back to bed.  Arlo sleeps though it all.  The clock radio is still unplugged to this day.

I wake up around the usual 7:00 hour, foggy from what felt like a night of almost no sleep.  Happy birthday to me, ha!  But I wasn't going to let anything get me down, we had a lot planned and it was after all, my special day.  After breakfast, we all set out early to head to a kids consignment sale that I had been looking forward to for months.  I didn't find much at the sale, but still had fun looking.  We had to run a couple other errands in the area, and ended up at our favorite Indian restaurant for lunch.  I should mention that we were spending the day in our old "hometown" so we were trying to soak up as many local amenities as we could!

Here I am at lunch, the owner of the restaurant brought us some spiced cashews, a cupcake, and a fruit bowl when she learned it was my birthday!

After lunch, we headed to my friends house for her sons 1st birthday party.  Arlo had a great time playing with all the kids and toys at the party, and I had a fun time visiting with friends.  After the party, we headed just down the road to John & Rhiannas house.  Their little lady, Lyra, is one of Arlo's besties.  So he of course was super excited to see her and have even more toys to play with!  The Ohio State football game was on, which the boys watched while mama R and I played with the kiddos.  We had homemade vegan chili and cornbread for dinner, and the best ever chocolate cupcakes for dessert.  I mean really, these cupcakes were heavenly.  R shared the recipe with me, and now I am sharing it here on the blog.  I want these cupcakes to get as much exposure as possible, they are really that good.  Best ever cupcakes.

Arlo helping me "blow out" my candle.  We relit it and he was actually able to blow it out on his own. 

Here are a few shots of the kids playing together.  They are so sweet with each other and at such a fun age.  A & L are only a week apart in age, and I have a feeling they are going to grow up being great friends!

laying down taking a rest and pretending to "sleep"

playing the piano together and giving hugs.  don't mind Arlo's pants, he was trying a new style  ;)

So that was my first day of being 33.  I went to bed feeling loved, happy, and full of gratitude for the people in my life.  And also with new batteries in the smoke detectors...

1st birthday party

Arlo had his first birthday party this past weekend.  I consider it a success, although I have never hosted a kid's party before so I don't have anything to compare it to!  We wanted to keep it relatively small, and most of the people who ended up coming was our friends who have children of their own.  I made chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes with buttercream icing from the book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World."  They were quite yummy, and I was super proud of how the cupcake display turned out.  It was exactly like I had pictured it in my head.  The theme of the party (if you want to call it that based on my cupcake display) was wildlife animals.  The original theme was going to be foxes but I couldn't find a whole bunch of small fox figurines so decided these would work.  (and side note - if you are looking for small animals such as these, I will save you the trips to seven different stores as I did, they can be found at the art's and craft's store, Michael's.)  I made the flag cupcake toppers from toothpicks and felt, and the cake stand is the same one we used at our wedding!

As far as decorations go, I kept it really simple.  Ok, actually pretty much non-existent.  I thought about buying signs and balloons to hang up, but hated the idea of just having to throw them out after the party.  I was trying to keep the party as eco-friendly as I could, so opted to only put up things we could recycle or later reuse.  I took down our Christmas cards (sniff sniff) from the card display, and put up Arlo's monthly photos.  I taped them to pieces of felt to help them stand out.  The change from the first photo to the last is remarkable, and really amazing to look at all the photos together in one place.

When we were in Tennessee, my Mom, Megan, and I made the banner for Arlo's high chair.  Megan did the computer work to print up the letters, her and I cut them out of felt together, and my Mom sewed the whole thing.  I love it, and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to.  Thanks Mom and Megs for making this happen!  And here is a little secret - the other side of the banner says "two" so it's definitely something we can reuse  :)

Ok, get ready for 4,000 pictures of Arlo and his birthday cupcake!

This last photo shows all that was left - just a bit of frosting! 

 And a few shots of some of the guests who came to the party:

Alexis (preggo with baby #2 - a girl!!), Carter, and Chris

Lisa and sweet baby Bean

Amy and baby Cameron, and Lisa (preggo with #2 - also a girl!) and Reagan

Rhianna and Lyra (looking pretty in pink!) - John was here too but I think when I took this photo he was probably off chatting with Erik about how awesome Ohio State is.  Ha.

And at the end of the party, Reagan jumped on Arlo's firetruck and started cruising around.  Arlo grabbed onto the back and had to walk very quickly to keep up with her speedy legs.  At one point he let go and Reagan said something like "he push" or "Arlo push" so we helped him back up and off they went.  I love watching him interact with other kids!

so bummed this picture came out blurry, they were just moving too fast!

Instead of gifts, we asked friends who wanted to buy something to bring a gift for the local animal shelter, either food or a toy.  Almost everyone brought something for the animals, and a few broke the rule and brought Arlo a present - you people know who you are!  Really, we very much appreciated everything and the only thing we expected was for our friends to come, hang out, and eat cupcakes.  Arlo seemed to have a blast and I think he was pretty happy our house was filled with so many people, including the four other kids, ranging in age from four months up to three years old.  A big thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Arlo's first year!

this picture is the best if you knew what happened next - I got slapped in the face with a baby hand full of frosting.  ha!