Monday, December 29, 2014

Big boy bed!

(the post date on this was supposed to be the 4th of December)
Mommy has been off the blog for a bit because she was in a sleep lab for 2 weeks...ask me about this sometime (or maybe I'll still be doing them by the time you can, who knows lol?)
Anyway, I came back home last week, very tired, the day before Thanksgiving.  Nana Linda and Papa Junior were already here because we needed them to watch you while Uncle Kevin and daddy were both busy away from the house the day before.  We had a great Thanksgiving, though you didn't eat any of the wonderful yummies (you have been quite the picky poke lately about eating even foods we know you love).  The day after that, we went out shopping to get you a new mattress set and on Saturday (4 days ago), we picked it up--everyone except mommy helped convert your crib into a new, full size big boy bed (mommy had to leave to start back to lessons/work).  You loved it right away and have so far *knock on wood* slept very well in it.  Problem is, unlike the crib, you now have the freedom to get up when you want.  You have gotten up too early for us most mornings, and then last night, you came out of the room 3 times after being put to bed to go potty and get more milk.  Guess you're still adjusting--that's OK :)

Your newest thing is to grab someone's hand and say, "Walk-a-my-hand" and then lead them off to show them something or do something with you.
Potty training is going pretty well these days.  You now say this whole phrase when you need to go, "Go bathroom and pee pee potty go for it"--probably because every time you would tell us you needed to go when we were doing the no-bottoms method, we would tell you to "go for it".  So cute that you think this is part of the phrase now lol.
You've also started randomly repeating phrases from TV.  The other day you were just walking through the house and declared, "Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back on Boomerang!"  No surprise, given your love of all the shows on that network :)

Friday, November 7, 2014

cold bathwater

When you were younger, you loved baths and would stay in there for quite a while, though you absolutely hated (and still do) to get water on your face or head at all.  Around 2 1/2, a switch seemed to flip and you suddenly wanted nothing to do with baths.  We had to nearly beg you to get in, and you always got mad and screamed at mommy when she attempted to wash your hair.  Lately, you are back to liking baths and staying in there for a long time.  Along with the recovery of bath enjoyment is that you  really like the water flowing from the tap...to the point that you never want to turn it off.  Tonight you really surprised me by actually requesting to take a bath; of course, I obliged, and you stayed in there a long time.  You are VERY picky about which toys are acceptable in the tub lol.  For example, I offered the yellow duckie and you very sternly refused, but a blue plastic bowl, that was happily allowed.  Going back to the water--you also have a preference for cold water.  I can understand not wanting it very hot, but you seem to think it's summer in the bathroom or something, preferring water that feels much like a swimming pool temp.  This evening, I thought you had drained the tub when you finished (I heard it) and didn't bother to check.  When we were getting you ready for bed (a good 4 hours post-bath), I took you to the bathroom to have you use the toilet before bed and discovered that you had not entirely drained the tub (about an inch and a half depth remained).  I asked you to drain the water the rest of the way.  You took this to mean, "Get back in the tub and play for another half hour, who cares what temp the water is?"  I really thought the water would be too cool for you, but no, you were quite content to splash around and have a grand old time with it, so we let you burn out the rest of your energy this way :)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Cookie monsters

Today's big event was making cookies with mommy.  Yes, it's true, you have inherited my love of sweets, cookies included; selection du jour: family recipe drop sugar cookies.  These are so super addictive, it's ridiculous.  Of course, you were my little kitchen helper as usual.  When I told you we were going to make cookies, you said, "Use the mixer!"  Yep, trained already ;)  You even know the name brand on it lol.  You read "baking soda" when I pulled that down from the cabinet, you understand what it means to measure (still haven't got you to recall "leveling", though), and you love to put the ingredients in the bowl to be mixed.  Today you also got to help with sifting--did a great job of it, too.  As you have done for quite sometime, you imitated the sound of mixer as it ran (this still cracks me up, no matter how many times I've heard it before).
In other recent news, you have started to use the potty while standing in front of it instead of sitting on it (you still do the latter, too).  You are much better at singing your ABC's now, except you just can't get that L-M-N-O-P part down (you usually end up with L-N-O-O-P or something along those lines).

Monday, November 3, 2014

two beaucoups

A quick post of highlights of the first weekend of November:
Yesterday, you were a big helper.  Mind you, you normally are a good helper, but yesterday, you did it often and while helping us unload the dishwasher, you declared, "Avery helping!"  You really were, too.  You also tried to help me with cooking, which was going well until you pushed a little too hard on the pan and sent it tumbling to the floor.  It bumped your feet, but not hard enough to even bruise.  Some kissies from daddy and mommy and you were back to helpful mode quite soon after.
You also tried to help mommy with switching out the decorations from Halloween to Fall/Thanksgiving--had to watch you on that because you still don't get the concept of 'fragile' ;)
Today we went to Meijer (which you still pronounce closer to "Maui") and you were very good there.  Lately you like to ride on the end of the cart (thank you Grandma Judy for teaching you that lol) and get very upset if we put things in the cart instead of you.  Even if we try to sneak an item in while you are distracted, you spot it after the fact and insist on removing the item and putting it back in yourself.
At home, you played in the sink (again--did this yesterday, too) and got your sleeves wet (again).  You also wet your underwear, which is the first time that has happened since we've been trying to get you used to it instead of diapers.
At bedtime, as usual, we always say "Je t'aime beaucoup" (I love you) to you; what cracks us up is that you will quantify it and inform us that it's "two beaucoups!"

Friday, October 31, 2014

3rd Halloween

Yep, it's been too long again, I'm sorry.  I really hope once mommy finishes her Master's degree that she can get back to doing these posts more often.  It's honestly not that I forget--it's the lack of time.
Anyhow, tonight was your 3rd Halloween!  Despite the fact that just the other day it was nice enough to let you wear shorts and go to the park, today it snowed and was super windy!  It's the worst weather of the entire week; the snow was just blowing around, no accumulation--still not a nice sight for Halloween.  Thus, we made sure to give you a good warm layer underneath your fireman costume and daddy bought you some nice warm mittens that matched your outfit perfectly!
We--being you, me, daddy, and uncle Kevin--took you to the same area as last year, then finished by coming down Canyon Trail to return to the house.  You had a lot of fun, just not a fan of the wind constantly trying to push your hat down on your face.  We had to carry you on our shoulders quite a bit, since there would be strings of houses without lights on. Next year I think we'll take the wagon, because you'll probably be too big by then for us to carry anymore!  You were pretty good about saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" when prompted, and even on your own a couple of times.
Once we had finished, we stopped by the house to freshen up and then headed out in the car to go have dinner at Anyway's--they were offering a free kid's meal for those who were in costumes.  In the short time it takes to get over there, you managed to fall asleep and catnap!  At the restaurant, you were very good, sat right next to daddy, and ate some of both of our plates (celery from the appetizer, daddy's fries, and mommy's rice), but none of the pizza we ordered for you lol.  Oh well, no big deal :)
Back at home, we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and "Ghostbusters" while you ate lots of candy.  Yay for a great 3rd Halloween, buddy!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Potty training

I hope I'm not jinxing the progress by posting this, but you are finally seeming to get the hang of potty training!  We've been trying off an on for quite a while now with no consistent success...until now :)  A few days back, you went #2 on the potty for daddy, most likely by chance, as you had only said that you needed to go pee.  We celebrated it a lot, congratulating you often and making a big deal of it.  We gave you Hershey's kisses as reward, which is what we had been trying before (and you remember).
Today has gone very well--you only used one diaper (training pants, actually) at your request in the afternoon.  We've gone with the "naked method" because it seems to be the one that works.  Just hope we can get you to make the connection when it comes time for regular underwear.

Again, I have to apologize for a lack of entries.  This time, the excuses are multiple--main culprit is the combination of coordinating the two groups of exchange students, taking two courses at once for my masters, and doing tutoring as well, all summer long.  The exchange groups were a miserable experience, the girl we hosted in the middle of the summer (no group) was nice but too quiet--I will not be coordinating ever again as a result of all of it.  I was especially disappointed that none of the kids we hosted this summer really interacted with you much.  You were going through the "tantrum when I don't get my way" stage, but that wasn't a constant thing, so I don't excuse them.  Most of the time, you are still a very happy boy, love to play and have a good time.

One of the most amazing things that I haven't been able to report is how many words you know how to spell!  Here is a list of the words you know how to spell currently:
Avery, go, on, off, in, shhhh, exit, stop, jump, fire, free, mom, dad, dig , no, yes
You can read several road signs, you sort of know our address (you always get the digits in the wrong order), and you know your full name.  Yeah, we're pretty proud of you!

