Idlewild!

Jason took the day off yesterday and we went to Idlewild (a local amusement park) with Tim, Amy and Isaac. It was a day full of fun and Vin is still recovering this morning. Here are some shots from the day. I think Vin's favorite time was in the waterpark, which we didn't get any pictures of. It's just too hard to lug a camera around in a waterpark.



Fun in Storybook Forest

Jason taking Vinnie down his first slide of the day

Where did Daddy go?

There he is! Silly Daddy!

I think I had just as much fun as he did.

He didn't like this one so much. Tried to climb back up to Jason.

Amy and I taking the boys down the slide

How in the World are We Supposed to Find our Way?

I've started putting Vin on the potty and we've had a few success's here and there but mostly a lot of messes. So what? I don't care about the messes because I figure the earlier we start the better.

Maybe he won't train for six months or longer. It doesn't matter. There's no pressure. Just a little white potty chair, lots of book reading, and talk of pee pee and the like. So far he digs it. He "goes" on the potty several times a day and last week he communicated twice he had to go and then went on the potty. Today I picked up a few books from the library to get an idea on what the next steps of training should be. I got through the intro of two books and was bombarded by more child led parenting philosophy stuff. Then I looked on the Internet - more of the same.

Those of you who were potty trained under 28 months did you know you have deep psychological wounds from you parents training you before you are ready? Did you know you harbor deep seated embarrassment and negative feelings regarding the potty and all the related functions? Well, you do and in order to avoid passing these horrible wounds on to your children you should wait until they are fully ready to potty train.

I was trained by 18 months and I guess it's a miracle I can "go" today without crying from all the horrible potty training memories. I think it's all hooey. I personally don't care if a parent wants to wait until their child walks up and taps them on the shoulder and says "Excuse me Mom/Dad but I would like to be potty trained now." But please stop telling me I'm an insensitive parent because I place my 17 month on the potty chair.

I attended a seminar a few months ago on Child Led Parenting. In a nutshell the theory is, is that we need to be empathetic when our children throw tantrums or disobey. When they throw a tantrum the procedure is to get down on their level and speak in Toddlerease until they understand that we understand their frustration. Once they realize we are on their side they tantrum will stop and all will be well in toddler world.

The speaker at the seminar actually demonstrated the procedure for us on a toddler size doll. "YOU WANT CANDY!" "YOU WANT CANDY NOW!" "YOU WANT!" "YOU WANT!"
YOU WANT CANDY!" She went on and on hollering at the doll demonstrating her superb empathy and understanding of toddler behavior. She gave example after example of how our timeouts and discipline of tantrums and other poor behavior is squishing our children and ruining them for years to come. And spanking? Well, that's just outright abuse.

I don't know much about parenting with so little experience behind me but something just doesn't seem right about that, though I did try it once and Vin just screamed louder. So yes, we used the horrible "cry-it-out" method to teach Vin how to teach himself to fall asleep, we took away his paci at eight months, his bottle at eleven, we use timeouts and in cases of egregious disobedience we spank. Now we further our torture with potty training. At least Vin will have plenty to talk to his therapist about.

All the No's...

Yes, I know we shouldn't encourage him but he had a case of the "no's" before his nap today so what do we do? Capture it on video, of course.

Going for a walk

Finally made it!


And then he's off again


We found a great trail called the Montour Trail. It extends 40 miles all around Pittsburgh, so I guess it shouldn't have been very hard to find but we are just now discovering it. Here are some pictures from our walk yesterday.

Some pictures Jason took today

Happy 4th Everyone!

I convinced Jason that we should wake Vinnie up at 9:15 p.m. tonight and drag him over to see our local fireworks. It was a 50/50 idea. Could have turned out disastrous but fortunately we all had a great time. It took Vin a few minutes to warm up to the loud booming but once he got past that it was all "Whoas" and "Bravos" (Jason taught him that one - so cute) and "More Please". What a great time we had! Now we're back, Vinnie is fast asleep, Jason is playing a quick game of MLB Baseball, and I decided to do a post.


First here's a look back at Vin watching the fireworks last year....

2007


2007



Now for this year (Note the existence of a 'blankie' in most of the pictures below. It is a bond few could break.)


Pre-show fun...













The Show Begins!

Terrified by the loud booming




Interested but still not sure













Now he's digging it








A tad bit cranky during the walk home

Swim Play date

We still meet up with our gymboree friends once a week for lunch. We moms try to get in some girl chat while the kids play (aka: go crazy and run around the mall). We also try to do play dates once a month and in June we did a swim play date. It was a blast!


The gals - Zoey, Ella, and Maddy




Vin, Alexander and Alexander's mom Gina




The entire crew: Alexander, Zoey, Ella, Maddy and Vin. You can see us moms in the reflection trying to coax them into sitting still for the picture. This is the best we were able to capture.

Moving and such a big kid!

Wasn't it just a year ago I was posting about us moving? Yep, and we are doing it again this month. This will be move number 13 for the angellos in just 11 years. Someday we'll settle down.

We are still going to be renting since we are not sure yet about our long term commitment to living in Pittsburgh but the house we found is perfect. It's a standalone 3 bedroom, 1 bath brick home in a quiet family neighborhood. It has a deck and a backyard for Vinnie and Anthony (or other name since we are wavering on Anthony) to play in. It also has a nice sized basement with an area the previous residents made into a guest bedroom which will be nice when we have visitors. It's even a closer walk to the train for Jason .3 miles one way instead of his current .8 mile walk which can be long in the winter or rain - not that he complains. I attached some pictures of the house that the current residents took.

Cozy kitchen (code for small :))

Living room. The room off to the right the current residents made into a playroom for their two boys. We are going to do the same. It will be nice for the kiddos to have their own place to play in and destroy.

Living room and the far off room is the dining room

Vin and I have been trying to enjoy the pool as much as we can before we move later this month. I wish I had a picture of him swimming but both hands are needed to make sure he doesn't try to drown himself

On our way to the pool and he can hardly wait!

"Are you kidding me with this thing? And why is it strapped in between my legs?"

"Check out my biceps!"

He still can't stand the sun shining in his eyes. Fortunately, for him we don't have very many sunny days here in Pittsburgh.

Sunset

Jason captured these pictures of a breathtaking sunset outside of our apartment.