The End of the Naptime Era

It is official. Vincente has given up his nap. I’m getting all choked up just writing about it, because it means that he is a big boy now. We still have quiet time in the afternoon while Joseline takes a nap – I let him watch a show or he reads, or plays quietly. But it is really sad.

The up side?

His bedtime is 7:30pm now. We put him down tonight and he fell asleep without a peep. That was the easiest bedtime we’ve had for several months. And he was actually pretty much emotionally stable this evening.

The transition was hard – I think he’s been needing to give up the afternoon nap for a few months, because it was so hard for him to fall asleep at night, but if skipped the nap, he was so ornery in the late afternoon – like, TERROR. But in the past few days, he’s just kind of naturally skipped his nap. He’s taken little cat naps in the car and things, but he hasn’t had that good 2 1/2 hour nap that he usually needs. And then today, he didn’t have a cat nap or ANYTHING. And he was FINE. It was amazing.

And a little sad.

On to a new chapter in the book of Vince’s life – no nap times and an early bedtime! (I have to admit I like the early bedtime!)

All Hallows’ Eve Part III – Los Altos

our trick or treating party

After the trunk or treat, we hurried home to pack for our weekend at Barbara and Abe’s house in Los Altos. They were so sweet to invite us to trick or treat in their neighborhood with my cousin Mikila and her son, Corbin. Then, so that we wouldn’t have to drive back to Monterey late Saturday night, they invited us to spend the night! It was a fabulous weekend. We felt so at home with them. The kids actually slept really well in their own room, too! Of course, Joseline somehow weaseled her way into getting Barb to snuggle her at 5:30 in the morning! And Vince had a hard time going to bed at night, but that’s nothing new.

We watched The Holiday on Barb and Abe’s HUGE TV. Then in the morning Barb made delicious pesto potatoes… hmmm… my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Anyway, so on Halloween Eve we ate dinner with Barb, Abe, Mikila (my cousin), Connor (her hubby), and Corbin (their son – he’s about 2). It was a soup/chili with gluten free pumpkin muffins, some delicious SafeWay bread ;) and sparkling cider and fruit juices. Barb’s cooking is always to die for, and her chili was awesome. Some day I’ll make good chili like hers. Really, it was the best I’ve ever tasted. I aspire to be a good cook, but sometimes fall short. Like tonight. First, I undercooked the veggies (but that was easily solved by leaving them in the oven for a little longer), undercooked the rice, and over cooked the chicken. Of course, the chicken was due to me taking a very important phone call (more about that later).

Back to Halloween. After dinner, Russ held Vince down on the ground while I painted a mask on his face. We tried to do it without holding him down, but Vince wanted nothing to do with the face paint. Of course, once he saw what was on his face, he was super excited. He kept saying that his face was “painty.” Ha ha. Love kids.

We just took Vince and Corbin up and down both side of Barb and Abe’s street. Most of the families were older, and a bunch of older ladies thought Vince and Corbin were adorable.

Vince wanted to hold Aunt Barbara’s hand the whole time. It was really sweet. He would let go of her just long enough to knock on the door and get some candy, then it was back to her side! He was attached to her.

Connor was a baker, and Mikila was an oven (she’s about 8 mos pregnant). Their little Corbin was a panda. He was wearing a jersey, too, but I forgot what that was about. Something about a sports team. Mikila can comment and fill in that part – my mind is drawing a blank.

Vince was really good at saying “Trick or Treat,” “Thank you,” and “Happy Halloween” although for some reason “happy Halloween” always had a hard time coming out right. If you listen really closely to the end of the video, you’ll see what I mean.

 

    vince trick or treating

So pretty much, thanks to Barb and Abe (and Mikila and Connor!) this was the best Halloween I think we have ever had!

vince inspecting some Jack O Lanterns

joseline – deer in the headlights – and yes, that is a Hotwheels car she is toting around

 

vince pointing at the moon “DA MOON!”

 

this house would have definitely won the “best decorated” award on this street. They even had some cool music playing. It was awesome.

 

vince checking out the skeleton pirate coming out of the ground. I think these people were the only ones who knew who Vince was. At least everyone knew he was some type of super hero! They just didn’t know which one. These folks got it on the first try. :) But they also had little kids.

All Hallows’ Eve Part II – Seaside 1st Ward Trunk or Treat

a froggy baby and a turtle baby

The ward trunk or treat was a blast! There was a cake walk (Vince didn’t exactly get the whole concept of that. He just wanted the cupcake. NOW), a bunch of different games/stations, homemade rootbeer, face painting, a haunted house, and of course trunk or treating.

me getting my face painted – a spider – to show Vince that it was okay to get your face painted… he wasn’t so sure about that

There were a lot of really great costumes. One family was Dorothy and friends from The Wizard of Oz. Their 2 year old was Dorothy, the mom was Scarecrow, the dad was Tin Man, and the little boy was the Lion. The only thing missing was the dog! But then, I guess that would be a little extreme. Their costumes were GREAT!

people waiting in line for the haunted house – it was actually really good – I was impressed

I was purple grapes, but I took my costume off to go through the haunted house because you had to crawl through part of it. Then I took the balloons off again to hand out candy at the trunk or treat. The balloons were a little… restricting.

my beautiful turtle

Russ was green grapes, of course. Joseline wore the turtle costume my MIL and I made when Vince was her age. Later I though that I should have made a headband out of some of the green hat material. People kept thinking she was a boy. I guess it doesn’t really matter. I mean, after all, she was a turtle.

does Dash really need more sugar? Really?

