Sacramento Zoo

This week Axel and I spent a couple of days in Sacramento with Grandma Susan. We went to the Sacramento Zoo and had so much fun that we didn't nap!!!! Without Axel's usual nap he was quite the crank mister and is still currently off of his schedule. He is crying now in his crib instead of sleeping his usual 1-2 hours.

Axel was super cute as always. He tried to feed the animals and climb in with them. He learned quickly that he couldn't do either so he contently watched the animals from his stroller, or Grandma or Mommy's arms.

Axel loves cars and trucks like most boys. He was able to ride one at the zoo.

He had fun walking along a little path in the zoo's backyard.

But he had the most fun at the playground inside the zoo. First watching the other kids, and after about 5 or 10 minutes of watching, running around and playing himself.



Back at grandma's house she was worried that she didn't have enough toys, since most of the toys that she has bought for Axel has ended up at our house. I told her not to worry. Axel had hours of fun playing with the water machine and swifting her floors clean :)

It is always a quick visit, but we were glad to get home before the bad stormy weather hit and so that I could continue to rest up from the cold I caught.

The potty training thing went south as he did not do any training at daycare and by the time Thursday rolled around he lost interest. I am super bummed, although I know I was asking a lot by trying so young. Now I get "mommy, poopoo" right after he has finished going. Oh well, we will try again in a few months.

Axel's communication continues to improve. He is starting to say little sentences, like "all gone", "bike outside", "mommy up", etc. When he is tired or frustrated, he returns to grunting and I have to remind him to use his words, but overall, it is exciting to see him pick up new words every day. For example, he is saying his name now, which sounds like A-sole, because he cannot say the "x" sound yet. He says, moon, sun, heavy, juice, tree, leaf, dirty, etc. Lately he has been pointing to his shoes and socks while saying dirty. It is so cute.....I guess I say things are dirty often.

On a funny note, Grandma Susan sent gloves last year with Axel's Christmas gift. He saw Grandma and I wearing them while going for a walk so when we got home and he found his, in his pile of toys, he wanted to put them on. Here he is giving daddy a high five and playing with them. Can you see how excited he was?


Well, Axel finally fell asleep for his nap. Hopefully, he wakes up his happy self and tomorrow he will be back on his normal sleep routine. Hope you all have a great week!

Our little Pumpkin

We went to a pumpkin patch today on our way home from our weekly family bike ride. Axel had an absolute blast. By far his favorite part was the old fashion tractor.


He was quite upset when we had to leave and equally upset when I tried to get a photo of him in the trailer full of hay.

He had fun trying to lift a giant pumpkin with daddy.

He also got a kick out of riding the wagon through the pumpkin patch.

But next to the tractor was all of the hay lying around the pumpkins. He was more amused at how it felt and looked then the pumpkins, but there are plenty more years to come and I am sure the pumpkins will become more interesting then the hay.

I forgot to mention last week when we landed from our travels from Boston that I scheduled an earlier doctors appt for Axel. He had a horrible rash from head to toe with nice rosey cheeks. Keith and I expected it was an eczema flare from too much dairy, but I wanted to make sure, just in case he was actually really sick. Fortunately, but unfortunately, his rash, cough and runny nose where from the yummy ice cream he ate while on vacation. I know what dairy does to him, but it was one of those moments as a mom where I just wanted to see the little guy light up with enjoyment, rather than cry watching his cousins eat ice cream without him.

What we learned at our doctors visit is that Axel weighed less than his last visit at 15 months. Instead of 20 lbs, 13oz he weighed 20 lbs 8 oz., which put him at the 1%. The doctor wasn't worried because he grew 1.5 inches and is now 31.5 inches and in the 26%. We our stoked that he grew an inch and a half and hope he fattens up a bit before we go in next time.

On Friday, while I was cleaning, I decided to put the TV on. I found this cartoon with a big red dog that Axel really liked. Here he is enjoying the show.


