Mine

The scene when I entered his room after nap today. The paapaa was missing, too. I suspected it was under this pile, but it turned out to be hidden back behind the crib. I don't understand what motivates him to pitch his friends, blankie, and paapaa overboard and I might never.

We took it easy today. I offered to leave the house, but John said, "No!" so I wasn't going to push it. I didn't really have anything specific to do today. We did get out of our PJ's at a decent hour, though. And I made dinner. But that was it besides playing and taking a couple of pictures. He was enjoying his snack after his nap here.

On the subject of language, when he got up this morning we sat in his rocking chair for about half a second when he looked at me, made the sign we use for changing his diaper, and said "change". Then after breakfast, he held out a finger and said "cut". I had told him yesterday that we needed to cut his fingernails. He actually sat still and read a book while I cut all 10 fingernails and 10 toenails. Usually this task requires more distraction, like the computer or the TV.

And I'm afraid the I taught my son a dirty word today, "mine." I know, I know. What was I thinking? I guess I wasn't. John and I were playing with his wooden blocks. We were building towers until they fell down. And he was quite proud of himself that he was able to add blocks without knocking it down. But after a short while, he decided it was more funny just to demolish everything in his site. I continued to try to build a tower, but he would still use one large swipe to take it out. I tried to reason with him. He could play with his block and I would play with mine. "These are mine" was the way I phrased it, I think. And after that, he took another swipe and said "mine." I do wonder if he wasn't somehow influenced by the Sesame Street episode that we saw this morning that featured mine-itis taking over Sesame Street. They said "mine" a lot today. Daddy doesn't this so! Let's just hope this passes!

-EBP-

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Over and Out

He looks so studious here, doesn't he? I guess he'd grown bored with the music videos he was watching and crawled up on the ottoman with a book to read. It amazes me when he does this. For such a busy boy, he often sits quietly and studies something whether it be books, a toy, or the TV.

We survived the last day at camp. We were both BEAT when we got home. Well, he was beat long before we got home. I think the long days really made him miss me, which makes me worry about MDO this fall. I guess we'll cross that bridge when it gets here. Anyway, we made it through. I just didn't realize how much of a toll it would take on me. I'm so glad it's over and I AM glad I did it. It was fun (at times) and I did enjoy the camaraderie, which is something missing here at home everyday. John is making great strides in his speech, but he's not up to adult conversations, yet.

This week has been remarkable in that John went from repeating a few words, mostly correct to repeating just about every word one says, mostly correct. And not just one syllable words, either. He will say please if you remind him and he picked up thank you on his own, I guess from hearing us talk. He does have to be pressed into asking for what he wants, which is frustrating for us. He still just grunts and whines until you pry out of him what it is that he wants. I guess this will come along with the development of recognizing his feelings of being tired or hungry or scared. I think he really impressed his caretakers this week with his expanding vocabulary (although this was likely cancelled by his expanding need of his blankie and paapaa).

Daddy had stepped behind the gate and disappeared around the corner. John noticed this and was pointing to Daddy. Daddy decided to play a trick on John and hide and then poke him from behind the gate. John thought this was great fun as Daddy pulled him under the gate to the other side.

-EBP-

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Will we survive the week?

He's looking thrilled, huh? He woke this morning and was quiet as a mouse. I didn't even know he was already awake until I headed in there to wake him at 745a. He was eating some breakfast when I caught him looking so. We finished up breakfast and hurried out the door. He was OK today, but the nursery ladies said you could really tell the week was wearing on him. He kept looking toward the door. When I picked him up today, he was carrying around a metal spring. I'm not sure where it came from, but they said it made him happy so they weren't going to rock the boat! Also, he didn't eat much today. So when we got home I fed him the rest of his lunch. He was definitely hungry by that time. My hope was that he would nap better and be happier when he woke.

And he did. He woke without a sound and wasn't immediately whining or clamoring for food. As Dad was extricating him from his chair after dinner, Dad mentioned (sang really) part of the Imagination Movers song. So when JHP was finally on the floor, he ran to the TV. We did not watch TV at all this morning and he's really seen less than about 15 minutes each day all week. Since I have some Movers on the VCR, I put it on for him. He sat with rapt attention watching almost all of it. When the show was ending, John started dancing to the music. This is a picture that Daddy caught of him "turn(ing) around, turn (ing) around" as the song directs. I love this smile!

Just one more day of camp! I'm beat. I'm not used to standing on my feet all day. And I think my patience is almost gone. I just about lost it with John this afternoon when we got home. I realized that my son is almost at stubborn as some of the kids in my class. I don't think I'm looking forward to the next few years if this is what's in store. I'm thankful that I have only one, not ten!

-EBP-

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Daddy took pictures!

