He's Got the Beat!

Christian has begun to spend his time singing while he's in the car or when he is playing. It's great to see him enjoy one of my own passions. I love music! I love dancing and singing. I think it's in my blood, being I'm Costa Rican. I think he also gets the love of music from his Abuelito (Grandpa) Fernando. Don Fernando can play a guitar and drums like no body's business. He has a great sense of beat. Brian tells me that he used to be in a band in New York when Brian was young. I would have loved to see him in action. I'm sure it was a great show!

My little guy is now following in his footsteps. He can't sit still when he hears music. Right now he tells me that his favorite song is "Rock Star" by Pink. I know.... who would have thought. But he came up with that one on his own. This week they sent home one of his art projects from school. It was a bumble bee. He was quick to tell me that his friend, Dillan had taken his eye off of it. He was really disappointed. Ironically, Christian recorded for me the bumble bee song on my new Blackberry. So I thought I would share. He started singing it really cute but then he got shy and started being silly. But that's what I like about it. He is so silly at times. He has a great sense of humor.

Jump Bunch - Javelins and Jump Ropes!

Today, Christian attended his Jump Bunch Class at day care. He loves that class. When I asked him what he did in Jump Bunch today, he said that he " threw that big thing and used my big muscles to throw it". I think he meant the javelin.

According to the Jump Bunch website, "JumpBunch is a fun, structured program that introduces children to a wide range of sports, helps build coordination, self-esteem, and a life-long love of sports and fitness. JumpBunch is offered at preschools, daycare facilities, elementary schools, parks/recreation departments, or any venue where children are gathered."

This week the Jump Bunch Preschool Program combined the Olympic sport of Javelins with the age-old sport of Jump Ropes! They started by passing out foam Javelins to all the kids and then having them line up in a row. They were instructed on how to hold the Javelin over their shoulders. Then the good times started rolling as they threw them as far as they could. After several repetitions, it was on to Jump Ropes. Although some children in this age-group could master this activity, mostly we spent time teaching how to first simply step over the rope, bring it over our heads, and repeat over and over. We incorporated many progression and regression steps as necessary. Excellent gross motor skill development!

Teeth or Treat

Last week Christian had his first visit to the dentist. I have to admit that I was more nervous about the visit then he was. As a mother, you always hope that you are doing things right. I decided to make the appointment because I started noticing a little black spot on his back molar. Horror set in. I had been meaning to take him since he turned three but because his teeth looked pretty good, I didn't bother.

Christian loved the dentist visit. I had brought him with me to my last dental cleaning so he could meet the dentist and he let him play on the chair by moving him up and down on the chair. He also sent home a picture with him. A few days before the dentist appointment, when I made his appointment, he sent home a brand new Diego tooth brush. He loved it!! He also told me to share with him the picture from the time he had come with me so he could remember the dentist.

The night before his visit, I told him all about the dentist and showed him the picture. I even laid him down with his head in my lap and I acted like I was the dentist cleaning his teeth. With that he was ready to go! He got up the next morning excited to go see the dentist because he knew he was going to get another brand new tooth brush as a prize.

Today, he had his follow up visit to fill the cavity. Daddy went along for this visit. He was a brave boy. He had the numbing gel put on him and then they put a shot in. Daddy said he didn't cry. Afterwards, his lip was so numb that he kept biting his lip. Needless to say, his lip is huge but he still likes the dentist. Makes me think twice about choosing the treat the next time he asks for it.

Introduction

My name is Annette. I've been married almost 12 years to the best husband a woman could ask for. His name is Brian. We married September 1997 after dating 6 years. You can say that Brian and I have been very determined to have everything planned out in our lives. Before having children, we had a check list of things we wanted to do before having children. We planned to travel to lots of places together, we saved money to be able to own our own property and build a house, get our college degrees, and be stable in our jobs. With God's help, we have been very fortunate to accomplish all of those goals that we "planned" for ourselves. With all of those things accomplished, it was time to plan our family. One thing that we were not expecting was to have the most amazing little boy that God could give someone. I'm not saying it just because he's my son. I know.... every mom says that. But it's true with Christian. He never seizes to amage us. I asked him the other night: "Christian, why do you think that I got so lucky because God gave me such a wonderful boy?". Christian looked up at me and with a sly, little smile on his face he said: "I don't know.... it's because He's so smart." I couldn't agree more!!

