PRESCHOOL!

The end of August I was offered a job and would be starting the beginning of September. I had been job searching for a couple months so I had thought about preschool, but hadn't thought TOO much about it. Since it was a quick hire I wasn't as prepared as I needed to be. I started calling around and went on a few tours of preschools. Some weren't what I was looking for, some didn't have the safety requirements that I wanted, some I just straight up didn't feel comfortable in, some were too far from where we live/work. The one we decided on wasn't our first choice, but it did meet the majority of our requirements and it's convenient which we're both thankful for. Here are his pictures from his first day of school.

On our way there I was asking him if he was excited. He said, "yeah! New teacher, make friends, but NO HITTING!" hahaha! So true, little man, so true!

He was ready when I picked him up, but said he had such a fun day. He gave me lots of kisses and hugs and I really enjoyed those. Once I picked him up all night he kept telling Ryan and I how much he missed momma and daddy. I loved spending my days with him, but I just know he's going to thrive at school and enjoy his time with his new friends!

Peace Out August!

It's time to get caught up again!!!!!! Here is the whole month of August in one post. We had a really good month.

August 1 - we spent the majority of the afternoon at the dealership negotiating and getting the paperwork started for my car. We ended the day at Youngs Dairy to treat our little guy to some dinner and ice cream. He loves feeding the goats.

My planner arrived and it's a beauty!

August 3 - we went for an early morning walk

August 4 - we went to Columbus for the Ohio State Fair. This about sums up his experience. He LOVES riding rides and rollercoasters

August 6 - we practiced circles

August 7 - Drinking his milk (my table looks disgusting)

August 12 - Splash pad fun!

August 13 - Wearing his daddy's head light for work

August 14 - Working on our As

August 17 - Getting ready for bed. He is in a phase where he brings everything to bed! Here he has Snugs, Shasta, two AF coins his daddy gave him and a football ornament

August 18 - I met my parents and sister in law to pick up my niece. That night we drove to Columbus and saw One Direction. I'm not a total fan girl and sad they're taking some time for themselves starting in March.

August 19 - We took Kyla to Youngs and had a lot of fun showing her around. Especially Dominick.

August 20 - Kyla wanted to go to the Air Force Museum so we went. Dominick loves it there and always wants to take pictures. He made us pose a LOT!

August 22 - My parents had this old tricycle that they weren't using so they gave it to Dominick. He can balance like a pro, but didn't know how to pedal. This gave him the opportunity to learn so we are going to try without soon

August 23 - We celebrated Dominick's birthday with dinosaur cupcakes and presents with his aunt, uncle and my parents before heading back to Ohio.

August 27 - Working on Letter B

August 28 - My airplane/helicopter lover

August 29 - We were at the park and there was another family there. They were playing baseball and then came over near where we were and were playing tag. Dom saw their bat and went to pick it up. I told him it wasn't ours, but the dad said he could play with it and brought him over the ball. When we were done he went to give it back and they told him he could have it. He was SUPER excited about it.

August 30 - It's the start of BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!!

Dominick - Three Years

Weight

3 Years: Around 39 lbs - he has an appointment on the 17th

  Length

3 Years: Around 40" - he has an appointment on the 17th

Diapers

POTTY TRAINED! except nap and bedtime, which we are now working on since they don't use pull ups at school for nap
Clothes

3T and 4T

Eating

SUPER picky! Favorite foods include cheese ravioli, macaroni and cheese, pbj, fruits, chicken nuggets and hot dogs. He hates most meat and almost all vegetables except corn. Dinner times are exhausting and can last upwards to an hour and a half. We make him try roughly three bites of everything on his plate, but it can really be a struggle.

Sleep

You sleep through the night 

Likes

Trains

Dinosaurs

Duplos

Anything that "goes"

Taking Pictures

Going places - the park, Target, the doctors, for a walk, etc.

Being around other kids

Going to his Papa and Gigi's

 Dislikes
Not getting your way

Having to come inside

Eating Vegetables

+Your most common nicknames are Dom, Domi and Brown Bear. 

