Eating Breakfast and Sweeping Dog Hair

I took this video sometime last week of Lewis chowing down at breakfast and being in a good mood/just being cute. Sometimes he'll double-fist the banana and stuffs his cheeks full of it.

We try to do some Dog Hair Eradication every week (and/or whenever I step on tufts of hair floating around). We are having company (the Butts) this weekend, so today I did a slightly more thorough job than usual. In my defense, the hair on the videos is from 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms, all collected in the hallway, en route to the kitchen trash can. But still (Hattie and Peter, I'm talking to you), we have a dog hair problem. Out of control.

After tossing his broom aside in the 2nd one, he tried to steal the real broom from me. I took over and finished the rest on my own. :)

Dinner at Jim and Sharon's and (Not) Hooping it Up

Unrelated to the rest of the post, proof of Hattie and Lewis making friends. :) She's slowly letting him sit closer and closer and tolerates a little more snuggling every day (most days, at least). :) She still sends out a warning shriek and snip every once in a while, but she's gotten so much better.

We went to Kevin's parents' house last weekend for dinner with them and his brothers. Kevin had gotten a prime rib from his boss as a Christmas gift, so his mom cooked it up with all sorts of accompaniments--it was all delicious, as always!

 

 Ice Cream in a Homemade Cookie Bowl

Enough said. Yum!!

Today we stopped at a park to swing and play on the playground while on our errands. There is a flying field across the street where people fly remote-controlled airplanes, and they caught Lewis' eye while he was swinging. I thought we could run over and find a spot to sit closer to the action, but by the time we drove over, people were no longer flying so we'll have to try again another time. There were however, two little deer right in the middle of the city (along the edge of E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park, but still!).

 Two Deer

I didn't want to spook them, so I kept my distance.

At Goodwill today, I found a basketball hoop for Lewis in great condition! I was super excited--he, not so much. :)

Checking it out

 Responding to my yells of 'You put the ball in the red hoop!'

 Followed by a complete and total meltdown.

He wanted to move/push the goal around the driveway. He wanted to cling onto his ball and the goal at the same time. He did NOT want me to put his ball through the hoop. He wanted to drag the hoop, but it would tip over and hit him in the face. He melted before my very eyes. I took him inside to calm down and asked if he wanted to play with his basketball goal, and he said 'yes' so we tried again. The 2nd time, he just kind of casually walked over to check it out, but played with other toys mostly. It must have been too overwhelming. We'll try again.

Instead, he brought over a chair to sit with me:

 

Big Boy

Nature Preserve and New (Toy) Car

Wednesday we headed out to Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve to meet up with Tonya and Carlton (originally from our hospital mom group). We hung out in the nature center for a little bit and then went out and had a picnic (well, the boys ate and we talked). 

Heading up to the Nature Center

This next picture reminds me that I seriously need to figure out how to clean our camera. There is some dust inside that has been causing a dark spot in the middle of my pictures for the past few weeks. This next one of Lewis and Carlton was going to be so cute, if not for Lewis' face getting smudged out... :(

 Little Buddies

They are in the process of building/painting a toddler play area that is separate from the rest of the nature center displays, and this time it was far enough along that we were able to go inside.

And then we picnicked:

 

Thank goodness for the stroller with which to restrain Wild Man Lew. :)

Back home, this is a familiar scene lately at our house: 

 After breakfast and sometimes after nap, we watch the school buses (and cars) come and go from the elementary school across the street. 

On our way home from the nature preserve the other day, I saw a sign for a consignment sale at a church near our house and decided to run out there this morning. I had two great scores--a My First LeapPad with like 10 books (for only $30 total!!) and a Cozy Convertible Car for only $10.

Lewis l.o.v.e.s. the car. So much so that he had a total meltdown when I made him park it in the garage to go inside for lunch. After finally getting him strapped into his highchair (still crying), I went out and got the car and parked it in our kitchen so he could see it while we ate lunch. (He was also melting down because he woke up an hour earlier than usual today.)

 Sweet Ride!

 

 Honk, honk.

 He likes to ride in it, but he really likes to push and pull it all around the yard (and later, the basement). 

Still working on steering and keeping it on the road. :)

Family Pictures and Carter Reunion

We headed up to my parents' house last weekend for family pictures and the Carter family reunion. We had absolutely perfect weather for both! Our pictures are on their way to us for prints and Christmas cards--for now, they can be seen on my cousin Leitia's blog here. I'm so glad we had her do them for us, and I'm so happy with the ones I've seen so far!

And now, my pictures from the weekend:

 Bananas on Lewis' head at breakfast before hitting the road

Sometimes he takes food and rubs it on his hair. Peanut butter has been the best. Sometimes he combs his hair with his fork, too.

