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