Farm Animal Exhibition

We've been having Farm Animal Exhibitions lately.

Actually, it is just LBB that holds these exhibitions. And they are daily.

The most amusing part...the fact that these exhibitions revolve around one very vital part of being a living being.

Each exhibition focuses on {drumroll please}...

...the fact that each animal has a potty place.

The other day he showed Cat #2 that each animal shares a characteristic. He's shown me. He's shown Dear Sweet Hubby. He's shown his GiGi. He's shown his PaPa. It's kind of a big deal. :)

Now if I could just get to get that excited about going potty himself.

To Infinity and Beyond

photo from disney.com

LBB is a Pixar nut. Words can't begin to describe how much he loves Cars, and now his love has extended to Toy Story.

And his favorite?

Buzz, of course. :) My sweet little almost 2 year old does a wonderful buzz impersonation where he sets the "laser" on his arm, and then proceeds to flying around the house making whooshing sounds. It's adorable. And when he is watching Toy Story, which is now a daily thing, he gets excited when Buzz is shown for the first time. And at the part where Buzz realizes he is a toy and that he can't fly, my sweet LBB says in the most sympathetic voice: "Buzz?"

It's adorable...I love seeing LBB turn into a little boy who VROOOMS like Lightening McQueen and flies like Buzz Lightyear. It's all those little stepping stones that show his imagination is beginning to blossom. There's days that I'm very nostalgic that he is getting so big so fast, and then there are those moments when I can't do anything but stop and smile when he pretends he is Buzz.

I Lost My Toddler Manual

Because if I could find it, I'm sure I could find where the pause button is on the 21 1/2 month old model. ;)

LBB had a wonderful day today. He had his first Toddler Storytime at the library, and I was a little nervous, but he did sooooo well. :) He had a few Toddler moments, but thank goodness it is a storytime full of toddlers, because he was not the only one. He sat quietly for a while, which is usually a good sign with LBB because that means he is listening and absorbing. Towards the end he started opening up and stood right by the librarian (remember how much we love her?!?!?) and just watched as she read. Then he wandered off and played with the feltboard. After storytime he brought the felt pieces to the librarian and said bye-bye. So precious.

And...he made a new friend! Two of his friends from Baby Storytime were there (they had moved up a session earlier) so he got to spend some time with them, but when we walked in, he was immediately enthralled with this little baby he saw. And then...

...he met the baby's sister. :)

LBB and this little gal hit it off pretty quickly. She called for him to sit by her in the fire truck before storytime. In storytime they played with the felt board together. She held his arm as they listened to the story and even gave him a hug when she left and said bye. :) Ah...the cuteness of toddlers.

In other LBB news today, he's been an absolute monkey. He climbed up onto the arm of the couch. Stepped up onto the 1 foot tall bench in the firetruck seat at the library. Climbed over his arm chair like it was a mountain. And then, while I was cutting up an apple for him, I turned around to see him SITTING on the top of the kitchen cabinet. AGH! This boy is definitely intent on trying to see how far he can scare me!

But most amazing of the whole night was bedtime. Normally bedtime is pretty drawn out, and depends on perfect timing of tv, storytime, snack, and all that stuff. But tonight...LBB was playing with cars, and we cleaned up so we could do a little letter work before bed. We did a page of his letter workbook, and then got his pj's on. And while normally we would go and watch a little tv while he ate a few crackers or a piece of bread, tonight he crawled into bed. Handed us a bedtime story. And sat quietly (well, with a little bit of talking to his GI Joe) while we read the story, his Bible story, and his Elmo book. Then we said prayer, tucked him and his stuffed friends in, and voila. He was ready for bed. Craziness. Sometimes it is super evident that he is growing up.

I really need to find that Toddler manual...even if I could pause him growing for just a little bit. :)

In LBB's Words: Basketball

I may only be 21 months old, but I know a lot about the world.

And I know A LOT about sports.

That makes me Mommy's basketball coach. See, she doesn't have a whole lot of luck when it comes to certain sports, so it's my job to help her. That's what a good LBB does.

Today, Mommy and I went to the basketball court with my blue bouncy ball. He can really bounce high. I gave Mommy Mr. Bouncy and pointed to the hoop, just in case she needed a refresher course in the basics of basketball. She didn't think she'd do well, and even told me that she wouldn't make a basket, but then she made one, and I yelled proudly for her! I'm a good coach.

I ran and got the ball again, and gave it to her, thinking she would make another basket. But she didn't. I have to be honest and admit that I showed a lot of frustration. I was about to cheer for her, but instead I flung my arms back down and huffed as I walked to go get the ball. Mommy laughed, but I don't think it was very funny. She missed two more baskets after that, and then I decided I didn't want to play basketball anymore. We'll have to try again another day.

After that, Mommy and I played "GO!" It's a game my Auntie made up with me...you stand at the same spot and yell "GO!" and run as fast as you can. I always win...but everybody says it's because I start running and then yell "GO!" They say that is cheating or something like that, but since I'm not even 2 yet, I don't think they can hold me accountable.

I really do love sports. My Mommy and Daddy, and most everyone else, think I will be good at sports. I can't wait till I get to start trying different sports out...but so far my favorites are soccer, throwing (which my mom says will make me a good little baseball player), and running.

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for stopping by and reading! I'm off to dream of kicking my soccer ball around.

Mr. Hygenic

:)

Interesting title, isn't it?

LBB soaks up everything he sees...and one of the things that he's picked up on is how to clip toe nails.

The other day, he walked into the bathroom while I was getting ready. Pulled the toenail clippers out of the drawer. Lifted his foot up onto the toilet (just like Mommy and Daddy). Moved the clipper around his foot. Put the clipper away. Waved bye-bye to the toilet water. (Can you tell we are prepping him for potty training?) Closed the lid. And flushed the toilet.

Then he proudly walked out of the bathroom and went about his merry way.

Such a smart little man!

Drawing Cats

I asked LBB to draw a picture of Cat #2. He picked up the little writing book his Grandma got for him, grabbed his favorite color marker (yellow), and sat right in front of Cat #2. Then he opened up the book and started drawing. :) It was the sweetest thing, and he showed it to me when he was done. There is one leg and a round circle looking object, but I know just what he was working on. I love that little guy...he is so cute and shows such concentration when he is drawing. Each mark he makes is with extreme toddler precision.

He started using crayons when he was 4 months old, and he loved it from the start. Now he loves anything art related...clay, paint, markers, glue, crayons. You name it.

But as I write this, he is walking around with a yellow marker still. And he stopped...stared at the hallway wall and all it's nice white openess, and just as he lifted his arm, I said "We don't color on the wall." He slowly put his arm down, and walked toward me with a defeated look on his face. Ah. He cracks me up.

Funny Puppy

A few weeks ago, I was clipping coupons when I saw this cute little ad for DentaStix dog treats. Knowing how much LBB loves puppies, I cut out the picture and handed it to him.

And he carried it around here and there for a day or two.

Then I asked him..."Where should we hang this picture?"

And he led me straight to the corner where the kitty bowls are, laughed, and pointed at the wall. Ah. I love it...my LBB is nearly 18 months old and he already has a witty sense of humor. :)

Ironically, this little corner is right next to our front door, so whenever we go anywhere, we pass right by the funny puppy. And now, my LBB has the most adorable little routine when we are leaving:

He leans in. Quietly whispers tot-speak to the puppy. Laughs a bit. Waves bye-bye. And the best part?

Leans in and gives the puppy a sweet little goodbye smooch. :)

This Mommy's going to have to laminate that puppy picture before it gets too soggy. :)

Funny Tales From ToddlerVille

• We have a regular squirrel visitor. He's quite the annoying little thing, but he's cute, and I love squirrels, so we don't mind him too much. Let me correct that...I don't mind him too much. LBB on the other hand, does. Today when Mr. Squirrel stopped by for a visit, he was greeted by Cat 1 cackling at him and LBB yelling at him. With his Elmo phone in his hand. LBB kept holding out his phone and hollering (with the window open of course) "BOB! BOB!" Apparently Mr. Squirrel's first name is Bob and Elmo was trying to get a hold of him.


• This morning I told LBB it was time to get dressed. As I was going through his clothes looking for a specific outfit, LBB walks up to me, yellow fleece Spongebob PJ's in hand, and gives it to me. Apparently, LBB was ok getting out of his Cars PJ's, as long as it meant putting his yellow Spongebob jammies on instead. Needless to say, LBB is not wearing his Spongebob jammies around today. (Instead he is wearing a shirt that says "Big Trouble. Little Shirt." Yeah, it fits.)


• LBB chased Cat 1 through the whole house today, walking behind her, pointing, and yelling "Meah! Meah!" I don't know if he was trying to make a meow sound or what his goal was, but the poor cat was freaked out like crazy.


• Yesterday for lunch, LBB and I made a pizza. We bought one of those premade pizza crusts, spread some yummy Trader Joe's pizza sauce on top (which he got a kick out of!), and then he sprinkled the mozzarella cheese on top. When it was time to put the pizza in the oven, LBB screamed his head off. Needless to say, LBB didn't eat a bite.


• And last but definitely not least...if you want to see the definition of mess, give a toddler boy an Oreo Cakester and let him have at it. :)

Ah. Toddlerhood. It rocks. :)

Well...

Happy January and almost February. ;)

Life has been an interesting mix of busy and slow. Complicated and simple. And thusly, no time has been made for this little blog o' mine.

So...

Pbtsssssssssssssss.

(That's the sound of me blowing the dust off my blog. I think that is how it would look if it was a word.)

And ironically, I haven't been doing much on facebook as well, beyond popping in to play those mind-numbingly addictive games...but everyone's got their vice, and I've decided that will be mine. :) Especially since I've kicked the Pepsi habit...going on 6 days! Woo Hoo! I know I've tried multiple times to get rid of that caffeine addiction, but I can proudly say I haven't gone this long without caffeine since I was pregnant with LBB!

LBB has been doing some crazy developing recently. He's now walking like an old pro, adding some running into the mix, and having a good old time chasing the cats around the house. Cat #1 and Cat #2 are not too thrilled with this latest development, that is certain, but Cat #2 does adore him more than anything, and even Cat #1 has been showing a bit more of her prissy self around the house and even has let him pet her on the belly, which is a tremendous stride for her. (If that isn't a run on sentence, I really don't know what is. HaHa.)

And we've now got two molars popping in on top and what feels to be an eye tooth that is beginning to bulge a bit. Poor little man has had to have a nice little coating of Orajel everynight just to help him sleep all the way through. We skipped giving it to him tonight to see if he will be able to make it through the night, but it is ready to go just in case. :)

I've decided that I could easily start a blog, post several times a day, and call said blog "Toddlers do the Darndest Things." In an instant, LBB has transformed from baby to spitfire. He's not "talking" per se, but has his own little way of speaking that everyone around him learned to pick up fast. And it's odd, because while he is only saying a few select words, sometimes he'll repeat a phrase at the right moment...it really is the strangest thing. Today he dropped a toy that he was playing with, and I swear (pinky swear, even) that my LBB said "I got it." as he picked it up. I'm not making that up. I promise. :)

Isn't that the strangest thing? He has done it before with other things. The other day he would not leave the cat's litter box alone (he feels it is his chore to try to clean it...Mommy feels differently), and I look back over at the litter box while doing dishes, and he is hugging the litter box. Literally hugging it. Ew. So, as any good Mommy would say, I told him to get away from the litter box. To which he responded "I AM!" No, little man. You are not. I know it's not my imagination that he is saying these phrases, because other sane adults have heard it as well :), so it amazes me that while he can't say many words, he is picking up phrases and when to use them correctly. Cutie-patootie.

And what else is new...hmmmmmmm. He's into anything and everything. Loves playing playdoh. Started a new session of storytime, which is his first session that he has been able to walk during. (Which, that opens up a whole new can of worms!) He made a new friend during storytime...but, as typical troublemaking toddler boys go, his new friend and him quickly went on a rampage and took over storytime. Oy.

And around home, we've been doing a whole lot of relaxing. And simplifying. And instilling a sense of order in the house. I will expand on that in an upcoming post. A whole post about home stuff and not so much about toddler stuff...would that be ok? The Mommy in me is screaming "NOOOOOOOOOO! Talk about your LBB!" while the Homemakere in me is arguing "It's ok to talk about other things!"

And now, you, my dear reader, are probably saying "Alrighty, then. She's arguing with herself now." :) Well, yeah...but who hasn't before. ;)

So, off I go to peruse etsy a bit before my hubby gets home. I always like to have a long list of vintage finds and crafty goodness to show him when he walks in the door. Hahahaha. (But, really, that is the case.)

Shake It

LBB spent the evening over at his PaPa, GiGi, and Auntie's house...and before we left, he got to spend a little time "playing" Auntie's WII game Just Dance.

And it was stinkin' adorable. :)

First, his little head would start bobbing. Then, he'd start bobbing his whole body up and down...

