Cooking with Mama

You are a boy after your mama's heart. You love ANYTHING sweet! We had fun in the kitchen while Daddy was off camping. You love to watch me cook. Sometimes I will pull a chair up to the counter and let you see what I am doing. You are still a really good eater as you always eat whatever I put in front of you for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but you are learning about things that are sweet and will often request a cookie. You always request a banana and cereal for breakfast. You always eat your oatmeal but you also ALWAYS want whatever cereal I am eating. You don't really make any requests for lunch or dinner but you are very interested in finding out the name of what you are eating. When I put your plate in front of you you point to each item and wait until I tell you what it is. You are learning so much!

You love to look in the oven to see what's cookin':

Waiting (somewhat patiently) on the kitchen floor for something from the oven:

Eyeing some muffins:

YUM!!!

What Happened?

Is it possible for a child to change overnight? I was taking these pictures of you and as I looked back at them I couldn't believe how much older you look...and all of a sudden. I know you aren't a baby anymore (even though I like to think of you as one), but looking at these pictures I am struck by how different and so much older you look. What happened?

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day we all put our green on and drove on over to the Georgia Aquarium. The ride in the car was a long one. You actually didn't do too bad but an hour was enough for you. The second part of the trip, the last hour and a half, you were not too happy and not very pleasant to be around. I know it's hard for an energetic boy like yourself to sit in the same place for 2.5 hours. Anyway, we had a really fun time and I just loved watching your face as you saw new things. I think you had a great time. Thankfully we wore you out and you slept on the way home.

I loved the jellyfish. They were so cool to look at:


There is something really neat up there:


I love the open mouth:


A true boy- not afraid to stick your hands in a pool of water to touch whatever there is to touch:


Up close with a penguin:

A trip to the zoo

We are having so much fun. It's spring break and Daddy is home with us for the week. Although it is colder this year than last year we are still trying to get outside and have fun! Today we all went to the zoo. It was a lot of fun even though it was very chilly. Also, you haven't been yourself for the past week. You aren't sleeping well and you are waking up in the middle of the night and during some naps crying so hard that I have to go console you. I am pretty sure that your two year molars are coming in. I'm hoping that it doesn't last long but you were definitely very tired today.

Looking a little cold and tired:
(Yes, I gave you a haircut and cut a bit too short in the front. Sorry buddy! You are still handsome but I hope it grows out for Easter pictures.) :)

You found the flamingos funny (instead of scary like last year):

Trying to get a better look:

You enjoyed the train ride but got a little impatient waiting for it to begin:


Overall it was a fun trip. We will definitely go back soon when the weather is warmer. Our only regret is not seeing the monkeys. You just LOVE monkeys, but it was just too cold.

"Side"

You love to go "side" (outside). You are happiest when you are outside. You don't miss a thing- dogs barking, birds chirping, lawn mowers running, cars passing- you are fascinated by it all.

So it's been raining a lot but it's so hard to keep you in. You open the front door and beg to go "side". It was sprinkling today but I let you go out anyway...

Too Fast

Time is flying by way too fast! Last Spring we took you to the park and you loved it of course but you were a little hesitant about it all, especially the slide. Now you are all about sliding and climbing. You climb all over everything and here you are sliding on your own:





You love to go down on your belly:

Happy Valentine's Day

It has been fun celebrating Valentine's Day with you. We got you a couple of small things but the smallest of things make you so happy! You got really excited about Mommy's hershey kisses. You didn't know it was candy but you had fun putting them in your little pink mail box.


I found this little mailbox and knew you would love it. You love seeing the mailman and going to the mailbox. You think it is so fun to take a letter to the mailbox and lift the flag up.

We are so proud of how smart you are. The other day Daddy and I were "testing" you and you knew pretty much what everything in the house was. We asked you where Grammy, Grandpa and Baxter were and you pointed out the window for all of them. It was cute. You are beginning to call people by other names besides "dada". You say "mimi" or "nini" for Grammy and "papa" for grandpa and "jaja" for jackson. I'm so glad you got past calling everyone "dada". You attempt to imitate almost everything we say but your speech is still pretty unclear.

Friday we got a little bit of snow. It was a good bit for Birmingham but not as much as last March. I wish that there had been more for you to play in but you weren't that excited about it. You loved being outside but didn't care much about touching the snow.

If You're Happy and You Know It

You are such a happy boy! You love life! Even the simplest things make you laugh. You had fun getting in and out of the kitchen chairs this morning. You were playing peek-a-boo with me and laughing so hard!

The Wiggles

The Wiggles have unknowingly crept into our home. Ah! I'm not sure how I feel about this but it seems there isn't much we can do about it. Now that Grammy is into tax season she is not able to pick you up at 1 to take you home for a nap. So you stay at Lakeside and take a nap, have a snack and then play. One day you came home doing this dance. Here are some pictures- your arms move up and down and your head moves side to side.



I have seen the Wiggles myself and this dance looked very Wiggles like. I asked you if you were doing a Wiggles dance and you got so excited and kept trying to say "Wiggles". When Daddy got home we showed him your Wiggles dance and Daddy decided to YouTube the Wiggles. He found a couple of Wiggles songs and you went crazy with excitement. So I did find out that after Mothers Day Out during late care a Wiggles video is sometimes shown. I will admit that your Wiggles dance is VERY cute!

On another note the very nice camera that Aunt Erin lent us is broken. I have been without a camera since Christmas and we just bought a new one. I can finally take pictures again! Maybe that will inspire more posts...

It's Time

I haven't gone this long between posts in a long time...so I think it's time. We have been very busy with life- from Christmas to New Years to back to school/work and then thinking we sold our house. (Side note: We thought we sold our house but we didn't so that's on hold). Maybe things will slow down now.

You are 19 months and I think so far the 18/19 month stage has been the hardest. Before I get into why I do want to say that you are still the most precious and sweetest boy I know. You are now calling me "mama" consistently and that is the sweetest word. After you are disciplined, if I ask you to say "sorry" you gently rub your hand against my cheek- makes my heart melt! My favorite time with you is when we sit in your rocker together before your nap and before bed and we read books. You still love music and you love to dance. You have learned a lot of new moves including: nodding your head, wiggling your hips, bouncing up and down and moving your arms around a lot. It is too cute!

So this stage has been hard for us for what I can only assume to be natural reasons. You are learning how to obey and learning to accept the word "no". You are learning how to accept when things don't go your way or something happens that you don't like. The other factor is that you are learning how to communicate. You don't have many clear words and you don't always know how to express what you want. Sometimes you will just say "please" over and over but we don't know what you are asking for. When we don't understand what you want you usually get frustrated. Daddy and I are learning too. We are learning how to do what is best for you and how to be consistent in our disciplining. It's all a learning process I guess.

There are still a lot of fun and happy times and overall you are a happy boy. You love for us to get down on the floor with you and play. You love to build huge towers with all the blocks you got for Christmas and you love to play with your barn and all the animals. You love to make all the animal sounds and pretend that the animals are eating their food. It is so fun to watch you play and learn and grow.