Gotta stop for now, time to get back to homework :/  I shall write more again as soon as I can! ~love, mommy

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Kevin Sable

Among the funnier things that you say on a regular basis now, you seem to think that Uncle Kevin and his dog, Sable, are one unit.  You always call out, "Kevin Sable" to address him, even if Sable isn't on his lap or nearby at the moment.
Nana Linda and Grandpa came last week to stay with us, as she just retired and wanted to help us have a garage sale this past weekend.  She was here for Mother's Day, too, so that was happy for all of us :D  We hope they can come back again soon.  During the garage sale, you stunned me by reading what I am going to count as your official first recognized words (not memorized like the books)--on an advertisement on my computer, you saw two bubbles that said "Yes" and "No", which you read very plainly.  So proud!
Your number recognition is also improving--yesterday I was teaching you about prices where it says '99' at the end and you pointed out several in ads today (correctly) :)
A really cool thing (that you INSIST on being the one to do now) is that you are able to "fix" the TV.  What I mean by this is that for some odd reason, ever since daddy installed the Chromecast on the 8th input, the display for the Uverse channels (input 7) comes up as an 'display error' problem when we turn on the TV.  The strange solution to this is to change the input to 8, leave it there long enough to be recognized as the Chromecast, and then cycle on through back to input 7.  (By the time you read this, this may be the strangest sounding tech thing ever lol...)  At any rate, as complicated as this is, you not only know how to do it, you get upset if we do it instead of letting you.
Last for this entry, we've been teaching you nursery rhymes and songs lately.  You now know "Row Your Boat", "Pattycake", about half of your ABC's, "1,2, Buckle My Shoe" and sort of "Alouette".  You also randomly sing some of the songs from the music videos we have on the playlist channel, one of which daddy dislikes (but mommy and uncle Kevin like) called "Never Win" by Fischerspooner.
Love you lots and will try to write again as soon as I can...

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Such a brain :)

I could write a lot more right now, but I need to be in bed sleeping, so this will be short.  I just wanted to say that that you are really amazing me (and daddy) with your amazing little brain--you seem to be acquiring knowledge without us even knowing where some of it comes from!  Tonight, you looked at my computer and saw a news story pic someone had posted that showed a pregnant woman's belly.  You pointed and declared, "It's a baby."  O.O  You haven't been around anyone pregnant, we have never told you this, and don't think it's been in any of those cartoons you watch lol, so have no idea how you know this!
Now, on the other hand, when you looked at my receipt from Meijer and spelled out the store name (it's in all small case), I knew this was from playing that letters game on your phone.  Love my little smart guy!  At bed time, you read a book you had not been interested in before: My First Adding Book.  It's a very simple book with things like "1+1=" on one page, then a flap with the amount in objects and the number answer under the flap.  You read this like 10 times and really seemed to be soaking it in :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

I do it!

Ah, my little independent guy.  You want to do everything these days and you get quite irritated if we do something that you had your heart set on doing.  If this happens, you whine, "I dwwwooooo yehhhht" (I do it) and throw a fit.  This includes, but is not limited to: flushing the toilet (when mommy or daddy goes), anything that has to do with laundry, pouring soda for yourself from a can into a cup, eating, using the sponge in the kitchen, and getting into your car seat.  Sometimes we have no idea why you're even saying it, so we just have to assume it's a toddler thing we can't grasp.

You have also become quite the talker, counter, singer and dancer.  You now sort of know how to sing "Row Your Boat" and you attempt to sing along with a lot of the songs in the playlist from the music channel videos.  This is also where the dancing comes in--oh how we love watching you dance!  You are so into it, and you really do move with the beat for the most part.  It's cute, funny, and adorable.

As implied above, you still love to clean.  I would love for this era to last, am going to enjoy every second of it for the time being.

Uncle Kevin has been taking really good care of you while daddy and mommy have been busy with everything; we appreciate him so very much, and you have a ton of fun with him :)

Today we went to the gym for the first time in a while, which was great for all of us.  You kept practicing saying "to the gym" and "kids' zone" as we were en route.  In the afternoon, you got to 'help' mommy make cookies (i.e. you were the taste-tester for the batter at all stages :)).  Tried a new recipe--oatmeal cookies with mini chips.  MMMM.  You love them and so does everyone else in the house, so we will make these again for sure.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Thanks!

Lately you have been repeating soooooo much of what we say, but then, it seems you also recall what you see in your favorite TV shows as well and use those phrases, too.  Two days ago, when I came home from work, you asked for my phone and when I let you have it, you proclaimed, "Thanks!" and ran off to the living room with it lol.  Later, you asked for ice cream and the same thing/same reaction.  
Tonight, you were in the kitchen, coming down off of your stepstool and said, "Nice and slow" as you descended (we didn't teach you this, so thankfully it's a good phrase lol).  But the best one lately was later--you were fascinated with Sable in Uncle Kevin's lap.  You went over a few times to see her, pointed out her nose, ears, etc.  Then, at one point, you wandered over, crouched down and said, "Sable, WAKE UP!" We all cracked up so hard!  Poor doggie, she was just trying to catch some zzz's.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Boo!

Last week, cousin Ricky spent his spring break with us and thus got to see a lot of you.  Since you like to get 'puh-rised' (surprised), he started doing so by saying "Boo!", which cracked you up and you have now taken happily to saying as well.
Mommy has been working a ton, so there isn't always much for me to report, sadly.  Today I got the most time with you in the evening when I got home from working.  We did laundry and housework--fun, huh?  Actually, you really like it--wish it were going to stay that way lol (mommy can dream, right?)  As usual, you caught us off guard for a moment and started the washer load again (you do this far, far too often) when it had finished.  When I came to stop it (thankfully before you opened the door, for a change), I turned it off and went to run the rinse/spin cycle, as I never had figured out how to make it run just a spin cycle.  Well, guess what? You pushed a button and voilà, there it was--and a simple little thing, too.  So thank you for discovering what we need to use because of you lol.
At bedtime, we read some books as per usual.  I took out one that we don't normally read called "Hop!"  You seemed to like it ok--your favorite part was the "What's that sound?" page where a bee is flying over the bunnies.  I made a bzzzzzzz sound and you giggled.  I sure do love that giggle of yours.  When we read "Flip, Flap, Fly", you were very attentive--I just know you were working on memorizing it like you have the other books.  You cracked both me and daddy up, though, when you confused the words "flip, flap, fly" with the part from "Are You My Mother?" where it says "Down, down, down, plop!"  So, this version tonight had the mama helping the baby bird 'plop, plop, down' :D

Friday, March 21, 2014

Dad Turns 40 Tomorrow!

Hey, buddy!  It's Dad.  I know I don't write here often, but some days seem to offer prime examples of life with you that are worthy of documentation.  Today was worth mentioning partly because of you being you, but also because it's the very last day of my thirties.  Yep, your old Daddy turns 40 tomorrow!

So how did we spend the last day of my (30 <= x < 40) decade?  We had a lot of fun!  When you woke up this morning, I was just about to take a shower.  I asked you if you wanted to join me, and you said "take a shower!" and then immediately stepped into the bathtub and stood there waiting for me.  I insisted that you sit on the potty first to see if you needed to pee.  You happily cooperated and sat down, but as usual there was no pee to be had.  We'll just have to keep working on that.

As we were drying off after our shower, I asked you if you were hungry and what you thought we should have for breakfast.  Without hesitation, you simply said, "peanut butter toast".  (Actually, in your pronunciation, it was "pay bay toast" but we've discovered that I am especially proficient in translating Avery-speak.)

When we got downstairs, the first thing you did was grab the toaster from the cabinet and take it into the living room.  Then you grabbed and handed me the bag of bread, saying, "Bread.  Open bread."  So I did, and handed you a slice.  Then you brought me the peanut butter jar.  "Pay bay...open," you said, and I did.  Then you ran in other room and put the bread and peanut butter jar on the floor near the toaster.

This is progress.  Three days ago you
mangled the bread while doing this.
Then you sat down and looked at it, seemingly confused as if you realized something was missing but wasn't sure what.  I let you ponder it for a while before I asked, "Do you need a knife?"

"Mife!" you exclaimed in your "a-ha!" moment.  I handed you one and you went straight to work spreading peanut butter on the bread all by yourself.  You only needed help folding it in half.  The rest was your work entirely.

You ate your "pay bay" sandwich while you watched Bubble Guppies, PAW Patrol, and Wallykazam -- your three very favorite shows.  In the meantime, I sat with my laptop doing some work for my job.  After your shows were over, you were hungry again, so all by yourself, you got the popcorn popper out of the cabinet (all three parts of it), the bag of popcorn kernels from the counter, and the large popcorn bowl.  It took four trips between the kitchen and living room, but you successfully gathered everything needed to make popcorn with the air popper.  You handed me the bag of popcorn and said, "Open".  It was obvious what you wanted, so I helped you measure out the right amount.  Then you took over and put it in the popper, put the popper together, and moved the bowl in place to catch it.  All that was left was to plug in the popper, so I did that for you.

When the mail came, we went out to get it like we always do.  (You get mad if we get the mail without you.)  It was a gorgeous spring day -- sunny and around 60F.  After we got back inside, I sat down to get some more work done, but you kept looking out the window and saying "mackinside".  After repeating this a few times, you were getting frustrated that I wasn't doing anything about it.

So I tried to figure out what you were saying.  "Mackinside?  You mean 'back inside'?  We are back inside."

You repeated more slowly, "Maggin...side."

"Maggin?  You mean wagon?  Wagon ride?"

You were glad I finally got it.  "Yeah, wagon side, yeah!"  You ran into the living room and pointed at your jacket ("green coat" you call it) on the coat rack.  So we put on our jackets, got the wagon out of the garage, and I took you on the loop around the neighborhood.  When we passed the schoolyard where all the kids were playing, you wanted to get out and join them.  I made you stay in the wagon and told you we could go to the park instead.  So you sat back down and enjoyed the ride around the rest of the subdivision.

When we reached the intersection where we had to decide on a direction, I asked you, "Do you want to go home or to the park?"

