Ooops

AJ is quite cute when he makes his very excited observations. One of m favorites is still "Awww Man". He has a new one and not only is the tone and inflection he says it with cute, so is the way he actually pronounces it. Instead of saying "Ooops" it comes out with the S misplaced - more like "Ooospie". No matter how many times he says it, it still makes us chuckle.

Merry Christmas!

We had a nice Christmas and hope everyone else did too. AJ was thrilled with all the good stuff Santa brought him - trains, cars, buzz lightyear, DVDs, books and more. He was excited when he woke up to see the mountain under the tree and even more tickled when he came downstairs and realized they were all "surprises" (his word for gifts).

After the first round of gifts AJ played and played. He went from toy to toy and played with them all for a bit. It took a lot of wrangling to get him to take a nap and since we went down late he was still napping when the Sarikas clan arrived. He woke soon though and was excited to show Aunt Bridget all his new stuff. We ate - some of us more than others - and then opened more "surprises". The excitement started all over again. It was a challenge all day to get AJ to stop playing to do anything - eat, sleep, get changed.

The best part may have been his reaction this morning. Even though we cleaned up some last night, the living room floor was still covered in the safari road track, hot wheels race ramp and of course the Thomas train table. AJ dashed out of his bedroom first thing, looked down at the living room from the upstairs landing and let out a loud squeal of glee when he realized it was not a dream and all those toys were really here in his house. He bounded downstairs and the playing marathon began again. It has been great fun to watch - and a bit exhausting.

Rain Rain Go Away

I won't complain about the rain - I know some of you reading this got the same storm in snow and ice. I'll take the rain over ice any day.

That said, AJ and I trudged through the rain to school this morning. When we pulled up AJ saw that someone had left a very large green and yellow golf umbrella open and out on the covered walkway to dry. AJ declared "Oh look at the big umbrella'.

The best part is how he says umbrella - somehow it gets a W in it - and you can tell he is so proud of saying a big, long word. Very cute

One Second

We had one of those moments tonight where I had to cover my mouth and fight hard not to laugh at AJ so I could scold him for what he did.

Pete got home late and I let AJ stay up a bit longer so he could have a cookie with Daddy and play a bit. When we went upstairs for a bath he still wanted to play and was tough to wrangle into the tub. I got him stripped down and he ran back into his room to play with his train. I was sitting on the bathroom floor and asked AJ to come back into the bathroom. Pete walked into he bedroom and asked AJ to listen to Mommy and get in the tub. AJ replies, without a moment of hesitation with "One second Daddy, I'm playing with my train".

Both parental units had to fight not to bust out laughing at the matter of fact way it come out of a naked two year old. Once I knew I could talk without laughing, I did follow up with reminding AJ that he needs to listen to Mommy. Stop smirking out there - you would have lost it too!!!

Snickeroodles

(No I didn't leave a "D" out of the title - that is how AJ says it)
AJ and I made a big batch of snickerdoodle cookies last night. We got through about two dozen, my rolling them into balls and him rolling the balls in the sugar and cinnamon - before his attention span was zapped.

Once the cookies were out of the oven though, he was happy to return attention to them. I brought him two for dessert after he ate two bowls of pasta for dinner. A few minutes later he requested another one. Then we went to play a while. I dashed off to the bathroom and as I came back into the family room I noticed that some furniture was rearranged in the kitchen. AJ had pushed one of the bar stools around the kitchen island and over to the counter where the tupperware full of cookies was. He said " I need a cookie mommy".

I'll give him credit for using his problem solving skills!

Moving to the Big Boy Bed

Yes, I've dragged my feet on this one for about as long as possible. AJ still sleeps in his crib and plays in there happily most mornings while I get ready for work. I like this routine and hate to throw a wrench in it.

AJ has been bounding out of the crib at Grandma Karen's for a while now - it doesn't drop down as low as ours at home. I think it is a matter of days before he leaps out of the crib at home. The last couple of mornings I have gone in to get him and his crib is filled with all the blankets, animals and even the storage bin from the shelf that is just within reach of his crib.

