First… we moved the furniture in our living room…  same furniture just different places.  I think I like it better, for now anyway.  It’s sort of more user-friendly this way.

Austin helping mommy open a present.. he wanted to open all the presents, not just his own.

Helping Daddy, too.  He wanted to unwrap anything and everything, paper was flying.

Super excited about his Thomas pajamas.

And his Einsteins pajamas.. he’s suddenly outgrowing everything he owns.  First the legs of his pants got too short, and then a week or two later, his shirt sleeves were too short.  He’s now in some 2T’s and some 3T’s.

We each opened one present that night, and the next night we opened the rest.  Thank you Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cheryl and Cameron for the sticker book and alphabet video!  The video is super cute and really good with phonics.  And he loves ANYTHING Thomas!

Thanks Granny&Grandpa for the cool car transporter truck, book and memory game!  He loves the book, by the way.  We read it all the time!  He is playing with all of his new toys.  Christmas came at a good time.. he was outgrowing some of his other toys, and was so excited with his new ones.  He plays and plays with all of them!

And thank you to Uncle Bryan and Aunt Alli..  I think they got Austin this online so they have never seen it.  It’s his first “doll”, which I now and forever more refer to as an action figure. haha  Don’t want Chris to have a heart attack from me calling it a doll.   It’s Handy Manny from the Disney show.  Austin has sort of taken an interest in that show recently so good timing!  Thank you.. he loves all the little tools and toolbox and Manny even talks when you press his belt buckle!  So, Bryan, here is what you got Austin for Christmas. ha

Walking each tool over the the box and making them hop in.. he loves that the tools have little eyes on them.

Handy Manny striking a pose..  I took this picture just for B&A so they could see what they sent…

We got him this Little People parking garage thing, with a little elevator that dings, etc.  He loves sending Handy Manny’s tools down the elevator and sliding them down the ramp.

And does anyone remember this game?  We had it when we were little..

Here he is going through his stocking….taking it down, wearing his new Thomas pj’s.  Thanks Granny&Grandpa for the little treats you sent for his stocking.

peeking in..

digging in…

That was our little family Christmas at home.  Thanks again to my fam for the presents you sent to us!  I wish that we could have been there with you all!!  I will post more pics later of the rest of our week.  We spent Christmas eve and day with my Grandma (Chris was working so we did our thing on Monday and Tuesday) and then went to Santa Rosa this past Saturday.  More next time!

We headed over to Santa Rosa for the day yesterday to visit.  Dave & Andrea (my bro.- and sis-in-law) and family were still there visiting from Phoenix (going home tomorrow) and here are some pics from our visit to the polo grounds that are very close to where we were.  Austin loved.. I do mean LOVED their dogs.. Skippy – a 3 legged Border Collie and Calvin - a heeler mix? (I think), with two diff. colored eyes.  Both two years old and both rescued by Andrea when they were like 5 mo. old after having been abandoned.  Austin loved running the fields, he was all over the place.. and was particularly fond of Skippy.  Even this morning, he said, “All goooonne, KIPP-eeee!!!”  And yesterday he kept saying, “buh-bye KIPP-ee!!” Skippy was even kind of trying to herd and protect him around the house a little bit.  Like Austin was his responsibility to keep track of.  So cute..  Austin and Skippy had crushes on each other! Here’s some of the fun..

Posing for mommy..

Skippy and Calvin fighting for the frisbee.. notice no left hind leg..  when we first showed Austin, he said (sharp inhale..) “UH-ohhhh.”

Running.. Cousin Ben (Jr. in HS in the red, Andrea to the left of him, and Ryan with the two dogs)

Cousin Ryan (freshman in HS) trying to teach Austin to throw the frisbee..

Watching the dogs.. thinking about how he’s going to get the frisbee from Skippy..

Skippy running over to grab the frisbee from Austin and trying to skid to a stop with his one hind leg..

More running with the tennis ball..

Kicking the tennis ball with Ryan..

Running with Skippy; Daddy and Auntie Andrea nearby..notice how Skippy runs with his tail thrown to the left, to balance the absence of his leg..  He compensates fine and still runs super fast. 

Running with Skippy.. this is my fave.. I don’t know if you can see it with the pic this small, but the smile he’s giving Skippy just says it all.. it’s like he’s found his best friend for life.. he was crazy about that dog. (headless Uncle Dave and Ryan in the background)

Going back to the car with Daddy after lots of fun and running in wide open spaces!

I’ll post some Christmas pics next time, I just wanted to get these on here.

