November 30, 2015

Fox, Katie & Nadine in 2015: Week 43

Day 295
Trip to the Fair!

Day 296
On this day, I finally finished Fox's Chucky Costume. Phew, I swore, I will never ever make a costume myself. Let's see what next year brings! ;)

Day 297
Fox and I were playing the yard when an airplane flew by. Fox loves airplanes and got really excited, pointed and yelled "Wow". When it flew away, he asked for "More". I explained to him that the airplane went away and we'll have to wait for the next one and the kid lost his shit! 
He ran all the way over to the pool fence and pouted for three minutes straight. Wouldn't even look at me! Haha. He has a lot of attitude in that little body, I'm telling you!

Day 298
We spent the day with Katie's family and went to dinner that night. Love my little family!

Day 299
I think I mentioned this before, but Fox loves to pretend drive in our cars. It's his all time favorite thing to do!

Day 300
My little helper is cleaning the carpets with me!

Day 301
We went to the park to play and look at the ducks!

November 29, 2015

Fox, Katie & Nadine in 2015: Week 42

Day 288
Waiting at the dentist for Fox's second check up! Everything looked great and he did awesome!

Day 289
Ashlie, Brad, Katie and I went to a Garth Brooks Concert. Apparently Ashlie and Katie are huge fans. I didn't know any songs and thought the concert was pretty cheesy. Not a fan!

Day 290
Waiting with my boy for Gymboree to open.

Day 291
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, so we decided to go to a local play place that Fox loves. 

Day 292
Pumpkin Patch Fun with Fox's buddies. 

Day 293
We had to run some errands after work and took a little play break at the playground at the mall. 

Day 294
As you all know, Fox was Chucky for Halloween. After we bought his bride, he carried it around for the rest of the night. He loved her. LOL
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November 26, 2015

Fox | 18 Month Update




Weight:
24.6 lbs

Height:
32 inches

Health:
Poor guy had his first ear infection this month. When he didn’t act like himself and had a really runny nose and light cough, we knew something was up. Luckily, we got him into the doctor quickly and he had to take his first round of antibiotics. He is such a trooper though, he was still happily playing for the most part and slept like a champ. 
He also had his second dentist visit this month and they said his teeth looked perfect!

Nicknames:
Big Honey, Bubba, Turkey, Schatzi, Bubbles, Mr. Fox, Foxy, Pumpkin, Poodle 

Eating:
Still the pickiest eater ever. It’s one of my biggest struggles and worries as a mom, because I always feel like he’s not getting the right nutrients. The doctor said he was growing fine and nothing to be worried about, but I still do. You could put a big piece of chocolate on his tray and he would dry heave, not knowing what it is, but refusing to even try it.
His favorites this month were fish sticks, chicken, blueberries, apple sauce, yoghurt, bananas, smoothies, strawberries, Carmela’s Chicken (it’s a Pasta Dish we get at Macaroni Grill and the kid is obsessed), ketchup (he’s obsessed and yells “ack” when he wants it), Belvita Breakfast bars, dried fruit

Teething: 
No new teeth this month, he has 16 now. 

Sleeping:
He’s been sleeping great. We get about 11 hours at night and 2-3 hours for nap. 3 hours is the norm, but you never know.  
He goes to bed around 8pm and wakes up around 7am. He’s been doing better at falling asleep more quickly than last month, which might be because we moved his bedtime a little back.
He loves to read books before bed and has his favorites (Laura’s Star, Mommy, Mama & me, Pout Pout Fish, Where the wild things are). After books, we rock and sing songs for a few minutes and he will usually tell us when he’s ready for bed and gets really excited when we ask him if he wants to go to bed. Some nights, he knows bedtime is coming though and he tries to distract us, pointing at random things in his room, yelling “Woooow!”. Smart cookie!



Diapers:
Size 4

Clothing:
18-24 months, Size 5 Shoe  

Social:
He’s still acting shy sometimes, although he’s been getting better in public. He smiles at everyone, gives people high fives and “knuckles” and waves his little heart out.
He recently started to hit us, but he knows that he has to apologize immediately and leans in for a hug and a kiss a second after he hits you. It’s so cute, but we’re trying to teach him that hitting is not acceptable.
He understands right from wrong, but sometimes does things to get a reaction.
We don’t have another kid to compare him to, but everyone is always commenting on what a good boy he is and we agree. He listens well and is happy 99.9% of the time. Which probably means our next kid will be a terror…lol.
He is very empathetic and gets very upset when someone he loves get hurt. He shows his boo boo lip and starts bawling immediately, it is so cute and sad at the same time.
Fox can throw tantrums like no ones business. If he doesn't get what he wants, he shows us his boo boo lip, acts like he's hitting us and then usually trolls off in a corner and shows us his cold shoulder. It's hard not to laugh when he does it!
His favorite word is "Nooooo".
He can also be very sweet and has been really attached to his Mamas. My favorite thing right now is, when he grabs my hand and pulls me somewhere, because he wants to go somewhere or show me something. 

Words:
Oh my word, his vocabulary exploded this month and I can’t even remember all the words he says now. It’s mostly one word phrases though, his pediatrician told us that his language will most likely be delayed compared to other kids his age, since he is learning three languages (English, German and Matthias speaks Danish with him). They said his comprehension is much better, but the speaking part will most likely be behind for a while. So far they said he is right where he should be, but we’ll see what happens in the future.
Some new words that come to mind this month were Water, Santa, Outside and Minnie. He repeats a lot of the things we say, or at least tries to. 


Likes:
Music and dancing (his favorite song is “The Disneyland Paint the Night Parade"), being outside, swimming, bigger kids, sleeping on his side and stomach, Cosie, showering, having his mommies attention, watching videos of himself, cell phones and remotes, playing peek-a-boo, playing hide and seek, his stuffed animals, looking at pictures of Katie, me and himself on our picture wall, our vacuum cleaner, phones, playing soccer, riding and sitting in his cozy coupe, being independent, the Children’s Museum , the Aquarium, Open Play at Gymboree, reading books, balls, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, riding those mechanical cars in the mall, climbing, watching the Disney parade on youtube, Kettle Corn (we can thank grandpa for that one!), pretend driving our car (he throws an epic meltdown whenever we tell him no), Trick or Treating, putting his fingers and hands in his nose and mouth (not sure what's up with that, he just started this recently and never quits)

Dislikes:
When we take something away from him, changing his diaper or getting dressed (basically anything where he is restrained), putting lotion on after his bath, kisses from our dog Cosie (I don’t blame him, he never quits!), when we don’t allow him to do something, when we go inside after playing outside, trying new foods

Fun things we did:
We had so much fun this month. We went to three Pumpkin Patches, had a Halloween Party at our house and went Trick or Treating. Fox loved it all!
Matthias family came to visit us and Fox went to the Arizona State Fair twice, once with us and once with Grandma and Grandpa! He also went to the Zoo, we are so happy that the weather is finally better to go outside!

Milestones:
He learned so many words this month and understands a lot as well. While he speaks more English than German words, I know he understands them, but I’m hoping to boost his German in the next few months (Our new au pair, who will start in January, is actually from Germany and will speak German to him as well – I’m thrilled!).
He started mimicking children songs this month, doing the motions to Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Teapot. So cute!

What we’re looking forward to:
We are going on a Cruise with Katie’s family to the Caribbean and can’t wait to spend a full week with Mr. Fox.
We are also looking forward to all the Christmas activities starting, to decorate our house and see Santa. Fox is obsessed with Santa, he points him out at every store, asks to see him on TV and I can’t wait to see what happens when he meets the real deal! 



November 18, 2015

Keeping up with German Traditions

Last year, we attended our first Sankt Martin's Lantern Walk here in Phoenix. I grew up with this tradition in Germany and I love that we have a German group here that organizes the event for all the kids. 
I want Fox to learn about his German heritage and hopefully he will enjoy all these German traditions and holidays we celebrate over the year as much as I do, when he is older. 

The Lantern Walk was held at MacDonald's Ranch, which is where we also went to the Pumpkin Patch a few weeks ago. We came a little early, so we could play and visit the petting zoo before the lantern walk started. 





This is St. Martin! Fox is holding his Lantern Stick (that he broke the night before after two minutes of me handing it to him!), but I didn't attach the lantern to it until a little later (because I had learned from the incident the night before...haha).


My friend Julia came from Tucson with her kids as well, her daughter loves Mr. Fox! 

Ready to start the walk! Of course, it's nothing compared to the ones I used to attend in Germany, but we had fun nonetheless and Fox enjoyed looking at all the pretty lanterns and hear the kids sing. 




It was a fun afternoon/evening and we are looking forward to next year!
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November 11, 2015

Halloween 2015

On Halloween weekend, Fox, aka Chucky, invited some of his best buddies for a Halloween Party at our house. 
We got really lucky with the weather and it was cool enough for us to have the party indoors and out!

Robber and Bag of Money! I loved this costume!

In usual Fox fashion, he was really shy at first and stayed in his bouncy house, just watching everyone, for the first 20 minutes of the party. 

All of his friends had a lot of fun playing with his toys!

Fox loved our friend Carissa. He let her carry him around and held her hand, it was so sweet!


Fox also got a kiss from Snow White! Here she is, getting ready to plant one on him!

I'm not sure if she liked him or was just trying to convince him to give her a turn in the Cozy Coupe! ;) Fox didn't know what to think of this either!








All the ladies, minus a few who showed up later. 




This picture seriously melts my heart!







Picking the perfect drink! 


We had so much fun and we love having all of these awesome people in our lives! 

Later that night, Katie's family came over to go trick or treating with us.
I was surprised that Fox carried his bag all by himself most of the way. 


After the first house, he knew what to do and loved it!


Picking the perfect candy, that one of his Mamas will eat later...haha. 



He only got scared at one house where they had a fog machine, but other than that, he did great. He knocked everywhere, said his version of "Trick or Treat" (that sounded like "Tekateet") and collected his candy. 



After we returned home, we gave out candy to all the neighbor kids and he was obsessed with opening the door and giving them candy. It's been days, and he still runs to the front door, asking for "Tekateet". Sorry Buddy, we'll have to wait until next year! 
This Halloween totally exceeded my expectations of what I thought it was going to be, with him being this young! 
I loved every minute of watching him!
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