Simons a busy boy

I can't capture pictures of Simon running from one end of the house to the other or scaling all our furniture. But here are a few pictures of our busy little lad. 

He is a puppy 

He is a dancer 

He is a swimmer

He is a painter

He is a helper 

He is a sculptor 

... An a car napper

20 & 21 months

I'm finding it hard to remember to post Simon's monthly updates. With our upcoming move from Hong Kong , summer in the USA and then moving to Estonia I can already see myself falling behind. 

What Simon is doing

• Is full of life and general mischief . Simon is into everything.  My mother describes me as that way :-) 
• Great problem solving skills and fine motor skills. 
• Is interested in the potty and is highly motivated by candy. I'm not hitting the potty training hard until we are in Estonia but I'm letting him use it when he asks. 
• He climbs everything and then jumps off. If I hide the stools he drags the chairs and climbs up so he can access the counter. His forehead always has a goose egg on it. 
•  Is very astute and catches on to everything that is going on.

What Simon is saying 

Simon has been increasing his pantomime routine. He has learned two new word this month... Up& "PPP"= please. Although the last three days he has really been trying to at words and say the right one. Our usually silent boy is a little chatterbox. 
1. No
2. Yeah
3. ga ga: gross/garbage
4. baba: dog
5. dat: that
6. amm: food
7. mm mm: milk
8. Mama
9. da da
10. hi
11. bye
12. baabaa (and makes blowing motion): bubbles (which means he wants a straw)
13: nana: banana
14. Ot= out 

15. Up

Teeth: 16 teeth. All his teeth are through!!  Except 2 year old molars but if he is like his sister then they will be late and not a big deal. 

Eats: Simon is a slow eater but he is a good eater and not too picky. He loves watermelon just as much as his father and sister. 

Sleeps: 
Night time:  7-5:30/6am. Simon is not the greatest sleeper and has tons of energy when he is awake. I'm hoping that with jet lag we can reset his sleeping a bit. He can just function on less sleep than Joy and we have tried everything to get him to sleep more. So we have seen great gains in his sleep from early infancy (horrible sleeper to tolerable sleeper) and we have come to terms with being up early. 

Naps: He is at one nap and will sleep for 1 hour on bad days and 2 hours on good days. Most days are at 1.5 hours.  

Weighs: 22.7 lbs

Likes:
-  Live animals , especially bugs. It is interesting that he doesn't like to play with toy animals. He loved the tap poles we had for a month. 

-Going to the pool

-Being outside:  He stands at the balcony door saying "out" 

-Reading: His favorite book is "chu's day" very cute book about a panda who sneezes. 

- playdough and it is great he doesn't heat it! Joy still tries to eat it every now and again. 

-playing tea party in the shower 

-Taking out the dog with daddy and feeding the dog

-Playing with kitchens and watching/helping mommy cook


Dislikes: being in time out and not getting his way )temper tantrums are in full swing). He hates when I leave him (even if he is left with daddy). He also hates the sand at the beach on his feet. 

Favorite event this month: our trip to New Zealand in April was amazing. Simon loved playing outside! 

Land of the long white cloud

We had an amazing spring break in New Zealand. It was probably our very best vacation yet. We rented a beach house (bach) for 10 days and were able to borrow a car from Emily's childhood friend who lives in Auckland. The kids did amazingly well on the long flight, which Brad was able to book using only 30,000 frequent flier miles per ticket. Amazing!



We spent our days soaking up the expansive blue skies, large grassy backyard, HUGE house, and the breathtaking view of the ocean from our living room. The beach was a short walk from our backyard and it was EMPTY. Only a 10 minute stroll down the beach and we were at a great cafe and restaurant, along with an ice cream parlor. What more could you ask for? We really did feel like we had a restorative vacation. We went on long walks, everyone slept great, stopped for coffee and ice cream everyday and enjoyed being outside in perfect weather. Our kids played outside every minute they were awake. It was so nice not to be crammed into 700square feet and the kids didn't miss their toys for a minute







Every other day we did an adventure so it was the perfect combination of rest and having fun. Emily's childhood friend and boyfriend drove out to spend a few nights with us and had fun reconnecting and reminiscing about our childhoods in Cairo. We took the kids to a petting zoo which thrilled them to no end (especially since the dogs and pigs followed us around!). We went on a hike to Cathedral Cove (a shot from Prince Caspian was filmed there) and played on the beach. We even made it all the way to Hobbiton to see where scenes from Shire were filmed. Joy spent the whole time looking for the Hobbits and decided that they all went to the store. Ready for picture overload?!

Cathedral Cove Hike

 Train Ride: Family Picture at the top (not many pictures taken during the ride as we were all still recovering from Simon's car sickness episode and having just cleaned vomit off a 19 month old.)

 Hobbiton 

 Easter Egg hunt in our backyard

 Lots of relaxing, reading and playing outside (and our kids being naked a lot)

 Whiti Animal Farm (deer, pigs, sheep,goats donkeys,llama, alpaca,  all nature of birds/poultry, dogs, opossum, wild cats.....)

Luke's Kitchen: the amazing restaurant and cafe a 10 minute walk from our house. I think we tried most things on the menu over 10 days! The walk home always included Joy "splashing" in the waves and getting completely drenched. Simon either was carried or walked with shoes and socks and preferably kept sand and water free. Our kids are complete opposites.

 Hike with my friend Yasmin around the beach