(Mini) Road Tripping with Mama

Jayden took me on a road trip today while Carmen went to work.  Have I mentioned I love the fact that my office is closed from Christmas to New Years?  It just makes such a difference to have these few days off and to have more time to spend with Jayden.

I had received an email about where to make a snowman in Los Angeles and one of the places (maybe the only one) was this children's museum in Pasadena that has "snow" tents for kids to play in.  So I decided to be adventurous and this morning, after retrieving Jasmine from the vet, Jayden and I took off for Pasadena.  Jayden had his first nap on the way up there and then I made sure to stay up there long enough so that his second nap would be on the drive back down.

We had a good day, but I definitely did not think about the fact that there are Rose Parade preparations going on and float viewing and other things.  The museum is located within the Rose Bowl complex, so not only was the museum madness, but the complex itself was a little insane too.  Overall we had a good time and I'm glad we went.  I just don't know when we'll go again, especially considering we have childrens museums and science centers much much closer to us.

First off, the snow.  There were two tents, one small one for kids under four and one bigger one for everyone else.  The snow was very packed so it wasn't easy to walk on - mostly slippery and more icy than anything.  Jayden still liked feeling the snow in his hand, but wasn't totally in love with the experience.

At first the snow was just confusing and Jayden's inability to get good footing (he definitely wore the wrong shoes - totally Mama's fault) was a problem.  But he came around.

After a few minutes (and after me digging at the snow with my bare hands to get some to show him), he started to think it was kind of cool.  

The museum also had a "physics garden," and inside play area, an amphitheater, an outdoor trike play area and an early childhood play area.  We went to all areas and had a pretty good time. I decided the museum will really be great when Jayden is 5 or 6 or so, but it's really too much for him at this point.  As you might have guessed, I did get some good pictures though!

Jayden was not excited about walking across this bridge, but with some "encouragement" from me he made it.  

At one point he fell down and discovered the bark underneath this feet.  This would have been where we spent the rest of our day if I hadn't lifted him up and kept on moving.  He loved picking up the bark and letting it fall.

There was this awesome station where there were wheels on metal tracks - you could move the weights to the outside or the inside to make the wheel turn faster or slower.  To my surprise, Jayden really enjoyed this station and was able to turn the wheel on his own and loved watching it roll towards him and away from him.  It was pretty cool.

After wandering through the garden, we went inside for a minute.  But it was madness and rather intimidating for a mom trying to prevent her one year old from being trampled by the hundreds of kids running all over the place.  So we went back outside and then to the early childhood education room which was much more calm and safe.

Jayden could not figure out how to move these trikes.  I'd push him forward and his feet would get caught under the back wheels.  He could push backwards, and he could get off and push it while standing.  Oh well - something to work on!

Finally inside again - we found one of these bead mazes and it brought out a few smiles!

Jayden's first dunk!  (technically his second - I didn't get the first one on camera)  He's dunking lefty and he even put his right hand up.  So great.  

We had a lot of fun today.  Despite the 1-1/2 hour drive each way, it was worth it to go once.  We'll definitely explore other closer options next time!

Merry Christmas, etc.

It has been forever since I have posted.  I apologize.  I intended to post before we left California and then while we were in Washington, but it just didn't happen.  Soo, now I have a ridiculously long post to write and it's 9:30 pm, I feel like it's midnight and I don't have either my mom's or my sister's photos.  So I'll do the best I can for now and will update later as possible.

FIRST, I kept forgetting to share the Santa picture.  Some of you have seen it, but not everyone.  It's pretty fantastic:

Santa was very patient.  He kind of couldn't believe we were actually going to try to take a picture.  He thought we were just visiting.  Ha, Santa, you had no idea what was coming.

Last week was hectic, trying to get ready for Christmas, to get ready for flying to Seattle and for both Carmen and me to finish up the various things we needed to finish for work.  We somehow survived.  But we definitely didn't get a lot of pictures.

We had our Wallace/Ferrin family Christmas on Friday night, just the three of us.  It was fun except that of course Jayden didn't nap at all at daycare on Friday so he was a hot mess.  Carmen and I liked our gifts, though!

