Weekend Fun

On Friday afternoon, James and I met up with some playdate buddies whom we haven't seen in a while. Benjamin (and mom) and Fiona (and mom) met us at the aquarium for some water fountain fun! It was near impossible to get all three toddlers together for a picture, so I just snapped some of James and his latest big-boy conquest: the slide.
You've seen his love of slides in previous posts, but now (as shown in the picture above) he has mastered the ability to set himself up for the proper slide position (feet first) and then launch himself over the edge. His face and whole body just oozes excitement as he approaches the slide and gets into position. Of course, I still have to assist him with sliding down and catch him at the bottom so that he doesn't fall back and hit his head,but we're working on that! Oh, and there was one time that he lost his grip on the side of the slide and went down head first. I was there to catch him at the bottom and yes, unfortunately, he LOVED every second of the headfirst fun.

Yes, it seems that James has received his dad's "adrenaline-junkie" gene. Great.

I did manage to get a picture of the kids together at the end of the playdate. Fiona was enjoying her snack and the boys just bombarded her (poor thing) for her grapes and apples. At least she was nice enough to share. But she did learn a lesson about boys and the way to their hearts!

Friday night is Family Game Night and our all-time fav is Scrabble (yes, we're dorks). Of course, we don't start playing until after James is asleep and some type of adult beverage is usually imbibed, but once James is old enough to join us for game night, I'm sure the scenario will be different. Then, it's an early bedtime for me, since I had an early run scheduled for Saturday. I'm back in training mode and I ran 9 miles on Saturday morning. I'm training to run the Ragna Relay in November, so I'll be racking up the mileage on my running shoes pretty soon.

On Sunday, Will and I took James to a nearby park for some more sliding fun.

James found more steps to practice his climbing skills on (like he needs it!) and we ended the trip with a little picnic lunch for him. He didn't really eat much of his food until we got home (too much excitement, I guess).

Overall, it was a pretty relaxed weekend with lots of outdoor fun for James. Now that the weather has cooled down a bit, it's so much nicer to spend time outside, so I see lots of more outdoor fun in our future!

In, Out, In, Out.....

One of James' new favorite things to do is play outside! Since we've installed the safety fence around the pool, it blocks access to the screen door which leads to the back yard. Well, James just took notes from the girls (Misha and Abby) and Bob and started using the doggy-door!

I was absolutely shocked (and a little impressed) the first time he used it!

Bob: Hey kid, do you mind if I use the door for a change?

The many faces of James!

Notice the red cheeks and sweaty head. As long as he has a cold sippy cup full of water, he will stay outside all day. Well, an hour has been the longest so far. But, he LOVES walking around in the yard, picking up sticks and leaves and watching the airplanes fly overhead.

Of course, his trucks are never far behind. I'm so amazed every time I hear him making "brrrrrrr" noises when he's pushing his cars and trucks. How is it that all little boys innately know that cars and trucks make that noise? It actually sounds more like a motor boat, but, whatever.

Remember When....

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted (bad blogger!) This post was inspired by my friend Courtney's recent blog post about her son, Hugh and how quickly he is growing up. It seems to be a trend! Remember when playdates were more for mommies, rather than the babies? Now, it has to be the perfect location for all of your energy and explorations!
Remember when mommy's milk was all that you needed (or wanted) to make you strong and healthy? Now, you are fully enjoying eating your big-boy food and trying to feed yourself with spoons and forks.
Remember when we would spend hours and hours trying to get you to fall asleep for the night? Now, you fall asleep so easily, I almost miss the long walks and swaying.
Remember the first night you actually slept the entire night?!!?? I was so proud (and well-rested, that I blogged about it!)
Remember when I thought you would never start crawling? Now, you are ready to run!
Remember when I thought you would never clap your hands or point to something? Now, you clap at everything you do and point to anything that interests you.
Remember when you had NO teeth and we thought you had a perfect smile? Now, you have perfected your smile and it just couldn't get any cuter!
Remember when it was just mommy and daddy and we thought our world was complete? Now, we know what we were missing and we couldn't imagine our lives without our little sunshine.