He was born in February. Being pregnant was a very happy time in my life. Brian pampered me and Christian the whole pregnancy. I craved fruit - no sweets and junk for me. It was always fruit. To this day, Christian would take a bowl of fruit over a piece of cake. I stayed pretty active. My neighbors would tell you, I was working out in the yard up to the last week of my pregnancy. With my big belly, I would pull tree limbs or weeds out in the woods. I also did aerobics every other day and worked till the Friday before I went into labor. I loved being pregnant!!! My little guy didn't cause much problems. The only thing I had to watch was my gall bladder. Toward the end of the pregnancy, I started getting pains on the top right side of my belly. Come to find out, it was all the fatty food that I was eating. But it was nothing that a strict low fat diet couldn't fix. No more sour cream, cheese, and milk. Staying true to his party-animal personality, Christian wanted to come on Saturday the 18th. We were celebrating Uncle Brad's birthday at his house. I waited as long as I could but then had to leave the party early. On our way to the house to get our overnight bag, there was an accident and the road was blocked off. Brian had to run out of the car and ask them to let us through. They actually did let us through and they all looked at me drive by as I was breathing. Hoo Hoo HEEE.... Hoo Hoo HEE..... How embarrassing.... but to this day when I drive by that road, I remember the day that Christian decided to come and play.

Now Christian is 3 years and 5 months old. He has attended day care since he was about 7 months old. I stayed home with him the first 3 months of his life. Daddy got to stay home with us the first 3 weeks. Boy, was I glad. Those late nights were something to remember. But that was actually the best times for me, I would feed him at night and carefully look at how he gazed up at me. How his little fingers wiggled and held on to my finger. How he scratched his little cheek one day and to this day, I see that little mark on his face and it takes me back to the nights I held him tight in my arms. That was OUR time!!

Tia Scarlett kept him for about 4 months after I returned to work. Scarlett would drive 45 minutes every morning to come watch Christian. I can't express how much I love her for that. She promised to talk to him in spanish when she was with him. That was one of my things with Christian, I wanted him to learn spanish and be bilingual. Although he has now moved more towards the English language, he still understands lots of Spanish and he knows when strangers are speaking in Spanish. It's amazing what they retain.

Then Scarlett had to take more classes in school and we finally found an opening in a daycare for Christian. He attended day care 3 days a week and Tia Miti (and Mason) watched him the other 2 days a week. God bless Miti for doing what she did. It was like having twins those two days. Mason was just born and she tended to both of them. I know it was hard work for Miti but she did it for a little over 2 years. I'm forever indebted to them for all they did for Christian those two years. I guess the best part was that Mason and Christian (Kiki -like Mason likes to call him) are best of friends now. They're inseparable.

This past December 08 we got the worst news ever!! His day care was closing it's doors. That meant that we would have to find a new daycare. Luckily we were able to find one that was just 5 minutes further away. Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Jennifer are wonderful with Christian. The only downside was that we had to put Christian in day care all week instead of only 3 days. So Christian wasn't able to stay with Mason and Tia Miti any more. What really helped Christian transition into the new school was that his buddies, Nathan (Nate) and Eli, moved to the new day care with him. And with that, grew some great friendships with their moms, Laura and Kelli.

I decided to start this blog because I am a keepsake fanatic!!! I love to keep all of his school notes and art work that he gets in school. I love to go back and read about what he has been taught in school and see if he is on track with his development.

I know that our house will not be able to handle all the things that we are going to see during his school career. So I thought I would start recording all of those things on a blog instead of trying to hold on to all those material things. For me, this is a start of a personal blog that I hope to be able to refer back to at any time and share with friends and family. Who knows, maybe one day if Christian is blessed with his own children, they can refer back too and see what a wonderful boy he was as he was growing up. I'll be catching up some things at first but then I hope to post things day by day.