Sick Day

12.18.2012  It was a normal Tuesday playdate with Ellie, but you took an usually long nap (4 hours!) and I even woke you up because I was afraid you wouldn't sleep at night.  When I went to wake you up, I realized immediately why you had slept for so long.  You were sick!  I brought you down and you spent the rest of your playdate just tucked under a blanket on the couch fighting off a fever.  I tried to keep Ellie away from you so she wouldn't get sick too but she insisted on climbing onto the couch to keep you company.  You refused to walk while you were sick and only wanted to sit on the couch or have us snuggle you.  You didn't take a single step on your own until several hours later - such a change from our usual active busybody!

Yummy lemonade

I think we're getting to that point where we can't take you to nicer restaurants and expect you to behave the whole time.  We tried going out to dinner with Pete and Rachel but you couldn't sit still and made a mess of our food.  Toward the end of the meal I was exhausted and made the mistake of letting you have a sip of my newly refilled raspberry lemonade.  Once you had tasted it, you wouldn't let go!  Daddy took this picture after we realized you had drunk half the glass in one long sip.  After you drained my glass, you started on Aunt Rachel's.  And about 10 minutes later, you were WIRED.  You can't hold your sugar, that's for sure!  We never let you have juice (only formula or water) and as far as sugary treats go we might let you have a potty treat gummy bear once every couple days, or a dum-dum in rare occasions as an extra special treat/bribe.  Your tiny body just couldn't handle it and you crashed and went right to sleep when we went home.

Lydia

We started doing babysitting swaps with you and Lydia.  You just love your Lydia, and you are excited that you get to see her all the time now!  You like giving her little kisses on her hands.

Last mommy milk bottle

 We made it a long time with the frozen storage!  We gave you the very last bottle of mommy milk on Christmas morning.  You do great on toddler formula and we're looking at introducing cow's milk soon.

Snow Days

11.9.12 First big snow of the winter!  We knew you didn't remember snow from last year so  we took you outside to look at it.  You were so confused!  We weren't sure if you would get cold and just want to go inside, but instead you wanted to get down and explore more.

Now that I knew you were very interested in playing in the snow, I decided I better get you some snow clothes.  I looked   in at least 7 stores for baby boy boots but couldn't find any in your tiny size - so we ended up having to buy baby girl boots instead!  You loved them though because they're fur-lined inside and very comfy and warm.  Plus, your snowsuit covers the tops of the boots anyway so no one can even tell that they're girlie boots.

After we bought snow clothes, we took you out to play.  I had bought an inner tube too so that we could pull you around.  There's a small hill by our house so we pulled you down the hill a few times.  You weren't saying or doing anything so we were about ready to take you inside, but then as we pulled you up the hill to go home all of a sudden you went "wheee. . ." as if you finally had decided it was fun!  After that of course we kept playing and got a lot of smiles and giggles out of you.

Proof that you ended up liking it.

After a while you just wanted to walk around the neighborhood.   Your snow things were so bulky though that  you walked pretty stiff and when you fell over we had to help you up because you couldn't do it yourself!

Your snow get-up

As a sidenote, this has been the worst weather that Utah has had for  years and years.  Daddy had never even seen a winter this bad here, and I hadn't since I was a child!  Since we live in a windy city whenever there is fresh snow we have a real problem with snowdrifts and wind knocking the puppies over when we take them out. . .

November Wrap-up

I had a broken camera (and laptop!) in November/December so I couldn't do blog-as-you-go like normal.  So we will have to do with a massive picture update for November.

Now at stores you would much rather be pushing the cart than riding in it.  

Talking on your "phones" - the remotes!

Little Daredevil!

Weird face aside, you look so handsome dressed up for church.

The puppies follow you around constantly when they see you have food.  They know you love sharing.

We were watching tv one night and I went looking for you because all of a sudden I realized it was too quiet.  This is what I found!  Since then you've tried on Daddy's shoes a couple more times and have even tried to walk around with them.  It's just too cute.

This is the hand tracing turkey that we sent to Nana for Thanksgiving.

You had a really tough time with this last tooth  but I made the brilliant discovery of offering you crushed ice to munch on.  You loved it so we gave some to you every day until the tooth came in.

17 month update

You are growing so big!  I can't believe that you will be old enough to go to nursery in a month!  You are truly testing out your boundaries and fighting for whatever independence you can get.

Some things about you at 17 months:

*You are saying so many new words, although I may be the only one who can understand them!  I'm constantly translating for other people, even Daddy sometimes.  New words: baby, pee-pee, Bennett ("nennett"), where is it ("wizzit"), outside ("ow-sye"), Pocket ("dahdet"), Red ("whey"), off, lotion ("wub-wub"), more ("me") - you also sign "more!"
*You are good at following simple directions.  You'll throw things away for me, give things to the puppies, or take things to whoever I tell you to.
*We bought a small potty for you to start getting acquainted with so that potty-training will hopefully go easier down the road.  You've grown very fond of the gummy bears I bought you for your potty treats and any time you spy the bag on the counter you'll point to it and ask hopefully "teat? teat?" You know the rule is you only get one if you sit on the potty, so I'll take one out and tell you to sit on the potty and you'll toddle over and sit on it (rarely correctly, or sometimes you'll stand in it instead, but it still counts!)
*You still love playing with cars and get excited if you see a big truck outside.  Whenever we're at a store you throw a fit if you see a toy car and we don't let you play with it.
*You are kind of obsessed with the puppy kibble.  You'll happily munch on it if we don't catch you first.  We have to hide it behind the couch so you don't get to it, but you are already learning how to climb so I have a feeling that it won't be much longer before we have to come up with a new solution.
*I showed you how to put on lotion and you LOVE it.  If you see a lotion bottle you'll ask for the "wub-wub" (rub rub) and hold out your hands so I can put a little bit on your palms, then we'll have to prompt you to "rub rub"
*You have a hiding spot in the house where you think I can't see you - you hide in your room behind the rocking chair. 
*Tooth #7!  On the bottom next to the middle right.  Popped up around December 1st.
*You love Aunt Ayisha so so much.  She is your favorite person in the whole world.  You start bawling when you realize she's about to leave.  She's the only person that you will cry over other than me.  She's a very good mommy substitute because she parents you the same way I do, but every once in a while you show me that you still like me best, which is good for my ego!