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!

Comments from a Classroom and the Art of Rest

Our life lately has been a bit hectic. As some of my other posts have mentioned, sleeping in the Silversmith household has changed considerably and certainly NOT on the schedule we would like. We know it all started with Asher jumping out of his crib and transferring to a toddler bed, but we are settling into our *new* routine.  Currently, our little guy goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up at 5 am. He then transfers into our bed and sleeps with us until about 7:30 (we know some of you may not feel this is acceptable, but we need our sleep and he is so cuddly). He also takes about a 90 minute nap during the day or whenever the postman comes and alerts our dog, Roswell, that it is time to bark and defend our house. We threaten our dog with a "For Sale" sign each time he wakes up the baby. With that said, now that I stay in my son's room until he sleeps, I am in awe of the manner in which he sleeps. See pictures below. No wonder his sleep time is so fractured.

Do you see the stuffed animals guarding over his bed? And don't worry about the  outlet in between his legs, it  has clear covers.

Finally, we have received comments from his first teacher. We plan on keeping all comments he receives from his teachers until he graduates high school. We love getting the comments and think they are too, too funny! Here are the first two sets of comments below.

On Jan. 11th, Jackie wrote:

I know we talked briefly in class today but I just wanted to talk briefly about Asher. I am very happy with the way that Asher is in the classroom. He is growing in so many ways. He is particularly interested in language at the moment and will do our sequencing work with me over and over (it is three nursery rhymes; each one is broken into three parts). He loves to hear the nursery rhymes and has begun pointing out the parts (like the mouse in hickory dickory dock). We will continue to be consistent with any behavior issues but I believe these will also fade as he begins to communicate with us more.

I am starting to do a lesson of the week to help parents understand the materials in our classroom. This week is hand transferring.

Good luck with the sleeping this weekend! 

On December 7th, Jackie wrote:

Asher is having a great time in class. His concentration is amazing and he chooses his own work and replaces it on the shelf. He has been working a lot on spooning and hand transferring. I am going to put out some pouring work so he can begin to practice that skill. I am still concerned with the way that he runs away. We will continue being very firm about this behavior. Also I will try to create situations to encourage his oral language. Hope you have a great trip!

Two!

Asher turned two and had an airplane party to go with the BIG day. You must have a party for your two year old especially when it is the only time you can double your age in a year! The party was held at T.G.I.Fridays at Reagan National Airport. We had a lot of fun with our friends, family, plane balloons, and space to run.  

It  was such a fun day and a wonderful way to celebrate Asher turning 2.

This is a picture of Asher on his actual Birthday, He is doing a Birthday jig!

Asher loves crayons and enjoyed the crayons at his party!

He also enjoyed practicing his yoga poses with his friend Kiera.

Dancing with his Mama!

Hanging out with his Daddy!

Balloon Fun!

Finally eating something other than pouches.

Singing, Happy Birthday.

Bubbie helping Asher dig in!

Noah helping Asher open his gifts.

Hanging out with Nana by scouting the planes or putting the crayons on the ledge?

The after party at home.

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!