We bought him this super cute personalized chair.  And this was the reaction we got.  Not exactly reinforcing.  I'm hoping the reaction to the chair when he sees it tomorrow makes up for this one.  

We were lucky enough to be in first class on our flight on Saturday and the flight was just wonderful.  The flight attendant was extra friendly, Jayden was incredibly pleasant, everything went wonderfully.

Jayden fell asleep in my lap reading the Alaska airlines magazine.  And if you want to be specific about it, we were looking at  a Subaru ad with cars and a dog.  Suddenly I realized his hands had gone limp and he was out.  This was about halfway through the flight - he slept the rest of the way and only woke up when we were walking off.  It was great.  

Sunday we just hung around the house, relaxing and getting ready for the next couple of days of overeating.  Monday we went to the park to get Jayden out of the house and prepped some more.  And of course had our traditional Christmas eve meal of pizza and posole.  It is my absolute favorite meal, the primary thing I look forward to every year.  Wherever I am, I will always have to have pizza and posole for Christmas eve.  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  Jayden was asleep by the time we had this meal, but we tried it on him for lunch the next day.  He was not super excited, but he did eat a little bit of the pizza and he loved the homemade tortillas.  Thanks Lizzle!

Grandma had a wheelbarrow at her house.  While it was sort of fun for Jayden to push, it was much more enjoyable for him to make his Grandma bend over and push him all over the house.  He's so lucky he has a nice Grandma.

It did help with the cleaning up, though.  As Grandma pushed him around, she just piled the toys on top of him until they got back to the toy bins.  All of the toys on his lap are toys I played with when I was little.  My mom is the queen of recycling and now has a stash of "brand new" toys for Jayden at her house.  :)

We are NOT a fan of mittens when we are in the car.  Keep that in mind, please.

However, when it's 32 degrees outside and your family takes you to the park, you suddenly love your mittens AND your hat.   

Jayden even let Auntie Ellen push him down the slide.  Until, of course, he realized that he was alone with her at the top. He's never gone down the slide so fast!  (just kidding, he actually loved the slide so much that he was fine)

Grandma Barb is waaaay more fun than Mama or Daddy!

Turns out all Santas are scary, not just real-life ones.  Mechanical Santas with movement and a light-up candle in his hand are also kind of scary.  Although, within a couple of days Jayden was shaking Santas hand and asking for him to be turned out.  Maybe a clue for me next year - take Jayden to Santa to visit a couple of times before forcing him to take a picture.  We'll try.  Maybe.

Jayden walking.  His hands were usually either up in the air or down in front of him.  So hilarious.  He's so much better at walking now, it's just amazing.

Christmas morning!  A new Tonka dump truck and two little trucks to play with.  The rest of the toys are "old" toys from when I was little, or toys we brought from home.  Trucks are definitely a hit with this little boy.

A pensive moment.  In his Christmas pajamas.  I love Hanna Anderson, even if they run small and are a little expensive.  It's worth the splurge every once in a while.  Especially when they come from Grandma!

Loving on the Lion from Aunt Becky, Uncle Michael, Aunt Emily and Uncle Matthew.  Honestly, probably the softest lion ever.  And Jayden isn't usually a huge stuffed animal fan.  But this one was a clear hit.  

Kissing the corolle doll.  When he kisses the "baby" he even makes the kissing noise.  It's so cute.  This of course was after Grandma Barb taught him to "dump" the baby out of his dump truck.  Clearly no younger siblings are in his future any time soon.  They would quickly be dumped, squished, dropped, thrown, etc.  And maybe kissed.  But maybe not.  

The day after.  Playing with the keyboard from Great Aunt Terri, Aunt Emily, Aunt Molly and Aunt Taira.  And wearing the shirt from Gabby (slash Jackie - thank you!).  So many choices!  