We love you, baby James!

14 Months Old Today!

Today, it was business as usual:
Up at 7:00, breakfast, dressed and out the door by 8:00. James off to his school and me off to my school, followed by naptime at home, errands to be run, then off to the gym, then rushing home to feed James his dinner, start cooking our dinner, followed quickly by bathtime (fussy baby), then a nice warm bottle, couple of books read, then off to bed. Whew! I'm tired just typing all that and reliving my day! Sorry for the poor grammar and huge run-on sentence, but you get the drift.

James and Bob having some deep conversation under the kitchen chair.

Our bathtime ritual includes James smiling at himself in the mirror after I take him out the tub. That boy loves to check himself out!

Oh, the tongue thing is new this week. He uses it to make this "lu-blah-lu-blah" sound with his mouth. And, when I "communicate" back with him in the same fashion, it just lights up his world.
Another new trick of his is climbing INTO the fridge to check things out. Of course, this is followed by a huge throw-myself-on-the-kitchen-floor tantrum whenever he is removed from the fridge. Is 14 months too early for the terrible two's? I'm not saying that he's "terrible" yet, but he is becoming fiercely independent (refuses to hold my hand while walking anywhere) and does not like it when I try to "distract" him from non-baby-proof objects around the house. If his little temper is any indication of future personality, just shoot me now.

Going, going, gone!

Today, I gave in on a "last ditch" effort to make my son happy and broke out the popsicles!

Apparently, he woke up from his nap on the wrong side of the crib and NOTHING would make him happy this afternoon. (more teething pain????) So, when all else fails, break out the treats!

He loved being able to hold the popsiscle all by himself and ate the entire thing!

I think that he loves being at school so much (with so many activities and things to do) that he doesn't like being at home anymore! I know it sounds ridiculous, but he has been so unhappy this afternoon. But, he never cries when I drop him off, his teachers say that he plays and smiles all day, and he doesn't cry or seem sad when I arrive to pick him up.

Is our little sunshine bored with mom and dad already????

What? I don't get another when this is finished?????

Happy Birthday Emilynn!

On Saturday, we drove down to Sarasota to celebrate Emilynn's First Birthday Party! It was held at a very nice park and James really enjoyed playing on the toddler playground. In fact, he enjoyed it SO much, that he wanted to stay there the entire duration of the party. The slide was a big hit and he wanted to go down it again, and again, and again.... you get the picture!

So, the birthday girl, Emilynn, decided to join James on the playground equipment. The two of them shared some sweet moments together, while sweating in the hot, August, Florida sun!

James: Now, how do I get down from this thing gracefully? There are some cool looking pieces of mulch and dirt down there that I intend on tasting!

Emilynn: Are all boys this clumsy? Hopefully this is just a phase that will pass soon! If he gets dirt on my pretty outfit, I will not be happy!

On Sunday, we went over to Mark and Amy's house for some burgers. The kids had a great time playing together. Little Ella was showing off her new Exersaucer skills. James was thinking that her toy looked vaguely familiar, so of course, he had to show her how to work everything properly. (it was the same type of exersaucer he had when he was a baby)

John, Ella's big brother, was nice enough to share so many of his toys with James. The Dollar Store keyboard was a BIG hit and it adapted so that both boys could play at the same time! Brilliant! It wasn't quite "music to our ears" and I don't see any piano prodigy's in our future, but it did buy us some time so we could finish our dinners!

Thanks for a great time, Mark and Amy!

In other news, James had a WONDERFUL first week of preschool at the JCC! He didn't cry ONCE when I dropped him off and seemed very happy there when I picked him up. His teachers are very knowledgeable and professional, but also very nurturing and compassionate with the children. Overall, he has adjusted wonderfully to how they do things in school. We are still working on a few things though, like not throwing his sippy cup down on the floor when he's done drinking (milk/water/juice goes flying everywhere!) And, he did throw a small temper tantrum on Thursday when it was time to clean up from finger painting and begin Circle Time. Apparently, James did not want to stop finger painting and let all of his teachers know about it! Yeah, can you tell he's used to getting his way at home?!?