Lesson Learned

Dear Greyson,

My last letter to you at the beginning of the month was about the poop wars. I can officially say Mommy and daddy have won the battle. You are doing so awesome with potty training. It has been the most frustrating and rewarding thing we've ever done with you. Seeing your face light up when you go potty is so exciting. And calling everyone, usually Aunt Jenn, to let them know you pee pee'd or pooped in the potty, shows how proud of yourself you are. As of recently, you've discovered the Potty Dance. It is hysterical. I've been trying to get a video of you doing it, but of course you stop as soon as the camera comes out.

For the quite awhile we were keeping your potty chair behind the recliner in the living room because I figured out that you didn't want anyone to see you while you were pooping and you needed time to relax, so the ipad or a phone usually kept you busy while you went. We've slowly moved the potty chair out from behind the recliner and into your bedroom. We haven't made it into the bathroom yet, but we'll get there!

Tonight you ran through the house yelling, "I'm going pee pee!" and ran back to your room. Yay Greyson! You even kicked Daddy out of the bedroom while you went. "No Daddy go away!" When you were done I went in to get the pee catcher and do the potty dance with you. I left the bedroom with the pee catcher to clean it out and when I came back into the room you were grinning from ear to ear and pointing to the potty chair. Inside the potty chair, sans pee catcher was a big 'ol Greyson sized turd. You were very proud of yourself. :) I was too, but I would have been much happier had the pee catcher been inside the potty chair.

Let's just say, I learned my lesson.

I love you buddy, forever and longer.

Love, Mama

Tonight you

The Poop Wars

Dear Greyson,

The last week and a half you and daddy went out to Rockford to visit Grandma and Red Papa. Mommy didn't get to go because she had to work. It was a long, sad, lonely week. Luckily we were able to Skype at least twice a day. That definitely helped but it wasn't the same.

Daddy decided that since you were going to be together nonstop for a week and a half he would buckle down and do some serious potty training. Day one went really well. Day two, not so well. Daddy was very frustrated but mommynsaid to keep it up. He powered through and you returned to BG 75% potty trained! Daddy followed the 3day potty training method. We don't tell you to go or ask you to go, we remind you to tell us when you need to go. Over and over and over. Amazingly, it works!

Right now though, we are in the middle of the poop wars. You are definitely winning. You refuse to poop in the potty. Apparently that one time in November was a fluke. We will continue to forge through this relentless battle.

This afternoon we began shopping for a new bed for you. You told us you needed to go potty so we ran to the bathroom. While in the bathroom you told us you pooped, you didn't but for some reason you were convinced you did. I was digging in the bag and you asked what I was doing. I told you I needed something in the diaper bag. You looked at me and said, "there no diapers! That's a big boy bag!"

I love you Buddy! Forever and longer!

Love Mommy

Funny Boy

Dear Greyson,

I have said this many, many times, but you are a funny kid! I asked you today what you wanted for lunch. Your response:

"Mac and cheese man"

I just about lost it. Which of course just egged you on. You kept saying it over and over. But of course, as soon as I got the video camera out you wouldn't say it. :/

We are currently working on not being scared of Santa Claus. You call him, "Canta". You keep saying "Canta is nice" and "No crying Canta lap". All on your own you decided that Canta is going to bring you "Mickey Fouse Dupples" (Mickey Mouse Puzzles). We even downloaded and app on our phones that is a talking santa, which you love to play. We'll see if our hard work has paid off when we go and visit Santa.

I love you Greyson, forever and longer!
Love, Mama

O-P Stop

Dear Greyson,

Thanks to your Papa, you have a new obsession. It's with stop signs. He taught you to look for them and spell it. Except you are so cute and only say, "O-p Stop". We try and tell you it's 's-t-o-p stop" and you will occasionally add an s or t but never in the right order. It's so cute and I love it. We actually have to drive around the block before coming home so you can see more.

You also have taken to this little plastic gray ball. You call it "Baby Greyson" and you take care of it. You like to put it to bed, give it a bink, change it's diaper (complete with adding powder powder and using a real diaper), hugging and kissing it, and carrying it around. This evening you even had to give it a bath. I loved it! I don't know where this came from but it's so sweet. IF you ever have a baby brother/sister I just know you will be an awesome big brother. For now we'll settle with helping take care of "Baby Greyson" and your little cousins.

Yesterday you may or may not have swallowed one of my diamond hoop earrings. :/ I stupidly left them sitting on my night stand and you found them. I fished one of the earrings out of your mouth and the other one is no where to be found. We asked you about it and the first thing you said was, "uh-oh I eat it". But when we asked again you would say all sorts of random things, like, "it's in my ear" and it's down here". We have yet to find it. Some friends of mine that are nurses told me not to worry about it unless I see blood in your diapers or you complain of stomach pains. Otherwise, we just wait for it to pass. Unfortunately this could take up to a few weeks. Needless to say, you are not allowed in our room any more and I am going to invest in a jewelery box.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

POOP!

Who would have thought that bodily functions would be such a huge deal? Not, me. But guess what? THEY ARE!!

DRUMROLL PLEASE.....

Ladies and gentlemen, Friday, November 4, 2011, GREYSON POOPED ON THE POTTY!

Boogers

Here's a conversation that Greyson and I had on the way home from the library.

Greyson: "Mama boogers" and makes sniffing noises.

Me: "Oh no! Boogers!"

Greyson: "Boogers all gone"

Me: "Where did the boogers go?"

Greyson: "I eat the boogers"

Boys!

It's June!

Dear Greyson,

I cannot believe it. Next month you will be two. It feels like your first birthday just happened! It really is amazing how fast time is flying. You are growing up so fast and it is so much fun!

We had a really busy last few weeks of May. We went to Cincinnati and now we're in Illinois visiting Grandma and Boppa. While we were in Cincinnati you of course loved on your Uncle Dave. Papa Santel set up his choo-choo for you and you LOVED it! You sat with Uncle Dave and Andy in the middle of the track and watched it. Every so often we'd hear "choo-choooo!" We went to the park also. You loved the swings and the slide!

While we went to Aunt Jessica's wedding you spent the night with Jess and her family. Emma loved on you the whole time. Mama was really nervous about leaving you, but you did awesome! When we picked you up, Jess told us that she never wants to hear the phrase, "What's that?" for a long time. Compliments of you!

The day before we left for Rockford we went out to dinner with Grandpa. We went to Easystreet and it was so yummy! You were giving Grandpa high-fives over and to be funny, you licked your hand and then gave Grandpa five. You got big laughs for that one, which is exactly what you were going for!

Obsessions as of right now are still Choo-choo's (Thomas the Train) and Toy Story. You love Woody and Woody's hat. You love counting! You can almost count to five, sometimes you need a little help and other times you don't. You will randomly just start saying numbers though, which is so funny. Most of the time it's "9 2 5" or 99 2 5" or some variation. You also know the shape, star. We've been working on shapes a lot. At dinner tonight you were saying the word circle as I was drawing them. Mama downloaded a game on Dada's phone for you that you love! It shows either colors, shapes, numbers or letters and you have to choose the one that it says. You love pushing the buttons "bought-ens" as you say.

You are getting more and more brave in the pool. Unfortunately, because of that we have had a few spills! You slipped getting out of the pool and hit the side of your face once and the second time you were chasing a ball and slipped. Mama caught you the second time luckily! Thank goodness Grandma and Boppa bought you a swimming suit with a life vest in it though. You are a fearless little boy!

We are having a great time in Rockford. You have your Grandma and Boppa right where you want them! Boppa taught you "Cheers" and then clink glasses. He is pretty proud of himself for that!

Pool pictures to come...

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Bye Mama Bye

Dear Greyson,

Tuesday's are my least favorite day of the week. I work my normal hours (6:30-3:30) and then baby-sit from 5:30-8:00, so I don't see you until I get home at 8:30-8:45ish. Dada keeps you up late so I can see you for a few minutes. Well this morning as I was saying good-bye to you (while you normally sleep) with your eyes still closed you said, "Bye, Mama Bye". I kissed your head and said bye again and then you said, "Mama, hug?" How could I refuse? So I leaned over the crib to give you a squeeze. I don't actually think you were awake for it, but it made my day!

When I got home tonight you were all about Mama! I loved it. You have me hugs and kisses and we played! You were being extra goofy and kept trying to lick my face. When Dada said it was time for nigh-nigh's you jumped in my arms. We both gave Dada our best sad faces to buy us a few extra minutes.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

XOXO

Dear Greyson,

Yay! You are giving hugs again at bedtime! We went through a short phase where you didn't want to give hugs or kisses and it made me so sad. NOT TODAY THOUGH! Both Dada and I got 2 kisses and you insisted on a family hug.

While eating dinner tonight you puckered up for no reason and gave me a kiss. I took full advantage and stole quite a few of those yummy kisses. Dada snuck a few, too!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Greyson,

Because of you, this is probably my most favorite holiday, now! I love love love being your Mama. You slept in until 8 this morning. Awesome! Then you and Dada got up and played while I slept in more. Around 9 you came running into the bedroom saying, "Mama!" carrying a big bag and you said, "here you go". I lifted you up and opened up my presents! You and Dada both got me cards, which you decorated. You also got me two books about how much Mama's love their babies. PERFECT! We read through them and on the last page is a Mama with lighter hair holding a boy and you pointed to them and said, "Mama and me!" You also got me a picture frame that says I LOVE MOM. Dada printed out the picture of you and I that is at the top of this post. After we got up Dada made us yummy pancakes and cut up some strawberries.

After we got around we met Jenn, Greg, and Kaleb at the zoo. This is becoming a tradition that we started last year. It was beautiful weather and you really seemed to enjoy the animals. We saw Baby Louie, the elephant do tricks, which was pretty neat. Aunt Jenn brought Apple Jacks, which were a HUGE hit for you. After seeing your reaction we might need to purchase some for you. I think the highlight of the trip was the aviary. You just love ducks (birds). We got your picture in the egg again, once they are up I'll post one!

One more funny word that you made up that I forgot about yesterday! You love your cousin Kaleb, but you can't say his name yet. So instead you call him Shoe. I don't know where it came from or why, but that is what you call him. Silly buddy!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Ducks!

Dear Greyson,

Just a few quick things about you that I never ever want to forget!

I love all the silly words that you say. For instance, all birds are called "ducks" and you say "fuffle-bo" for a buffalo. Woody from Toy Story is "Wo-ee" and Jessie (from Toy Story and Grandma and Boppa's dog) is "Sassie". Elmo is "Mamo". Gabbas still all have their own names, "Mumu, Booboo, Pac, Teetee, and Fao". You call Grandma "Ma". We try all the time to get you to say bird, and you say, "yeah, duck!". "Hu-ach" is both hug and walk. We sometimes have a hard time with this one because it's the same word.

Dada bought you a hockey puck at the Wings game last night and gave it to you. You needed to sleep with it tonight. We put you to bed and after a little bit you started crying. Dada went in to check on you and you were crying, "hockey". Dada thought you heard the TV, it wasn't until Mama reminded him of the hockey puck, and lo and behold you dropped the hockey puck. Dada handed it to you and all was better!

Dada and I bought you a new sippy cup today. It has Toy Story characters on it. You were so excited that you felt it necessary to take it into the bath tub. We just went with it! LOL!

Bedtime is for the most part pretty easy. You don't really like giving us hugs and kisses anymore before bed. When it's bedtime you really just want to lay down in your bed. You always lay in the exact same spot, facing the wall on you side and you insist on things being the exact same. You get your bink while we are giving you kisses and hugs and then lay you down. Then we hand you your milk and cover you with purple blankie and then your gabba blankie. Mumu has to be laying next to you on the green pillow and you lay on your white Brobee pillow. Dada and I have found out the hard way that we have to cover you with those blankets in that order. You tell us if we did it wrong!

You have a few new obsessions. Sadly, you have moved on from Gabbas. This makes me a little sad to be completely honest. You still play with your gabba toys in the tub and sleep with them though! Elmo has entered your world. It's pretty cute! The other new obsession is Thomas the Train. You see a train and you say, "Choo-choo!" We have a Thomas movie that you watch, and one part is where there is a train chase and the bad train falls off the track into the water. The whole time it's happening you go, "Oh no! Choo-choo! Fall down!" It's pretty amusing that you actually understand. You still love your cars. We have introduced you to Matchbox Cars. You love love love them! You will bring them over to us and hand one to each of us and then the three of us have to drive them around. You insist! "Mama Car"

You still love being read to. You like not only being read to, but you love to look at books by yourself. For Easter both sets of grandparents got you lots and lots of books. When Ma and Papa are home you make both of them read to you before bed. Ma and Papa just eat it up! You also love looking at a book that Ma and Boppa got you for Easter, it's a recorded book with their voices about how much they miss you. Each time you turn the page and hear their voices you act all surprised and say, "Boppa!" or "Ma!" It's pretty cute!

You majorly surprised us the other day when we were at the park with Kaleb, Big B, Jason, Libby and Dada. An airplane flew overhead and you pointed to the sky and said, "Air pane!" We didn't even know you knew what that was! Smarty pants!

A game you and Mama play in the car is pointing out EVERYTHING! "Mama, wass dat?" You want to know what everything is. You also want to know where everyone is. "Mama, where Dada go?" Mama, where Sassie go?" "Mama, where Nannan (Camden, a friend from daycare) go?" etc, etc. After I answer over and over you will start telling me where everyone is. "Mama, Sassie nigh nigh". It's super cute. Then we point out all the cars we see!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Lotsa Pictures!

Dear Greyson,

Bath time makes you so happy!
You are so sweet. You love to share your toys!
We had a play date at Sylvania Play Place. You had so much fun going down the slides!
Here you are swinging with your new friend Natalie!
You are fearless! Not even this huuuuuge slide scared you.


Funny story about this picture. This is after bath time and I asked you to come get your clothes on. This was your response! "Noooooo". Shortly after I snapped the picture, you pee'd on the floor.

Stuck!

Dear Greyson,

Happy February! In this first picture you and I posed for a V-day picture! I shared my chocolates with you, which you loved!!

Smooooch! This is a new face that you make! I love it! After we give you our bedtime kisses and lay you down, you say, "Mama" and then make this face. Irresistible! Another cute bedtime thing you do, we always get kisses from you and now, you grab onto both our heads to give us a hug together. A family hug! I love it. You also then run our hair afterwards, which is weird. Silly buddy! I love our bedtime hugs and kisses.
Speaking of hugs, Hug is your new word! Except when you say it, you say it with a -ach at the end! Hu-ach, (think Ach-med the Dead Terrorist). So cute! When you give hugs you squeeze super tight, too. Right around the neck. Takes my breath away literally and figuratively!
Valentine's Day you sent cards to your far away grandparents. You made them each a hand-print page and colored a card for them. You loved coloring the cards and got so mad at me when I took the cards away so we could send them in the mail. Both grandparents loved the cards and painting you did though.

We have had such a fun February so far! Mama and Dada both got sick early this month, (that was not so much fun) but because of that, you and Mama had our first cooking experience together. You were so helpful making chicken noodle soup! You helped put the celery and carrots into the crock pot, helped add the spices (you loved that part) and stirred the soup throughout the day. You kept trying to lick the spoon after stirring, which I had to put a stop to because there was uncooked chicken in the soup. Overall, it was a lot of fun for both of us.

The Bink Saga. You love your bink so unbelievably much. It is getting better, but we still aren't quite ready to be completely done with it. We just have to shake the bink, so the handle makes a noise and you come running with a smile on your face. You only use it now to help you fall asleep, once you are asleep it falls out and you don't use it the rest of the night. You have no problem telling your bink 'nigh nigh' and then throwing it into bed once you are up.

You were digging around in the diaper bag one night and out you pulled a spare bink. You got a huge smile on your face and stuck it in your mouth. When I went to get it from you, you took off running! You headed straight for Milo's bed and climbed inside. I tried to get it from you and you actually swatted my hand away saying "NO!" and then closed Milo's door. What could I do? I laughed and grabbed the camera, of course!

Stuck! This is your new favorite word. You put a huuuuuge emphasis on the -ck at the end (again, think Ach-med the Dead Terrorist). It's hilarious. You like to get yourself in a tight spot and say it. If you can't get something, you say it. When you want out of your highchair, you say it! It pretty much applies to everything anymore!

