More wagon rides

Sorry, I just noticed the video I posted earlier is a little blurry. Here is a better one.

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Wagon fun

Santa gave Rex a little red wagon. Perfect for pulling toys around. And little boys! He's either pulling all his presents around the house or John David is giving him rides.

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Christmas Morning

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only in Pittsburgh

Several nights ago John David loved the Statue of Liberty made out of holiday lights.  Now he is seeing her everywhere.  On billboards.  At the grocery store.  On graffiti around town.  He's pointing her out everywhere we go.  I had no idea she was all over the place!  He told me today that he wants to be the "Snachoo of Cliberty" (his pronunciation continues to evolve) for Halloween.  "Hmmm," I said.

"But, Mom, I want to be The Steelers Snachoo of Cliberty."

The Steelers, as in The Pittsburgh Steelers football team.

Awesome.

Spoken like a true Pittsburgher.

So how would I go about constructing that?  Paint her black and gold?  Put the logo on her chest?

inside the mind of a 3 year old

Yesterday we were driving somewhere and John David asked me, "Mom, can Daddies fall?"

"Yes, anybo---"  Before I could finish, he cut me off and said, "Not my daddy."

"Yes," I tried to explain, "Anyone can fall down, it's just an accident."

"Not my daddy.  He's expensive."

Too funny.  I take that to mean he values his daddy and thinks he's a real treasure.  And infallible, apparently.

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I posted this on Facebook already but I wanted to write it here in case anyone missed it.

A few mornings ago I woke up with John David next to me in bed.  He said, "Mommy, I'm hungry." I asked what he wanted for breakfast.  With enthusiasm, he said, "A corn dog!"  I told him that didn't sound like a breakfast food so he said, "Hmmm, let me FINK."  [think].  After a brief pause, he sat bolt right up in bed and said, this time with conviction, "A corn dog and COFFEE."

a random question

John David crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night last night (as he frequently does).  He's like a ninja.  We never wake up or even see him.  We just wake up and he's usually on Daddy's side of the bed.  Clearly, John David has figured out who the hard sleeper is because I will usually wake up and put him back to bed.  

Anyway.  This morning I woke up and David had already gone to work.  John David was lying next to me.  First thing out of his mouth was, "Where's Daddy?"

"At work," I told him.

Next question. "Did he wear underwear today?"

I wondered why on Earth he would ask something so random.  "Yes, Daddy always wears underwear."

When David came home, I told him about John David's funny question this morning.

David laughed and said, "You know what?  My underwear were missing this morning."

Every night, David lays out his clothes and puts them in another room so he doesn't wake me up getting dressed after taking a shower.  But this morning, he couldn't find his underwear so he had to sneak back into our room to pull a pair out of the drawer.  

So after I relayed this story, David asked him, "Did you take my underwear?"

John David curled up into a ball and started giggling.  "Yeah!"

"Where are they?"

More giggles.

"I threw 'em on the floor!"

I guess it turns out random questions aren't so random.  :)

More boots

The boots saga has ended. This morning I ordered Rex his very own pair of rain boots. Target's on-line store was sold out of almost everything because they had a special---buy one, get a second pair 1/2 off. So I got Rex a pair of yellow monkey boots and got John David a pair of Thomas the Train boots in the next size up. Daddy will be thrilled (not).







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broken heart

Rex got his heart broken today.  While the boys were at Parent's Morning Out, I ran some errands and found some inexpensive rain boots at Target.  John David has been needing some rubber boots to run around in while playing outside.  The backyard is muddy and he's been getting his shoes all filthy AND tracking mud into the house.  So I came across these green frog boots at Target.  I considered buying Rex an identical pair but decided he could just take the ones John David had grown out of, despite the fact that they were STILL two sizes too big for Rex.