.. and a big one on Saturday night when I was washing his hair.. I’m talking beside himself, crying so hard he made himself gag..

So..any advice on how to handle a fit-thrower?  Just wondering ..  It seems that this week has Austin growing into a new phase, and I’m feeling ill-equipped. haha  So if you have any stories or techniques or suggestions.. throw them my way.  I may or may not take your advice.   Always changing..always a new adventure!

Then: (some reruns of my faves)

Now: (insert sound-byte of whining-ha!)

Note to Austin:  Mommy loves you immeasurably and we will get through this phase!  You still melt my heart with your hugs and kisses.  Even though you frazzle my wits and try my patience with your fits!

So today we had some errands to run, needed a new furnace filter, and some other things, so we went out to the T. Shopping Center. 

As we are walking along, we passed the mattress place where we got a new mattress oh, about 6 or more months ago.  It just so happened that this place had a suspended train in the middle of it’s store, on a track near the ceiling.  We haven’t been back to this place or even walked past it in MONTHS.  But today, as we walked past it, it was like Austin was having some kind of deja vu or something.  He started walking slower, dragging his feet a little, and really quietly I heard him say, “CHOO.”  ??.. ??.. NO, he wouldn’t remember that..  would he?  Then he said, “Da..Da..” wanting Chris who was walking a few feet in front of us to come back.  Then he pulled me by the hand over to the door.  Chris opened it, and Austin went screaming into the store saying “choo choo!!  choo!!”  I’m still thinking..”WHAT?…?????”  How can this be happening.  So I don’t know if he just has a really good memory, or if he noticed a word on the door.. See, the place is called Sleep TRAIN. I am still completely baffled.

We let him look at it for a few minutes.  He was so upset when we left he threw a little fit!  He hasn’t really done much of that so I hope that doesn’t come along with the “no no no’s”!  This one even had some squealing thrown in.  Yikes. In public..nice.    That has to stop.  Usually he’s pretty good about leaving things.  He just tells them bye bye and that’s it.  But not today.   

He is starting to assert his independence by saying “no no no, mah” or “no, mom” all the time.  I let him most of the time. I figure I have to pick my battles and most things aren’t worth it.  Yesterday I asked him if he wanted to get dressed several times, and every time he said “no, mah”.  So guess who wore his pj’s all day?  He always gives hugs and kisses to Mammaw Lee when we see her but Wednesday when we saw her, every time I asked him if he had any hugs and kisses for her, he said no no no.  Oh well.  He did blow her lots of kisses when we left though. 

He says new words every day now.  The other day when we were out to lunch with Mammaw, he saw a stray piece of ice on the floor and said, “ice”.  Really clear.  That night, he started holding up color crayons and telling me oooo-enz…. puh-ple. ..bwoo… gwee.. And ahhhh-pull!  ahhhh-pull tee!!!  One of his puzzles has an apple tree in it.  He woke up the next morning saying apple tee over and over, instead of yelling for mah! 

He’s also been doing his library games over and over this week.  (At storytime, the librarian always sings little songs between stories, like head, shoulders, knees, and toes, Old MacDonald, etc.) So he’ll be playing and randomly he’ll stop wherever he is and touch his shoulders and then his knees and toes a bunch of times in a row..like it just popped into his head.  The other thing they do everytime is blastoff.  They count backward from 10 and lower their arms to the floor and then on zero they jump in the air and scream blast off.  The other night, he stood up on our bed, and put his arms up and said duh, duh duh duh duh, lowering his arms and touching the bed and then jumped up and yelled bwaa-waaa!!  It took me a sec to figure out what he was doing.  He’s done it several times since, and now when he jumps up, he jumps in the air and flops his body in the floor instead of landing on his feet.  My favorite part is hearing him say “Bwaa-waaa!!”  Hilarious.  Again, maybe boring to some, but very entertaining to me. haha

He has so much energy.. changing every day.  Uh-oh.. he’s awake in there from his nap. I hear him jumping up and down on his mattress.. energy renewed!  Lookout! 

Found him sitting on the arm of his little chair reading books from his bookrack.

Wearing his visor from Alison’s birthday party.

Fascinated by the dog’s tail.

His guardian Duke, watching over him while he plays..

or is Duke wanting to play WITH him?  He’s never just layed right on the tracks before..

And his all-day pajamas..

The end..  Better go..  he’s still entertaining himself in his crib..  I hear jumping, and lots of “no no no’s”, and he’s just starting to yell for MAH.  Guess that’s my cue. 

Hope everyone’s having a good weekend!

(Maybe it’ll look better if I photograph it from its good side.. wait it doesn’t really have one. ha!)

Well, the gingerbread decorating party was fun!  But I quickly realized that I should have mixed up the frosting before going.  All of the others’ kits came with the frosting made up already..(except Melissa’s and she was smart enough to mix hers ahead of time.. smart girl, that Melissa!) So I was the only one who had to mix my frosting which, by the way, became a total mess.  I didn’t add enough water (though I did follow the instructions, but it really needed more than that) and mixed it with a spoon instead of a mixer.. so it came out like thick cement.  I couldn’t squeeze it out of the pastry bag to decorate.

Finally, I just grabbed hunks of it and rolled it in my hands into a long rope and used those to stick the house together.  Smeared some on for a door.. you get the idea.  I think ours was the most homely of the houses. haha  If I do say so myself!

(Austin with a mouthfull of candy.. and red and green fingers.)

The kids were mostly    interested in eating  the candy. And kind of helping to decorate.  Except for Austin.. he ate the candy, and managed to spill a drink on the floor and stick his hands in someone else’s  drink.  What could I do.. my hands were covered in cement-like frosting!     We made a mess!  Tiffany was one brave hostess!!  We tried to help clean up before leaving, but still..  BRAVE hostess of the year!

Note of CAUTION: Do not try this at home.. ha  Or at least until your kid is 9 years old!

Bianca’s looked pretty professional!  The others in the background look pretty good too!

Here’s Tiffany..the brave hostess..

Brooke sitting quietly in a corner, working away..

A table of moms finishing the houses after the kids have moved on..Tiffany, Trish, and Stefani..

And before we left, Austin got on this rocking horse and loved it.. here he is saying “naaayyy” like a horse.

And here’s our house, at home in its natural habitat, adding some holiday flair to our mantle.  Every now and then, Austin wants me to get it down so he can look at it.

And that’s the story of Gingerbread.  It was lots of fun!  Maybe we’ll try one again next year!

Some of Austin’s new things that have made me stop and stare and/or cracked me up this week..  I need to document before I forget them..

The day before yesterday, he was tinkering around on the piano and suddenly we hear a trill.  A trill is where you play the same two notes over and over in rapid succession..  his wasn’t quite rapid, in fact I would say it was slow, but the fact that he was playing the same two notes in succession with his pointer finger and middle finger (the right way) with his tiny hand made us stop and stare.  I have never showed him that.

Later that evening, I was in the kitchen and I heard him doing it again..  and this time I heard more keys..  he was doing it with BOTH hands..  at the same time…  Bigger stare.  Pretty good dexterity for a tyke.. maybe he’ll have some musical ability.  I hope he takes an interest when he’s old enough.

He can now read the word, “NO”.  He learned this from the book, “Move Over Rover”..  cute story.  He can also read the word “TOOL”. 

He’s known the numbers 1 (buh..not to be confused with bah-which is his sippy cup or milk..he uses it for both) 2 (doo), 3 (bee), but this week he’s been adding 4 (woor) and 5 (bah-the universal word)…..  and just tonight, I figured out that he knows his numbers 6 (ick), 7 (can’t even type the way he says it) 8 – he says that one right, 9 (nee) and ten (na)  I think he has learned the rest of the numbers from a couple of books that he likes to have read to him..  Ten Apples, and oh, something about a Tractor, I can’t remember the title of that one.. I think it might just be called One Tractor..I’ll have to look at it.  He has also started routinely spelling and saying the word stop anytime he sees it, anywhere.  You can just be driving down the road and hear sssss,tuh,oh-eh,puh.. PAHHHH!  He spots them anywhere, he will see it on the side of a truck or a sign down a side street.. and then he announces it and I have a mini panic thinking oh no, am I about to run a stop sign??

I’ve been reading him a book that has a black crow in it, and I tell him “a crow says CAW”, but didn’t think he was paying attn.. but today he saw a crow on something else, not in the book or anything and suddenly said CAW and started laughing. 

He thinks it’s fun to say bye bye to everything.  Sometimes even when we’re not even going anywhere, he will just start saying bye bye to things, the dog, random toys, just whatever he feels like at the time.  He just starts waving and saying bye.  This probably all sounds very boring to people who don’t live with us, but I really find him quite entertaining.  ha   

And just tonight, I was doing a puzzle with him, and I would say,”Look does this piece go here?  I think it does!”  And out of nowhere, he says, “Yah, maaaahhh, yah, maaahhhh.”  And that became his new phrase.  Everything after that was “yah, mah”  even when I hadn’t asked him anything.  It just cracked me up.  Esp. since the way he says mah, it sounds like he’s some kind of Italian New Yorker or something..

