Extended rituals

We have our bedtime rituals. We put on jammies, brush the teeth, read a story, pray and go to bed. It takes normally about 30 minutes. The last week or so it has taken about an hour. We didn't add anymore books, it just takes us that much longer to get through one book. He has to point out everything on the pages. Tonight we read Are you my mother. He had to point out the bird on every page and tell me what it says. He had to point out the cat and the chicken and the dog and the cow and the car and the boat and the plane and the snort. He had to tell me what they all were and what they said. I just stopped reading about halfway through, and we just looked at and talked about the pictures. Last night it was a 5 page board book that had 3 words on every page. He had to point out each facial feature of the baby and tell me what it was and where his was. He is so much fun. Every month that he ages, I always say that this is my favorite age. They are all my favorite. I don't think that there has been an age that hasn't been my favorite. Hopefully I can say that for many more to come.

one point five

Okay here I go again, I cannot believe he is 18 months old. Where has it all gone? Just yesterday we were bringing him home and I was waiting for his parents to come and pick him up. :)
We finally made it to the Dr today, two weeks late. Oops. I am really upset about having to go back to the Navy docs, but Dr. D is really nice and I am glad that we have her and not Doogie Howser. But Dr. B was the best pediatrician and I am sad about not being able to see him anymore. He was so good about being thorough. The Navy docs have 15 minutes to see you. He would spend an hour with his patients.
Anyways, Bear is losing a little in the height department. He is only in the 90% now; he is 34 inches tall. And he is gaining in the weight. It was kind of weird how they weighed him, they left his clothes on. With his clothes on he was 28lbs, and she said you could probably take 1 lb off for clothes. Well I don't work with probablys. I need to know exact. So I came home and weighed his clothes and diaper. I know I know, I am a nut and a freak show. Get over it. So he weighs in at 27lbs bare butt naked. He is still soooo skinny though.
We had a little graduation and then an ungraduation. Last week, I walked in on him in the morning to find him halfway out of his crib. I stopped him before he made the plunge and figured we would deal with that later since we were going to be spending a few days at my parents house. Well when we got back on Sunday, I went in to find him in the same position. So I fretted and wrung my hands all day and then decided to take the side off the crib and make it a toddler bed. I really did not want to have him falling out, and the mattress was as low as it could go. So I went and bought him a side rail and that night I laid him down and he went right to sleep. I knew that it transpired way to easy. At about 1230, I woke up to him crying. Except it was a lot closer than usual. I opened my door to find him wandering around the house in the dark crying. He had gotten out of bed, opened his door and was wandering the house. (My sister K used to do that, except she would go straight for the fridge, until my parents put a on lock it. Ha ha.) Anyways, I tried putting him back in bed, but he was having none of that. So I brought him back to bed with me. Yeah right. What was I thinking? We wrestled for an hour. He wanted to get down and play with Tela and I wanted to go to sleep. Finally, I realized that his pack n play was in the other room so I set that up. He can't crawl out of that thing, so he has been napping and sleeping there ever since. Now I realize I cannot keep him there for the next year, but we will continue to try the big boy bed and hopefully eventually he will get it and stay in it.

No soap added

My washing machine is super at spinning the clothes so fast and hard that they come out of there almost dry and only need a few minutes in the dryer. Well one down fall to this is that the washing machine shakes so hard that it sounds and feels as if a jumbo jet is taking off in my kitchen. I discovered this the hard way when we first got the set. Don't put anything near the front of the washing machine. It WILL vibrate off. Well yesterday I was rearranging and left a bottle of brand new laundry soap in the place that I shouldn't. I really should tape that area off. Last night I was talking to my sister and heard a loud bang from the kitchen. Stupidly I didn't think anything of it, and went on with the conversation. Bear disappeared from my sight and got really quiet so I knew he was into something. I went into the kitchen to find him standing in the middle of a blue lake playing away. The puddle spread from the washer and dryer all the way out to my refrigerator about 6 feet away. I grabbed him and threw him in the tub. After that I closed the gate off to the kitchen(to keep dog and child out) and went to work cleaning it up. I went through 5 big bath towels and several smaller hand towels soaking it up. I then looked at the pile of towels and realized I couldn't wash them all together because that would be way too much soap and then I would have a bubble mess on my hands. (Pictures of Uncle Buck played in my head) So now I am doing my laundry and throwing one towel in at a time and not adding any additional soap to it. And I must say my floor is really clean now too.

