The Roman Wesley Universe: July 2011

I'm finally posting this from July!

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July 5th 2011

4th of July weekend this year was our first family vacation all together.

Family Road Trip.

We were invited up to our friends lakehouse cabin or what they call “Drift Inn” in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin (Door County). It reminded Eric and I of our lakehouse in Austin that we miss so much. The backyard of our friend’s lakehouse was the beach to the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, which looked like the ocean. I told Roman it was the ocean. ;-) I figured a sea was close enough to an ocean.

It was his 2nd time on the beach and the 1st time that we took naked baby beach pics!!

Too much cuteness to handle:

We loved being in nature with friends and I’m so thankful that we could give Roman a little adventure & change of scenery etc. Roman was so great. Of course his schedule got a bit messed up from traveling but he adjusted just fine and slept great and played hard. He was finally being stimulated by NEW things, instead of the same old stuff at his house. He loved being around new people and he also got some great beach time. If he was at the beach everyday, he’d be a toe head like his mama in no time.
We had to watch him so closely while on the beach as there was many a thing that could be quite detrimental if swallowed/tasted. So the short leash made it difficult to enjoy the beach like I usually do but I loved watching the look on little Roman’s face as he was looking out into the waves and exploring the rocks and treasures in the sand.

One of the couples that was rooming with us at the lakehouse said that they were using Roman’s presence as “birth control” as they have 4 kids between the two of them and after spending the weekend with Roman they said that it had the opposite effect and that they were feeling baby hungry now. Ooops.
To know a baby is to know the state of surrender & there’s nothing wrong with getting more familiar with that state.

    I was super bummed we couldn’t get sparklers for Roman this year. Eric and I never saw any fireworks stands whilst driving around. I googled it and only got 2 locations in Chicago. I don’t know what I’m missing but I couldn’t get my hands on any fireworks this year. The laws must be pretty tight around here. Crap. I still need to check that off my to-do list: research local laws of the land. However I had to show Roman fireworks & I never like to miss them so I found out about a great fireworks show 2 miles from home in downtown Naperville so we strolled out to a good spot and I watched Roman’s eyeballs see fireworks for the first time ever!!!
It was after his bedtime by the time they started but I had to take him out to see them! I wish we could have been right underneath them but we’ll have to plan that for sure for next year!
    I’m excited to get him into some preschool/educational daycare very soon. He really needs the stimulation and socialness and change of pace. He gets so bored at home sometimes. Maybe a dog would help. Speaking of which, he's obsessed with dogs and it's officially his 2nd spoken word. Though it usually comes out a bit more like "chog" or "gog". He's getting the hang of it. I will miss his baby japanasa when it's gone. Anyway, preschool will be great because he’ll be better adjusted, more independent, learn more, have more attention and get to play with new things and kids!. So I’m looking forward to that for him as well as for me! I can begin to get organized and get working more and creating again. I wouldn't want to do full time right now, he's still too whittle, but part time would be great!
    Roman acquires new nicknames all the time. Lately I’ve been calling him my caveman baby or “bam bam”. Because he just grunts and makes some cave man type of sound when he needs something because he can’t speak yet, although his babbling is getting more english sounding, he’s in the cave man evolutionary stage of development. Another caveman thing he does that is funny is when he’s happy to see you he will slap/hit you. It’s his way of showing you his happiness/love. I have been also teaching him the concept of “soft”. Humans come into the world innately knowing “roughness” and “destruction” so I’m starting young to teach him about softness and creation. Eric and I have also been considering re-naming him Roman Harley because he produces a funny “revving” sound when he’s trying to get our attention. Revve it up Roman!

Things he’s beginning to understand:

He repeated his ABC’c up to the letter D while reading his ABC book!!!
Sign language for basic things: “All done/all gone”, “ball”, “more”, “milk” etc etc
He’s learning a lot about animals, colors, music, instruments, numbers, nature, basic house hold words, yes & no, "careful". Basic concepts like hot and cold, big & small, in & out, The concept of “soft” as opposed to rough, etc. Now he just needs some worldly adventures!

Some fun new things he’s into (and when I say “fun” that term is relative):

Taking off his diaper
Knocking the spoon out of my hand as I’m feeding him
Kick & dribble his soft baby soccer ball, his winne the pooh ball, really any ball, and if you happen to spit a small ball from your mouth he will crack up laughing! :-)
He still loves to drum everything & play his piano
Sneezing (it makes him laugh...it used to make him cry...ahh the cycle of life)
Taking off his bib
Climbing up stairs and over his barriers
Running. Ok not full kid run but he definitely has a baby run he's practicing daily
He likes to playfully smile at you just before he falls asleep for the night. Too precious!
He absolutely loves to be outside. It's a good day for him if he can get some dirt in his mouth. He makes loud happy screaming sounds when he’s outside exploring :-) He’s very independent when exploring. He will not let me hold his hand or lead the way. And when he gets out on his own he will roar will joy, it's hilarious. Even if he’s tired and you take him outside he gets revved up with some energy reserve and takes flight off into spontaneous directions. Even when he was so tiny and couldn’t walk yet, I could always take him outside to calm him down if he got into a crying fit. So I try to give him outside time everyday. We’ve turned our patio into a big play pen for him. He LOVES it. It's too bad it's gonna get cold sooner than later and be that way for 8 months out of the year :-(