Hard Work

This kid, like all toddlers I'm sure, is hard work.  This has been a long week for some reason.  Trying to keep busy inside I guess.  I look forward to and create errands.  Storytime was moved up a day b/c Tuesday was so boring, but it did get above 45 for a bit so we went for a walk and to the playground.  Wednesday, we went to a bouncey house while it rained, which he loves. Today, I tried to go to Walmart at 10am and he fell asleep about 2 minutes away from the house.  It was a rough night last night, waking at 2, 3, and finally up for the day at 4am.  Inexplicably too.  So that's why he's in bed now already.

We did get outside and run around today.  He's been asking for snow, but I can't produce.  There was a cement truck in the neighborhood which we had to stare at forever.  He's really regimented now and makes sure I put a hat on him when we have to go out.  He also love his gloves, not mittens though. His new obsession is scissors, I'm mean seriously, he's not even 2.  He is a sponge I guess. Still likes to cook and clean.  Also obsessed with Elbo.  If you sit near the computer or tv, he tries to make you turn it on.  And today, when we tried to have some quiet time, he wasn't even interested in the rest of Sesame street, just wanted Elbo.  But he does love his 6 inch, 5 dollar grover doll.  He is really into Elmo and I guess it's from our books and coloring books, and he's just put it all together, that now he talks and is on tv. woohoo.

He will, however, drop everything and have you read to him.  but he is picky about books and knows which ones he wants to hear.  He has been doing this strange thing, where it seems like he wants to pick up things in the books.  He is also quite the chatterbox and still running everywhere.  And he can jump like a frog, it's the cutest.

His real obsession though, is Grammy.  He runs around the house looking for her, throwing his palms up in the air when she isn't home.  When he hears a cough or sneeze or the door open, he bolts to her.  He will push me away and tell me no if I try to get near him.  He will only jump to her.  He cuddles with her like I never get.  I wonder if it stemmed from me leaving last week and them having a good 24 hours alone together where he didn't miss me then either.

We are moving so soon, and hope to really shore up a lease tomorrow finally.  Then we'll get our stuff down in the next two weeks, so plan your weekends at the beach with us!  Then I will really have a rude awakening, having Grammy here as a backup and Rick home has made me spoiled; it will be even harder with no breather until after bedtime.  I'd like to think I didn't rely on Grammy to do that much, but when I wanted to read the paper or make a meal or just put away clothes, it was so great to have her be able to play with him. I know I was so lucky these last 18 months!

First Haircut

Don't have good before/after pics, but Bobby got his first haircut in Greenville from Aunt Mary Beth.  He was perfect.  Minimal squirming and no crying.  and he looks so much better than his long baby hair shag.

2010 Holidays

We had a super great Christmas.  I loved having everyone here and all the chaos it brought.  Bobby liked all his presents and all the events, baking, playing and decorations that came with the holidays.  We went to Memphis for six days and had a nice, relaxing time there.  We went to the zoo and the childrens museum, and some playgrounds.  We weren't really used to so much downtime and watched a lot of tv, but Bobby really took to his Grandpa (after a few days of warm up) and it was a good visit.  He slept on a matress on the floor in his own room and bedtime wasn't a nightmare.  It is hard to have a toddler in your lap, even for that short of a flight. Next week, Grandma Roseann comes and then shortly after that we move down to Camp LeJeune, so it will be a busy busy month.

19 months

Bobby can jump! Two feet off at the same time.  Very thrilling stuff.

He can also answer in the affirmative.  It is a vigorous nod, with "da" for yes.

It was bound to happen

I was getting food out of the freezer for dinner, I said, chicken, and Bobby said, bok bok.

Crafting

So this is what I was working on, which everyone saw, but I wanted to document.

I was glad to have some real oohs and aahs, as it took me a long time and it was very tedious, cutting all those ornaments and gluing all that ric rack. And famous last words, "Well if you're going to make one, you may as well make two or three" That's 75 ornaments! (including the star) The burlap was the hardest to work with actually. The sewing machine couldn't handle it, and we had to do something to stop the fraying so it all got glued hems. thanks Grammy, that was her boring job. I didn't finish the string, but I figure everyone can make a bow of the best length that works for them. (I have more string available!) And of course, AFTER we finished, we finally found red and green velcro (preferred for the ornament 'hooks') at Lowe's of all places. I guess I still owe Emily one, so maybe that one will be perfect. It was fun and not that bad all in all. We did most of it after bedtime, but Rick also got Bobby out of my hair so I could do some cutting.

18 Months

Busted

24 pounds, 4 ounces (25% percentile)
33 3/4 inches (75%)
Developing well.. says about 15-20 words, plus more signs and animals sounds

Santa skyped me today

I was hoping to embed this as a video, but no such luck.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/8TZc2SJeFIbaQqddBq93SA

Worst mother ever, Part I

Add caption

Look closely and you will see his new chipped teeth. Tripped over the mini rocking chair onto the plastic tub of toys, while I think he was trying to pull out the fire engine from the corner. I was sitting right next to him. Thought he had just cut his lip. He cried for a long time, which I get because all of us has been head butted in the lip and think how much that hurts.

I hope his tooth gets bigger and you can't notice that it's now triangle shaped, because they don't fall out for a while.  Sorry kiddo.

Just a few glue gun burns later

It started with a simple trip to Michaels to get a frame.  Then we got some pom poms, some felt and some glue and voila (which I originally typed wah-la). We made a few wreath photo ornaments, did a lot of finger painting, a lot more scribbling,  a hand print ornament, a cardboard angel and a thread spool elephant (from the church group at Santas sitting) and a lot of cookies and baked goods.  It has been a good holiday season so far. I think I'll wait until after bedtime to wrap presents though.

This is what I've been working on...

The whole gang  (Go Bruins)

And Elmo had to sneak in there too

Bobby enjoys them, especially if you hide behind a chair or something.  He probably doesn't like them as much as he should for my effort...They were fairly easy to do, but now it's really easy for me to pick on their flaws.  The gingerbread man still needs a nose, and the snowman might get a hat, but they might be done too.  Next up, cookie monster!  Put in your requests kids!

Help

Somebody come and eat all these cookies! I only really like pizzelles. but of course,  I eat all of them anyway.  Does York need fudge? You can guess the content of my January 1st post...

We had that kid

After 45 minutes of waiting, Bobby screamed his head off when he got near Santa. Up to that point, it was ho ho ho, fire, tree - all good. They had cat adoptions which kept him interested and cookies and craft/ornament making afterward. Good day, except for not actually sitting on Santas lap. We'll try again next weekend somewhere else, but I don't expect different results. oh well. (and how good is that Santa)

It's that time of year!

It was a little too quiet

It was one of those times, he started with the cookie sheet cabinet, so I was on the other side of the room (crafting) and then knew he up was to no good when it was so quiet! At least he wasn't eating it, or the sprinkles.

He is so funny, He says Ho Ho Ho, to the Santas. The house looks really nice and he hasn't broken too many ornaments - no nice ones.Every morning he goes and turns on the tree lights. We are really excited for everyone to be together finally.

I am daily stunned by how smart (I think) he is. The things he knows baffles me, He must pay attention really well, and I don't know that I knew a 1.5 year old would know all those things. His language is coming along too. Nothing too big, but he copies a lot more of what we say and is trying a few more sounds. He says Happy (appi really) and we heard belly the other day. Those are good two syllable words to start with. And it took 18 months, but he finally says NO. He has shaken head before, mostly when he doesn't want to eat something, but now it's accompanied with a really sweet light no.

And, best of all, he gives hugs and kisses better, even to animals on book pages.

What a trip

6:50 am gardening

Bobby is so funny.  I don't have a bunch of cute stories, but day to day, he cracks us up.  If he hears the door open, he'll drop what he's doing (or a pot) and run to the door.  He's obsessed with the neighbors cat and the moon and gets upset if he can't find either one.  His "huh" move is palms up and mayve even shrugging his shoulders a bit.  He loves his bath, i have more video to post, I didn't want to get his hair wet, so I told his to do it and he willingly dumped a cup of water over his head.  He also shampooed his own hair and likes to rub moisturizer everywhere.

Good thing it's been warm, he loves sprinklers

He has been getting up early.  6:15 is super, but we have more 5:30s and had a couple days of 4:15 - something had to be going on.  But he has bundles of energy and never stops moving.  He runs everywhere and pumps his arm even when walking to show he's determined. He loves running through piles of leaves so luckily we have lots of those.  He's become a really good hugger, all to grammy and the dog.  not me.

Actually

Seeing as how the other easels are 0 for 2 on being used, I guess we'll stick to pencil and paper or chalk.  I would like a table for him (coffee table height) but I'll have to see how much space we have and where it would go.

Seriously, Don't buy us anything.

Bobby Christmas list

• ipad/ipod touch
• puzzles
• bike - maybe not til spring
• train set with tracks (not electric, not Thomas)
• costco catepillar dump truck/bulldozer
• easel (M&D?)
• picture story books
• toy tool set 
• ONE ornament

Really, this kid has played with 3 different trash cans in the last several days.  Please don't go crazy, we don't have room and he has so much stuff already. He doesn't need clothes or toys - I could probably wrap up library books and pots and pans and he'd be great.  

Yep

Jinxed that. Put him down before 7pm, up at 5:10am.

He cannot see a pad of paper without wanting it.  Better that than the furniture.  Also, I didn't mention that he know puts sound effects with everything.  Usually an explosion sound, and not just when cars are running into each other.  When he jumped into my arms, he did it.  thank Rick and Angry Birds for that.

I know the latest videos are a little boring but they give you a glimpse of what he's up to.

17 Months

Bobby is a real character.  It is fascinating to watch him and pretty funny usually.  He is pretty smart and picks up on everything.  Whenever a phone rings, he runs to kitchen land line and picks it up. He found a calculator the other day and put it to his ear.

Today, I was filling up his sippy cup from the fridge dispenser, I put it down on the fridge shelf to get the lid and he reached up and pulled it down - all over himself.  He was totally doused, hair all matted, so funny.

He is getting better at eating, I don't know how he's not starving, since he runs nonstop and poops a lot!  He is getting pretty good with utensils though and pretty much wants to be a part of anything you are doing.  He baked bread with us and put in ingredients and stirred the batter.  He topped his own pizza.

He is sleeping fairly well,  he was getting up at 5:50 for 3 mornings in a row, then made it 5:15, so that day I put him to bed at 6:50, instead of 7:30pm and he slept until 6am.  He goes down really fast at night, but hates naptime.  He usually ends up sleeping in the car.  Even at 11am, instead of his 1pm time at home. It makes running errands pretty hard.

He loves to read, but really it's just flipping pages really fast.  He is obsessed with his animal books, which Grammy and I both hate by now.

He also has discovered the TV. He points to it and the remote and wants you to turn it on.

He has started drawing circles and spirals, not just lines.  He also wants to draw all the time, whenever he finds a pen. And he can take on and off lids, which he loves to do.

HAlloween was pretty dull but still fun.  We went to the neighborhood party, where he pretty much played alone but in their playset and the bouncey house.  They had a hay ride and he is just a people watcher right now so he just played out front instead of trick or treating himself.

He loves being outside, even now that it's gotten cold.  He loves running through the leave piles and was quite a help planting flowers.

This Kid Loves Outside

And all the other mommy blogs I read are 90% photos, so I'm trying to make this more interesting, although the new template formats really screw me up.