digger cake....pepe's fav part? the dirt

petru is turning 3

It's been an amazing year for Pepe and us! In the eve of his bday I look back on last year's events and am mesmerized about how quickly time went by, and how much change I witnessed, both in Pepe and in myself. The major milestones have been the toddler typical - language, temper tantrums (really we have been lucky in this department, and there have only been a couple of months when Pepe was about 2 and 1/2 when the tantrums were frequent - i guess this is bc we have always encouraged Pepe's independence, and ...he has mostly been getting his way), ability to understand and comply with social norms, manipulation (e.g., crying on demand, pulling a "I am scared"). Interests have changed. This has been the year of diggers, backhoes, front loaders, bulldozers and excavators, trips with daddy to "Robert's yard", a construction site close by where the boys befriended the owner, countless hours of Bob the Builder, Thomas & Cars. Pepe has also continued his love for music, and played his guitar and drums and mini piano on the tunes of various kids songs. He was also found repeatedly singing the lyrics of various non kids CDs that we frequently play in the car. He went to library concerts and took a "Music Together Class". This year we said good bye to running with mommy in the jogging stroller, although Pepe keeps asking about it from time to time. We registered him for a couple of kid dashes, but he ended up doing none, as there were always major distractions at the start line, like a playground or a digger or two. Definetly not mommy's genes in this department. This year also represents the end of Pepe's fear of water. The daily trips to the town beach and the fountain have transformed Pepe into a water baby - we had to pay close attention at times as Pepe kept heading for the deep water. Pepe continued to love taking the bus and the train, going to the video store where now he is able to pick the videos he wants, going to the pizza store where he is known as the california boy who does not look like his parents, going to the playground, and just going out "to see what's happening". He continues to love going to Toys R Us and Henry bear's Park and play with their toys..
Pepe is still needy of his baba and blanky, still wears dipers - though he prefers to be naked, but we prefer not to have pee and poop all over the place. He continues to be strong willed, but has also developed a quiet understanding and ability to comply with things that are not his first choice, but are part of the routine.
Recently Pepe has developed a fascination with monsters, with hiding, being "found" by mommy or daddy and screaming with delight. He loves to "cuddle" in mommy and daddy's bed. He loves to hear "ducky stories", where we recall the day's events for him (and now with him) but his friends the duckies (with whome he also talkes at times) are always present (and have ducky babas, ducky cribs, etc).
This year we started actual outdoors play, aside from playground. We can kick a ball together, throw a ball, play a bit of baseball, and run around after each other.
Pepe has finaly learned to give kisses - he still turns his head so that others can kiss him when asked to give kisses, but with mommy and daddy he is now giving proper kisses.
This year Buni stayed with us for over 4 months during which she solely took care of Pepe - drove him in the hammer, took him to the playground and toy store and indoor playground, and spoiled him like only a Buni can. Grandma Margaret took Pepe over weekends at a time, to teh Children's museum, the beach, and the playground. Papi, Jessica and Dan were over on several occasions. Jessy was our babysitter extraordinaire on a few occasions. Uncle Radu and Aunt Ilii have always asked about Pepe and saw them as soon as they could. Godparents Ioana and Charlie kept up with Pepe's developments via this blog (Ioana) and weekly visits (the nearby Charlie). Pepe spent lots of time with his cousins Bianca, and more recently Isabella and Michael and Margo and Fuffy. Pepe hang out a lot with Helli & Pillar, the neighbours, as well as with Michael. At school he played well with Antoine and William, and more recently he kept saying that Jeffrey is his best friend.

So that's Pepe's 3rd year in a gist. Still can't believe that he is the little boy who jumped up on my stomach 3 years ago, in a hospital room at Brigham. I've been enjoying the ride almost as much as Pepe.

rainy day...happy day

Rocking along with the Thomas CD from uncle Ed..

new school

We had orientation at Pepe's new school on Tuesday. I took the day of so I could go with the boys. I felt we got special treatment coz everyone knew Chris or about Chris. W met the teachers and Pepe was mesmerized by Molly, with her energy, charm and playfulness. We visited Pepe's new room - he will be in Preschool I - confessed about the potty issue (and got reassured that they'll help with that), the fine motor skills issue (they will work with him), and became part of the classroom for a while. I was very impressed with the facility (large space, huge playgrounds with lots of tracks, slides, cars, sandboxes, sheds, playhouses, etc), the curriculum, and all the teachers. Pepe received a book with pics and notes about daily activities and has been asking us to read it everyday. He keeps talking about wanting to go to the new school, and I think this is also because most of his old buddies have already moved on...

adult toddler talk

Pepe played with his trains this evening. All of a sudden we hear:
"Edward, state your problem!".

more potty talk

we moved into using m&m's for potty treats (yes, i remember blogging about how i do not want to use food as treats, but we really want to get this done, so there you go). so tonight after dinner we explained everything to pepe. he will get 2 m&ms when he sits on the potty, and 5 when something comes out. as soon as we finished he ran to the potty and sat on it for a couple of minutes - the rule is that he needs to sit at least a minute. he got his m&m, went playing, and immediately after he finished the m&m's he ran to the potty again..."more m&m's". .. so we had to reset the rule to include space/breaks in between sitting on the potty....men, the toddler mind, so primitive, so sophisticated, so goal oriented...

pepe the hiker

we took pepe to the fells again this afternoon. this time we followed the reservoir trail, an up and down 6 miler I had done with my boot camp group earlier in the week. we got caught in the rain, but we had a blast. pepe did amazingly. we hiked for 45 minutes and decided to turn around, in spite of pepe's persistence that we had to keep going. he jumped over the rocks and tree roots, and basically ran not walked the trails. he kept talking all thw way, repeating what chris and i were telling him about keeping his eye on the ground so not to fall. i was so proud of him and i envision nice vacations camping and hiking in new hampshire, which are really my favorite types of getaways....next year for sure.