Can't...Stop...Laughing!

We were giving Tela her morning rub down and I was showing Bear how she likes to be scratched behind the ears. He thought he was tickling her so he started to say "deetle deetle deetle!" Which is tickle tickle tickle in toddlereese. Well we finished her rub down and he decides it is his turn so he takes her front paw, pulls it up to his ear and says "deetle deetle deetle." I cannot stop laughing right now!
And on the subject of laughing, his new laugh is hilarious! He does his usual sarcastic laugh but now he doubles over and holds his hand to his mouth while laughing. I do not know where he got this from, but it really cracks me up. And it cracks him up too because when he is done laughing he will look at me and nod his head and say "nunny!" (funny)

Pics from Cali

Playing peek a boo games in the car to stay entertained.

First time on the beach. He was mesmerized by the surfers.

Thanksgiving dinner at Aunties house.

At Knotts Berry Farm Thanksgiving morning. We didn't make it to Disneyland(sniff sniff) but had fun here.

Ho Ho Ho!

On Thursday we went and sat on Santas lap. Well I didn't. Bear did. We practiced our Ho ho ho's and watched Santa as we waited in line and he seemed to be getting a real kick out of him. As soon as we walked up to Santa though, he pulled out the shy face. He would not look at Santa, he would not look at me, he would not look at the camera. We tried for about 60 seconds trying to get him to look at the camera but to no avail. So I told her to just take the picture. As soon as we were a safe distance away though he turned around and told Santa "ho ho ho."

There is a one!

For the last few months, Bear has been able to count to 3 except he would always say it like this, "2...2...3!" I would try and get him to say one, but as soon as I said "1.." he would say "2...3!" Well yesterday he finally got it. So now he is running around the house counting everything. "1...2...3!" So proud of himself. Today I even got a "1..2..3..4!" But that only happened once and I can't get him to do it again but we are close.

Now when it comes to his name he is stuck on the first 3 letters and has been for about 4 months now. Now without putting his name on here, I will exchange letters for numbers. I ask him how to spell his name and he says "1-2-3-3!" He just cannot get that last letter. One day we were by the Jeep and I pointed to each letter and spelled out "J-E-E-P, Jeep!" He looked at me with a big smile on his face and spelled his name. I just cracked up laughing.

In case you were wondering...

I had In-N-Out 5 times in 4 days. I still miss it too.

What a wierdo

For bed now, Bear has to have his Might "on" his head. He puts it on like a little ghost. Tonight during prayers, he kept yelling "on! on!" and struggling to put Might up there. And then when I lay him down, I have to lay the blanket completely over him so that it covers his face too. He just cracks me up.
We ran to the mini mart down the way this evening and saw some christmas lights on the way and I told him that I thought they were pretty. When we got home, he crawls up in my lap, rubs his hand down my face looks me square in the eye and says "pwetty." Oh I just about melted right there, I needed that kiddo.

I think I ruined my child

Bear has watched about 4 hours of TV in his entire life. One reason is I really believe that it rots his brain, the Pediatrics Association recommends no TV until they are 2 and I think it should be like 10. There are so many disgusting things on TV. Even if you regulate the shows, the commercials are just as bad! There is nothing that my child can learn from a television show that he can't learn from his momma. Another reason is that I think there are so many better things he could be doing with his time than sitting his butt in front of a TV getting fat. I know he isn't fat right now, but he is building habits every day and I don't want that to be one of them. So we play and sing and clean up around the house. He is real good at laundry. And helping with meals.
So anyways, I will step down off my soap box now. On our drive down to Cali though, I was really scared that he would become very restless being in the car for 23 straight hours. We got out and stretched and ate, but it was a long drive for all of us. So we brought our portable DVD player. He watched maybe 3 movies on the way down and I think part of Alice in Wonderland on the way back, but that was enough to hook him. Every now and then he will run to the TV and yell "moosie!" I can distract him most of the time, but I am hoping he will eventually forget about movies.

He thinks he is slick

I just found Bear with a candy cane in his mouth. He had somehow gotten the wrapper off and was sucking away. I took it away from him and noticed he still had something in his mouth. I asked him to open his mouth so I could see. He turns his head away from me spits something into his hand and turns back around to face me and opens his mouth. How in the world does he know to be devious at this age?
When he was about 6 months old he and I were in his room loading diapers in the diaper stacker. I put the plastic bag on the ground too close to him and he picks it up and starts chewing on it. I said "not in your mouth" he then turns around and faces the other way and starts to chew on it again. I then informed him that just because he can't see me doesn't mean I can't see him. Isn't this something that older siblings teach younger ones?

Whew!

I have never bathed Tela by myself. That has always been a two person job. However, she has started to smell like a dog lately(I don't know why that is so surprising.) And after spending a week at the kennel I figured it was time for a bath. They asked me if I wanted her bathed before I picked her up and frugal me said no thank you. I wish I had. Have you ever tried to get a 140lb dog into a bathtub? She was not going in there. I brought out the treats, spoke soothingly and it did not matter. I brought her in the bathroom and asked her to get in the tub, she said no way jose and bolted out of there. I chased her around the house for the next 10 minutes. Now normally she listens. Not today. I had taken her collar off already(Note to self: do not remove the grabbing device on that horse until she is in the tub.) I finally get her standing/cowering in front and she will not get in. I had to reach down behind her legs and lift her in the tub. That took about 4 tries though because she kept wiggling out of it. So I get her front legs in and she begrudgingly puts her hind legs in. The bath itself was pretty uneventful. She stood there like a statue refusing to budge even a little so I could wash her other side, but all in all it was okay. Next time though I might just pay the money to have someone else do it.

TTFN

Off to sunny Cali (ha ha Daphne) to eat In-N-Out and go to Disneyland. Maybe. Maybe on the DL, but really going to stop at every In-N-Out that I see. I have them all mapped out for the trip. :)
I hope every one has a happy Thanksgiving!

A new found parking garage.

I have a sweater organizer in my closet. It hangs vertically and has 5 or 6 cubbies. One, so I don't have to hang them all and two, if I did hang them all, I would have no room for other clothes. I like sweaters. Anyways. Tonight as I was packing, I opened the closet door to find a particular sweater. Not only did I find what I was looking for but as I pulled out that sweater, one of Bears cars rolled out with it. Upon closer review I came to discover 6 of Bears cars "parked" amongst my sweaters. I don't know when he does this stuff. It is not like I leave him alone for hours at a time. Not even minutes at a time. I can only imagine how my house would be rearranged if I did!

Just call me Billy.

Billy bad ass that is!
Have I said how much I love shooting guns? Especially this one. If I could have one of these mounted on my front porch, I guarantee that the stupid neighbor dog would stop crapping in my yard. Moo ha ha ha. (That was intended to sound like an evil laugh.)

Forever and a day

That is how long it feels since I posted anything. Bear went to sleep tonight early(I found him in his room with Doe in one arm and Might in the other climbing into his bed. So I thought I would take advantage of this extra half an hour that has been given to me before I pass out myself. I will write for 30 minutes and get as much in there as I can. If I really don't have a lot, please don't make fun of me for how slow I type. I am up to like 15 words a minute and proud of it. So I should be able to get in 450 words, previous words not included. Here goes:
You are probably wondering who Doe and Might are. Doe is his bear head with a blanket for a body that he MUST sleep with and Might is any blanket that he deems worthy of the name. I have no idea where "might" came from since he can say the word blanket just fine. So each night, he picks out Might and sleeps with that. And of course in the mornings, he cannot get out of bed with out Doe and Might coming with. They get dragged around the house all day and into the car. I draw the line there though. I let him bring Doe into stores with us because he is small and cute. I refuse though to walk through Wal mart with a twin size blanket hanging from our cart. Yes he chooses blankets that big sometimes. And he drags them around. He usually ends up tripping and falling, but I figure he will get the clue at some point. He loves to have things in his arms. If he is awake when I fold laundry, he will grab whatever he can and run around holding that until I chase him down and pry it from his arms. Shirts, pants, my underwear, he doesn't care. He just loves to cuddle.
Breakfast time now is fun. He tells me very specifically what he wants. He has these words down pat: toast, waffle(sometimes affle), aids(eggs), bed(bread), eerios(cheerios), teese(cheese), and his favorite bamama(banana). He loves bananas.
He is a very polite young man too. He now says "date doo" (thank you) EVERY time he hands me something. Done with his dinner, he hands me his plate and says date doo. Once he is out of his high chair I hand him his plate and fork and he walks it to the sink or dishwasher which he loves helping load and drops it in and says "date doo" to the sink or dishwasher. If he drops his food on the floor we wait until he is done eating and then I ask him to pick it up and put it in the garbage. He picks it up right away but I have to hold his hand when we go to the garbage. I think he might be a little scared. He throws his food in and turns around and high tails it out of there. He is also knows when to say excuse me. It comes out "mooze me" but I understand him. Tela on the other hand does not. I was standing in the kitchen one day and this is what I heard: "mooze me...mooze me....mooze me!" Telas large butt was blocking him from getting by.
He is a little confused about dummies. Not dumb people, but mannequins. The house where I nanny once a week has a bust of Beethoven. I was standing near it one day with him on my hip and he looks right at it and very matter of factly says, "hi!" I couldn't stop laughing. It was just so funny. Then a while later we were at Macy's and I was looking in the kids section and I heard him from his stroller saying hi to someone. I looked down at him and he was looking up at this dummy who was the size of a kid and I guess waiting for it to reply. So I wheeled him over to show him it was not a real human being. I don't know if he understood or if he is just going to think it is okay to poke strangers now.
While Daddy was home on leave, we went and got family pictures done. They went really well despite the fact I had to cake on the makeup to cover up my rashy cheeks. The girl we had taking our pictures was putting a duck on her head and pretending to sneeze so the duck would fall off trying to make Bear smile. I totally forgot about that until 3 days later we were in the car and I heard Bear in the back seat going, "a-a-a-a-too!" I turned around, and he had grabbed his rubber duck from the seat next to him and was holding it on his head and pretending to sneeze. He thought this was just the funniest thing. He was giggling so hard. So every time he sees a duck now, he has to "a-a-a-a-too!"
He loves to go bye bye. If I even mention the word, he runs to the door, puts on MY shoes and waits. Every once in a while he will turn around to see if I am coming too. Tonight I was talking to my mom and I mentioned something about leaving and he promptly grabbed Telas collar led her over to the door and stood there saying "weddy(ready)" Tela just gave me that look.
I guess I say the word "alright" a lot. Because I noticed that every time I pull into the driveway now and turn off the ignition, he automatically says "alwight!" It cracks me up every time. It just amazes me what he picks up. I let him watch Jeopardy with me one night and he was sitting in my lap, and I would answer questions(correctly of course) and he would copy what I had just said and then look up at me so proud of himself. Whenever I have phone conversations, he can be across the room playing with trucks and he will repeat the last word of every sentance I say. He doesn't even look up from what he is doing. He just keeps playing and repeating with out missing a beat. He says words so clearly too. He tells daddy "miss you" so well. We are working on love you. It comes out love loo. But that is fine. I know what he means. And it doesn't matter what it sounds like when I lay him in bed and he looks up at me and say "love loo mommy." I almost started crying the first night he did it. I choked out, "well I love you too baby."
We are getting closer to the potty training thing. Now we are no where close to his friend Little Man. He at least goes in the potty. Bear has a potty that he loves to sit on with his clothes on but not naked. The other day I was letting him run around naked and every once in a while I would take him into the bathroom and point out the potty chair and tell him this is where we potty. Well after about 30 minutes, I see him run into the bathroom and I got excited so I followed to find him squatting by the toilet going potty. I don't care. At least now he knows to go in the bathroom to potty. He did look pretty proud of himself too.
Well I think I reached my 30 minutes. I am going to bed. Bear has been waking up at 6 every day. I thought I had this kid trained for at least 7:30. Stupid day light savings.

