The Hud loves to say, "bye-bye" every time we're going anywhere. When he sees the car he says. "bye-bye, bye-bye!" and then points to the car and says "kaaa". I always laugh when he says, "kaaaa" because it sounds like he's from Boston with a heavy accent trying to say "car". There are so many things he does like that, things he does that make me smile every day. I've said it a million times, I'm sure, but I gotta say it again, being Hudson's mommy is absolutely wonderful.

Balancing Act

Well, this photo pretty much sums up what Hudson has been up to these days. He climbs on everything, and I do mean everything. A few days ago he was climbing around on the dining room table and managed to bust open his lip. For those of you keeping track, this is busted lip #2. I hear there will be many more in our future. Boys. You might be wondering why I was allowing my child to climb around on a table. I'm wondering the same thing. I always thought I'd be one of those moms who could watch and control everything their child did. Let me just say, it isn't possible. Having a child sure does change your outlook on parenting. I could write pages and pages and pages on this topic alone, but I'll save that for when I have 5 spare hours to kill.

In other news...Hudson had his very first day of school today with NO crying. None at all. Now, I need to give him a little more credit here... He's actually been doing really well the last two weeks. Generally he cries when we pull up to school briefly and then again when I leave. I'm told it's just for a few minutes and the rest of the time he's fine. Today was the very first day there was no crying at all! YAY, Hudson! I was also told that he was more outgoing and talkative today and he's been eating his snacks more consistently. Hudson also gets upset when we leave school and I have to assure him, we'll be back tomorrow. He's finally settling in and I am happy to report that both mommy and Hudson are enjoying our new schedules.

It's not often we get photos of the three of us on the blog. My parents were visiting this week so we took the photo opp and ran with it. Hud isn't such a fan of posing for the camera and rarely gives it a smile these days. Also worth noting is the In 'N Out burger t-shirt which his aunt Julie and uncle Mike bought him. Hudson gets to choose his clothes in the morning and this shirt is a favorite. Seems like we're seeing a lot of it these days. Oddly, he's not a huge fan of the In 'N Out burger itself, but he does enjoy the fries and the milkshakes!



Hud with his Grammy and Grampa M.

this week

Feeling better earlier this week!



We had to go to Medical City for a visit with my
Pediatric Pulmonologist and we stopped off at the merry- go- round to play.
At the doctor all went well.
My doctor was amazed at my stats and they are:
Height 37 inches, yes, you read that right, 37 inches.
Weight 31.4 pounds.
Mommy says I just keep getting taller and taller and taller...



I love A-maaa's (aka: airplanes) and love to see them up in the sky.



I like to sit in my chair when I get home from school which I must say is going much better these days. I like it there, but don't tell mommy. Every day when we pull up to school I cry and hug mommy really close. I'd like school much better if she'd come with me, but if she won't that's okay. I'm upset about it for just a few seconds and then I'm okay. I've even started eating my snack at school which is very promising. This week I've been sad to say goodbye to school! Things are looking up.

Home Sick

Everyone warned me that once Hudson started school he'd be sick all the time. So, here we are...sick day number one. Yesterday he was cranky when I picked him up from school and extremely warm, so I took his temperature and it was 100.2! Poor Hudson. You can see by the looks of these pics, he felt pretty bad. Thankfully he slept through the night (not usually the case when he's sick) but is still definitely not feeling great this morning. We had to miss school today and have been lounging around, taking it easy most of the morning. We're hoping for a quick recovery so Hudson can make it to swim class tomorrow!

I am so impressed with what Hudson has learned in his short time at Junius Heights Montessori. Every day at school they have snack time. The snack is always prepared by the children, served by the children, eaten by the children (obviously) and then cleaned up by the children. They do not wear bibs at school so that the children learn consequences of spilling and become more aware and careful when eating. They also use utensils and feed themselves. Last night the Hud decided he'd like breakfast for dinner, in these photos he's eating a yogurt all by himself, with no bib and a spoon (note that despite the mess all over his face, there is nothing on his shirt). Mommy is quite impressed with this development. He can also go get himself a kleenex and wipe his own nose and then throw the tissue away. I especially appreciated this maneuver. There are many other things going on at school that I like and I will keep you all updated. Hudson is starting to get used to school, though he continues to have a difficult time saying goodbye to mommy. He's there for two hours this morning, his longest day so far.

I took the images below yesterday morning before school. Last night Scott and I were looking at them in disbelief, the photo below in particular. Just look how grown up Hudson is now. It's just so hard to believe for his mommy and daddy. We're also dying to measure his height because he is towering over the other kids at school. It's no secret this kid is going to be tall, but it still surprises us when we see him next to the other kids.