You thought hard about this decision, repeating, "Home or park...home or park..."  Then you pointed in the direction of the park and said, "Park, OK?"  I was extremely impressed that you knew where we were, because neither home nor the park are visible from the intersection, and I had given no indication of which of four directions home and the park were in.

So I pulled the wagon to the park.  The sky had clouded up by this point, but since we were only a few blocks from home, I didn't worry much about it.  We ran, climbed, swung, and slid non-stop for over an hour.  The video shows about two minutes of that.



You actually asked to swing today.  I guess
you've gotten over your dislike of swings.
It's probably worth mentioning that this trip to the park was significant in a couple of ways.  First, you went down the "big slide" (the tallest slide in the bigger-kids' area) all by yourself several times.  You also enjoyed swinging in the baby swings, which is something that you weren't crazy about last year.

We also had a minor disagreement over the springy-rocking things.  I said the one on the left looks like a dinosaur.  You insisted that it's a dragon.  We agreed, however, that the one on the right is a silly-looking horse.  But silly or not, you enjoyed riding both of them.

We invite the reader to weigh in on the
debate: is this a dinosaur or a dragon?
Eventually, the clouds grew darker and it started to sprinkle.  Even though you were still having a blast, you didn't put up a fight this time when I said that it was going to rain so we had to hurry home -- fast, fast, fast!

Finally, the last thing I'll mention before posting this is what just happened right now as I was writing it.  Some fire truck sirens rang out in the distance, and you ran to the window, spread the curtains, and shouted "fire truck!" as you tried to see if you could spot it.

I said, "Yeah, that's a fire truck, but it's too far away for us to see it."

You were quiet for a moment, and then you softly said, "Rescue."  You probably learned that from watching PAW Patrol.

So tomorrow I venture forth into my forties.  By the time I'm out of them, you'll be twelve!  Crazy!  But man, we're going to have a great time getting there!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Playdate with Chelsea 2

This morning, I got you up slightly early so that we could go on a playdate once again with Chelsea (and her mom, Jessica).  The last time we did this was in November--oh how time has flown since then!  We met at the same place as last time, the play area of the Woodfield Mall.  You LOVED it there--tons of kids around and fun stuff to play on.  Chelsea explored quite a few more things than you; you preferred mainly to go down the slide over and over again.  I was so proud of you for playing nice with the other kids, taking turns and such :D  Unfortunately, Chelsea was on the tired side, so we stopped playing long before you were ready and headed to the Rainforest Café to have lunch together.  You enjoyed this, though you didn't eat very much (think your runny nose is still affecting your appetite, plus you started to show signs of being sleepy while there in the somewhat dim lighting).  You two didn't really interact a whole lot, but more than last time.  You actually gave Chelsea a hug while you were both on the slide together (so sweet!)  We were going to take our picture all together, but you were getting fussy and Chelsea was tired, so we called it done just shortly after leaving the Café.  Then I took you to daddy, whom we met up with at his work so that I wouldn't haven't to go out of my way before heading to a lesson.
When I came home after that lesson, we played for a bit, then I had to leave again.  When I returned from that, you were getting fussy and obviously needing a nap big time, so we put you down for one, despite your loud objections.  I'm glad you gave in, because daddy wasn't feeling super energetic (thus needed a break) and mommy went to lie down and have a nap as well.  I got up long before you did and went back out once again for my last two lessons. Upon my return, daddy reported that you had been quite the handful once you got up from nap.  You decided to fling rice all over the living room, which really made daddy upset and had to clean up, of course.  You were still full of energy for the rest of the time we let you remain awake--and you ate a bunch of mac n cheese with us for a dinner, too.  At bedtime, you read your stories/books very well.  Mommy seems to be coming down with what you have, so she's gonna head to bed now.  Love you lots, little guy :)

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Ride!

Today was the first day we've hit 50 degrees this year--it was sunny and rather nice.  I went to the gym solo today because, although you are doing better, I don't want you to be hanging out around the other kiddos while your nose is still so runny (it's getting better, just not all the way yet). After I got back, had some soup together for lunch, and then we worked on cleaning up the living room, which always makes you excited because there is extra room to run around in circles lol.  Still can't seem to make you understand that your blankies really need to be not on the floor while we 'ca-poom' and esepcially when we run the carpet cleaner.  And, of course, right after we got it all cleaned up, you brought down a toy from your room to help fill some of the newly open space (this time it was the Team Umizoomi shapes puzzle).
Then it was time for me to go out for lessons; you and dad ended up going for a short wagon ride up and down the street, then out to dinner with one of his friends that was going to be in the area (Lisa).  He reported that you were very good during dinner and ate well (yay :))  When I got back home, I was lucky enough to have some leftover wings from that dinner :D You played in the floor a lot with dad, which is pretty usual, but tonight you also decided to go for rides on his back horsey-style.  We've tried this a couple of times but not very successfully.  This time, you liked it so much that you could have worn dad out if he'd let you lol.  You and I sang ABC's a couple of times--you are getting better at remembering more of the letters, and the latest trend is to over-emphasize "S" when we get to it lol.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Under the weather

Today I wasn't here much (very, very busy day of tutoring and a home visit for a hosting family); you woke up with a very stuffy head and your nose was runny all day.  Still, you did have some bouts of energy (according to dad) and were in a good mood mostly.  You spent a while on his lap just relaxing and watching cartoons and you "helped" with laundry (read: unloaded the washer and left the basket of damp clothes in the floor, which I discovered when I came home).  You enjoyed some mac n cheese with daddy and I for dinner, then made him very happy when you took interest in naming and playing with the Star Wars figures in a box that has been in the living room toy tote for quite some time.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

I have it?

Mommy's a bit tired tonight, so this will be an abbreviated one :)
Tonight we went out to dinner at Bulldog Ale House, a place that is near us and we've passed many times, but never tried before.  The meal was not super, you only ate a few fries, and the server was a bit odd (gave you a full sized, full glass of soda and charged as much for it).  Still, you were a good boy overall and we had a nice time anyway.  On the way home, we stopped by Walgreens to pick up some diapers; I went in, you and daddy waited in the car.  When I returned, I had not only the diapers, but a couple of items for dad as well.  I got him two little plush Muppet figures: Gonzo and Fozzie.  As he looked at them, you asked, "I have it?"  You've not asked this before--very proud of you putting this together!  Of course he let you see them and you held them the rest of the way back to the house, and wanted them again for a minute after we returned, too lol.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Choose a category

This morning, when I came to get you out of your crib, you decided you needed to count the trees on my pyjamas first (one, two, eight, two, two, three, ten, 'leven, ten!).  After that, I was allowed to take you out so that we could descend to the living room and enjoy some Price Is Right, where you were happy to tell all the numbers you saw (as usual).  I worked on cleaning up the kitchen and then it was already time to head out for my first lesson.  When I came back, it was then time to be joined by Andrea; today you left us alone for the most part, though you did insist on getting out the toaster at one point (daddy helped you with this project).  After that, you shared a bit of lunch with me, held the back door open for a while to let in some cold air and stare outside for a few minutes until I made you stop (brrr!), then we played a little before I had to leave again.  Today your thing was to stand at the window, saying, "Race!  Ready, set, go!" and run across the living room to me and daddy.  You also decided you needed to help me rubbing dad's shoulders/neck, which was too cute.
When I came back, you and daddy were in the basement.  He reported that you were a good boy and at one point decided to simply nap on the floor in the living room for a while.  He wanted you to be undisturbed, so he went back to the basement.  He knew you were awake when he heard you loudly repeat, "Nnnnnick!" (you love to say this every time you see the Nickelodeon commercials/logo).
You were playing in the floor as I was doing a few emails; lately you like to attempt playing with your V-Tech laptop quite often.  You don't really get how it works, so you just press buttons and giggle when it makes certain sounds.  You also repeat it when it tells you to 'choose a category', which cracks us up.  Sometimes you do say what appears on the screen, so I think you are starting to get the idea a little at least :)

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Oops.