Let's see, you have more new words! You keep surprising me with your words! You say sock, shoe and coat. My favorite phrase you say is, "what did you do?" A lot of times you say it, "what di di di di di doooooooo?" So cute! Dada and I like to say it now, too. You call Cindy, Yaya. We aren't really sure where that came from, but it works. Although, when I was taking you to Cindy's today, you said, "Ninny". So who knows. You call goldfish crackers 'yi yos'. That one I cannot figure out at all. I keep thinking maybe cheerios, but we never give you cheerios anymore.

I'm pretty sad because you are getting so big. You don't sign as much anymore and when you say more, you actually say 'more' not 'mo'. You are losing your baby giggle and are sounding more and more like a big boy. Today, I noticed that you are also beginning to say "Milo". I'm gonna miss you calling him "Mimo". Stop growing so quick baby!

I can't remember if I mentioned your awesome manners in the last blog post. Even if I did, they are worth mentioning again! You say "Thank You" to everything! It's so cute. You actually say "tane choo". LOVE IT! When you pair it with, "tane choo mama" it makes me smile every time. The great thing is, you understand what it means and say it unprompted! If we give you crackers, 'tane choo dada', if we give you a sippy, "tane choo mama", if we get you or a toy unstuck, 'tane choo mada'. Even bedtime you remember your manners. We give you your kisses and hugs, lay you down, cover you up and hand you your sippy. Once you are down, you say, "tane choo". My favorite is when we say "I love you" you say, 'Tane choo". I look forward to when you say I love you back, but for now I love that you say "Tane choo".

Mada-this cracks me up when you say this. When you talk to both of us, you call us Mada. Or if you are talking to one of us and start to call us the wrong name, you call us Mada. Hilarious!I'll have to get a video of it sometime!

You have started calling Dada, Daddy. Made Dada and I both really sad. We don't ever call each other Mommy or Daddy. We have just always been Mama and Dada. I will be devastated when you call me anything other than mama. I know Dada was pretty upset. It hasn't been a consistent thing, so we're hoping it doesn't stick!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Mr. Potato Head...literally

Dear Greyson,

Happy Birthday Dada! We spoiled Dada big time for his birthday this year! He got a new hoodie, 2 new shirts, a pair of slippers and a Kindle! You were so very helpful while trying to wrap his presents! You kept sitting on the wrapping paper, messing with the tape, and tried multiple times to stand on top of the box that held the slippers. You were of course very helpful in opening his presents, too! Grandpa came over and you decided that Grandpa wanted the wrapping paper that came off the presents. After presents we went out to dinner at Dada's favorite restaurant, Frickers.
Every Sunday we go over to Jason and Libby's to have dinner with them and Grandpa. We used to go out to restaurants but lately we've been staying in and taking turns cooking dinner. I have to admit, I like this better! It's nice getting home cooked meals and we've been getting more and more creative! I'm already looking forward to next week because Uncle Jason is going to make Open Faced Chicken Pot Pies.
Anyways, tonight, Grandpa made his famous Swiss Steaks and Libby made mashed potatoes and other veggies. I decided that since you haven't tried mashed potatoes in a long time we'd try them again tonight. I handed you a spoon and put some on your tray. I turned my back to go get myself a plate and some more food for you to try. BIG. MISTAKE. You stuck your spoon in the mashed potatoes and then flung them onto the table. Then, and this is the best part, you stuck your spoon back in the mashed potatoes and then stuck your spoon in your hair. Awesome. I'm not sure why you thought this would be a good idea, but you continued to do it. Over and over and over. Who knows, maybe you are on to some new hair treatment...

I've said this before and I'll say it again, you love Jinx and Milo. You have renamed Milo though. Instead of calling him Milo, you call him Mimo. It's so sweet! As soon as we walk in the door you go right to his bed and say, Mimo! Once I let him out, he jumps up on my legs to be pet and you wrap your arms around him saying, "MIMO!!!" Milo doesn't always love your affection, but I do!

And Jinx, poor, poor, Jinx. You don't get to interact with Jinx as much as you would like to. You get so excited when you see him, though. You chase him a lot and say, "mow, mow, mow". You don't say Jinx or kitty, but you do say "Mow" (rhymes with cow). All cats are "mow", Jinx, Jason and Libby's cats, cats on TV, in books, etc. You show him a cat and it's a "Mow".

Cute story, you were sitting and reading books with Dada this morning. You were all snuggled together for about 10 minutes. The book you two were looking at was First 100 Words which you love! Each page is a category, with smaller pictures that correlate with the category. You and Dada were pointing to the pictures and you would identify them if you could, or Dada would tell you the word. When Dada turned to the page about Homes you pointed to the picture of a table and said, "doooooowwwwwwnnnnnn". Dada and I almost peed ourselves from laughing! The reason this was so funny is because you love to climb onto everything! We actually had to take the coffee table out of the living room because you kept climbing on it. Whenever you do climb on something you aren't supposed to, we say to you, Greyson, dooowwwwnnn! So of course, you would see a table and say, "dooooowwwwwnnnnnnn"!

Ahhh the bath tub! I cannot write you a letter without bringing up the bath tub! Bath time is so fun for you and we love to watch you. But most times you want to play by yourself, so we let you. We sit back and relax while you play. Lately though, you have decided that you need to play with us more. It's so cute! And you don't want to play with just one of us, it has to be both. You hand each of us a squirt toy and get one for yourself and we squirt each other. You have to make sure all three of us have a squirt toy though! You pick one up and say, Mama...Mama....Mama until I take it. And then you do the same for Dada. If one of us puts it down before you are done playing with us, you pick it right back up and say, "Dada....Dada..."

I love you Buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

The Bathtub Incident

Dear Greyson,

You little boy, are a hoot! You make us laugh every single day! Earlier this week, Dada and sneezed really loud and you stood in front of him and laughed and laughed and laughed. Literally, for about 5 minutes straight, you laughed. Towards the end it was a goofy, overly fake laugh, which made us laugh harder. This of course egged you on and you continued doing it. I loved it!

You love Milo. You also like to lick and kiss Milo. A few days ago, you were playing with (bothering) Milo and were licking Milo and kissing him. You grabbed his face like you always do and puckered up to what I thought was going to be a kiss on the nose. Instead, you surprised Milo and Mama by sticking his entire nose in your mouth! It was disgusting and hilarious all at the same time!

Now, on to the bathtub incident. We all know how much you love baths. We can say the word bath and you take off running for the bathroom. I always turn the water on and then go get your towel, and set your PJ's out. Usually you follow me around until it's time to get in. This time though, you didn't. I walked into the bathroom and there you were, standing in the tub, fully clothed. Dada and I started laughing so hard. Lesson learned, don't run the water until everything else is ready!

Last night was a little rough. Back story, you have an ear infection, which throws off your sense of balance. Couple that with an impulsive, risk-taking 18 month old and you have an accident just waiting to happen. You were playing on your slide when all of a sudden you fall off the back. Not only do you fall off, but you land face first. Dada picked you up right away and you were screaming. Blood was coming from your mouth and I freaked out! I was ready to rush you to the ER, but Dada stayed calm and collected. He applied pressure to your mouth and I ran to get the Tylenol. It took a little bit, but you finally calmed down. You were up pretty much every hour from there on out. It was a long, long night. I don't know if it was from the fall or your ear infection or both, but it sucked.

So, about that impulsive, risk-taking, 18 month old. Those words describe you better than anything. Your favorite spot to sit is on the back of the couch while flipping the light switches. You also enjoy sliding over the back of the couch. You hang for a few seconds and wave to us with a giant smile on your face before sliding down. You also like to stand on the MegaBlocks table that you got for Christmas from Grandpa. You get on top on it and once you are standing up completely you hold your hands up over your head and say "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" (ta-da). It's really cute but not at all safe!

We were going to attempt to get rid of the Bink. It didn't go so well. We thought that going cold turkey would be the best approach. We were wrong. Very, very wrong. The night we tried, we did our bedtime routine the same as we always do, laid you down, covered you up with your blankie, handed you your sippy and then started to walk away. That was when it hit you that you didn't have a bink and panic doesn't even begin to describe your reaction. You sat straight up and started saying "bink, bink!" while sliding your hands along the mattress desperately searching for a bink. You screamed and cried! Dada and I lasted 10 minutes before we came to your rescue. We gave in and gave you a bink and decided you were definitely not ready. We did poke a hole in the bink, but it hasn't seemed to make any difference to you. Dada and I have been much better though about only giving you the bink at night time though. You still go up to your crib and say bink and point to it, but then we leave the room and say, "Nigh nigh bink" and walk away.

Bedtime tonight was super easy! We were hanging out in the living room and you were running around playing. It was only about 7:30 and Grandpa had just left. You all of a sudden said, "Nigh nigh" and walked to the bedroom door and stood there. Dada and I looked at each other, shrugged and said, ok... We did a quick, abbreviated version of our bedtime routine. Dada layed you on the bed to change your diaper and you started crying and saying, 'nigh nigh" so we hurried up and laid you down. You gave us our kisses, waved and we turned out the lights. Easiest bedtime ever!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Pictures part II

More pictures!! This is just the beginning...there are many more to come!

Pictures!!

Dear Greyson,

So much has happened! We celebrated Christmas, we went to Florida, we missed Dada bunches! I don't think words can describe it, so here are some pictures instead!!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Sleepless Nights

Dear Greyson,

I thought the nights of us having to get up throughout the night were past us. Your molars and other various teeth coming in plus your cold/cough had other plans. We spent about a week of not sleeping, which was awful for all of us. Thankfully you are finally back to sleeping better, but I have a feeling we aren't completely out of this yet. I will say, you now have a mouthful of teeth!

Speaking of teeth, your new favorite thing is a toothbrush! You won't let me help you brush your teeth though, which has become an issue. You need to have your teeth brushed!! Whenever I go into the bathroom, you follow me. So I set you on the toilet (lid closed) and get a toothbrush wet with water and give it to you. You will sit there are long as I let you just chewing on that toothbrush. I brush my teeth quite a few times a day now so I can model for you how to move the brush around in your mouth. You are getting much better about it. You don't just chew on the bristles anymore! We still have quite a bit of work to do on it though!

I now keep a toothbrush in the freezer. Sounds strange, but between your awful teething plus your mild obsession with toothbrushes, I figured a frozen toothbrush would be the best thing for you! Boy was I right! You can put the cold bristles right on your sore little gums. The only bad thing about it is, it doesn't stay cold for very long. You don't seem to mind too much though.

Words!! My oh my do you say a lot now! Not only are you just jibbering, but you jibber with purpose! You know where your nose is, and say "nooooooooose" while pointing. Something funny you do, we ask you where your eyes are and you would point to ears and say "iyyyyyyyys"! EVERY.SINGLE.TIME! It's really funny! Hopefully you figure out soon that your eyes are on the front of your face and your ears are on the side! You can say Sami (Mimi) and you say "eee eee eee" for a monkey. Your favorite thing to say is Big B! If you see a picture of Brenden you get so excited and say "Big B!!!" You also say eat, kitty, Digger, down, powder, what did you do, what dat (what's that), there, out and even more that I can't think of off the top of my head. It's so fun when you learn new words!

Bath time continues to be a favorite past time of yours. After dinner I'll say, "Greyson do you want to take a bath?" and you take off running for the bathtub! You love to dump water on your head, stick your face in the water and blow bubbles. You laugh so hard when we squirt you with water with the bath squirters! You have finally figured out how the bath squirters work and often get us back! But you always hand us one, too, so we can squirt each other. Getting you out of the tub is not so easy though. Literally you will play in that tub until all the water is completely gone, and then we have to wait a few more minutes while you flop around in the empty, slippery tub.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Jibber Jabber Jibberish

Dear Greyson,

HSJdjwnodhfakjdnajkdafhejcnc;asjdfhnfnfakjsdn...This is what you sound like, all.the.time. And when you do it, you do it in the sweetest little voice. It's so cute! Dada swears you are trying to tell us something because a lot of times you will repeat yourself over and over, same random consonant- vowel combinations. This evening, Grandma was laying on the floor and you crouched down in front of her and got inches from her face and started "talking". She laughed so hard because you were so serious. When Jason and Libby took Brenden upstairs to feed him dinner, you went up to the opening from the basement and started yelling up at them. I can only assume you wanted your buddy to come back down to play.

