He's a hot mess!

The little guy hadn't gotten into the dog's water dish in ages... until today. He spiked a fever at daycare, so he was home and in pajamas for most of the afternoon. He seems fine-- cheerful, but feverish. Medicine is keeping his fever down, but we'll be home tomorrow. Anyway, here he is splashing in the water dish using his hands and part of our church bulletin. He was very deliberate about it.

By the time I got to him, he was sopping wet, which is why he's wearing different pajamas to wrestle with his dad before bed.

He's clearly feeling fine. What a nut!

He's such a little gentleman (sometimes)

He finally learned how to say 'please' in baby sign language, sort of. It's supposed to be your right hand rubbing a little circle on your chest. Here's what he does:

He's going to be spoiled rotten if he doesn't stop being so cute! How can you say no to that? Of course, if you are a little slow getting the food to him, he gets a little demanding.

It's pretty easy to say no to that face, so I think we'll be alright.

Wahoo!

Go Seminoles! Today was an AMAZING day for the 'Noles. The little dude and I proudly wore our garnet and gold.

The little guy was super-cuddly during the game today. Here are the three boys (well, man, boy, male dog) snuggling on the couch:

And here's the little guy being really sweet with the beagle:

He's wearing a jacket because he kept taking his pants off, but it's cold! It's way too cold to wear a t-shirt and a diaper, so he wore a t-shirt, jacket, and diaper.

Back to normal...

Happy Thanksgiving! The little guy tried to eat some rocks yesterday, but settled for a pretty traditional meal with banana pudding for dessert.

We're all home now, dogs included, and after a much-needed trip to the grocery store tomorrow everything should be back to normal for a while. The little guy was pretty excited to see the dogs. Here he is terrorizing the beagle:

And here's the coonhound, making us both jump:

She always comes home hoarse after we board her. She'll get her bay back in about a week.

Belated Halloween Costume Idea?

There is a little cardboard box on the kitchen floor right now. Since the dogs are gone this week, I've been putting some crackers and a cup of water on the box for the little dude's after-work snack.

Tonight I realized he looks a little, um, like a hobo. A small table may be in his future.

Why I Should Not Be Left Alone with This Child, Part 1

I love to dip my grilled-cheese sandwiches in barbecue sauce. The little dude has eaten barbecue before (and baked beans, which is barbecue-ish) and loved it. I've read that toddlers like to dip their food in sauce. Plus, he had (really mild) honey-mustard sauce on chicken last week and it was a hit.

So, tonight I gave him cheese-toast with a side of barbecue sauce for dinner. He stuck his hand in the sauce, licked his fingers, and seemed happy... so it was going well, right? This is the kid who eats almost anything, right? Yup. Until he started crying and clawing at his tongue. The sauce was apparently a little hotter than I thought it was. Continuing my streak of pure genius, I gave him a piece of toast that I had already dipped in the sauce. That made it worse, of course. (Duh.) Then I gave him some water, which obviously didn't help out either.

Finally I grabbed a yogurt out of the fridge-- he didn't want milk since the water was ineffective. The yogurt worked, thank goodness, and he calmed down. What the heck was I thinking?

Here he is finishing his peas after all was forgiven:

He never did eat the rest of his cheese-toast. I think this was my worst idea yet!

Sleepy Boy

He was a sleepy boy tonight, which means that he's both really cuddly and quite serious about his food. Here he is being cuddly:

And here's a video of him inspecting and then demolishing his burrito:

The bruise down the middle of his forehead is from face-planting into a chair leg.

We didn't leave anything in San Francisco...

We got back from four days in San Francisco today. The trip was great-- the little guy was amazingly well-behaved on the plane and we had a great time (even though I had to work). But, like an idiot, I left my camera in the hotel room for most of our sightseeing. Here are some highlights that I managed to catch from our trip.

1. Baby's first room service! What can I say? We travel in style...

2. The city, as seen from the top of the MOMA. The weather was perfect and the city is stunning.

3. The little guy, giving me a heart attack. This is five stories up, and I have a somewhat paralyzing fear of heights. It was terrible. I was trying to keep an eye on him and not look at the same time. The picture isn't anywhere close to as stomach-churning as the reality.

4. The little guy sacked out in his crib at the hotel. Play hard, sleep hard. 

All in all, it was a wonderful trip but it's always nice to be back home.

I never thought my feet were particulary large...

... but my shoes look enormous when baby feet are in them.

Do you like his cell phone? He managed to text my mom the other day... 25 cents down the drain. If he keeps this up we might actually have to get a texting plan. We're such luddites.

Bu-bu-bu

I'm out of town this week, so these are previously-recorded postings. Here is a video that I never got around to posting earlier.

He still loves to do this, but now he puts his hands out and tries to make our mouths do the noise. It's a little disgusting, but sweet.

Fridge toy!

I think we might need to move this toy up a little.

What do you think?

In other news, last night we tickled the little dude until he farted, which was hilarious. While we were doing that, the big dog ate all of the leftover pizza out of the box, which was fairly tragic.

Kisses!

Daycare taught the little guy to blow kisses... sort of. They're big, sloppy, open-mouth affairs and he uses the back of his hand instead of the front. I think it's great. I keep calling it his new trick, but I think tricks are for dogs. Apparently, children develop skills instead of learning tricks.

Today was the second day that he's walked into the infant room on his own and gone to the breakfast table without even turning around to wave or anything. The sound you heard this morning at 7:50 was my heart breaking. I guess he's the child I deserve (sorry, mom).

Sunday best...

What should you do when you are wearing your Sunday best? Let's see:
1. Climb into the dog's crate.

2. Eat spaghetti.

3. Be thankful for stain-stick because all of those clothes are borrowed (the bib is ours).

What a handsome guy!

He was chowing down on a burrito today (toddler burrito, great recipe) when I took this flattering picture:

 I don't know how he got burrito up his nose, but there it is! When he uses his manners, though, he's actually kind of a cute eater. See?

Awwwww. Look at those shiny eyes.

Snacktime!

Since we were home all day yesterday, the dogs were around for the little dude's pre-nap snack.

This is why we crate them whenever we eat. Aren't they pathetically obnoxious?

Plastic bags make FANTASTIC toys!

Now I understand why plastic bags always have warnings on them-- they make great toys! The little dude spent some time today taking all of our plastic bags out of the cabinet. Then he took one into the living room and put a book in it.

Then he took the book out and spun around.

Then he put the book back.

He was totally engrossed for a really long time. Forget safety-- we had a happy baby on our hands!

We're Communicating!

The little guy is definitely getting good at communicating. For example, we always know when he's finished with his milk.

He might be a little too expressive, actually, but I love how casual he is about it all.

Am I on the phone too much?

I'm starting to wonder, because this is what the little dude does when he gets his hands on a cell phone:

The little guy actually called his dad the other day. When his dad answered the phone, all he heard was heavy breathing. Luckily he guessed what was going on, but if the little dude dials a stranger and pants into the phone, there could be trouble!

Lessons Learned Today

1. When the little guy falls and cuts his gums and tears his frenulum, he will be sad and pathetic until the tylenol starts working. (We had to make a quick trip to urgent care today to check his teeth because he fell and landed mouth-first. He'll be fine.)

 2. It was a good idea to hold off on buying a nicer dining room table.

 

3. Macaroni and cheese can be a finger-food. 

4. Some peas that are not good enough to eat while they are on the table are good enough to eat once they are on the floor. (Am I a bad mom?)

 5. Telephone cords only stretch so far before they'll knock you over. Finding out how far is a lot of fun.

All in all, I'd call it a pretty educational day!

He roams around, around, around

The only thing we do anymore is sit around the house and laugh at the little dude. (That isn't entirely true, but it's close.)

He cracks me up, what can I say?

First Haircut!

We took the little dude to the hair salon today for a quick trim. Here he is in my lap in the chair. He had just decided that he didn't want to wear a cape after all, so that's why he looks a little upset. I have no explanation for why I always smile with my mouth wide open in pictures with him.

And here is the lovely stylist snipping away. She did a great job- he still has his ears despite all of his wiggling and squirming.

He didn't have a ton of hair, but it was getting long over his ears and around his neck.This is the best picture I could get of the final (much-improved) look:

Good-bye mullet-- he's growing up so fast!

What a busybody!

Part of the little guy's bedtime routine is emptying his bookshelf. It's more obnoxious than cute sometimes, but whatever.

Things were a little different tonight. There was a noise outside while he was flinging books off of his bookshelf-- and the little dude is already a nosy neighbor!

I can see him just like this in 80 years, maybe with binoculars and without footie-pajamas, but the giant belly and the nosiness will remain.

Bedtime

I was folding laundry tonight at bedtime, so his daddy got to read the Very Hungry Caterpillar in the bizarre sequence that the little dude prefers (he only likes the different size pages with the holes in them, and he flips through them at varying speeds and out of order).

What a happy pair!

It's official... we're boring.

I've been looking through our pictures, and we kind of do the same stuff every day. Hence the videos and the toilet-paper wrapping. It might snow this weekend here, so maybe that'll shake things up a bit.

Anyway, this past weekend we were at a party and one of our friends complimented the little dude on knowing where his ears are. We had no idea he could do that. Daycare is amazing! Apparently they taught him to grab his ears when you say "Where are your ears?" It's really cute. He did it for the camera on take one, but then we pushed him too far and we don't have video-editing capabilities, so here's a semi-successful attempt:

And here's his best failed attempt.

The attitude on this one is unbelievable.

I thought we had hands for a reason...

The little guy is hilarious. Here he is carrying a magnet around...

...in his mouth. That's right-- now that his hands are free, he isn't using them at all.

Best Idea Ever/Worst Execution Possible

The little guy totally walks like a zombie- arms out, legs stiff. It's hilarious. So I had the AMAZING idea to wrap him in toilet paper and film him walking. Awesome, right? Even better if he did his "Aahhhhh" sound... total one-year-old zombie. First of all, wrapping an uncooperative toddler in t.p. is harder than it appears. He kept squirming and trying to rip it off and feed it to the beagle. Then he wouldn't walk. I gave up, and was roundly mocked.

It really was a great idea, I promise!