Well, that happened fast.  Sorry for the derailment on my progress towards blogging every day.  This time, I can tell you that two things have led to this: first, my laptop died on the 21st of February.  Caused mommy to get a bit behind on some online work and such--just now getting back to being all the way caught up.  And second, I have been SUPER busy with work compared to the beginning of the year.  Great for catching up on bills, not so great for, well...keeping up with almost everything else.  Still, I am determined to get back on track, so here we go!
It snowed again last night and today--not a lot, just about another two inches maybe.  It's been a very cold wintry start to March. Today we went to the gym--all of us, since it's now daddy's session off--and you had a great time as usual.  They told me that they turned off the TV at one point and you exclaimed, "Mommy!"--seems you thought that meant playtime was over and I was going to get you then.  Thankfully, you just kept playing and didn't get upset when I didn't show up right then :)
We went to Jimmy John's to pick up sandwiches for lunch and as per usual, you declared, "Chips!" when we pulled up in the parking lot (which cracked daddy up).  Back at home, 'Laundria' (your name for Andrea) came for her lesson, during which you mainly played with dad, with a few brief visits to check on what we were doing, complete with one where you got in the third chair and pushed the table towards Andrea with your feet lol.
After this, mommy cleaned up the living room a bit while you continued to play downstairs with dad.  I came down for a little bit to make some copies, which you "helped" with by taking over the arduous task of pressing the start button each time.  Soon, it was time for me to head out to go to lessons.
When I got home, I found you and dad taking a bath together.  He reported that you had taken a nearly 3-hour nap (you didn't have one yesterday) and were in a much better mood than prior to it.  Also said that you requested to "make house" when you were playing in basement--which was something we have not done in well over a month (we took the 2 remaining sections of gate and put on top of the ball pit to form a house shape).  You remember so much, it just amazes me.
 I had a frozen pizza for dinner, which you shared some of, then we practiced counting (you can get to 3 on your own usually, 5 if you are really concentrating) and singing ABC's. You then requested to watch some "dance" before bed.  No matter how many times I watch you do it, I have to giggle every time at your imitations of the sounds, song lyrics, and even some of the dance moves from the videos--though it appears we'll need to stop watching "Fat" by Weird Al, because you now think grabbing your diaper and making a silly noise is fun lol...
You now often head to bed when it's time without us telling you, which was the case tonight.  You then come back out of the room and say, "Mommy! Daddy!" and go back in there, as if to tell us that it is time to do bedtime routine.  You hugged and kissed your "froggie" (story on that another day), we read the books we read nearly every night now, put your blankies in crib, then "boinged" you up (I basically help you jump in with successively higher springs each time) into the crib. Oh, one funny thing that was different: you got your cash register out to play with and I asked you what numbers were on it. You pointed and said each one, then when you got to the equals sign, you said, "oops."  This was the way of it for all the operators, except multiply and add, because you saw those as "x" (you were looking from the side).
As I write this, you have been asleep for a while now, but just started making some sounds.  You said, "daddy, daddy, blankies, blankies."  You often talk to yourself for a while prior to sleep, and occasionally do this, too.  It's cute, but mommy worries for when you have a big bed and can get out when such happens...let's just stay at this stage, shall we? :)

Monday, February 17, 2014

I haven't forgotten!

Even though it has been a few days since I posted, just wanted to let you know it's not that I have forgotten, just been busy and well, not much of anything new to write, either.  Today was a pretty usual day--mommy had to go out and work this morning, came back in the afternoon for a couple of hours, then back out again for more work in the evening.  I brought you back a doughnut this morning, which, of course, made you quite happy.  We played around a bit and then it seemed like it was already time for me to head out.  You and daddy went to the the store together and he reported that you were very well behaved--yay!  After I got back, you had a random meltdown over little things (like me closing my laptop), but ended the evening happy again and ready for bed.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Laundry obession

Oh, I know the day will come when I will wonder when this went away (it surely will not, sadly, sick around)--right now, as it has been for quite a time, you are obsessed with doing laundry.  Mind you, this isn't just about watching the machines go 'round-and-round' like at first.  You now actually DO the laundry, almost by yourself!  Unfortunately, you don't understand the controls fully, which leads to stuff like this morning, where you had turned on the washer, run it for a bit, stopped it, then opened the door...letting water on floor.  So, just before heading to the gym together, mommy had to do a quick mop-up job.
You were good at the gym, and good again once we got home.  We had some lunch, mommy got a shower in, then we made cookies (peanut butter milk chocolate chip :)).  You did your usual with the dough eating and we had a nice time.  After I cleaned up the kitchen, had a slight break and then it was time to head out for lessons.
While I was gone, you napped on daddy (he reported) for an hour, and then snuggled on his lap for about another hour.  When I arrived home, we had dinner and then it was bedtime, which I think you really needed by that point.  Your new thing is to read "Blue Hat, Green Hat"--you love saying the "oops" parts lol.  Ok, so it's not true reading, as you only know it by the pictures, but still...  Then we've now gone to the routine being that you throw your blankies into the crib, then one of us assists you in 'boinging' up and over the rail, I play a silly game of making faces with you through the bars until daddy brings your bedtime milk (yeah, I know, probably not the best habit, but we don't have time to fight you for the moment being on this one).

Monday, February 10, 2014

Counted your toes!

Sorry mommy has been slacking on the blog these days, but I just can't seem to get everything in every day!  Anyhow, wanted to be sure I recorded a little milestone: you successfully counted your toes on one foot tonight!  It's the first time you have actually counted something in the correct order and amount :)
Also, you now keep trying to sing the ABC's song with me and it is hilarious.  I simply must get a video, it's too cute and comical.  You know sort of the melody and some of the highlights, and if you try to sing it without me, you get stuck in a loop somewhere in the middle and the song becomes far longer lol :)

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Tonight, Tonight

Ah, my cute little guy, what a day being of you being so adorable :)  This morning, mommy had to go get a paper notarized at the bank (for the sale of the car to uncle Kevin), then we spent the rest of the morning together just having a usual time.  I put on some videos for you (since you like to dance to them) and you started trying to sing along with a few of them.  The one you did the best with was Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight, Tonight"--you nailed that one easily and clearly.
After this, Andrea came over and you were good during the lesson, entertaining yourself with things like turning on the dryer, watching TV, and eating 'doo-doo foo sacks' (Scooby-Doo fruit snacks).  You felt the need at one point to join us at the table, just long enough to knock over a pile of plastic storage tubs (by accident).
After the lesson, I cleaned the kitchen, you attempted to help.  You requested at one point that I get out the step stool for you, which I did, positioning it at the island so you would be facing me.  As I worked, you got down at one point and I heard you attempting to move the stool.  I didn't figure you actually could, so I didn't worry about it much.  I heard some noises like you were getting in the drawers or cabinet of the island, which was fine because there isn't anything available to you there that would cause a problem.  Next thing I know, I look over to see that you were back up on the stool in same place, but now the hand-crank cheese grater had made an appearance on the island countertop.  This means that you managed to: 1. move the stool far enough over to get the cabinet door open, 2. had remembered where the device was kept and got it out by yourself, and 3. replaced the stool to position and hauled the grater up to the countertop.  Wow, little guy, just wow.
Soon enough, it was time to go to Kailey's house for her lesson, which you got excited about as per usual.  You were well-behaved there :)  I was going to go to Target after that, but you fell asleep on the ride home, so we went home instead.  I let you nap in the car for about 20 minutes, after we arrived, checking on you every 5.  This was nice and convenient, as I had some scanning I needed to get done for a student.  Big thank you from mommy for this one.  After got you back inside, we watched some more music videos until dad got home.
Later on, we had dinner, where you again thought you had to sing the Luna commercial before each bite of  rice.  You had a good amount of bacon and even a little bit of daddy's omelette.  We were watching The Simpsons, and you pointed this out for us (this is the first time you've named this show, and a little surprising because we don't watch it nearly as often as, say, Team Umizoomi lol).
After dinner, we cleaned up the living room a bit and ran the vacuum, or, as you call it, the 'cappoom'.  You exclaimed, "I do it!", which means you want to help, so I let you go for it.  Boy are those 3 square inches super clean now lol.  Ok, ok, you did a bit more than that, but only because I had to help move it around a bit (you would have otherwise probably stayed moving across the same tiny swath).
At bedtime, we've been trying to get back to reading stories with you, which I do by just reading books, regardless of whatever you are doing.  It tends to draw you in, so I plan to continue :)  Tonight I had 'The Bunny Hop' as one of the selections, and asked you if you could count the bunnies on the front cover.  You attempted with, "Two...one...six...seven...eight...nine...ten *pause* nine...eight...*pause*six...seven...six...seven...eight...nine...ten *pause* hundred!"  Oh how you crack us up!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

New show

Today started with you going to the gym with me, which went well (yay!)  You colored some valentine pictures, which apparently had to be tossed into the trunk area of my car when we got in.  We returned home, had some lunch, and then mommy made some cookie bars and cleaned up the kitchen.  You, of course, insisted on eating the batter and attempting to measure ingredients lol.  After this, you wanted to watch some TV, so I put on the recording of a brand-new show called 'Wallykazam' (has been advertised for weeks, so you are already familiar with it).  You LOVED it--so much so that you just sat in the floor in the same spot the whole time and didn't even notice when daddy came home (at first--you did eventually lol...)  I had to leave to go to lessons; daddy reported later that you watched the show again like 3 times.  We had some frozen pizza for dinner, but you didn't join us for that because you'd already eaten quite a bit while I was gone (according to daddy).  You were getting fussy by the time we put you in bed--only part you objected to was the changing of the diaper lol.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Thank goodness for napping today

Lately, you have not been one to nap, as I have noted in the other entries. Today, mommy had a couple of lessons this morning, and then needed to work on a paper that was due today by the end of the day.  When I first got home, daddy was super tired, so I told him to go take a nap/rest and I'd watch you.  This meant, of course, that I was not able to work on my paper yet, but that's ok.  I did manage to pull up some possible sources to quote for it, though, because at one point you decided to just pile on my lap for about 12 minutes of watching 'Despicable Me' lol.  You were super quiet and calm, which made me wonder for a moment if you might nap on me.  About that time, you slid off my lap, down my legs, to the floor to roll around with your blankies.  You were snuggling them sort of like you do when you are getting ready to nap, so I said, "How about if you go take a nap? Let's go to your room and do that, come on!"  And up the stairs you went!  You played with your Team Umizoomi shapes thing for a little bit, then I put you in the crib and you settled down to nap pretty much right away.  Dad emerged from the bedroom just minutes later and was shocked that you were down for a nap lol.  We both took advantage of the time and worked, which was great!  I got mostly done with my paper before you got up, so that was wonderful.
When you got up, you were a little groggy (you slept for 3 hours!), but quickly came around and were in a very happy mood, yay!  You ate a bunch of rice our of my dinner bowl, and the funny thing was, I sang the Luna commercial tune at one point to see if you'd chime in (you did).  Then, after that, you seemed to think you needed to chant that every time before taking another bite of rice lol.  You got out your own spoon, failed on using it, so went back and got a fork, failed on that, then got another fork.  I said, "What are you doing, Mr. Fork?" and you just giggled.  Apparently this phrase was amusing, because I repeated it and got the same reaction out of you several times.  Love making you giggle like that :)
Later, just before bed, I discovered that we have a channel/service that allows us to play music and/or videos from a list, so I put on some dance songs for you.  Of course you danced, which I always love watching, but you also thought you needed to swing your arm around and around really fast.  When the last song was done and I stopped the service, you looked at the screen and said, "All done, dance TV." lol!