Vincente was Dash from the Incredibles. We made his costume ourselves. We bought two red underarmor-type shirts and used the sleeves of one for the legs. Then we used some of Russ’ lycra PT undies to make the black “underwear” looking part. And then Russ cut out the Incredibles logo and I sewed it on (by hand 8-o) We made it out of satin so it would be shiney, but half way through sewing it on I was wishing we'd made it out of something a little easier to sew. And then wishing that my sewing machine had a foot… Someday I will have a nice sewing machine. Ha ha.

my sleepy little turtle found a bed in a bunch of grapes

Joseline was worn out barely half way through the day. She napped during the trunk or treating part. Everyone loved her costume. People kept asking if Vincente was Mr. Incredible. Apparently they haven’t seen the movie very often. Dash is little a scrawny and runs around. Mr. Incredible is large and muscular and can lift very heavy objects. Which one sounds more like my child? That’s right. Dash = Vincente.

Vincente “running like Dash”

my halloween babies

All Hallows’ Eve Part I – D Co. Costume Run

Our Halloween festivities started on Friday afternoon. Papai’s company did a “costume run.” Soldiers were encouraged to dress up in festive costumes. They only did a short run (maybe a mile or two), but it was highly entertaining to watch. There were grapes, super heros, dead men, lots of girls dressed up as dead brides or prom queens and such. The video is the best.

 Papai dressed up as (a very muscular, very tall, very large) Michael Jackson. Minus the tight black pants. Mostly because the only black pants Russ owns are part of his $400 suit. Yeah, not about to let him run down the beach in those!

I took Vince and Joss to watch. We just hung out on the beach with the green superhero’s wife, and another wife and her little girl, Lucy (one of Vince’s favorite playmates). The kids played on the beach (Vince was covered in sand by the time we got back to the car) and Joseline enjoyed sitting in the sand and digging around.

I had to take a picture of the grapes, because Russ and I did green and purple grapes the next day for the Trunk or Treat. But I forgot to take pictures of our costumes 8-o

the Little things

My sweet little Joseline. Her precious little hands. The fact that she fell asleep in her high chair while I was making Halloween treats.

There is nothing better. Nothing sweeter. Nothing more precious.

Moments like this remind me how blessed I am to be a mother.

the fun you can have

We built a “fort” today. It was actually after Vincente and I had a little bit of a bonding moment. He has been really frustrated lately and instead of wanting Russ or me to comfort him when he is sad or hurt or frustrated, he wants his “snuggle” (that’s what he calls his blanket). So today when he was jumping around on my bed and smacked his hand on the laundry basket, I tried to hold him, and of course he pushed me away and screamed for his snuggle. So I just held him and talked to him softly while he threw his little tantrum. Eventually he said “Hold you!” (which means he wants us to hold him). And then we snuggled for a while. Then he started climbing under my blankets on my bed, but I had just folded laundry and the piles of folded laundry were getting pushed around by his little silhouette under the blankets. So I ran into the living room telling him to follow me and I’d make him a tent.

Thus the pictures. I gave them toys and snacks to have in the tent and as you can see, Joseline hogged the snacks. It was a great time. Just now as I sat down to blog these pictures, Vince ran up to me and asked me to come play in the tent. And he did it in the most mature, non-whiney voice I have ever heard him use. Ever. We must have broken through some barrier today.

It felt really good.

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home video night at the Rowleys

So I have been procrastinating posting family videos lately, and I finally got around to doing it… but there are a LOT of clips. Don’t feel like you have to watch all of them. If you do want to watch all of them, I suggest grabbing a bucket of popcorn and a coke. Seriously. There are that many.

The titles should be pretty self explanatory. If they need any more description, look below.

Enjoy!

This one was Vince learning how to roll down the hill with his buddies Connor and Bradley.

Joseline’s very first attempts at crawling.

Where do you think she learned this one from? Some day I’ll post the clip of Vince making the car sound with this clip of Joseline making the car sound. Vince started making the car sound around 9-10 months, I think (just before his first Christmas). Joseline … 6 months. Must have something to do with the fact that Vince is almost ALWAYS making the car noise.

Vince singing “Happy Birthday” This was shortly after his birthday, and he became obsessed with singing the happy birthday song and talking about balloons and cupcakes. In his mind, the three went together – the birthday song, cupcakes, and balloons. Who can argue with that?

Joseline’s squeal reserved for books. Books are the only thing she will squeal at like this. And paper. She’s quite mobile now… there is no stopping her. And she likes to grab at anything she can get in reach of… which is just about everything within 12” of the floor.

Putting carrots in the blender. Vincente got a kick out of it. A really big kick.

The classic two year old singing made up songs.

At the Ward Campout. I tried to get him to do a back flip out of the tree,  but Bro Nilsson advised him not to listen to his wife (as Russ’ legal counsel, of course). It was probably good advice, I decided in the end. But it would have been a sweet shot!

Vincente’s favorite activity – making Joseline laugh. Close second – making Joseline cry…

Vincente learning how to hold up one finger, and two fingers. He has since learned “three” fingers, but he calls them “ones.” He must have grown up in the math lab or something…

Of course, the classic Itsy Bitsy Spider

Vincente talking to Grandma Pam on the phone.

Papai was playing motorcycles with Vince, and when he would crash him, Vince would ask for another motorcycle… of a different color. He went through a bunch of different colors before I got the smart idea to film it. In this video he asks for the yellow motorcycle, the blue motorcycle, and then the yellow motorcycle again.

 

I’m pretty sure Joseline is getting all four of her bottom teeth. And she loves to show them to me by biting my nose and my chin.