good to the last drop

7/31/12

Breakfast on the weekends is way different than breakfast Monday through Friday.  For the most part on the weekdays, he chows down on honey buns, pecan swirls, bananas, crackers, pancakes, muffins, or dry cereal next to his classmates at his preschool for the sake of road rage.  But on Saturdays and Sundays, he indulges in learning to feed himself, using more than one utensil to eat with, wearing part of it down the front of his onesie, and taking it all in...right down to the last drop.
 



all stacked up

7/29/12

He's learning how to put the pieces of his puzzles together and that squares don't fit into the spaces made for circles in his shape sorter.  He loves to build towers with his blocks, and he'll stack and restack with toys like this one over and over and over again.
 

It's not the end of the world. But he thinks it is.

7/28/12

The biggest heart-breaker, to him, is having something he wants in sight, in reach, or in hand be taken away from him.  And when that something is a ball, oh his little world just comes to a complete end.


Rub-a-dub-dub

7/26/12

The bathtub is definitely one of his favorite places to be.  He's always been a when-all-else-fails-put-him-in-the-tub kind of kid.
 

It can dry his tears, bring down his fevers, get him squeaky clean, and make him smile...every time.    


up for the challenge

7/25/12

I recently found this 30 Day Challenge and decided to take myself up on it.  I'm starting with Parker because I love the idea of capturing his smiles, his tears, his loves, and his look during his eighteenth month.  And I'm a little behind already, so I may post more than one a day (and in random order) so I can fit them all in before this thirty day clock stops ticking.

Day 1:  You and Your Child
 

One of his newest things he's into is playing "Ride the Little Horsie".  I figured out exactly where he got it from this past weekend when I saw him walk up to where my dad was sitting on the couch, hug his leg, and wait for him to take him for a "ride".  He goes to town, he always falls down.  But like a true cowboy, he gets right back on.

P.S.  I'm branching out a little on Day 1.  I'm not technically in this one, but my knees are.  (Big smile) 

It's your birthday...It's your birthday...

7/23/12

Our week this week is full of birthdays.  My sister celebrated hers yesterday, and my dad will celebrate his on Wednesday.  So the boys and I went home this past weekend to spend some time with them and wish them Happy Birthdays.  Since neither one had any preference on where they'd like to eat out, my mom and I picked a place where we knew we'd all have fun - Chuck E. Cheese's.



We shared salad, pizza, and a grand total of 180 tokens.




My sister was the ultimate ski baller, Emily (my niece) set records at Monopoly, and Jake had total strangers playing games for him so he could win bigger.  




My dad and I watched Parker and fetched balls he threw at random (They had two games he could play with his favorite toy...balls...a basketball one and a "hungry hippo" one.  He. was. excited.), and my mom became the DPH (Designated Purse Holder) - the fun she had didn't go down one notch.




Hands down - it was one of the best birthday lunches even right down to the guy who was working the ticket counter (pre. cious).  He even let me take his picture.


"Best day E-VER!"

7/19/12

Today Jake went on a field trip during Summer camp to a play place that has laser tag, roller skating, and arcade games.  On our way home, he explained how he got a busted bottom lip and a bruise on his right ankle.  He complained that he didn't have enough money to "buy any prizes", and he told me he shot every girl with his "laser gun that could talk".

After all of that, he said to me, "Mom!  This was the best day E-VER!"

Me:  It was?!

Him:  "Yes!  Because we didn't even have to take a nap!"
  

most beautiful

7/18/12

When Jim and I got to the hotel we stayed at to celebrate our anniversary, our room wasn't quite ready so they gave us what they had available - the governor's suite.  It had a separate living room, small kitchen, a dining room table with enough chairs to seat ten people, two separate exits to the balcony, a massive tub that filled from the ceiling, a shower for two, and a bidet.  I have never in my life!  But what I thought was the prettiest of all was the big vase of orchids sitting on the coffee table.  Along with hydrangeas, orchids most definitely top my list of favorite flowers.  Be-autiful!!
 

what happens at Grandma's...er...doesn't always stay at Grandma's

7/16/12

A couple of weeks ago when Jim and I were celebrating our anniversary, the boys spent some time with their grandparents.

My mom never fails to give them the type of excitement that can only come from grandparents...anything they ask for at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, a lesson in cookie decorating, a whole Koolaid Jammer right before bedtime - almost anything goes.  This last visit it was everything she could think of to keep them cool - a kid-sized pool, bobbing for apples (Nope.  Not kidding.), and water balloons.

When Jim and I picked them up on Thursday, she had sent a bag of balloons home with Jake because he was pretty much obsessed by then.  In the midst of unpacking, they got misplaced so Jim bought a whole new bag complete with a slingshot to fire them into the air.


And when we had run out of all the water balloons we had the patience to fill, tie, and pick out of the grass after they had popped, it was on to practice balls and a game of catch in our yard.



He never caught one, but he laughed absolutely hysterically every time he fell trying to keep his eye on it.


We set some goals.

7/12/12

The weekend just before July 4th, Jake became the proud owner of a Nintendo DS.


He's been asking for one since so many of his classmates got them at Christmas.  So we set some goals and made a deal - when he learned to swim and learned to read, we'd buy him one.  



To help him get there, we signed him up for swim lessons and a five week Summer reading program.  


After a lot of hours, a lot of sunscreen, and a lot of practice, he's doing both, and I can't decide what I love more...that he worked hard and kept his eyes on the prize, or that he's reading all sixteen dollars worth of the Bob Books I bought when he started out and I worry less when he's next to a pool of water.  


Way to earn it, Buddy!  You make my heart swell!
 

I'm still here!

7/10/12

And hopefully back from a six-day break. 

The truth is I took some time off of work beginning last Wednesday, and we've been moving at warp speed since to get some major things (like painting one bedroom and two bathrooms) scratched off of our "House To Do" list (One we started last September that never seems to stop growing. How is that?).  Amongst all of that, Jim and I took an overnight anniversary time-out to a resort and spa.  Needless to say, these past few days we've been through the ups and downs of tears, ultimate relaxation, arguments, and back-breaking labor.  I may or may not have been glad to see Monday come and go and bring back the routine that's normal for us. 
 


Speaking of warp speed, I can't believe my little honey is eighteen months old. Eighteen months! Sigh. He's totally slipping out of "baby" and becoming "toddler".


He's walking everywhere he goes - he finally gave up crawling for good at his grandparent's house a few weeks back - and if he sees someone else do it (whatever "it" might be) he thinks he can do it too. His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger - his two faves are ball and me (as in "give it to me" while he points his finger).


On Sunday, he walked up and down our sidewalk in all his one-and-a-half-year-birthday glory with his three feet of personal space (He's free and he knows it, and Jake, bless his heart, has yet to learn not to take it all so personal - the squeals of aggravation and swings of his arms to move Brother away.), and you would have thought he'd won the lottery when Jake found more than one baseball laying in the grass that our neighbors' kids must have lost.
 

Little man is seriously crazy about some balls.




Because he thinks "What's yours is mine.", they kept exchanging them back and forth (I'm so incredibly thankful that ninety percent of the time, Jake could care less. He's learned well that he no longer needs just one of anything - he needs an extra to share with Parker.) - a constant cycle of throw it, go get it, give me yours, throw it, go get it, give me yours. 



Today, he'll have his eighteen month checkup which will include getting a few shots - always great times.  I'm anxious to see how tall he is when we go (his weight should be about the same as it was when he was diagnosed with his ear infection around ten days ago which was a little over twenty-two pounds).  This one is definitely long and lean.  


Happy One and a Half, Baby!  I love you to the moon!