Saturday, February 1, 2014

another short one

Let's see, what are the highlights of the last two days?  You pooped in the tub yesterday, which was yucky, but also funny to watch your face as you simply cannot figure out why or how this came from your body.  You are still obsessed with the 'doh-doh', though you spent a bit less time on it today than the other days.  You were good at the Kids Zone at the gym today, so that made mommy happy and relieved.  You insisted this evening on getting out the cheese grater, climbing up on the step stool, and grinding it for quite a while.  You also experimented with putting jellybeans and M & M's in it to see what would happen lol.  Again, you cried profusely when put to bed, yet gave up after only a few minutes and went to sleep.  Love you lots *hugs* ~mommy

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Play-Doh (or 'doh-doh')

Today started with taking you to the gym with me.  This went well, except that they reported to me at the end that you were hitting other kids when they wanted to share toys for you.  That broke my heart a bit; I hope we can get this fixed, you don't normally do stuff like that.  Then again, you aren't around other kids enough for us to show you, which is also frustrating.
We went to Jimmy John's for mom to pick up lunch, and when we pulled up, you said, "Chips!"  Yeah, we've been here too often (darn their convenience and speediness!)  Back at home, Andrea never showed up (she texted that she was sick yesterday, so am guessing that is still the case), so I finished lunch and had a shower while you watched some TV.  You then wanted to play with the 'doh-doh' (Play-Doh), so we laid out the mat for you in the living room so that mommy could watch you while she worked on doing a thorough cleaning that she started yesterday.  You played with it for pretty much the entire afternoon!  Guess that 'Fun Factory' lives up to its name lol.  The only thing you asked me to do was to open the other colors for you when you wanted to switch; you've even learned to put away one before asking for a new one.
Another quirky thing: I turned on 'Friends' at one point, and you looked up at the screen during the part where the word is up there and said, "Friends", repeating it a couple of times.  I have no idea how you know this, because they don't say that in the theme song, nor do we point it out to you.  Got me puzzled on this one, little buddy.
Then we had to take you to Lyn's to be babysat while mommy taught math review.  She reported that you only got upset once--you tried to join the dogs behind the couch and got tangled up on the cords.  Some M & M's apparently fixed the problem afterward lol.
Back at home, you went right back to the 'doh-doh' and played until bedtime.  Glad you like it so much :)  Now if we could just get you to not cry so much when it's bedtime...love ya, little guy.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

92

Just going to make this one short--as I said, I plan to post each day, even if it's only a little one (sometimes I just don't have it in me to post the whole day).  Today was mainly a cleaning house day, then shuttling you to Kailey's with me, then to Kristina's for babysitting.  The evening was spent with daddy, who is quite worn out from you getting up a little earlier than usual lately.  And yes, no nap for you again today (you took a three hour one yesterday, though, despite your vehement objections when I put you in the crib for it).
Just before bed, you were being very playful and wanted to run around a lot.  I remarked that I should count how many times you circled me (after you had done it probably a good 20-30 already).  I think the counting might have encouraged you to keep going even more lol.  You paused only a couple of times, one of which was to take a swig of 'chocate milk'--made it to 92.  Seriously, I sat in the floor and you ran 92 counted circles around me, you crazy energy-filled boy lol.  Hope it means you'll sleep well :)

Monday, January 27, 2014

Two, nine, TEN!

Soooo...this past week was way too busy all around, am bummed that I had to break the trend of posting every day.  Let's get caught up:
Two mornings ago, first thing, you flung yourself backwards at me during diaper change attempt and hit me super hard right in the middle of my nose, causing me tremendous pain, but thankfully no mark left.  This is consistent with your new hatred of diaper changes, the origin of which remains a mystery to us.
Yesterday morning, thanks to mommy having a new algebra review to teach on one Saturday morning each month, we had to get you up extra early and take you with us.  Though you didn't care much for the getting up early (and neither did we, I assure you), you were well-behaved for daddy as you waited on mommy to finish teaching.  We then went out to Anyway's for lunch, very yummy, though you didn't eat much, and found out that you don't care for Caesar salad lol.
I went to teach a lesson after that, and a little while after I returned from it, we all went to Meijer to do grocery shopping together.  Well, that was the idea anyway--you fell asleep by the time we were at Army Trail Road, so daddy offered to stay in the car and wait while you rested.  Thought you might wake up before I finished, because there were a lot of great sales, so I stocked up, taking me just about an hour to shop.  You woke up right as I was headed to the checkouts lol, thus you guys stayed in the car and waited on me.  Went back home, unloaded groceries and then mommy made manicotti for dinner.  You called it pizza lol, yet wouldn't try it.
Today, despite that we put you in bed only a little earlier last night than usual (thinking you needed it since you got up so early), you thought getting up early again was needed, like around 8:45, ugh.  You were a bit testy all day, but still your playful and fun little self.  I was gone for lessons for a good part of the day, so I have to rely on what daddy reported lol.
In the evening, you amused us by first of all chanting "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" over and over while the theme to the Cosby Show played (the one where they have the dark grey solid background).  No idea where that came from at all lol.
Later, you got your Spiderman ball out to play with daddy.  We keep trying to teach you 'catch'--so far, you only kind of get the idea.  The amusing part is that, for whatever reason, when preparing to toss the ball to him (or me), you chant (very purposefully), "Two...nine...TEN!" and then throw it.  Just love this lol.
At bedtime yesterday, you were looking in the closet and discovered the toy drum set that Grandpa Kerry got for you (it's an old Fisher-Price plastic one).  You requested to get this out and play with it, absolutely love it, played with it again tonight before bed.  Let's sleep in tomorrow, 'kay?  Love ya.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Another no nap day

We started today with some Price Is Right and 'chacaht' milk for you :) Mommy headed off to a lesson, while daddy watched you, of course.  Since my lesson time was a slight conflict with dad's office hours, the solution was for me to meet him at campus and pick you up there; he decided that doing this gave him a great excuse to go out to lunch with you at Wendy's (plus he had some coupons to use lol).  He reported that you both had a great time and posted a super smiley pic of you on Facebook, too.
Right around 1, met up with you guys at campus and picked you up to take you back home, where it would soon be time for my lesson with Andrea.  You were well-behaved for this, thanks in part to your re-discovery of the 'Into the Snow' DVD (with Bubble Guppies and Team Umizoomi).  After the lesson, I had to scan some pages to send to dad to print off for the algebra review thing this Saturday (he was supposed to take the paper copies, but left them on the couch *d'oh!*).  I was worried that you would try to "help" with the copier (read: take over the duty), but instead, you decided that the ball pit was far more interesting and played in that while I did the scanning, sitting on my lap for just a little bit of time during it.
Then, it was off to Kailey's house once more, where you enjoyed playing with the little LED finger lights they have, and asking about the coin machine several times lol.  This time, we came back home and I got to stay with you for a change because my normal lesson at 5:30 was canceled.  I used this time to clean the kitchen and discover that you had put the Nutella in the lazy susan lol.  It was also during this time that I had checked the mail and found that Nana Linda had sent your missing piece (number 8) for the wooden clock toy.  You were quite pleased about this; after figuring out where it went, you sat in your room for a while and talked to the clock lol.
Dad came home around 20 minutes before I had to go out for a lesson, and I informed him that you had not yet had a nap today, but acted like you were going to when we were in the car.  Even so, you did not nap while I was at lesson, either, and were still wide awake when I returned around 10:20pm.  You had some homemade mac n cheese with us, then ran around a bunch before we decided you had to be put in bed.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

So. Very. Busy.

Once again, the evening has melted away far too quickly.  But I still wanted to at least tell you what's been going on.  The other night, mommy had accepted a tutoring job that is on the atypical side--they asked if I could write out solutions for problems so that a student could learn from that.  I didn't figure it would be too big of a deal until I started actually writing it out.  It took FOREVER (well, it seemed like it, anyway).  It seriously ate up all the free time I had after you had gone to bed.  Thus, no entry for that night.  The next night (last night), it was similar, except that I had informed them I would only do the ones he has questions about and/or needs corrected.  This went better by far, but still left me with nearly zero free time for writing.
Tonight, I had to do my school work and find worksheets/prepare for a new algebra workshop that I will be teaching Saturday.  So there went yet another evening.  *sigh*  Hope you can forgive me ;)
Nothing majorly out of the ordinary has happened over the last couple of days with you, apart from your wacky not-wanting-to-nap business.  You had only a short nap the other day, then yesterday you had to give up and take like a 2.5 hour one, but today, despite your short tempered manner at times, both daddy and I failed in the two attempts (one from each of us) to get you to nap.  You simply stood in your crib hollering and refusing to give in to sleepy town.  I'm not ready for you to stop napping yet, please go back to enjoying them, would you? ;)  love you lots and hope to get back to my usual entries after this...

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Haven't forgotten...

I'm just posting here really quickly to say that mommy hasn't forgotten about blogging, but the last two nights have been exceptionally busy.  I'll tell you more about it in the next post :)

Monday, January 20, 2014

Good boy, doggie

Today started much the same as many days, with all of us getting up together, then me heading off to go to a lesson, while you and daddy remained at home.  While I was gone, he posted this little story about you to Facebook:

Avery just climbed into my lap, curled up, then barked and panted. "Aw, you're a good dog," I said. 
"Puppy," he corrected me. I started petting him like a dog, but he stopped me and said, "I'll do it." Then he started petting himself and saying, "Good boy, doggie." 

LOL! We do say 'good boy!' to you a lot, but not doggie!  I wish I could have been there to witness this.  Daddy also reported that you were trying to sing the theme to "Peppa Pig", another thing I would have loved to hear.  So much cuteness! 
I went to the gym after my lesson, then to Savers (a nice thrift store) to take advantage of the 50% off sale on clothes and shoes.  I got you some tops, a pair of shoes, some toys, and the best find of all: a toy chest/shelf combo, only $8 (looked it up later and they go for around $75 brand new...)  Sure, it has a drawing of a dinosaur or something on one side, but nothing structurally wrong or otherwise.
Bringing this home gave me all the more reason to focus on getting your room cleaned up and slightly rearranged.  Since you grabbed the window blind the other day, daddy and I both agreed it was time to get your crib out of reach of it (has not been a problem up until now).  We also had to take down your baby monitor because it quit working, which is a big bummer, but also a little convenient, because the outlet we had it in is now freed up and enabled us to place your crib in front of it.  (You keep pointing up where it was, though, and asking "green?" (the 'on' light was green for it))  Worked on your room (daddy helped, too) until had it reorganized and the toy chest in its newly created spot, with the side that is drawn on coincidentally against the wall so no one will notice it (unless we rearrange the room lol).  This made your room so much more open--you have much more floor space now!  It also means you have far easier access to the closet doors--you took advantage of this fact nearly immediately, opening and closing them over and over.  You seem to really like the new toy chest and took to digging out stuff I had put in it within minutes of completion lol.
You took a short nap in the evening without complaint, got up not too long before I had to go out for a late lesson.  I grabbed a pizza for us while I was out, and you enjoyed some with us--still won't hold the piece and eat it yourself, though, as you really do not like getting your hands dirty from it lol.
One of the toys I got you today was a grab bag of plastic foods and dishes.  You have some already, but I wanted to add to your collection (since you enjoy playing with them so much and probably will for quite a time to come).  Took them to the bathroom sink to wash them, and of course you had to 'help'...yourself to playing in the water as I 'did the dishes'.  You kept playing around with the water after I was done, so I left you in there to have fun while I worked on laundry in my room (which is connected, so I could keep an eye on you).  I came downstairs for something and you followed me; it was then that I saw you had managed to completely soak the entire front of your shirt and top part of your pants.  You had the most puzzled look on your face, like you knew you wanted to tell me something was wrong, but not sure what to say.  You finally came up with "Wet" and patted at your belly.  So, yes, we had to fix that, got you in your "jammies" (as you have learned to call them from Grandma Judy lol) and then it was bedtime (where you got even more toys out of the chest lol).  Love ya!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Dance!

Today, not long after we all got up, you made us laugh by bringing both the toaster and an entire loaf of bread to dad and saying nothing, just stood there with your arms full--pretty sure you knew you'd be getting your point across lol.  Mommy had to leave for work, so it was just you and daddy for a few hours.  When I returned, dad reported that you had done the same thing with the popcorn popper while I was gone, so you had some of that, as well as a bunch of other food.  Must have been on a hungry day--every so often, you have days where you eat so much we begin to wonder if you aren't part cow lol.
We had a relaxed afternoon and evening.  You kept perking up every time a commercial came on with music, so I decided to see if I could find a music channel with videos to put on for you.  When I did, you took to it right away and started dancing with each song.  I got a video of this, which I have watched a few times tonight, it's so adorable and funny.
Dinner was cheese fondue, and you helped grate the cheese!  Yes, you also ate some of this with us, continuing the piggy streak.
After dinner, you decided you needed to throw your blankies behind the couch (this has become a new fascinating area).  In going back to retrieve them, you re-discovered dad's old keyboard/synthesizer that he gave you.  I moved stuff aside so that you could come out via going under the end table on that side, but you chose to haul the thing all the way back around the way you got in--a pretty amazing feat, considering the keyboard is not exactly light and small.  You played with it and said "Dance!" when you turned it on and the demo/samples started playing, then got tickled about figuring out the volume control.  You would turn it all the way down to no sound, then a little up for a moment, say, "Nope!", giggle, and turn it back down.  It was so ornery and cute, made us giggle, too.
All this and you made it through the whole day without a nap, too!  This also happens on occasion, which is alright as long as you aren't fussy, which you pretty much weren't.  I'm guessing that your little body clock is going through some changes right now, so we'll try to do what we can to accommodate it :)  Love ya, little guy.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Climb!

Today was a pretty typical day for us--started with you and mommy going to the gym while dad went to work.  You got mad at me when we were getting in the car because it was 14 degrees outside and I was trying to hurry you up into the seat, so I just put you in rather than let you climb.  You fussed, whining "Climb, climb, climb..." until I turned on "Butterfly", then perfectly fine as we headed into the gym.  When we came out, I let you take the time to climb into your seat, which you can now do pretty much all on your own (you have a little trouble with your foot getting stuck as you turn around, though).  After the gym, we stopped at Costco to grab a slice of pizza (of which you again ate a pretty good amount :)) an headed back home.
I began making cookies after lunch, as Andrea had texted to say she would not be coming today.  You ate some of the ingredients and insisted on sampling the dough (this is now routine, it seems lol).  A bit later, dad returned and had some fries to share with you.  Since you had had pizza, you ate less of these than usual.  You weren't acting tired yet, so we didn't try to have you nap.  I'm kind of wondering if you are now wanting to shift to a later nap time (if so, woo hoo! that would be very convenient...).  You did climb up on dad's lap and lay across like yesterday, but didn't fall asleep this time.
I left to go to the only lesson I had for the day, and when I returned, you were asleep in the floor just under daddy's feet (which were propped up on the footrest of the recliner).  It was quite funny--looked like you had simply run out of batteries and planted flat on the floor, atop your blankies.  You napped for about another hour after I arrived, then we made some more 'meh-ehls' (noodles) to have with leftovers from last night for dinner.  This time, you and daddy were doing the noodle cooking, and after seeing him eat some uncooked noodles, you decided to give that a try, too, and enjoyed crunching them as much as he does.
After dinner, we played with you in the living room floor--you like to run around in circles A LOT, with daddy, mommy, or both of us in the middle as you do so.  You also like a silly thing that daddy started with you where he raises his arms and says, "I'm a tree!", then you run at him, he says, "Timber!" and falls over, swooping at you as you pass, tickling you after he catches you.  When you want to play this, you now come over to us and take us by the hands, attempting to throw them up in the air and saying "tree!"  We have a lot of fun with this goofy game :)  All of this is great for running out your energy, so by the time it's bedtime, you are ready to do some calm playing in your room, wind down, and get to sleep.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Sleeping on daddy

This morning, dad got up with you just before mommy woke up.  I cleaned up the kitchen, you had some "jeh-ee toast" (toast with jelly), and then I had to be off to work.  When I returned, dad had tried to put you down for nap, but you did nothing but cry, fuss, and fight it for a half hour.  He had to leave for work just after I arrived, and since you were still unhappy, I retrieved you and sat you in the recliner while I prepped both some lunch and dinner (for later, of course).  I shared the mac n cheese with you while you watched Bubble Guppies, and then you started to perk back up and by the time it was time to leave for Kailey's house, you were happy once again.  You behaved well at her place, as well as for Nikolina (Kristina's younger sister) while she babysat you at our place.
When I arrived home from lessons, you were lying across dad's lap in the recliner, asleep and looking as adorable as possible :)  It wasn't too long before you were up and around again, then decided you wanted a bath.  Oh how you love being in the tub lol!  You played a lot, I took some pix, and then dad came to take over watching you while I prepped some egg noodles to go with dinner.
When you finally got out of the tub, you were very happy to sit next to me on the couch and eat a bunch of my egg noodles lol.  At bedtime, we played with your set of matching cards--has been a while since we got those out--and you were able to name nearly all of them!  The really impressive one was when you said "dog with spots".  You objected only slightly when dad hoisted you into the crib, and I think tonight you went right to sleep for a change :)

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Cook!

Ok, today's entry is going to be a tad shorter, please forgive (I'm just elated that I have kept up with it so far for every day this year!).  We went to the gym this morning, that went well as per usual, then returned just a bit before Andrea arrived for her lesson.  This time, you decided you needed to investigate the left lower side cabinet of the china hutch, a place you normally don't ever get into.  You discovered the extra dishes down there, and managed to get a plate off the top of the stack (they are a little heavy, so this was no small feat).  You brought it over to me, then after giving it to me, you pointed towards the stove and said a word I couldn't understand, paused a moment, then said, "Cook?" I repeated back, "Cook?" and you said, "Cook!", which I then realized meant you wanted me to make some food on the stove for you lol (duh, mommy!).  I made you some rice, which you ate very happily just after Andrea was gone.
Tried to get you a nap following that, and I think you did actually try to nap--you were quiet for a good half hour or so--but then I heard you chattering to yourself.  I waited, as sometimes you do that and go back to sleep, yet about 15 minutes later, you shouted, "Mommy? Down!"  I was actually trying to rest at that time, too, so after I got you out of the crib, I returned to the couch and watched you play from there.  You were very good for me, tried to join me for a little bit, then returned to playing and watching cartoons lol.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Oopsie-day-zee-zee

Today seemed to go by super fast, at least for me.  Poor thing, you woke up with a diaper problem--you were standing in your crib, saying "Help, help, diaper" and grabbing at it.  I think it was bothering you and you had made an attempt to get it off, but failed.  It was halfway hanging open in the front and your pants were sort of down on your hips.  This meant your bottom edge of shirt and waist of the pants were pee-soaked, so we changed you out of that immediately and got you all fixed up.
The morning was spent mainly on cleaning, then Andrea came over for a lesson.  While she was here, you mainly watched Bubble Guppies, but occasionally felt the need to check in on us in various ways, such as randomly piling all of your blankets on the end of the table where she was sitting, then 5 seconds later removing them, carting over to the other end of the table, then right back to the living room lol.  We both commented that we'd love to know what in the world is going on in that toddler brain :)
Just after she left, I put you down for nap and thank goodness you were ready, as this was the perfect time to get one in.  While you napped, I prepped for dinner (to have fried chicken) and soon enough, it was time to get you up and out the door to head to Kailey's for a lesson.  You were groggy, but once you came around you were fine with it and had a good time over there (no face scratching this time, thank goodness).  You kept saying "Kay-ee's house", which cracked up everyone.
Then it was back home for Kristina to babysit you until dad got home, which apparently went well once again (yay!)  Dad reported that you were very good for him, even while he fried the chicken legs.  I came home to a happy you and daddy, which is always very nice on these long work evenings.  And to a yummy dinner!  Extra yay for that.
After dinner, you looked quite the mess, so I decided you should have a bath.  You love taking them usually, tonight being no exception.  You went straight to the tub (a word you had said a few times today, actually) and had a fun bath.  You peeked around the curtain playfully and giggled a lot.  I even managed to get your hair washed without too much fuss, amazingly.  When it came time to drain out the water, you kept messing with your nesting cups, so I figured to leave you in until it was drained out.  Thing is, I heard you grunting a little and saw you squatting...yep, there it was, you just pooped in the tub.  This is the sort of thing that would merit saying "oopsie-daisy", which you say for some reason as "oopsie-day-zee-zee".
You looked like you might not be done, so I tried to get you over to the potty chair.  This just made you mad, so we ended up with poop smears all over that, then back to the tub to prevent any further messes.  You were fascinated about what you'd done and wanted to touch it, but I kept you from that, despite your objections.  Thankfully I was able to get it out of the tub and into the toilet easily, then get you diapered and out of there so I could scour the tub and sanitize the cups.  Yay for Clorox wipes that made cleaning off the potty chair super easy, too.  Then it was off to bed, where we did our usual ceremony of playing with the blankies as I give them to you one by one, teasing you a little with them (I toss one end at you and then draw it back before you get it and say, "want it?...nooope!")  This time, with your hair a little damp yet, I think the sensation of shaking your head was more amusing than usual, as you did it for a long time, enough to actually dry your hair a bit lol.  Sweet dreams, little guy...

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Screaming in Costco

Yes, the title says it, that was the craziest point of today.  You and I went to the gym this morning and you enjoyed yourself just fine there--they complimented you on how well you know your colors (you were pointing them out for everyone :)).  We then headed to Costco, a brief trip to get some diapers, cat litter, milk, and Grape Nuts (which you like, by the way).  Not long after we'd gotten in the store, you were displeased that we were not already getting the pizza and 'spite' (Sprite, which is what you call a lot of sodas lol).  You wailed and carried on like I had just done the worst possible thing to you ever (by not letting you down and out of the cart, etc).  I got you calm and distracted for a few minutes while in the diapers aisle by having you tell me what numbers were on the boxes, but that only lasted until we got a couple aisles away.  In the checkout line, a lady felt so bad for you that she offered to take you out and hold you, but I assured her you would be fine and that you were too heavy anyhow.  Sure enough, as soon as we were done with checking out and over to where the pizza was, you started calming down.  And oh did you eat pizza!!  You do like it and usually enjoy, but today you were scarfing it down rapidly--bet you had at least a third of that huge slice!
Back at home, we made chocolate chip cookies together...well, sort of.  You sampled many of the ingredients and the batter after each ingredient addition/mixing, so quality check was in place lol.  You helped me with laundry (by taking out the stuff from the washer and piling it in front of it before I could get down there, then after we brought the dry ones up, piling those on the couch and declaring 'done!').  Put you down for a nap and then it was off to work just after daddy arrived home.
He reported that you woke up a bit on the fussy side (you napped for 3 hours, probably because you got up nearly an hour earlier than usual this morning), but then you lightened up and giggled a lot while watching cartoons :)
You sat by me on the couch to share soup and chips before it was your bedtime, so apart from the Costco thing, it was a pretty good day, I think.

Monday, January 13, 2014

What?!!!

Once again, mommy had to leave this morning just after you woke up, so you and daddy had the morning together alone until I came back for a little bit.  While I was back in-between appointments, you started going through the lazy susan again, stopping at the 'cacorn' machine, then taking it out and bringing it to the living room.  Daddy obliged and made you some (yes, in the living room lol), and you happily munched a good amount of it.  I had a quick lunch and then it was off again for more lessons.
When I returned, you were still down for a nap, which dad reported went far better than yesterday (whew!).  Mommy rested on the couch until you got up, then started making dinner.  While I was doing so, you returned to the lazy susan, this time digging out the toaster and carting off with it to the living room.  You handed it to daddy and kept saying 'toast', so he made you some (in the living room, lol), which you loved as usual.  After you had finished this, dad returned the toaster to its spot, and then Tabitha started whining/meowing at the steps to the basement.  He went over to the doorway and said in a very exasperated tone, "What? What?! What?!!", gesturing with his arms out in front of him.  Just after this, you walked over to the same spot and began imitating exactly what dad had been doing lol!!!  Dad started laughing so hard, as did I.  You had no idea why we were laughing so hard :)
During dinner, you entertained yourself with the popcorn that remained from earlier.  Dad hadn't put the popper away, and since we wouldn't make more for you (even though you wanted us to do so), you took the popcorn pieces one by one and filled the popper back up with them.
After dinner, it was back to the lazy susan to obsess over the hot chocolate maker.  We gave in and made some, as it did sound quite good for dessert.  You sat on mommy's lap and drank a pretty good amount of it.  The funny thing was, you kept trying to call it 'hot coffee', which I blame on Nana Linda (she shares a tiny bit of coffee with you when you are visiting her).
You are really starting to get your numbers in order now, and we've been trying to teach you how to count with your fingers.  Tonight, I started with one, two, then you pulled up another of my fingers and said, 'three!', then made me open my hand and said, 'five!', then counted 'six', 'seven', 'eight' by just pointing at the fingers already up.  Pretty impressive!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Twelve!

This morning, mommy had to leave just after you got up (to go do lessons), so didn't really see you until after I got home in late afternoon, post-lessons and grocery shopping.  When I did arrive home, you were napping, and dad reported that you had been good most of the day until he tried to have you nap.  You  objected vehemently, crying for an hour total before finally giving up.  And at that, you only napped for a short while before we heard you fuss.  I went to get you; you were still face down on the blankies and saying "help, help", in a whiny sort of way, but not moving much.  I picked you up, blankies and all, and we went to the living room, where I sat on the couch with you and you got comfy on my lap, as we reclined in the middle of the couch.  We watched "Adventure Time" and you barely moved, even when dad came back up from downstairs.
I then recalled that I had brought home a cookie for you from earlier in the day and had daddy fetch it from the car.  This made you happier, and eventually, you woke up and started getting more energetic.  Soon, you were up and around, running all over the place and playing with both me and daddy off and on.  You ran circles around daddy, of which I took pix and will post to facebook probably tomorrow.  You had some 'tah-sta' (pasta) for dinner with us as well, so that was happy.  You kept playing until we had you go to your room to wind down for bedtime.
There, you were playing with the shape clock again, and to our surprise, this time you identified the all the numbers, including 'telthe'! (twelve)  You also played with the stacking blocks again, thankfully less frustraing for you this time than the nights before (think you are starting to understand how the sizes work :))  Hope you sleep well, little dude, love you lots!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Lettuce

Today you were back to being your usual self (yay!).  You and I went to the gym (you, of course, to the kids' zone/day care) this morning, which you haven't got to do in quite a while.  You were happy to be there and beelined to your favorite toy there--a spiraling mountain for Hot Wheels.  After this, we returned home, got cleaned up, then it was time for mommy to go off to work and daddy to come home to be with you.  He reported that you were good for him, too :)  Perhaps it had something to do with him sharing fries with you for lunch lol...
After I had finished my lessons, it was late and I called daddy to see about dinner.  We ended up choosing to go to Olive Garden and had a super nice waitress who had a 3 year old with nearly the same birthday as you.  The funny thing was, you would only eat one thing among all that we had--not soup, not breadsticks, no pasta, no mozzerella triangles--you chose...salad.  Yes, lettuce from my salad, specifically.  You ate a pretty good amount of it, too!  This is the second time you've had salad that I can remember; not long ago, I had made one for myself at home with one of our dinners and you surprised me by not only eating it, but liking it, too.  What made this time so hilarious was that you would go "omcrunch" each time you wanted another bite.  (We taught you that it was 'lettuce', which you repeated, but you also kept going "omcrunch").  Such a silly cute little guy you are...