That’s about it for the things that happened this week in the “what will he do next” dept.  I don’t have any new pics but we are going to a gingerbread house decorating party tomorrow, so maybe I’ll have some pics of that later.

Have a good weekend!!

Someone in this house took a FOUR HOUR nap today.. and I am SOOOO happy about that!!  He was needing it, and for the first time in at least a week he woke up happy and not crying.   He also had some signs (in the diaper dept. so I wll not elaborate) today that maybe a tooth will pop through soon, if not already..  words cannot express my relief for him when he is finally done teething!  He felt kind of feverish today too.  But we stayed in and didn’t go anywhere so he just played and rested.  Very quiet day.. which he was needing I think.  Except now he’s in bed and I can hear him in there talking..   Oh well.  He’ll fall asleep eventually.

Patting Duke..

Playing choo-choo..

He likes the little swiveling stop signs..

Opening his 2 yr. birthday card from Mammaw Lee..  it had gotten lost in the mail and returned to her house just a couple of weeks ago.. a long two month journey for a card. ha

It had this tiny little flat car in it that he LOVES.  And a silver dollar.

And a couple more watching the choo..

having his bedtime snack..

this next one is like the one from yesterday, ‘cept I like it better b/c he’s looking at the headlight of the train, and I can tell by his cheek that he’s smiling.. even from the back. I think he’s asleep now.. at least I don’t hear anymore talking so I will go downstairs and get some work done.  I usually come in here and get on the computer after I put him to bed (it’s in the next room over) and make sure he goes to sleep before I leave him up here. 

Well, today, we made an unexpected trip to visit my Grandma.  I was planning to take Austin down there tomorrow, but when I called her this morning, she said she was short of breath and feeling anxious.  So after a few phone calls and one annoying advice nurse later, we finally had an appointment to see her Dr. at 6:00 pm.  The thing I don’t like about Kaiser is that no matter what number you call, you can never speak to who you want to.  You must get transferred all around the state of CA first talking to all kinds of people who keep asking if the phone # and address info. are correct.  So frustrating.  So we left to go down there around 1:00 and didn’t get home until 9:00 tonight.  She was actually doing okay when I got there..we just visited until the appointment time. The Dr. said her lungs sounded fine and did some bloodwork and gave her some antibx.  I think we were at the clinic for about 2 1/2 hours total.  With a 2 year old in tow…  who had had very little napping.   Recipe for disaster.  He had a few moments where I thought “uh-oh.. this won’t turn out good”, but he ended up settling down. 

Then, while we were waiting for the Lab, we went and sat in the Pediatric waiting room which was just a few yards away down the hall..  Get this.. They have put a train on a track suspended from the ceiling in the Peds waiting area, with a button that the kids can push on the wall, that makes the train GO!!  Genious idea!  So this is where I waited with Austin keeping him busy while the labs were done.  He must have pushed the button twenty times.  Each time it would circle the length of the track and then some before it came to a stop.  The first few times, he was so beside himself with excitement, he would shriek and spin in circles.  Lots of laughing out loud.  I think it was quite possibly the highlight of his first two years of life!

We got some dinner on the way back to her house, and then came home.  We were all exhausted for different reasons I think.  My Grandma for fighting this cold and cough that she has, Austin from going here and there and everywhere without much nap, and me from managing my nap-shorted two year old all afternoon and evening in lots of places where it’s important to “behave”.  Not the easiest thing for someone his age!   But it worked out great.  B/C hopefully she will feel better after seeing the Dr. and getting some meds, and if she feels better, that makes me happy, and Austin.. well..he’s just glad that someone hung a train on the ceiling. ha!  He was still talking about it when we pulled into our driveway.  I need to be in bed now, but here are a few pics of our decorations.

Austin is in love with the tree and the choo.  Today when we left to go to my Grandma’s he said, “Bah bah, tee, bah bah, choo,” and waved at them both.  His favorite ornament is this little felt pick-up truck driven by a moose with trees in the back of it..

Watching the choo choo go round and round..he will sit and watch it forever!  Until I can’t stand the racquet anymore, it’s noisier than you’d expect!

That’s all for now!  MUST SLEEP!!!