After I picked up the boys from PMO, we got home and John David gasped when he spied the new green boots inside the Target sack.  "Mom!  You got me some new boots!  Thank you."  He was so surprised and happy.  Rex's little face lit up too and he started checking all the bags, looking for his pair.  He couldn't find them and looked up at me with questioning eyes, so I told him,  "I didn't get you any."  He understood exactly what I meant and his bottom lip jutted out, he scrunched up his face, and started bawling.  Big huge tears!  He was so hurt.  He looked at me like, "How could you?"

I grabbed his cowboy boots and started to put them on his feet and he JUST KEPT BAWLING.  He looked at me like, "This is no substitute."

Then, after dinner, for the second time today, I had to run back up to Target for some last minute ingredients so I'd have everything I needed to make treats for a Christmas party tomorrow.  I thought I'd pick up a pair of the same boots for Rex while I was there....but.....they didn't have any left.  Nothing in his size.  Not the green ones.  Not any color.  Nothing.  So then I drove to another Target across town.  None in his size there either.  Whomp whomp.  :o(

Oh, and this was John David's outfit that he put on to "match" his new boots.  Blue swimming trunks and a brown t-shirt.  It was probably 45 degrees outside.  :)  I don't think he wanted anything like PANTS covering up his super cool boots.

a lovely evening

We went to the Hartwood Acres Celebration of Lights tonight.  It's a 3+ mile drive of Christmas lights in a park.  It's really beautiful and fun.  We've enjoyed going every year since John David was born.

Last year Rex was clueless but tonight he smiled and kicked his legs.  Occasionally he ooohed and aaaahed.  So cute.

John David sat in the back seat commenting on everything he saw.

"I see H for Harper!"  (He's into letters and likes to know what everyone's name starts with.  When we are out driving around he'll report what he sees).

"Look!  That says, "me," Mom!"  Whenever he sees the letter "J" he says that.

One of the displays was of the Statue of Liberty.  As we drove up to it, he said, "Oooh, I like that!  Look at that king!"  We told him it was the Statue of Liberty.

Later, we all went to McDonald's for an ice cream sundae.  David asked him, "What was your favorite thing at the lights?"

John David thought about it and answered, "The red race car and the Kachoo of Libidity."  [The Statue of Liberty].

As we were eating our ice cream, John David noticed that I didn't top mine with peanuts.  He passed me a full packet of crushed peanuts and said, "Here Mom, you forgot yours."

"I don't want any."  (I never put nuts on ice cream).

He said, "Oh, but Mom, you have to.  It makes it SO GOOD."

With that, I decided to try it, and what do you know?

He was right.  You can't go wrong with sweet and salty.

After eating their treats the boys got up to play and John David said, "C'mon Rex.  Come here Rexy!" and motioned with his hands for Rex to follow him.  Rex stood there looking apprehensive so John David hopped down and ran back for Rex's hand.  Then he held Rex's hand all the way into the tunnel to climb up into the play structure together.  It was so sweet.

Room service

This video was taken while on vacation in Colorado. John David picked up the phone and "ordered" some items. You can hear him say, "Ummmm, I want some muffins. Uhh, I want a waffle. Um, I want cereal. Umm, I want popsicles. I want a muffin. Ummm, thank you. Buh-bye." We have no idea why he would order food on the phone. The only thing I could think of, is that a few days prior to that, David used a phone at a hotel to order some BBQ before leaving to go pick it up himself.

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Rex crawling

This video was in the summer of 2011. Rex used to crawl everywhere. Through the grass. On concrete. On gravel. Up and down stairs. I had to show him how to go downstairs properly but it too him awhile to prefer my way. His poor little knees were heavily calloused but now that's all behind us.

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Singing Thomas

Another video I found of John David, taken in early summer. He loves watching Thomas the Tank Engine and is singing the theme song.

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Good job Rex

March 2011.

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Laughter

John David making Rex laugh. Baby giggles are the best. This video was made around March 2011.

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The Whiplash

John David at Kennywood back in July. He loved this ride. I love how he laughed every time it whipped him around the curve.

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Bike riding

I took these videos on my phone back in June or July. He learned how to ride a pedal bike with no training wheels at age 3 after using the amazing Strider bike for a few months.

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Christmas Concert

This is John David singing Jingle Bells with his preschool class.

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Brothers

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Books

John David has three favorite books at the moment.

1.  Where the Wild Things Are 
2.  There was an Old Monster (similar to There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly)
3.  There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat (Halloween themed)


We read these three books several times a day.  He's getting to be very curious about letters and words.  He asked me to read the copyright page the other day after noticing that I routinely skip through the first few pages in a book before beginning the story.

He will ask me, "Mom, what sound does a 'B' make?"  And I will tell him.  He'll usually ask about 2-3 letters at a time.  Today he wanted to know the sounds of Z, N, and B.  He will point at random words in a book and ask, "What does that say?"  I'm so glad he's finally taking a deeper interest!

He actually got the Monster book at church.  Our church recently started giving the children bookmarks every time they came to children's church on Sundays or Kid's Club on Thursday nights.  Once they collect ten bookmarks, they were allowed to choose a book to take home as a reward.

Our church is going to be hosting a book fair in just a few more days and I'm hoping they will have the book, "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly," because I think he'll love that one too (and I would consider it to be the "original" although technically, it's based on the nursery rhyme song).

18 months & a black eye

Rex had his 18 month well-baby checkup yesterday. He weighed 27 lbs 12 oz and was 33.5 inches tall. He got three shots and didn't cry until the last one. Poor thing, was so tough for the first two but three proved too many.

He loves watching me put my makeup on in the mornings, so I wasn't surprised he got into my makeup bag on Monday. He was applying lipstick to his right eye, the upper and lower lids, when I caught him.





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mongolian blue spot

I've been meaning to take a photo of Rex's Mongolian Blue Spot for a long time and keep forgetting. He's about 18 months now and, while it's started to fade, it's still quite prominent. I never took a photo (that I know of) of John's and I recently realized that his has nearly disappeared, so I regret that I have nothing to show him as he grows up. John's was smaller, though, and lighter in color. Rex's is heart shaped and then his entire left cheek is light purple, similar to a bruise. And the round dot is also part of the birthmark. He also has a light spot on the back of his left shoulder (looks like a shadow in this pic, but it's a light spot) and down on his left foot. Speaking of the spot on his foot & ankle--when he was a young baby, I would carry him around in an infant carrier and people (strangers!) would stop me, concerned, because they thought his foot was blue from lack of blood circulation. Most people were surprised (and relieved perhaps) to hear it was a blue birthmark, and most commented they'd "never heard of such a thing!" Whenever I hand Rex over to a new child care provider, I show them the marks and explain so they aren't mistaken for bruises during a diaper change. ;)



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swimming, songs, and more

This morning is John David's last morning of Kinder Kinetics.  He has been going every Saturday morning for the last 10 weeks.  It's a program through the University of Pittsburgh.  They do an hour of gross motor activities and then an hour of swimming.  

Every Saturday when I run him inside, he stops at the security guard's desk and announces, "My hands are SO COLD."

And the man says, "Let me see!"  And John David will let the man feel his hands.

This morning the man turned to his buddy and said, "See?  Told ya."

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Right now John David has two favorite songs.

Made in America by Toby Keith

If You're Gonna Play in Texas by Alabama

He heard these songs on the radio and was always asking me, "Mom, when will I hear the 'Texas' song again?"  And I would catch him singing the "Made in Americaaaaaa" refrain, over and over.

So finally I bought the songs and put it them on my iPhone.  Our Highlander has a Bluetooth connection so when I hop in the car it connects to the stereo and you can listen to songs on my iPod.  So EVERY time we get in the car we find ourselves listening to these SAME TWO SONGS.  He will occasionally ask to hear, "That song by the Eagles," as he calls it, which is Peaceful Easy Feeling.