We thought we'd lost Grandma and Jayden on the ferry.  Turns out Jayden was just walking in circles and Grandma Barb is still learning how to say "no."  :)

Jayden and Mama looking out the window of the ferry on the way home from a day of shopping/wandering in Seattle.  Watching the white caps on the waves is a pretty cool thing, even for a 15-month-old.

It may have taken five days, but Auntie Ellen gets some love!

And even a smile!!!!!  

There are definitely more pictures to be posted, and I know Ellen has even loaded hers onto her computer already.  But once Ellen and Mom get those pictures to me, I'll throw a few more up here.  I just wanted to give everyone a rundown of the last few days since it had been so long since I posted.

The important things to know are that we're now home in California, Jayden and I will go tomorrow to get Jasmine and we're going to take advantage of me having the next five days off.  I hope everyone is warm and happy, wherever they are.  If I don't post before New Years, have a wonderful New Years celebration and we all wish you the best in 2013.  And if anyone is in Southern California and is interested in watching the East Coast celebration and going to bed by 10 pm or so, hit me up.  If you've never partied with a one year old you've got to try it.

REAL walking

I know I've been posting a lot recently.  There are just so many new developments!  We spent the first two hours of our day today walking EVERYWHERE around the house.  Most of the time he was on his own.  He puts his arms straight out in front of him and wobbles forward.  Sometimes when he falls he makes these amazing "oof" sounds.  It's hilarious.  But here's proof that he's actually walking on his own now:

He has discovered a whole new level of independence.  And Jasmine has discovered a whole new level of annoyance.  When he first started walking this morning Jasmine was jumping all around, barking and generally being upset with him.  That was also hilarious.

Disneyland!!!

Today we spent the day at Disney.  I've been wanting to go during the holidays for a while and we finally had an excuse today.   Carmen's friend Bard and his family were going this weekend and we were invited to tag along.  So when we were (finally - it took something like 30 minutes this morning) done with breakfast this morning, we packed up the car and took off for Disneyland.  Because we're so lucky, about 20 minutes later we were parked and waiting for the shuttle bus from the parking lot to the park.

We had a great time today and Jayden was amazing.  Both Carmen and I were expecting at least one meltdown, maybe more.  But no, I think he almost got fussy once.  We went on a couple "rides" and then he passed out in the carrier and stayed asleep through the entire Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  We met up with Bard, Jody and family after that, he woke up and we went on more adventures.

As Carmen and I repeated over and over, it was so fun to experience Disney with a child.  All of us went in to Toon Town for the first time in our lives (and saw Jessica Alba, in case anyone cares), we learned Pirates can be quite scary, the Tiki room has never been better and two Saturdays before Christmas is a crazy time to be at Disneyland with a stroller, five adults, an infant, two toddlers and a four year old.

I took a rather large amount of pictures - and we accidentally got one video, so here goes.  Enjoy!

As soon as we walked in the park, there were a number of characters available to take pictures.  The first one, and luckily my favorite, was MICKEY!!!  The line actually wasn't crazy so we waited.  Note to self: next time check the settings on the camera before handing it to your husband to get a rushed picture.  Although sometimes it works out for the better.  This was supposed to be a still picture, but the camera was on video, we only had a second or two to take the picture (Disney doesn't mess around, they push you through these things) and Carmen didn't realize it was on video.  The best part about it is that at the end, the video caught Jayden actually reaching out to touch Mickey's nose.  Awesome.

The first challenge was surviving the shuttle ride to the park from the parking lot.  Turns out buses can be scary too!  As soon as we turned him around so that he could see outside he was fine.  

Cinderella's castle had snow!  LOVE Disneyland at the holidays.

In line for the Jungle Cruise.  This was after we'd gone to the Tiki Room.  Jayden was jamming in the Tiki Room.  He wanted to move around and was "dancing" and pointing at everything he noticed.  It really was so fun.

Asleep on Mama's chest.  We were walking around New Orleans Square and Jayden was awfully quiet.  I looked down, turned his face toward Carmen and asked if his eyes were open.  Carmen said "barely.  Actually no."  Jayden had fallen asleep in the middle of Disneyland in the boba carrier - he'd never slept in that carrier before.  He stayed that way while we waited in line for Pirates, while we rode Pirates, which includes two little drops, canonballs, gunshots, etc. and while I lugged him and myself out of the boat and walked out of the dark ride.  This kid can sleep through anything.

