xmas

Xmas brought with it lots of fun and some much needed relaxation. Big guys big present was a train table that two gmom's bought him. Gmom J got him the table and gmom Dino got him tracks and trains. Hubs built the table after big guy went to bed on Xmas eve. When we got up the next morning- big guy saw it, squealed in delight and proceeded to play with the geo trax he got on Xmas eve which were sitting on the table. He was so involved that he played quietly for an hour before he even realized there was other stuff for him to open.

So hubs and I had a really relaxing morning! We opened each others presents and relaxed while big guy played. When big guy finally stepped away from the table for some breakfast, he quickly saw the pile of presents still unwrapped. Big guy got (and may I mention all were bought through amazon points- not a penny spent!) a toy drum, two puzzles, two train books, and a play basket with fake fruits and veggies, as well as, some thomas the train bath toys. He was totally jazzed and thrilled with life.

We spent the rest of the day chilling out and watching big guy play on his train table, he was so ecstatic. And to top the night off, hubs put batteries in big guy's geo trax train so he could use the remote to move the train. The giggles that came out were hysterically funny!!! He would get so upset when the train moved without his permission and rip it off the tracks while laughing. Then put it down once he was sure it wouldn't move again. Only to start the process all over again. A truly awesome xmas and so much better than last year!

xmas eve festivities

Xmas eve was on a saturday this year and started our four day adventure of visiting family and opening presents! WE went over to hubs's brother and sis-in-law's house. When I tell you there were a lot of presents, I mean there wasn't room for everyone in the living room to sit when it came time to open them. Big guy did very well. we got there around eleven and went right into running through the house screaming with joy while the adults fawned over big guy.

Then we sat down for lunch with a minimum of fuss. Following lunch, big guy proceeded to destroy his cousin's playroom, taking every truck, car, star wars figurine out of the lovely order it was in and on to the floor. It was extra funny b/c his cousin is kind of fussy about his toys! Big guy ran with the big kids all afternoon. When they went outside he went and collected rocks. When they played the wii, he slapped and yelled at the tv. When they opened presents, he ripped his to shreds too!

It was an awesome day. probably big guy's best gift was a set of geo-trax, which are plastic trains with train tracks. The trains have a remote that can control them either forward or backward and make fun train noises. Big guy is obsessed with it! And when hubs finally put the batteries in on tuesday to make the train move- big guy freaked, in a good way. Pure giggles while jumping up and down before grabbing the train off the tracks. Definitely a hit, but big guy hadn't seen anything yet!!!

New design

Ok, I'm almost entirely over my tummy issue and I'm ready to tell all about our xmas awesomeness where we had three xmas celebrations and one hanukkah celebration, all in a row. Big guy did awesome! Each day will get it's own post, but we had a great time. and now we are just enjoying our time off. And I will say that one sure way to beat the holiday weight is to get sick and not be able to eat for three days!!!

Oh yeah, and I redid the design of the blog, it was time- something fun and fresh. I think this design looks like a refreshing, fizzy orange drink!!! Enjoy!

Ugh, merry Christmas

Right after I wrote that lovey-dovey post- I got hit with a case of food poisoning and was in severe pain all night. Terrible terrible. But I'm back and now can start telling about big guy's Xmas of awesomeness!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Today was a lovely day. And while I have a long post with pics that are coming to describe this lovely day, I am glad to share this day with my hubs and big guy. Lots of fun, laughter, joy, food, and playing. A truly wonderful day. Merry Christmas!!

the fridge

big guy has figured out how to open the fridge. sometimes he takes things out. sometimes he just hangs.

Longwood Gardens

Big guy picking some berries

Big guy pointing at the trains

big guy playing with some rocks

Pretty lights on the tree

After thanksgiving, while hubs was in the midst of paper writing, big guy and I did a big adventure all by ourselves. It could have gone either way- complete disaster or complete success. I am happy to report that it was a complete success!

Big guy and I went to Longwood Gardens- where there is wide open land, lots of trees, a holiday model train set-up, and holiday lights once the sun starts to descend. WE got there around 2:30, big guy had drifted to sleep for the hour car ride- a definite part of our success. We went sans stroller (another excellent choice) and were supposed to have timed tickets, but I kind of played the "I'm the mom of a toddler and we need to run out some energy" card and they let us in!

