A whole month has gone by!

It's hard to believe that an entire month has flown by since I lasted posted. You would think that with an entire 2 weeks off I would have had the time but when you have an active 19 month old at home with you all day there just isn't time. Anytime I tried to sit down Anthony would walk in and say "No, no" while shaking his head and pulling my arm and pointing for me to put down the computer mouse. Last week we finally got back into the old routine of work and daycare but still I found no time. When Anthony finally goes to sleep I still lose out on computer time since this is when Randel takes over on the computer. So, I finally decided to bring my camera to school and use a few minutes from my planning time to update. Warning, this will be long since it's been so long.
2008 was a wonderful year for us. Anthony turned one and by far this has been the best time. He went from a baby who was completely dependent on us to being his own person with his own unique personality. It's amazing how much children learn in this time period. One month he was crawling the next he was walking and then running and talking up a storm. He understands everything you say but is really good at pretending to not have heard you. I am on to him on this though. He usually stares off into space as if he is thinking about something deeply and just can not be disturbed at the moment.
Christmas was wonderful and Anthony finally understood that if he torn something open there was always something fun for him under all the paper. He got way more toys than he needed and our home has become his own personal playhouse that we pretty much just rent a room from. He actually has 5 bikes/cars stationed outside the front door and he will play with each one of. them. He recieved a tricycle that also has a handy push bar so that we can help push him along until he learns to pedal on his own. He loves to stroll the neighborhood in his new bike. We also noticed that he grew in the few weeks since Christmas because he can now reach the pedals. Another major milestone was that he learned to actually hit a ball that is pitched to him. We were playing outside while randel was at work and it looked like he was bored with the same 'ol bat on the tee thing so I decided to pitch it to him and he took the proper stance, I pitched and on the very first swing he hit the ball with all his might. I was jumping up and down like I had just seen him hit the game winning ball for his team thinking that my son was a genius. Of course as soon as I told randel he had him out there practicing some more and for christmas he bought him a brand new "better" bat and ball and his first glove so he has been practing how to catch. Hopefully I will get him on video doing this but he doesn't like to be recorded doing it for some reason.
Anthony got to spend New Years day with us and Mia and Grandad at the zoo. Since he loves animals right now and making the sounds to each of them we figured he would enjoy a lot more than he has in the past. He had lots of fun getting to see all the animals that he usually only sees in books. He would take the lead and go from one window or cage to another looking in to see what was in there. He even went and pet and combed the goats. The only downside was that each section we went to he liked so much that he would throw a fit when we left then he would forget as soon as we got to something new and fascinating.
This past weekend we made the drive up to Waco and watched the Bears beat Texas Tech. Anthony had fun and clapped and cheered like crazy. He even got his very own baylor basketball which he stared at all the way home. Saturday he finally got his crazy mane tamed. It's a little shorter than I prefer but Randel wanted it short so we will have to wait to see those curls at least a month.
All in all 2009 looks like it will be just as fun and exciting as 2008 and we can't wait for all the new things in store for us. Of course I am including a few pics of our wonderful "little" boy.

Having fun with his new truck.



Showing off just some of the elmo gear he recieved.





His new tricycle.

Watching the fish with Grandad.

Feeding the fish with Mia.

Brushing the goats.

Pooped out from a long day at the zoo.

His new baylor hat.

Having fun at the park and sporting his new haircut.

Wrestling and dancing with Daddy!

Anthony and Daddy were having a blast the other night wrestling and dancing together and I just had to take video to share with everyone. Makes me smile everytime I see it.

Ring, ring, ring daddy are you there?

18 months already

Anthony had his 18 month well check on Friday. It's hard to believe that he is already that old. I remember sitting in the same doctor's room when he was just 4 days old and now there we were and instead of a quiet sleeping tiny baby I was trying to entertain a wild 18 month old who we soon found out no longer likes the man that walks in and pokes and prods him everywhere. Anthony has been his usual happy self so it was a shock to find out he had a left ear infection and bronchitis. So we are back on the neubulizer treaments that he had to do a year ago. If you don't know what it is it's a machine with a little mask that you have to put up to their face while medicine comes out and they have to breath it in. It's terrible and Anthony hates it. He cries and squirms everywhere. The thing isn't short either, it's supposed to be at least 10 minutes but I don't think we ever have made it that far. Hopefully he gets better soon so we don't have to keep torturing him with it. We did find out that he weighs 30 pounds 8 ounces and is 33 and a half inches tall, this is the average size of a 3 year old! I guess that's why they call him Big Bo at school.