Waiting in line for It's a Small World.  We wanted to let him down so he could move around a little and get his legs moving.  He took a few steps, which was great.

In Daddy's arms while waiting for It's A Small World.

He loved It's a Small World.  He was pointing at the lights and going "da!" throughout the whole ride.

Ho Ho Holidays!  Carmen said "this is for your grandma," so Mom, imagine country-themed holiday music!

Driving a car in Toon Town.

Santa in the parade.

Jayden's first visit to Disneyland.  He got a pin.  That blurry thing in the bottom of the picture is the  one souvenir Jayden got, which was a stuffed Mater the Tow Truck.  We "vroomed" the tow truck all over the stroller and him and he thought it was amazing.  Until he got tired, he was "vrooming" it himself too.

Tired boys on the shuttle back to the car.  Once we got into the car, Jayden was asleep within a few minutes and continued to sleep once we got home.  He ate dinner, took a bath and went back to bed.  Such a wonderful day with the family.  

Healthy "Baby"

Since Jayden isn't technically a baby anymore I don't know if I can still call him that.  But unfortunately for him, he'll probably always be my baby.

Jayden had his 15 month check up today.  The doctor said he's very healthy, no problems.  He did say that Jayden is a late walker, but he's not worried.  I think Carmen and I are even less worried than the doctor is.  Jayden is fine - he's just cautious.  And he has developed so many other skills that he can't develop every skill at once.  So if he walks late, it just makes it easier for Carmen and me.  :)

Jayden measured in at 33" (although the nurse does this with Jayden laying down on a piece of paper on the exam table, so we think he might be a little bit taller), weighed in at a whopping 26 pounds and has a head circumference of 49 cm.  All in all, he's growing quite well.  He's still in the top 10th percentile as far as height is concerned.  He has gained quite a bit of weight and is now in the 70th percentile for weight.  He's still clearly not chubby but he's definitely putting on the pounds.  His head circumference, like his height, has also remained high, in the 90th to 95th percentile.

While we were in the doctor's office Jayden took 4-5 steps on his own, probably the most he's taken ever.  It was so funny to watch him roam around the exam room in his diaper.

Jayden wants so badly to talk; I feel like he's doing his best to say words and communicate his thoughts and wants and frustrations to me and he just can't form the words.  He did very clearly say "mama" to me on Tuesday, which was pretty awesome for me.  He sat on the step between the entryway and the kitchen/family room area, held his hands up to me and said "ma-ma."  I might have possibly ran to him I was so excited.  It was so cute.  He's said it maybe two or three times since then; the rest of the time it's combined with more syllables: ma-ma-ma-ma or ma-ma-na-na-ma-da-da or something.

Jayden had to get four shots today, including the second installment of the flu shot.  With the last flu shot in September Jayden ended up with a fever and was miserable for a couple of days.  We purposely made the appointment on a Friday this time, so at least if he gets sick it'll be on a weekend.  It will suck for us, but better for him (and less worry for me!).  He also hadn't napped at daycare before I picked him up, so within a few minutes in the car after the appointment, he was out.  And he stayed out for the next hour and a half:

After I heard about the tragedy in Connecticut today, all I wanted to do was run to Julia's and hug Jayden.  Luckily I had to leave early to take him to the doctor so it gave me a legitimate excuse.  And when we got home and he was still passed out like this, I picked him up and we cuddled on the couch until I finally gave in and woke him up to eat dinner.  I really may never let him go to school.  There are just too many crazy people in this world.  And he is too innocent.

Walkin', Walkin', Walkin' Machine!

I got two videos tonight of Jayden on the move.  Both are pretty dark and a little grainy, but I was the spotter and the videographer, so there's only so much I could do!  The first is of Jayden taking a couple steps by himself.  The second is of Jayden walking holding my hand with one of his hands.  It's pretty awesome.