+You LOVE having your back "scratched" and tickled. We will say their is a lady bug on your back and basically tickle you. You love it and ask for it often.

+You cuddle on your terms, but 99% of the time will always give kisses and hugs if we ask for them. You're super loving. We call kisses moochies and will do eskimo kisses which we call huga muga's (From Daniel Tiger).

+You know your alphabet, can count to 15, colors, shapes, read 2 books (from memory), the national anthem, 5 out of 7 days of the week (always skips Wednesday and Thursday), many words in Spanish, some in Korean and obviously your first language is English.

+You love to be outside. You don't care if we stay in the yard or go someplace you love being outside. 

+You are very independent and will often play by yourself, but you never pass up an opportunity to play with other kids and often ask to play with "friends" (aka kids).

+You're incredibly friendly, but if an adult says hi to you you will occasionally get shy and hide between my legs.

+You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your momma, BUT you love having fun with your daddy.

+You love anything that goes, but you're favorite things are trains and airplanes.

+Your favorite shows are Paw Patrol, Umizoomi, Daniel Tiger and Jake and the Neverland Pirates

+You are SO funny and always try to make us laugh (you're successful 98% of the time).

+You repeat pretty much anything and everything you hear so we have to be REALLY careful.

+Most of the time you're SUPER easy to take out in public because you just go with the flow.

+You're SUPER hard headed. 

+Your favorite color is red and you tell us.

+You're ALL boy. You love to be rough and tough, play sports and are just a wild one. 

+You're SO appreciative of the littlest things and I absolutely love that.

+In your third year of life you started going to daycare with Mrs. Jen, then went and stayed with Mrs. Lauren, then stayed with Gigi and Papa for 3 weeks and then spent the last 9 months with me. You're fixin to start preschool and are SO excited.

+You are a HUGE lover of the beach. Totally your Momma's child. 

+You say I'm your bestie, but you're a huge fan of your daddy and your cousin Kyla.

+You talk NONSTOP. All day, every day. To yourself, to others, to me...it doesn't matter, ALL day.

I love you to the moon and back!

Other Birthday Shenanigans

Are y'all tired of hearing about Dominick turning three or his birthday? I promise to post about other things soon.

The night before his birthday Ryan and I put streamers on his door, from his fan and filled the floor of his room with balloons. When he woke up he didn't even want to leave his room because he just wanted to play. We even told him there were presents waiting for him downstairs and he said, "no, I'm fine!"

The morning of his birthday we gave him three options on things to do and he picked the train museum. We've been before, but it was always cold and they never had the little Thomas train outside. This time it was nice so he was able to ride and was so happy about that.

For dinner that night Ryan had to work so I took him to the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dayton so he could eat on the trolley car. He LOVED it.

When we got home we skyped with my parents, sang him happy birthday and he opened their presents. He had a great day!

Dominick - Two Years

I wrote this a year ago and never posted it. To be honest I never finished it, but here is what was in my drafts. Tomorrow I'll post his Three Year post :)

Weight

Birth: 7 lbs 13 oz

2 Years: (I wish I remembered)
  Length

Birth: 22 in

2 Years: (I wish I remembered)

Diapers

Size 5
We've started potty training a couple times and it's been torture for you (you act as if it's a punishment) so instead of ruining our chances we're just trying every now and then and not pushing you.
Clothes

2

Eating

Picky at times. You love pizza, spaghetti, hot dogs and most fruits

Sleep

You still sleep through the night. You go to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and we have to wake you around 5:45-6:00 to go to daycare

Likes

Trains, planes and automobiles, being outside, being with friends, paw patrol and bubble guppies
 Dislikes
Diaper changes, long car rides, being told no or not getting his way

Dominick,

I don't think I can do you justice in one of these posts since I haven't wrote one in quite awhile. I'm going to try to sum up your year in bullet points. This is going to be a long one so here we go!

+You spend most of your days with Mrs. Jen, Andres and Jacob when he gets home from school. Mrs. Jen and Mrs. Lo started "pre-school" with you three days a week.

+We are working on our ABC's and numbers. You have an ABC book that we go through every single night. You are getting so good at recognizing letters on your own. You also count 2, 4, 2. Apparently you are an even number lover. ;o)

+Trains are by far your favorite thing. You also love airplanes and automobiles, but trains are your true love.

+You can say SO many words that I don't even want to begin going through the list.

+You went to Michigan twice, Alaska and all around California.

+When in Michigan we took you sledding and it was definitely something that you love.

+Your best friends are Mason, Tanner, Andres and Jacob.

Three Year Interview

Now that Dominick is THREE I figured it would be a good age to start the yearly interviews. Obviously the questions might change as the years pass, but it was fun to do. We actually did it over dinner last night and we laughed a lot because he was being silly too.

1. What's your name?
I Dominick (he pronounces his name more like Dah-nick

2. How old are you?
I three!

3. What do you want to be when you grow up?
An airplane (aka a pilot)

4. What's your favorite food?
I like bread (he was eating bread with his dinner last night, but I wouldn't say that's his favorite food). He LOVES fruit; especially watermelon, cheese ravioli and macaroni and cheese.

5. Who do you like to spend time with?
My friends (meaning other children)

6. What's your favorite color?
Red

7. What's your favorite toy?
Rocket ship!

8. What's your favorite movie?
Nemo!!!!

9. What's your favorite TV show?
Paw Patrol

10. Where's your favorite place to go?
Papa Gigi house!

11. What was your favorite part of your birthday?
Presents and balloons (we put balloons all over his floor the night before)

A Letter To My Three Year Old

***This is mostly a post that I wrote for Dominick (and myself to have)...I don't expect most people to read this. Fair warning - it's rather lengthy so don't say I didn't warn you.!***

Dear Dominick,

I just cannot get over the fact that you're turning THREE. How is it possible that three years ago I gave birth to you, the most perfect and beautiful boy for me? I've been a momma for three years and that in itself doesn't seem possible. I can barely remember life before you. What did I do with my days? I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve you, but I'm so thankful for that. I never knew how incomplete I was until I met you three years ago. 

Nobody can make me as happy as you make me, nobody can make me smile and laugh like you can. You're so funny and LOVE to make others laugh. You have the craziest personality. You're seriously SWEET AS PIE, but that doesn't mean you don't have a little temper at times too, because you TOTALLY DO! I got to spend the majority of my days with you this past year. Ever since our PCS I have been a stay at home mom and I feel so lucky to have spent so much time with you. I'm glad that we finally got to do it. The days are long, but the years are quick. There were many days I didn't know how we were even going to make it to bedtime and then there were days that we had nonstop fun. I'm thankful for both. I'm going to be heading back into the working outside of the home world and you're going to head to preschool. I'm so excited for you and so sad for me. This past year I learned patience, understanding, how to forgive quickly and that when all else fails to just show love.You are the most incredible human being I've ever met.

This past year I learned how resilient you are. You stayed with Papa and Gigi for three weeks while your daddy and I moved from California to Ohio, you and I stayed in Michigan for three and a half months and then when we cam back to Ohio you did it flawlessly. You were happy no matter what and for that I'm so extremely thankful.

There have been many nights recently that I have just cried and cried. I cannot believe you're three. I'm totally not ready for that. Every day you change, learn and grow and while it's so, so, so exciting and rewarding it's also so bittersweet knowing that you're growing up. You often tell me that you're able to do something yourself, to stay where I am or that you don't want my help, but then there are times where you want me to hold you like a baby, carry you up the stairs every night and panic when you can't see or find me. 

You're INCREDIBLY independent. I always have people tell me how independent you are, especially being an only child. You love being around other kids and will always try to play or talk to them and when they don't always play back you're totally okay with that and go on to a new child or play by yourself. You call all kids friends even if you have never met them in your life. You ask to play with friends constantly so I have no doubt you're going to make lots of new little friends at "school". You're CONFIDENT and rarely scared of anything.You're ALL BOY ALL THE TIME! I get a lot of compliments on how well behaved you are and for the most part you really are. You challenge us every day and many times we feel like we're failing you, but those compliments can be really reassuring. You have an opinion of your own and you will tell us. When you're getting in trouble or after you've got in trouble you always request a hug. It's hard to turn you down while you're getting scolded or sitting in time out, but we are always there with open arms afterwards. You are incredibly inquisitive and always wonder how things work, how to fix things, what things are, etc.You are by far the SLOWEST and pickiest eater in all the land. We've started making you try everything that we eat and sometimes you do really good and other nights we sit at the table for over an hour. You have a huge heart and will ask us if we're okay or what's wrong, etc. if we cough, sneeze or see us upset/sad. You are hard headed and stubborn, but you are a super happy child and pretty easy to please. You have the most contagious smile and laugh and it's easy to do with you.

This year we didn't take as many adventures as we normally have, but we did make a lot of memories. We went to San Diego, Disneyland, you had your first trip to Pentwater and many, many day trips. I know you won't remember it all, but I hope it was a fun year for you.

Right now you still love anything that goes, but you're still a HUGE fan of trains. You also love dinosaurs which is kind of funny to me. You love baseball, playing catch with a football and shooting hoops. You're a water baby and love to go swimming, play at the splash pads and in your water table. You don't mind to play in the snow, but you really aren't a winter fan and you hate the rain (minus the one time I let you run, jump and play in the puddles/rain).You love your doggies and they're more than patient enough with you. You love to ride your balance bike and your tricycle (he has a tricycle to teach him to pedal, but we will be taking off the back wheels soon to teach him to ride a big kid bike). You LOVE being outside. You are obsessed with your Papa and Gigi and always ask to see them or when you can go to their house.

You are SO smart! You know colors like it's your job, your alphabet (visually and by saying/singing them) and you can count to 15. You know more animals than I can think of and their sounds, your left and your right, how to put your shoes on (the right foot 95% of the time) and you're 98% daytime potty trained. Recently we've been working on writing our letters, but have only made it to letter "B" so far. You know the pledge of allegiance by heart and you know Sunday-Tuesday and Friday-Saturday for the days of the week. You can read at least two books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Big Green Monster (from memory). You say many words in Spanish, some words in Korean, can still sign the words we taught you as a baby and obviously your first language is English. You are constantly pointing things out to us that you know when we are out or driving and it's so fun. Seeing the world through your eyes has changed my life.

I pray for you every single day. I pray for your heart and that it still remains happy and full. I pray for your future; that you're successful in all aspects of life - love, happiness, educationally and professionally. I pray for your future wife; that she is able to be your better half and that you're able to have a wonderful, HAPPY life together and the family that you create together. I pray for your health and everything that comes with it. I pray for your friends and that you are able to be a leader rather than a follower and that you're able to pick good friends...lasting friendships, real friends. I pray that you live life to the fullest, take advantage of opportunities given to you or that come your way, that you live life gracefully and appreciatively. I pray that you continue to be strong, to never give up on something you want or believe in and that you never turn your back to the ones you love. I pray that you don't give into temptation and that you're able to see the good in others, things and the world that surrounds you. I pray that you're always resilient, confident and appreciative. I pray that you continue to be loving, that you continue to thrive, for the adventures you go on and for the man that you're one day going to be. 

Brown bear, I love you more than ever. I cannot thank God enough that he trusted ME to be your mom. I'm the luckiest mom in the world that you are mine and I'm yours. You make all of my days happier and brighter. These days are going by so quickly that I wish I could bottle the Dominick you are right now up. I hope I never forget your chubby feet and hands and the pitter patter through the house, the way you call for me in the middle of the night or in the morning/after nap, I hope I never forget what it feels like to cuddle you at this age. I hope I always remember your squeals of excitement, your cries when you're in need, your laugh and most of all your innocence. I hope you know that I never take you or our time together for granted, that you never question our love for you and that you always know you're perfect just the way you are. The tantrums and your stubbornness are tough, but I'm so proud of the little boy you are becoming. I'm so grateful for you.

Love,

Momma