Me and him

I couldn't compete with Sesame Street for most of these shots.

But I did manage one cheesy smile where he's looking at the camera.

To pass some time today (and buy cat litter), we went to the pet store. John likes to see the animals, especially the fish. On our second pass through the fish, we noticed that they had some clown fish, Nemo to John. So we took a picture. It's hard to tell, but there are some small orange clown fish in the tank behind him. After the pet store we enjoyed a leisurely lunch and a short trip to the Amish furniture store.

After nap, John suggested we take a picture together. I quickly set up the self timer and put the camera on the diaper box. After two shots though, John was done. I was kinda surprised I got that many.

The day was pretty pleasant overall. Lately, it's been that on the days he naps at home, he's so much better in the afternoon / evening. On the other days, it's been pretty rough around dinnertime, this week at least. I'm not sure what has changed. It hasn't always been this way. But we only have about two more weeks of MDO. Hopefully, we can survive that long. And maybe, just maybe, things will change again. They always do, you know.

-EBP-

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A day off

I've decided to take a day off from blogging. I don't even have any pictures to show you. I promise I'll have something for you tomorrow.

-EBP-

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Big Head & Little Ball

Today was a very good day! There were no major complaints from anyone. And I heard very little crying/whining from John. It was so nice. We did make a trip out to Target, where we picked up a couple of things for John. First, he got a new bike helmet. We've been using a hand me down from June that wasn't exactly gender neutral. But more than that, it seemed really tight on John's head. So after trying a 5 yr+ helmet on his head, I decided I'd stick with that size. It fits snugly, but doesn't seem too tight. It's got some really cool green bugs on top! And kinda sparkles when light hits certain swirls in the paint (you can't tell from this photo). Best of all, John likes it. He wore it for quite a while this evening around the house while he was playing. Tomorrow we'll take it for a test drive.

The second thing we bought today was a mini basketball. This is not a toy. It feels just like a full size, except it's a mini. We spent a good part of our playtime together practicing our dribbling. John gets a bit frustrated, but I think I have him convinced that he has to practice in order to get better. "Even Momma has trouble dribbling, too.", I told him. I see many a finger kissing in my future just based on today's experience. Do you all remember what it's like to jam your finger, even lightly, on a basketball?

-EBP-

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Current Events

After we came in from our bike ride this afternoon, John spotted this noodle in the garage and HAD to have it. I didn't feel like arguing. So, in it came. And he mildly played with it, all the while glued to the TV and Little Einsteins (Imagination Movers and Chuggington, too!).

John pulled his (becoming) normal tantrum during dinner. Tonight we tried a different tactic, which was no more effective than the one we tried last night. As a last ditch effort we managed to distract him enough to suggest some books to read. After the reading was over, John did relent and eat some more of his dinner.

The latest backyard toys are these 3 wood stumps Daddy cut from the Bradford Pears last week. John uses them mostly as, what else, drumsticks. The neighbors haven't complained - yet!

To continue with the drumming theme... A long while back we decided to just let John climb out of the tub on his own and we'd dry him off there in the bathroom, as opposed to our traditional approach of wrapping him in the towel and whisking him off to the bedroom for drying and dressing. Shortly after we started this, John discovered the the toilet lid makes an excellent drum. Unfortunately, he doesn't just stand there and drum. He's got to hop around and beat at the same time. This makes the drying portion of the task very difficult (and frustrating for the dryer!). I'm sure that this won't last forever and I'll miss it when he doesn't do it anymore, but when it's the end of a long day even the short 5 minutes of silliness is too much.

-EBP-

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Mr. Fix It

SNBNA handed down a really cool child seat that attaches to the back of my bike. After our grocery trip today, we took a long ride around the neighborhood. I had mentioned to John that we'd go fast enough for the wind to keep us cool. So, he kept reminding me to make some wind. I didn't want to wear myself out on our first long-ish trek so i kept it on the easy side. I do expect us to spend a lot of time on the bike, giving me some much needed exercise. When first we put John on it last Friday, he commented, "This is so much fun!" He really likes the experience, although he's referring to it as a "back ride" instead of a bike ride. We are working on it.

After the ride, he rather enjoyed "fixing" all the parts he thought needed some work. He took his trusty make-shift screwdriver (a twig) and addressed every screw he could find, telling me it was all fixed when he was done. Later we got his Handy Manny tools and he worked on it again, along with anything else he could find in the garage that might have needed some work.

He doesn't understand that the bicycle is not stable enough for him to pull on. He managed to knock it down once today while working on it. Thankfully, he was on the other side from the direction it fell.

Something he's saying with more frequency: "I have a big puwobwem." (Not a typo "problem"- he really says it like that!) But he doesn't know what that means. However, he does know that it attracts our attention. If he wants you to do something, he'll tell you he has a puwobwem.

John's making up sounds, songs and words more often these days. I'm not sure if he's imitating someone at school, but he comes up with some things that we've never heard of, usually in reference to his jumping. He's very sing-songy most of the time. And often he'll break into song while he's playing or riding in the car. His favorite song right now is Jesus Loves Me.

He continues to try our patience at every turn. And long crying fits often occur if he's hungry, tired, and doesn't get his way - a bad combination for evenings. Mealtimes take a beating if we are home. It's no fun sitting through a meal with a screaming child, even if he's in another room! I hope this too shall pass.

-EBP-

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Sleeping Beauty

It's been a very long time since I've posted a "sleeping in the crib" photo. It's not often that we have to wake him up. And he usually wakes up as soon as the camera makes any noise. Not this afternoon, however. He actually slept through at least three shots which included the use of the red focus aid. He'd been asleep almost 3 hours. But he was up early today (before seven which rarely happens) and he was still awake at 945p last night when I went to check on him before I climbed in bed. Of course, he wasn't real happy with me when he finally woke because I had a camera pointed in his face. A bit of whining ensued.

Daddy joined us in John's room for a bit of playtime before we headed out for dinner. Not the best photo, but I love the little wrinkled nose that John has in response to something Daddy was saying.

I like this one, too, capturing the conversation between father and son.

I don't think there's much to say about this one. Do you?

-EBP-

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A BooBoo!

We spent most of the morning outside working in the yard. It's much harder with JHP around. One of our eyes must always be looking for him. We are working on the the concept of "if you can't see me, then I can't see you." It's not there, yet. But we made some major progress on the front bed and all enjoyed the really nice weather.

After lunch we took some time to let our lunch settle and talked with MawMaw via Skype. I think John N gets as big a thrill out of talking to and seeing his mother as John H does out of seeing his grandmother. After we were done, we headed back out to work.

We did manage to get all the edging (that we had) installed. We lack only a little piece near the side fence. Unfortunately, while I allowed JHP to"help" me hammer in the stakes, we had an accident. He kept carrying the rubber mallet around, calling it a "big Pat". When I needed it to hammer in the stakes, I'd invite him to sit on my lap and we'd hammer together. During one instance, he shifted and took his hands off the mallet and I raised it too high and it hit him in the cheek. Oops! And he cried. Poor guy! We went it to put some ice on it and he rebounded quickly. This is what it looked like after his nap. Not as bad as I thought. Note to self: having John help is not always the wisest idea!

-EBP-

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Mirror, Mirror

"Roar like a lion!"

"Peek-a-boo!"

"I like to watch myself in the mirror! I'm funny!"

We took some time before bath to take some pictures. John was quite busy checking himself out in the mirror. Most of these were shot as a reflection in the mirror. I hated the way they looked in color. The color was whacked out! So I turned them B&W and I kind a like them this way. I put both up on the WebAlbums.

-EBP-

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Jumping and Wicket

John asked to jump on the bed this afternoon. We didn't have much to do and Daddy was going to be late, so I relented. He grabbed the blanket out of the den and climbed up on the bed. He jumped for a couple of minutes and then started talking to Wicket. It was a strange day because, even with all the jumping, Wicket was still sitting on the bed. Very odd for our little scared-y cat who usually runs at the slightest fast movement!

As we talked I told him how jumping on the bed would scare her. Before too long, John wanted me to tell her to get off HIS bed so that he could jump. I made sure to tell him that this was not HIS bed and that she could sit there if she liked.

He even tried to tell her, but you can tell she's ignoring him.

He continued to talk with her and I until finally, she did get off the bed. He then got down to some serious jumping. I was kind of surprised how careful he was with her on the bed. I guess my scolding about scaring the cat has finally taken root. Wicket was quite wary about him, but seemed to tolerate his presence better today than most others.

-EBP-

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Wordless Wednesday: Bloomin' Edition

-EBP-

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Sticks

John and the beanstalks. We put this trellis up on Saturday and already the plants are using it. If you look closely (click the collage to make it bigger), you'll see that one of them has climbed higher than John is tall.

We went through the acorn phase. Now we are in the stick phase. When we go for walks, John likes to pick up sticks (twigs, really). These two we found yesterday on our walk. He wanted them inside, but I convinced him they would be better on the back porch. He was excited to see them again when I pointed them out after dinner tonight.

He found the ground soft enough that he could stick them in an old ant mound. I'm pretty sure that one of these days a not-so-old ant mound will get poked and John will discover why we've been warning him to stay away from the ant piles. He can recognize them. But more than once on our walk yesterday we happened across a pile that had been built in the sidewalk crack. He took great steps to be sure and walk on the mound. Some things he'll just have to learn for himself. No amount of warnings from Momma are going to do the job.

-EBP-

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This boy...

This little boy is about to drive his parents to the loony bin! It seems that the closer to bedtime we get, the wilder and crazier he gets. He won't listen because he's too busy bouncing off the walls. We decided not to give him his Zyrtec tonight in hopes that it might be the culprit. But, alas, no difference from last night, really. He did quiet much sooner tonight and we did not have to go back in at all. Calgon, take me away!

-EBP-

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Jumping on the bed

It was just me and John this morning getting ready for church. Daddy had to go to work again. We were all dressed and ready to go. But we had some time to kill before we needed to leave. There really isn't a point in leaving early because we won't find a parking space. I'm not sure what I was doing, but I heard John call from my bedroom, "Come see, Mommy!" This is what I found. He was on the bed. And I didn't help him get there. I didn't know he could get up there by himself. But he did. And now we'll have to be extra careful that he doesn't go jumping around on it when we aren't there to watch him.

I'm not sure what's worse: John having a total meltdown at bedtime or totally bouncing off the walls so bad he won't listen. Both are equally frustrating, but I think I'd rather deal with the meltdown. The last several nights have been such that John is just absolutely wired at bedtime. We've had to go in 2-3 times every night to tell him to calm down because he's jumping around in his bed. And don't even expect to find him in the pajama bottoms you've just put on him. After he's expelled everything else from his bed, the pants are the next to go. I didn't even bother putting them back on tonight nor did Daddy last night. And when we woke this morning, I heard two things over the monitor. "Open the door, please" and "Put my pants back on." Never a dull moment here.

-EBP-

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