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

Holy Moly!

Dear Greyson,

Holy moly am I really bad at keeping this up to date. I think about topics and things I want to add all the time, but then I don't! Sorry bud!

Anyways, let's see...you have a whole host of new words! You can now say, go, hi, bye, ball, no, yeah, banana, more, done, milk, gone, bink, nigh nigh, woof, meow, peep peep (chick), snort (pig), mmmmm (cow), mama, dada, papa, and a few more that I just can't think of right now. It's so exciting and fun when you learn a new word. Gramma and I taught you peep peep just the other day, and when you say it, it's in this really high pitched voice. Sooo cute! Not only are you talking more, but you understand some sign language and use it yourself. Granted, you didn't really start using it until you were saying the words, but still! You know the signs for more, done, and milk. We use milk and any drink interchangeably. I don't know if that if correct, but it works for us.

You also got two molars in. Those were fun! You were a drool-y, crabby, feverish, mess. My last post was about having to pick you up from Cindy's because you were sick. I thought you had the flu, but the next day you were perfectly fine and that was when we noticed the new molars. I think you might be teething again, because you have been really drool-y again this week. Luckily there haven't been any fevers for you this time around.

We went down to Cincinnati for one weekend. We baby-sat cousin Brenden while Aunt Libby and Uncle Jason went to a wedding. That was lots of fun! You and B took a bath together. It was the first of many, I'm sure. We also got to spend some time with Uncle Dave and Andy. You just love them! They couldn't get enough of your cute little, "bye" and kisses. We'll get to see them again next week! The trip down and back from Cinci was probably the best road trip we've ever had. You watched Yo Gabba Gabba the entire time. I don't think we heard a peep out of you! Mama and Dada got pretty sick of listening to it, but you were so happy so we just dealt with it.

Gramma and Papa were gone most of October visiting Aunt Lindsey and baby Isaac. You missed them very much while they were gone. When they got home you were so excited and did a little happy dance and squealed when you saw them. You are very much a Papa's boy (sorry Gramma). Yesterday Papa was raking leaves out back when we got home from Cindy'sand you saw him and made a bee-line for him. I picked you up and carried you to the front steps and once I set you down you turned around and booked it towards him. I gave in and followed you to him. You kept picking up leaves and throwing them in the air. It was cute, but of course I couldn't get a cute picture because every time I would try you would stop.

Grandma and Gampa came to visit 2 weeks ago. They picked you up from Cindy's, at first you were a little unsure but you warmed up pretty quick. Once you did, you were Gampa's little sidekick. He would take you for walks, pick you up whenever you wanted and overall spoiled you rotten. Grandma tried to spoil you too, but unfortunately you pretty much only wanted one person.

You went through a phase of being terrified of the bath tub. It came about because you were in the tub with KB one night and he pooped in the tub. Of course it happened right after I had already lathered you all up, so Dada took you into Gramma and Papa's bathroom and put you in their shower. Bad idea. It was apparently a very traumatic experience with you because we went about 2-3 weeks of being terrified of the bath tub. That was a long 2 weeks because we still had to bathe you. Bath time went from being the most fun part of our nights to the most dreaded. We finally got you over it by Dada literally getting into the tub with you a few different times. It was so cute and I of course had to take pictures (don't worry, Dada was clothed, he just knelt down while wearing shorts). You still glance at the shower head sometimes with a weary look on your face, but overall you are back to enjoying the tub.

Halloween came and went. You looked so cute in your little lion costume. Grandpa Jon came trick or treating with us, which was really special. Dada and Grandpa took turns taking you up to the houses with your bucket. Lots of people commented on how cute you were and many many times you would wave bye and blow kisses as you were walking away from the houses. We also went to a Halloween parade in Rossford with Aunt Jenn and KB. That was just OK. It was right in the middle of your nap, in hindsight, we'd have skipped the parade and let you finish your nap, but what can you do? Needless to say, you did not enjoy the parade as much as I had hoped, but at least you got to wear your costume more than once!

Roar! That's also a new word/animal sound you do. We thought that since you were going to be a lion for Halloween you needed to be able to roar. You caught on really quick and love doing it. You laugh so hard at the exaggerated scared expressions we give you after you roar. Often you and I go back and forth, just roaring and giggling at each other.

One more quick story! Last night, you, Dada and I were playing on the bed before bedtime. You kept jumping on Milo and hugging and kissing him, which was adorable. At one point you reached out to kiss Milo on the nose and Milo sneezed right in your face as you were leaning in. You laughed so hard! It was disgusting and hilarious at the same time!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

MaaaaMaaaaa!

Dear Greyson,

Today I got the best thing ever from you. Today, for the first time when I walked into Cindy's to pick you up, you ran to me while yelling, "Maamaaa!" I was so excited! Best. Feeling. Ever. Sure, you always smile and run to me, but nothing beats hearing you say my name, too!

On that note, you have been all about Mama lately. I won't complain, though. I am totally eating it all up. Dada on the other hand, I think might be getting a little jealous. He got so used to you being all about him, and wanting nothing to do with me. He doesn't mind too much though, because he knows how much I am loving it. You reach for me, you wrap your little body around my legs, you say Mama all the time, you snuggle with me, I get lots of kisses, and when I'm holding you and Dada comes up and holds out his hands, often you say, "NO!" and turn towards me. I can't help it, I enjoy every second. It's been a long time coming!

Yesterday I got the dreaded phone call from the baby sitter. You had a fever and were throwing up. My poor baby! I rushed home and picked you up. We snuggled on the couch and took a nap. You didn't throw up again, but you did have a fever all evening. I was so worried about you. You woke up perfectly fine this morning and had a great day. Must have been a 12 hour bug.

You are now interested in the television. You have become obsessed with the show, Yo Gabba Gabba. When you hear the TV turn on you start shaking your fists and say, "gooooo" You also bring us the remote and shake your fists, or if the tv is on at all, you start shaking your fists and say, 'gooooo'! It's really funny. I am now slightly regretting wanting you to show interest in the TV, though because you want to watch it all the time. On the plus side, when it's on, you like to sit in my lap and lean back into me. We sing and dance together, which you finds hysterical. Dada and I get the silly songs stuck in our heads, so even when it isn't on, we're still singing the songs. It's really cute because I often hear Dada singing the songs either to you or along with the TV when no one else is around.

Gramma and Papa are in NY right now. Baby Isaac, your new cousin will be arriving hopefully tomorrow, so Gramma and Papa are with Aunt Little and Uncle Aaron to help them and play with Baby Isaac. You miss Gramma and Papa, and it's hard to remember you need to share them with your cousins!

A few weeks ago, you were looking through your photo book. You were pointing to everyone and jabbering (when we look at it together I point to everyone and say who it is), but each time you'd get to the picture of Grandma and Grandpa Williams, you'd point to Grandpa Brent you smile and say, DooDa. It was adorable. You did it probably 10 times. I had to call Grandma right away to tell her about it.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Dipa dipa dip

Dear Greyson,

Dipa dipa dip, that is one of your many new words. Dipa dipa dip is ketchup, randomly enough. We gave you ketchup for the first time the other night and you loved it! I showed you how to dip your chicken in the ketchup (which is where dipa dipa dip came from, we sang it as we dipped) and then eat it, which you thought was the greatest. After you ran out of chicken you just started spreading the ketchup around with your hand and then licking the ketchup off. Tonight we had hamburgers. Normally you won't eat hamburger but I got out the dipa dipa dip and you chowed down. Granted, you probably ate more dipa dipa dip than hamburger, but it was more hamburger then I've even seen you eat. We have also been giving you a fork when you eat. You don't really know how to use it, but you sure do like having it!

