Can I have some "catch-up" with that?

Between my video camera being stuffed in a sofa and an over-full schedule of late, I've been remiss at posting some of Tidbit's videos. I'll start catching up now. I mean, you don't mind having Christmas in February, do you?

Here's Shepard with a Christmas gift, JINGLE the dog. Jingle has an accompanying storybook and iPad app, and responds when you read certain phrases with barks and such.

Thanks Aidan and Melissa!

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.

My 'cycle

Shepard is growing up every day. He shocks me at least once a day with something he knows that I didn't know he knew. This week he picked up an "I" and a "0" in the bathtub (foam toys), put them together and announced, "TEN!" Whoa there, partner.
He has also been talking non-stop about a bicycle, which he still mostly calls a 'cycle. He spots them everywhere. So, in the decision about what to get him for his birthday...that was pretty much it. We're hoping he'll get LOTS of wear out of this. We went with a balance bike. It doesn't have pedals or a chain, but teaches the kid to balance and steer, and they power it with their feet and coast. Here's a video of another kid (different bike, but same concept) on his balance bike.

You should have seen how excited Shepard got when we were just trying on the helmet. It's like he knew what it was for! Here's some footage of our first ride. Apparently, for the first week or so, they just walk. Then they get more confident and sit on the seat and walk, then start to run a bit, and then start coasting. We'll see how he progresses. He must have said "My 'cycle" about 28 times this afternoon...

Happy Birthday (early), sweet little man.

Merry Christmas!

Hopefully I'll have time to write a proper year-end post very soon.  (fingers crossed)
Meanwhile, enjoy our electronic holiday card!

We opened a few gifts this morning. The excitement level was pretty high, so we'll do a few more tomorrow morning. That will basically make about four days of non-stop gifting for him once we get through with the grandparents and aunts & uncles. I think start understanding gifts a little more after all this. I'm sure he'll be sad to see the tree go, though I think he will be AWESOME at undecorating it. He's been practicing that for a few weeks now.
New tricks lately are repeating words like help, bird, open, hot, up, star, etc. He can definitely follow simple commands and is starting to practice obeying Mommy and Daddy. (he can be taught!) He wants to climb everything in sight. (see video below)

Christmas Videos from Georgia

Before the stomach bug hit the ATL, we captured a few moments on video.

Here's Shepard with the organ I had as a kid:


And here he is discovering a stocking-full of goodies...and by discovering, I mean "trying to eat."


Merry Christmas!

Christmas Videos! Finally!

We were able to get some Christmas videos of Shepard. Of course, he's not really into OPENING the gifts just yet, but I still think he was having fun in the hub-bub of it all. These are all from Grandma Jones' house and feature Jerod's brothers and families.

Here he is on Christmas Eve morning, bedecked in Rudolph gear:


Matt and Justin wanted to perform some Rock Band for us, while the poor kids had to wait and stare at the MOUND OF GIFTS.


And here he is opening a gift from the MOUND of gifts from Uncle Carly and Aunt Debbie:


Fun with tissue paper:


More to come!