Thanksgiving 2006

Well, it's almost Christmas, so maybe I should get in a post about Thanksgiving real quick. We had a great, but all too short visit to Kansas. We tried to cram in as much family time with everyone as we could. AJ loved his time with all the grandparents. We also got to meet AJ's newest cousin, KayLeigh. AJ loved the baby. He kept asking to "hold it." He held her a lot and kissed her. We got lots of great pics in KS of all the family. Here are some with the baby, and the rest of Dave's side of the family.

The Roles We Play!

AJ has placed Dave and I into specific roles. He is so funny. In the morning, he wants his mommy to take care of him and he wants mommy at bed time. He will throw an absolute fit if I am home and Dave tries to read him his bed time books. He will only let Dave take care of him in the morning and at night if I am not home. Daddy's role is to play with him. If Dave is home, AJ will not let me play chase with him or play ball with him. If I try to play ball, he will take the ball from me and say, "No mommy, Daddy's turn." Then he will give the ball to Dave. I get to play ball and chase when Daddy is not home, but otherwise, I just get to watch. Of course, the fun part of not being involed in the chase when Daddy and AJ play chase is that I get to be home base during the chase. AJ will run from Dave a few laps and then will come running into my arms, knowing I'll "protect" him from daddy. I think Dave likes Tuesday nights because I'm at work and he can do the bed time routine and cuddle with AJ to read bed time stories. I know how that feels because I enjoy the times I get to be the number one playmate with AJ when Dave is not around.

Popcicle--Yummy!

It can't be said that i deprive my son of all things yummy. He was thrilled to be eating this sugar-free popcicle. Look how happy he was!

Cousins!

AJ and his cousins, Ellie and Josh. My brother Sean took the picture and was kind enough to share!

More Birthday Celebrating

So we had a fun weekend with a full house. Grandma and Grandpa Cook flew up from Kansas, Uncle Barry flew in from Colorado, and Uncle Sean and cousins Josh and Ellie drove in from Michigan. What fun! We celebrated AJ's birthday and just generally had a great time visiting. On Saturday, Dave and Barry took in an OSU game while the rest of us went to the Science Museum. AJ loved having his cousins here. They kept him quite entertained. AJ was just generally thrilled to have everyone here. I picked up grandma and grandpa from the airport and then went to get AJ from daycare. AJ was so excited when he saw that the grandparents were with me to get him. He started laughing loud and calling for "Papa" (what he calls grandpa). Grandpa was probably glad for the arrival of Josh and Ellie because until AJ knew the kids were here, "Papa" was AJ's sole playmate. He didn't want anyone else to play with him. At least he would still give everyone else hugs and kisses.

Handsome boy

These are some pics of AJ in a cute outfit that his Mamaw sent him for his birthday. I squatted down to take the pictures and my little copy cat had to squat down too for one of the pictures. Grandma Kay sent him a great care package too for his birthday and AJ is showing off one of his new gifts with pride. We have to thank grandma Kay for this great book she sent AJ for his birthday that has all kinds of vehicles and makes the sounds when you push the buttons for each vehicle. The first one in the book is a fire engnine and AJ is BIG in to police cars and fire trucks so he LOVES this book. Ever since we got this book, I finally got a break from the NO David books. I hid them in fact and AJ is okay with that as long as I read the new book grandma sent. For the first several days, I think we read that book about 6 times a day. Now, AJ only makes me read it a couple times a day.

Potty Training--ha ha

So, for the longest time AJ absolutely refused to sit on the toilet. He acted afraid of it. Now, he will sit on the toilet with no problem. In fact, he will even say that he wants to go to the potty or that he has to pee pee, so I'll take him to the bathroom, sit him on the toilet, he'll sit for a minute and then proudly say, "I did it!" I don't know what he thinks he did, but he has yet to actually go pee pee in the potty. He'll then tell me he is done and jump off. I know he knows what pee pee is because one day he didn't have a diaper on when he peed and he started yelling "I pee, I pee!" Now, if I can only get him to do that in the toilet!

Happy Birthday!!

I can't believe our little guy is two years old already! Time just seems to be going so fast. He looks like a little boy, but I swear he is still my baby. In fact, AJ knows it too because if I ask him where mommy's baby is, he'll point to himself and say, "AJ." The two year old memory is amazing. It seems like he doesn't forget anything. We took him on a train ride to a pumkin patch last weekend and I made him wear this goofy hat (it was the 1st time he had ever worn it). This morning, I got the hat out to take to daycare because the coat I was sending him in didn't have a hood and they were taking a field trip to a different pumpkin patch. AJ saw the hat and started saying, "choo choo, choo choo train, choo choo." I tried to tell him that he needed to wear the hat to keep his ears warm, but he wasn't going to go on the train today. All the way to daycare, he kept telling me, "I want go choo choo." He is like that about a lot of things. If he sees something or does something, he will ask about it weeks after. He remembers everything! (even when we would rather he forget)

AJ's first sentences

AJ does not have the clear and extensive vocabulary that his cousin Ellie did when she was his age, but he tries to talk more and more. I'm sure that a lot of what he says can only be understood by Dave and I. He is starting to use short 3 word sentences. His very first sentence was "I want it." He also says, "I don't want it."; "I got it."; "I see it."; "There it is."; and "I fix it."

We're in trouble!

