Wordless Wednesday: Butterfly Catcher

He asked for a football pillow

So a football pillow is what he got.  We had a minor miscommunication early on.  Turns out he wanted an actual football shaped pillow.  I forced him to settle for a pillow covered in footballs.  He loves it anyway.

look at those dirty feet.

inexpensive fabric from Hobby Lobby, pillow filling and quilt batting leftovers I already had = super cheap football pillow.

Wordless Wednesday: Back Seat Driver

he's a sheriff ...

mostly ...

kind of ...

he sure is cute.

Wordless Wednesday: I love him, but I don't trust him

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Goats ... ME!

I feel like Son always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to me talking about the cute/sweet/funny things he does.  He has a big personality but Daughter has a HUGE personality.  I feel like he gets overshadowed a lot.

But just because I'm not talking about it, doesn't mean he's not doing it. 

This is a very short video I shot last night of him "playing the piano" in a window frame.  And, wow, he very much reminds me of Schreoder from the Peanuts.  

In case the audio really is as bad as I think it is, he says: Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Goats ... ME! Thank you, I play the piano."   then he does his thing and at the end says, "Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Goats ... ME! Thank you, thank you, thank you."

He said he was going to work

 Recently, Son dressed himself. For work, he said.

This is what he put on:

• a cold weather hat
• a Jets jacket that was Husband's 
• blue Handy Manny underwear
• baby legs
• ball slippers
• and his backpack

This little boy cracks me up.  He said he was going to "burm-ham to work with Daddy."  And off he rode, all the way down the hall.

His Turn to Paint

Husband took over crafting over-seeing duties a few times last week so I could do something else ... and Son got his first real taste of painting "the white animals" as Daughter calls them.

wow, when did this little baby become a little boy?

concentrating.

I love how he's turning into such a fun, sweet, smart little boy.

Wordless Wednesday: clowning around

What could be better than one baby doll?

TWO

Over the past few weeks, Daughter has been saying things like, "I sure wish I had a baby doll like Son's," and "I would really love to have a baby doll to take care of."

So, Daughter got her first baby doll. It looks exactly like Son's except it is dressed in pink (the only other option was the yellow like his). And much like I thought, she loved that baby doll for 17 minutes. And that's been about the extent of her really taking "care" of this baby doll she wished and wished for.

Son on the other hand, has taken this orphan baby into his arms and heart. He gets so excited he runs around shouting, "two babies. I have two babies." And I have to remind him that one of the babies is Daughter's and he's just taking care of it. (More than once she has demanded HER doll back when Son has been tending to the infants.)

He also brings me his dirty baby asking to put it in the shower. Its clothes are horribly dirty and I really should throw it in a pillowcase and wash the thing.

(BTW, I've posted a couple pictures from this angle lately and I want to explain what the background is. See the baby gate? It's the only one we've ever had and it's really a "play yard" I bought it two years ago to go around the Christmas tree. Now it is used for what I call "Book Jail." It is around my two bookcases that house most of my books. And the kids aren't allowed in book jail. Book Jail was erected shortly after Daughter started walking and she tore the cover off one of my Kurt Vonnegut books and a few pages out of a Bret Easton Ellis book. Also, the garbage sack is my shredded paper that is waiting to be taken to be recycled. Anyway, that's completely irrelevant to the rest of the post, but I thought I'd tell you about Book Jail and more things my kids trash.)

I'm 30.

That's me. Or how old I am, at least. I had plans to draw a huge sidewalk chalk "30" for this blog post, but the daughter who never gets sick is. So, I settled for a fuchsia "30" on a steno pad while coloring with Son.

Last night Husband made these fabulous Chocolate Olive Oil and Blood Orange Cupcakes. um, wow. that's a long name. That taste really great. Especially if you like oranges and chocolate together. Anyway, here's 10 of the 12. That's right. I had one last night when they were still warm and one this morning for breakfast. The kids iced them. And they loved helping.

After the icing fun was over, Husband gave Son a small bowl of the leftover icing to eat. He takes it to the living room, sits in his little chair and watches Yo Gabba Gabba! The episode about personal hygiene. There's a song about magic shampoo or something of the sort. And my precious little daisy of a child uses his icing as a magic shampoo. seriously.

I wish we got a better picture. He really lathered that pink magic icing shampoo in there good.

Never in my life did I ever think I'd use the phrase, "That's a no-no. Icing is to eat. Not for shampoo. Come on, let's go wash your hair." sigh. It's hard to get mad at well intentioned toddlers who think they are doing the right thing.

p.s. Son has discovered the art of urinating standing up. Which means he's not using the toilet anymore but is back to his little potty. At least he's excited about the potty.

Dino-Son

Son loves playing in the rain AND his dinosaur raincoat.

Luckily, my friend Jerry Tracey (ie the local weatherman I watch on television and follow on Twitter) says our Saturday will be wetWETwet. Hopefully, there will be little or no lightening and thunder and the kids can get out and enjoy it.

Daughter likes counting the "dinosaur spikes" on the hood!

All things big boy bed related

Sunday, Husband assembled Son's big boy bed. We've been talking to him about it for at least a month (since he's been able to climb in and out of his crib by himself !!!!!!!) He's been telling us that, yes, he does want a bed like his sister's. The day he tried to take a nap in her bed we believed him and Husband got to work.

The first time he saw it after assembly. He climbed right in. Look at that grin!

Daughter came to give it her seal of approval

He climbed in his crib one more time for old time's sake.

THREE times this week after nap time I found him asleep in his room in/on something that was not his big boy bed! The first time, he dumped out the clean cloth diaper laundry I hadn't put away yet, put in his pillow and fell asleep in a laundry basket. The second time, he pulled his changing pad off the changing table and fell asleep on that. And the last time, he pulled all his extra linens out of the cabinet of his changing table and slept on them.

WOW oh WOW, I wish I would've taken at least one picture of one day. But he woke up all three times in a horrible mood. So the camera was forsaken for cuddles.

He does great at bedtime. Hasn't gotten out of bed once (or if he did, he didn't leave his room). I figure it must be a light thing. At night he can't see to get out of bed and play and during nap time he can.

Thursday was breakthrough day where nap time was concerned. He actually slept in his bed and woke up in a great mood. Imagine that!

He's also taken a sudden interest in reading. So after he requests that I read his current favorite books (3 times each) he goes to his bed and looks at them a little more.

That silly Olivia. Always doing something.

I don't have a pillowcase that even remotely matches his bedding. (what's covering it now is his extra fitted sheet just wrapped around it) So I have loose plans to find some coordinating fabric for a pillowcase or two. There's always the possibility of using the crib skirt. I'll use it for something, I just don't know if it'll be pillowcases yet. I'll have to see what I can cook up. And finally put that sewing machine of my mom's that I borrowed over a month ago to some good use!

Son, Trendsetter

It's so fun watching Son develop his own personality, likes and dislikes. Lately he's been most expressive in his wardrobe. The things we wants to wear cracks me up and reminds me of the time when Daughter wore this old Premiere jewelry necklace of mine and her ladybug raincoat for over a month straight.

Here he's sporting his rubber boots. With his pj shirt and matching bumGenius4.0

This morning he wanted to wear elmo panties over his turtleneck onesie and pair it with baby legs. He believes horizontal stripes are all the rage right now.

Wordless Wednesday: Men on a Kitchen

Wordless Wednesday: He calls me DAD-DEEE

FINALLY, Son doesn't hate hats!

And just in time for winter.

Son still has barely any hair to speak of so keeping his head warm in the winter is a job that falls on HATS. I picked up a cute mittens/ear flap hat set for him at walmart and we're still wearing hats around the house.

Last night's hat parade.

He ran up to me, climbed in my lap and started announcing "CHEEEESE."

Will do, buddy.

Son's new shirt

This kid captures my heart every.single.day.

He is the cutest, sweetest boy that I know on the face of the earth. I love Husband with everything I am but he is no where near as sweet as this boy. He's pretty sweet himself, but Husband says time has jaded him ;-)

He amazes me everyday with his intelligence, his sense of humor, his sweetness and his overall charisma. He does this fabulous heart warming thing where he cuts his eyes at me, smiles and then puts his heart on his shoulder.

h.e.a.r.t.m.e.l.t.e.r.

A couple of weeks ago I found this iron on tie at Hobby Lobby for like $1.37 I put it on a long sleeved garanimals (LOVE garanimals) shirt [$3.50] and DONE.

He wore it for the first time on Thursday for his 18 month well checkup with jeans and a navy pinstripe blazer. He was a champ. And was rewarded with a sucker.

p.s. I wish I had and knew how to use a sewing machine. I feel like I could accomplish great things with it.

p.s. I thought the same thing about 4 inch red high heels just 6 short years ago. My how my perspective has changed.

Wordless Wednesday: Big Ballin

Son in the rain

We have lots of pictures of Daughter playing in the rain (while wearing her lady bug raincoat and while not) but this was the first time there was a good steady rain with no thunder and lightening AND Son was awake.

This was almost a month ago and he was more interested in filling his container with water than posing for pictures.

sheesh, it wasn't very long ago when those shorts went all the way down to his lower calves.

He was showing me his water in this one.

making sure there's still some in there.

Man, I love this kid. He's fantastic. So laid back and gentle. But don't be fooled by his very sensitive emotions, he's also a very silly little boy. And I cannot forget, Son is a climbing maniac.