We first did some inside time seeing all the Xmas flowers, decorated trees, etc. It was sooo hot and steamy in the conservatory and after chasing big guy for a half hour we bailed on the rest of the "tour." I had sweat marks on my shirt. We went out into the delightfully cool day and headed to the train display, where we promptly stayed for an hour. Oohing, aahing, yelling choo-choo, and trying to climb over the fence and get big guy's hands onto one of those trains. The only meltdown came when we left the area. But it was short lived and I kept my cool.

After that we walked around the grounds and then went to have dinner in the cafe. Big guy did an awesome job waiting in line and we got the turkey dinner special. I brought along some raisins and an apple. Big guy very calmly sat and ate turkey, green beans, raisins, and an apple. and I'm proud to say that every other older kid around us was eating chicken fingers, hot dogs, and mac n cheese. big guy was in good spirits, charming everyone in the cafe when he eventually decided sitting was for losers. We went outside, it was cool, but not cold. We saw the beautiful lights on the trees and caught (very luckily) the last five minutes of the fountain light show- which was totally mind boggling for big guy. And then we left for the car. It was such an awesome afternoon and big guy was totally stimulated and entertained!! yay!!

Xmas party

On Friday we went to our first official Xmas party as a family! Very fun and big guy was on pretty good behavior- until we got yelled at by a security guard!

Big guy and I arrived around 3 and off we went with hubs. We came in and at first big guy had a monkey grip on both of us. He wouldn't let us put him down- but I'm not surprised, it was crowded in there with strangers. I was so hungry that I didn't even schmooze. I went right for some good and ate one handed with big guy latched on for dear life. After shoving some food down my gullet and hubs ate something too, big guy was more comfy and started to run.

He was running all over the room, shoving people out of the way, winding in and out of people's conversations. Very cutely I may add- but people would see us running and ask if he was hubs's son- cute, smile on his face and moving very quickly. It's true- they are very similar.

Then big guy discovered the hallway outside and started sprinting up and down the hallway like a maniac. Running full speed! Pressing the elevator button to make it open, turning the water fountain on. Screaming with joy. He discovered an empty room with chairs and we got yelled at by the security guard. Ok- we will leave the room alone. Ten he started following me and saying big guy wasn't allowed to run like that- its a university! To which I very unnicely said- he's a toddler- he doesn't stop moving and this is a party for crying out loud. Ugh- I was so annoyed I almost found the event organizer. But instead hubs made the executive decision to leave. We came, we ate, we ran for an hour nonstop. Success overall. And we all escaped unscathed!

Oh and there was a chocolate fountain that big guy discovered and apparently we were given nasty looks for double dipping!

mia

I've been MIA recently- but i have a good excuse- NO TIME! Hubs has a class this semester and since he's gone into super paper writing mode for the past six weeks, it's been me and the big guy, all the time, without a break. Most days are fine, but some days he just sobs all the time and I reach my end and want to punch a wall. I restrain, but it's exhausting. Anyway, the class is coming to an end and I had a nice hysterical sobbing yell-fest at hubs after the muppet movie dinner disaster. I'm excited for xmas vacation and spending lots of time with family. And look below, I've posted three new updates on our life :)

baby shower

on saturday, big guy and I went to a sort-of baby shower for my old boss. He actually did really well, but i think might have scared the parents to be. They commented on how much he moves. Um, he never stops moving. The kid moves around his crib when he's asleep. When I was pregnant with him, he never stopped moving. apparently baby still in utero is a mover too!

Big guy ate a great dinner after running around my friend's house for an hour like a crazy person, wanting to knock over every lamp, climb every piece of furniture, and saying hi every five minutes to the dog in the laundry room. Then he actually calmed for a little and watched tv with my friend's older kids- all while trying to torture their chinchilla which he kept trying to rattle the cage and meow at. It was cute except I think the chinchilla is going to need therapy, poor thing.

And we wrapped up the evening by taking a bath in another person's tub- always a thrill and getting into our PJ's for the car ride home. He was so well behaved- as in no horrific meltdowns, just his normal busy self. I hope we didn't scare the parents to be too much!

iPad- I might be obsessed

hubs got an iPad for xmas- but it came early, like the week of thanksgiving. At first I was skeptical, I mean, we already have a laptop and iphones. But i didn't realize that iPad's are made for women. It's completely useful for wasting time on the internet. And there are totally fabulous apps for toddlers.

