Cousins are fun.

The little guy has been spending the last couple days with Nana and Pops while his Mom is on a business trip in NC. Nana and Pops took the kid to go visit his cousin today who then came back with them for a day of fun and a big sleepover. Below is what seems to happen when they get together. I must warn you, you might want to turn the volume down on your computer!

Thanks Pops for the video! Things must had been crazy at the grandparent's house tonight!

23!

That's 23 months, which is how old the little guy is as of today. Wow!

Time flies...

The arrival.

First off, this post has nothing to do with the Booger except for the fact that he now has a new back seat to ride in.  My Jeep came today.  After almost two weeks of driving the back way into the office so I could go  around the dealer's lot, she was finally sitting there this morning waiting to be checked out by the service guys.

I went over at lunch to drop off some paperwork that the dealer needed and snapped a few pics.  I will always love my TJ (and be sad every time I think about her driving away) but this one is pretty sweet.  The Booger's mom is out of town this evening so I didn't get a chance to take the new girl for a spin; just a quick drive home from the dealership.  Anyway, without further blabbing, presenting the newest member of the Booger's family! (no name yet, suggestions welcome)

Oh alright, here's a picture of the kid.  Picture him saying, "No, Mommy. Walk away!"

Football!

The poor little guy is thoroughly confused. He spent his Saturday wandering around alternating between "Go Seminoles! Fight team, fight!" and "Go Vols!" and "Let's gooooo Mountaineers!" To the untrained ear, it sounds more like "Go cinnamon rolls! Fuh-fuh-fuh!" and "Let go my ears!" He's got "Go Vols!" down pat. Anyway, here he is enjoying a corn muffin in front of the TV (a football season treat).

I just wish our teams played as enthusiastically as the little dude.

Nap-time with Daddy?

I was away for a while today, so Eric was in charge during nap-time.

Yup, that's the little booger asleep on the floor in front of the couch. Awesome.

There's Three

So, people usually say that bad things come in threes, right? (1) Yesterday poor little Beau hurt his back (again) and has to be on bed rest for four weeks. (2) While Eric had Beau at the vet, I tweaked my knee running up our stairs, so it's ice and elevation for me. (3) The little dude has pink-eye in both eyes.

Garbage!

He is also very interested in the trash can. He likes to reach in there and take stuff out so that he can throw it away again. I guess we have pink-eye infested trash.

Talking!

The little guy is so funny-- he just narrates whatever he's doing. He also asked for something tonight, told himself to say please, said please, and then thanked himself for saying it. This kid cracks me up.

Too Big!

The little dude wore a new-to-him pair of jeans today. When he sat down to eat his pre-dinner snack, I realized the jeans are wayyy too short! When did this happen?

He's too big!

Playground!

The little guy had a blast at the playground with his Gramps and uncle over the weekend. Here's a quick video compilation of Gramps and the little stinker on the slides.

Some things to notice:
1. What a caring mother I am! (I'm all "Meh. I think he could plunge to his death.")
2. The death grip Gramps has on the slide to avoid plowing over the little dude. He's totally white-knuckled. It was the most stressful slide ever.
3. How the little booger still said "Whee!" even after slamming his head into the curly slide. I love his attitude. He's still having fun even though it literally hurts.

Figuring It Out

This story starts out with a little TMI... Eric had to, um, go potty while the little dude was in the tub tonight. There's just no privacy sometimes. Anyway, he said the little booger exclaimed "Daddy pee-peed in the potty! High five!" and then gave him five.

It's always nice to hear that you did something well.

Splash!

I finally found a TV show that entrances the little booger-- Wipeout! He's definitely my kid- I love that show. Every time somebody fell in the water, he said "Splash!"

Also, the little guy does own pants, he just doesn't like to wear them.

Swing!

Here's the little guy looking like a big guy on the swings today:

I'm lucky enough to have all the men in my immediate family around this weekend, so here are three out of the four at the playground!

What fun!

Helping Helping!

We went for a nice walk last night, and the little booger scooped pretend poop for several blocks. He kept saying "Picking up poop! Beau's poop." and waving his little bag in the air.

The sad thing is that when he's old enough to actually scoop the poop, he won't want to do it.

Bedtime!

Eric usually puts the little booger to bed. When I do it, though, the little dude gets a quiet bath, some time to sit on the potty, a clean diaper and pjs in dim light, a couple of stories, and a loving kiss goodnight. When the little stinker and his daddy go upstairs, I hear shrieks of laughter, loud thuds, and roars. Here's what daddy does to wind down at the end of the day:

The little guy LOVES bedtime, and I guess now we all know why.

Just Like Elmo?

The little booger has been working on pedaling his tricycle these days. He loves the video of Elmo singing and riding his tricycle, so whenever he's on his own tricycle he says "Just like Elmo" over and over and over.

I guess Elmo's as good a role model as any.

Little Kiss?

I've been carpooling to work with some friends (hooray carpool!) and one of them taught the little dude this charming trick.

Maybe a Dr. Pepper commercial is in his future...

Like Grandma, Like Grandson

The little booger is clearly related to my mother for at least these two reasons: (1) They both like cheese crackers with peanut butter.

(2) They are both happy to curl up with a good book.

Goodbye Jeep

Eric sold his Jeep today. Now we're just waiting (patiently?) for the new one to come in.

Even though Eric is excited about the new one, he's pretty sad about letting the old one go. I thought I'd do a quick photo retrospective on the Wrangler and us. (He had her before I came along so I can't speak to the truly early days...)

Here's Eric in his Jeep right after we got engaged. Look at how happy and bearded he is!

And here he is getting in his Jeep after our wedding (thanks, family-in-law, for making it so filthy). I think this is my favorite wedding photo-- GQ meets redneck.

Here we are on our honeymoon. We had just driven up this incredibly terrible road only to see that there was a "Road Closed" sign for the other direction. Whoops!

Here's a fun photo of Eric using his Jeep to tear down a shed in our old backyard.

And here's just one more of Eric and the little stinker by the Jeep. This one was taken about twenty minutes before we sold it.

Goodbye Jeep, and thanks for all the memories! (*sob*)

My Doggie!

The little booger got a stuffed dog today from his primary teacher (she's too sweet). He carried it around all evening saying "My doggie!"

Please ignore his crusty nose-- we've all been sharing a case of daycare crud this week.

Incognito

Apparently, he thinks he's famous. He's like a miniature Rachel Zoe... literally!

Pancakes Make Everything Better

The little stinker was pretty beat when we got home today...

... but he perked up after eating four pancakes for dinner. That's my boy!

More Hiking

The friends we went hiking with took a nice family photo of us. This is a rare occurrence:

The little dude is almost half my height and he's not even two!

Happy Labor Day!

It's always nice to have a long weekend with some outdoor adventures.

Water?

When we walk around the neighborhood, the little booger likes to check every storm drain to see if it has water in it. (He'll announce "Water!" or "No water!")

It's time-consuming, but kind of fun. (He also has new tennis shoes!)

Jeep Man!

Last evening we took the little dude to go pick up our CSA in daddy's Wrangler (top and doors off!). It always makes me really nervous, but the little guy loves it. He just laughs the whole time.

He waved to a man on a "motorbicycle" at a stoplight (and the guy waved back!).

Then this morning he cried when he had to ride to daycare in mommy's boring old Patriot (with doors and a roof). Life is so hard.