And, finally....the Hud has some hair. It only took 21 months.

The Park

Finally, a break from the 100++ weather this last week and it sure has been a nice and very welcome change. Don't get too excited for us though, we're back up in the 100++ again today, tomorrow and the next day. Sigh. With the short window of tolerable weather we headed back to our favorite park this weekend, and Hudson was ecstatic! He knew as soon as we pulled up where we were and just could hardly contain himself with excitement. Not having been there all summer, we had a significantly different experience this time around. Hudson is climbing on everything and he's much more capable of cruising through the park on his own. It was yet another reminder of just how quickly he is growing up. It's hard to believe how much our little boy changes in such short amounts of time.

Look out Michael Phelps!

Look who LOVES swim class!!
Yesterday while I was observing Hudson and Scott in their swim class another child's grandparents were sitting next to me and we started talking. They were very impressed with the Hud and his swimming skills and said, "I think you've got a Michael Phelps on your hands!". So, look out Michael Phelps, you may have some competition!
Hudson went underwater for 8 seconds yesterday and is improving every week. Here is a quick play-by-play of how it all went down:




Ready, set, go!



And he's off (look at his little feet kicking away!).



He's up for air and some encouragement from Da-Da.
Way to go, Hud!

It's a rare occassion, I know. A blog post without a photo. I thought I'd post an update on how things are going with school and realized once I arrived at my holding post, the Starbucks 30 seconds away from Junius Heights Montessori, I didn't have a way to load my photos...so here we go without a photo.

School continues to be difficult, and as I mentioned earlier this week it's going to take quite some time for the Hud to get used to it. I, on the other hand seem to be handling it much better than I thought I would. I'm now what one might consider a "regular" at this Starbucks. My new routine goes something like this: I drop off the Hud, he cries, I feel horrible, I drive down the street to Starbucks and wait...wait for my phone to ring. During the phase-in process the school will call you if your child cries for 15 minutes consecutively and ask you to come and pick up your child. Thankfully, that hasn't happened yet. Today Hudson is going for an hour and a half. It just passed the hour mark and no phone call yet. Whew. I am optimistic that this means he's feeling just a tiny bit more comfortable there and maybe he's even having a good time.

Once we get home, well that's another story. One word describes the new afternoon routine: disaster. Naps are basically now non-existent. Really. I wouldn't joke about something as serious as naps. Yesterday we didn't even get to 30 minutes. Yikes. I suspect what's going on here is a severe case of separation anxiety. At least that's what I'm guessing based on my trusty Sleep Easy Solutions sleep book. Now that Hudson has discovered that sometimes I do go away, he's fearful that every time I leave the room I've actually left him again and I might not come back.

Last night I returned to my old stomping grounds, the LAFCO store for a Fashion Night Out cocktail party (it was really fun and also great to get out of the house). I left the house before Hudson went to bed and Scott said Hudson had a really hard time after I left, crying, pointing at the door, looking out the window for me...breaks my heart to think that he thinks I've left and that I'm not coming back. I wish there was some way I could reassure him, and I do give it my best shot explaining to him that I'll be back, but he doesn't seem to want to hear it. I'm told he'll have a better understanding of this around age 2 when he can grasp the whole object permanance thing.... so, we're still a ways away.

In the meantime I'll just stick to my new routine and hope that Hudson starts to enjoy school and actually look forward to it. A mom can hope, right?

dicsovering the "boo-boos"

It's truly amazing to watch your child discover the world and see things for the very first time. I love seeing Hudson's reaction to different things, especially when he's discovered something he really likes (see photo above). Witnessing his discoveries gives me such joy and it makes me feel so lucky to be a mom and to be able to experience these wonderful moments.

This morning Hudson made me realize how much he pays attention to every little thing I say and do. He noticed that I had a "boo-boo" so he pointed to it and said, "boo-boo! boo-boo!" and then proceeded to lean in and kiss my "boo-boo". He did this because every time he gets a "boo-boo", I kiss the "boo-boo" and say, "all better!". I'm convinced there's just nothing sweeter in the whole wide world than your child kissing your "boo-boo".

It really does make it "all better'.

Separation

School- so far, not so good.

Day 3, I accompanied Hudson to school again for 30 minutes. He was attached to me the entire time and looked scared to death that I might try to leave at any minute. This is going to be an especially difficult transition and adjustment. We realized this over the weekend when the Hud refused to let Scott hold him and instead insisted that I hold him constantly. I suspect it's because he got a small taste of what it's going to be like without me around and he didn't like it. Typically he's glued to Scott on the weekends and could care less if I'm even around.