Parents escape, baby survives

As some of you know, Carmen and I left Jayden for the first time since he was born.  We've both left at various times, but this is the first time he had neither parent with him overnight and for a few days.  Carmen and I flew to NYC last week, leaving Jayden in California with my mom.  It was difficult, but knowing that he was home and with my mom made it a whole lot easier.  And having left him in October with Carmen actually helped me as well.

I am sure Jayden was spoiled to death while we were gone, getting to climb on things he's not supposed to climb on, getting to be rocked to sleep a lot more than usual, etc.  But you'd never know anything was different - he's been essentially the same little boy since I got home yesterday.  The only difference is he is a whole lot more clingy, especially to me, than he was before I left.  There has been very little playing with his toys - mostly we have been playing with puzzles and reading books, usually with him in my lap, or at least within a few inches of each other.  It's as if he's afraid if he lets go then I might disappear again.

He is getting even more teeth (did you notice, Mom?).  The two molars that were coming in on the bottom seem to be pretty much pushed through.  The tooth in between the front four and the molar, on his right side, is popping through.  And I think it may be pushing through on the left side also.  I don't think he's getting any more teeth on the top, but it's hard to tell.

He definitely is walking more and more.  Oh!  I don't think I've updated this for a while.  He took his first steps last Monday.  He just took two quick ones, from the couch to my arms, but they were definitely steps on his own.  Mom said that she spent a good portion of her days walking him around the house - she'd hold on to his hands and he'd walk her around the living room, down the stairs into the dining room, back up the stairs and around the living room again, and on and on.  He continues to take the occasional step or two on his own, but no more than that.  He is pretty proud of his ability to stand up on his own though.  He practices that quite frequently.

And now on to the more interesting part of this - the pictures!

From when we went to work with Carmen a week ago Saturday.  Jayden's personality didn't show through - he had just woken up and he was a little overwhelmed by the new surroundings. 

Getting a hug from Grandma before it was time for her to go to the airport.

"Dancing" in the middle of the floor.  Crazy how much better his balance is getting.

Happy Holidays!  Looking up at the Christmas tree while sitting in the window seat decorated with lights.

Double fisting!  So many water bottles, so little time.

Playing with the sand at the park.  We met a little girl, probably three years old, who shared her sand toys with us.  Jayden appreciated it and the little girl was very patient, until Jayden started trying to mess with her sand "soup."  So we went to a different part of the park so as not to start a fight.  :)

We were looking at our belly buttons.  I think Grandma may have taught him something new!

My mom took a WHOLE bunch of pictures, but turns out it's nearly impossible to download them.  So more pictures will come later when I figure out how to download the various pictures she has taken.

I'm going to do my best to try to get a video of the steps and/or the cool noises he makes (he makes this "rrrrmmm rrrmmmm" sound for cars - it's awesome) but every time I turn the camera on him he freezes.  So hopefully I can be sneaky about it and can get something passable.  For now it's back to work/Ju-ju's for us.  Only four more days until the next weekend!

Low-key Saturday

We finally decorated the tree with all of the ornaments.  We're still missing one - I'm going to continue the tradition I had as a kid where each year we get a new ornament.  So I still need to get my ornament for Jayden for this year, hopefully tomorrow.  We had a good day today, not doing all that much.  Jayden and I met Carmen and his office, at the end of a meeting with a new recruit, went to lunch, came home, decorated the tree and just relaxed.

Sitting on the hood of his car.  He developed this "game" where  he climbed up on the  hood, sat down, slid off, leaned forward, stood up, leaned back against the hood and then climbed back up again.  It definitely never got old.

The "standing up" part of the game.  He is oh so proud of his ability to stand up on his own now.  He's inches from being able to walk - one foot slid a little today while he was standing - but just not quite ready.

Jayden and me decorating the tree.  He was so helpful; we'd give him a soft ornament and  he'd gently place it on a tree branch.  It was awesome.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders in the only part of the house that is tall enough for him to do that!

The tree and the front of the house all decorated (and almost all cleaned up - still working on the cleaning part).