Last night when I checked on him before I went to bed I took the bin and the extra stuff out of the crib and set it on the floor. You see, I was being smart and not putting it back on the shelf where he would just pull it down again. Somehow he got it all, even the little storage bin, back into his crib this morning. I refuse to believe he climbed out of the crib and then got back in (the getting back in the crib is the hard part to believe) but I'm not sure how the little monkey managed to pull this off.

I think it is time that I will have to let go of my security blanket - the crib - and try to tackle this next milestone bravely.

Decorating Weekend

AJ and I spent some time this weekend decorating things - like Christmas cookies and the tree.

Friday night after dinner we took our places at the table and began decorating sugar cookies. I would ice them and AJ generously applied sprinkles and candy on each snowman. He really liked putting M&Ms on the snowmen and lined them up down the cookie a bit like a row of buttons. I would have have put 2, possibly 3 on each snowman - AJ put 5 or 6. After a couple of cookies were decorated AJ needed a break and decided it was time to eat one of his creations.

After his break, AJ jumped right back in and started decorating again. I kept reminding him not to eat the snowman cookies. So, a couple of cookies later when I realized I had lots iced but only a few had been "dressed" by AJ I saw what the hold up was. AJ was in fact listening and did not eat the cookie. He even proudly stated "I'm not eating the cookie mommy". He had found the loophole in my request though and after he had carefully placed candy on the cookies he was licking his fingers and wiping all the icing from the few spots on the snowman that weren't covered in M&Ms. Well, everyone knows that once a cookie has been licked and poked at, you have to eat it - even AJ knew that.

In case you wonder, he decorated 8 snowmen cookies and ate 2 of them.

Favorite Foods

Yesterday AJ's class discussed their favorite foods. As evidence that group think occurs even as early as 2 years old, once the second kid declared their favorite food was pizza, each kid after made the same declaration of love for pizza. Even AJ. Those who know AJ know he isn't really a pizza fan.

This morning I asked AJ what his favorite food was and he said "pasta". That sounds much more accurate! I would have believed cookies, chocolate or chicken nuggets too.

Visit with Santa

Santa made his annual stop at the Broadlands this weekend and AJ went to put in his requests. Though the line was a bit long, AJ was excited when he got to the front and went right up to Santa. When Santa reached down for AJ, he climbed right up in Santa's lap like he knew the drill.

Santa asked AJ what he wanted for Christmas and he replied "trains". Then we took a couple pictures, Santa gave AJ a little treat and told him to be a good boy next year too. I was so glad we didn't have a screamer :-)

While this years picture doesn't show a grinning AJ, he doesn't look terrified like last year!

Memories of Thanksgiving

When I picked AJ up his teacher asked if he had been eating candy corn recently. I let her know that we had used candy corn to decorate turkey cookies over the Thanksgiving break. Well, apparently the teacher was talking to each of the kids about turkey and the usual thanksgiving foods (this is the month of learning about foods after all) and she asked AJ if he ate turkey for Thanksgiving. AJ replied "No, I ate candy corn!".

For the record, he did too eat turkey - and noodles, and stuffing, and green beans!- but I thought it was funny what he remembered.

There is the Moon

Nothing tickles me like hearing about what AJ learns at school. A recent week's theme was the Sun, Stars and Moon. Last night we were driving home from school and saw the tiniest sliver of moon. Since it gets dark so early this time of year, the moon was very bright. AJ pointed up and said "There is the moon Mommy". I acknowledged his declaration as I turned the car at an intersection. As we headed another direction AJ piped up "There is another moon Mommy". He hasn't yet grasped that it was the same moon he was seeing but boy was he excited it was there.

Breakfast with Mickey Mouse

While eatting breakfast AJ decided to put on his Mickey Mouse ears.

They go nicely with his car PJs, huh?