You have a few more new words! A favorite of yours is NO! It sounds more like "naaaa" but you sure get your point across! We ask if you want to get out of the tub, "no," we ask if you want a sippy, "no", we say, It's bedtime Greyson and get, "no!" It's been fun! (Please sense the sarcasm). It's actually quite humorous this sense of independence you have gained. I have to walk away quite often because I start giggling. This isn't really a new word, but when we ask you what a dog says, you go "uff uff" and then start panting. It's really cute! We started working on kitty now. You were starting to catch on! You would stick your tongue out and make a high pitched "oooow".

Bedtime was really sweet tonight. Dada gave you your bath tonight and boy did you love that! You splashed and splashed as hard as you could! Dada and the floor were soaked. After you got out we let you run around naked for a bit. That always puts you in a goofy mood. Aunt Libby and Uncle Jason stopped by and you greeted Libby at the door, butt naked! She laughed and laughed at you. You ran out the door and waved to Uncle Jason, who also laughed at you being naked. When we made you go in you got mad at us, which made Uncle Jason really sad. They don't like hearing you cry. When it's a temper tantrum Mama and Dada just laugh though. Anyways, about your sweet bedtime...we got you in your jammies and then got out a few books to read in bed. You snuggled up against Mama while we read three books. The one book we ended up reading three times because you loved it so much. The book is called First Words and it has one picture on each page with the word written. When I turned the page to a ball, before I could say it you said, "ball". Same with orange and apple, which were both balls, and the car was a "brrrrrrrrr"along with the truck and boat! It was so neat. We showed the picture of the cat and dog and practiced our animal noises with those pages and Dada tried to get you to quack like a duck. That's a tricky one, but I think you'll get it pretty soon! Mama and Dada agreed that we really need to read to you more. You love looking at books, but normally you don't want us to read to you. Tonight you enjoyed it though! So we'll keep trying because it's so important for us to read to you and it's good bonding time! I loved that you snuggled up with me, that doesn't happen very often!

Dada is not going to like me calling you this, but you are turning into a little monkey. It's true and he cannot deny it. You climb on EVERYTHING! The couch, chairs, tables, stools, laundry baskets, boxes, you name it, you are climbing it! Cindy, your baby sitter told us that she can't leave you for a second because as soon as she does you climb onto the kitchen table! Crazy boy! What's worse is, once you are up there, you have no fear. You jump from the couch to a chair. If there is a stack of pillows nearby you just can't resist and jump on them! Mama doesn't help matters either because when you get on top of things, like the coffee table, I laugh and count to three and you jump to me. It's our favorite game! You are so smart too, because you always wait until I get to three before jumping! Sometimes you count after me and then jump on three. (No, it's not really counting, it's more of a high pitched, uhhh uhhhh huhhhhhhhhhhhh")Everyone keeps telling me, boys will be boys, welcome to the life of boys, but holy moly buddy! You don't need to climb on everything! Another super cute thing you do is when I pull out the camera to take your picture you get this goofy "cheese" smile and hold it until I snap the picture. You also like to see the pictures on the camera now after I take them and then laugh when you see the images. Silly, silly boy!

I am loving this stage you are in right now. You come up and give hugs, wrapping your whole body around my legs, you blow kisses on command, you give actual kisses and babble all.the.time. I love our little conversations we have on the way home from Cindy's. You 'talk' and then I talk back, you talk more and then laugh! Sometimes we just blow kisses back and forth the entire way home. It's the best! A super cute thing you do is when I walk in the door to pick you up, you run over to me and as soon as I pick you up you start waving and saying, 'bye' and blow kisses. It's so cute! I always laugh and tell you I need to still get all your stuff and ask Cindy about your day, but I love that you understand that it's time to go and to say bye!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

What goes in must come out...

Dear Greyson,

For dinner tonight you ate a chicken patty and cheesey rice and broccoli. You ate a ton! I will admit, it was pretty tasty. Well, after you finished up I grabbed a wipe to clean you up. As usual, you grabbed the wipe from me and stuffed it in your mouth. You do this to be silly and make us laugh. Well, to be even funnier you started breathing really loud out of your nose. I was laughing because you were making so much noise and making a silly face, which of course just eggs you on when all of a sudden a piece of rice shoots out your nose! It made the whole situation even funnier, which of course you just loved!

