22 months

A is my little mimic. It's so funny, because although he can't bear sometimes to be without his Daddy, he mimics Mommy way more than he does Daddy. Should I get the hiccups, so does A. Should I start to cough, so does he. I drank some water and then wiped my mouth with my wrist, and he did the same.

It went further last night, when we couldn't really get A to eat at a picnic a friend had. He wasn't interested in eating pretty much anything. Then, we sat him next to R, who was eating a hot dog. Not only did A then eat it (in exactly the same way), but he also ate it even faster than R, and went on to eat some pasta salad too. Hmmmm.

As far as what A is doing these days... he ADORES his trains. He used to be ok holding one, but now that he has two trains, he needs to have one in each hand. That said, every time we've encountered another kid, A has pretty automatically handed one of the trains over. It's so cute!

He also asks for Mickey Mouse daily. Mickey has passed Elmo very quickly. He does still ask for the Wiggles (suckers moved the time slot, but we rely on the library for the Wiggles now).

Getting A dressed is usually very easy, but if I want him to wear shoes other than his sneakers, I need to take him downstairs to do it. I get no complaint whatsoever if I do that, but I CANNOT get shoes other than his sneakers on in his room. He MUST wear shoes, and hates being barefoot or even in stocking feet.

He loves to go for bike rides, and we have to avoid passing any slides on the way or we have to promise to stop. A loves to push the "button" and open and close the garage door. Same goes for daycare, he loves to press the button for sign in at the computer.

In general, A will say Thank you without prompting. Please will be said, but it always needs prompting. At school, "sorry" means not only saying you're sorry, but also giving a hug, so that's the way it goes around here. :)

Putting on sunscreen isn't a problem now that that do it regularly at school. A loves to be outside, and loves to play with the shovel, and loves to help water plants. If we are using a rake or broom or anything like that, he wants to do so as well.

We've started to put together A's new room that we'll work on this summer, and hopefully move him into as well. In addition to the bed, we bought some bedding as well. It's just a matter now of getting everything out, figuring out paint and stuff, and putting all that belongs back in.

He's starting to take an interest in the potty, and will sit on it if we do. Something else we'll work on this summer.

We're excited for this summer with A, and there's only 15 more days of school for me!!!! YIPPIE!!

Vintage Monday

Early, I know, but I'll forget. Speaking of Picture People, here we are exactly one year ago (as of vintage Monday, that is).

How baby-like my big boy looks here! And goodness, how short my hair was!

Picture People!

Our Picture People membership was about to expire, so we figured we go get some new pictures and use up the rest of the membership.

For your enjoyment, click here!

Above is one of my favorite pictures from the day... I can't look at it and not crack up. It sort of looks like he's catching the ball, but that's him THROWING the ball. In the version we have, we ended up cutting out the ball, which makes it look even funnier because it looks like he's doing a monster face!

Picture Update

Cool guy on a bike!


Rutgers Day was so much fun!

Waiting in line...


Going UP


Going DOWN!


Eating a tasty chicken patty.


MOOOOOOO



What service.


Hanging with the cousins...

My grandfather's granddaughter

One of the joys of living in a middle class neighborhood is that people put lots of great stuff on the curb, either for free or for super cheap. Yesterday, we purchased a bed from the folks around the corner for $50. It was exactly what I was looking for to put in A's new room. Score!

We've also grabbed a grill (that didn't work, so we put it back on the curb), a sandbox, and a futon from our neighbors' curbs.

I'm not truly a R, I suppose, because I can't fix the stuff I find, but I also don't have a shed full of treasures to repair!

The Boy Next Door

We had the boy who lives next door over to play yesterday. He is about 5 months younger than A, and will be in the grade below him, but who better to play with? We had a hard time calming I down after his mom left (hmm, is that strange??), but A was AWESOME... he kept calling I "Iah," and tried showing him how to play with all his toys. He was so cute!

Teeth

A has two new teeth popping out. First, his upper left canine started coming out on Friday (5/8), and his lower right tooth (right of center) started on Monday!

A's first road trip

We went to Pittsburgh this weekend, to visit some fam and go to a 1st Communion for my cousin.

We went to a 1st birthday party first, in South Jersey. Lucky for us, it wore A out a good deal, and he slept through most of Philadelphia. Other than traffic through Philly, we made really great time. We had dinner in a rest stop, where we also changed A into his jammies. He stayed up later than normal, but did eventually go to sleep, and stayed asleep until we got there.

When we got to K & M's house, we were greeted by their girls and their dog. A was enthralled by the dog, and even allowed K to hold him... that is, until he couldn't see M anymore. We slept in their basement, and A slept sort of in the same room as us (although around a corner), and it went so much better than the last time we slept in the same room.

When we woke up, A went right up to the dog (a golden retriever) and loved her. Everyone was impressed that he wasn't scared of her at all, and of course conversations about when we would get a dog started too. The girls still love him, and are so nice with him, and J was pretty good too (although getting him to share his toys was a little tough).

At one point, M asked A if he wanted to go see the people, and A started saying, "Hi, People!" This, we quickly learned does not mean adult people, but instead, kid people. When he encountered a room ful of adults, "Hi People!" didn't happen. In addition to hearing "Hi People!" every time we came up from teh basement, we also heard, "Doggie? Woof!"

In Church, we had a bit of a hard time. M took him into the vestibule for awhile, and when he tried to return, A said "Mommy!" then when he saw I was sitting in a pew, started pulling M back out.

As far as heading home, A did pretty well on the ride. He didn't do as well as the way out, of course, because he wasn't as sleepy. He did take 2-2 hour naps, which was really impressive. Luckily, the max he could take in the car was about the same as the time we needed to get out of the car too, so it corresponded well with our lunch stop. Instead of getting something quick, we took my first visit to a Cracker Barrel restaurant so we could sit down and stretch out the meal a little longer.

I took a good amount of pictures, which I'll put up sometime later. I posted one of the pictures of A in the car on facebook, to which M replied that J woke up asking where the baby was. So cute. Hopefully, we can figure out a way for all of us to get together again over the summer!

Long time, no see

A's vocabulary has been erupting lately. We can't keep up with all the words he says, but among some of his adorable phrases, we've heard him say:

• "Wipe your feet!"
• "Thank you, Mommy"
• "Night, Night, Daddy."

He has also started to differentiate between the two cats, and can now sort of say Mitten.
OUTSIDE is a frequent demand.

He gets better every day at going up and down stairs on his feet.

He has discovered fully the joys of splashing in the tub. I now close the curtain while he goes to town, and he has so much fun, as long as I poke my head around once in awhile. He also recognizes the soap I use and starts to fuss when I put it on the washcloth because it got in his eyes once... he also starts rubbing his eyes as soon as he sees. This makes it really tough to figure out if I actually got soap in his eyes or not.

A has also started using Bepah interchangeably between his grandfathers. We think this means older man, because he tells us nearly every day that he saw Bepah at school... maybe one of the other kids' grandfather picks him/her up?

He loves going on bike rides. Unfortunately, the weather has been really crummy the past few days, so we haven't gotten out. M and I marvel every time that he was SO small last year that his head didn't come to the top of the seat and his feet dangled, but this year is so much different. He loves to wear his helmet (hat! hat!) and also likes his sunglasses when we ride.

A continues to be a very even tempered guy. He does have his tantrums, but we can usually manage them pretty well... for now, at least!

He loves to walk holding each of our hands, which means he wants to swing. He even says "One, two three, Swiiiing," just like we do...

A continues to be such a Daddy's boy. If he's sleepy, he will cry if M even goes to do the laundry (which is in view of the room A hangs out in).

We've had some fun adventures in the beautiful weather.. last weekend, we went to Rutgers Day. We did a LOT of walking, saw lots of animals (it was also Ag Field Day), and got to pet lots of doggies. A also took his first bus ride, from Busch Campus (near our house) to the Ag College. Ever since, he now says Bus! Bus! whenever he sees one. Sometimes, he holds the sssssss, which cracks me up.

Next weekend, A is going on his first long road trip, when we drive out to Pittsburgh! Hopefully, this will be a pleasant experience for all involved!