We got the tail end of it, but he was entertained for a whopping 10 minutes straight until the show ended! I was shocked that he actually watched it. I just might try this again in the near future. One show per day shouldn't be too harmful !:)

Ok, now for the big news! Axel and I bought a potty last weekend. He picked out the same potty that his cousin Hannah had, a pink froggy. I told him he could have the same one, but that he had to have the blue and green version. So we brought it home and he sat on it a few times throughout the week. Yesterday when he woke from his nap he said he had to go potty so I sat him down on it. I left him to get a new diaper and when I came back he pointed down with his finger saying "pee pee". I was incredibly excited. He went pee.

This morning after he woke and had his milk I asked him if he had to go potty. He said yes. We sat down and I kept telling him to relax to let the poo poo out. Low and behold, he went poop!!!!! I wanted to jump up and down, but instead decided to call Grandma Sonia to tell her all about it! Unfortunately, he hasn't gone in the potty since 6:30am this morning despite our multiple attempts, but we will see what the future holds when I ask daycare if they will be willing to continue our efforts. I really hope so, but I am trying not to get too excited and then be disappointed when it doesn't work out. My goal is to give him 1-2 months. Hopefully, he will be making good progress, but if he looses interest we will wait until he is older.

Okay, I should wrap it up. I could go on with all of the amazing changes that are occurring each day with Axel's vocubulary and ability to communicate, but I will save it for another day. we wish you a happy week. Enjoy!

Boston and more!

Well, the Szolusha's had an amazing trip to the East coast. I have never been so proud of Axel as I was this past weekend. He did great on the plane, the time changes, and all of the environment changes throughout each day and the week.

Axel met Grandpa Paul, Keith's dad, his Aunt Josie, Uncle Ted, cousins Alex and Hannah (his sister and family) as well as his Grampy Kevin, Keith's step dad.

We stayed with Josie and Ted all but one night. We basically had our own apartment as Ted's parents own the entire Brownstone and the third floor is a guest house for family. This was perfect for us because Axel had his own room to sleep in and his night wakings, didn't wake anyone but us. There is a nice park in the back of Josie and Ted's place so Axel felt right at home. You can see he went for Hannah's bike. Axel does the same thing when we go to park's at home. Instead of playing on the play ground he wants to ride and play with another child's bike.
Daddy and Axel on Hannah's bike.

Grandpa Paul and Axel on another child's bike.


Axel had such a great time playing with Alex and Hannah. It was really nice for me because he was entertained nearly 80% of the time, which was a great break for me.


We went to old Sturbridge village on Saturday and Sunday morning. It is an outdoor museum of an old colonial village in the 1800's.
The three of us in a very special apple Orchard in Old Sturbridge Village

Axel meeting the horses that pulled us on a carriage ride.

Grammy Goodrow and Axel.

Axel on an old bridge having a good old time!

Mommy and daddy being silly.

Axel walking through the barn...oh such a big boy.

Daddy and Axel in the out house.


We went apple picking down the street from the house Keith grew up in. It was so much fun for the entire family. Josie came with her family as well as Grammy Goodrow.
Here is Axel in action.
Pulling with all of his might!

Squealing with joy at his success!

Walking with his apple.

Carefully placing it in the apple bag.

Trying his best to carry all of the delicious apples we picked.

The three of us!

Josie, Alex, Hannah, Keith and Axel!

The apple picking was at Hyland's Brewery so of course I had to get a glass of stout. Axel had a blast at the bar and joined right in with his sippy cup.

Axel on a "local's" motorcycle.

There was also a putting green that Axel and the kids were able to check out....

And horse shoe.....

And golf frisbee.....

We left Sturbridge after Axel's nap on Sunday and were sad to say good bye to Grampy and Grammy Goodrow, but we were excited to get back to Josie's to spend more time with the cousins.

As you can see we had a great visit and can't wait to go back in the future.
Have a great week. Here is Axel in some PJ's that he got from Hannah, playing with his new favorite toy that he also recieved from Hannah!

Axel's first group birthday party and more!

I am making a habit of blogging every couple of weeks. The only bad thing about the long duration between posts is that too much happens for me to remember everything. It is going to happen one more time as the Szolusha's travel to Boston next weekend for an extended weekend, Thursday to Tuesday. I am more petrified then excited as we have never travelled for more than a couple of hours with Axel and it has never included plane flights or time changes. I believe it is the unknown and having no real control over the situation that freaks me out the most. I might join the parent club of moms and dads who can't prevent their children from screaming on the airplane and for those of you who may be on our flight I apologize in advance :) Not like anyone we know will be on the flight, but I do feel like I want to make an announcement before the plan takes off letting everyone know that we will do our best, but there our times when distraction, re-direction and reasoning just don't work for children 1 to 3 years of age.

Axel and I went to a new park that I may have mentioned last time. It is a lovely park that is well attended. Axel tends to watch other children play for 10+ minutes before diving into the fun himself. Here he is two weeks ago playing in the sand area for the first time. Last weekend was a busy one as we went to "the Jungle" for one of Axel's classmates 5 year birthday party. It was fun, but exhausting as Axel's not quite old enough to do things on his own. I had fun climbing inside the tunnels with him and daddy had fun playing some of the games with him. Axel is a male as he loves cars and trucks or anything motorized that goes fast. Here they are racing on jet ski's....sort of :) Axel was by far the youngest child and it showed when it came to eating. He wanted mommy to sit next to him as a security blanket. He did do a great job of eating his cheese less pizza without much assistance and he did a great job of consuming almost all of the birthday cake, minus the frosting. He continues to break out with bumpy, itchy rashes, especially on his legs, but there are times like these, where I think it is better for him to suffer with itchy eczema for the sake of being a normal child who eats cake like every other child, milk protein allergies or not! After the birthday party and a well needed nap, we then headed over to a friends house for a pool party. Since Axel was the only child there he was of course, the center of attention. He had an okay time in the pool, but he had a blast out of the pool. Here he is attempting to play ping pong with daddy. Auntie and Ryan came over on Sunday and Keith and I were able to get out for a bike ride. Axel once again had a great time with the two of them. On Sunday afternoon, Axel and I went over to our neighbors who decided to donate a bunch of toys they had outgrown to Axel. Here he is helping mommy sort which ones go on the toy bench, which ones go in the attic and which ones go to Goodwill. Axel has a new thing where he likes to lie down and say night,night. He will pick any blanket, towel or mat and lie his head down and pretend he is sleeping for 10-30 seconds. I think it is really cute, but I can't tell if he is really tired or is just wanting to communicate that he knows what it is. Axel's vocabulary continues to grown on a daily basis. He is really into repeating everything we say. "bike ride", "lets go", etc. His new words are hummus, helmet, home, belly, potty, poopy, pee pee, me, mine etc. He can fully communicate with words when he wants to. I have to greatly encourage him to use words when he is tired and frustrated, but overall we are amazed and happy with how well his language is developing. We were especially nervous because we have had him in a daycare that speaks primarily Spanish for over a year now. He seems to fully understand Spanish, but I have not heard him speak any words yet.

Axel has shown the first signs that he might be ready to start getting potty trained. He often points to his pee pee and then begins to pee. After he has gone number two I will ask him if Axel has poopies in his pants and he will say yes and then we go and change his diaper. I have sat him on the toilet a couple of times, which he thought was cool for a minute or two, but nothing happened. I still need to get him a little potty and see if he has any interest at all. I was given great advice from many parents that at around 1.5 years old many children show interest and can be easily potty trained. If your miss the window those same children can take another 1 to 1.5 years to become fully potty trained so I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, but I won't be disappointed if it doesn't happen. I made a silly mistake the other day as I thought the box of cream of wheat was empty because daddy opened another box. I was quite surprised when I heard "uh-oh" and looked over at the little guy covered with it. Here he is looking confused.
Axel continues to love Louis. Here he is feeding Louis. You can tell, it is a love, hate relationship :)

Check back in a couple of weeks. Axel will be a whopping 18 months old. We have an appt. with the doctor in mid October because of our mini trip to Boston. We can't wait to see how much he has grown (according to the doc, that is :)).