Christmas Pictures

We took little man to meet Santa this year on Christmas Eve. He did great while we were in line, pointing at other kids and watching them sit on his lap. Then dad joined us and put him on Santa's lap. I think he was upset because he thought it meant dad was leaving and he is such a daddy's boy! So, we got a great picture of him screaming. The worst part was he didn't stop after I picked him up. I was having some mother's gilt for not taking him in the first place, then after this I felt horrible for putting him through it. Sheesh, what's a mom to do!

So we took more pics at home. I think these turned out much better. 

 Gotta love his belly rolls!

 Blue, Blue Eyes!

 He did not want the lights to touch him!

 Still need to learn more on adjustments with my camera and photo editing software, but I think they look pretty good.

 One of my all time favorites! These two love each other so much they are starting to make the same facial expressions.

So, a month and a half late...

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2012

Our Christmas was very low key this year. We weren't driving all over Kansas between jobs and family. It was just the 3 of us all day. He hung out at home, opened gifts, watched movies, and just hung out. Mario wasn't quite sure what to do with all the presents. He got a ton of toys and we haven't even exchanged gifts with my side of the family yet! (More on that later) We opened most of the gifts on Christmas Eve. Lil Man loved all of them and kept wanting to play with everything, including the wrapping. He got some new cars and then Santa gave him a town rug, the ones with streets and buildings on them. He also got a short tupperware shelf to store things in and when he gets a matching one for his birthday, the rug will fit on top for a nice little car play area. Yes, mom is more excited about this than him, but I'm convinced one day he will like it. He also got a new pair of shoes. Of course he saw these first and he wanted them put on right away! 

 Getting his shoes put on right away!

 Putting his cars on the mat.

 Opening the first present on Christmas Eve!

All of us on Christmas morning, Malaki is so not into pictures :)

Back to Blogging!!!

Hello everyone! It has been a few months since I've blogged, but it was a New Year's Resolution to be better about it. Mostly so lil man will have some record of his first few years. I suppose February 12 is as good a time as any to start. :) We have done so much since September. I don't know where to start. I guess the Holidays is as good as any and I can sum it up in one sentence:

We survived the Holidays.

Mario did dress up for Halloween. He was Where's Waldo. I figured this was the last year I will get any say in what he wears so I wanted it to be something cute. We took him to the outdoor mall to walk around at the different stores giving out candy. He did pretty good once he figured out he would get candy. Sometimes he would say, "Peas", but he would always walk up and hold out his pumpkin.

 Striking a pose.

 Trying to snap, just like Dad.

 Look at all this candy!!

Mario's parents came to visit at Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed their time here. Even though Mario had to work most of it we did get to watch some movies and I made Thanksgiving Dinner by myself for the first time ever. It was a success! I made a Turkey breast in the Crock Pot. I know, in the crockpot! I found the recipe on Pinterest and will be doing it again. It cooked in a short amount of time, 4 hours. I cooked vegetables and potatoes with it and there was more than enough meat for 6 adults. It also kept the oven free for other food, or if its summer, would keep the oven off. :) You think about these things in the heat of Texas. Everyone really liked it. I tried to find the link, but it appears to have disappeared from my account. If I find it again I'll try to post it.

 This is everyone at dinner.

This is the turkey and table before.

Christmas also went well. We visited more events around town to celebrate. We went down to Bee Caves to see Santa come in on a firetruck and to watch them light the tree. It was Mario's first Christmas event not at home and he didn't know what to do with it all. They had a live band that played music and he loved it! He would have danced all night, but as more kids came it got crowded. Lil m was not impressed with other kids bumping into him. I have a great video, but I can't get it uploaded. If anyone has any tips for loading videos to blogger from a Mac please leave a comment.

 Not impressed that he's taking a pic with Mom

Checking out the band before he started dancing.

I will post more Christmas next! 

Terrible 2's!!!

Last weekend we went out to eat on Sunday. We had a lazy morning and Lil M ate a big breakfast, which is typical for him. Then we went to Cheddar's around noon because I really wanted a Monte Cristo and google said Cheddar's was the closest restaurant with one on their menu. If you have never had one it is a ham and cheese sandwich dipped in a funnel cake batter and fried. Then served with a raspberry dip and sometimes powdered sugar. They are a-maz-ing! Highly worth the multiple days worth of calories in one meal. Anyways, Lil M got a pasta and proceeded to grab both hands full and cram as much in his mouth as possible. He has always been an aggressive eater, but this was over the top. We tried to slow him down and scold him, but basically gave up and just tried to contain the mess.

 Later in the day he was all about testing his boundaries. I'm pretty sure his thought process was similar to this: Can I pull Moby's paw, yes, how long can I pull it, how hard can I pull it, why is he growling at me, oh that makes it more fun! and the day proceeded from there. His big stuff is annoying the dogs, climbing on things he knows he shouldn't instead of things he can, like the couch, and throwing EVERYTHING! He isn't really listening when I say no, he just smiles, maintaining eye contact while continuing the activity. He still responds to distraction, but I don't know how much longer that will last. We have always planned on using time outs and have started those this week. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda lost on how to start time outs with a toddler. They immediately became a game of get away. I have read some online tricks for his age, like keeping the time short, ignoring him, etc. But when I put him in the designated time out spot, he just looks at me and laughs, then proceeds to try to get away. He has no idea he is in trouble. I think that is the most frustrating part at this point. He hasn't made the connection that he did something wrong. I don't know if we are starting these to early or if persistence is the key. I think only time will tell, or we will find the true limit of Moby's patience. :)

Since he has recently picked up on puzzles and how they work I bought some stickers for him to play with. He loves Cars so naturally we got Cars stickers. He loved them, but was constantly trying to take them off the paper to move around. At first it was only to put back on the paper, but then he became interested in other places. Luckily there aren't a lot of sticker friendly surfaces in our living room, but he found one good place, his belly! Later, after he went to bed, I found one stuck on my leg too, apparently I wasn't paying very close attention.

We also had our first scrapped up knee this weekend. We were walking the dogs and Lil M got excited and tried to run on the sidewalk. He fell and slid a little bit. He cried and I was surprised to see he actually drew blood, but he was running around after a minute like nothing happened. I even had to wrestle him down to get this picture. Such a boy!

Friday Night

This post I wrote 2 weeks ago, but I had trouble with the video so I am just now getting it posted. Hopefully I have all the kinks worked out and can share more videos now!

Thursdays are "Boy's Day" because Mario has the day off so Lil M stays home from school with him. But Friday nights are all about mom. I am usually to tired from the whole week to do anything productive so Lil M and I sit on the floor and play till bedtime. Tonight we did puzzles. We have had these puzzles for a while, but tonight is the first time I have seen him actually putting pieces together. We have puzzles that are pictures of cars, planes etc that have a board with a matching picture underneath. He usually just puts the pieces on top of the board and I match them up, but tonight he took his time, really looked at the pieces, and then matched them! I was so excited and tried to make a big deal out of it with 'Yay' and clapping and high fives. He was super excited at first, then he just wanted to pick the board up so he could dump the pieces again. I tried to get some pictures, but puzzle pictures are apparently action shots, so he's blurry, but you can tell the pieces match up!

I also try to read to him a lot and he loves books. I will read him one or two, then give him the option to 'read' to me. Tonight he brought me a book and proceeded to read to me. I had the flip close so I actually got it on video! I'm super excited to share this since these moments are so hard to capture on film. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

A Month of Firsts

I haven't posted in a few weeks and so much has happened that I will try to keep it short. I'll only share the firsts that have happened lately. I'll save the rest for another post.
The first is the funniest, in my opinion. If you don't like poop you'll want to skip to the second item. We have been lucky because Mario has never been a big random pee-er or pooper. He only peed once when we were changing his diaper and only a few poops. He has peed a few times when we left him out of the diaper for a while with a rash etc. Well, when he was bathing this week he got that look. The holding-breath-face-turning-red-while-he-stares-into-space look. I knew what was coming but I was too late. He then got as still as a statue and stared at me while trying to decide if he should cry or play with it. He poked it a few times then decided it was not cool to have poop in his bath and proceeded to stay as still as a statue until it could be removed. Unfortunately it spread everywhere so I had to drain the tub. I didn't want to refill the whole tub so I moved him to the back end and washed him with water from the faucet in his cup. You would have thought I was washing him with tar. He was so mad at me! He hated every minute and got some good practice at his 'death' stare. It was cute and shows how sometimes he hates getting dirty.
The second is cute now, but could get annoying real quick. He has started tap dancing. He will stand there and repeatedly stamp his feet as fast as he can. He does it now for fun and we mimic him and dance to keep it fun. At first I had to watch him close because I couldn't tell if he was having fun or throwing a fit. Hopefully this won't become part of his fits. Now he just stops what he's doing, bends forward placing his face as close to the floor as possible, and has the red-face delayed cry. Other mothers know what I'm talking about. It is also super cute, for now. :)
We recently bought our training potty. I have been wanting to get it for awhile, but never pulled the trigger. We aren't potty training, but I want to have it around so he is familiar with it. We put him on it in the morning and at night. He will sit there for a few minutes, but he hasn't gone in it yet. I try to give him something to distract him so he will sit there a little longer, ie a book, toy, etc. He has put his toys and his cup in it multiple times, so I don't think he is ready yet. We'll keep trying! :)
I mentioned to Mario that we needed to make sure we are working with Lil M on words. The next day they were home together I came home from work and he could say "shoe", "car", and "outside". Ok, maybe outside is a stretch, but he points outside and I can hear it. :) Within the last few days he has added "Hi" and "Bye" both with a wave. When I pick him up from school he turns and waves to his teacher right away. It is making me feel better that he wants to come home.
Along the "Bye" story line, Mario "stole" a thing 1 and thing 2 (Dr Suese sp?)  bag from Target. I gave it to him to play with while we shopped. I was going to put it up, but since it is red and his whole outfit was red, I forgot about it until I picked him up to put him in his car seat. Anyways, it was worth the potential felony because he loves it! He carries it everywhere, over a bent arm just like a little old lady! He will pick up his bag, wave to me, say "bye" and walk into the hall. He will repeat this until something else steals his attention.
Well this is all of the "Firsts" I can think of for now. I'm sure there are tons I'm missing, but I'll catch up soon. Maybe in another month! :)

