Shapes & Yogurt & Bananas, Oh My!

Per my ponderings in earlier posts, when you have a little one, you can plan things all you want ~ but you're not always going to have things go the way you planned!! :) I wanted to capture him on video sorting his shapes into his new shape bucket. He LOVES it and can now discriminate between the different shapes to accurately get the pieces in...however, you don't quite get the full effect on the video as himself and his hungry tummy had other plans... :) Enjoy!!

Hellooooo......

It's funny to hear a little voice mimicking yours. I don't think we're ready for that step, really...last night, we were playing around with B with the phone, since that's one of his most prized possessions. He holds it up to his head and just chatters. SO, I pressed the volume button to make it "ring", then held it up to his head and told him he had a call...to which he responded, in his little, pippy voice, "Helloooo." We about peed ourselves laughing as we've never heard him say "Hello" before, but again, little sponges they are...and how much they're absorbing little to our knowledge!! :)

Of Munchkins & Men....

I will get a picture included with this blog, but nothing says "Happy Mother's Day" like my 15 mo. old son, toddling up to me, arms out-stretched, bearing the Mother's Day card that he "helped" Daddy make for a very special day!! :)

His actions in this video were TOTALLY unprompted ~ I promise!! It all started w/ a weird piece of meshy like material on the ground. I said, "Brendan, don't touch, yucky." To which he responded by picking it up. I told him no again, he continued to hold it while he walked to the trash can and put it in! The pinecones followed so I decided to get the phone & roll w/ it to capture the moment!! You have to wonder what's inside their heads??!!! :)

OK...second attempt to post this little clip, just because. He does his "waz ZAT?!" in here as well as his rudimentary sign for airplane...just a fun little bit from a few a.m.'s ago. :)

Note: He just had a very + run-in with his favorite fuzzy friend, Finnegan. Finn actually hung around this time and let him pet him (Finn) several times before Finn skedaddled and had had enough baby fun for the day! :)

Sesame Street

Currently, the munchkin is down for his nap, but we have tickets (thanks Gail & family!) to Sesame Street at a theatre downtown. "Elmo Grows Up" Can't wait to see his reaction!!

Learn from my Mistakes!

I wish I'd gotten this post up earlier but we've been just holding on this week! I had to laugh at myself & my "First-Time" Mom-ness earlier this week. On Wednesday, I had to run to the post-office, and decided we'd combine it with a trip to the park a few miles away, rather than the one w/in walking distance of the house. (Note: This is the park w/ the water park element that we visited last weekend...). I thought we'd go to the post office first, THEN go to the park, but decided NO, we'd get his energy out THEN do the errand. (ha ~ keep reading to see how that moment of genius turns out!)

We get to Desert Breeze, I plunk him down in front of the equipment so he can decide what he'll do. He walks up the ramp, into the maze as I follow, then watch him climb DOWN stairs he'd never bothered with before...and continued walking under this bridge, past picnic tables...only to end up SMACK dab in front of the water park. HA. Of course, he immediately bent down and started splashing in the puddles. That was fine w/ me ~ not prepared for a water experience, but he's only pudding. I can do this. THEN, he ventured into water that began to creep up onto his little leather sandals. The prissy part of me said, "No, let's go back to the playground because you'll ruin your shoes." We go back over, to have him turn back around, and head RIGHT back. DUH, Jill, take the shoes off and he can play. Who cares? Needless to say, my son happily puddled, played, sat down in the puddles as I groaned inwardly, thinking I had not even a dry diaper or towel in the car I was SO underprepared.

Brendan then decides to go check out the drain, which is located in the middle of the pad. He's watching the water spiral towards the drain and I follow on his heels...only to have the second phase of the sprinkler animals come on, so we're BLASTED by giant concrete seals. I'm drenched, look down @ him and he's standing there, immobile, not sure where this water is coming from or how to move himself. SO I grab him, we high-tail it out of there and head back towards the playground.

Murphy's Law, anyone?? What do you think a 15 mo. old finds when he has a wet butt? The SANDBOX, of course!!!! I couldn't stand it. Made a beeline for the sand, started picking up the sand toys and happily dug himself a little pile. Again, I'm cringing. Now, not only is my son wet, and I have 1) no towel, 2) no change of clothes, and 3) no dry diaper, he's now also covered with sand.

Fortunately, he was totally happy, even when I stripped him down to bare nakedness in the parking lot (thankfully the diaper had remained DRY?! YEAH HUGGIES!). I shook out his shoes so the sandbox didn't travel home with us (one thing I did RIGHT!), buckled him happily in the back, then headed to the post office. We ended up going into the post office, package in one hand and naked baby w/ a hat & diaper in the other. :) Next time I'll go to the park LAST....

For Better or For Worse...

I knew that having Brendan would change my/our lives forever. Many reasons for the better, and some for the worse (nagging "Momnesia"!). I had to laugh yesterday, though, at some of ways mommyhood had changed me that I never saw coming...

Picture...my 15 mo. old munchkin, wielding a broken stick in his hand, stumbling as he comes across a "hole" at the park. He thereby proceeds to crouch down, supported by his little chubby legs, and stick meets dirt. A match made in heaven. Some are reading and saying, "What does this have to do with Jill changing?"

Anyone who's know me for any length of time knows that I HATE to get my hands/general person dirty. I hate it. My skin crawls and I yearn for a sink/shower/baby wipe to make it go away. Having a son, that neurosis had been directed at him as I would grab/wash/wipe his hands/feet/face...then I gave up. Hey ~ kid's gotta meet germs eventually, right?? :) I realized that staying on top of the little grime that collects in the creases of his fingers is a lost battle. Yes, I still wash his hands (and the rest of him) diligently, but I'm also glad to say, I loosened up enough to let my kid dig in the dirt!! HA! I'll post a picture in here soon from the camera phone, but I got such pleasure from just watching him dig, scraping the stick to discover the texture of dirt + stick, and how the dirt felt as it ran through his fingers. Never did I imagine that a sweet sight would be MY son, sitting in dirt!!

15 mo. update

The video clip below is the newest, but for those curious about pertinent details from his 15 mo. check-up last week:

As of 4/23:
31" tall (50%ile)
25 lb. 10.5 oz. (70%ile)
Head circumference (90%ile)

Otherwise healthy and happy, ears totally clear, cough and wheezing gone from earlier in the month and got two (or three?) shots to boot!!

Animal Noises

I don't quite recollect when Brendan STARTED the animal noise collection, but at this stage (just 15 mo.), he's amassed a library of nearly 8-10 animal noises. Unfortunately, the "mommy brain" forbids me from remembering all at one point, BUT on the video we got several, along w/ the newest addition (lion), as well as his "best" one (duck). This just makes us laugh and he delights in doing it, as well as messing with us when every animal is an owl (his 1st sound), so we hope you enjoy since it's not easy to hear on speaker phone!!!

In addition to the joys of animal noises, he also has body part bingo, several signs and several words. It never fails to amaze me how he absorbs SO much, then just throws new communication at his leisure...like the other day, at the park, he touched the trunk of a palm tree and starting signing "tree" repeatedly. We've DONE that with him, but he's never reproduced it, and all of a sudden, the connection was apparent. Hooray for the miracles of language acquisition!! :)

After his battle with croup and bronchitis at the beginning of the month, he seems to have recovered fully, much to our relief. He got to meet the firefighters/paramedics that came to his rescue and he presented them with his favorite fire duck and some homemade goodies to thank them!

Now that we have video capability, I hope to be much more vigilant with the blog much like the Snapfish albums we've had going!! Take care all!