Well, I didn’t get a battery in time for the birthday party on Saturday..   I wished I had my camera, too.  There was a very cool bouncy house (which Austin was afraid to get into, but the other kids LOVED), a visor-making station.. I’ll post a pic of the visor next time.. I just got a pic of him wearing it today and it’s still on the camera..  Austin hasn’t wanted to wear a hat for about a year now.. but he LOVES the visor, he wore it out to the car from the party and has worn it all around the house since. What a good idea Ashley had!  When we went to leave, I told Austin to hug Alison and tell her Happy Birthday, and they hugged each other.. But it wasn’t just a half kiddie hug, they EMBRACED..  and then Ali said “Thank you, party”.  It was the cutest thing, the two who just turned two hugging, and then Ali thanking him for coming to her party.  Sniff sniff..  seems just yesterday that they were newborn!    ….Sherrie was there taking pics at the party, though.  Maybe she will post some.

Sunday, we went and got a prelit tree.. so easy!  No stand, no trying to get the tree straight, no watering/fire hazard or trying to string the lights or hide the uneven spots of the tree.  Just whip it out of the box every year!  The only downside is that it IS fake after all.  But the convenience is worth it!

Yesterday, I finally got a battery for my camera, so I could get all of the pics from it into the computer, and we did some shopping and then decorated everything and wrapped a few things while Austin was napping, and did storytime at the Library in the morning so we were going all day until bedtime!  So now I am finally making a post for the GP’s. ha!  I see their footprints visiting my site, I think they are looking for pictures. 

Today, when Austin woke up, he said “armadi-o” when he saw the card in his room with the Armadillo on it.  He’s trying new words all the time.    He’s also been mesmerized by this little choo choo that is going around our tree.  He lays in the floor on his belly with his feet kicked up just watching and watching and smiling and laughing.  He is loving the holidays this year.  This is the first time he’s really “getting it”. 

He’s been having some rough days, still trying to cut the two year molars..    Ugh.  He’s just not himself when he’s hurting.

Anyway, that’s the short of it..  now I’ll leave you with some pics. 

This is a block from a wooden train that he has that you stack the blocks on pegs.. he likes to look through it.  The poor man’s viewmaster. ha  Remember those?

One day he went upstairs by himself and this is where I found him looking at one of his books. 

Everyone says he looks like my Dad.. I can see some resemblance in the above picture.  I’ll have to scan a pic of my Dad as a young boy and put them side by side. 

I was telling my Mom about how he was really into coloring one week, I mean he likes it all the time, but one week it’s all he wanted to do.  You can definitely tell he was coloring the cars red and purple.  And I was coloring the left section of the “V” on the page to the right and he took the crayon from me and colored the right section of it.  I labeled it to save to put with his baby stuff.    I had looked away for a sec and when I looked back I couldn’t believe it.  He really stayed in the narrow space pretty good.  And then he took the orange crayon and scribbled some lines and stopped and said “uh-Wuh.”  That’s how he says “W” and it WAS a “W”.  So I took a pic to remember it and show my Mom.

Well, I’d better go back downstairs.. I’ve heard him crying for Mah a few times since I’ve been up here.  I can hear all kinds of things that Chris has going down there to entertain him.  He’s had Tylenol twice today and his nap was about half of what it usually is and he screamed when I tried to feel his gums in the back of his mouth.  I’ll be so happy when the teeth just show up already.  Then he’ll be done.  Okay, gotta run.  Miss everybody!!

Has anyone seen the show, “Storm Chasers” on Discovery Channel?  It comes on Sunday nights..  I’m hooked on it now!   Here’s a clip..

Here’s a little 30 sec. blurb about the finale coming up..

Sorry, no new pics of Austin or anything else for that matter.  There are some on the camera, but the camera battery decided to die today, so I can’t get them into the computer yet.

He does have a new phrase though, when something doesn’t go as he planned in his two year old mind…  “UH-ooohhhhhh”.  And the other day, I kept asking him if he wanted to go to the store with mommy, and every time, he would raise his hand up, palm facing out very emphatically (like I do when I tell the dog to STAY) and say “Noooooooooo, Ma Nooooooo.”  I thought that was just his new thing to hold his hand up and say no, so I kept asking him thinking he would eventually nod his head “yes” like usual, but he did the nooo thing every time so I figured he really didn’t want to go.   That was his new thing for that day..he hasn’t said “no” using his hand gesture since.  ??  He’s a mystery!  Well tomorrow we have a birthday party to go to, so maybe I’ll get a few pics, if I get a new battery. Have a good weekend!!