 After pictures on Saturday, Mom wanted to take us to a restaurant nearby, Cammack Station. The food was great and the decor was fun and old-timey. Mom got a chocolate malt, and Lewis was VERY happy to help her with it. :)

 Feed me, Seymour!

Sunday was the reunion--we had a really good turnout! We ate lunch, chatted some, and then I went to help Kevin wrangle Lewis. (As I was talking to people, I kept catching them run by out the corner of my eye.) I found them down by the playground.

Mom and I walked with Kevin and Lewis down to the lake to feed the ducks (something we've done forever, since we were little). I still remember the (evil) ducks chasing us down on the bank and having bruised fingers from them biting me as I fed them. This time they kept their distance and stayed in the water. Thankfully. :)

 Action Shot (feeding the ducks)

That white thing in the lower-right is bread that Lewis threw. He was so cute with it. :)

 

 Posing with the (evil) ducks

 Wheeeee!

 Getting Squirrely and Fading Fast

The reunion started at noon, and Lewis' nap is usually at 1pm, so he was fading a bit by the end. We said our goodbyes once he started kind of staring off into the distance. :)

One last picture before we go

Lewis with his newest cousin, Jerrett (7 weeks old)

We got on the road around 3pm, I believe, and I was nervous at first that we'd missed the window of opportunity for Lewis to fall asleep for nap. He was pretty wild the first 20 minutes or so...

 Not gonna nap, Mama!! You're stuck with me the whoooole way! :)

Thankfully, he was out approximately 2 minutes later. :)

It was a great weekend!

Outdoor Trifecta (Park, Nature Preserve, Zoo)

I am looooving this weather. Though we've had a few trying days the past week (days with tantrums, no naps or bad naps, yelling out in public, etc.), we have had some nice visits to our favorite outdoor places. We might ONLY go to outdoor places for a little while. :) Thankfully he is sleeping/napping normally again. Still working on the yelling.

We went to Waterfront Park last week to play on the playground and walk down to see the fish in the water (there were hundreds of them!). He also loved watching the cars and trucks go over the bridges/overpasses he could see from there.

 

I know the drill, ma!

Hey!

 

 Climbing back up the slide

Another day last week, we went back out to the nature preserve nearby. I brought the stroller this time (last time we 'hiked' and I ended up having to carry him some). We spent a good 30 minutes or so by their frog pond, being quiet and doing some reflection. Eventually Lewis started getting restless and my quiet time was over (was nice while it lasted!). :) Here he is playing peek-a-boo:

 Enough of this quiet time! Let's get moving!

That day he climbed out of his crib and did NOT take a nap. Thankfully that was the last day he has climbed out (we're going on a week now of him staying in, thank goodness). This was the scene when I went into get him:

 Sound machine unplugged, trash bags pulled out, books piled up on chair. Pointing right at me like, 'YOU missed the party I had in here, Mom!'

Friday we headed to the zoo with Maria and Clara who were in town from PA (Amelia went to a consignment sale with us on Thursday, but she stayed back with her aunt for the zoo). We had such a nice time--Clara is so sweet with Lewis. 

 This was Lew's face as he watched the polar bear pace back and forth in front of the window.

Coming

 and going.

 Little Buddies

We're excited to see them again at Thanksgiving!

19 Months Old

19 Months Old

(Best we could get with the squirrely monkey this morning)

His stats (from BabyCenter):

Weight: 30.3 pounds (between 75th and 90th percentile)

Height: 35 inches (95th percentile)

Head Size: 20.5 inches (above 95th percentile)

What he’s doing this month:

• Trying to communicate – He is getting better at answering questions with ‘yea’ but has yet to say ‘no,’ so that is only a marginally effective way of communication. J The pediatrician also suggested we ask questions with two options instead of just yes/no, so I’ve been trying to do more of that this month. This morning at breakfast I heard him say ‘done’ and passed it off as another ‘dah!’ but then I caught it and said, ‘Did you say ‘done’?’ And he looked at me like YES! I DID say DONE! Then he started to unclip the tray from his highchair and lifted up his cup for me so I could take the tray off to wash. We had a moment. J
• Other words are few – He points at things and uses ‘words’ that only we understand. Finally the other night, he very clearly used the word BALL for the first time which was very sweet to hear. He also said Vroom Vroom yesterday when we were playing with his cars. He really likes when we make sound effects/funny noises with his cars, and he tries to mimic them (especially siren noises). His other ‘words’ (that aren’t quite words) are shirt, shorts, socks, shoes, dog, tree, plane, truck, and car.
• Sleep is getting back to normal, still. We were back, then we weren’t, and now we’re getting back. He had a few days this week where he did not nap—one of the days he just kept popping back out of his crib with the greatest of ease. He’d been staying in since the whole crib-bed-back to crib fiasco, but that day, he figured out  that the pillows we’d put down to cushion his fall were actually great landing pads (making climbing out easier/less scary). I tried putting him back in and walking out a few times, but he was out again by the time I got out the door, so I gave up and just let him roam his room (he pulled out all of his books and made a mess of his room) for an hour or so.
• Eating with a fork/spoon – He all of a sudden figured it out! We were out to dinner a few weeks ago, and we had ice cream after our meal (free at Jason’s Deli). We were giving him bites in between our bites, and then he grabbed the spoon and started scooping it out and feeding himself. Apparently we weren’t getting it to him fast enough! Since then, we’ve been consistently giving him a fork at meals, and he’s really getting good at it. He still has trouble stabbing some foods at times (like blueberries yesterday), but they roll, and he’s just learning, so that is to be expected. J He also tries to stab unstabbable foods (crackers, cheerios, etc.) so we’re working on distinguishing the two.
• Dancing on cue – If a song comes on, we can say, “Lewis, can you dance?’ and he’ll start shimmying his arms and twisting and bouncing. I’m going to try to get it on video because it’s awesome.
• Become a slave to marketing – We were perusing sippy cups the other day at Babies R Us, and he saw a Cars cup and flipped out, pointing and ‘Dah!’ing. A few days after that, he pointed out Cars and Thomas the Train items at Target. He’s never seen or read about either, but just the pictures of the cars, trucks, trains, etc. have sucked him in.
• Throwing a ball better – Kevin brought a play ball outside so Lewis could throw and chase around something other than tomatoes. J He’s getting pretty good at it!
• Climbing the stairs more efficiently – If he’s not distracted, he can zip up and down pretty quickly.
• Being a good helper – We try to include him in sorting recycling, putting laundry in the washer/dryer, carrying things, picking up his toys, etc. It takes a little bit longer to get things done, but I want him to learn how to do things for himself.
• Throwing tantrums – This has just started happening the past few weeks or so and have been mostly minor, and I’m pretty sure they’re directly related to him trying to communicate with us. His pointing and ‘Dah!’ing can only take him (or me) so far, so in Target the other day, for instance, he was pointing and ‘Dah!’ing and I didn’t know/didn’t pay attention to what he was trying to get my attention about—it just escalated until he started shrieking and bucking in the cart. I took a deep breath and channeled my deep-inner-calm-voice (it was difficult) and kept walking. He did eventually calm down, but shoo-wee. He did it again in another store on a non-nap day (the Target day might have also been a non-nap day, come to think of it)…I tried to stay calm and gave him my phone to try to distract him, and he promptly flung the phone through the air and under a shelf. Picture me on the dirty store floor on all fours, reaching under to get my phone. I was very happy with life at that moment. (Not at all.) That was the day Kevin got home from work, and I greeted him by breaking into tears. Oh, parenthood. J The past few days were great, though. I’m still trying to relay to him that shrieking is not an acceptable form of communication and that it hurts my ears (and my nerves) and that we need to use our words and use an inside voice. One of these days it will pay off. One of these days…

So that’s Lew at 19 months! Family pictures today and (Carter) family reunion tomorrow! Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Out to Huber's

Sunday morning we headed out to Huber's Orchard/Winery to their Family Farm Park, hoping to beat the crowds of September/October. Unfortunately, it was too early for them to be making their amazing apple cider donuts, so we'll have to go back. (I say Fortunately we get to go back, Kevin would probably say Unfortunately.) :)

First, we had to stop and see the old tractors:

 

 Lew's very confused face as he watched...

 a very creepy talking tree.

Onto the Family Farm Park:

 

 Following Dad through the bamboo maze

(Which was fun, unlike the corn maze which was longer, hotter, and generally not as pleasant)

 

 Being carried by Mom (and being attacked by bamboo from above) after walking became too tiring for Lew... 

(Again, not as bad as the corn maze where he insisted on being carried most of the time and carried by me, specifically, for some reason)

Approaching The Mountain Slide with Dad

 And out the end, sort of

If you squint, you can barely see Lewis in the shadows. He then took off and tried to climb back up (which went as well as expected). Kevin finally was able to scoot down enough to grab him and slide down with him.

 There they are!

Kevin's parents came out and met up with us to walk through/feed the animals, do the corn maze, and ride the mountain slide again.

 Birds, Chickens, Peacocks

 Deer

 Deer and a goat

 A rabbit

  Whee!

He went down the other slide the 2nd time which was far more successful. Even I went down it once--it was super fun!

Happy Grandparents' Day 2012, J&S!

As I said, we'll have to go back out for cider, cider donuts, cider slushes (not sure if they have those or not), a hayride, a pumpkin, wine, etc.