So far the ones I've convinced hubs to get (some are free, others 99 cents) are:

The Woooo! button- literally a button that you press and it yells, "wooo!" at you -big guy loves it

The Moo Box- pics of animals come up and when you touch it, the animal sounds come out- big guy is definitely a fan and a good way to practice animal noises- his current favorite is the lion where he roars

Bubbles- so cool- you touch anywhere on the screen and bubbles appear in an array of soft pastels and when you pop them they make a very satisfying , "POP" noise.

The Cookie doodler- pull up a recipe to make a cookie- you get to add the ingredients- crack the egg by tapping on it, it makes the noise and pops open, sift the flour by turning a handle, tilt the iPad to pour in the vanilla, you get the idea. Then you get to stir it, roll it out, and use a cookie cutter. Pop it in the oven and decorate with icing, jimmies, and candies. It's addictive- ahem, big guy hasn't realized how fun this one is, but hubs has and has made several thus far!

I think I might be obsessed!

big toddler room

To make a long story short- I've been having issues with big guy's current room at school. I raised a huge fuss about the teacher and big guy has been transitioning early- read: whenever there is room, big guy is in the older toddler room. And we both love it!!!

In the big toddler room, big guy is given more responsibility- he's allowed to open the fridge, grab his cup, take a sip, and put the cup back. He is learning the new routine so well. This month's theme is things that go- big guy's specialty- boats (there is a water table), buses, trains (big guy's obsession), cars, planes, etc. It's awesome. He is eating lunch! He knows to go put grab his coat when it's time to go outside. And that is just after one week in the big toddler room.

The teachers LOVE him! Every time I walk in, they say hello and with no prompting start telling me about his day. How much fun he had, what they learned, how well he ate, how happy he is, how he's such a good boy. love them- and I don't even care that the director probably told them to say that to me. The other day when I left, one of the teacher's looks at me and says, "He's just such a great kid." And I agree- I mean finally he is having the school experience I want him to have.

And I can see the differences at home. He's pretty good at following directions, but when he's in the bigger room, it's reinforced that he needs to follow them, too. HE is ready for the experience to have more responsibility and learn new things- thriving :) Cute example, yesterday big guy emptied his milk cup. He walks to the fridge and puts the cup on the counter. He opens the fridge, takes out the almost full gallon of milk and puts it on the counter. Then he looks at me, like, c'mon woman, fill 'er up! Which I did. Then I asked him to put the milk back, which he did, just grabbed the milk, opened the fridge, and plopped it back in it's place.

And another thing I've noticed- he talks in the big toddler room. On his sheet for home they write down all the words he says in class, shoe, meow, car, choo choo, neigh (for a horse). He was so quiet in the other room. The teachers are so impressed with all he says and he is definitely chatting more at home, too. I'm just so thrilled that in January, he's in the big kid room for sure. Finally, in a good place!

first movie!

big guy went to his first movie on sunday! Unbelievable and he actually did really, really well. We had a 3:15 showing of the Muppet Movie. We met gmom dino and grumpy grampy at the theater. Dino had a huge bucket of popcorn. We walked in and big guy gave her a huge smile and then shoved his hand into the bucket of popcorn like he was catching a cobra-I didn't know he could move that fast. Instantly, the popcorn was a hit!

We took our seats and big guy continued to make himself at home with the popcorn bucket, it was really quite amusing. It's like he's at his first movie but already understands the urge to finish the bucket before the previews are over! He continued to eat throughout the movie and when he had finished, he was so sad that the bucket was empty. He then proceeded to put it on his head.

Besides the popcorn, he did really well, too. He didn't sit for the two hours we were in there, but instead paced in front of all of us. He checked out who was in front of him, the light from the projector room. He clapped and yelled for joy at all the right times. It was a great first experience. The only little issue was he bumped his head on the cup holder and freaked. I went running down the aisle and crushed a fair number of toes (I apologized when the movie ended.) I was going to take him into the lobby to chill, but he got more upset that we were leaving the theater. So, the last twenty minutes, we ran up and down the steps of the movie and watched from there. And when we left he didn't freak out or anything, just said, "bye-bye." to the movie theater. Overall, a success!

Marshmallows

Big guy is obsessed with marshmallows recently. I think he must have started eating them at school, b/c he certainly wasn't eating them with me. We were supermarket shopping and big guy was sitting in one of those cars attached to the front of the cart. We were in the produce section and big guy spotted the marshmallows. He jumped out of the cart and grabbed two bags and put them in my cart. OK!

And he loves to eat them, so cute. He eats them one by one, sometimes out of a bowl, but mostly after he's dumped them on the couch/floor/table. And even funnier is that he knows where they are in the cabinet and will run over and point while making a cute little grunting noise. so cute. the crying fit when I don't automatically pull them down, not so cute.

He's hanging from the rafters

Big guy has been a wild man the past few days. Anytime we have gone out to eat - he will sit for a few minutes, then go all crazy and want to hide under the table or run like a mad man through the restaurant. Hubs and I are back to eating one at a time so the other can run with the wild one. So- we've benched him for a while from eating out.

We had dinner at a neighbor's house on Sunday. She has six cats which were endlessly entertaining. He wouldn't sit still. We had turkey chili which he normally loves- big guy freaked and threw it all over the floor. He screamed every time a cat walked into the room. It was ugly- hubs took him home while we finished eating. Dessert was nice at our house though.

And to top off the wildness- we have a wagon wheel chandelier in our living room (hey- our house is rustic) anyway, big guy loves it and constantly wants to touch it. Hubs occasionally will hold him up to lightly caress it with his hands. I'm upstairs drawing a bath and I hear my name being screamed in a very serious way. I run downstairs and see hubs holding onto big guy who has some kind of monkey grip on the chandelier which is swaying in an unhealthy way. That's right, my child was swinging from the rafters- literally.

I know it is just a stage but it's very tiresome protecting him from the danger he seeks. Hmmm- what can I do right now to endanger my life? Launch myself over the back of the couch onto the hardwood floors with no thought of putting my feet down first? Geez- let the terrible two's begin!

Zippers

Big guy has recently discovered zippers. It's cute. We practice pulling up and then zipping down. The down is clearly easier than the up. Unfortunately he now unzips things that I don't want him to unzip! Like coats, sweaters' people's pants- ok that last one isn't true. But I figure he's one step ahead of the Amish so far- so good!

Our almost first movie

saturday we were going to g-mom Dino's house to pick her up and head over to the Muppet's Movie. Then we were going to grab a quick dinner and head to see the lights show at the local farm (where you get to drive through and see all the lights). Everything was going well until about two turns before her house when big guy starts hurling all over himself. Which is not good, but then he was coughing and choking on it. I did a super dangerous move to the side of the road and ripped him out of the car.

He was fine. His outfit, my outfit, and the car seat were not. After cleaning him off and getting to my mom's, I had to summon hubs to bring some clean clothes and switch my car seat out for his. Big guy ran around like a crazy person for two hours with the dogs (who he loves). He pretty much destroyed the house- he's going through some kind of terror faze. We ate a delicious dinner of white pizza, hubs left, and we headed to the light show. It was awesome! big guy thoroughly enjoyed all the lights- especially the tunnels of lights- we opened the sun roof and all. Following the lights we got some pumpkin ice cream and big guy got some kettle corn. He was in such good spirits. Poor bubba throwing everything up! We are going to try for the first movie next weekend- hopefully, we'll get there without the throw up.

linvilla orchards

Big guy on the hayride

Big guy and hubs starting the train ride

Okay- this is way past due- from before halloween. We went to linvilla orchards to pick some pumpkins, enjoy the nice weather, and participate in some good, old fashioned fall festivities. It was perfect outside- almost too warm for long sleeves. We started our fun by taking a hay ride. Big guy was so serious on the hay ride- it was adorable. So stimulated, he didn't stand up once. He was thrilled to be sitting in hay, outside, driving around looking at all the sights of outside, and right behind a tractor.

Following our tractor ride, we met up with Grandma J and Aunt B. We ate lunch- mmm, lots of fried/unhealthy food. Then we rode the little train (I got a reprieve b/c I rode it last year- it's super nauseating.) We visited the farm animals- chickens, pigs, ducks, goats, and a horse. And then we picked some pumpkins- big guy chose an awesome pumpkin- orange with green splotches. And he loved this pumpkin. Everyday we he saw it he would give it a hug and then kisses- mwah, mwah, mwah. So precious.