2 years in the chair

Ray was kind enough to get some chair shots of E on his second birthday.


For comparison: see the previous chair sessions.
You've come a long way, my baby.

2 years

My little man turns two today. Not hard to believe: in some ways he has been two for months. Sometimes he has (or develops) a firm view of how the world should be, and help you if you can't fulfill that ideal.

Most of the time, however, he's a whirlwind of ball throwing, drop kicking, drumming, car pushing, steamrollering fun. He has just recently embraced verbs and now he goes in circles around the first floor (this floor plan is built for E): "I kick, I kick, I kick" or "running running running". It's as though the constant narration in his head just found its way out. Out of nowhere, in a public place, he'll want "steamroller" (a rolling about the floor game he and Ray invented). Now, the block cart is a form of transport ("scooter!"),  and "Tower" is a sign he wants you to build so he can destroy (and help build, a little). He loves all the animals he can see from our house - knows the dogs by name and flaps ecstatically for the geese.

If you can keep up, the show is pretty amusing.

At the same time, there's the quiet boy, the one who will pile you with books and then crawl up on your lap, who will ask for books by a main character or a feature, and who will recite them with me when there are no books around (we do a pretty mean "Moo Baa Lalala"). He's starting to sing, too, although his version of the ABC's makes for a much simpler alphabet. Happy Birthday is pretty cute, too.

He still eats well (despite the fact that random strangers assume otherwise) - edamame, peas, corn, pancakes, mac'n'cheese, string cheese, breads and bananas probably top the list, but he'll at least try everything (except spinach, oh well).

Above all, he loves. He demands hugs and usually gives them when requested. The hardest thing in his world right now is the fact that Donut isn't that interested in being hugged (or, from Do's viewpoint, smothered). He'll hug books, animals, and even a random inanimate object, particularly if it makes him happy ("I lie-ke it! I lie-ke it Alot")

This blog has been filled with E's cute moment, his foibles and his cuteness. It has been a pretty awesome two years, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.

Love you, little man. Happy Birthday!

(and yes, videography is getting harder)

La Junta Xmas 2010

So. This is late. And a little self-indulgent, or at least family-indulgent. But there were so many funny highlights in the album, well, it's my blog, and if you don't have five minutes to spare... spread it out over the week or something.

Watch for cue ball obsession, **evil wooden puzzles**, baby nine ball (and the baby nine ball commissioner), cheetah pants, fetch, and diner dairy product catapults.

(You might want to give it time to load or play it without watching - weird pixellated transitions mean it hasn't fully loaded.)

Sickies

Marco was not enjoying the vet's last month. E managed to have some fun on his sick days, possibly because his grandparents G were there for some of it. Somehow they're both pretty cute.

For my mom

Again, no visual.

Today, Eamon asked a word that my mom has been eagerly awaiting.

"Why"?

I was trying to convince him to quit doing something rude at the table (don't remember what). I answered, he repeated his question.

Mom, I may ship him to you, since you wanted to hear this soooo badly.

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If it's a little quiet here this week: Class starts tomorrow. If one of you wants to get together a lecture on cell structure for me, I'll post more.

No?

Huh.

Eamontropism

A few images from the Grunzinger's visit.

Milestones

No visual for this one, unfortunately.

Last night was the first time I've seen my child with a milk mustache. I told the daycare that we've been giving him water in an actual cup, so they started giving him milk that way. So Ray did it at home. Pretty cute. And frighteningly grown up.

In a separate milestone, E broke out in a full song for the first time (I can't count "Peanut, Peanut Butter, Jelly", somehow.) I'm not sure what Ray or I did to spark it, but, while sitting at the dinner table, he burst into "Shake Your Booty". (Huh, just realized that I didn't know he knew at least two of those words.) Apparently KOSI deems it appropriate work music, so it gets played on the radio at daycare. And if you've spent any time with E, you know he'll dance to anything. That included. The visual is pretty funny (not sure how he knows where his "booty" is, but he does, even though it's almost nonexistent), but I'm not sure if I encourage this one?

Well Trained

Ray's parents came through on their way back to Minnesota. Eamon got a morning while I ran to get a haircut, and by the time I got home he had them thoroughly trained. As you will see, I was a bit slow on the pickup...
I think they did this for about 40 minutes total. I'm impressed by E's attention span. I'm REALLY impressed by his grandparents'.

Angel

I promised snow angel pics. But first, I'm surprised that no one noticed the shovel Eamon chose (yes, insistently, chose).
The "Princess at Heart" part makes me giggle every time. On our way out I saw a (obviously more experienced) mother dash in to a whole other section of the store and grab a shovel with NO licensed characters. I didn't even see that option. But E is happy.

Now, onto the cuteness and snow angels:

Generations

This picture, which you might have caught in the holiday video, cracks me up. E is still too short for his balance bike, but he was very happy to steal the allen wrench from his father and just "tighten bolts". He did this all week. Now he wants us to push him on the bike... I kinda liked the bolt tightening...

Shubbel?

I hope you all had a happy New Year's. One of the reasons it has been quiet over here is because E got an extra Christmas gift.

Snow. Lots of light, fluffy, champagne snow.

When it first started coming down, he was hooting at it, shouting "stoppit" over his english muffin.

Then I took him outside with me to get a few inches shoveled off of the driveway. He was begging for my shovel, which was too heavy for him. I showed him how to make snowballs (sort of - see "champagne snow"). Then we ran to Lowe's to try and buy some needed items and use up a gift card. Turns out, Lowe's was out to dissappoint, and I had trouble finding enough items to fill the gift card. Then, Eamon found one thing that he wanted, just to help me out. We came back home and headed back out after nap.
(The boots are also highly loved. He's pretty easy to shop for. Never mind that that is still last year's snowsuit.)
Mom, I can't put my arms down!
Shubbel!It's actually remarkably effective. I stole it to do the step off the front porch.
It also helps one's supervisory authority.
It does help if you don't throw the shovel-full of snow in your face, though.

See, he did the front walk himself!! Of course, he's non-directable, so this qualifies under "even a blind squirrel...". But he's very very happy with his new "shubbel". Between Thursday and Friday, I shoveled three times and then Ray had to shovel as soon as he came home. And then again after snack and on Saturday. I'm not even sure what they shoveled at that point, but there are some random paths through the back yard now.

And some snow angels - and that's another post. As is all the holiday fun with my family.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays!