Memories To Live By

Memories I Don't Want To Forget

Since I'm just now starting this blog, there are a few things I hope that I don't ever forget about my son. Either way, I thought I'd jot them down ...
When I was pregnant with him, we was very active already! Especially when the music got going, he was just a dancin' machine! There was a song by Sean Paul that came out in early 2005 that he absolutely loved! I had a 35-minute commute to and from work so it was almost guaranteed that I'd hear it once a day. I knew to adjust the seat belt around my baby bump when that song came on :) The best part was after he was in this world with us, even as young as 4 months old, if that particular song came on the TV (they used if for a commercial), he would stop everything he was doing just to listen to that song. To this day music is his delight. He loves to play guitar hero and Rock Band with his dad on XBOX. He has his own little electric toy guitar that he pretends to jam out on! I've got to find those videos of him ...

Since I knew early on that he loved music, we did a couple of things for him that were music related. We made sure that when he went to sleep we had music playing for him in the background. That helped him go to sleep sooner. I also sang to him a popular baby song but I changed the words a little:

"Rock-a-by baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bal breaks, the cradle will fall, and mom will catch Lito, cradle and all"

He loved it! To this day he still asks me to sing it to him :)

His first word was 'blue' ... I think he just liked how that sounded! His next word was Dada. He was a little behind on everything except crawling. And when he crawled, he crawled with his right leg up (so that his foot was actually on the ground) and his left knee on the ground. It was the funniest thing to watch! But he would actually go faster that way, it was amazing!

He grew hair much faster than his sister too. He was always very close to me. He loves his dad but he really enjoys being around me. I think it's because he's very much like me. He's very intune with emotions and reading people. He laughs all the time! When he was a baby, one of his favorite pasttimes was just to watch the fan blades going in circles. He would laugh hysterically and of course that made me laugh like crazy! He's very loving and he really has the kindest heart. He's a stickler for routines, he gets very upset if things don't go 'as planned'.

He was very behind in getting potty trained. He was in training pants for almost 8 months! It finally happened when we took a trip to New Jersey. He thought it was so cool that there was a bathroom that he could go to all by himself :) The trip was just for one day and one night, and by the time we got back to our house, he was going by himself! It was truly a blessing because that was only months away from Solana Leila being born and I certainly didn't want to have two kids in diapers (selfish, I know!).

People find it amazing that he stayed in his crib for 3 and a half years! He loved that crib. He had his own room and was sleeping in his crib by the time he was 6 weeks old. He was somewhat of a good sleeper. But he didn't leave his crib until he was 3 and a half years and the only reason he left it is because we bought him a big boy bed in order to use the crib for our daughter! Otherwise, who knows how long he would have wanted to stay there!

He started walking at 14 months (the same time I stopped nursing him). Putting him to bed after he learned how to walk was so crazy! He realized he was more independent and he hated bedtime. It was a scene every night for a few months. Then, one day, Danny started giving him 'warnings'. He would say, "Okay Lito, bed time in 5 minutes" and Lito would just say, "OK". It was a miracle! Danny would give him 2-3 'warnings' before starting the bedtime routine and it worked wonders. No more nighttime nightmares for us or him!

His eating habits have become somewhat annoying. When he got to baby food jars, he would eat almost anything. When he started solids, he wasn't very particular. When he got to be around 2 years old, he started getting finnicky. He would only eat fishsticks, chicken nuggets, bread (heated or toasted) or pizza (and only certain kinds of pizza and he would pick off all the cheese to eat just the breading). I noticed he had a pattern. Everything he ate had to be either fried, crunchy or yellow / tan. He's almost 5 now and he's still on that same pattern. The only food he has added is fried chicken. He'll eat some fruit but these only include bananas, melons, (both still keeping with the color theme!), watermelon and sometimes grapes. He definitely doesn't eat any vegetables. He does drink a lot of juices and milk, which is good but his diet was so concerning to me that I talked to his doctor. She said he'd grow out of it ... we're still waiting. In the mean time, he gets a slew of vitamins at night, just to make sure he's getting all his nutrients.

He was behind in his speech too. For too long, neither of his grandmothers really understood him. I am so thankful that he's gotten beyond that now. In fact, as you can see from the prior posts, he's reasoning and rationalizing things so much these days. It's great! He starts pre-K this fall and I'm a nervous wreck. He's really excited though so I'm not showing him my nerves.

He does have a temper though ... time outs have become my best friend. I jokingly say that he got his grandmother's patience (aka, none!). Lately he has started to talk back and so it's been taking a lot of time outs for him to understand that I'm not going to let him get away with being rude. When he was 3, I worried about his anger. He would really get upset at things that didn't make sense. He would clench his teeth and put his hands in tight little fists. He would want to grab me and squeeze or grab things near him. I thought about asking if there are anger management classes for preschoolers but he has started to understand that this is not appropriate behavior. I'm hoping it was just a phase. He still requires time outs in his room and every once in a while, he'll be inappropriate in there. Maybe that's why I'm nervous about pre-K....

Oh, let me not forget to tell you about his fear of water. I'm not sure where it started but he is petrified of getting water in his eyes. I'm guessing I probably got shampoo in his eyes one time and since then he literally cries and shakes nervously when he has to get his hair washed. Now that he's listening to reason a little more, he is starting to get over that fear.

Another feature that I want to never forget is how much he loves taking pictures! He loves to be in pictures and he loves to take them of other people! Between his love of the camera and his love of music, both Danny and I have our bets on him being in showbiz somehow (either modelling, singing or a musician of some sort!)!! I can't wait to see what he wants to pursue!

He's a great little guy with some awesome manners. His heart is made of gold, he truly cares for other people. I get teary just thinking about all the pain he'll face in life and I hope that I'm around to comfort him as long as he needs me. I'm truly blessed to be forming his little mind and helping him find his passions and loves in life.

I Love you Lito, with all my heart!!!