Merry Christmas

from us to you and yours.

mysterious

not sure what happened here. all of a sudden he had this scratch on his cheek...

trains

from the backseat:

(while waiting at a train crossing)
jr: look at the baby train cars! they're sooo cute!

Spider-Man

little miss lkl is 3!

we went to visit some friends last weekend.

comfy?

let's play a game of find the 3 year old. this is what I found when entering his room this morning.

toddler dictionary - poopy twuck

poopy twuck - noun. the truck involved in septic system
maintenance.

moon

from the backseat -
jr: I see the moon! God painted it. He painted everything.

blankie for baby d

our best man and his wife are expecting their first baby. here's a sneak peek at the blankie. I came up with the pattern myself :)

the colors in better light.

fire

from the backseat -
(Katy Perry's "Roar" on the radio)
...dancin' through the fire...
jr: "dat's dangawus, momma"

cars

yesterday on the way to drop off the little guy:

(lots of laughter and giggles from the back seat)
me: what's so funny?
jr: you see da cars, momma? jus wook at all of dem! HA HA HA!

it's the little things.

hiccups

having a bout of hiccups...

jr: I think there's rabbits in there.

me: in your tummy?

jr: yeah rabbits. they're making the hiccups.

Lucy

we got to promote You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on our local FOX affiliate this morning. Take a look at a few of the clips here.
Get your tickets here.

finky

toddler dictionary - noun. the smallest digit on a hand or a foot.

"momma, sorry I dropped the toy bucket on your finky."

church songs

when putting August down tonight, he said, "momma, can you sing me church songs?"

of course! I sang Silent Night, Away in a Manger and the verses of Children of the Heavenly Father that were in my memory banks.

not much longer

this little guy didn't get much of a nap today. after eating a very good dinner and yogurt for dessert, he crawled into my lap awhile ago, and pulled a blanket up and almost instantly fell asleep. he's getting bigger and more independent every day, and no matter how much I don't want to admit it, he won't think this is cool for very much longer. I'm treasuring every moment.

Ireland

Here's a glimpse into Paulette played by yours truly. Being a classically trained singer, I haven't done much with "musical theater" singing, a bit here and there, but I've never been very comfortable with it. I had so much fun playing this role, and it gave me a lot more confidence in my "belt" than I had ever had in the past. Oh yeah - I should be strolling past "their" farms, not mine...but can't be perfect right? ;)

potty-ing

we've been easing into this whole potty training thing. over the last two weeks, we've started doing undies at daycare and this weekend we actually left the house in undies. not fully knowing how much he didn't want to try on big public potties.

yesterday, we did pretty well, except an accident at the store, ironically while was picking this lifesaver out.

it's gonna be great for camping too. it either folds flat like this, or the sides go straight up to make a little potty. we have bags that fit in or a rubber insert that fits in.
it has a little plastic carrying bag, and fits right into his little backpack with extra clothes and snacks.

it's a potette plus: http://www.kalencom.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=123

today we successfully accomplished going to church, out to lunch, back home for naptime and out to get groceries with no accidents. I'd say we are definitely on the road to independence!

portrait

this morning, I was brushing my teeth and I hear August telling me, whole coming down the hallway - "momma, I have something to see for you!"

me: ok buddy

(holding my character portrait of Paulette from legally blonde)

a: dis is you fwom your pway, momma?

me: yeah, you're right. that's from my play.

(pointing at the parts of my face)
a: and dis your big teef and your big tongue?

family time

playing in the backyard around daddy's project truck.

fisherman

here's the little guy reeling in a fish all by himself with his Diego fishing pole.

Paulette

if you're in the area - don't miss it! we've put a lot of work into this show. Get your tickets!

rhythm

when banging on his bath drums he kept saying "one and two" before he started hitting them with the drum sticks.

sailboats

jr made a sailboat for each of us. with five blocks each. mine was all yellow. his was red and yellow. daddy's was yellow, red and blue.

monsters

jr was using his bath crayons tonight and told me "you see da mon-sers, momma? yook at dem!"

the monster on the left has glasses. the one on the right was max's "roster" (the wind-up lobster from max & ruby).

flip phone

while playing with one of his trains, he turned it on and it only went a little ways before it ran into one his trucks.
he grabbed one of daddy's old flip phones, put it up to his ear and said, "hello? train? you stuck? ok!"
he then proceeded to turn the train around into an obstacle-free path.
he picked up the phone again, opened it, and said, "hello? train? you happy now? ok! bye!"

big boy bed - part 2

we had a great first night. around 3:15ish we heard his door knob rattle. I listened for a little bit, and didn't hear any footsteps, so got up, turned on the bathroom light - to illuminate the hallway - and he was just standing in his doorway. I asked if he was ok. he whispered "I peed." so, I changed his diaper, and changed his jammies, since they were wet.
we snuggled in the rocking chair for a few minutes. then I told him there was still a lot of time for sleeping. he whispered "ok."
he crawled back in his bed and slept the rest of the night until I woke him up when it was time to get ready for church. I'd say it was a successful first night. here's to night #2 and beyond.

sleepover

he piled his big pillow and all his blankies and said he was having a sleepover.

also, all the toys were put away this morning. he's been putting everything down his slide. in the process, it all lands all over the place.

visor

complete with stickers. at daycare they got to pick out a visor in the color they wanted, then decorate it. he was quite attached to it when we came home.

button

his belly button is a security thing. if he's feeling uncomfortable, you can see him rub his tummy to check that it's still there. it's calming to him.

here he is showing me his button.

downtown

big boy bed

we have the gulliver crib from IKEA. it has a convertible option - take off a side, and then add a brace piece. we also got a safety rail. even though the bed is very low to the ground, I still don't want him rolling out. we'll see how it goes tonight! one step closer to potty training!

look at my foot

he saw me on my phone, laid down, then said "I say cheese!"

I went to the camera, then he kept putting his foot up at me saying "look at my foot, cheese!"