 Playing at the splash pad

 I love this picture because it shows all his teeth!

He's actually using a fork for a few bites at each meal!

End of summer

Last week we got tickets to the local baseball game. We got to sit right behind home plate and had a blast. We get the tickets for free because one of the doctors I work with is the team doc. The stadium is amazing. They have a pool in the outfield, and playground, a grass hill in left field to sit on, tons of great seats (shaded), and a lot of AC areas. Apparently they consistently win awards for having the best stadium. Lil M loved the music played when everyone goes up to bat. He would dance and get confused when it stopped. He also thought everyone was clapping for him. He would look around, like he was thanking his fans, then laugh and clap too. By far the most interesting thing was watching him discover foam fingers. There were some kids behind us with them and he couldn't stop staring. I think he though they were their real hands and it amazed him. Little M and I have had a great week this week. Mario is smack in the middle of back to school season which, believe it or not is bigger than Black Friday and Christmas. He has been at the store nonstop and he started a new class in his MBA program. With him being so busy Little M and I have had some great mommy and me time. Last Sunday we found a park on the running trail that has a splash pad. I got a good run in and Mario got to play at the end. It worked out really well. Previously he had not really liked splash pads. They are the cement areas with multiple water spouts, sometimes trees and buckets that fill up and fall over, etc. He wasn't a big fan of getting wet, but this last time I couldn't keep him out of it. He kept going right up to the water sprays and letting it hit him in the face. He would wait till I pulled him away. Then he would laugh and giggle with snot running down his face because so much water went up his nose. Yes I am the mother a little boy. He is also not shy. He kept walking up to other little ones and talking away. They usually just stood there and stared at him, but he didn't seem to mind. Except for one little girl who kept running back to her mom. He didn't let that stop him though, he tried to talk to her 3 times with the same result. On the topic of girls, I think he might have a little girlfriend at school. A few weeks ago I noticed he had a big red spot on the back his hand. It was red and swollen, but there was a distinct ring around it. I was worried it was a spider bite and we would wind up in the ER. When I picked him up at school they were outside playing so I called the school to see if they knew anything about it. Low and behold there was a note in his cubby saying he got bit by a girl. The teacher was in the office writing it when I picked him up. I have also noticed that one girl gets excited when I drop him off. She is always like, "Mario" or "Hi Mario" and pointing at him. I think it is cute, but I'm so not ready for girlfriends. Hopefully I can convince him that cuties exist for another decade or so. Lil M has also been talking more. Not great pronunciation, but I can understand him. He says "daw" for dog every time we come home and they are barking at the door. Today I asked him to say "please" for his cup. I had to repeat it a couple of times, but he finally said, "eeese" so I counted it. I have been pinning alot of holiday decorations this year. The last 2 years we haven't done much decorating for anything. The first year we were moving and the second we were still trying to keep Lil M healthy. I am so excited to decorate and have a ton of things planned. I will try to share links and pictures as I get things finished. This has been kind of a random post so I hope you stayed with me through it all!

 Staring at foam fingers

 "Dad, bite my finger"

Clapping mommy's hands