Daddy felt moved to take a picture today on John. Without being asked. Cool! Especially since I had taken pictures for camp, but none for home. John took this after dinner tonight. When John got the camera out, JHP looked at it and said "Picture?" This is a new word for him, although not a foreign one since, um, pictures are everyday occurrences here, you know? (It still amazes when he comes up with things I've never heard him say.) I had come from the kitchen (see the Ove Glove in my hand) where I was putting away dinner to get John to stay in one place for Daddy to snap some more pictures. Daddy tends to take a bit longer than I to compose his shots. I guess that's just his comfort level with my camera.

John woke from his nap in basically the same mood as yesterday, although not as bad. We survived dinner and I took some time out to go to a little girlie thing by myself. Daddy had bedtime duty. While I was gone, they went to enjoy some (hot) fresh air and sunshine, which I'm sure JHP needed after being cooped up for a two days now. Only two more to go...then we can sleep in and stay in our PJ's until noon if we want.

-EBP-

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Three more to go

I took 4 pictures today. One was out of focus so I tossed it, leaving me with three. There were all taken this morning when I had to wake John so we wouldn't be late. The auto focus woke him. So instead of a cute sleeping picture, I got this.

So, at John N.'s suggestion, I'll do a flashback to last year. This was taken on July 28, 2008. JHP was rolling over, but not sitting up on his own yet. And he had so little hair and not because he'd just been to the salon. Other shots from the day show that he was drooling a lot, although you can't tell it from this picture. It's so hard to believe that the too-cute-for-his-britches little boy that's sleeping in the other room used to look like this. My, how he's grown!

The reason I had to wake John this morning was that I have volunteered at the church Monday through Thursday this week from 830a - 230p. I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking straight when I signed up. This runs into John's nap time and requires us to be up and gone before we normally would, even back when we were going to MDO. Today we made it there on time, but I didn't get John home until almost 3oop and he fell asleep on the way home. Poor thing woke after only an hour and 45 minutes and was real clingy to me (more so than normal). He didn't want Daddy. After trying to get him calm, I managed to get some food down him which improved the mood a little. I'm going to try to get off a bit early tomorrow and see if a longer nap helps, although I'm wondering if just being separated from me for such a long time during the day is part of the issue. I'm helping out in the Pre-K area with a 3/4 yr-old classroom. God Bless those teachers that do it year round! I think I'll be lucky to survive the week and John's tour through that age-group. Only three more days!
-EBP-

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Goodbye, Nana's House! Hello, Home!

We spent this morning as we usually do here and then hurried out for church. JHP was in a one of his moods, in that he didn't want anyone to hold him but me, not even Daddy at first. But he did warm up enough later for me to snap some pics of him and Nana. I tried to get one of John and Papa Jim, but I was too slow with the camera.

They were obviously having a conversation here. I thought it was funny that they both had the same look on their face!

Nana took some pictures of John and me while we were watching Imagination Movers. In some of the pictures, it's real obvious we are glued to the TV.

After church we went to lunch and then we came to back to their house to get packed up. John was kinda fussy, but really all he wanted to do was climb around on their deck. I swear he'd be happy if I banished him outside, but only if I was there all the time, too. He definitely has a comfort zone! Right before we left, I grabbed this shot of John with Nana and Papa Jim. There were some other good shots of John and Nana, too.

We said our goodbyes and then got on the road. We drove straight through again. John fell asleep after about 10 minutes and slept for about two and half hours, which was more than on the way down. When he woke he had a little snack and some water and then got a little fidgety. I popped in a DVD which held his attention for about 1/2 hour. I appeased him with some books for the rest of the trip. Overall, he traveled pretty well, especially since he slept through most of the car ride. But I was thankful we had borrowed a DVD player from SNBNA. I think we'll have to invest in one of our own. And he slept and napped great throughout the trip. It was a really good visit!

We were all happy to see home and we'll all appreciate sleeping in our own beds tonight. And John enjoyed playing with some of his "old favorite" toys that he hadn't seen in a few days.

-EBP-

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A sunny day

I wrote about John playing some games on the computer some while back. As we enjoyed our lazy morning here, John wanted to see what I was doing. So, I thought I'd let him sit on my lap and play some games, under my watchful eye. He enjoyed playing the games I found on the Fisher Price website. He most enjoyed the when I sang the ABC's for him.

After we all got dressed, John, John, and I walked a block over to a nearby park. It was suited for slightly older kids, but he still had fun. He was very cautious, even crawling across this little bridge. But he still climbed all the way to the top of all the areas, and then slowly backed his way down.

Finally, I was able to convince him to slide down one of the slides. He seemed to have fun, although Daddy saw his face. I was up at the top with him. I had to convince him to try again. And he did, but after that he decided different one was a better idea.

We tried a couple more. And while we were perched at the top of one of the slides, Great Aunt Charlotte showed up. At the park. We played at little more and then headed back to the house for some A/C.

My son's an oxymoron. Last night he was making friends with all the folks in the restaurant and today, he acted all shy around Charlotte. He's so funny. He practically climbed up my legs. I guess that's just a toddler for you!

-EBP-

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John's first trip to the beach

We headed out to the bay front this morning to a place called McGee Beach. It's a large expanse of sand 10-12 very large steps down from the shoreline road along Corpus Christi Bay. John enjoyed walking across the sand . Daddy had walked to the water's edge. John followed.

While he was a bit hesitant at first, he eventually walked into the water. It felt really nice, much cooler than the neighborhood pool. Very refreshing! They walked quite a ways out. JHP held his own even though the wind was picking up making the waves something for him to reckon with at times. Even when Daddy or I squatted down into the water, the water pushed us around quite a bit. He did take a tumble into the water. I think he was somewhat taken aback by the salty water, as it took him a little while to recover from the dunk. After that, he had a tight grip on Daddy's hand, which is quite unusual. He did enjoy splashing around and taking in the "big pool", as Daddy called it. On the way back to shore, he did let go of Daddy and managed his way back on his own. He seemed to have a healthy respect for the water.

Next we took some time to play in the sand. Daddy showed John how to use the bowl as mold and JHP showed him how to smash it. John rarely gets to play in the sand. We have sand at the neighborhood park, but I don't like sand. So, as a result I'm very hesitant to let him play. He enjoyed using the spoon to push the sand around.

A family walked by with the women trailing. They commented how cute John was. He smiled and them rubbed his sandy hand across his face. Oops! Oddly enough, this didn't really bother him. But to head off any issues, we went to rinse him off.

Then it was time to play some more in the sand. A little while later I guess he was going to clean off one of his sandy thumbs. So, he stuck it in his mouth. And made a series of bad faces. Then he was most receptive to the offer of a drink of water.

I made John take a few pictures so that history would show I was actually there - in the sand. Earlier, I had put the camera up and came to sit with John playing in the sand. At one point John climbed up into my non-sandy lap and rubbed his very sandy self all over me. After that, I had no choice but to actually get in the water and rinse off.

It took some effort to get us all ready to get back on the car. We all got rinsed off and then I carried JHP back to the car. We got him changed and loaded into the car and headed home. We went smart enough to take some water to rinse our feet. So, we'll need to vacuum the car out to rid it of the sand we tracked in.

The weather here is pretty nice. It's been cooler than at home and it's been really breezy, which is fairly normal for Corpus Christi. This evening was really nice. We sat outside and let John play around.

John has enjoyed the visit so far. He slept well last night and took a good nap today. He's found all kinds of things to get into and has really enjoyed the little Nemo stool that Nana has. He has experimented with using it alternate ways. He likes to say hello to the animals by waving his hand in front of them and saying, "Hi!"

Tonight we went to eat some pizza at a local joint. JHP attracted some attention from a very pregnant lady. After we'd finished dinner, Dad liberated him from the high chair. I was chatting with the pregnant lady and JHP came over to visit, too. As I chatted, JHP wandered around talking with all kinds of folks in the restaurant. He was not knowing too many strangers tonight.
My little social butterfly!

-EBP-

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Going to Nana's House

While John N. and I were busy trying to get us out the door, John H. took some time to look into plastics cabinet. Today, he found this little Tupperware bowl, set it upon his head, called it a hat, and started walking around the house.

We finally made it out of the house about noon. Since it was so late, we stopped for lunch first. Within minutes of getting on the freeway, JHP quit fighting the weight of his eyelids. He slept for about 45 minutes and then woke for a few. He didn't say much and drifted off again. All total he slept for at least 1 hr 15 minutes, although it might have been longer. He was quiet when he woke and he wasn't in too much of a hurry to give up his paapaa and his blankie. We snacked after that and watched some DVD's. He was only real fussy for the last 20 minutes or so.

Nana wasn't home yet but Papa Jim was when we got there. JHP was very happy to be out of the car seat and even happier to be on two feet exploring the house. We went to great Nana when she got home. John was fairly friendly, which I was glad to see. I was afraid he'd be really clingy. He was helping me empty the ice chest, when he decided that it was lots of fun to carry around a chunk of ice. As it was melting fast and he was showing no signs of giving it up, we sent him outside to let it melt. After the novelty of the ice wore off, he found other things to play with, like this broom.

After the travel and all the excitement of the day, he was so ready for bed. Hopefully he sleeps well.

-EBP-

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Squeaky, squeaky

As we were getting ready to go this morning, john took some time out to check out the stool. I'm surprised at how tall he is now. It seems like just yesterday he was just barely looking over the top rungs. I think the stools got switched around the last time I mopped because John usually finds the squeaky rungs on the stool. He very methodically went all around the first stool trying the three exposed top rungs (he skipped the one nearest the wall) and then he reversed his direction and tried them again. He had this look of confusion. You could see the wheels turning. I think I distracted him and so he never checked the other stool.

We went to Jennifer and B's house today for a play date. I think we all had fun. John especially enjoyed the stairs they have in their house. Up and down and up and down he went. Look at him go!

After nap, I set the tripod up to capture some quiet time between the two of us. Trouble is, John was quite distracted by the fact that the camera was going off (with flash) without me behind it. Every time I would fire is remotely, he would say, "Uh-Oh!" I did get one cure smile, even if I had to kiss it out of him!

Tomorrow we are off to see Nana and Papa Jim in Corpus Christi. Hopefully we get packed and out of here at a decent hour and hopefully JHP endures the trip easily and enjoys a long afternoon nap. I should be able to post while I'm gone, but I'll upload to WebAlbums once I'm home.

-EBP-

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Riding along

One of John's daily items on his checklist is to strip the pillow and blankets off the rocking chair in his room and climb up and rock. He does this almost everyday now. At first, we had to help him up, but just in the last week or so, he can climb up on most any chair without our help. Yesterday, when he did this, Daddy went to check on him and found him with his leg propped up in the chair, tapping his foot. I guess that means it might be time for Grandma to ship Daddy's little rocking chair to our house. (Since I know you read this - let's talk before you do, OK?)

The neighbor girls came over today to play with John. I was doing some laundry and John had to take time out from playing to help me put it in the washer. His ulterior motive was to steal the laundry basket. And somehow he managed to convince the girls to carry him around in the basket. I think they enjoyed it, too. They actually put a chair cushion in there for him to sit on! Then they used it to make a tunnel over the space between the couch and the coffee table in the den. John found it quite fun to stand up and stare out through the holes in the side. Hours later, he still found the basket entertaining, this time hopping in and playing pass the ball back and forth with Daddy. He eventually grabbed some pillows and put them in the basket, too, all the while practicing how to say "pillow".

He did take a break to show Daddy where his nose was (pictured) and where his ear was. And John knows knee, elbow, and toes, too. Some days I am so impressed at how smart he is!

-EBP-

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The Rocking Chair

John was pooped this afternoon and napped for almost 3.5 hrs. We had gone to UBC for me to do some scrapping and John to do some playing. We both enjoyed ourselves and made it home just in time for a nap. And he was ready. There was no complaining. I asked him if he wanted a nap and he headed for his room. I love these days, not that he is normally difficult to put down. Sometimes you just have to lure him into his room with the promise of the paapaa and then initiate the nap process. He hasn't quite figured me out yet. I rue the day he does.

We had a repairman in looking at the fridge around 500p and he wasn't the quietest guy. So I figured John was be waking soon. I thought maybe I'd heard him about 515p, so I went in quietly and he still had his little rump up in the air, snoozing away. A few minutes later, John came home and then JHP woke. When he wakes up, whether in the morning or from a nap, I usually at least offer to sit in the chair and rock him (since I'm the pushover Mom). Most days, he wants the cuddle time and it allows him to wake up a bit more or calm down if he's been crying. Usually, when he's ready, he'll either point toward the bed to get changed or just scamper out of your hold and down to the floor to find something to get into. I'm not sure that Daddy always takes the time to sit with him when he plucks him from the crib. Sometimes, I think it directly affects JHP's mood. John was a little upset when he woke today. So, Daddy did sit with him today. I've been meaning to capture this special time. My plan is to set up the tripod and capture John and me together. But today, I caught Daddy and John. He likes to snuggle or talk or check out your face. Sometimes, he's quiet and sometimes quite talkative. Today, he was a little of all that.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday - we weighed John yesterday morning and he weighed 25.8 lbs.

-EBP-

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Hats!

John loves to wear hats. I'm not sure if this came from the fact that we tried to make various non-hats into hats when he was younger or if it's because he sees Daddy wear one occasionally. Regardless, he likes to wear hats. Today as Daddy was in his closet choosing clothes for church, John stole a hat (or three) off the hat rack. He always gets the same ones because they are at his height. Today the hat of choice was the old Indians ball cap. He ran around with it until Dad stole it back so we could go to church.

After his nap, Daddy was getting ready for dinner when John eyed the cap. Daddy got it down for him and resized it so that it would kind of fit the boy. They spent a few minutes taking it off each other and putting it back on. John made sure Daddy knew he appreciated the time he was spending with him. He's so lovable sometimes!

Dinner was our regular Sunday night Mexican. John enjoyed his rice and beans and flirted with the next table over. He even blew them kisses when they were leaving. John gave away Momma's kisses to perfect strangers! He and I need to talk!

-EBP-

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