Holy lots of teeth! On the top you have your left and right central incisors (front teeth), left and right lateral incisors (teeth next to the front teeth), and the left and right first molars. On the bottom you have the left and right incisors, the right lateral incisor is in the process of coming up and the left lateral incisor has broken through. You also have both left and right bottom first molars coming up. Poor guy! I don't know when all this happened, but it sure explains your mood swings lately. Here I was under the impression that teeth came up one at a time. You sure proved me wrong.

Hi! Hi! Hi! This is probably my favorite thing you do now. You say "Hi!" in your sweet little voice, lots of times waving when you do it, and with a big grin. We say it back and it becomes a game, saying it to each other over and over. We know when you are ready to get up from a nap or in the morning because instead of crying (which means you need to sleep longer) you give us a big grin and a "Hi!"

Go? This is also a recent thing you do. When someone leaves the room or you can't find something, you hold your hands out with your palms up and say, "go?" We are trying to get you to fill in the blanks by saying for you, "where did Dada go?" or "where did sippy go?" to help give you the words you need. You are learning so much so fast! It's so fun and exciting when you learn new things. We decided that you are ready to learn more signs, so we are going to teach you eat, which you are already starting to pick up. I think the next sign will be please.

Ohhh the bink. I cannot get rid of that darn bink. You want the darn thing all the time. You have even started getting into the diaper bag, where we have a paci pod, open it up to get one. When it's diaper time, as soon as we walk into your room you say, "beeeeenk!" I have no idea how we are going to stop using one.

Oh, something really exciting happened today! 2 out of the 3 times you pooped, as soon as it happened you pointed to your diaper and said, "uh-oh". Yes, recognizing poop is very exciting! Dada and I are toying around with possibly getting you a potty chair for Christmas. Not that we have ANY expectations of you using it yet, but we can have it around and you can practice sitting on it.

Cute story, you have been so goofy lately! Thanks to Dada, you think (and so does Dada) it's hysterical when you smack the sides of your head saying "ow ow ow". Awesome, I know. You also make us laugh when you walk around, waving your hands in the air, shaking your head from side to side, jabbering and yelling "baaabwaaaabwaaabwaaaa"! It's pretty cute!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Belly!!!

Dear Greyson,

"Where's your belly!?" This is a new game we play and it is hysterical! We will say to you, "Where is your belly?" and you will get a huge grin on your face and lift up your shirt. Often times you want us to tickle, kiss or blow raspberries your tummy. I think the picture pretty much sums up how much you love this game!

I have officially accepted your sweet little head. It looks so much better than when we started. Some days I look at it and think it looks perfect and that there is nothing different about it. Other times, I still notice the slight irregular shape. Everyone tells me they don't notice anything, that I'm over-analyzing. So, I have decided to do my best to stop focusing on your head shape. I have decided to accept you just the way you are, which is absolutely perfect!

"NO" is still your favorite word. We can ask you pretty much anything and we always get the same response, which is no. Sometimes you mix it up and say, 'uh-uh". Regardless, it's pretty much 'no' to everything, be it a bath, snack, kiss, or drink.

We bought you an actual toothbrush. We couldn't use the one that fits over my finger any longer because you kept biting me. You love having your teeth brushed. Well, it's more you love holding and sucking on the toothbrush. You always follow me into the bathroom and demand a toothbrush. I gave you an extra toothbrush for you to play with in the bath tub, which you thought was terrific. You played with that more than you did your actual bath toys. You don't like it much when I take the toothbrush to actually brush your teeth, though. You got pretty upset with me this morning, but I will say, it was much easier to brush your teeth when you were yelling at me! I could actually see your teeth and what I was doing. I try and brush your teeth pretty quickly because I want you to enjoy this good habit. I definitely don't want to discourage your enjoyment in brushing, which is why I usually give you a toothbrush when we are in the bathroom. I let you watch me brush my teeth, too, while you are playing with your toothbrush. I'm hoping you'll mimic me the more you watch me.

You become pretty frustrated when you can't do something and when we can't understand what you want/need. I feel so bad, because I can tell you know what you want, but you don't have the words to say it. We try our best to help you out and give you the words, but sometimes we just can't help you. When this happens you get so mad. You throw things, hit, and cry. It's so sad. Luckily for us, you don't dwell on things, so most times we can put you in a good mood fairly quickly.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love,

Mama