Little tidbits

How did I get my little one in bed last night? He wanted to play with a box that I had that was full of some new-to-us summer clothes. We started pulling them out. When we got to the shoes, he got excited (my genetics, thankyouverymuch). I told him those didn't fit yet, but he could wear them this summer. He said, "I want to go to summer, Mommy." "Well, hon, we have to wait for summer to come to us. It's not quite time yet. It will take a lot more sleeps and mornings before summer gets here." (trying to explain how I thought he might conceive time) "Alright. I want summer. I go night-night." Fine by me.

Also, we have been working diligently on "please" and "thank you." Our little bossy-britches really needs to learn about PLEASE. He's getting it. He will usually say, "Thanks, Mom" when I bring him something. Somehow it's really much cuter than a proper "thank you."

Morning jammie time

Imaginative play is really starting to happen. We regularly have "picnics," "rocket shows," and make "food" in the bathtub. He feeds me a sandwich (foam bath letter/toy) and enjoys one for himself. He gets in a big diaper box and drives his "train." He loves for us to play with him and watch him. I am loving this phase. Still trying to mold and shape his strong will and teach him about obedience, but we'll get there.

~Mommy

Holiday Wrap-up, Part Two

(I have been "writing" this one for a solid week and a half. It's finally going up!)


After 8 straight days of little man feeling poorly, not even wanting a bath, barely eating goldfish and turning down ICE CREAM...he finally took a turn toward healthy. As parents, we were struggling mightily when our normally chatty toddler was just pointing and crying. We had tried every food that he loves--Bojangle's mac n cheese, Chick-fil-A nuggets, yogurt, bananas, applesauce, popsicles, ice cream, etc. I think he was finally ready to eat by Thursday though, and Jerod went to the Chinese place we frequent to pick up some "Chinese noodles" (aka Mai Fun noodles) for lunch. Kiddo scarfed them down. Mommy and Daddy jumped for joy. No sooner had he eaten a plate-ful than Gigi, Pops, Aunt Suzee and Uncle Harry arrived. Yippeeeee!

Gigi and Pops were able to score a great deal on a TRUCK for Shepard. Here is Uncle Harry, Gigi and Daddy figuring it out the night before...on the kitchen counter:

Pops is cheering them on from the sidelines.

Here he is seeing and trying it for the first time:




He wasn't 100% sure about the sound and thrust of the thing. He has sat in it a few more times. We're just going to let him warm up to it. I'm sure once he gets the hang of it, we won't be able to keep him indoors!

Holiday Wrap-up, Part One

We were blessed with a glorious two weeks off. Based on several doctor's opinions, we also chose to get Shepard's tonsils out. Ugh.

He wanted to nap in the den on the floor...sweet little thing.

 

Bless his little heart, he most likely caught some kind of "bug" at the same time as the surgery. Without going through a play-by-play, we had a full eight days of Christmas that involved forced medicine (every trick known to man or beast), begging him to eat/drink, a late-night/early-morning trip to the children's ER in Charlotte, begging him to eat or drink some more, fevers, worry, prayer...and Christmas gifts.

That about sums up our vacation.

Nap close-up

We were able to get down to Greenville for the Jones family Christmas, and seeing Grandma, the cousins and the gang did seem to cheer him up.

I think I have some pretty sweet videos of the kiddos opening gifts, but my video camera is currently MIA.

Grandma cuddles

He got some amazing gifts and seems to still like all of them. He hasn't quite taken to the Mr. Potato Head like I thought he would, but perhaps he just needs more eye and funny mouth options.

We were at Grandma's for Christmas morning, so his mommy-and-daddy gifts were ready. By this point, he had "gotten" the idea of ripping open the paper, and was ready to unwrap everything he saw.

He ate a cake pop! We were just excited he ate something.

"My own computer!"

Christmas morning cartoons

"My school bus!"

"Let's have a picnic!" (I was hoping that the plastic food would awaken his hunger...)

Chutes and Ladders!

All this present-opening has made me sleepy.