Friday, January 10, 2014

Moody day

Today dad got up with you just before mom woke up, and you seemed to be in a good mood as usual.  But then, and throughout the day, little things that didn't go your way would send you into meltdown mode.  Yes, you do have these bouts sometimes--generally it's not an all-day thing, though.  It usually just means you are tired/need a nap.  Perhaps you are partying in your sleep lol.
You were very happy to help me put away the lights in their boxes (finally found where they were!); I love when you help and actually enjoy it.  Then you were quite upset that I decided your blankies had to be washed.  I guess I should have left one out for you, but I think you would have been upset anyhow.  We tried to have mac n cheese for lunch with you, which went well to start with, but after you decided you needed to be the one in control of the spoon, it went quickly downhill.  You got mad because you still haven't mastered how to angle the spoon, so the macaroni was falling off half the time.  After a few times of this, you'd had enough and wouldn't eat any more of it (even though I'm sure you were hungry for it).
We then took daddy to work.  Just after dropping him off, at the light to exit from the campus onto Swift Road, a lady in a minivan was coming full speed through the red light.  It scared mommy a lot--thankfully I saw her and was able to stop my vehicle in the intersection, which I think made her realize there was a red light in front of her and she managed to stop just in time as well.  Thus we ended up stopped almost perpendicular to one another, her with a puzzled look on her face and the guy next to her as well, and me with jaw dropped, realizing that she could very well have killed me, you, or both of us.  I cried a little on the rest of the trip back to the house.
Back at home, put you down for your nap and you did not object, so this meant that you'd get in about an hour and a half of nap before we'd need to leave for the lesson (where you get to come along).  When I went to get you up, you were still sleeping peacefully, hated to do it.  You got up well, though, and we took 3 of your 6 blankies for the car ride.
At the lesson, you did great until the very end.  Once again, your memory amazed me; at this house (which you have been to several times now), around a month ago, you were interested in a machine that was in the floor in the corner of the dining room (where I conduct the lesson usually).  This machine sorts coins, and they demonstrated it for you with the coins I had in my purse that day.  Today, you saw the machine again, and even though there were no coins around, nor was it turned on, you pointed it out and exclaimed "coins!"  Wow, bud, just wow.  Like every other house we visit, you love the laundry room and always want to go there.  This time, you didn't want to leave, and in your terrible toddler fashion, showed us this by thrashing backwards when I went to lead you out of the room.  Either my nail or yours (nor sure which) grazed your cheek and actually drew blood, so you got even more upset.  Had to get you calmed down again before we could leave, making us slightly late for getting back to the house.  On the way home, you were still upset and wailed "blankiiiiiiiies" over and over, which I am guessing was because you only had 3 of the 6 (which I why I think the 1 blankie laundry solution would not work).
At home, thank goodness you calmed down after getting all the blankies, and you were babysat by Kristina (neighbor girl and student of mine) until dad could get home (about an hour later).  She reported afterwards that you laughed and had fun the whole time, thank goodness!
For the rest of the evening, you were good, except during the poopy diaper change, dad told me (I was out at a lesson).  Hoping you have a good sleep tonight and a better tomorrow.  Love you :)

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Fit, stack, hide

Again today you slept in past 10, as did dad, so mommy chose to be the only one to head to the gym this morning.  When I came back, you, my little candy fiend, had managed to find (and unwrap) the Cadbury Egg I had in the candy drawer (which will soon no longer exist within your reach...).  You had half of it in your hand and said, "chacate ball, help" to me, because the middle part was squishing out and you don't like to get your hands dirty (you are an odd little duck lol).
I cleaned up and then we had to take daddy to work (today was still very cold and his vehicle is still buried under a mass of snow).  On the way back, I stopped to get a sandwich from Jimmy John's.  Upon seeing my purchase, you noticed the bag and said, "Chip?"  I had you say 'chip, please' and then shared some with you as we drove the rest of the way home.
In the afternoon, I tried to have you nap, but it didn't work out--guess you weren't tired enough yet.  Probably for the best, because it was soon time to go fetch dad, then head to my lessons.
At bedtime, you were playing with your stacking boxes.  These have a number (1-10) on one side, some object in that quantity on another, some other random things on the other sides, and a shape on the top.  One side of each box is open so that you can nest the boxes if you like.  They also stack very nicely, which is what we taught you to do with them first.  You know the word and concept of 'stack' as well as 'hide', because when you stack sometimes, you put the bigger ones over the smaller ones.  We then showed you how they 'fit' together inside each other, so you have been trying to practice this lately.  You get frustrated, though, because you haven't quite got the idea down yet.  I showed you to set them next to each other to 'make stairs'; you like doing this, too, except your 'make stairs' go up and down lol.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Lights, all done!

Today you actually got to go out for a bit, yay!  Since it is so cold and the roads are still icky, mommy gave daddy a ride to work today and will do so for the next couple of days as well.  This means you get to ride along as well, of course :)  Your favorite song is "Butterfly" by Superbus, which you sing along with nearly every time we play it.  You request it just about each time we are in the car, so now I just play it out of habit lol.  You sing 'bur-fly' and 'ah-ah-ah-a-ah', and sometimes imitate some of the other sounds in the song.  It cracks me up every time, just too adorable.  When we got back from taking daddy to work, you took a nice long nap.  During this time, I decided the Christmas tree really needed to come down, which I was able to get done and put away (well, mostly...mommy accidentally broke the plug connector/fixture in the crawl space while doing this, so the tree is not in the correct spot in there yet...) before you woke up.
When you came into the living room, you knew something was different, you looked around for the tree, but all you saw were the lights from it, sitting in piled strands on the floor (because the boxes for them are in the back of the crawl space).  You exclaimed, "Lights, all done!" and then pointed to each strand and repeated this, to make sure we knew each one was 'all done' lol.
After my lessons, I decided I didn't feel like cooking and ordered a pizza for us instead.  You like pizza, but don't always want pizza when we have it.  This time, there was no doubt you wanted it--you ate nearly a whole large slice of stuffed crust (including that part, yes!)  The funny thing was, you would only eat it if daddy was holding it for you, no idea why that was necessary (or desired--usually you are mister "I do it!" when it comes to such things).
At bed time, you were identifying the numbers and objects together in your numbers books, such as one cat, six balls, ten yo-yos (you say woh-wohs).  You also spent a lot of time having us spin the top for you so you could watch from all angles.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

another great indoor day :)

Perhaps that will be the title of the next few posts lol.  Nah, it's just that today was the bitter cold day outside--so super cold that the schools were all canceled, even daddy's.  I went out for my workout at the gym (we were going to all go, but thought it would be best to not take you out in it) and then for my lessons in the evening.  It was indeed super cold, I assure you!
Dad said you had a great day, apart from requesting "moo-ools" (noodles) and after he made them, you wouldn't eat any, silly boy.  Tonight when I arrived home from lessons, you were both at the table, munching on the 'cacorn' leftover from yesterday.  You informed me that 'cacorn, all done', and then identified "mommy and daddy", pointing us out, and repeating this a few times.  You also remembered you like to identify "daddy's eyes, baby's eyes" (we're not sure if you just can't pronounce your own name or you just know that you are a baby).  I then made omelettes for us plus rice/quinoa mix.  As I was cooking, you identified the eggs (and wanted to help me crack them, but I was too quick for you ;)) and the bacon (of which you had a piece).  Your curiosity got the best of you (as always) and you grabbed the bowl with the beaten eggs, part of which landed in the floor.  Thankfully, we had more, so no one had to go without an omelette lol.
The evening ended with you pushing around your shopping cart with your blankies in it, you snuggling on my lap for a bit to watch "The Daily Show", and then chanting along with the audience for Stephen Colbert (you say 'tee-un, tee-un').  Another great day with you (and yay for mommy keeping up with the blog!)

Monday, January 6, 2014

Another indoors day

No much to report from today, as it was simply a day spent indoors for you.  Mommy had to go out for a lesson, but that was all.
The Christmas decorations are still up, as I like to keep them up until the 6th of January at least.  I'm sad that it will be time to start taking them down tomorrow, as every morning, as soon as you are up and see the living room, you command "Lights on!" over and over again until the tree is on, the snowman is on, and the lights around the bookshelf are on.  However, you have discovered that you can turn the tree (no small feat, it is a 9 ft tree and rather sturdy!) by pulling on the lower branches, so it's a good thing we'll be putting that away soon lol.
While I was cooking, you were spinning the lazy susan around, saying "round, round, round, toaster, round, round, cacorn (popcorn popper), round, round, round, hot chacate milk (we have a hot chocolate maker)" over and over again.  You stopped on the popcorn maker and said, "my cacorn? my cacorn?", which meant that you wanted to have some popcorn (you love popcorn).  I was busy cooking, so I had daddy make it for you at the kitchen table and you guys sat there together and munched.  You didn't want any of the fried chicken I made (despite the fact that it is awesome!!), but you did eat a few bites of my salad (never done that before!) and seemed to like it (fingers crossed for that to continue!).