27 posts tagged “boy”

Stephan LOVES Christmas. He sees the displays go up in stores and gets excited. We were walking through Kohl's a couple weeks ago and he saw their Christmas area and exclaims, "mommie, it's Christmastime here!"

Friday night I was out with a friend and we stopped in Target (the one near me is attached to the mall), I found a small tree that was $9. Didn't quite want to get it right then, but I knew that Stephan would probably love to have "Christmastime" in his room. I talked to Andy about it and we both agreed the tree was worth it. So after nap I said I wanted to go to the store and get a surprise for Stephan. He of course wanted to know what it was. When I told him I wanted to get him a tree for his room he didn't seem super enthused about the idea.

However, as he realized what I was saying he got a little more excited about things. When I showed him the little tree he got very happy and decided he wanted colored lights. We usually have white ones on the big tree, and I figured the colored ones wouldn't be as bright to leave on at night when he's going to sleep. We found the tree, the lights, a mini tree skirt and a few ornaments.

When we got home, the first thing we had to do was set up the tree, and put on some Christmas music. Stephan's a riot.

Everything always seems so much livelier through the eyes of a toddler.

While you aren't supposed to count your chickens before they've hatched and all, here goes nothing.

For a few months now I've been wanting to be able to be more consistent with the potty training thing, but while working and sending Stephan all over the place it just wasn't feasible. Last week we went to Gunnison, which entails a 4+ hour drive, and once again getting more serious with potty training was put on hold. (I did take underwear, and he did keep them dry, but we only wore them around the hotel.)

Over the weekend, we determined that we were finally just going to take the leap and nix pull-ups for everything but sleeping. I took one of our waterproof mats for use with the car seat ... not perfect, but it does the job .... and so far he's been making significantly more progress!

Monday evening he stayed dry and we were out for a couple hours. He had one oops-I-crapped-my-pants incident at the gym that morning and that was his first time at the gym in undies, so not bad.

Tuesday he stayed dry all day and after dinner we were out driving looking at a dining table we found on craigslist. On the way home he wanted to go to the park. We decided sure, we can do a few minutes at the park. When we got him out of the car he was wet. Stephan was not happy we put him back in the car and went home, really not happy. We reiterated that he needs to stay dry or we have to go home.

Wednesday there were a couple errands I needed to run and he again mentioned the park. We didn't get out of the house till late, but I told him that if he stays dry, we could indeed go to the park for a few minutes before going home for lunch and nap. He. Stayed. DRY! The only time he was wet was after nap and since I put a pull-up over his underwear to minimize my clean-up it wasn't too big a deal.

This morning, he stayed dry the whole way up to nana & papa's house, for an hour in the car!

I'm so stinking proud of my big boy!

He's finally getting there. I'm no longer as stressed about him being able to start preschool in the fall, especially since I know he can stay dry at naptime, it's just not quite 100% yet. I think the external motivation of not being able to do fun things (like bowling, going to the park, spending time at Elitch's and free movies at the theater) unless he stays dry, are working much better than potty candy. He does still ask for potty candy on occasion, but it certainly doesn't hold the same power as not being able to do something he finds REALLY fun.

We just might have to take him to mini-golf sometime soon ... and get that refurbished iPod too. (Which I'm secretly super happy about as it should make our flight to Chicago much easier if he can watch movies and shows on his own iPod and not mine.)

I know he's my son and all, but this is pretty cute.

It started snowing this afternoon around 3 or shortly after. I'd run out to get a new hair towel (mine's decided that it will smell like mildew no matter how I clean it) and go get my back and neck fixed by my chiropractor.

We came home and I pulled out the little tent we used when Stephan was a baby and we traveled so he could have a spaceship to go with his space suit that he wanted to wear today. He'd been asking to wear it yesterday too, but I thought he was asking for his swimsuit to go in the space ship, which didn't make any sense really. We had some fun going to the gym and the store and my chiro with his space suit on. Silly boy!

After Andy came home I got a call that Bible study was canceled because it was still snowing out and getting a little messy on the roads. We decided to be nuts and go out to the mall. We wanted to get another go round of shots with Santa this year and wanted to go on a night that wouldn't be super busy. What better than a weeknight when it's snowing like mad outside? The mall isn't more than a mile or two away either so off we went.

Stephan was of course playing shy and not sure about the whole thing. Loved this one toy they had that spun and lit up. That was all he wanted to do, play with the toy. No smiling for pictures. I wasn't hoping for awesomeness, just a decent picture worth paying $30 for. In the end we got ok shots, but we had to insist on them taking more and letting Stephan stand on the stool and hold the toy.

We got a couple that weren't too bad (there off to the right) ...

and here's the one we paid the big bucks for:

Stephan amazes me sometimes. More often than not lately. I look at him or Andy in amazement and think, "where did this kid come from, and is he really only 2?"

Here's my best attempt at remembering our conversations earlier this evening:

The afternoon starts with me telling Stephan we are going to walk to the park and when we come home go to the grocery store to buy some macaroni and cheese.

So off to the park. When we are all done and walking home Stephan mentions going to get macaroni and cheese.

We get piled in the car and head to the store. He sees the boxes of macaroni and gets very excited about them as mac'n'cheese is his all time favorite food right now. On the way to the car he says something but all I catch is "hot" the rest is gibberish, even though he repeats it twice for me. I didn't let him hold the box in the car as I feared having dry noodles all over by the time we got home.

He protested but I assured him he could carry in two boxes when we got home. After unbuckling him he hopped down and counted "one ... two" as he pulled out exactly two boxes and then got out of the car saying, "I carry in two boxes." Then on the way in he says the sentence again with hot, though this time we figured it out, "can I go put it on the hot." So he knows that it's not ready to eat out of the box and that we need to use the stove to make it hot and cook it. As soon as we get inside he sits down and started to open one of the boxes. He wasn't happy that we still had some leftover from nana's Thursday and insisted on the "different one" though he did eventually eat the leftovers.

I'm just amazed at how he's putting everything together.

Friday we went to the Christian bookstore and came away with the Third Day Christmas Offerings cd for $5. What does Stephan say on the way inside? "Can we put this on my iPod?" Completely unprompted!

Tonight at dinner he made us totally giggle. Since August he's been taught Barak Obama and John McCain and will say one or the other at times. When they are talking about the on the news he repeats the names over and over. We get a phone call from an area code we sort of reccognize and I don't answer thinking it's a political call. Andy mentions John McCain and then Stephan says, "I love John McCain." We bust out laughing so he repeats it over and over. Thatnkfully when we call papa and nana to give them a laugh too he first says "I love nana & papa!"

He's going to be a challenge this little bugger!

Last week before my surprise party I found Stephan the cutest tie at Children's Place. He loves wearing daddie's ties when he comes home from work, but didn't seem too interested in this tie. We decided to try it out yesterday for church and he's so cute! Needs a haircut, but he's cute!

We also had some fun decorating a cake last Friday. When my friend April watched him Thursday night for our toddler parenting class the two made a cake. Unfortunately it didn't cool fast enough for them to decorate it, so we decorated it Friday with another friend. Lots of fun. Since half the cake is in the freezer he'll get to do some more decorating later on too.
This morning we went to breakfast with a friend from college. Stephan gets himself into lots of trouble but ate some sausage and Andy enjoyed his pumpkin pancakes and I had a tasty omelette with crab and avocado. We enjoyed hanging out with Jodie and celebrating our 30th birthdays which are three days apart. Here's a couple pictures of the cat too. She was all sprawled out by my library book and as I got closer with the camera didn't seem to appreciate the fact that I wanted to take pictures. Course as soon as I was done with the pictures she went right back to sleep. Ahh, the life of a cat!
I found this butterfly on the steps Thursday afternoon. I'm not sure if he was hurt or just having a hard time carrying his load but I got a few interesting pictures and a short video out of the deal.
I need to get my bum to the gym today. It's been challenging with Stephan being sick and me not having much motivation but I need to stop making excuses and just GO ALREADY!

I've not really been working at potty training. In May we bought an Elmo potty seat for the big potty and a step stool for Stephan to climb up. We let him sit and try it out. Usually these instances lasted about a tenth of a second and then he was ready to move on. There are a couple girls in his Sunday school class who are potty trained and he's been getting really into the potty. I'm not ready to focus on potty training, but am not going to let his interest go to waste either. So when he asks to go potty we are taking him and sitting him down. We've even used a few pull-us, though I'm not wanting to get him too used to those since they are pricey. Diapers are expensive enough as it is.

This morning he wanted to go potty and I set him down. Then I heard a little TINKLE! I was so excited and then daddie came in and we called Papa to share the wonderful news. I had Andy bring in Stephan's "underwear," some Gerber plastic training pants I found on clearance a while back. Stephan was excited about wearing underwear, but alas, he ended up getting excited when our friend came over for lunch and went potty without telling me and was a bit of a soggy mess. We went back to diapers for the moment.

I'm just happy to see the progress he's made in the past few months. He will now sit on the potty for 30 seconds to a minute or more. It's definitely baby steps, but seeing progress makes me one happy mama!

We got Stephan this sweatshirt yesterday in Breck. We wanted to make sure he doesn't grow out of it in ten seconds so we bought a small. A kids small. Yes, he's only two. Maybe he'll fit into the 3Ts my MIL got him after all! My dad would be happy too as it's made in Peru, not China.

The kids x-small didn't leave room for shrinkage or growage so we went up a size. I always love the feel of a big, comfy, oversized sweatshirt. Don't really wear them but definitely think they are the epitome of warm and cozy.

We also found him a new winter hat on clearance. I seriously love this kid in camo!

Hopefully his winter coat from last year will still work as it was always a bit big on him. Otherwise we'll eventually have to sink some cash on a new one. That's what Sam's is for though.

I'll leave you with this. One heckuva smile!

So we finally had it, the kid’s 2^nd birthday party.

Everything went well. Aside from the 3yo who decided that she should “help” open presents and got a little miffed when I kindly shooed her away. I know young’uns are self-centered and all (do we ever really grow out of that??) but seriously, this is Stephan’s moment in the spotlight!

I wasn’t able to take many pictures, but it seemed like everyone else was taking pictures so I just need to snag those from them. Made it easier to enjoy the party and be in the moment. Andy did get video of the present opening fiasco.

We started out with pool time and some fun in the back yard, and then ate lunch. All of Stephan’s favorites: Annie’s bunny mac’n’cheese, hot dogs, strawberries & apple juice. The toddlers were in heaven … so were the adults J

After a little break to clean things up (Stephan was picking food off the girls’ plates and I wanted him to at least have a little room for dessert), we did presents. He did a great job opening them and letting us take them away while he did the next one. Then we did dessert. In line with all his favorites we had some homemade vanilla ice cream and 3 Musketeer bars. That’s right, no cake. Kid won’t just eat it.

On to wrapping things up and working on heading home for nappy. He totally fell asleep the instant his head hit the pillow. Nice, since I was able to open up and undo all his gifts so he’ll be ready to play when he wakes up.

 

This was our little celebration as his party is still to come on the 19th. Stephan had a pretty full day. Dr. visit to find out that Stephan's 28lbs and after remeasuring him he's 36" tall. Healthy, happy kid.

On the way home we dropped off the packet for the crib recall at UPS and went home for some pool time. He enjoyed himself and was tuckered out for naptime.

When he woke up we made ice cream and cookies for dessert after dinner.

 

Lots of fun licking the cookie beaters and then the ice cream. Kept him occupied while I washed some dishes and burnt the first round of cookies. Oops, that's why you set timers I guess!

Then comes the eating! Stephan took a few nibbles from a cookie, but really got excited for the chocolate. Loves those 3 Musketeers bars! And of course the ice cream he helped make that was still a bit on the soupy side just like he likes.

After getting cleaned up from the birthday treats he got to open his present from Great Gram, Great Aunt Charity and Cousin Joy. They scored big points with this one! Stephan adores stuffed animals as much as I do and always gives them big hugs. He says "aww" and sometimes adds "sweet, sweet" while hugging pretty much anything.

"Firework" came from Build-a-Bear too, so he came with a bonus present, the cardboard house ... which Stephan loved playing with. We hid Firework and he would open up and find him, over and over. We got a much longer video of that with the real video camera but it's not postable. When we ran out for a late-night dinner Stephan insisted on carrying the box out to the car with us. I think Firework will be joining us on our trek to Nana & Papa's house tomorrow!

Stephan's birthday ended with a bath and blow dry. After our haircuts last time he often asks for his hair to be blown dry after bathtime. He can be such a silly boy sometimes.

Love you Stephan! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!