Jungle Gym Daddy

Asher has given Jed a run for his money lately. He refuses to do anything with him that isn't silly.  For example, he demands that Jed get on the floor, so that he can body slam him.  Asher says, "Mommy couch, Daddy floor!"  

He even demands that Jed keep his legs a certain way, so that he can make a car ramp for all his cars to go down. Poor, poor Daddy!!! When Jed arrives home from work, Asher immediately slams the door on him and yells, "Bye Daddy!" Once Jed is out of the house, Asher quickly goes to the window to watch him come through the door and then the entire sequence starts over.  Luckily, Jed is taking this all in stride and realizes that our little guy is only 2.

See, he loves his Daddy!  A little morning cuddle

Sunday means Soccer!

Asher has started soccer on Sundays.  It has been so fun to watch him run around on the field.  We laugh the entire time. His favorite part of soccer is giving his coach a high-five and kicking the ball in the net and then playing in the net until he gets stuck and Mommy or Daddy have to rescue him. 



Obviously we haven't mastered, "no hands" in soccer yet, but at least we are not eating the goal post!

Good job, Asher!

 

Let's hear it for our two word wonder child!

Asher hit a major milestone in his speech development yesterday and we are ecstatic. Our wonder boy can now say two words together. Yes, you heard it right--TWO WORDS! This is HUGE for us because he is a little late in the game with speaking and so we know that this is an important step in his language acquisition. His favorite two words are "Help Mama" or "Mama Help" He also greeted many family members on the phone yesterday by saying hi followed by their name. 

  It all started yesterday, when he pushed his daddy out of the room in the morning and asked for me instead. I was skeptical that I had heard his two word utterance correctly, "Help Mama".  However, after nap I asked him if he wanted more cheese and he looked at me with a furrow brow and thought real hard and said, "More cheese".  Well that was it for me, I was one proud Mama!

My silly guy!

March Madness!

We love March because it means Duke basketball in the Silversmith household.  Daddy is very proud because Asher says, ball followed by Duke, when he watches his games on TV.

Lately,  Asher has been blossoming into our little chatter bug. He says so many nouns. Our favorite words are: seltzer, gecko, turtle, taco, boo-boo, thank you and his classmates names. Asher's favorite words are: zoo, any color that he is sees, and several animals. He also has been practicing the word, sorry. He does this by pushing students in his class and quickly saying sorry.  Our teacher said he is not pushing because he is upset or frustrated rather, he is pushing because he wants to say sorry and is practicing the word.

He also loves to act out "5 Little Monkeys" and "Ring around the Roses" and we love having him to do it. A little video of Asher's theatrics is at the end of this post.

On a date with my darling at IHOP!

Playing at recess with his buddies

Reading a book about animals, of course!



Celebrating a birthday at school with his two friends, Max and Naveen. He loves cupcakes.

 

Ring around the Roses--Asher style!
 

The different meanings of NO!

In our household, the word NO has several distinct meanings depending on how it is enunciated.  Asher has perfected saying no several different ways.

1) The angry and very loud NO-This is when we ask Asher a question while he is watching a TV show like, "Did you poop?"  The angry and very loud no is always really a yes, but means I don't have time to do this sort of thing, I am busy watching my show.

2) The barely audible NO-This is usually accompanied by a sweet glance that makes a parent feel a little guilty for asking. The barely audible no is usually heard before bedtime.  "Do you want to go to sleep?" A very quiet, "No," creeps out followed by a toss of a book he wants you to read to him. 

3) The dictator No-No-No-This is a succession of three quick No's followed by a pointing of the finger.  Asher does this when he wants his Mommy or Daddy to sing a particular song or play a particular song on the radio. If you sing the wrong song, he stands in the middle of the room and points his finger at you while saying, "No, No, No!"  The same thing goes for playing the wrong song on the radio. It is so crazy sometimes that Mommy and Daddy end up driving in the car in silence with Asher's finger still pointing at the radio for several miles.

4) The surly No- This is when you want Asher to do something like wear socks that don't have animals on them or wear something other than sweats. It sounds like, "Nnnao," and is followed by a temper tantrum of epic proportions.

Glorious Sleep

February has flown by and we are now officially tackling the sleep issues with our son, rather than just talk about it. After spending 10 days in Florida with a child who refused to sleep anywhere but our bed it was time to get serious about our child's sleeping behavior. The first night back from vacation, we followed our sleep book's instructions. We brought Asher back to his bed every time he got up, unfortunately it lasted for over 2 hours. He finally, fell asleep half on and half off the bed, but we were able to sleep in our bed by ourselves for the first time in 2 months. It was such a wonderful feeling not to be kicked or have your hair pulled at all hours of the night. The rest of the week, he continued to protest, but we stuck to our guns, As a result, his voice is now hoarse. He now has a routine for crying out to us and falling asleep on the hardwood floor of his room. It is sad, but we know we are doing the right thing. We are hoping this phase ends soon.

Asher clutched the book yesterday and asked me to read it to him. If only we were on the same page...

He sleeps on the floor now and refuses to sleep in his crib.

Usually, he does not sleep this close to his bed, instead it is by the door to his room.

Asher Loves Roswell

Lately, the star of the show in Asher's world is Roswell, our dog.  I am not sure Roswell likes his new found status in the household, but he is tolerating his popularity and we are thankful. 

 With the cold weather, Roz wears a jacket when he goes outside for his walks. Asher thinks it is funny to take the jacket off and help Rozzy out because no toddler or dog want to wear a jacket, right?  This can be a very time consuming and frustrating ritual of putting the jacket on only to have Asher take it off. The minute my back is turned, I can hear a slight giggle and the jacket is loose.  I have to run back and place it quickly on Roswell and hope that Asher doesn't get to him. 

Asher trying to put on Roswell's jacket.

Asher loves to take Roswell on walks and demands that he holds the leash. This makes taking Roswell out for a walk a major pain. On our walks, he thinks it is funny when Roswell lifts his leg to pee and tries to mimic him by kicking the dust.

Asher also tries to replicate our dog's voice and can do so on cue. He loves to play tug-of -war with Roz and sit on top of the couch cushions the same way Roz does.  We have tried to discourage Asher from some of these antics, but have had no such luck. 

In the end, if Roswell would just realize that Asher can help him more than hurt him, a beautiful friendship would form. Hopefully, some day soon. In the meantime, watch out Roz, Asher only has eyes for you!