word of the day

"nap"

this morning, baby bear ran the other way saying "nap" when i asked her if she was sleepy. this afternoon, i asked her again if she needed a nap. she walked toward her room, saying "nap".

flashback

If you go to Dotson Studios website and browse around, you will find a picture that was taken just over 1 year ago. Actually, a couple of them. One is of our bright-eyed little girl looking up, the other is of the two of us. It's hard to believe that a year has passed since then... until I look at her and see how she is more and more like a little girl and less like a baby every day...

15 months old today!!!

our baby girl is growing so quickly! she scarfed down both her share and daddy's share of spinach at dinner. she's learning to run when mommy tells her it's naptime or time to change a diaper. she knows where the cereal cabinet is and which kind is her favorite. her babbles are beginning to sound like words... just this week, i think i've heard "yellow", "again", "open" and "bounce". She nods her head vigorously to say "yes" or "no". she catches her toss the taggie ball, and can throw it or give it, whichever she feels like doing at the time. today, she preferred plain toast over toast with great-gramma's homemade jelly. the taste for spinach comes from mommy; for plain bread, from daddy. she loves "talking" on the phone, including holding her toy phone up to her ear (as well as the real phones, of course.) sometimes, she tugs at her diaper when it is too full.

Photos from last weekend

while Mommy was getting things ready for our trip to Memphis,
my curiosity got the best of me... and i ended up in the hamper!

not too big to nap on Papa

Mrs. Mary & Mr. Hickman watched me while Mommy & Daddy went to a wedding.
they said I was a perfect baby, even though I only napped for 15 minutes.

it wasn't a fluke!

Hannah did a very good job eating applesauce with a spoon without mommy's help today.

mommy's temper tantrum song

(to the tune of "my God is so BIG ")

my baby's so big, so mad, and so cranky
there's nothing that mommy can do (2x)

she cries and she screams and blows boogers at me
and squirms during changing time, too

my baby's so big, so mad and so cranky
there's nothing that mommy can do


the version i came up with in the midst of yesterday's tantrum was a little better, but this will do for now...

using a fork and the potty (warning, slightly gross)

Hannah successfully stabbed carrots and potatoes from tonight's leftover pot roast and got them to her mouth.

After dinner and before bathtime, we decided to set her on the potty just to start getting her used to it. (Some moms on a message board I'm on said they had better luck when they started early than with the kids they waited... I'm not about to go hih pressure or let her run around without a diaper so she can feel her pee or anything, but I figure introducing her slowly can't hurt.) The poop that was on already her bottom but we did not smell for some reasonproceeded to fall into the toilet, as if she had just gone. She was more concerned with getting in the bathtub than sitting on the potty, but we showed her the poop, flushed it, and congratulated her as though she had really accomplished something big. She was just glad to get into the bathtub after her bottom was wiped clean.

too cute....

I'm on the laptop with my feet propped on the ottoman. Sesame Street is on. Baby Bear has been playing very well, and just dragged her big fuzzy blanket over to her blue cinderella toddler-sized arm chair. She sat down and tucked it around herself for about 10 seconds. then she stood back up and found a book to flip through.... Now she's transfixed on Rosita's Spanish lesson... rosita is teaching Baby Bear how to say "buenas noches!"

to climb or not to climb

a couple of seconds ago, I heard Hannah bear whining about something. I peeked over the couch and saw her grunting and pushing at the piano bench (aka our baby gate at the bottom of the stairs) with all her might, to no avail. She hasn't realized she can probably crawl under it and onto the first step if she tries, and I'm not about to show her. "Do you want to go up?" I asked her. "grunt." I pushed the bench aside, she grabbed her toy alphabet school bus, and began the 15-step climb. She abandoned her toy around the 4th step, much to my relief. At one point, she paused and reached for me to pick her up and carry her. I told her that she could make it herself, as she has many times before, and she began the climb once again.

Now we're upstairs, Dragon Tales on TV, and Baby Bear is wandering around the bonus room to her heart's content. Oops, spoke to soon. Now she wants Mommy to hold her.

frugal mommy

a few weeks ago, i saw 4-packs of playtex insulated sippy cups for about $10 at costco... they were marked down to $5 today!!! patience paid off!

here comes trouble....

no fear

i've got everything under control in here, mom!

i can crack this safe, just give me another chance...

finding a seat

getting' ready for the big pool...

see that cabinet next to the fridge? mommy doesn't keep it locked.
at least i closed the door behind me!!!

i dream of going back to chuck-e-cheese

mesmerized with uncle nate

hey, stu, what's over there?

don't worry, chuck, you're in good hands

inside the "playhouse"

"ready for the funny farm...."

"what do you mean, i can't walk down the slide?"

"purple princess in her tower"

"monarch's playin' some serious hockey"

...these photos were taken while we were at Gramma and Papa T.'s (aka Tech Mom & Dad). I'm a little behind on the picture posting.

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E

anybody who knows my daddy, knows that the only sauce he finds suitable for chicken tenders is BBQ. well, as mommy opened the fridge, i was just standing there "asking" her if i could help out. she gave me a bottle of BBQ sauce, asked me to give it to daddy, and i carried it over to the table all by myself and handed it to him. daddy was so proud of how well i obeyed her!

i love pop cans!

this is a good and a bad post... i forgot to mention that hannah had her 1st and 2nd bloody boo boo's in 2 weeks. she tried to grab my root beer from me and cut her finger. (the first was a paper cut). she didn't seem to mind the fact that she was getting blood everywhere as much as she minded getting the band-aid on her finger.

the good... she helped me put daddy's fresh stash of diet dew into the drawer in the fridge. she loves playing with pop cans, so i let her help me put them away.

i can use a spoon!

sort of...

i had applesauce for my evening snack, and after mommy helped me a couple of times, i finished off about 1/2 a cup all by myself!!!!! though it's not the first time i've put a spoon in my mouth, it's pretty much the first time most of the food made it to my tummy.

mommy says one of these days she'll post more pictures... maybe.... if i'm good... or bad... we'll see...

The Sickie Family

Hannah-bear has shared whatever bug she fought last weekend with both of her parents. So now Daddy and I are coughing and using kleenex like crazy. She crashed at 7 p.m., even after sleeping from 2:30-4:30, so I have a feeling I'll be up sometime in the middle of the night.... But she wouldn't be comforted, and she scooted across the bonus room floor toward the stairs, crying as if to say "get me out of here!"

She quieted down as soon as her Daddy laid her in the crib. Sweet dreams, little one.

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

hannah-bear walked, holding my hand, on the sidewalk today. when we got to our next door neighbor's grass, she wanted to play on the "carpet". funny thing was she didn't seem to want to play on our yard. not that i would have let her, with the muddy spots.