Oops two months just slipped by ...

Well, I don't have time to write about everything in our lives, but this seems like a good place to start.  I took this video while I was home over February break.  It was really nice for both of us to get to spend several days together.  Ben was training at his new job all day, so it was a funny role reversal.  Unfortunately, it was a little hard on Rowan when I went back to school.  Still, spring break is right around the corner and then before we know it we will have all of July to play. :)

Rowan obviously likes paint (he likes to draw with pencils, markers, and crayons, too) and he has gotten very vocal - the sign language has helped a lot and he is starting to repeat a lot of what he hears.  Below are some of the words he says regularly:

Mama, daddy, Amy, baby, more, all done, please, thank you, milk, juice, eat, peanut butter (pee-buh), banana (nana), bread, cracker, cookie, berry, bye bye, hi (in person), hello (usually for the phone), good night, bed (he loves to sign this one), home, kitty, cat, dog, sun, outside ("aside"), play, ding dong, up, down, head, toes, belly, nose, yucky (usually followed by a spitting sound), change, gentle (ten-til), big, wow, red, yellow, green (geen), blue, purple, circle, oval, square, and crescent (seriously – he just picked up the crescent from his shape ball this afternoon and said it super clearly.)  He also repeats a lot of the vocabulary that he learns from Baby Einstein videos, and uses some of it in context.  He is trying so hard to learn to say "refrigerator" (right now it sounds like "awfrul")

He also says "Mama home?" and "how you?" and he is just starting to repeat back "I love you."  His memory for music is also a little crazy.  He sings along with a lot of his favorite songs and today he surprised me by joining in with a couple songs that I have sung to him before but hadn't in quite awhile, like my weird little Rowan song set to the tune of Frere Jacques: Baby Rowan, Baby Rowan, how are you? How are you?  Baby baby Rowan, baby baby Rowan.  I love you, I love you.

Rowan is still finicky about foods.  He still prefers purees.  He loves most soups ... unfortunately, he thinks he can feed them to himself.  It's a little problematic since he tries to turn the spoon over before putting it in his mouth.  These pictures are from a trip to Upper Crust in Fredonia back in February - the boy loves some potato soup!  He is also getting more willing with pasta, but he refuses basically all bread and bread-like things.  He loves fruits and veggies, but only as purees/smoothies (except berries and the occasional banana.)  He loves yogurt and still drinks some milk.  He loves sweet potatoes and the aforementioned potato soup, but he will have NOTHING to do with mashed potatoes (he literally acted like I was trying to poison him when I offered him a spoonful a couple days ago.)  We offer him a lot of foods, but he usually pushes it away with a resolute "no" or just wants to stab at it with a fork/spoon and play with it (or feed it to one of us ... which is cute, but can be messy and painful.)

Grinning at the indoor play space at Marketplace

Super Dude gets serious with blocks at B & N

Recent warm afternoon - getting a little sun.

Ben went back to work full time in mid-February.  It has been a major adjustment for our family, but there are a lot of benefits.  Being able to pay our bills more easily is an obvious one, but we are also back to having two cars.  Rowan has gotten MUCH better about going out over the past few months.  He is positively relaxed in the car now, a huge change from infancy.  We take him out a lot now so that he can play and socialize and also to keep all of us from feeling cooped up.  It will be great when we can mix in parks, playgrounds, and the beach - but for now while there's still snow we haunt Barnes & Noble, the play space at Marketplace Mall, and the Kid's Club at our gym.  It's even getting relatively easy to take him shopping - shhh, don't tell him shopping carts aren't actually an amusement park ride!! :)

Belly time!

Tee-hee-hee!

I definitely caught him the other day with his diaper pulled off and push down the leg of his pajamas.  He was very proud of himself.  After I checked and saw what he'd done, he pushed away my hand and re-zipped his pajama VERY resolutely, like, and that's the way it's STAYING!

MORE LATER!!! <3<3