Putting 2012 and Asher to bed!

We were hit with monster colds this past week.  Asher had a double ear infection with a bulging ear drum, Jed had extra fluid in his ears and I lost my sense of taste and smell. In fact, as I am writing this, I still cannot taste or smell. Anyway, the good news is that we are all on the mend. 

With that said, we are still struggling with a child who refuses to sleep, but like one of Jed's friends said, "Did you really think you were going to be the only parent that didn't have a sleep issue with their baby?" We now realize that a lack of sleep is just part of the journey we must take as parents. In the meantime, we have had extra cuddle time with Asher which we have tried to enjoy even if it is at odd hours of the night.

It was a wonderful year.  We have enjoyed listening to Asher's language explode in the last few weeks. He says so many words now that we stopped counting. In 2012, Asher learned to walk, run, and talk. He also learned how to crawl out of his crib, play with his new friends at Toddlers on the Hill, and give kisses and hugs.

Here are some great shots of our sweet baby that didn't make the blog cut this year, but are still so much fun to "oohh" and "aahh" over!

Playing in a park with the Pittsburgh skyline-November

Grandpa and Asher are very cool in their shades!

Having fun in the sand in Florida-November

Playing with cousins in Rochester-December

Farewell 2012!

Why Can't I Eat Cat Food?

Asher couldn't wait to become a 2 year old and wanted to know what the hype was all about so, he decided that it was time to start playing the part.  This means that he has given his Mommy and Daddy a run for their money.  He constantly climbs and gets into everything, opens all kinds of doors with locks, and is a little bit naughty which has left us to shake our heads and begin the timeout routine. 

Timeout usually consists of one of us taking him to a wall near our dining room and telling him what he has done. We were surprised at how well Asher adapted to this new routine. He looked like a person being frisked by the cops and immediately started negotiating with us. It was hard to contain our laughter, but we needed to take back our house from our rambunctious little one and set some rules.

Here is a video that we plan on showing his girlfriend one day! Enjoy!

Climbing is exhausting for EVERYONE!

 

 

We decided to go to Rochester, NY to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with our cousins.  Unfortunately, this marked the last time our son would nap or sleep in the crib. While he was in Rochester, he learned how to crawl out of the crib and that experience has changed our life entirely. We have converted the crib to a bed, but Asher no long naps or sleeps through the night. We hope this is a phase, but we are very tired and becoming increasingly annoyed with our once excellent sleep angel.  We have tried to find humor with our situation and have started keeping a score card that we update. So far, Asher is winning!

 

 

 

 

 Anyway, here are two videos we took while in Rochester of him scaling gym equipment meant for children over 5. Jed had to run up and catch him. 

 

 



I know my ABC's

Asher's passion since he was 17 months old has been letters.  For the last month or two he has mastered recognition of all 26 letters, oh my!  The only way we can get him in the tub is with the magical alphabet. Every kid has their thing, we never thought it would be letters. Asher continues to amaze us! See bath time below. Also, notice his line up of the bath toys, we did not do this!

Daddy Diamond (Grandpa) comes to town

Grandpa Diamond came to town for my birthday and to see the family. It was so nice to have him all to ourselves. Asher had a lot of fun playing with him. They had pillow fights, daily chocolate milk and pumpkin chai runs, and lots of play time in the park.

Our daily routine was to head to the coffee shop--Asher loved it!

Asher wants to be just like Grandpa and sit on the bench.

National Arboretum

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the nice weather DC brings us in  the Fall and headed to the National Arboretum. What a pretty place to hang out and it is only a few miles away from our home. Here are some snapshots from the day.

Asher is fascinated with running water and fountains!

With Bubbie at the old Capitol columns

Toddlers on the Hill

Asher started attending Toddlers on the Hill, a toddler Montessori  playgroup. The group meets two days a week for three hours at a time. Asher loves it and is learning to work with others, put materials away when he is finished, and play in a space that is truly meant for his age group.  Toddlers on the Hill ROCKS!!! Check out the video at the end.

testing out the crayons...

loves the chime

Asher's buddies on a train. He is the third from the back.