Saturday 4: Happy Home!

Our week started off with more breakfast guests.  This time, Pooh Bear, Tigger, and Elmo Bones joined us wearing their breakfast best: underpants and bibs.  Little Buddy keeps a strict dress code at the table!

Even though Little Buddy's cheeks were so swollen (I can feel the point of another molar pushing through!) and he was a little grumpy, we still managed to have a good day.  We got to visit Mr. R, Ms. L, J, and Baby E when we took a couch over to them.  Little Buddy had a great time playing with J, and then we made his day by incorporating a stop at Old Navy into our errands.  He really, really loves playing with the Old Navy dog mannequin.  He won't even leave it to shop, so Daddy stood there with him while I picked out our purchases.

He could be content to stand here and talk to the dog for hours.

Since the next day was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Little Buddy had the day off from school so we got to go to boot camp together.  I was so excited to get a Monday with him, I decided to pack a picnic for us and make it a morning.  We fed the ducks, played in sand, and enjoyed our lunch.  It was a great time!

Playing in the sand with Little C.

Making friends and taking turns.

After playing for a while, he came over to grab my hand, and lead me back to our blanket.  "Lunch please, Mama." 

After naptime, it was such a nice day, I thought we could do our art time outside.  We laid our drop cloth down and started to paint.  It's hard sometimes for me to just be ok with making messes, but some days you just need to let the creativity flow.

Painting magnets.

Just letting messes happen...

...for our awesome creations!

Definitely bath time!

We closed the day with a reading of Little Buddy's current favorite book, But No Elephants!  It was Daddy's when he was little and our little guy is obsessed with it.  He talks nonstop about the elephant eating cherries.  I am sure when people overhear us, they are mystified by our conversations!

Elephant!

Daddy and I finished the day by doing something we've never done before: canning!  We made some homemade applesauce and actually managed to preserve some.  It was kind of neat.  We're hoping to eventually preserve some pasta sauce.

Heating the jars...

Success!

The week continued on with more furry friends at meal time, fun at the park, and tasty treats with my Little Buddy.

Frog was required to wear underwear, a bib, and socks on his front feet for meal time.  I don't ask questions.

Clapping and singing on his "stage" at the park.

Helping mix up the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips for our cookies while Momma takes care of the more delicate ingredients, like the eggs.

It really is a joy baking with him!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor!

Taking his "waiter" obsession to a new level.  He is using one of my trivets to as a tray to deliver the orders now.  Glad he is preparing for a job in the food services industry!

Enjoying some tasty cannoli at Grimaldi's.  I think he is going to love them as much as Daddy!

Little Buddy has been saying the phrase "Happy Home" a lot lately.  I am never sure if he is just implying if he is happy to be home or if our home is happy, but I am inclined to agree with both sentiments.  Our home is a happy one, and I am glad Little Buddy is happy here.  I think a lot of our happiness stems from the experiences and adventures of this little guy.  Love you, Little Buddy!

Good night, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Saturday 3: Come to me, Cheeseburger!

Another fun week with our little man!  We started off Sunday with church, where Little Buddy called out to Fr. Joe for the entire service.  Glad he is so excited to see him, but I hope he can learn to contain his enthusiasm until the end of Mass.

We were then so excited to go home to prepare for a pancake brunch with Ms. M and her, daughter E!  I am not sure whether Little Buddy was more excited to play with E or to eat pancakes.  I think he loves them both quite a bit.

Staring off the day answering questions from Daddy's book.  Uncle C got this book for Daddy for Christmas.  It is called Q & A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal and it allocates one conversational question a day to ask your child.  This means that after three years, your child will have answered each question three times at three different ages.  I am looking forward to comparing Little Buddy's (sometimes nonsensical) two-year old answers with his three- and four-year old answers!  I am really hoping we can keep it up!

Helping Momma and Daddy prep pancakes in his new cooking tower!

He really loves the new cooking tower, and I love that he is so much safer in it.  I see many fun days of baking ahead of us!

Helping clean the house up for our guests!

Little Buddy and E had such a great time playing, but I am sad to report that I did not manage to get any pictures of them!  Hopefully we will have another playdate soon and capture more memories. 

***

Monday was a big day for us as it was Little Buddy's first day of doing two days a week for school.  He was pretty excited about it; I was a little sad.  I know it is for the best that he goes for both his socialization needs (he talks so much more when speaking to people other than Daddy and myself since he has to work harder for them to decode his toddler speech) and for my homework needs, but I loved our Mondays together and am going to miss them.  He ended up having a great day (which wasn't surprising since as soon as we pulled into the parking lot he called out, "Yay, school!") and I was able to get a lot of stuff accomplished, but I know it will take me a little time to get adjusted.

We started the day with a little geography.  Little Buddy got several new place mats for Christmas, one of which is a map of the United States.  We've been working on showing him where our friends and family live, and he's getting pretty good at locating the states.  He knows that Ms. M lives in Wyoming; that his grandparents live in Ohio; that his Great Granny lives in West Virginia; that Uncle J, Aunt P, and Auntie K live in Kentucky; and that Uncle J, Aunt S, and Baby T live in Florida. 

Happy to be helping Momma cook in his cooking tower after school!  Missed him today!

***

Because I missed him so much on Monday, I was excited to have him with me on Tuesday again.   I think Daddy had missed us too, because he was really looking forward to lunch with us!  What was also very funny today was that, after nap, Little Buddy and I started playing a new game the two of us invented: "Come to Me!"  Wherever Little Buddy was, he would call out "come to me!" and I would bound in and scoop him up.  He thought this was hilarious!  Then we reversed so that he could run to me when I called him.  It was so fun to catch him as he ran toward me.  I am also hoping this trick will come in handy when we are out and about and I need to get him to come back to me (sometimes his selective hearing kicks in).  We shall see.

The long-legged wonder that does NOT want to give up his crib.  Oh well, if he is happy there and sleeps well, I really don't mind too much! 

There's my little guy!

Just chilling at Boot Camp and reading his book.  I love how hanging out in the stroller for an hour at Boot Camp is just the norm for him.  I guess starting at 9 weeks has trained him well!

Walking with Daddy after lunch.

We played with his Sesame Street matching game and his animal flashcards after nap.  The animals were a lot of fun because we would pick one and then pretend that is what we were.  Little Buddy's "elephant" is quite the sight to behold!

Giving Daddy a doctor check-up before bedtime.  I love how much he enjoys using his doctor's kit!

Open wide!

***

Little Buddy went back to school on Wednesday, which was hard for me because he had just been at school!  As I said, I will need some adjustment time.  I missed him bunches, but the teachers told me that he just chattered away with everyone and was very hands-on in the activites, which is great to hear from my formally pretty shy guy.  They did say, however, that he is showing no interest in the potty yet.  I was hoping maybe he showed more interest at school than he did at home, but this doesn't seem to be the case.  The teachers did say that, although the girls were showing interesting last semester, the boys were only now coming around to the idea.  Oh well, when he is ready, I will know!

The other big event of the day was that my classes started back up.  Ugh.  This is my last semester of classes (I still have proposal, comps, and my dissertation to do after this), but it is the first semester I have them on different nights.  Instead of 6 hours straight on Tuesday, I now have 3 hours on Tuesday and 3 hours on Wednesday.  It makes the classes a bit easier to get through, but now I am away from home for two straight evenings.  It doesn't help that Little Buddy has school on Wednesday, because now I don't feel like I get to seem him enough.  Double ugh.  Just one more semester though!!!

***

On Thursday, Little Buddy and I played around the house because I needed to clean and cook because I was hosting my friends for our Mom's Night In that night.  We had a lot of fun playing, especially when Little Buddy found the check book and thought it was an order pad at a restuarant.  He followed me around while I was cleaning, pretending to my waiter, and taking my order.  He was very insistent on their special of the day:

You like...Cheeseburger!

 

We then ran some errands, including a trip to Little Buddy's favorite store...Target!  He even got to pick out his Valentines while we were there.  Sadly, no Charlie Brown, but they did have Scooby-Doo!

A pizza lunch with my favorite lunch date.  Life doesn't get much better than this!

We spent our afternoon on Thursday visiting Ms. B, her son, B, and her new baby boy, E.  Little Buddy and B had a fantastic time playing together and I enjoyed my visit with Ms. B and my cuddles with Baby E.  So sweet!  We will have to set up another playdate soon, since Little Buddy asked for B the whole way home!

***

Our Friday was a pretty routine day, lots of errands since Daddy was home.  However, our Saturday got a little out of control, first with Little Buddy waking up way too early (once at 3 AM ready to play, and then again at 4:40 AM.  We finally gave up around 5 AM and got up.) and then with his refusing to take a nap.  No fun!  Daddy had his first Habitat for Humanity volunteer day, so Little Buddy and I enjoyed our hangout time (minus that whole lack-of-nap business).

I knew we were in for a rough day when I saw this.  A half hour nap in the stroller during Boot Camp means a screwed up day.  And he was out!  I tried and tried to wake him up, but he was too tired from his early morning wake-up call to respond.

Waiting for me at our booth while I filled our drinks at lunch. 

I am such a sucker for our lunch dates.  Because we ate early, the restaurant was pretty empty, so I let him sit in a booth and not in the high chair.  He is doing better sitting in seats and booths unless he gets too distracted to eat or sit still (e.g., when the restaurant is busy or his friends are there).  In those cases, we still use the high chair, or else he tends to fall out of chairs as he reaches out to say hi to someone or to play with his friends.  Today he did excellent and, as I sat there having chatting with my little guy, I was struck by how big he was: sitting in a booth, using a kids' (spillable) cup pretty well, eating his cheeseburger, and holding a conversation.  Where did my little baby go?

