Spring, Sunshine, Sandboxes, and Sweets

We're loving the spring sunshine these days and are trying to get outside more. James is currently quite into animals. He also goes through word phases and I'm loving seeing his verbal evolution so far. A few months ago he was all about the names of animals and everywhere we went it was "daw" (dog) or "cat" or something else. Since then, "daw" has evolved to "dog" and then the current "doggie" and "cat" is now "kitty cat." Most of the time though, instead of saying their name, he just wants to make their noises. More than once he's woken up from his nap meowing (he's also got mooing, barking, and naying down to an art). So naturally, we figured he would love the zoo. Hmm. Or not. He kinda liked it, but mostly he was a little bit of a chicken, no pun intended. He clung onto us tighter than I've ever seen him and really only seemed to enjoy the monkey exhibit.

Staring at the primates. . .

We also headed out to a new park where James discovered his love for sandboxes and digging in the dirt. We used to give him a bath every other day and now sometimes it's twice a day. The boy loves his dirt.

Here's James and his best bud Coleman. I love watching them copy each other. If one of them has a sippy cup, the other one has to have one. If one of them has a certain snack, the other has to have it. If one of them is playing with blocks, well, you get the idea . . .

Concentrating really hard . . .


And lastly, I'm not shy about letting my kid try new foods. I'll be the first to admit I probably give him more sugar than I should. His latest love is chocolate pudding, which I justify because it is also a good source of calcium! He can't get enough of it, as you can see here:

Using it as finger paint. . .

Going in for the dip . . .

Giving it a taste . . .

Loving it!

Cyber-Kid

My kid is more tech savy than I am. He can unlock his dad's phone in exactly 2.5 seconds, can access features on both our phones that we didn't even know existed, knows just how to operate and find what he wants on the iPad, and on more than one occassion has chilled out in his carseat watching Cookie Monster on a blackberry. I wonder what he'll be able to do in five more years.

We So Excited

I just barely watched this video for the first time (after seeing Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon's spoof on it)--proof that I'm no longer young enough (or cool enough?), to know the latest in pop culture.
(I have not yet mastered posting video to blogs, so if the video won't work, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0) It is catchy, I'll give her that. Aside from that, I'm speechless, really.

Stairs and James Don't Mix

What happens when a 16-month-old boy tries going down the deck stairs all by himself? He makes it down the first step okay but then stumbles down the second. As a result, the momentum carries him forward and he flings around like a rag doll all the rest of the way down until he finally comes to a stop when his face hits the concrete at the bottom.

Go ahead and call me a bad mom. I was. We were on the deck planting tomatoes and I thought James was right next to me digging in the dirt. When I looked over I was horrified when I saw him heading toward the stairs. I yelled at him to stop, knowing perfectly well he has never obeyed that command before, but praying he would this time. He didn't. He took one look back at me and thought it was a game and rushed forward. I ran to him as fast as I could only to see the inevitable happen. I'm just grateful we don't have more stairs because I know it could have been so much worse (this came the day after his little cousin Coleman broke his collar bone--so I KNOW it could have been worse).

This picture doesn't do it justice. He had a huge blue and purple knot at the top of his head and bloody scrapes all down the side. I tried to clean it up and added some Neosporin to it (thus the shine). It always amazes me how fast kids heal. Today it's already looking better. He's still got a huge blue knot and a few bad cuts on his face and a few scraped up knuckles on his hands, but as you can see, he thoroughly enjoyed his yogurt this morning and is doing just fine.

Short from duct taping the bib to him, I'm at a loss as to how to keep a bib on this kid. He pulls it off as fast as I get it on.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today just so happens to be my mom's birthday. Oh, and it's also Brian's mom's birthday. What are the odds of that, huh? I think my mother-in-law is wonderful, but I'll let Brian pay tribute to his own mom and I'll stick to mine.

I like to think that I've always appreciated my mom. But I don't think I fully appreciated all that she sacrificed and did for us until I had James. The pregnancy alone made me appreciate her ten fold. I was so swollen and achey with just one in there, so I don't know how she handled it with two. It hurts just to think about it. A simple "thank you" doesn't even cut it.

James alone tires me out beyond belief. How my mom chased around three kids all under the age of three is mind boggling to me. I couldn't do it. I won't do it. I absolutely refuse to even consider it. So thank you, mom, for all the countless hours of sleep you no doubt went without.

Thank you for taking care of us back then and for continuing to take care of us now. We still need you now just as much as we did back then. We love you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Oh, and this little boy needs his grandma, so please visit soon!

Spring at Last

This week I've been feeling rather bummed. I've been trying to pinpoint it and am pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that nearly every member of my family is spending the entire week on the stunning western coast of PORTUGAL. I have been missing my family a ton lately so missing this vacation puts an extra sting in the fact that they're all having fun without us.

I hate missing family vacations.

What I hate even more is that 1) I couldn't justify spending money we don't have to go, 2) that we didn't have the money to go in the first place even though my husband is a freaking dentist, and 3) that by the time I realized how badly I wanted to go and was willing to fork over savings and Sky Miles to do it, it was too late. My passport had expired, and after working for a U.S. Congressman's office and hearing of other people's passport woes, I have absolutely zero faith in the U.S. State Department's ability to expedite passports even when you pay extra to have it done. So today I vow to get my passport renewed as soon as possible and to never miss a family vacation ever, ever, ever again.

My brightspot this week has been that after a long and colder winter than I ever thought possible this far south, spring has finally arrived in Knoxville. The popcorn is popping on the apricot tree (or whatever kind of tree it is) in front of our house and the joy it brings me makes that long winter worth it.

Here's a view from our front yard. Every house on the street has the same tree in their front yard and they are all blooming splendidly.

And the warmer weather means we can finally start playing outside more. No more trying to keep energetic little boys cooped up indoors. James and his cousin Coleman are good buddies. The other day Coleman came over and these two pounded out a little duet on the piano. I feel so lucky that James has had his cousins closeby since we've been in Knoxville and I am so sad that they're moving away soon.

Gladly

Last night as I was putting James to bed I sat in his rocking chair and sang to him, part of what I do every night. The song of the night was "Teach Me to Walk in the Light." At the end of the third verse when I got to "Gladly, Gladly, we'll walk in the light" James interrupted me with "Gledly?" and then kept on repeating "Gledly, gledly, gledly..." It was so cute but I was laughing so hard just because he always chooses the most random words to repeat. A few nights ago he was gibber-jabbering about something or other and Brian asked him "Are you speaking Chinese?" and James replied completely articulately "Chinese?" This morning when I got him up from his nap I discovered he had a dirty diaper to which I responded "Oh my goodness, James!" All day long he kept saying "Oh goodness!" Over the last few weeks he's learned to say "please" and I am loving it. The only problem is, now I don't know how to say no to him when he asks for something with a please attached. Usually it's "Up, pweez," but sometimes when it's "More, pweez" to a cookie I end up giving in even when I know I shouldn't because how can you say "no" to "Pweez?"

After I was done singing to James, I asked him for a kiss goodnight. He sat up, licked me on the cheek and then laid back down in my arms and repeated with a yawn "Gledly?" Not exactly a kiss, but close enough and I'll take it! So GLAD this boy is mine--even when he makes messes like this:

He was NOT happy I was taking his picture.