Merry Belated Christmas!

Since our Little Sweetie was so young at Christmas time (and because tickets were ridiculously expensive), we decided to delay our holiday celebration until January!  So, this month, we took our first cross country trip as a family of four to visit the grandparents in Ohio!

After a pretty successful flight (Little Sweetie slept and ate the whole time and Little Buddy watched his DVD player and didn't get too stir crazy), we arrived in Pittsburgh.  First stop was to see Great Granny before heading to Mimi and Pop-Pop's house in Marietta.  We had great visit with Granny (apple butter time!) and the rest of our Marietta visit was lovely.  Little Buddy had a lot of fun on the play castle and he got to see snow!

Daddy, the sherpa, with all our luggage collected in Pittsburgh

Checking out the Rock at Marietta College

Snow!  The only bad part was that it hindered playing on the castle that day.

Got to see Great Grandma too!  Will also loved playing with Great Aunt P (aka "The Kentucky Kid"), as well as Great Uncle T and Great Aunt R.

A fun January Christmas with Mimi and PopPop!

After three days in Marietta, it was time to head to Canton to see Mamaw and Papaw.  Boy, did Little Buddy love having all these Christmases!  Besides seeing Mamaw and Papaw, we got to visit with Great Aunt T and Uncle B, Great Aunt K, Great Aunt P, and my cousins, B, M, and A.  We also got the special treat of going to the McKinley Museum and seeing our dear friends who had just moved back to Ohio, Ms. C with her daughters, C and N!  Two other big hits included actually getting to take a ride on Papaw's bus and getting to watch a swim meet (for some reason Little Buddy is obsessed with being on a swim team)!

Another round of presents!

     

     

McKinely Monument with Momma and Daddy, and then with C and N.  Kept trying to get a picture of them all looking at the camera!

     

Dinosaurs and a science center in the McKinely Museum, Little Buddy was in heaven!

  

"Driving" and then taking a real ride on Papaw's bus!

One of his favorite parts of the trip, getting to say the Pledge of Allegiance to Mamaw and Papaw's flag each time he went potty.  

Such a fun visit with Mamaw and Papaw!

And we even survived the plane ride home!

I actually kind of liked the lack of stress experienced as we traveled for our belated Christmas.  Maybe we'll change up holiday dates in the future too!

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

January 11

Well, hello 2014!  Can't believe you're here already, but I guess we will keep you!  Little Buddy rang in the New Year a little early on New Year's Eve with some sparking grape juice.

    

Cheers!

Little Buddy has a few resolutions for the new year.  Number 1, of course, is to completely master control over his body and it's potty functions.  Number 2 is to keep working on being an awesome big brother.  Thankfully, my little helper keeps in practice!

Kisses for sister! Whether she likes them or not!

    

Diaper changes and feeding duties...he's going to be a great daddy one day!

My other resolution for him is to stop asking me and Daddy what we're "doin?" 50 times in a row!  Or perhaps just to listen and hear what our answers are so that he stops needing to ask every 3 minutes!  Yes, a mom can dream!

Height and Weight 

Hanging tough at 50 lbs. and now 42 and 1/8 in. tall!

Personality

Still sweet and shy, but getting more physical.  He is now willing to initiate playing with his friends when he would normally wait for them to come to him.  He stills seems to prefer playing by himself or with us, but is becoming more comfortable with kids he already knows. 

Developmental Milestones

Stringing more and more words together!  At least with us.  I think one of the reasons it's taking him a bit longer to make full speaking sentences and paragraphs is that he doesn't talk much to other people.  He will talk up a storm to Daddy and I, but with babysitters and teachers, he's still very reticent.  As quite the talker myself, he is teaching me how to work with someone who is a bit more quiet and shy.

Counting is another big topic we are working on this month.  He knows all of his numbers and can count though his thirties pretty reliably, but it's working on teaching him what numbers mean and how many items there are and what happens when you add or subtract items that is paramount right now.  Otherwise, he just likes to recite them and count as high as he can!

And, of course, our potty update.  Huge improvements.  We even had a 5.5 day streak of no accidents (he normally goes about three days between accidents).  Unfortunately, the majority of his accidents happen with sitters and with his teachers.  My sweet shy guy just does not seem to want to tell others that he has to go.  We're using a new calendar, though, and giving him a big sticker each day that he does not have an accident.  He really works hard for that sticker and the promise of lunch at Mellow Mushroom with Mushroom Man should he go an entire week without an accident. 

Fun Tidbits

He has officially discovered his shadow.   Daddy and I were a bit concerned when he started telling us about the "kid" in his room that kept disappearing.  The "kid" was starting to scare him a bit and we weren't sure were this originated from because he could never show us the where the kid was.  Well, then Daddy took him upstairs when the hall light was on and Little Buddy got very anxious because a new big kid had appeared!  It turned out that the big kid in question was Daddy's shadow and we were soon able to meet the original kid, Little Buddy's shadow.  After a short explanation about shadows and reassurances that shadows are always there and always friendly, he seems to have reached a truce with the mysterious "kid."

Good night kid!

As I mentioned before, Little Buddy is also getting more physical and a bit more daring.  Some of this drives me nuts, like the ants that seem to have possessed his pants and keep him from sitting still at dinner and at church.  Some of it cracks me up, like him trying to stuff himself into a too small box or continuously bouncing off a couch.

           

Of course Daddy had to get in on the fun!

      

This is what happens when I am feeding sister:  Momma can't play, so let's throw all the couch cushions down and jump/fall on them continuously.  That's not distracting to her or sister at all!

Otherwise, it's been a great start to the new year with my favorite people.  Hope your year is starting off well too!

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma