Turkey Weekend

We had a great time over Thanksgiving weekend and ate ourselves silly. Aunt Megan and Gramma arrived Wednesday in time to make turkey cookies with AJ. He really liked the candy corn and I think as much went in his tummy as on the cookies.

The next morning Aunt Sydney flew in from NYC and then Aunt Bridget, Uncle Jim and Abigail came from MD to help us eat turkey. AJ really enjoyed having such a large fan club and he was an absolute ham all day long. Pete and AJ had a "man-morning" Friday while the girls shopped and then dropped Sydney back at the airport.

We are still looking at a fridge full of leftovers and a good selection of pies and cheesecake. If you are hungry, you know where to find us. :-)

Unsolicited Affection

We had a very sweet moment in the midst of morning getting ready chaos. AJ hopped up from getting his shoes on, turned to look at me and said loudly "Wub u". I looked at him puzzled and he said it again "Wub u mommy". Pete was standing behind us in the kitchen and said "he said, I love you mommy". I gushed of course, this is the first time AJ has ever said that without prompting. Heck, he doesn't say it much even when he is prompted.

He followed the touching declaration with a big hug and I hear Pete in the kitchen again "Oh great AJ, now you are going to make mommy cry." For the record I did not tear up but I had a big smile that lasted a long time.

Roooaaarrrrr

October at AJ's school was farm month. Each day the class did something that related to barns, farms, animals and such. AJ really enjoyed it and especially enjoyed singing farm songs in his music class. Each month they send home a CD with the songs and stories they used in class and we play it in the car most days. There is one song that includes lots of animal sounds and a chance for the kids to repeat them and identify the animal. AJ rides in the car and happily moos, chirps, and roars.

Last night AJ got in the car and asked for a drink of milk. I gave him water since that was all I had and he seemed fine. We turned on the CD and five minutes later the animal sound song came on. He was happily participating (so was Mommy) and when it came time to roar like a lion he said " ROOOOAARRRR I want some milk" - all in the best lion roar voice a 2 year can make!

It was pretty funny. He later recreated it for Daddy and we all got another good laugh.

A Victory for Mommy (& Toyota!)

Last week while traveling 40 mph down Ashburn Village Road, AJ opened the car door. That was one way for him to get my attention! That was all it took for me to get in the habit of hitting the lock button when we are all loaded in the car. Less than 48 hours later, AJ learned how to unlock the door. I discovered this after I heard him rattling the knob and I hit the lock button to ensure it was in fact locked. Well, that pinched his finger and he yelled the rest of the way home. I was probably not as sympathetic as he would have liked and we clearly still didn't have a solution.

Aunt Megan reminded me that I should have the child lock feature on my new fangled, well-equipped Toyota. She was right and last night I located it with a flash light and it is now engaged. A victory for Mommy - sort of.

Not one to be easily outsmarted, AJ discovered this morning that Mommy had done something to disable the door lock from the inside. So he moved to the next set of buttons. Again, at 40 mph and 31 degrees out AJ rolled down his window! Yay for Toyota - now I know why I have a driver side button that can lock down all the other window buttons and have put it into use too. So, it took a child door lock and a window lock but I think I have regained control in the car.

What on Earth did people do before the cars had all this extra safety/kid stuff? Back then you also didn't have car seats with 5 point harnesses and super safety built in. That explains something about a lot of people I know - they must have opened the car door at 40 mph, rolled out and hit their head :-)

Broken 'Puter

Our computer at home died over the past weekend so it will be a while while we sort out the repair vs. replace issues. Until then, don't expect many pics on the blog. I'll just try to use vivid story telling instead :-)

Playhouse Disney Live

So we had floor seats for the Playhouse Disney LIVE Tour last Sunday. Ohhhh - show me the pictures you say. Well, here you go but prepare to be disappointed. While AJ was rendered near speechless the first half of the show, he did bounce, jump and dance a bit the second half. Most of what we saw of AJ's excitement was the back of his head. Poor Pete - his lap was the dance floor for AJ and AJ has yet to learn to step strategically :-)

One Fierce Hide N Seeker

AJ will play hide and seek with anyone. A good rousing game and hide and seek, complete with a big "boo" when discovered has become a daily ritual. On the way into school this morning AJ even played with the center director from under his rain jacket hood.

One recent evening AJ played with the throw blanket from the couch. You'll have to believe me when I say the photos don't come close to portraying all the fun he has.

In Case You Wondered...

AJ is still obsessed with his trains and train table and spends as much times as he can playing with them. I'm glad I hit a home run on this one but the original plan to move the table to the basement playroom has been derailed (ha ha). For at least a little while longer it will stay in the living room and on the main level where I can hear/see him.

Mommy & Daddy are slightly less obsessed with the constant begging to "Fix it" when the track is knocked over by a rogue runaway train operation :-) I remind myself it is nice to be needed and AJ is sure to always say "Thank you" - a habit I am quite proud of.

Cottontails Soccer

AJ and his buddy from across the backyard (aka the other AJ) are signed up for indoor soccer camp this winter. Sounds like a good way to wear them out when we aren't getting as much outside play time, right?! For some reason the idea of a dozen 2.5-3 year olds running around chasing a ball makes me laugh. They call them the "Cottontails". You can be sure I will take and post pictures here after our first class or two in December.

New Train Table

For those who haven't heard, a couple weeks back I got up at 6:00 am on a Saturday and went to a big annual consignment sale with Kimmie. I was happy to get some fantastic deals on clothes and a coat for AJ but the big find was a wooden train table. It was plain and didn't have any track pieces with it but I scooped it up for $20 - retail for these tables is $150 at Costco/Sam's Club!

At Aunt Sydney's suggestion, I painted to top with green chalkboard paint to clean it up and so it has a life as a craft table too. I am pretty proud of my handi work and AJ has enjoyed driving his cars on it the past week or two.

So, I took it up a notch and we jumped into the great world of trains! I scored a big set of wooden track on eBay and it arrived a few days ago. AJ was beyond words with excitement and spent nearly 2 hours playing with his new track and trains. It took some sweet talking to get him to go up for his bath. After he got out of the tub he ran out of his room, bare naked, and onto the landing where he pointed down where the train table is and declared "my train mommy". I let him know it would be there tomorrow :-)