Monday Miscellany

1) "No bite." This is a lesson that daddy has decided to take on himself this week. Last week Gavin bit another child at daycare. This is the second time I recall getting a note home about it. He's two. Two year old children bite. Trust me, Gavin has come home with more bite marks on him, then he has notes of him biting others. He's learning. We've been talking about it much more lately. When you ask him if he bit someone, he says "yes," then does the crinkly nose about to cry bit.  But now when you ask him "Do we bite our friends?"...he says "No." I think he is getting it. Fingers crossed for no notes home this week.

2) Yesterday when I went to get Gavin up from his nap he had his ENTIRE bed full of stuffed animals. When I came in he yelled gleefully, "Look Mimi...lots animals." He had them all in their place too. I went to move one and he noticed and put it back exactly where I had moved it from. There were so many animals I never would have guessed he would be able to tell, but I was mistaken. I was torn last night when I checked on him before bed because once again he had dozens of stuffed animals in bed all around him. He was snuggled up in the midst of them. Do I leave them there so he is surrounded when he wakes up? Will he suffocate in all of them? Will he wake up confused if they are all removed and back in their basket? I decided to move them. I didn't hear any screaming when he woke up. So all was OK.

3) New word this week. "Oww."  {sigh}

4) The last couple of car rides we've been on together have ended with the exclamation, "We made it!" I don't know where he got this from. Whether it be the store, daycare, grandma and grandpa's or even pulling in our own driveway, "We made it," is announced. A winter storm is heading our way quickly this week, so let's hope we keep making it safely everywhere we need to go. Or better yet, let's hope we don't have to go anywhere ;)

5) Poor dogs, if Gavin is up, they need to be up too. Not just awake, but literally standing up. They were cozy on the floor in the living room while Gavin was playing...that is until Gavin noticed them sleeping. "Wake up dogs, wake up.....wake up....wake up.....WAKE UUUUUP!" He was bent down right in their noses. I felt bad for the dogs, but was rather relieved it wasn't "Mom....mom....mom....mom....MIMIIIII!" He has mastered how to get our attention now. It's great.

I'm published!!

.....OK, maybe not published. But I did take this here blog and have it printed into some books for 2009 and 2010. I love them! I do wish that the pictures were printed larger in the books, but that wasn't an option. I suppose if they were bigger, the book would also be twice as many pages. 2010 is over 300 pages as is. I chose to have the books printed exactly as the blog is written. Thus meaning, more pages, rather than rearranging pictures and comments to best fit for a condensed book. I didn't want it to be all jumbled. I write next to pictures that fit with those pictures. Don't mess with it.

Looky there. I've done it.

Something I wish I would have taken more time and actually written something nice.....a dedication.

 There is even a table of contents. Not that my blog has ever been organized in any manner.

 See what I mean about picture size? I can live with it, though. I love it!

Couple more views from two

He's getting quite good if I do say so myself!
So we have to bend down a little to make sure he doesn't cut our heads off....

Roy G. Biv - Cake Edition

The INSPIRATION....

The actual creation.... (my piece wouldn't stand alone once it was cut)

 

The process.... Buy two boxes of white cake mix and make as directed.

Separate into however many colors you desire. Measure them somewhat evenly so layers are the same.

Color each bowl. Originally I was going to have Gavin help me with this step, then I realized what a MESS it might become, so he watched and named the colors instead. It was a win-win.

 Pointing to all the different colors.

Bake each layer (15 minutes @ 350 degrees)

 

I felt that the rainbow cake needed some rainbow sprinkles. You know, the little round balls of sugar that bounce everywhere and don't stick to anything kind. Yep, those are perfect. See that rug under the table? I'm sure I have tiny balls of color embedded in it. Later this week, I'm going to have sick dogs or lots of ants. No doubt. Fairly quickly I moved the cake into the sink and let G shake away.

Here goes nothin'....let's cut it!

 Let's wait to eat it until we sit down buddy! I know it looks delicious!!

 Scrum-diddli-umptious!!

Some views from two

If you were two years old and you got your little hands on mommy's camera, this is what you would probably take pictures of....

First you would have to get a shot of mommy using her camera phone to take a picture of you taking pictures.

Then several pictures of bear.

His best "living" furry friend.

Only caught a finger in one....you're hired!

A foot is a must!

And some various shots to catch the TV, chair and train table, of course.

Everyday Moments - Splish Splash Mania

Everything's better with popcorn!

For Christmas I received exactly what I wanted....an air popper! I remember being little and making popcorn at home before watching a movie. I also remember trying to over-fill it with kernels whenever we had a babysitter so we would have a popcorn explosion. So of course I wanted this same excitement for my son.

Here he is carefully dumping the kernels into the top.

Bouncy little things, aren't they?

It's OK, we'll get those later.

Putting the top back on and getting ready to get started. No, we don't melt butter in the top. What do you think I am? Crazy?! Screaming and crying and blistering skin come to mind at the thought of melting butter with a two year old.

As soon as I plugged it in, (there isn't an on/off switch) Gavin sprinted into the safety of the living room and watched from the gate. Odd what he can be afraid of sometimes. We will work on it.

He came back closer as soon as he saw the bowl filled up. Mmmm, popcorn!

Do you see the same disaster I'm seeing about to happen?

Don't worry, it didn't happen. Mommy handed it down to him and he did an excellent job carrying it into the living room to eat. Yum!

Roy G. Biv- Bathtime Edition

Bath time is much more fun with colored water!

We've recently discovered tub fizzy's. They are awesome because not only does Gavin now get excited for baths again, but my little boy and my tub remain safe from these colors. Each evening Gavin gets to pick out a tablet or two to toss in the tub. I bought the super pack that contains 45 tablets for $3.50. Worth every penny for pleasant baths every night. You get a combination of red, blue and yellow. Day one he chose blue and then tossed in a yellow to get this funky shade of green.

Day 2 we have red. I tossed in a yellow trying to make it turn orange because the red quite frankly...is creepy. REDRUM, REDRUM kept going through my head.

It wasn't turning orange. And it's still creepy.

REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM.

So a blue went in.

I'll take the purple. It may not be very masculine, but it's not freaking me out. It's not like I gave him unicorns to play with in there. (not that there is anything wrong with unicorns...)

My favorite color so far.

I may steal some and take a bath myself. I'll pretend I'm in some sort of tropical paradise! You have to admit, this color is pretty sweet minus the fizz ball that we tried out today. Waste of fifty cents. It just fizzed in one spot and left a little duck in it's place. A teeny tiny little plastic flat duck. I would compare it to the size of a dime...if that. So much for a surprise to pop out at the end. Well, I guess the surprise was on me. Gavin was NOT impressed. He just stared at it for a few seconds and went back to coloring the walls, like it was normal to have a fizzing ball next to him in the bath.

And if you mix all the colors together....

You get this shade of blue. I like it.

I was thinking it would be some ugly dirty looking color.

Glad I was wrong :)

Monday Miscellany

1) I was changing a diaper when I had the overwhelming urge to sneeze. You know the one, where you stop everything you're doing, stand there with your eyes shut, and kind of bob your head a bit encouraging it to come out. Well, it didn't work and the sneeze feeling subsided. Which kind of irritated me because I knew it was still in there....somewhere. So the diaper was on. The socks went on (we were getting dressed for the day) and I went for his jeans and "ACHOOOO!" It came on like a tantrum from a 2-year old. No warning whatsoever. I told you I knew it was still buried in there. I knew it, and I was still startled. The next thing I hear is "Bess you" from in front of me. Loved it.The first time I hear him say anything is amazing though :)

2) Four days in a row and the 7:30 bedtime is cruising right along. I'm loving it not only for the ability to get caught up on a few things before bed, like texting, checking Facebook, watching Lifetime, throwing the ball for the dogs (the things that are NOT possible when G is up)....it has also led to some pretty awesome mornings getting ready to go. When he goes to bed earlier, I get to go to bed earlier. We are both happier.

3) Gavin has put a hole in the knee of his second pair of Levi's this month.What's he doing? Sliding around on his knees all day long?!

4) Gavin has become fascinated with finding things that match. He matches cards, dinosaurs, toys, cars, trains..you name it. He does it so well and gets so animated when he runs over to show me his "match." You want to know what else he likes to match....socks for mommy while I fold laundry. Ya, it's pretty sweet!

Monday Miscellany

1) Gavin was watching/helping me load some pictures on the computer so we started naming the people in the pictures. Grandma, Grandpa, Chance, Sammy, Mimi, kitty, Tim.....what?! Tim!! I asked him again, "Who is this?" and he repeated, "Tim!" This will not do at all. It's apparent that I need to refer to someone as Daddy from now on when I'm talking to Grandma and Grandpa. Yikes!

2) If I didn't witness it everyday, I wouldn't believe it either. But when I tell Gavin it's time to lay down for a nap, he grabs his bear and goes into his room and climbs in bed. It can't possibly stay this easy. It just can't. Although, he has this thing lately about leaving his shoes on. It's not one of those battles I feel is worth fighting.

3) My current employment situation is that Gavin stays the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house every Saturday night. I love that he loves it. Today when I dropped him off he walked right in and made himself at home. Then he ran and gave me a big hug and waved goodbye. While it made me kinda sad, I have to remind myself it would be worse if he clung to me and cried when I had to leave.

4) The cold sores have been passed on. So sad. I had them when I was his age and unfortunately, now Gavin has gotten them as well. Booo :(

5) This isn't a new thing but I have found it more comical lately. As he is developing more independence, he wants to do everything by himself. Or at least let him think it's his idea. So when his nose starts a running, I let him do the first blow. He gets his own tissue, holds it to his nose and blows. Good job, right? Except for the minor detail that while he is holding the tissue to his nose, he blows out with his mouth. The tissue flutters up with the wind and his nose is still dripping. It's only then that I offer to help. As long as he gets to "do it himself" first, assistance with blow number two is more often than not accepted.

The Transparency Factor

In other words.....

a really, really bad game of peek-a-boo.

The dial dish soap and jacuzzi tub experiment

This week Gavin had an encounter with the dirty d. It wasn't pretty. If you don't know what the dirty d is, you're a very fortunate soul. It involved lots of diapers, pants and butt paste. Hope that clears up any curiosity. This fetid event also happened beginning of the week, and not just any week, the final chaotic week of placement testing for incoming students. (side note, I am a Testing Specialist that administers tests for those said students) So, I was pretty stoked when Grandpa came to the rescue and offered to stay home and take care of my little guy. Gavin recovered quickly from his "bug" and had a great time with Grandpa. When I arrived to pick him up, I discovered that G had his first encounter with the jacuzzi tub. My first thought was WHOA...you put a toddler, with Montezuma's revenge, in a huge bathtub?! Wow! That's pretty brave. My second thought was, DANG, I'm so jealous! I could use a nice relaxing jacuzzi tub afternoon!

Needless to say, Gavin loved it.