Running!

It was gorgeous outside today, so we headed to a nearby park to play outside (I am my mother's daughter). The little booger ran...

 ...stopped to blow on a dandelion...

 ... and ran some more!

It was great. If the weather holds, we'll do it again tomorrow!

Another New Cousin!

Our family just keeps growing!  The little booger's first girl cousin was born in March (remember this adorable post) and his newest little boy cousin was born early this month, just after April Fool's day thanks to his mom's sheer will power.  Here is a picture of my brother, his wife, and their new son.  What a beautiful family.

Here's my wife with the new little kiddo.

And here's my little booger.  His mom had to run out to the pharmacy last night to pick him up some sunscreen for daycare.  He found her Nike+ bracelet and started running around the house trying to put it around his neck.  He'd put it on and then lower his little chin to hold it in place.  What a strange little guy!  This isn't a great picture, but it's all I managed to get.

Kitchen Fun Time!

While dinner was in the oven, the little stinker played with our row of kitchen drawers. Now that he's tall enough to do this, it's one of his favorite games.

This is the other thing he's doing in the kitchen since he's grown a bit.

That's even worse than slamming the drawers shut.

Belated Spring Fling!

Daycare held a Spring Fling last Friday with a special snack and an egg hunt. One of my (wonderful) friends took pictures of our little stinker while photographing her lovely daughter. Here's the little guy during his first Easter egg hunt.

True to form, he sat down for a second snack while everyone else was leaving. Please notice that nobody else is eating (and that the tables and chairs are tiny and adorable).

And he's still making his terrible camera face.

Woah, Woah, Boap.

The little booger loves to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." He calls it "Woah, Whoah, Boap" which is cute but confusing. The other day he kept demanding "Wowoboap" and I kept replying "What?" because I had absolutely no idea what he wanted. He got this resigned look on his face and said with comically exaggerated enunciation "Woah. Woah. Boap." So much attitude in such a little body!

Just wait until I'm a teenager!

Here's a video of him (sort of) singing it. You should know that this was our third fourth attempt to get him to do this. Also, please forgive my voice-- I've got some kind of head congestion thing going right now.

Self-Service?

We first let the little booger stand on the counter tops out of sheer frustration. It was so he could get what he wanted without having to know the right word. That was when all food was "cracker" to him. He would sob "Crack-er-er-er" and we would give him a cracker and he would look at us all distraught because he actually wanted yogurt.

He is much better at communicating now, but the counter-surfing has gotten a bit out of hand. Here he is playing with the toaster oven this evening.

I clean before I use the counters for food prep, though, I promise.

Happy Easter!

The little booger opened his Easter present during breakfast (a board book from Grandma).

After breakfast, he scared his daddy by ROARING.

Tonight we visited with friends over a nice dinner. The little stinker rubbed his face all over their screen door and was a filthy but happy and quiet mess. This picture doesn't show it too well, but everyone said he looked like he'd just come out of a coal mine.

Eric said he wasn't nearly that dirty... I guess he'd know.

Go In and Out the Window?

I thought the little booger reminded me of the nursery rhyme "Go In and Out the Window" whenever the dogs are outside, because he goes out and in and out and in until they get back. Here he is heading outside:

After some googling (for this post), though, it turns out I always think of a completely-incorrect-and-sung-to-the-wrong-tune mash-up of "Go In and Out the Window" and "Did You Ever See a Lassie?" Whoops! Here he is coming back inside while that imaginary song runs through my head:

Now that this post is based on a complete lack of knowledge on my part, I'm going to go study our copy of Mother Goose.

Say what?

The little booger was saying something really unintelligible (more than usual) while running around like a maniac today. His teachers didn't know what he was saying and neither did we... until tonight:

It's "Tickle, tickle, tickle!" He was tickling the remote control and the computer earlier, which kind of threw us as far as contextual clues. We figured it out after I laid on the floor and he came over and started tickling me. What a hoot!

Future Metalhead?

The little stinker fell off the dining room chair this morning, landing headfirst on the (carpeted) floor. Today at daycare he did a back flip off some playground equipment and gave himself a giant goose-egg under his left eyeball. He seems totally unfazed... unless him carrying a suitcase to the door means something.

The little booger's teachers said that he'll have a steel plate in his head by the time he's four. It's sweet of them to prepare us.

Hop on Pops!

He's not hopping on his Pops (thank goodness!), but the little booger is enjoying reading with him.

10,000 page views! Wow!

On Saturday our blog had the 10,000th page view in its history and I want to say "Thanks!" to everyone who keeps up with the little booger and his folks through this blog. Most, if not all, of you are friends and family and we are so glad you are part of our lives. We are truly blessed!

I hope that you will continue to enjoy reading about "Chicken Bone's" crazy life. He sure keeps his mom and me cracked up.

For all you stat fans out there here is a list of the top 5 most viewed posts in the history of "Our Little Booger".

1) Sunday with a 9 month old - 42

2) Best Idea Ever / Worst Execution Possible - 32

3) What a mean dad! - 28 (a personal favorite of mine, hehe)

4) Ten Scars Make a Man? - 27

5) Books! - 26

On a purely statistical note: I have, from here on out, skewed the data in theses posts' favor.

Edward Soapyhands!

The little booger has started helping out with his baths. He rubs his hair, looks at his hands, and says "It's soap!"

In other news, he can finally reach the top of his head.

*I know the title is terrible. Sorry.

Like Son, Like Father?

The little dude has started grinning with his eyes all squinty. I don't know where he got the idea to make that face, but it's hilariously unattractive. Here's a picture of it from dinner last night:

And here's his dad's imitation:

What handsome fellows!

Our Little Chicken Bone

The little booger started eating a chicken leg like it was a corndog at the church picnic today. We may not have been paying quite as much attention as we should have because the little stinker managed to eat the chicken's knee-- all the cartilage and some of the bone. We didn't realize it until he was actually kind of choking. (What can I say? We're amazing parents.) He hacked everything up himself, thank goodness, but I had to fish around his mouth to get all the pieces of bone out. Ugh. It was awful.

Dinner was much more successful. (Phew!) He mainly licked ranch dressing off of broccoli, but I like to think some of the vitamins got through.

Because of lunch, Eric is calling him "Chicken Bone" now. I'm hoping that doesn't catch on, but the little stinker is already answering to it.

Big Shoes to Fill

The little stinker likes to play with our shoes. Here he is in his dad's boots.

He's got some growing to do before those will fit... but over-the-knee boots are in this year, right?

How could we?

The little booger was helping out with some laundry today, and he was NOT HAPPY to see that we put his security blanket in the wash (he peed on it, so washing it was not optional).

Thankfully we have a duplicate that calmed him down pretty quickly, and the original was dry by bedtime.

Big Day!

Daycare had a teddy bear picnic today for the mobiles room. I took off early to go. The kids had a teddy bear show-and-tell, ate teddy grahams (and sandwiches), and read books about teddy bears. Then they played outside. After all that excitement, the little booger was a tired little teddy bear (ba-dum-bum... groan).

I love it when he's worn out-- that's the only time we get snuggles anymore.

Doggies!

The little booger loooooves the dogs. He loves to go outside when they do, he loves to poke them and say their names (followed by "woof, woof"), but his favorite thing to do is say "OK" when it's time for them to eat (we make the dogs sit and stay for their dinner). Here's doggie-dinnertime tonight at our house:

Sometimes, though, the dogs can be a bit of a pain. (Inconceivable!) Last night I was filming the little dude listening to "The Going to Bed Book" and, well, see what happened?

We keep a loud house. Don't you want to come visit?

Trying so hard!

He tried to escape out the window tonight. We let him fall off the stairs yesterday, so I can't really blame him.

The best part was that he totally shot me the stink-eye when I didn't pick him up right away. He likes to look out the window.

He's all "Come on, mom, let's go!!! There's a whole world out there!!!" He gave up waiting and tried to climb the wall again.

His is clearly a life of quiet desperation.

Head Injuries, Take 1,000,000

The poor little dude fell off the third step today. He was climbing the stairs and just leaned backwards. His head-first dive to the floor was interrupted by the edge of a wooden chair (smack, thud). Ouch! Fortunately, his daddy, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and his icy made it all better.

I obsessively checked him for signs of a concussion all evening, but I think the only damage will be a giant bruise.

Continued...

We had a really nice family birthday celebration for Eric tonight, so of course I didn't take any pictures (typical). So here's one more picture of the little booger from yesterday.

He had a blast playing with the ladder. Here's a video. Do you see that cliff behind him? That is why I hover when we are outside.

Is playing under a ladder bad luck? If so, that could explain some things...

Workin' at the carwash!

We (Eric, actually) washed our cars today! The little booger had a wonderful time helping out.

He actually washed the car a little, too.

The little dude was filthy and wet with two slightly skinned knees by the time we were done. What a great way to spend a spring afternoon!

Sitting Pretty!

The little booger was a little, um, less than pleasant this morning. He did not want to sit in his high chair, thankyouverymuch. So here he is eating breakfast in my chair.

I know, mom, I totally deserve this child.

What a way to spend an evening!

It rained all day, so the little stinker was a hot mess after playing with the deck furniture this evening. First, he thought it was hilarious to close the door and keep me inside.

He had a blast climbing and splashing on the wet chairs.

He even knocked over the little table and tossed it around (what a beast!).

The little guy might have been damp and filthy, but he was happy!

Snug as a bug in a rug.

The little guy has been coming home with some new skill everyday. Within the past week or so we've figured out he can count, sing his ABCs, sing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star", "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" (with hand motions!), and "Row Row Row Your Boat", which - fun fact - was the first and only song I ever learned to play on the guitar. Not that impressive seeing as how it's only an E chord. But he's also start asking for help; "Olp!?!" He'll get his cereal out of the corner cabinet, hold it up, and say, "Olp," for instance.

Two nights ago, as I was putting him to bed, he was being a little fussy and having a hard time going to sleep. So I was trying all the books I could and getting him his water, but nothing was working. All of the sudden he reached over for his big blanket, handed it to me, and said, "Olp." I wasn't sure what he wanted but when I took it from him he laid down on his belly, put his arms under himself, and looked up at me with the sweetest little smile. I covered the little fella up and he went right to sleep. It melted my heart! What an amazing blessing.

Totally unrelated is the following picture. He's getting to big!

Heartbreaker!

When I was leaving the house to run an errand this evening, the little stinker waved and said "Byeeee!" so I waved and said "Bye! I love you!" He replied with something that could be interpreted as "I love you." My heart melted, and then he slammed the door and yelled "Byeee!!!"

*sigh*

Changing the subject, the little booger's teachers said that he sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" today. He sang it pretty well (it was basically recognizable) in the car on the way home, so I tried to get it on video tonight. Here he is not really cooperating with me:

And here he is not cooperating at all with his dad:

Feeling Better!

The little dude stayed home with his daddy today. He seems to be feeling a ton better, even though practically all he ate today was shredded wheat. Here he is shaking things up with some graham crackers.

He also took his first self-portrait tonight.

That's my boy!

Sick Day

The little booger ran a fever this morning, so we spent most of the day home together. Here he enjoying yogurt and a video after a long nap.

He was pretty lethargic, so we had a quiet and snuggly afternoon.

Elbow!

The little stinker loves Elmo (he calls him "Elbow?"). He has a book with Elmo in it, and we also occasionally watch Elmo on YouTube. Here he is watching Elmo's Ducks tonight. This video starts slow, but I think it's worth watching through to the end...

Thinking outside the box?

The little booger got a pretty sweet tricycle for Christmas from his Nana and Pops. Today he decided he preferred the back seat over the, um, more traditional one.

He also put his sock in the ball-popper. (We managed to get it out.)

Creative thinking is good, right?

He's HUGE!!!

We spent the afternoon cleaning out the closet in the guest bedroom. There was a huge pile of old baby stuff, so we took things apart and put the pieces in bins and it all looks much tidier now. Anyway, the little booger had a blast playing with everything when we pulled it all out. Here he is sitting in his Moses basket. He climbed in himself.

It's hard to believe how much bigger he is now than he used to be. See? Same basket.

Inside Joke?

We were reading Moo, Baa, La La La again tonight (surprise!) and the little booger thought it was hilarious to say "Baa" when I asked him what a cow says. He was in hysterics. Here's a bit of it:

He was really cheerful tonight-- which is good because he bit someone today at daycare. It was our first incident report. Apparently the other kid put his/her fingers in my son's mouth, but still! One of my coworkers said to be grateful he didn't ask for a side of fava beans and a nice chianti. *sigh* Happy Friday!