Wordless Wednesday- PG13 Edition

Gage loves to look at the 'beh-bee' magazine

16 months!

Dearest Gage,

You are 16 months old today and my, how you've grown in the last 2 months!  You are officially a 'toddler' now that you can walk- and walk everywhere, at that.  You even went out to the playground w/ the walker class today and they said you did great!  This week you transition into the 'big boy' classroom.  I am worried b/c you are soo soo little and most of the boys in the class will be turning 2 in May.  They are literally running circles around you!  I am hoping you will learn quick.  I have a feeling I have some accident reports in my future. 

Since you are officially a big boy now, Daddy and I will be turning your carseats around this weekend so you can sit front ways.  I think you finally broke the 21lb. mark.  I wanted to wait as long as I could and probably should wait much later, but I think you will enjoy your new big boy view.  Since your last letter (I know, it's been 60 days), the tubes have worked WONDERS. What people say is true!  Not that I would've asked for tubes and surgery for my little guy for no reason, but within a week of getting the tubes you started to sleep through the night and have only been up once or twice since then.  It has been amazing and I'm sure you are much happier.  Now we just have teeth to contend with.  You are getting your 5th tooth in at 16 months.  You are also down to 1 nap a day, mostly b/c the 'big boy' room at daycare is forcing it upon us.  With only one nap a day, unfortunately your new bed time is around 630pm during the week.  You are an expert at your bottle now, which is old news at this point.  You appetite is growing a little, but you still hate veggies and chicken.  You are on a hummus kick and love to eat it with crackers.  You still love yogurt, applesauce, bananas, waffle, turkey and grilled cheese sandwiches.  You like pasta now also, which might be a way for me to sneak in some veggies, too.

You are still wearing your 12 month clothes and they are getting pretty old.  You've been wearing them for over 6 months now!  You are getting longer and I think you might be able to start wearing some 12-18 month clothes, but probably not 18 mo. quite yet.  I bought you some for the summer, hopefully you'll be able to wear them by then.  You are right under 2 1/2 feet tall and according to our scale here, you weigh 21lbs. 3oz.  You're probably still a bit under 21lbs., but we won't tell anyone!  We have been getting outside a lot lately, which you LOVE and going to the playgrounds to play.  I can't wait to take you to different parks this summer and watch you learn to navigate them.  You went down the slide all by yourself yesterday at the park and you thought it was grand!  You still LOVE to read and now will bring us books to read to you.  You love to listen to music, as always and will now sign it when you want to hear some.  Your new favorite toy is the cardboard box that your table/chairs came in and you still love Biscuit and your Fridge Farm.  Your newest thing though is to throw mini temper tantrums.  You have discovered your opinion and now sometimes will be quite dramatic if you don't get your way.  You also have become a bit attached to Mommy and Daddy and sometimes cry when we leave.

Your vocabulary grows every day and you have way more than 30 words now.  I swear you say something new every day.  Your latest attempts (although far from the actual words, are butterfly and dinosaur).  You can say 'please' and 'thank you' and 'teacher'.  You pretty much ask for what you want, which makes life a lot easier, for sure.  Your favorite past time is taking a bath and you ask for one every day now.  You've been on a pretty good run lately and haven't been too sick. You had a small bout with another stomach flu in Feb., but other than that have been fairly healthy.  You have been super snotty the last few days and still drool like a faucet.  We've had a few play dates lately and I hope they'll be more plentfiul as the weather gets nicer.  I can't wait until we can pull you in your new wagon.  (Grandma and Grandiddy are bringing it up in a few weeks).

It's crazy to think that the next time I write this letter, you will be a year and a half!  Where has the time gone?  You will be SO BIG by then.  In the next few months, I hope to get you out to the park more, take you on your 1st non-OBX vacation and take you to the circus for the 1st time!  I'm sure there will be so many more 1sts coming up this summer.  Gage, I love you with all my heart and as always, you amaze us each and every day.  Only 3 more months 'til we can spend another awesome summer together!  Ahh, the memories!

Love, Bobby

Thanks Mom!

Ladies and Gents(?)- Mom came through for me!  I knew she had it somewhere!  And it was in fact 20 years ago!  I couldn't remember exactly but I was spot on....enjoy.  I won't call Bonnie out or anything, but we are standing next to each other, even then....looks like you might have to click on it to get the full effect.

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

I believe I have known my friend Bonnie since the 5th grade when we played basketball together.  That was almost 20 years ago, which seems crazy to think I have had friends that long- over 2/3rds of my life.  I really wish I could find a picture of our team that year(can you find one, Mom?), our hair was awesome!  Anyway, Bonnie and I didn't go to school together at the time but were reunited in high school and have been friends ever since.  Bonnie even lived in Utah for a while to attend college, but we remained close.  Today I am happy to wish her a very Happy 31st birthday!  Head on over to "Three Men and a Lady" to check out the latest happenings of her 2 sweet little boys and hubby and to wish her a great day!  Happy Birthday Bonnie!

I also would be remiss if I didn't wish one of my very best friends, Paul a Happy Birthday, too!  Have a great one!

The Department Store of Life

I have been dying to post about this commercial forEVER, but for some reason have never sat down to do it.  How many of you have seen the BeYaz birth control commercial that clearly shows how much fun you CAN'T have if you choose to have kids?



You clearly can NOT go to grad school (which I did, while pregnant and which many of you are doing now after already having kids.) And Ladies, don't even think about going to Europe EVER in your lives, because with kids it's just not possible. Also, I don't know about you, but the Internet connection from this hotel I live in sucks late at night, because obviously you could never dream of owning a house if you were a Mom. Finally, it has been a dream of mine for quite a while now to see a waterfall....guess I missed my chance. Noone told me I had to do that before I got pregnant!

Wordless Wednesday- What's up w/ this?

Mommy bought me this table....she said I'd love it...but I think it's made for giants.

A Week of Firsts...

This first week of March has been a long one, but a productive one.  Gage has hit a few 'milestones' this week and it's just amazing to me, as I always say, how much he is learning every day.  On Tuesday, Gage had his first REAL haircut, not just Mommy and Daddy chopping off long strands in the bathtub.  He did awesome and looks so handsome!  He doesn't have much hair, but it sure looks better now that it's even and not in his face.

We also had a much needed playdate this week, not a 1st, but definitely still fun!  I'm sure you remember Sawyer from last summer.  Sawyer 10 mos., Gage 16 mos.





As of this week, Gage is officially walking.  He walks all the way across the room and is walking to get  to places now, not just b/w couches, tables, to toys, etc.  Gage is transitioning into the toddler room the week after next in daycare and has to be able to walk in order to do this....we were worried he would be delayed.  We are feeling less nervous now and his new teachers have even been in the baby classroom to spend time with him this week.

Although vocabulary is nothing new for Gage, he has made quite a few strides this week.  I stopped posting how many words he has b/c it was getting out of hand and I couldn't keep up, but some of his new ones this week are 'really?', 'stop', 'clock' and my personal favorite, after getting his hair cut and having someone hold the door open for us....'thank you'.  As.plain.as.day.  I have to say I was pretty shocked.  Another vocab first and probably more exciting than thank you, Gage said 'Bobby' today when I came home!  Nothing like a day w/ your Daddy to miss your 'Bobby';)  (As you all know, Gage hasn't said Mommy yet to me and also can't say a 'b' sound.  But hearing Bobby today was pretty exciting since it was a first!)

Gage seems to also be understanding alot more as of late.  He obviously has good expressive language skills and uses his words in context, however, I was a little worried about his receptive language.  He wasn't able to point at things in books when I asked him or didn't seem to understand when I said 'bring me this or that'.  He always pointed and named things, but wouldn't do it if I said 'point to the star....'.  This week he has started to do it, it takes him a few seconds to process what I ask, but he is damn accurate when he does respond.  Yesterday I asked him to point to Mommy and after a few seconds, he turned around, pointed right at me and said 'Bobby!'

Finally, probably not a 'milestone', but we still think it's pretty darn cute, Gage can now tell you what a duck, cow, pig, cat, sheep, elephant and snake say.  The snake and elephant are my personal favorites.  I'm hoping to get it on video soon.  Have a wonderful weekend.