Aw, maaaaan!

Dora the Explorer has become a new fave for Shepard. He had been watching it on Saturday mornings, when my hubby was so sweet to let me sleep a bit and had some morning snuggles with the little guy. In the show, there's a sneaky fox named Swiper. Whenever the main characters foil Swiper's efforts, Swiper says, "Aw, maaaaan!" You can hear Swiper on this video and then Shepard. He spontaneously started saying this every time the fox came on the screen. It took us a few times to figure out what he was doing...it's our favorite new trick.

Family and Friends

We've gotten to visit with lots of family and friends this week. And little man is saying all kinds of new words. Just about anything he hears he'll give a try. So, let's all make sure he hears nice words. ;)

{remember to click on pictures to see larger size}

Cousin Jonathan, Uncle Carl and Aunt Debbie

Great Aunt Linda and Grandma talk to Great Aunt Jim on facetime

Grandma and Shepard share silly face time

Making raspberry sounds for about 30 minutes straight

More raspberries...what can you do?

I'm a silly little guy!

Th-bbbbbhhh-bbbbhhhh!!!

Everyone's looking a pictures

Look, my other cousins are on the screen!

Climbing while Scooby watches

Uncle Matt makes crazy eyes

Aunt Debbie gives me some love

My friend Sophie is playing at my house!

The finer points of triangle-playing

Here, Shepard, these are maracas.

Yay! Maracas!!!

19 months

Here's some video from a week or so ago. Shepard's "birthday" is on the 30th, and since February didn't have one of those, we'll call him 20 months today.  :)
Zoo and around the house. So much personality these days. Everything is a question. This week he is saying "beep beep beep" (like cheep cheep cheep) for birds. He even saw the twitter logo on my ipad this morning and said it! And if it rolls right now, it says "Choo choo." He moves up to the next class at school on Monday. Toddler 2. Sheesh. How does it all happen so fast? Feels like next week we might be taking prom pictures.

Zoo-rific!

LEMUR!

I like to move it, move it.

We got to go to the Greenville Zoo last Friday. The sun was shining, and it was a wonderful afternoon. Shepard also got to try out his monkey backpack that helps Mommy and Daddy keep up with him. That's why there's a monkey on his back...

Elephants!

That is one big iguana, Grandma.

So beary sweet.

Hi bear.

Somebody LOVED the playground for little ones.

Perfect little ledges for climbing upon

Now, this is a view!

Shoooo-wee!!

Looks like Jerod trying to wash his face at night.

Love giraffes.

Fun tunnel!

Aye, aye, Captain! I'll steer us in.

Stay tuned for videos...

Teeny Tiny Funnies

I like all this laughing we get to do. There are so many little moments that make me smile on any given day, so in addition to documenting the big moments and milestones, I always want to be sure to document the daily smiles and challenges.

"I always feel like somebody's watching me..."
On Saturday, Shepard and I were practicing our tooth-brushing. I am pretty good at it, with very few cavities on my overall record (just one, I think at age 30). ;)
Shepard has recently graduated to a minature toothbrush with the cookie monster on it. I put a dollop of his kids' toothpaste on it, loaded up my own brush and we both commenced tooth brushing. He was studying me intently to see how I was doing it, so I decided to squat all the way down so he could see me. I showed him how to brush the insides, the back, etc. I was so impressed with his attention. Then, I saw the light in his eyes as he began to squat slowly. As if to say, "Oh, that's what I'm missing. Mommy is squatting, so I will too!" I nearly spit out my mentadent laughing. He doesn't miss a thing!

Feed Us!
I get the terrible task of dropping Shepard off each morning. It's only bearable because I know he has fun with his friends all day...and I get an awesome hug and reception when I show back up each afternoon. When I pick him up, he immediately points and does his "DAAA!" sound, showing me something in the room. All of that to say, I really enjoy when I get to drop him off or pick him up at an odd time. We usually cruise in just before snack time in the morning. Today, I got to see the kiddos in action. They were all seated around their mini tables as Shepard and I removed his jacket. As the teacher pulled out the bag of cereal, all the kids began slapping the table and making all kinds of noises. If I had to interpret, I'd go with "Feed Me! Feed Me! Feed Me!" It was so cute to see them all burst out at once.

Night Night
Shepard is pretty good at going to bed. He pretty much hasn't been given any other option between the hours of 6:15 - 7:15 pm every night since he was six weeks old. He has developed a fine taste for some book-reading before bed, which we gladly indulge. He really likes the peekaboo books that have flaps to reveal stuff beneath. Some days, he'd just DONE. Last night after dinner, he ran to his room. I thought we might play in there for a bit before bed time. However, Shepard went right to his crib and looked for the blankie. (Not a blanket, mind you...THE blankie) He looked at me like, "Ma--where my blankie at?" I told him to go look in the den and see if Daddy would help him as I knew it was in there. He came running out of the room and into the den. Daddy, who had overheard our conversation, asked him, "Shepard, where's your blanket?" To which Shepard shrugged and threw up his hands like "I don't know." Very cute. As soon as we got our "jam jams" on, he started saying "Night night." I guess he was ready to hit the hay.

Valentine's Day

I woke up early. I like to cuddle with blankie and paci sometimes.

Mom, I'm trying to watch the Backyardigans here.

I really like climbing up on the chair and playing with the shutters.

I'm being good. I promise!

Add caption

It's Valentine's Day, so I get to wear red socks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since *somebody* is waking up at 5:45 am every day, we have a good bit of time to read, run around and be silly in the mornings. And a few minutes to capture a Valentine's Day pic. I have some better ones with a real camera, but I'll have to upload them tonight. I was about to shoot a still pic in the mirror of the two of us, but shot a quick video first. Shepard woke up this morning saying CLOCK and pointing to every clock in the house. We have an awesome new kitty cat clock like this one:

So, he was saying "clock" then "mee-ow." This week he has learned clock and lamp and house and will say them and point.

 

So, that's why we get a "Meee-ow" in this video. The kitty cat clock is in this room.