Additionally, his naps have been a complete disaster since the transition began. We're talking 45 minutes at best this week where he was napping 2 hours pretty consistently. I am hopeful that things take a turn for the better, but fear it's going to be difficult for quite some time.

I've heard this age referred to as a very "turbulent time", a "mini-adolescence" and of course, "the terrible twos". Let's just say I now believe them all to be very accurate. I've been reading a lot about toddlers this age and the challenges we parents face as they struggle between their independence and ongoing need to be close to their parents. Looks like it's going to be a rough ride for a while, I guess we better buckle-up!

The day Hudson locked Mommy out

It was a sweltering hot Friday afternoon here in Dallas, the Hud and I had just finished our grocery shopping and were returning home for the afternoon. I began to unload the groceries and put them away while the Hud assisted me in the kitchen. I needed to make a quick trip out to the trash bin which is located on the side of our house, accessible via our front door, so I went quickly to the front of the house and out the front door. I do this often throughout the day, always closing the door behind me so that the dogs don't follow me out. I'm usually out and back before the Hud even realizes I've gone out, but Friday was different. The Hud had other plans for our afternoon.

Just as I turned around to go back inside, I heard the "click" of the door locking. I thought, surely I didn't just hear the door lock, but as I went to open the door I discovered that in fact, what I heard was the sound of the door locking. I was locked out! My little Hud-bug locked me out. No cell phone, no spare key, no windows that open...my only hope was a neighbor with a phone and or the Hud unlocking the door. Try as I may, I could not get the Hud to unlock the door. So, I tried my neighbor. She didn't answer. Now I'm starting to panic. Hud is in the house alone....danger, danger, danger! All of the possibilties are running through my head of things that could happen to him in there unsupervised. It's 150 degrees outside, I'm burning up, worried sick and in a complete state of panic.

Thankfully, our trusty neighbor Marvin heard me trying to talk to the Hud through the locked door-I must've been talking pretty loud...and came running over to assist. From his cell phone I called Scott (who of course did NOT answer his phone, no surprise). So I wait a few minutes and call again. I mean, this really is what I would consider an actual emergency...I was contemplating actually breaking a window at this point!

I finally get Scott on the phone, he laughs (thanks for that, sweetheart) and says he's on his way. It's Friday afternoon, Labor Day weekend and traffic was a disaster, so it took Scott 30 minutes to get home.

Meanwhile, poor Hudson was so upset, he just couldn't understand why I was not coming back in the house. I could even hear him trying to unlock the door, but he just couldn't get it to work. It was very sad to see the Hud through the window with tears running down his face. Thankfully he was too upset to actually leave the window and get into trouble. He does know how to turn the oven on, move chairs over to beds and jump on them, climb on just about anything and the list of possiblities just goes on and on...

In the end, what ended up being a rather frightening situation turned out okay. I am so thankful he wasn't hurt. I know that this is a story that will be told for the rest of his life and it will be known by all Akins' as "the day Hudson locked Mommy out".

Day 2

Well....day 2 did not go as I had hoped. The Hud did fine for the first 20 minutes but then got upset and cried for the last 10 minutes of his 30 minute day. As for me, I did much better than I thought I would, but I'd be lying if I said there were no tears at all. It was a long 30 minutes for me, maybe the longest 30 minutes ever.

When I returned to pick up Hudson Sylvie told me he'd been upset, so instead of moving on to an hour for our next day, we'll be repeating the 30 minutes again on Tuesday. Sylvie said she knows Hudson can do it, some kids just take longer than others. Separation is something that's going to take a little getting used to, for both of us.

Off to school!

Hudson's first day went really well, although technically I'm not sure I'd count today as his first day. I was there the entire time. Tomorrow will be the real test. Hudson goes alone for 30 minutes. I think he's going to do great, and I am not worried about him at all. Me, well....yeah, I'm kinda worried about me (you probably picked up on that yesterday).

I was glad to see that Hudson remembered Sylvie immediately, they met way back in January! Sylvie is his "guide"- in the Montessori philosophy they don't use the word "teacher" since they aren't there to "teach" the children, they are there to simply "guide" the children. I really, really like their approach and am anxious to see how Hudson changes and grows in the time that he is there.

This morning I put Hudson's backpack on him and quickly took the photo above, as I knew the Hud would not want to wear his backpack for long. By the time we reached the car he was carrying it. Though he did put it back on when we got to school and he looked absolutely adorable walking up the steps into school.