February 2016-Finding a Balance

What is the secret to a well dressed toddler? Dress him like a Snowbird from Sun City and you are sure to get compliments! Otto's teachers are always commenting about how we dress him. This is one of Matt's really great "Grandpa" outfits. It is actually a jumper with high waisted pants and a sailor jacket. He sometimes gets so messy eating at daycare, they have to dress him in their extra clothes. He went through 3 outfits on this particular morning and went through all the clothes I had sent for him. I picked him up in this adorable number, the winnie the pooh overall shorts and long sleeved football shirt. 

 Otto's recent academic milestones include counting numbers and practicing colors. He is not so good at colors yet which leads me to believe his eyesight is still developing. When giving him snack I always ask how many crackers he wants. He replies, "How many?" and then counts "One, two, four, five."

 We took a weekend trip to Pratt's Pet Store to see the bunnies and chicks. Then, we toured the candy factory for Glendale's Chocolate days.

Matt and I worked really hard this month but in spite of our busy schedule and making time for family, we also got our homestudy renewed and  re-certified for adoption. We haven't been able to do much past this step in networking, but we have kept up certification in case an opportunity comes up to adopt again. We hope that friends and family keep us in mind if a contact for a potential birth mom looking to place for adoption can contact us through this site and learn more about us.

 I have continued to look for the balance between work and home as Otto gets sick, again. A day or two of staying home with him while he recovers reveals that I, in fact, have contracted pink eye. Not just any pink eye, but the worst case of pink eye I have ever seen! My eye swelled shut! I had 2 days of drops before I could return to work. Even then, I couldn't wear eye make-up for a week. It was a dreadful sight. I don't mind posting a picture of how I slept the first night. I have other pictures of my eye, but not willing to share to the world.


 For Valentine's Day, we got a babysitter and went out for a progressive dinner in Old Town Scottsdale. It was the funnest night ever! We had appetizers, dinner, and dessert and different places along the road.




For President's day I decided to take the opportunity of a day off of work to take Otto to the Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium not far from our house. I didn't know that Otto was entering his 21 month, terrible, not-quite-twos. We had a reasonably lovely morning until I told Otto not to run away from me and put him back in the stroller which caused him to scream all the way back to the entrance, scaring the giraffes away. It was only a sort of terrible time, as mostly he liked seeing the monkeys, birds, and we had a baby kangaroo hop right past us!

Otto continues to grow and amaze us every day. He has such a defined sense of humor that keeps us laughing all the time. The day I looked over and he was trying on Matt's slippers to walk around in, I had to shed a tear of gratitude. How long we wished for the sounds of little pidder padder of feet in our home and here he was, walking around in Matt's shoes with a big, proud look on his face.
He also said his first, 3 word, sentence this month. He usually says "night night" and "I yaoooo" before bed. This time, he reared up his chin, and came out with, "I. . . .luff. . . .you!" and it just melted our hearts!

In February, my school kicks off the Spring Festival with a Right to Read week event. This year was "Explorers" theme.

I couldn't let them down, so I borrowed some costumes from my parents. I do love a good occasion to dress up.
 Here are a couple of great examples: