Day 31: Monkeying Around

Well, it had to happen sooner or late.  Little Buddy is finally becoming quite the Little Monkey.

Little Buddy had never been much of a climber, which was great news since I was a devious climber as a kid.  I think I only pulled one or two bookcases down on me during my toddler climbing days, but that was plenty.  I think I was still pregnant when I made my husband secure all possible climbing structures to the walls, certain the baby would be born and head straight to the nearest foothold.

He thankfully proved me wrong.  My cautious little man was not a climber...his little legs barely got him up the stairs at the playground.  He never wanted up on the couch.  He rarely got into the chair.  Then today, I walk into the living room to this:

Spiderman!

"Did these hands do this?!  Wow!  Wonder what else I can do?" 

It was like a switch went on in his head, "Hey, I can climb this!"  After this discovery, I could barely keep him on the floor.  All of these new little tricks.  Can't wait to see what he pulls out next.

The rest of the day was spent playing with the dog...

Brothers.  :)

We're best buddies!

And flapping around in oven mitts.  Turns out this is the most hilarious activity ever.

What a kid.

Night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 30: Twist & Shout

Today Little Buddy learned a new trick and now jars with screw caps are no longer an obstacle to him.  He now has the dexterity of a raccoon, along with the mischievousness of one.  Not ten minutes after discovering this new skill, he was already getting into trouble.

If you can't tell from the picture, that is my Clinique powder he is covered in.  There was quite the pile on the carpet too.  He was also very proud of himself for remembering that you need to use a makeup brush with the powder.  Between his infectious giggles, he continued to dust himself with powder.

Obviously, we need to have him watch Daddy get ready in the morning.

We did get to have lunch with Daddy today.  We ate a Zoe's Cafe and Little Buddy was the hit of the restaurant.  He flirted with every waitress and grandma in the place.  No one can resist him when he blows kisses to them.  :)

Have a great night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 29: Under Construction

Today we started a bit late, since our natural alarm clock actually slept in until 6:30 AM, but we still made it to church.

Afterward, Uncle C came up and he, Daddy, and Little Buddy began construction on the pirate ship playhouse.  The first step was digging some holes:

Then we need to check the depth...

Zombie baby!

"Here Chesney, give me a paw and pull me out..."

So at the end of the day, holes are dug and two posts are set.  And so begins the saga of the Becky's Revenge...

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy
PS:  To follow along on with the construction of Little Buddy's pirate ship, The Becky's Revenge, please check out my husband's blog (yeah, he's a total copycat, but I'm letting it go) at http://beckysrevengeepic.blogspot.com/

Day 28: Baby You Can Drive My Car

This morning I had to get up to run before Little Buddy woke up, so by the time I met him at swim class, I was really missing him.  I love the big hugs he gives me when he hasn't seen me all morning though!

He had a lot of fun at swim class, but the best was yet to come.  See, Little Buddy LOVES the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe.  Any time we go visit anyone that has one, Little Buddy would rather say in that car than actually come out and play with his friends!  We were planning on getting him one this spring, but the weather here has been so warm we decided to get it now since we have been playing outside so much.  So when we got home from swimming, Little Buddy had an early Valentine's Surprise waiting for him:

Little Buddy and his first car.

The dude.

Thank you kisses for Mommy and Daddy!

Daddy got a video of him actually seeing the car for the first time, and it is great to hear the delight in his voice!  We had a great afternoon of driving around the backyard!  Now it won't be long until he sets his sights on Daddy's Mustang...

Night all,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 27: Everybody Poops...And Normally at the Most Inopportune Times

Caution:  If you don't want to read anything about baby excrement, no matter how mild this post is, stop now.  Sorry if it is taboo, but once you have kids, poo just becomes a daily topic of conversation.  I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it until now.  You've been warned...



Little Buddy and I were on a roll this morning.  Not only had we gotten up, eaten our breakfast, and gotten dressed, but I was also able to empty the dishwasher and do a few loads of laundry!  This a really accomplishment with a toddler in the house and I was so excited because we might even make it early to Baby Boot Camp (an accomplishment I rarely achieve)!  I packed the truck, even remembering to bring a lunch for Little Buddy, and came to do my last task:  Change his diaper.

This is always my last task right before I walk out of the door.  I have learned from experience not to change him 15, 10, or even 5 minutes before we leave because he will certainly fill his diaper again before we walk out the front door.  Since he had already wet and dirtied several diapers this morning, I assumed I would have a quick diaper change and we would be out the door.  I was wrong.

He had pooped.  Majorly pooped.  In a cloth diaper, of course (we cloth diaper at home and use disposables while we are out), which requires a lot more initial clean up effort than his Pampers.  Oh well.  Leaving early was just a fleeting dream anyway.  Maybe one day.  *sigh*

On the bright side of this morning, we had a bit of a miracle.  About two weeks ago, we realized that we had lost our handheld video camera.  I hate losing things, so this had been driving me nuts.  After looking high and low for it, my husband came to the conclusion that Little Buddy had probably gotten ahold of it and thrown it in the trash or recycling and we, none the wiser, had thrown it away.  I decided to give it one last ditch effort before I threw in the towel, so I called in the big guns:  A quick prayer to St. Anthony.  I prayed last night and called my parents and asked them to as well, just hoping against hope to recover the camera.  I also added a quick request for a lost sock that had been driving me crazy as well.

This morning, during our super productive streak, I was I folding laundry and Little Buddy was playing.  I noticed he had something odd in his hands, so I asked him to bring it to me.  It.  Was.  The.  Video.  Camera.  I was in shock.  I have no idea where it came from, but I am truly thankful that it rematerialized.  Thank you St. Anthony!

We had fun the rest of the day.  We made it to Boot Camp (before the end of the warm up, no less, so there was a bit of success there) and then went to lunch with friends to send off our friends who are moving to California.  Before lunch, however, I changed Little Buddy's diaper in the back of the car.  After we were done, I sat him down in the car while I put the changing items back into the diaper back.  Then this progression of events happened:

"Where are you going Little Buddy?"

"Little Buddy..."

"I want to drive!"

Having fun driving the car (before he was put back into his carseat, an action with which he very vocally disagreed.)

He was a tired little boy when we got home.  He slept for a little bit while I unloaded the truck, but then woke up angry.  I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms.  I decided that my shower could wait...

Even when you are sweaty and gross, there is nothing better than cuddling a sleeping baby. :)

Night all,

VTB

Day 26: We Will Play!

So there was a simple plan for today:  Meet some friends for a run, then go to the free open house at Wonderwild (an area indoor playground that Little Buddy loves) and let our little rugrats play.  Of course things didn't go to plan.

We did get our run in, but when we went to Wonderwild, it was so packed they had already filled to capacity.  Silly me, I thought they would actually organize some type of wristband system to allow the large amounts of kids that they HAD to be anticipating to use the facility safely and effectively.  I was wrong.  Kids were crawling all over everything like ants on sugar cubes.  Honestly, I don't know how it wasn't a fire hazard.

Thankfully, Wonderwild was smart enough to save itself from an angry mom mob by handing out free visit coupons.  We pocketed our coupons and decided to head over to the Children's Museum to play instead, since all the little ones were getting pretty restless.

Little Buddy LOVES the Children's Museum.  While not nearly as big or extensive as the one downtown, this one does have a miniature house in it, complete with kitchen.  Little Buddy loves to play in that house. He cooks, he cleans, and does the grocery shopping.  Any hope that these inclinations will stay as he grows up?

Little Buddy returning from the grocery store and sweeping off the front porch.

After the Children's Museum, we decided to all head to lunch.  The restaurant had to be scared when they saw us...4 moms and 6 kids!  It was quite the exciting lunch.  The whole day was so exciting, in fact, that this is what I had once I got home:

Nap time!

Now speaking of sleep...Night!

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 25: Cooking School

Today is Wednesday, so Little Buddy had to go to school.  Before we left, though, he wanted to show off his fashion skills:

I call this one "Blue Steel."

He was so obsessed with my scarf this morning.  So cute.

After school, we came home and worked on our zoology.  Did you know that giraffes eat red peppers?

 They also like to be spoon-fed soup...

"Hmm...do giraffes like plums?"

Little Buddy was on such a roll with his culinary creations, he offered to make our dinner as well...

I mean, who doesn't like lemon, red pepper, peach, and waffle soup?

I love this kid.

Night all,

VTB

Day 24: The Challenge Begins

Little Buddy fell asleep when I went to drop him off with Daddy before I went to class today.  My sweet little boy.

Now that classes have started again, the real challenge of maintaining this blog comes into play.

Wish me luck!

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 23: Toddler Trances

Just a quick post because it is late and I am tired!

Little Buddy and I went to BBC at the park today, which was great because the weather was wonderful and we still had some leftover crackers for the ducks.  Little Buddy was really getting into feeding the ducks today...a few times he successfully threw them the crackers (after several near successful attempts of trying to run in the lake to feed them personally).  It was also funny to see him hold a cracker and chase a duck around, trying to persuade his web-footed friend to take said cracker.  Why that duck just wouldn't stay still and take the cracker from the clumsy 30 pound toddler yelling "Dook!  Dook!" is beyond me.

After BBC, we went to lunch with some of our friends.  Well, I did.  Little Buddy fell asleep on the ride over there, so he slept in his stroller at our table for most of lunch.  I almost didn't know how to eat without my attention being focused on a hungry kid!

Once we got home, Little Buddy and I worked around the house until it was time for me to start dinner.  This also coincides with Sesame Street time.  So I turned on the latest episode and went to the kitchen.  After a while, I noticed that it was very quiet in the living room (quiet with a toddler usually means trouble!), so I went into investigate.  This is what I found.

Thinking he was asleep, I took a step closer to find this:

Not asleep, just lulled into a toddler trance/coma that can only be induced by the most famous of toddler distracters, ELMO.  I will never understand how that red furry menace has so much power.  There must be subliminal messaging involved.

Now before I fall into my own (non-Elmo) trance, I'm off to bed!

Good night, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 22: Bob the Builder Better Watch Out!

Little Buddy had another big day today!  We started off with church at 7:30 AM and again attempted to sit in the main section of the church.  Though he didn't do too bad, he wasn't as agreeable as he had been the other week.  A work in progress for sure.  After church, we played hide and seek in the back yard until it was time to take our nap walk.

Very, very, very rarely does Little Buddy actually nap in his crib.  I could probably count on one hand how many times he has.  He sleeps in his crib at night no problem, but during the day is a different story.  As soon as you attempt to lay him in it, he wakes up completely.  However, he will sleep in his stroller quite comfortably.  Because of this, we normally take him on two short walks a day to put him down for his naps.  Once we get home, we just wheel him into the foyer and then quietly work around the house.  He is content for his 30-40 minutes of shut-eye.  That's right, only a bit over a half hour.  Along with not napping in a crib, Little Buddy just isn't a great napper period.  He sleeps so well and so long at night, he ends up only taking 2 naps of about 40 minutes a piece each day.  I have learned to be very productive in a half hour.  Today, however, he slept for TWO hours.  I didn't even know what to do with myself, afraid to start anything too in-depth for fear he would wake up.  I think this extraordinarily long nap may be clueing me in to an upcoming growth spurt.  I won't even try to imagine a world where he takes two hour naps each day for fear my dream would be shattered.

Anyway, while he was asleep, Daddy had gone to Home Depot to get supplies to build Little Buddy's pirate ship play house.  After Little Buddy woke up, he wanted to help Daddy and Uncle C (who had come up for the day) unload the truck.

"Eighty pound bag of cement?  No problem!  Let's get this project started!"

Little Buddy trying to help like a big boy was pretty adorable.  He is going to have so much fun "helping" Daddy build this playhouse. :)

After another nap in the afternoon (this one was short like normal, but I am still amazed by how much he slept today!), Little Buddy learned how to sneeze on command.  Uncle C taught him to make an "achoo" noise every time he hears the words "Bless you."  He thinks it is the greatest trick ever, and we think it is pretty cool too.  

He is so much fun.

Night everyone, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 21: Our Bubbly Boy

Another fun and busy day. Little Buddy started his day off with swim class. He always takes a minute to adjust, and then he realizes he is basically in a giant bathtub and everything is wonderful. Today he did really well at jumping to Daddy and blowing bubbles.

Afterwards, we went to one of our friend's houses for brunch. They were hosting the brunch in honor of other friends of ours who are moving to California. While we are happy for them, we are certainly going to miss them. All of us started at BBC at the same time and our kids are really close in age, making it easy for us all to become good friends. Little Buddy is going to miss A and I am certainly going to miss A's mommy. But we had a great time with our friends. Little Buddy had fun playing with A and E, even thought he was a bit tired from swim class and got a bit cranky. He LOVED blowing bubbles in the backyard too.

E welcoming Little Buddy to her house.

He loved this blowing bubbles!  And he also loved playing with the empty bubble container too (thanks for letting us keep the empty bottle M and J, lol)!

Playing with A.  We are certainly going to miss him when he moves!

Now time to hit the hay.  Church comes early!

Night all, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 20: They Followed Me, Can I Keep Them?

Just a quick post before bedtime...busy day! Lots of fun at boot camp, the toy store, and with our good friend Kevin who was in town for work. Little Buddy loved playing with Kevin and had a great time.

Loved this picture from the toy store today.

Night all,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 19: Just Another Day with a Toddler

It was a bit of a rough day with Little Buddy.  He work up just a little bit early, but it seemed to be enough to throw him off schedule.  He went made it through our run and library time ok, but he didn't take too kindly to me doing anything that interrupted HIS plan for the day (taking away stuff he shouldn't have, stopping play time for a diaper change, not giving him everything he wants, etc.).  He was very much a toddler today, and very vocal about it as well.

I did get him to settle for a few minutes and play with his Sesame Street Playhouse (thanks again Uncle J and Aunt S!  He loves it!):

However, he again wasn't a fan when I had to put an end to his fun so we could go to the store to run some errands.  After some hassle, he went into his carseat and off we went.  By the time we got to Target, he was asleep.  It was so quiet, so peaceful, that I may have sat in my car for 30 minutes enjoying the quiet.  Glorious.  Then I finally made myself get out of the car and load him in the stroller (still asleep).  He slept through most of our shopping and only woke up at the end.  By the time we got home, he was cranky again, so I had to be creative and think of something to distract him.  Fort building in the living room it is!

He was actually pretty happy to hang out in there until Daddy came home for dinner.  After dinner we did a little Ring Around the Rosy and other dancing, before sending the tired baby to bed, a place where I should be heading soon too.

Night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 18: Another Day at School

Just a quick little post, since Little Buddy had school today.

Again, he managed to sleep in until 6:00 AM, so we have success on the "sleeping in" front (hey 6 is later than 5, so I will take it)!  Since today was my last free Wednesday before classes begin, I dropped Little Buddy off at school and then came home and cleaned the house.  Poor house, it probably won't get much attention again until the semester is done.

Afterward, I picked up Little Buddy at school (he learned about the letter "H" today!) and we came home to play in the backyard.

Playing in sunshine and 64 degrees...in January...be jealous!

After about an hour outside, we came inside so Little Buddy could watch Sesame Street and I could make dinner.  Then Daddy came home, we ate, played, and got Little Buddy ready for bed.  A simple day, but still fun.  We are so blessed.

Night all, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 17: Stir It Up

Little Buddy may FINALLY be settling into his old sleep pattern.  Today he slept in until 6:15 AM.  Which is good except for the fact that Daddy leaves for work at about 6:05 AM.  Normally, Daddy gets Little Buddy and brings him down to breakfast, so they can see each other before he leaves for work.  With Daddy already gone, Little Buddy was a bit unsure about seeing me.

"Dadda, dadda, dadda, dadda..." Little Buddy's morning chant.

"Good morning Little Buddy!"  Me.

"Dadda, dad--Momma?  Momma?"  Looks at me quizzically.

"Hi Buddy, it's me.  Daddy went to work."

"Momma?"  A questioning look, followed by a determined demand.  "Dadda.  Dadda.  Dadda!"

All was well after we went downstairs and had our banana.  It was especially alright after Daddy called to say hi.  I love seeing those two together, my two boys.  We also had a lunch date with Daddy today, and Little Buddy was so excited to see him.  It makes my heart happy.

The rest of the day went well.  He took both his naps and we played a lot.  He also wanted to help me cook.

He seems to be able to stir an empty pitcher pretty well.  We'll work on more advanced lessons later. :)

Goodnight!

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy

Day 16: Just Ducky

It was a lovely January day in Texas: 75 degrees and breezy.  It was so nice after our workout, Little Buddy and I decided to hang out at the park and feed the ducks.

Yummy stale saltines.  The ducks loved them.  They looked so happy, Little Buddy also tried to eat the crackers.

After we got home, Little Buddy had some lunch and we played outside.  We played some toddler hide and seek, meaning I "kinda" hid behind trees and he would run over and "find" me.  Then I would run and hide behind another tree and the game would continue.  When he tired of that, I got out some plastic cups to do some cup bowling, but he was more interested in nesting them.  For some reason, he thought that fitting the cups inside one another was the funniest thing ever.  I love those giggles.  

However, it wasn't so fun when he refused to take his afternoon nap.  Granted, Little Buddy has never been a great napper, and his afternoon nap is only about a half hour, but I need those 30 minutes to recharge my batteries.  Sadly, he wasn't having any of it today.  I was a bit frazzled by the time my husband got home.  Thankfully, Little Buddy was really tired when bedtime rolled around, so he fell asleep easily. 

Now it is time for my battery recharge.  Night all!

LBM

Little Buddy's Mommy