I could have really used my little baby to sleep this afternoon, but it wasn't in the cards.  Both Daddy and I were pretty exhausted by the time the day was done and were both happy to put Little Buddy down for an early bedtime.  I think Little Buddy appreciated it too, especially since he was firing on all cylinders for the entire day.  Now that he's out, it's time for me to focus on some laundry and school work!

Good night all,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Saturday 2: Well, Hello There!

So after a chat with my friend, Ms. C, I've updated this blog's title.  I think it is a good fit to this new writing endeavor.  Thanks for the great idea, Ms. C!

It's been a busy week around here as the new year has gotten into full swing.  Little Buddy and I started off the week with a trip to the zoo with our friends on Monday.  It was challenging at times to have so many kiddos, but it was a wonderful outing!  Little Buddy had a great time with his friends!

Starting our day at the zoo with friends!

Forget the animals; these drums are always a huge hit with the kids!

Our little monkeys watching the other monkeys!

Attempting to get a group shot is never easy...

...especially when they would rather be running up and down the ramp!  Honestly, the most randoms things highlight our zoo trips.

We did manage to get a decent pic with all the kiddos a little later in the day.  Such a fun bunch!

Even though Little Buddy ran on full throttle all morning, he thought a quick 30 minute nap in the car on the drive home was enough.  I strongly disagreed, but my reasoning fell on deaf ears.  He was a little grumpy throughout the evening, but he finally went to bed and got his rest.

Since we had such a busy Monday, we decided to keep it more low key on Tuesday.  We managed to get a run in before the rain, and then we worked around the house for a bit.  Laundry was our first priority, which was very disappointing to Cheseny, as he likes nothing more than a good laundry pile.

I don't know why we buy him dog beds.

Little Buddy helping by bringing me laundry for the washer.

Little Buddy's new favorite hangout:  Sitting my bedroom's window sill ("chair!") behind my nightstand ("table!") and turning my clock radio on and off.  I think he is practicing to be a DJ!

We also ventured out to meet our friend, Ms. M, for lunch.  It was raining, so Little Buddy was excited to wear his raincoat again.  We had a lovely lunch with Ms. M and hope to see her and her daughter, E, for a play date this weekend!

Little Buddy and Chesney had been sitting together and were so cute snuggled up next to one another, I ran to get my camera to capture the moment.  Of course, when I came back with my camera, they both got up to come over to me.  Oh well, I got a great picture of Little Buddy's cheese face!

Little Buddy also set the table for us tonight. I think he did a pretty good job with the napkins and silverware.

I was glad I got to spend so much time with Little Buddy on Tuesday because he started back to school on Wednesday.  As much as I know I need the time for homework, I miss my little guy so much when he is away.  I am really dreading him starting on Mondays next week too, but he is excited.  As we pulled into the school parking lot, he yelled out, "Yay, school!"  As long as he is enjoying it, I will remind myself this is a good thing.  But I still miss him.

My lunchbox note for Little Buddy.  Hope to send one with him every school day.

My little stud muffin in his Italy jacket.

The time passed quickly and soon it was time to get my little guy.  His teachers told me he had a great day and was just chattering up a storm.  They also said that they reviewed letters today and he knew everyone they asked him.  He loves his alphabet!

Coming home to play with his new stamp set after his first day back at school.

The weather had been pretty terrible all week, so we were excited when Boot Camp was held at the park on Thursday.  Little Buddy was happy to get outside and run some energy off, and I was happy to let him do it!  We also got to have lunch with Ms. S.  It was nice to see her and we hope to get together with her and Mr. M soon!

 

Starting our day off with our morning Facetime chat with Daddy.  Daddy has a mustache key chain at work that says "Well, hello there!" when you push a button.  Little Buddy loves it and uses his fingers to make his own mustache.  "Ello there!"

Happy boy to be outside again!

Our afternoon was spent visiting Ms. L, J, and meeting Baby E!  Little Buddy and J had a lot of fun playing and Little Buddy was very interested in watching J use the potty.  Little Buddy isn't ready to potty train yet (he really has no awareness of needing to go the bathroom) but I certainly don't mind him taking an interest so that the pieces are in place when he is ready.  Ms. L got some good pictures of us with Baby E!

Our week ended with another outdoor Boot Camp (yay for some nice weather for awhile!), some weekend errands and chores today, and a tinkle in the toilet (I guess all that curiosity in J going potty was more beneficial than I thought.  Still not ready for full on training, but I am certainly not going to discourage his interest).

 

Yay for Little Buddy snuggles!

 

 Like father, like son.  Time for some Home Depot shopping!

Snuggling on the couch together while Daddy gets the TV mounted on the wall.  I will take as many snuggles as I can get!

It was a busy week, but I enjoyed it, even though I had some paper writing and pre-reading for school.  I am worried to see how busy next week will be once classes start next week.  For certain, I am going to have to blog a bit more often, since trying to get everything down from a week on one day is quite a bit of work!  

Goodnight everyone, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma