A List of Things

A list of things I'm loving about Davis right now... ...when he finishes his snack and then walks over and puts his plate or bowl in the kitchen sink ...that he is so adept at correctly using the word "stuck" (like when he can't get down off the bed all the way or when a toy he wants is wedged too tightly into the toy box).  It is just a cute word to hear him say. ...how he loves to compare things that are the same.  He will compare his toy farm animals to the ones that he sees in books, etc. He is fascinated by the Disney logo because he sees it on so many things and loves to get them all together to compare the logo (marketing at its finest). ...his current interest in frogs ...how he tries to sing the alphabet song -- he does pretty well with the tune, but makes up most of the letters :) ...the way he pretends to snore ...the fact that his vocabulary is expanding so much, after all my anxiety over the fact that he wasn't saying many words by 18 months.  He definitely has over 50 words now. ...his beginning attempts at counting (he can count to four) ...what a good job he did at his first visit to the dentist earlier this month, letting them brush, floss, examine, and fluoride his teeth with barely a whimper ...the way he will come and grab my hand and Greg's hand and pull us both wherever he wants us to go to play with him ...how he's getting too smart for us.  The other night I was eating a cookie in the front passenger seat of the car.  Davis is rear-facing, so he couldn't see what I was doing, but pretty soon a little hand reaches up over the back of the carseat and a little voice says, "Coo-KIE, Coo-KIE!"  For the record, I was very nice and shared with him, but today when I reached for some of his snack, he pushed my hand away and said "nooo" - I thought sharing was supposed to be a two way street!  And this morning Greg had cut some pieces off a cinnamon roll for Davis and when I picked up the plate to eat the rest of it, Davis loudly objected and gave me the Look of Death (I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "That cinnamon roll is MINE, Mommy; hands off!"). intrigued by homemade play dough   He has a real fascination with hats.  Here he was literally posing for the camera and saying "cheese!"   Davis enjoys taking all my coins and placing them in the holes on this U.S. quarters map   meeting his brand new baby cousin, Leo!

From Loving the Life We Live

Merry

I hope that you had a merry Christmas! ..or Hanukkah!

(Don't you think Davis would make a super cute Jewish boy?)

As for our family, we really enjoyed our Christmas holidays.  We went to my sister's house for a few days the week before Christmas to celebrate with my family.  Davis enjoyed playing with his silly aunt "Shah," bouncing on her exercise ball, chasing the unfriendly cat, peering at the gerbils and chinchillas, playing the organ and piano, and being the center of attention.  :)  When we unwrapped gifts he quickly got the hang of it and even opened some other people's gifts for good measure.  Although the world did not end that Friday, some snow did pass through the area and we woke up to a cold house with no electricity, heat, or water - but going out to breakfast at Bob Evans helped us warm up and we all welcomed the power coming back on!

Back at home, before getting ready for Christmas Eve service, we gave Davis one gift to open, specifically chosen as a "church toy" to help keep him busy and quiet.  It was a Sesame Street felt book with little felt pieces to put on it, and he loooooved it.  The little boy sitting behind us at church loved it, too, and kept peering over the back of my seat to see what "the baby" was playing with.

We had Christmas day at our own home.  Thankfully, Davis did not come down with a 103 fever like he did last Christmas!  I was eager to see how he would react to Christmas morning and he did not disappoint.  When we let him into the living room that morning, the first thing he noticed was the new bouncy turtle sitting in front of the Christmas tree, and he went right to it and climbed on to bounce with the biggest smile on his face!  Then he walked around to where his stocking was set out and started to empty it.  I was impressed that he seemed to naturally know how to "do" Christmas morning!  Now being an experienced gift-unwrapper with some practice under his belt, he knew just what to do with the small pile of presents under the tree.  The gifts that he got have been a hit, like his drumset (although we had a little scare where we couldn't find one of the drumsticks and I was going through the trash to see if he threw it away!) and his play fruits and veggies.  Davis' Uncle Jeff and Aunt Janelle came by later in the morning and we enjoyed spending time with them and having a Christmas meal together.

Greg, Davis, and I have all been at home together for almost all of the past two weeks, and it has been wonderful family time.  Last night we were out while it was snowing, and it was the most gorgeous snow that I remember seeing in a long time, with soft fat snowflakes drifting slowly to the ground all around us.  I am not a fan of winter, but everything looks so beautiful right now.  Davis, unfortunately, does not enjoy playing in the snow.

We are looking forward to what will hopefully be a great new year in 2013, and hope that you are, too!

From Loving the Life We Live

Santa Fail

During my absence from posting, we had a nice Thanksgiving in Missouri, except for the fact that 2 out of 3 of us were sick.  Davis came down with a fever in the wee hours of the morning on the day before Thanksgiving and it burned for 4 days, disappearing just in time for us to come home (which was awesome - he didn't make a peep the entire ride home - slept most of the time and otherwise just looked out the window quietly).  My scratchy throat on Wednesday morning eventually evolved into a raging sore throat and double ear infection which made the holiday less than happy, especially when combined with not sleeping for four nights while caring for a sick child.  But, nonetheless, we never forgot all the things for which we are thankful, not the least of which is the fact that the only health issues we have to worry about in our family at this time are the small ones of colds, fevers, sore throats, and ear infections - pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. While I haven't quite gotten brave enough to put up our Christmas tree yet, we have been starting to get into the Christmas spirit.  Almost all of the shopping is done, we took Davis to the drive-through Winterland light show at a local park, and last weekend we went to the tree lighting in our town.  (Tree lighting is a bit of a misnomer, since they're not lighting an actual tree, just stringing a bunch of lights down from the top of a flagpole in a tree shape.)  There were trackless train rides through the park (which we skipped due to the long lines), decorations and refreshments to enjoy, local choir groups performing, and of course Santa Claus. After waiting in line to see Santa, Davis was eager when it was finally his turn.  He ran right up to Santa with a HUGE smile on his face, but as soon as I picked him up to set him on Santa's knee, he had a meltdown.  So we settled for sitting on Mommy's lab while Mommy knelt beside Santa to grab a super-quick photograph. Santa fail. After the "tree" lighting, there was a brief fireworks display, which I was excited to share with Davis.  This was his first time seeing fireworks, since the summer displays are always far past his bedtime.  He watched them from Daddy's shoulders and probably wondered what was going on. Davis is still too young to "get" Christmas, but when we do activities like these, I think fondly of the Christmases that I hope are to come in the future, full of the magic of childhood!

From Loving the Life We Live

20 Months

(Davis wanted to put all his toys in the laundry basket with him and have me push it around the house.) Things that Davis likes to do at 20 months old: Play in the dark before going to bed.  He likes it when we turn all the lights off and he walks around and tries to find us.  If we turn the light back on, he demands that we turn it off again so he can keep playing in the dark! Play in the bathtub.  He has some plastic cups that he plays with in the tub, and enjoys pouring the water from one cup to another, etc.  I like to say that he's learning about volume, viscosity, and other very advanced science concepts.  :) Play with his kitchen, his doorway playhouse, and his Mega Bloks.  (He has been showing off some pretty impressive fine motor skills with those Mega Bloks lately.  You should see the towers he can build.) Watch television.  We don't want him to turn into a couch potato and don't have the TV on often, but within the past two weeks he has suddenly developed a strong interest in cartoons.  The little stinker is always bringing us the remote control and wanting us to turn it on.  If we do, he usually then plays with the remote control, pointing it at the screen and pushing buttons.  Oftentimes, this results in him accidentally changing the channel, at which point he gasps and says "Oh no! Oh no!" and brings us the remote so that we can change it back.  He will point to things on the TV and name them (dog, ball, bird, balloon).  Earlier this week he came across a little toy Ernie doll and ran to hold him up by the television, obviously recognizing that Ernie is a character from TV.  Today he said "Mickey" when that famous mouse appeared on the screen.  All of this probably makes us sound like those parents who have the TV on all day and just plop their kid in front of it, but I promise that we are not! Empty the bathroom wastebasket.  He surprised us one day by carrying it to the kitchen and dumping it out into the larger trash container (which we do to consolidate the trash).  Now he does this every time he happens to look into our bathroom wastebasket and sees some trash in it. Sleep.  I will probably regret saying this, but he has been going down easily and sleeping great at night lately (knock on wood).  We're trying to transition down to one 2-3 hour nap per day, and he's doing well with that as long as I can manage to keep him awake until after lunch.  I think back to that first year of terrible naps, multiple wake-ups per night, etc. and shudder!  I certainly hope that we have put those problems behind us forever. Playing chase, peek-a-boo, hide-and-seek, tickles, and horsey. Coloring.  Actually, this mostly consists of sitting on someone's lap and playing with the crayons.  But he looooves it.  He got hooked on this when Grammy (my mother) was visiting last weekend, and a couple of days later, he was making his "I want that" sound and gesture and I couldn't figure out what he wanted, until it suddenly hit me that he was gesturing for the crayons and the paper!  He knows exactly where we sit when we color, has to have all of the correct coloring accessories out, etc.  The other night Greg said, "Don't you wish he wouldn't grow up?  Isn't this a fun age?"  Now, of course we want him to grow up, but yes, this is an especially fun age.  We are LOOOOVING his easygoing, fun-loving, active and happy personality and all the ways he shows it.  He has finally started clapping properly with both hands open (before he always kept his left hand closed and clapped the right hand against it - weird).  He can blow kisses and give high fives. His vocabulary is growing every day (some newer words include "bye-bye," "baby," "please," "teeth," "color," and "all done"), although he still chooses not to use many words with regularity.  He is showing us how much he understands by following our directions, like "go get your jacket" or "where are your socks" or "go throw this away."  He can correctly point to/identify these body parts on demand: head, eye, ear, nose, mouth, tummy, feet, hands, and teeth.  He is becoming pickier about his eating.  After a period of time where it was absolutely exhausted trying to get him to cooperate for an entire church service, he has been doing so well in church lately.  He likes to play with the tiny pencils they have in the pews, and with a can of puff-balls that we bring for him to play with where he can dump them out and then poke them back in through little holes.  His babysitter's 13-year-old daughter remarked recently, "You know, he is pretty much the cutest boy ever . . . and the easiest."  She's a pretty smart girl.  ;)   We love you, big boy!

From Loving the Life We Live

Faces

From Loving the Life We Live

Trick or Treat!

 

Tonight we took Davis out trick-or-treating for the first time.

We just went to a few houses on our street.

 

 

Davis was a little confused about what we wanted him to do,

but before long he figured out that people would give him candy to put in his bucket.

 

 

I took a video of his first-ever trick-or-treating visit!

 

Of course, one of the best things about Halloween is playing with all the candy afterwards!

 

Happy Halloween!

From Loving the Life We Live

Alma Mater

Through the years we will remember, Keep each image clear Of the tow'r, the hall, the fountain, Of Manchester dear . . .             Earlier this month, we headed up north to my alma mater, Manchester College.  (For the record, I am not happy about their name change and it will always be MC to me!)  We didn't make the trip last year, so this was my first time getting to see my progeny (e.g. Davis) walking around the campus where I spent four wonderful years.  A lot has changed since 2004, both for me and for Manchester, and it felt both strange and wonderful to see the past, present, and the future all come together.   Manchester College,Loyal to you We will ever be . . .

From Loving the Life We Live