AJ's current favorite books are a series of books that Dave's sister and father gave to Dave. Thue first book in the series is called, "NO David." They were given before we ever had AJ and were never intended to be AJ's books, but he found them beside the bed in our room and has loved them ever since. I think we are in trouble because they are books about a little boy named David who is constantly getting in trouble and whose mother is always telling him, "No David." I don't think it is a good sign that AJ finds it so funny!

Growing Up

My little guy is growing up. He is getting big. Even though I was beginning to think his sign language ability was going to prevent him from ever speaking, he is trying more and more to say more words. Last count was that he could sign about 50 words, but I have stopped trying to teach him any more sign now that he is verbalizing. I'm trying to encourage him to use his words. AJ is learning his colors and shapes right now. He can say "circle" and likes to point out objects that he sees that are circles. His favorite color is yellow and likes to tell us when he sees something "yeyow". AJ can't say his L sounds. Blue sounds like "boo". And I love you sounds like "ayayu". And we love you AJ!!!

Wyondotte Lake Water Fun!

This summer we got discount member passes to one of the water/ amusement parks in Columbus. Wyondotte Lake is one of the Six Flags parks. There are lots of rides there, but we stick to the kiddie rides and the water slides. I was so surprised at how much AJ loves the bigger water slides. We slide pretty fast and I can hear AJ saying, "wee wee" most of the way down! He wants to go down over and over again. I make him climb up the steps holding my hand, thinking it would tire him out and he wouldn't be as eager to make the climb again, but as soon as we shoot out the end of the slide, AJ either says "again, again, or more, more".

catching up

Over the past couple months, we've had lots going on. In June we had a nice visit from Jeramie, Becky, and Dean. AJ always loves visits from Dean. Though he was so excited during this visit, that AJ kept falling out of bed every night they were here. As soon as they left, he never fell out of bed again. He also woke earlier in the morning than usual and would wake up asking for Dean. We did some fun stuff like a visit to COSI and a visit to the Zoo while they were here. They sported us around in their new stow and go mini van.

Then the day they left, Grandma Kay came for a visit. AJ had a ball with all the attention. Grandma is great about getting on the floor and playing or running around outside. She brought a blow up swimming pool so she and AJ played in the pool a lot too. During Grandma Kay's visit, Grandma and Grandpa Cook and my Uncle Doug and Aunt Gloria stoped by for a quick visit as they were passing through on a whirl wind trip they had taken up the states, into and across Canada and down again. AJ was so excited to see them. Too bad that trip was so quick.

Then we took a trip to AR to visit AJ's mammaw. (speaking of getting spoiled by attention!) AJ learned how to say Mammaw and he made up his own sign for Mammaw as well. As far as I know she is the only person AJ has given a sign to. My mom has deer that come visit her back yard twice a day because she puts out deer corn to feed them. AJ helped every day take a bucket of corn out and he'd pour it out for the deer then we'd go back in the house and watch out the window as the deer would come up. Mom has had deer for many years, but this is the first year in a while that we saw babies. There were as many as 6 or 7 total deer out there at a time. It was fun to see AJ get so excited to see them. When he first saw them, he called them dogs, but then learned deer. We had a family reunion that my mom organized and saw lots of family, but was most excited to get to visit with my cousins Heather, Dana, and Kelly and my Aunt Kathy. We also had a good visit with Uncle Greg.

During our visit with Mammaw, we took a road trip to Missouri and had a quick visit with Dave's grandma Hilda and then a quick visit with Grandpa Eric and Michelle and the family. Earlier this week, they came passing through our way on their way to Michelle's families and spent the night. They shared the happy news that the boys (Nathaniel and Logan) are now legally adopted! I am once again completely ashamed that we did not bust out the camera during either visit with them. I don't know what's wrong with me! I said I would do better and I failed!!!! I'm so sorry! Michelle, send us a family picture and I'll scan it into the computer to post on the blog.

Okay, I think I've updated all the various visitors and visits we have made. Now I'll post a bunch of random pictures of what I did manage to take!

So, it's been a while!

I've been needing to update the blog for a while now! Wow things have been so busy for us. Dave has changed jobs. It's been great for him. He LOVES his new job and he is home a lot more now. I am now working too. So far, I love my job as well. I'm doing outpatient therapy with children. There was a long wait list for kids needing therapy before I got there, so they threw 30 kids at me right away, so I've not had any time to be bored. Almost all the kids I do therapy with are 11 years old and under, so it is really fun. Anyway, as a result, I do not have near the free time I once did. Any spare time I have while AJ is awake, all I want to do is play with him. I miss him so much during the day. I do love my job, but I really wish it was part time because it just doesn't feel like enought time during the day with him anymore. And though AJ did well his first 2 days of going to daycare, every day after that has been terrible. Every day gets progressively worse. He cries and clings to my neck with tears streaming down his face calling "mama, mama, mama, no mama, no mama". The teacher literally has to pry his fingers off from around my neck to get him to let me go. I have cried the whole way to work more than once. I watch AJ when I come pick him up before he knows I'm there, and he seems to be happy playing with the other kids. I'm told by the daycare that 90 % of the time, he is a sweet-heart, but the rest of the time, the kid shows his near terrible two streak. He hates to share toys apparently and can throw a pretty impressive tantrum. The best part of my day is picking him up. He is always so happy to see me. It makes a mamma's heart feel good.