...and then, while Outkast's song Hey-a played, he shook his little baby bottom to the "Shake it, sh-shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture" part. It was so cute! My mom tried to get some video of it, but as soon as LBB saw the camera he decided he was done. :)

He loves music so much, and I love watching him dance. :) Even when he was still itty-bitty, he'd sit in his car seat and bob his head up and down in rythm to whatver song was on the radio. He was born to dance.

And we like to call this...

...LBB's pucker sound.

He was enjoying a bowl of applesauce at lunch today, when I tried showing him how we say "Mmmmmmmm" after we eat something we like. What LBB took from my demonstration was a very unique, very adorable, pucker sound. He covers his bottom lip with his top and sucks air in really fast to make a sound that now follows every bite of anything he eats that he likes.

He finished his applesauce, but not until a pucker sound was made...after every bite.

Then at snacktime, while he was munching on his Sesame Street crackers and I was making dinner, I heard a sweet little pucker...after every cracker.

That boy makes me laugh so much! Everyday at lunch it is something new...for a few days after Thanksgiving, he was adament that we had a "toast" (clinking our glasses together) before each sip. Yesterday, he decided that he would pull his bib around his head in a sort of lion's mane kind of get-up that was followed by a peal of laughter. And then today with the pucker noise. :)

Oh! And one last thing...LBB had his first sippy of whole milk today! Our plan is to have him completely off formula (we bought his last can and it is almost gone) by his first birthday, so we wanted to get him used to the milk before the formula was all gone. So far, so good! At lunch he took a few sips and only drank about 3 ounces of it...but at dinner, he drank the whole sippy! Yay! I also decided to get some Chocolate Ovaltine as a nice treat for him...especially since it has 12 vitamins/minerals and is 20% or so of his daily iron, so it makes me a little less worrisome that he is getting all his nutrients. (And with no caffeine you can't go wrong.) :) He hasn't had any yet because I want to make sure that he gets used to the milk taste...but I know he will love it when he gets it...he's a chocolate fiend. Well, any sweets for that matter....

The Chipotle Charmer

This evening Dear Sweet Hubby had to take a 30 minute drive up north for work, and as suggested but his district manager, took us out to dinner. :) What a nice little treat! So...of course...we went to Chipotle, our favorite.

We pulled into the parking lot, and seeing that it was 5:30 on a Friday night (what were we thinking?!?!?) the line was growing and growing. But, diehard Chipotle fans that we are, we got out and headed inside. I grabbed a seat while Dear Sweet Hubby stood in line.

Our seat happened to be right next to the line, which, hindsight being 20/20, is not the place to sit if you want a LBB to focus on eating. :) While we waited for Dear Sweet Hubby to get the food, LBB pulled out all his "charmer" tricks.

He smiled. He giggled. He chattered. He waved hi. He showed his dimples. And, he even held a few people's hands...he is a little social bug when he is around adults. He made "friends" with a few people, got compliments on his Ohio State Buckeyes sweatshirt (a gift from his Great Aunt), and flirted with the manager as she stood behind the counter. Crazy kid.

He is such a charmer, it is absolutely adorable. :) And a little comedian too. Ah, my LBB, how we adore you so. :)

Ball

My LBB is a smartie. :)

This morning after breakfast, we were working on say "ball." And he said it! The best part, he associated it with a ball! He kept rolling the ball, and then when I picked it up the first time, he pointed at the ball and loudly proclaimed "BALL!" What a smartie pants! He got a kick out of being able to say it too...he just kept sitting there giggling everytime he said it while he held the ball.

What a big boy...this Momma is feeling very proud today!

What a Little Character!

This morning LBB came across Dear Sweet Hubby's work baseball cap. (It is perched atop my beloved's head pretty much every day that he is working!)

LBB has always loved his Daddy's hats, and especially loves playing with the brim of them. But today, he figured out that he can play peekaboo with it. All I can say is super adorable!! He sat there, holding it up and down and giggling up a storm when we'd say peekaboo. And then...

...he discovered something...

...he placed the hat on his head, sat there and smiled (with the hat covering up his eyes)...

...and said "I DaDa."

GASP! My LBB! My little 10 month old sweetheart! What a precious boy. What a smart little cookie. Wanting to be just like Daddy and trying so hard to do so. :)

PS. I refuse to believe it was just chance that he said that...he was super proud of himself when he did.