For the most part you have figured out how to climb up onto the couch. This is great for you, not so much for Mama, Dada and Jinx. Well, this afternoon you climbed up onto the couch and kept climbing over to the end by the record player, which of course had some things on top that you wanted to get. I grabbed the stuff and walked it over to set it all on the piano, which is probably only 20 feet away. When I turned around after setting the stuff on the piano you were no longer sitting on the couch. You were on top of the record player! Rotten little boy! I ran over quickly to get you down and you thought it was hysterical. We have our hands full with you, that's for sure!

Ok, one more funny story! I was sitting on the couch with Dada's computer sitting on my lap. You realized what I was doing and came over to check it out and then tried to pound on the keyboard. I put my hand up to keep you away and you kept slapping my hand and grabbing it. I thought you were trying to move it, which is typical for you. Well you kept persisting so I let you grab my hand. Lo and behold you weren't trying to move my hand, you grabbed my hand, turned it over to give me a high five! Oops!

The picture today is of you wearing Papa's motorcycle helmet. Papa left it sitting by the door and you of course had to check it out! You loved having it on your head, watching me put it on my head, and slapping the side of it.

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama

Holy Wow

Dear Greyson,

I have been so awful about keeping this up-to-date. Sorry, buddy! My work schedule has changed and it has been difficult finding time to write. Let's see, I have a lot to update, but funny stories about you first!

First, you were sitting on the couch playing and Mama was watching TV. A New Kids on the Block song came on and of course Mama HAD to sing along and keep the song going. When I finally stopped singing, you were looking at me like I was crazy and then started smacking yourself in the face and shaking your head no. I don't know if you were really offended by my singing NKOTB or if it was just really good timing, but it was really funny regardless!

Second, you have learned to tackle us. It is probably my favorite thing that you do right now! I will sit on the floor and you will charge at me and then lunge. I always fall over when you get to me and you always giggle! The only not so funny part is when you start head butting me, which always comes once we are on the floor. We're working on that. Earlier today, you tackled me and when we were on the floor you gave me a HUGE kiss. It made my day! I love your kisses.

Ok, now on to the big stuff. You are out of your helmet. We went last Monday for your monthly headscan and as always we go in super excited and leave upset or discouraged. This month was no different, it was actually worse. We were told this time you had a growth spurt (which is what we've been waiting for) and that almost all the growth was on the opposite side. I was dumbfounded. How could this be? Dr. Cole basically said it was one of two things, either a) he's not wearing the helmet enough or b) his sutures have closed up and the helmet is not going to change anything. We all know that you wore that stupid helmet all the flipping time so there was no possible way that was the reason. We have to schedule a CT scan in order to determine whether or not your sutures have closed. I'm not too sure how I feel about this. You cannot stand getting your 3 second head scan once a month, I can only imagine how you would react to a CT scan. We can't do anything until we get our insurance stuff figured out though. We put you on my health insurance, but now that Dada got the job at Huntington (yay!!) we decided to switch you again to be on Dada's. I would like to take you to Cleveland to Cranial Technologies and have them do an evaluation on you. They make a different type of band called a DocBand. I would like to at least get another opinion, but I am also ready to just put this all behind us, too. I just don't want to have any regrets either. Not when it comes to you!

We have to schedule the appointment with your doctor and then go from there. I am not sure when that will be though.

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

Vacation!

Dear Greyson,

We had such a busy week this past week. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa out in Illinois. We left Friday after Mama got off work. Dada packed up the car and boy was it packed! You could barely see out the back window. We were all so anxious to get going! We ate dinner on the road, you of course had your favorite, chicken nuggets! You did not sleep the entire ride out! That isn't necessarily a good thing, buddy. Mama had to ride in the back with you most of the way because otherwise you would get very cranky. Mama got a video of you cracking up and laughing on the way. I was trying to check your diaper, and apparently was tickling you! Of course I couldn't stop because your giggle is just too funny! We sent the video to everyone. Aunt Emmy told us that whenever she is in a bad mood she watches/listens to the video because it instantly cheers her up. She also sent it to Aunt Dana, who was having a bad day that day and she said it made her bad day much better.

Saturday we hung out and waited for Aunt Libby, Uncle Jason, and Brenden to get there. The whole family together, yay! Sunday was more hanging out and relaxing. Swimming and playing. All week you were bound and determined to make friends with Kasey, the cat. He wanted nothing to do with you, though. A few times he hurt your feelings and hissed at you.

On Monday, we all packed up the cars and headed to the Brookfield Zoo. It was an hour and a half car ride, but you had your Grandpa in the back with you so you were a happy guy. The zoo was so nice, it is a European style zoo, so there were no bars or cages around the animals. You really liked seeing the monkeys. Dada and Grandpa took turns carrying you when you weren't in the stroller. Their arms had to have been sore by the end of the day! The last thing we did at the zoo was ride the tram around. That was definitely not the best idea we had. You were exhausted (no afternoon nap) and decided that would be a great time to be Mr. Independent and not want to be held. Not by Mama, Dada, Grandma or Grandpa. You pulled some lady's hair (twice) and managed to get her to move, cried, tossed your sippy and crackers (almost losing your sippy over the edge) and were overall not a happy guy. We all dashed for the cars as soon as the tram stopped. You ate chicken nuggets from BK on the way home and fell asleep about 15 minutes from pulling into the driveway. Not the best timing! We put you straight to bed and you were out for the night.

The rest of the week was spent hanging out with the family. You spent a lot of time in the pool, which you loved! Grandma bought you some bubble bath, so at night you got to experience that. You weren't too sure about it at first, but by the end of the week you were enjoying it. Mama taught you how to put the bubbles in your hand and blow them off, and you found it very funny to put the bubbles in your hands and then clap. You would get the biggest smile on your face as the bubbles would go flying. The only problem with the bubble bath was that the bubbles made it hard for you to find your toys.

On Friday you got to do something really special. Grandma and Grandpa took you, and only you, to the Discovery Center in downtown Rockford. Mama and Dada were not invited! You got to be a weatherman, you sat in a big tractor, and you loved the balls that were floating. There was an area just for kids 18 months and younger that you played in. You and Grandma kicked off your shoes and ran all over the place. You rolled balls, climbed, and slid. Grandma and Grandpa are already looking forward to taking you again and again and again!

You were so unbelievably spoiled this week by everyone. Whoever was nearest you'd run to and put your arms up to be held, unless Grandpa was in the room, because then no one else mattered. He would take you all over the house showing you things, he'd walk you outside and you'd look at the birds, he'd tickle you, take you swimming, read to you and give you lots of hugs and kisses. Grandma made you lots of yummy dinners. You especially loved that she had grapes in the house! She'd cut them up and you would devour them. Grandma was full of kisses for you! You even returned a few of those kisses, which made her so happy! Mama and Dada are in for a treat trying to de-grandma and grandpa you.

Overall, it was an awesome trip. We were all so sad that the week went by so fast. As always, good-byes were tough, but we made it through and are counting the days before we get to see them again.

The trip home was pretty uneventful. Chicago traffic wasn't too bad, not great, but not awful. You slept for about an hour and then played, snacked, watched movies and whined. Instead of going straight home we went to Aunt Emmy and Uncle Kevin's. Uncle Kevin threw Aunt Emmy a surprise party! We missed the surprise part, but made it for the party! You loved running around the backyard. You danced a little, chased the big kids and climbed up the big hill (and then proceeded to fall down the big hill). You ate lots of frosting and cookie cake that Sami and Devin snuck you. You were full of hugs for Uncle Greg and gave Uncle Kevin high-fives. Aunt Emmy and Aunt Jenny were lucky enough to score a couple of kisses from you! Happy birthday

party day, Aunt Emmy!

You had another tooth erupt this week, you now have 4 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom! You still walk on the sides of your feet, but we are noticing they aren't as bowlegged anymore. Yay progress!

I love you buddy, forever and longer!

Love, Mama