Big boy bed!!

Today when Mommy and I got home from playing at Devon and Dylan's house, Daddy had a surprise for me - a big boy bed! Even though I've never tried to get out of my crib, I've still outgrown it, since my feet stick out through the rails if I lay sideways. Plus there's a recall out for my crib, so Mommy and Daddy decided it was time for me to get a big boy bed.

I did not like it!! I screamed for about 20 minutes as they tried to get me to go to sleep. Mommy and Daddy gave me a pillow, even tried laying in bed with me, but it didn't work. Finally, after struggling to get me to even lie down, Mommy rocked me to sleep in a chair and then, after I was asleep, transferred me to my new bed, where I slept for two hours!
Tonight at bedtime I went right to sleep, no problems. I think I like my big boy bed!

No!

I learned two new things this week: "no" and principles. They go well together. On principle, I say no to everything. "Would you like to eat?" "No!" (This despite me walking around saying my other favorite word, "Eat!") "Would you like to go outside?" "No!" (This despite me walking around saying, "Outside!"). "Did you have a good day?" "No no no no no no." Maybe next week I'll learn to say no only when I mean it!

Spatula bandit!

I made a mess of my mac and cheese at dinner tonight, so Mommy stripped off all my clothes, but I made her put my belt back on. The spatula was my idea too.

Another busy weekend

Saturday we had a picnic with Mommy's mommy group at the Eno River State Park. There were tons of kids there, as well as tons of toys that I had a hard time sharing with everyone. Here are some pictures.

Today we went to the science museum.

I played in the water with Daddy, then got really tired from all the walking and had to take a break in the butterfly house.

Helping around the house

Mommy is growing a garden this year, with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, and eggplants. It probably wasn't the best idea given that it looks like we're going to be having a drought here again, so we have to water it every day or two because it's not raining very much. Fortunately Daddy and I got Mommy a rain barrel for her birthday. I helped her water the garden.

Then, after we were done with that, I helped her cook dinner - porkchops, Swiss chard (what we're cooking in the picture), and leftover mashed potatoes from the fried chicken dinner we had on Father's Day. Yum!

Oh the irony

Remember how I said that Mommy and Daddy decided to take down the gate because they weren't worried about me falling down the stairs anymore? Well, I did! I was pulling a laundry basket while walking backwards and didn't realize how close I was to the edge. I only fell down a couple steps (there are two steps, a landing, a turn, about ten steps, a landing, another turn, and a couple more steps). I was more startled than anything. Oops!

Freedom!

Daddy took down the gate at the top of the stairs this weekend. Mommy and Daddy aren't worried anymore about me falling down the stairs, and the gate is such a pain, especially when I close it and then rattle it loudly. Now that I have the run of the house, I like to wander downstairs in the mornings and scavenge for food, like fruit cups or bananas. I then come back upstairs and loudly announce, "Eat!" That is my favorite word right now. I also cooked myself breakfast the other morning with one of Mommy's frying pans that I took from her kitchen to mine. And if I can't find any food, I follow the cats around and yell at them.

Using my words

As a toddler, a lot of my tantrums are the result of me becoming frustrated because I want to do something and I can't. So, to help me out, Daddy, Mommy, and my teachers are helping me find the right word or expression to use so I can get what I want. Here are a few of the words and phrases I use on a regular basis:

• "Hi, [insert name]!" I've started using people's names when I say hi, like the names of the other kids at daycare, grandma or grandpa, my teachers, etc.
• "Bye bye, [insert name]!" Same when I say goodbye. I also enjoy waving when I say either expression.
• "Bless you!" I'm a very polite little boy, so when someone sneezes or coughs, I'll say this until they acknowledge me.
• "Thank you." This is another important component of being polite, so I say this when you give me something.
• "Please." I'm learning that I get things more quickly and more often if I say this instead of just grunting and pointing.
• "Help!" This is a very good word that Daddy taught me to say this weekend. Like "please," it gets me things more quickly and more often when I use it.
• "More." I use this to get more juice or milk ("mih").
• "Buhbuh [insert word]." This is my way of saying, "I want." It's often followed by "vaccuum" (I love to vaccuum!) or "potty".
• "Down Tybble! Down!" Or "No Tybble! No!" One of our cats, Tybalt, is always doing what he's not supposed to - getting on the table, getting on top of the refrigerator, hitting another cat, biting someone, etc. I've decided to help discipline him and will yell at him when he's misbehaving.
• Directions - outside, inside, upstairs, downstairs. I am a boy on the go.
• Object words - ball, kitty, doggy, book, spoon, phone, vaccuum, apple, banana, basket.
• Sounds. Doggies say "arf arf," kitties say "meow," cars say "beep beep," birds say "tweet tweet."
• And finally, yesterday I figured out a new one. I put my finger over my mouth and say, "shhhh." Because sometimes, silence is best.

Brownie baking

Mommy and I made brownies.


The best part? Licking the batter off the spoon.

I should probably explain that that's a sticker on my forehead, not brownie ingredients. Sometimes at daycare my teachers get bored and amuse themselves by putting stickers all over us kids.

Trip to the Quad Cities

Daddy, Mommy, and I went back to the Quad Cities again to visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-grandma.
We drove because we're crazy. The plan was for me to play for awhile (I got a new magnadoodle just for the trip!), then sleep while Mommy and Daddy drove all night, but I didn't want to miss the fun of watching the interstate in the dark so I didn't fall asleep until Frankfort, KY, around 1 am. But at least I wasn't whiny!

In addition to a really cool park that Daddy and I played at almost everyday, there's a kids' museum not too far from Grandma's house, so we went three times!

I hit the jackpot while no one was paying attention.

I drove a car with Grandpa.

We also went to the zoo with Grandpa.

I think they forgot to feed some of the animals.We rode a train.And an elephant.I loved the petting zoo most. I made friends with a baby goat who liked to lick my fingers! And on the subject of eating people, there were also big scary koi who tried to eat my shoe (I conveniently tried to stick it in the pond) and big scary geese who pecked at Daddy's shoe while he was just standing on the dock watching them.We saw a lot of my great-grandma this trip too. Mommy's on a genealogy kick and came home with 3 boxes of old pictures of relatives to sort through, so she was pretty happy.
Grandma had to show me off to all her customers. We went to a restaurant, It's on the River, and played on the dock afterwards.
Daddy held on really tightly! The Mississippi sure dwarfs any of those creeks they claim are rivers in North Carolina!

We took an extra day getting back because Mommy and Daddy were too tired to drive through the night. Unfortunately the best place to stop was Indianapolis but it was race weekend (the Indy 500), and since they'd already learned their lesson about trying to get a room in that city on that weekend, we detoured down to Terre Haute for the night. And wouldn't you know, I slept most of the next day during the drive! Daddy says we're not driving again until I'm six.

Mother's Day present

For Mother's Day I made Mommy a t-shirt.