Getting Grown

Even though its my 21st birthday today :), I am spending it reflecting on how my son is growing up so fast! My purpose of the blog was to share his exploits, but they happen so quick that I am pretty deliquent except for the few of you I get video or pictures to off my phone!

This summer, he's taken to books and particularly and letters, which you know Mommy could not be happier about. In the morning, he usually begs us to watch SuperReaders on PBS so he can shout out his letters while he stands transfixed in front of the TV. (Also the best 20 minutes we can buy for ourselves to get ready some morning....shhh, don't tell).

Smartest thing we ever brought for him? $5.95 foam letters for the bathtub from Target. With those, he learned this:

I listened to my girlfriends and made sure this video was "PG", since it is tub-related and I do want him to still speak to me when he's a teenager and not send me to Maury. But I was such a proud mommy that I even did a website review on those letters and how much I love them. Maybe Target will get me an endorsement deal?

Second to his love of letters is his Elmo toy he got for his first birthday. It took him a while to get into it, but once he did, this quickly became a "go-to" toy to keep him interested. Once we got him to stop trying to eat the circle, he eventually figured out what to do with it

I tried to get him on tape actually saying his shapes so you could hear how funny it is to listen to him try to say "triangle". Literally makes my day!


But above letters and shapes and Elmo and even Super Readers is his love for, you guessed it, THE CAR! If you know my husband at all, you know he comes by this insane love affair honestly, as Maurice could spend all day talking cars. But even he has tired of his new fave activity, which is climbing into the front seat of our cars to "DIVE". I wish this wasn't a daily act, but unfortunately, each day after day care pick up we end the afternoon with a trip behind the wheel.


Mommy's car is great, but Daddy's mustang is way cooler. We usually spend at LEAST 20 minutes in there!

As you can see, our baby is a baby no more. But this birthday was all the more special because I could reflect on all the joy he has given to me over the last year. Thanks for making this and every day so special, Roman! Mommy loves you!!!

Summertime, and the living is easy

Hello all! Sorry for the short “drought” of Roman’s Empire posts, there were some technically difficulties with our equipment. (Well, Nana went on a whirlwind vacation/visit tour and took our camera since hers is medieval!). Anyway, we’re back on air and happy to see you all again.

This weekend, the family went to DeKalb Peachtree Airport to view the annual airshow. Though Roman was a little young to partake in all the fun, and there was a lot of fun to be had, he did enjoy the “ai-pains”.

As you can see in the video below, the pilots were some daredevils, and Maurice and I agreed that stunt pilot should be added to the growing list of professions Roman is NOT allowed to consider. Still, sitting on the runway and watching the show, followed by a Sno Cone and hot dog, made for an excellent afternoon!

Not wanting to slow down the party, our neighbors invited us poolside in the late afternoon to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Roman rarely turns down a chance to see his crush Sofia, so this was a perfect opportunity.

Mommy was too worn out from the air show to get in the pool, but Daddy happily obliged. Which was good, bc the two of them were quite a matching pair in their swim trunks and farmer’s tans.

Sunday was as beautiful as Saturday was, so we spent the late afternoon at a park near our house. Its our favorite best-kept secret, since its on a school campus and in the summer is virtually empty of visitors. That lets our little tyrant run the show like the emperor-in-training that he is. Included in his new phenomenon of climbing on everything.

And his need to personally handle all aspects of his playtime, even if this means examining a swing rather than actually swinging in it! Too independent to get help…wonder where he gets THAT from?

Or our favorite antic – needing to push ANYTHING with wheels! This includes garbage cans, his own stroller, stationary coolers and his father’s car. The school’s tricycles made for a great toy and he even let mommy push him around a bit for this one.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend welcoming in summer. Hope you did too!

At The Car Wash

At the Car Wash –
If you know the Bostick clan relatively well, then you probably know a few “staple” things about the family. The description of my perfect day: waking up early in a foreign country, taking a brisk walk before having a wonderful buffet of decadent pastries prepared by a chef tableside. My husband’s idea: A typical California-like afternoon with no clouds in the sky and time to spend with his baby. His Mustang, I mean. For a while, mommy and even Roman occupied top “baby” status, but to a car aficionado like my hubby, horsepower and clean rims will always win.

So imagine my surprise when Maurice called for Roman and I to join him in his car washing ritual. I was almost afraid for us to go bc I knew I wouldn’t be quite careful enough and Roman would be, well, Roman. But he seemed so into it and it was a gorgeous day, so….

The car stays pretty spotless, so a wash for him is akin to a “rinse off” for most folks. But Roman happily obliged in helping Daddy fill the bucket with soapy water to wash the car. Or, in this case, to wash Roman.
The pictures don’t quite do it justice, as Roman was more excited about the bucket than anything else. He was soaked in about 30 seconds, so clothes sorta became worthless at this point. Luckily, my son has no problem sharing his pot belly with the world, especially if he can do it in the sun with the spray of a hose.

By the time we finished, the car was clean and Roman was filthy with twigs and grass and all kinds of stuff stuck to his soapy, soaking wet body. But we had a good time and were pretty good assistants, so we’re hoping Daddy lets us come back next time!

The Easter Bunny Accepts Rain checks

Many of you know Roman started a new day care center a few weeks back. And if you don’t know the story, suffice it to say it includes long, convincing although sometimes unbelievable reasons why this should have taken place. But luckily, (and by luckily, I mean after calling over 40 centers that would possibly be feasible for me to take him to and finding only a handful with availability and a few where you knew WHY there was availability right away…) I was able to get Roman into a new center that he is really enjoying.

That intro leads to this week’s blog, which the title may have tipped you to is about Easter. In my excitement to have found a new facility that boasted its "open learning model", I went about suggesting my first idea: An Easter Egg/Scavenger Hunt for the infants. Now, the first sign that the school has pretty good management in place is that they humored me when I mentioned a religious holiday and the word “scavenger” in the same breath as their infant classroom. And the second was that they already had an event like this for the older kids, just not those as young as Roman’s under 18 months class, since some had just mastered walking. But they not only humored me, they all got in on the planning (albeit after a few revisions). So in a matter of minutes, we had planned the first Infant Spring Egg-stravaganza, and I happily trotted off to buy plastic eggs, dye and marshmallow peeps while the teachers gathered baskets and bunnies.

The plan was to have the party, which would include dyeing eggs, an egg hunt and creating a mobile out of the plastic eggs for the room, on Friday. That morning, an excited mommy dropped off a play-clothed Roman and made plans to take the afternoon off to watch the festivities. So imagine my surprise when, at 10am, I received a call from the center director who told me that I needed to come get Roman not because he had crushed all the eggs before the kids could collect them (my latent fear) but because he had a 101 fever and had been listless all morning. Sad that he would miss the fun but more worried about a return of the dreaded ear infections despite his tube surgery, we picked him up and spent a weekend nursing what doctor’s deemed “a sinus infection coupled with an unknown virus”. Solution: Amoxicillin and time. (I’ll leave my frustration with the pediatric field to another post!)

On Monday, the center called to check on Roman and learned he was on his way to recovery and likely would be back in school Tuesday. That’s when they told us that they had delayed the party until he could participate and the dyeing and hiding would take place whenever he returned. I was genuinely happy that he didn’t miss the fun and the next day armed him again with play clothes but also with a disposable camera since Mommy would have to miss the party this time.

When I picked him up that afternoon, he was sitting in a pile of plastic eggs happily handing them to Ms. Cheryl and pronouncing “eeeg” (or egg) each time she took one and “tank chew” (or thank you) when she gave them back. She told me all about the dyeing before naptime and the eggs being hidden all over but in plain view so that when the kids awoke, they could start their hunt. She also said other parents had gotten on board and brought stickers for the eggs and made a dessert out of Jello and cool whip and didn’t even blink at postponing the party til Roman returned.

In true early bird fashion, Roman woke from his nap first and immediately shot off his mat and started following the egg trail. Apparently he was so fast, Ms. Cheryl had to bring him a basket to collect them all, and then take them out while he wasn’t looking and re-plant them for the other kids! They apparently were so loud with their screeches that the neighboring toddler and 3-year room came by to see why they seemed to be having more fun then they had at their party. Finally, they all shared the marshmallow peeps, to which Roman stuck them in his hair for his teachers to extract.

All in all, they seemed to have a great time and I was able to get the pictures on a disk so that the other parents could see their little ones if they couldn’t come by. (Though I will apologize in advance, I bought a bad camera and the pics are really grainy!) The little ones got to play like the big kids, the parents got to see how active their kids really could be at that age, and the teachers had a hoot watching the babies go at it. Plus, I got a nice indication that I might have found a good center for my son after all. Who says you can’t have your peep and eat it too?

Weekend at Bernie's

If you haven’t seen the movie “Weekend at Bernie’s”, go rent it. Not because it has anything to do with this past weekend’s trip to my dad’s for Roman and Maurice, but because it’s a damn funny movie and a cult 80's classic. This past weekend, however, was close to being as funny, and my wonderful husband was sweet enough to video and take pics while I was out of town at my college reunion (yeah UVA), so I would still be able to post and enjoy.

So the trip was planned primarily because my hubby’s back was still pretty bad, and with me out of town for a few days, he wasn’t sure if he could handle caring for little man in all of his energetic glory. Enter “Big Daddy” (that is the name my father chose for himself in the grandparent naming process years ago. And while I still can’t say it with a straight face, I’m not sure there’s a better name for him!). Understand that Big Daddy had been looking for an excuse to get the guys together, especially since Nana is out of town. Naturally, when he heard I was leaving town and Maurice needed some help with Roman, he jumped on it.

For those who haven’t seen it, my parents have a really great house – one that is perfect for anyone with a bad back (no stairs and lots of available, comfy beds) or a particularly busy 1-year-old (Roman has more toys there than anywhere else!). Maurice opted to stay out there Saturday night and take advantage of the extra hands…and the huge flat screen to watch the tourney games!

Roman is no stranger to Big Daddy and Nana’s, having spent the better part of 6 months there before school started in earnest. My Dad and Maurice took Roman out to the front driveway to practice those walking skills on concrete – which is always a guaranteed laugh.

They also enjoyed some R&R by the lake to soak in the beautiful weather. Roman has always been enthralled by the lake, though he thinks of it as an oversized bathtub so he doesn’t quite get that it is both dangerous and not as clean. My dad usually has to distract him from trying to climb in, and this weekend was no exception. Leave it to my dad to entertain Roman with bird calls...at least for a while.


Finally, back into the house for a change of clothes and some more food. Oh, if you weren’t aware, eating is a national pastime for Roman at Nana and Big Daddy’s. They tend to err on the side of, if he’s hovering around the pantry, it must mean he’s hungry! Did I mention that my older brother was 25 lbs at 6 months old? Don’t worry, Nana now practices “portion control” much better.

After a few meals and a few games, they all hit the sack pretty hard. That was never more apparent than the next morning, when my husband recorded this video of the sleeping prince….at 10:15am


Now, granted, he didn’t sleep from 8pm to 10:15, he woke at his usual 7:30am and then climbed in bed with Daddy to sleep some more. But I think its pretty indicative of the weekend when you see my overly active son complete conked out in bed late in the morning.


All weekend while I was gone, Maurice was shooting me these updates and photos and videos to my phone so I wouldn’t miss the fun. And while it was great to catch up with my friends at the U and reminisce over old times, I was all too pleased to get back to my “new” life and see my favorite men. Missed you guys!