visit from Grandma Kay and Al

Last month we were thrilled to have a week long visit with Grandma Kay and Al. We feel very bad because we neglected to get the camera out until the very last day and by this time, AJ knew they were leaving, so he was not a happy boy. He refused to smile for pics and I couldn't get a pic with AJ and Al for anything because AJ was so upset that Al was leaving. AJ doesn't do well when people he is enjoying here try to leave him. AJ had an absolute ball while they were here. Al thought AJ needed a leather biker jacket. AJ seems to know he looks pretty cool in it. As you can see in these pics, I was trying to let AJ's hair grow until Memaw came to visit this month, but with only a couple of days to go, I broke down and cut his hair this morning because it was driving me nuts so long. Sorry Memaw....I know you like his hair long.

Disney On Ice

We took AJ to Disney on Ice's Monsters Inc. last week. My office gave us free tickets. I wasn't sure what AJ would think of it, but he LOVED it! We let him watch the Monsters Inc. movie a couple days before the show so he would know what the characters were and he was so excited from the first to the last. He kept a smile on his face and his eyes lit up the whole time. At the beginning, middle, and end of the Monsters Inc. show, Mickey and friends came out too so AJ was really excited to see Mickey Mouse. Unfortunately, I didn't get a decent pic of Mickey.

SNOW DAYS!

So, winter has finally hit here. The week before Christmas, it was 60 degrees here and I was beginning to think we'd have another very mild winter. I was wrong. Last week, it turned COLD. So cold that schools closed just because it was too cold, not because of road conditions. Yesterday it started snowing and snowing and snowing, then came freezing rain (no good). The only good was that my office closed early due to the weather and since Tuesday is the one day of the week that I go in late, my office called and told me not to bother coming in at all and then I was called at 6:30 am this morning to be told not to come in today either. So cool! Dave stayed home yesterday too, so we had a ball just hanging about the house and playing with Goldie. Goldie continues to be a great playmate for AJ and a good cuddle buddy whenever AJ gets to watch a little Disney channel. AJ and I always have our morning playtime on Tuesdays and I was tickled yesterday that even though Dave was here, AJ still wanted mommy to play chase and hide and seek with him. Hide and seek is a favorite game of AJ's now. He is so funny when he hides. He gets so tickled that he giggles out loud if you get anywhere near the room he is hiding in, so it is not difficult to find him.

Meet AJ's new puppy!

Meet Goldie Locks.....or just plain Goldie. This is AJ's puppy. She is a Goldendoodle (Golden lab/ Standard Poodle mix). We just brought her home tonight. She sat in AJ's car seat with him on the ride home. AJ is crazy about her already. It's kind of a daunting to realize that I'm now needing to potty train a toddler and a puppy at the same time, but I guess we are in for an adventure!

SNOW!

Our first snow of the winter! Better get ready to shovel the driveway!
AJ got straight to work.
Check out the path down the driveway behind AJ in this pic. He shoveled that all by himself. He took his work very seriously and was quite reluctant to come in the house and put the shovel away.

Tumbling Katz class

AJ is taking a tumbling class at a gynastics academy. He has had two classes so far and he LOVES it. He is having a blast. He does such a good job following the dirrections of the instructor. I got a few shots of him doing his stretching exercises and then on some of the equipment.

A New Year's Christmas

After a super week with Memmaw at our house, we drove up for the New Year's weekend to my brother, Sean's house. Much, much fun. We had Christmas again! AJ got more cool stuff and loved seeing his aunt, uncle, cousins and grandma and Papa again. Ellie and Josh were terrific with AJ. He always wanted to be doing whatever they were doing, and they were so great about not getting frustrated with him. Here are few pics of our Christmas New Years.

Check out the pick of my brother's dog, Ziggy, giving AJ a little kiss. AJ loves that dog. We would love to have him. Too bad there is only one Ziggy.

I am continually amazed at the things that AJ chooses to remember. Ever since the holidays have been over, AJ continues to tell us about who gave him what. Uncle Barry sent him a fire truck and a KU Jayhawk book for Christmas. We told AJ that they were from Uncle Barry, so every time he plays with the fire truck or we read the book, he will tell us, "Uncle Barry (Unca Beddy) had that." He never says, "so and so gave me that." It's always "had that." I got him dressed this morning in an outfit he got from grandma and he said "grandma had that." He also remembered several other things she got him for Christmas, and each time, he tells me. Every time we read one of the books Memmaw got him and when he plays with his Tickle Me Elmo grandma Kay got him, he remembers who "had that."

A New Year's Christmas

Riding Papa was great fun for all the grandkids. Ellie, Josh, and AJ were having so much fun and were tiring poor Papa out. He was such a trooper. He was sick as a dog, but wouldn't say no to his grandkids for anything.

Merry Christmas!

AJ had a very merry Christmas. My mom came up from Arkansas and spent the week with us. AJ LOVED having her here. He was sad about having to go back to daycare the next week and asked for Memmaw. He knew she went back to Arkansas and kept asking for us to go to Arkansas to go see her. Usually, most things are "mommy's turn" except for playing chase, but AJ was content to let it be Memmaw's turn quite often while she was here. AJ was very funny. Mom had always wanted to be "Mammaw" as her mother and grandmother were. However, AJ began calling her "Memmaw". At one point, I asked him if he could say "Ma-maw." He did, then shook his head, and said, "No, I don't like it....this is Me-maw." Mom decided it was precious when AJ says it, so is just fine about being Memmaw from now on. AJ has been the same about my dad. Although we have always called him grandpa, AJ calls him Papa. It isn't that AJ can't say grandpa...he calls my Kansas mom grandma and he calls Dave's dad grandpa...it's just that he has decided that my dad is Papa to him.

AJ had a super Christmas week. Since he has no idea what Christmas is at this point, we let him open various packages and get a gift from Memmaw each day of the week so he could enjoy a week of getting new stuff and not overwhelmed all in one day. AJ seemed to really love all his gifts except initially for the Tickle Me Elmo grandma Kay sent him. He was terrified of it for some reason, but then one day about two weeks or so after he got it, he suddenly loved it and laughed and rolled around on the ground trying to copy the Elmo.

Potty Training Adventures

When we first introduced the potty seat to AJ, he was scared of it and would have nothing to do with sitting on the potty. Then, he began sitting on the potty ever so briefly and saying, "I did it," without ever actually doing anything. Then my dad suggested I put him on the potty and put his hand in warm water. I tried this and AJ had a great time playing in the water, but never peed. For about a week, he'd ask for the bowl of water just to play. Next, we started playing with toys and reading books. We still do this as well as bribe him with infant fruit puffs (he still loves them) whenever he actually goes pee pee on the potty. This has finally been more effective. He is both peeing and pooping on the potty at least a couple times a day, but we are definitely not potty trained yet. However, he will stay on the potty a long time now. He is highly motivated to get puffs and will sit and sit and sit hoping to go so he can get puffs. I don't think he actually has good bladder control yet. When he goes, I think we are just getting lucky. AJ's newest infatuation is Spiderman. We have one Spiderman book. If I tell him I want him to see if he can go pee pee on the potty, he will say okay and the proceed to go get his Spiderman book to take in the bathroom for me to read to him. I really need to get a new Spiderman book. I am getting tired of reading the same one sooooooo many times a day.

Clothes, Shoes, and the Color Yellow

AJ's favorite color has been yellow for a long time now and continues to be so. If he colors or paints pictures, he always wants the yellow. (He already used up the whole yellow bath crayon) For the last couple of months AJ began having an opinion regarding what shoes he wants to wear each day. Some days, it is a struggle because he has a pair of rubber rain boots that he wants to wear more often then not. They don't really go with most outfits. Now, AJ is getting more particular about what socks and clothes he wears too. He is tall enough to see into his sock drawer now, so he picks his socks most days (whether I want him to or not.) Unfortunately, that leaves me trying to pick an outfit to coordinate with the socks he chooses. This is not easy. If there are a clean pair of yellow socks in the drawer, they WILL be worn. If there are not a pair, he will still ask for yellow socks and will only consider another pair once he is sure that all the yellow socks are in fact dirty. After that, I feel like a salesman trying to convince him of the outfit I pick out. If he eyes a shirt with Thomas the Train or Elmo or Spiderman, or one with a firetruck, then he'll want to wear it. Otherwise, I have to convince him that he wants to wear a plain blue sweater today. He also does not like to wear layers. Some very cute outfits he has have a short sleave shirt and a long sleave light jacket or something to wear over it as an outfit. AJ won't have it. He will wear the first layer, but won't keep on the second. My goodness, if he is this opinionated at 2 years old, what are we in for?

AJ's Masterpiece

AJ was in the bathtub the other night and had these bathtub crayons and was coloring on the sides of the tub. Usually he just scribbles and that's it. This time while he was scribbling, he told me he was "making shapes." I asked him what shapes he was making and he told me he was making circles and triangles. (The picture with less scribbles) Then he switched sides of the tub and kept scribbling and said, "Mommy, I draw daddy." After I oowed and awed over his drawing, he said, "I draw mommy. I draw AJ." I had to take a picture of the completed work since this is AJ's first family picture that he has drawn for us.

AJ's Work

Dave decided that AJ needed a train table for Christmas, but of course could not wait until Christmas once we got it, so put it together and neatly arranged the track and pieces. Dave wanted me to get a shot of it before AJ got to it. So I took a before and one picture 30 minutes after AJ woke up and started playing with it. In his defense, the table was pushed against a wall and he could not reach the back of the track, so he climbed on top of the table to get to the back and ended up tearing the track apart on accident. So, Dave put it all back together and then glued the track together. Oh, and we moved the table out away from the wall so he can walk all the way around and move the train through any part of the track.

More Thanksgiving pics

Here are some pics from the visit with my side of the family. AJ still loves his cousins Josh and Ellie and of course grandma and papa. I would have liked to get a nice picture of Uncle Barry with AJ, but AJ is still scared of Uncle Barry. I said the kid had a good memory. I think he is still traumatized from the snow sledding incident from last April. We need to welcome Aunt Paula to the blog. We have many pictures of her in photo albums and in frames in our house, but this was the first digital pic I had of her. Welcome to AJ's Aunt Paula.