So I still get updates from babycenter telling me what most children Anthony's age are doing. This week it said the following:

Your 18-month-old
How your toddler's growing: You may observe a spurt in physical development this month. Your toddler is surer on her feet, loves to climb all over your furniture, and can connect with a kick ball if she concentrates hard enough.

I think they were dead on with the physical development. Check out the pic below to see him lifting up his bouncy chair. He actually picked it up above his head. Crazy little guy.


He has also really gotten into wearing hats, which is great since this is the time for him to be covering up that big head of his. Of course I had to post a pic of him sporting his latest hat.


Since Anthony got moved up to the 2 year old room early he has been watching the big kids use the potty and I think it's helping him move towards that a little quicker. We went ahead and bought him a potty chair and set it up so he could get used to it at home also. The first time he sat on it he was just trying it out but he actually went potty, he still had his diaper on though so he went in that but hey at least he knew what he was supposed to be doing, right? Since he did that Randel decided today to just sit him on it without a diaper and he actually peed, unfortunatly for Randel he forgot to put the pee guard on and Anthony got him! Like I said, at least he understands the concept, even if it means wetting daddy during the learning process. Here he is saying cheese while sitting on his cool elmo potty chair.

Anthony is a cousin!

On Thanksgiving day Anthony became a cousin. Bodie Max Martyak was born at 7:11 am weighing in at a whopping 10 pounds and measuring ove 23 inches! Aunt Stacy did an amazing job enduring over 3 days of labor. Anthony already can say Bodie's name and can't wait to start throwing the football around. Check out the adorable Bodie:



On the home front, we obviosuly had a very exciting thanksgiving. Anthony spent his week surrounded by family and had a grand time. Here are a few pics since it's been awhile since I have updated and as many know with Anthony just a weeks time can be a big difference. He now will say "thank you" if you give him something and his abuelo has taught him to say "aw man". He has become very independent and bossy! He also likes posing for pictures now and will say "cheeeese" so you can take his picture.


Enjoying the fall weather.

Liking his food at michaels weddding this weekend and dancing with daddy.

Posing for the camera and enjoying a lollipop he shouldn't be eating.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Just looking cute and knowing it.

Helping decorate the christmas tree.

Enjoying his first happy meal cheeseburger.

Shoes and School

I had to record Anthony having his shoe meltdown.

Also, Anthony was moved up to the preschool room a couple of weeks ago. Yup he just keeps getting older and older. He was actually moved up because they said he was very mature for the rest of the kiddos in the toddler class and would benefit more from being around the older kids. We think it could also be that he likes to bully the little ones around but I'll go ahead and go with him just being mature for his age. Now that he is in preschool he actually gets homework which usually is something like ask mom and dad to read to you or bring something that starts with the letter I to school. When his teacher was explaining to me everything they do she ended it by telling me not to forget to read to him each day because it is very important for kids to be read to. It was funny to be on the other end of that conversation since I find myself telling my students parents that over and over. She also pointed out that Anthony can speak lots of words and do it very clearly so she actually undestands him a lot better than the older kids in the class. :) Okay, I am done bragging about my genious son. Here are some pics of him with his backpack though they don't do him justice, in person he looks even super cuter especially when walking along to school.

Finally, here are a few pics of anthony with his new slippers.

Shoes

Anthony has gotten into a stage where knows exactly what he wants and has no problem telling you. He will point to where he wants you to sit, he does not like it if he hands you something and you set it down or hand it to someone else, he will go get the item and put it back in your hand to let you know that YOU are the one that is supposed to hold it. He has also gotten to be very particular about his shoes. The boy loves shoes. Mia and Grandad took him shoe shopping and Mia picked out three pairs for him but he would only try on one pair. He happily showed them off to us when we picked him up. He also hates to have them off or for that matter anyone else around him to have them off. If I take my shoes off he will scream out, SHOES! SHOES! SHOES! and run over and pick them up so you will put them back on. Oh, and don't try to take his off!!! He won't even take them off at night. He is so obsessed with them he is even having nightmares about them being off. I heard him calling out while he was sleeping so I went in to check on him and he was alseep yelling out SHOES! SHOES! and grabbing at his feet making sure they were still on. He now has slippers to where to bed. :)

ok so two weeks late

I meant to post halloween pics right when I took them but I was hoping to be able to upload the video we took because it was super cute. Unfortunatly my mac is full and won't take video so until I suck it up and by a back up drive the video will have to wait but it's a must see ( at least I think so.) This was Anthonys second halloween but the first where he actually understood what was going on. It took him watching Ashton (Robin) and Dylan (Batman) go up to houses to understand that if he knocked on a door someone would come out and put candy in his bucket. Soon he was right there with them banging on doors and even taking extra helpings if allowed to do so.