2009_08_26 Wednesday

We had our art class this morning at Whole Foods. Alanya and Josh both came, so that made it even more fun! Then, we blew some bubbles outside. He's getting very good at that, although he blows by making an 'f' sound.

Then, the excitement hit. I built up his toddler bed and he climbed in for his nap. He stayed for about an hour...without sleeping before freaking out for his purple paci. So, I placed the mattress back in the crib, and he's zonked out quickly.

2009_08_25 Tuesday

We spent the better part of today at the zoo. It was gorgeous out, so I figured we better take advantage! I didn't even bring the stroller, so I knew he'd get tired fairly quickly. We participated in their animal program, so he got to see a snake, a box turtle, and a skink (which he's confused with "stink" and says "peee-u" everytime) up close. Then we also splurged for a ride on the carosel. He sat on a frog with an eagle saddle and thought that was very cool. He began to sputter out when we got to the farm, which is the furthest from the entrance possible. Oh well. I was amazed, though, that he could remember which animals were at the zoo (porcupine, eagle, bison, etc). He wasn't interested in the train ride this time.

When we got home, I set up the toddler car bed for him, made a big fuss about how neat it was, and explained that big boys sleep in car beds without pacis. He was pretty skeptical, although he enjoyed playing on it. I left the "baby crib" up for him, and pacis are ok in there. He actually op-ed for the crib for both sleeping opportunities. I was a little disappointed, but it was just the first day.

2009_08_22 Saturday

What a rockin' good time we had today! It was Jonathan's 2nd birthday party. We had about 40 people come, including Grandpoppy, GreatGrand Aunt Janie, GrandAunt Holly, all three sets of grandparents, three sets of aunts/uncles/cousins, and a bunch of playmates. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us this year (rainy and humid; ugh!), so we had to do it all inside. Dave flew out to get a mega-air conditioner right before the party, and it was such a wise move!! I had about 5 stations throughout the house (puppet theater, club house, ball throw, truck mat, picture frame decorating, normal toys and VHS tapes in the den, and a bubble station outside w/ Oma/Opa) to keep the kiddies occupied, and a kiddy refrigerator for their drinks. Each kid got a picture frame to decorate with stickers in lieu of party favors; we sponsored a poison dart frog at the local zoo for a year instead. Opa grilled like a champion. And, we had cupcakes and ice cream sundaes (thanks to Uncle Steve's expert scooping). What a great time. It was really neat to see so many different friends/family mixing too. I was pooped, and I sure hope all of the kids slept well because they sure did get a lot of energy out.

2009_08_19 Wednesday

We are doing a lot in preparation for Jonathan's birthday party this weekend. Tino's been here this whole week, painting the stairwell and trim. Today, the guys who did our patio are here to create a wall, relay the bricks in a herringbone pattern, and cut away some of the concrete. (We generally have an art class on Wednesdays, but I can't get out of the garage very easily, so we'll skip it this week.) On Sunday, we also did a major cleaning of the yard, including burning a lot of garden waste in our Christmas present from the Puris. Dave also installed a new faucet in the upstairs bathroom; it looks awesome! Now, I need to return a defective one we bought online. And, over the past few days, I've been DIF-ing the last of the heinous wall paper in that bathroom, so I can paint with Kilz and then with some color (blue, of course). I really hope I can finish before Saturday. I believe our contractor is going to come back today to replace a cracked cabinet door too.

Jonathan woke up in the middle of the night for the first time in a long time. He lost his purple paci and was upset. Oddly, though, he had the blue one in his mouth. I guess it wasn't soothing enough. We're getting close to eliminating them all together. I typically check in on him around 11, and I pop out whatever paci he might have in. Without the bumper, he often drops/throws them out, so I'm confident it shouldn't be too hard getting rid of them...right?

Dave gave Jonathan his third buzz haircut last night. It's good for this ungodly humidity and heat!

I received and built a bookcase for Jonathan's room yesterday, and he helped me stock it with all his books. I'm really happy with it; stacking them in bins was getting annoying.

2009_08_14 Friday

Sesame Place!!!!

2009_08_11 Tuesday

I have spend the last two days prepping and painting our full (upstairs) bath. Right now, it has a coat of Kilz to prevent mildew, etc. Three pictures are in the 'house' folder. At some point soon, I'll throw a coat of light blue up there. Of course, I picked the two hottest days of the summer to do this project.

Jonathan's new phrase is: "[person], where are you?" as he runs around the house searching. The other really fun discovery is that baby carrots fit in his nose (and to a lesser extent, his ears, too). Love that. Can't wait for the first trip to the ER for that one.

And, we spent this morning making his newest 'club house' out of our new TV box. You'll see it even has curtains: bus ones, cat ones, and happy face ones! He can actually stand straight up without touching the top, and there's plenty of room for Baby Bear, Horsie, some trucks, and a ball. I cut out a sunroof for him to wiggle his fingers out of and to keep it bright inside. We may color a garden along the side this afternoon. See below:

2009_08_09 Sunday

Ha ha, we went to the diner again this morning! Twice in one weekend!! On the way, we bumped into Alanya, so Jonathan stopped to play with her for awhile. It's so neat that he recognizes her and likes to play with her.

When we got home, J2 went down for a nap...on his sleeping bag. I peeked back in later, and he was still mostly on it! Nearly 2.5 hrs later, and he's still quiet! Meanwhile, Dave and I hung our new TV. That was quite a production, and, boy, are they heavy! Even though it rained overnight, Dave is now outside cleaning up the yard in preparation for Jonathan's birthday party in two weeks.