This morning, after dropping John David off at Kinder Kinetics, I got back into the car with Rex.  The song by Alabama came on, AGAIN.  Sick to death of it, I switched over to the radio.  Rex started kicking his legs and fussing.  

Oh for heaven's sake!

One more time, I guess.

Like my outfit?

We chose our own clothes today!

This is John David and his friend Carson. What a pair! I was a little speechless when he clomped downstairs wearing Spiderman swimming trunks, cowboy boots, and a striped shirt... But hey! He did it all by himself!!




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Woody-isms

John David has changed his name to Woody. He loves the movie Toy Story and has been quoting Woody non-stop. A few weeks ago he said to me, "You're my faaavorite deputy!". Since then he has added a few quotes to his repertoire, including, "You got a date with justice One-Eyed Bart!"

"Oh no! The orphans!"

His teacher said a few weeks ago that during free play time every day he dresses up as a cowboy.  He is going to LOVE dressing up as Woody on Halloween.

Several nights ago when David was tucking him into bed at night they said their prayers together.  John David said, "God bless Mommy, and Daddy, and Rexy, and Dolly, and Woody, and Jessie, and Buzz, and Bullseye, and Dr. Porkchop, and Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, and ........" He went on and on with every Toy Story character he could remember.

Gigi and Grandpa bought "Woody" and Rex some cowboy boots when we were in Texas.  He is clomping all over Pittsburgh in those boots!

Last night I ran to Target to pick up a few things and stopped by the sales rack. I found a pair of Woody pajamas for him!  I was so excited to find them as I've never seen Woody pajamas like this.  I didn't want Rex to feel left out so I got him the Buzz Lightyear pajamas in his size.  And what do you know?  They rang up even cheaper than I expected!  Only $5 each!!  By the time I got home last night they were both asleep so I had to wait all day today to surprise John David, ahem, I mean Woody, with his new pajamas.  Here are a couple pics I snapped of them before bed tonight.  Why can't I get BOTH of them to look at me at the same time????

Texas pics

Here are my two favorite pictures of the boys taken on our trip to Texas.  If you want to see more, I put about a dozen on Facebook.

Rex was just giggling hysterically when I took this picture.  At first I thought I missed the shot because he doubled over laughing so my hand moved and pointed at the sky.  But, as you can see, I caught him!  He thought feeding the turtles was SO MUCH FUN.  He laughed and laughed.  I swear at least 50 turtles came swimming over within seconds of throwing in the first bread crumb.

And here is John David on Uncle Terry's Harley.  He LOVED sitting on it.

old pic

Here's an old picture of John David that I came across.  He looks about the same age as Rex was in the last post.  Maybe it's because I'm their mom, but to me, these boys look really different.  That's what I think, until I come across this photo and realize it takes me several seconds to be sure which son I'm looking at.  And that's when it hits me that everyone is right---they do look a lot alike.

Sweet Baby

Just a photo of Rex that I took on my phone. My friend Valentina knit him that bunny when he was born.

Buffalo

As you all know, David is a huge Buffalo Bills fan. I like to think this speaks to his character---loyalty, specifically. ;). And perhaps his faith, optimism, and ability to endure as well.

A few weeks ago we took a family trip to Buffalo, NY to attend the first home game of the season. One of my friends in Pittsburgh hooked us up with her sister's former nanny (now a student teacher) to babysit the boys. She was wonderful. They loved her and John David talked about Kirsten for several days.

Staying at a hotel is John David's favorite thing. He loves to travel (who doesn't?). But he is always asking, "Can we go stay at the hotel?"

We took the boys to a naval park and walked around. Here are a few pics.











Here are some pics of David and I at the game. It was the most beautiful day, perfect weather. The Bills even beat Oakland!











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my little chef

This morning I was upstairs washing my face, getting dressed, making the bed, etc., assuming John David was downstairs playing. But this is the scene that greeted me when I got down there.



Refrigerator door open.
Cabinets open.
Open milk jug on the counter.
A package of open frozen berries on the counter.
A banana peel on the counter.
A bag of pretzels on the floor.
A bag of Cheeze-its on the floor.

I asked, "What are you doing?"
Him, "Making a smoothie."

Let's zoom in on his ingredients.



Water, frozen berries, a banana, and 3 Cheeze-its.

Full of pride in his creation, he said, "It's gonna be red Mom!" (After blending it).

I helped him blend it with the Magic Bullet and he gulped it down as I said, "Next time wait for me!"

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I almost forgot this story.  When we were in West Virginia camping, John David and I were swimming when he said (out of the blue), "I'm brown."

Me, "What do you mean?"

Him, "My skin!  My skin is brown."

Me, "Oh."  (I didn't really know what to say).

Then he said, "You're pink Mom.  You're pink."

Kinda funny.

That was his first reference to skin color.  And he hasn't said anything about it since.

funny conversations

After picking John David up from school, we were driving home when he randomly said, "Mom, when I grow up and turn into a girl, I want to have really big ginkies.  Like you."  (Ginkies are his word for boobs, he called them that when he was nursing and the name stuck).   ............ Um...........I was quite taken aback so all I said was, "God made you a boy and you will ALWAYS be a boy."

Later that day, we were sitting outside and John David said, "Mom, God made me a GIRL."

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A few mornings ago, he woke up and said, "Mom, you're my faaaaavorite deputy!"  (That's one of Woody's lines from Toy Story).  He's REALLY into Toy Story at the moment.  He's going to be Woody for Halloween and he's super excited about that.

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While driving to the gym yesterday, John David saw an airplane and said, "I want to be a pilot."

Me, "Are you going to be a pilot when you grow up?  Like Grandpa?"

Him, "No.  I am a pilot.  I'm a COWBOY pilot."

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This past Monday we took the boys to the farm.  While running around the petting zoo, we overheard another little girl exclaim, "Oh my gosh!" as she was chasing a chicken.

John David told her, "Thank you for saying 'Oh my gosh' and not 'Oh my God.'  That's good manners."

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Yesterday, we were sitting outside and I forget why, but I called John David "babe."  He said, "I'm not your babe.  Daddy is 'Babe.'"  I told him, "You call someone babe when you love them a lot.  And I love you, Rex, and Daddy a lot, so you're all my 'babes.'"

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Here are some recent photos.

West Virginia, Idlewild, & more

Last week we went to West Virginia for some family camping.

John David got to ride his bicycle around camp, go swimming, roast marshmallows, and play with a cat that lived under the cabin next to us.

Here are some memorable moments:

1.  John David asking me if he could ride his bike down the steps of our cabin.  After saying "no, that's dangerous," and hooking Rex up to nurse, out of the corner of my eye I saw him do it anyway.  BAM!  He flewover his bike headfirst as soon as he hit the gravel at the bottom.  Good thing he was wearing his helmet.  The bike landed on top of him.  Luckily, the only thing he injured was his lip.  It swelled up pretty good but he was okay after an ice pack and some hugs & kisses.

2.  John David jumping off the dock.  He's always been a little afraid of water.  He was hesitant at first but eventually agreed to jump off the dock holding Daddy's hand.  Then he did it with Mommy.  Before our 3 night trip was over, he was RUNNING down the dock by HIMSELF and jumping out as far as he could, shouting, "CANNONBALL!!"

3.  Rex LOVES the water.  He's our little fishy.  For as cautious and hesitant as John David is, Rex is the total opposite.  He could drown himself while sporting a huge smile.  He crawls into the water and doesn't seem to notice (or care) when it goes up around his mouth & nose.  He will leap out of Daddy's arms to "swim" to Mommy or vice versa.  He does not like to float in his baby raft (a ring with crotch support to hold him in).  He wanted out!  He would bend forward so far that he would tip the raft and dump himself headfirst into the water.  So much for that.

4.  Lately John David has been singing that Taylor Swift song, "Mean" to himself.  He must relate to the lyrics.  The part he sings is, "You don't know what you don't know.  Someday, I'll be big enough so you can't hit me but all you're ever gonna be is mean.  Why you gotta be so mean?"  I have him singing it on video on my phone, I need to figure out how to put it up on this blog.

The day after we returned home from WV, we took the kids to Idlewild.  There were a tons of bees swarming around anything and everything with sugar in it.  People eating ice cream, drinking coke, even kettle corn!  Sugar is sugar though.  During lunch, we had to move tables several times because there were just so many bees flying around us and we couldn't enjoy our food.  Rex smeared jam on his shirt and I figured that was flirting with disaster.  Eventually, we had to just get up and walk with our food........

So you know where this is going, right?  Later in the day, John David took a drink of Daddy's coke (diet, nonetheless!) and let out a blood curdling scream.  I knew from experience that he only screams like that when he's been stung.  He was pointing at his tongue and I couldn't figure out how a bee just flew into his mouth but then David looked down and a hornet or wasp (not a bee though) was crawling OUT of the straw!  (The straw was black).  Poor pumpkin!  He started drooling profusely and his tongue swelled up---not terribly---but enough so that he talked with a lisp.  Several hours later during dinner at Texas Roadhouse, he started crying again, saying his tongue hurt.  :(

As far as Idlewild goes, John David LOVES rollercoasters.  He's getting tall enough for the bigger kid rides (as long as he's with an adult) and he puts his hands up in the air and laughs and laughs.

This is totally off topic but I've meant to mention how sassy John David has been getting.  He had timeout during our camping trip for something (I forget what for) and while he was sitting in timeout he said, "I'm not in timeout.  I'm just sitting here because I want to."

Oh boy.

At some point, I complained about how hot I felt, and said, "I feel like I'm melting.....Like a snowman!"  Later in the day, John David got mad at me for something and said, "I'm gonna melt you like a snowman!"  Wow, he's getting good---personalizing his insults!

Here are a list of more things he's said to me:

"Mom, I'm gonna FLUSH you down the TOILET!"

"Mom, I'm gonna throw you in the bushes, you big banana."

"Mom, I'm gonna put YOU in TIMEOUT."  (Okay, does that mean I can just sit here for 34 minutes in PEACE and QUIET without anyone talking to me!?!?)

"You're killing me Mom, you're killing me."  (He learned this phrase from Daddy).

My mom always wished I'd get a kid as sassy as me and it looks like she's getting her wish.  :)

Anywho, here are some recent pics:

Rex & Daddy.

Me.

 Eating ice cream cones.

You can see the dock in the background.  They also had a floating trampoline that I forgot to take a pic of.

Here's the cat.  Several times since leaving John David has asked, "Where's my cat?"

Off to ride his bike again.  Other kids in the park were amazed to see such a little boy riding a pedal bike.    They would say, "Look at that little boy!  He's so little!  And no training wheels!"  John David would take this as an insult and say, "I'm NOT little!  I'M BIG.  Right Mom?"

He gets very hurt and offended when other kids and adults call him little.  He will cuddle up to me and say, "I'm a big boy.  I'm not little.  'Cause I'M big. 'Cause I'm 3!  I'm big and tall."

sharing licorice

I just love this picture, taken last night.  Rex looking at John David with such adoring eyes while they sit on the steps and each licorice after dinner.

sharing popcorn

Last night the two boys were sitting on the steps sharing popcorn (out of the same bowl!) so sweetly that I had to take a picture.

Rex & Cooper

Here's Rex playing outside today.  He's still crawling (not walking yet).  But that's okay, I probably couldn't keep up with two kids if they were both walking around in a non-fenced yard.  Especially since John David is now zooming around on his little bicycle.  And I thought these pics of Rex lovin' on Cooper were really cute.  He's always got hugs for Cooper, who is such a doll, he just lays there and takes it.