A boy and his dog

Starting him early

Happy Halloween

The jerk

Yup, that's me! Today for lunch I gave Bear some steamed carrots. Last week he loved the "tarrots" and couldn't get enough. Not this week. He wouldn't touch them. He one by one, stabbed them with his fork and placed them in the cup holder on his tray. So I took him out of his high chair and told him he was done with lunch. I am not going to cater to him. I am not going to have a picky child, he will eat what he is served and at the risk of sounding like my mom, I am not running a restaurant! So tonight for dinner I warmed up his carrots and placed them in front of him. Again, they soon found a place in the "I'm done" cup holder. Now he has had no lunch and no dinner. So guess what is on the menu tomorrow for breakfast? Steamed carrots.

It made sense in my head.

Over the last few weeks, my dishwasher has started to turn colors. I didn't really notice or really pay it any attention, I just figured hey, dishwashers are self cleaning, it will take care of itself. Well my mom came up for a visit and apparently they aren't. Go figure. I mean all of that soap and hot water swishing around in there for 4 hours, you would think that some cleaning would go on. But no. My mom informed me that you actually have to clean them once in a while. So today I did. It is bright and shiny clean now but leaves me wondering, does this mean I have to clean other things that I thought were self cleaning, like the shower, toilet and sinks?
Just kidding.

I couldn't wait any longer

I was going to wait until Halloween to put his picture of him in his costume on here, but he was so stinking cute I couldn't wait any more! So here he is!

We went to a trick or treat party on Thursday and he had a ball! He was running around the entire time. I think I got to hold him for about 5 minutes. There was so much to see and do and balloons to collect and candy to swipe off of tables(still a little young to understand the trick-or-treat part I think) He had a blast. And slept really well last night. He "won" a little snickers bar at a bean bag toss and held onto that thing like it was gold. And then he got a sucker and I let him hold onto that and he immediatly put that in his mouth. Luckily the wrapper was still on, I hope he didn't get too much sugar from it.

The most beautiful ugly pumpkin ever

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin farm and Bear got to pick out his pumpkin for the first time. He has been 2 times before but the first time he was in my tummy and last year he was way to young to get out of the wheelbarrow and run around. So this year I wheeled him out to the middle of the patch and let him loose. He immediately ran to the ugliest pimpliest bumpiest cottage cheesiest pumpkin out there. I tried to steer him towards some nicer looking pumpkins but he ran right back to that one. So we got it and here it is in all its glory on my front porch:

I think that he just likes the texture because I stuck him by it today and he just rubbed his hands all over it. I guess if he loves it, I love it too.

Lazy

Today was gorgeous. 65 degrees, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. So I figured today was the day to do that one thing that I hate doing above everything else. Raking leaves. I hate it. Maybe if they were dry it would be different. My leaves are wet and slimy and gross. No way I want to touch those things. I have thought about getting a leaf blower and just blowing them into my neighbors yard and let her deal with them. But I think that might be considered neighborly. Poo.
So I got out the lawn mower. No not because my grass needed to be cut(I grew that brown for the summer and I am just now getting little green sprouts) I got the lawn mower out because I figured it would cut the leaves up into a million teeny pieces and disappear into the grass. And it did. Fabulously.
So I mowed my front yard. Just the front you might ask? Why didn't you mow the side or back yards? Easy, they don't have any leaves on them.

Fall

My favorite part of the year has arrived. I love the fall. The wind blowing, the rain falling, the smell of fireplaces being used after a long summer of rest, the beautiful colors that the trees turn, the chill in the air that makes you run back in the house to grab a sweater. I love it!
But my all time favorite part is going to the pumpkin farm. It is not the animals or the pumpkin pie or the really good jams and jellies, but the thrill of finding that perfect pumpkin that you hope has 3 million seeds in it. I love getting that perfect pumpkin home and cutting it open. The love that anticipation of waiting to see what is inside. This year was fabulous. I got a really thick pumpkin that had lots of seeds. I scooped those seeds out, washed them off, lightly sprinkled them with salt and baked them until they were perfect golden brown, drooling the entire time. And as soon as they were done, I pulled them out and proceeded to eat them all. Yes all. I shared a few with Bear, who kept asking for bites. I have 3 more pumpkins sitting on my front porch that are calling my name. And once those are gone in a few days, you had better watch your own pumpkins, because if they disappear in the middle of the night and are returned the next day empty inside, I cannot say I will be sorry.

Mastered

Forks, spoons, and doorknobs. REALLY excited about that last one.

With out a doubt clockwise

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535838-5012895,00.html?from=mostpop

Which way do you see her going? I tried to see counterclockwise but to no avail. I guess it is like those magic eye pictures. I think it is just a big fat conspiracy. I don't think there really are hidden images in them. I think everyone is lying just so they don't feel stupid about not seeing it when everyone else can. Well let me be the first one to say it. "I cannot see the hidden picture!" There now that I have said what everyone is afraid to say, maybe others will come forward and admit the truth.

The "not me's" have started already

We were sitting down to a nice dinner at my parents house when the following conversation happened:

Bear: (toots rather loudly)

Uncle D: Was that him or the dogs?

Me: I am pretty sure it was him. Bear did you toot?

Bear: (After giving everyone at the table a very innocent look) TIA!!!

I have a feeling a lot is going to get blamed on the dogs from now on.

I swear she has a bed that fits her!

I like...

Playdough:

Sticking my tongue out of my face when mommy is trying to take a nice picture:

Sharing ice with the dogs:

Ketchup:

Playing dress up with Tela:

Looking like Alfalfa:

Shoving the ENITRE banana in my face at once:

My momma!

Just in case you wanted to know...

This is what a fruit fly looks like up close and personal:

Makes me kind of glad I didn't drink that lemonade anyways.

An unexpected visitor

All I wanted was to take a quick shower so that we could get our grocery shopping done before naptime today. Thats all. I went into the front bathroom(which is bigger so I can close the door and keep an eye on him while he plays with my make-up.) I closed the door turned on the water and immediatly he started to get excited and chant "bath, bath, bath." I told him no it was mommies turn and got in the shower. I peeked out at him every few seconds and he was content to roll his grocery cart around filled with my lotions. However while I was washing off my face I heard a giggle and "BATH!" So I turned around and there he was in the tub with me fully clothed, with the proudest smile on his face. I guess if I want to shower alone, I will have to go back to waiting until nap time.

I need to memorize this...

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1197846&fr=&cache=1

Skipping to the end

Tonight I was standing at Bears crib with his head resting on my shoulder ready to put him to sleep. As we do every night I started to say our prayers. I started with, "Dear Jesus-" and was promptly interrupted with an "AMEN!" I guess he was done.

New words for the apple and banana song...

I like to eat eat eat, onions and lemons,
I like to eat eat eat, onions and lemons!

Yes that is right, I was making dinner tonight and he kept grabbing at the cutting board so I thought, "ha, I will give him something that will make him never want to grab up here again!" and handed him a lemon. He sucked that thing dry and asked for more. So I gave him an onion slice thinking that would do the trick. Nope, he gulped that down and asked for more. But from a child who eats tomatoes like an apple, it doesn't really surprise me.

Pissed

I spent one hour of my morning squeezing the life out of about 50(really only 6) lemons making the best lemonade I have ever tasted. TOOT TOOT! (That was me tooting my own horn)
I had one glass today and I got back from my walk and went to pour myself another glass and saw a floater. Upon closer examination I saw it was a fruit fly. I looked even closer and found about 10 more. Where did they come from? Gross. Who knows what kinds of diseases they carry. Probably none and I just poured out a pitcher of perfectly good-disease free-best tasting homemade-that I made my hands turn yellow for-lemonade. Harrumph!
And I even had slices of lemon in it too to make it look pretty. Man I am pissed. Stupid fruit flies.

Alot of this will sound like a foreign language

I know this sounds crazy but I miss the Navy. I miss the chaos, the running around with no sleep, getting yelled at, sleeping in my 18 cubic feer of rack on a foam mattress, taking really fast showers while the ship was rocking and trying to keep my balance so I didn't touch the wall where somebody elses naked butt had touched or the bathroom flooding in the middle of the night and having to vacuum out 5 inches of water before I could brush my teeth, the 3 straight weeks of PB&J because we ran out of edible food, the slug I found in my salad, cranking, the ship rolling so hard that you could almost walk on the bulk heads and the toilet falling over, or the fights that all the girls would have down in berthing about the stupidest stuff(maria), sneaking down to combat between fixes because the OS's were cooler than anyone on the bridge, getting to be the conning officer for ships maneuvering drills, listening to conversations on bridge-to-bridge in the middle of the night, sneaking a few winks under the XO's chair(I can admit that now that they can't do anything to me), puking off the side of the ship and being so sick that I couldn't even stand up, I just stayed curled in a little ball with my head tucked in my jacket and had the Boats take the fix (I never did get over being sea sick), and sneaking off the ship wearing my flip flops to hang out with "the band."
I loved standing the night watches, particularly the rev watch. I would get to practice my star fixes or my morning azimuth. And pick the revele song, which I must sadly say the CO would never allow me to play Hakuna Matata, even on my birthday. For the night watches (when we were in the middle of the ocean and in no danger of hitting anything hard), I would take my 30 minute fixes and go out to the bridge wing(my first ship had the perfect little seat that fit my tooshie perfectly) and I would stay out there until my next fix. It was so peaceful, the light of the moon, the waves crashing on the ship, the salty air, I can still hear the wind whipping around the ensign above my head, gosh I miss it. Sometimes we would get a pod of dolphins that would swim next to us, but my favorite was the flying fish. I have seen a couple sharks, whales, a turtle with his head stuck in a bucket, a ship full of illegal aliens, tons of coke seized, drug dealers set their boat on fire, I got to go on a helo ride for my birthday, I saw so many beautiful countries and have so many good memories from my first deployment. I got about 6 hours of sleep a day total when you mush cat naps together, I have gotten yelled at more times than I can count, I got to give Nav briefs to the Commodore, I got assistant Nav qauled on my last ship, and I got to shoot an M-60 off the bridge wing(I look like billy bad ass too in that picture.) It was hard and it was a long 6 years but I wouldn't trade it for anything well maybe the last couple of years I could of done without, but regardless, I had fun and will look back at those days with a happy heart (as I chase my 1 year old around the house.)

It's not just a high chair...

Its also a mode of transportation.

He loves to drive this thing around the kitchen making his car noises with an occasional, "beep beet!"

The kid refuses to say "one"

The Burpist

Every manly burp that comes from this child's face is promptly followed by "moot me" (excuse me) and then one more attempt to replicate the previous obviously hysterical noise which results in him growling and laughing at the same time.

A predicament

I don't know what the bigger problem is; trying to figure out how to fix the hole in the wall that Tela chewed or where to bury the body of a 145lb dog that I am going to kill.

It's my centennial post!

And to commemorate the occasion I went out and got Bear a new hair do!
Congratulations me!

In the box.

Another date night

This time we watched the Bourne Ultimatum. That was a great movie. He stayed awake for about 10 minutes then passed out. We still had a blast through the previews and cartoon. He didn't really want to take this picture. But it is the first picture in about 5 months of just him and me together. I am usually the one behind the camera.

Just in case you were mistaken...

According to Bear:
A cow says "boooooooo"
A car says "beep beet"
and Santa says "ha ha ha"

He thinks he is human

and therefore his butt must be allowed to be on the couch. He just walks up and sits down and looks at me like, "what, what are you going to do?"

Bragging rights

I want to brag. I know it is not polite or lady like but I don't care. This is my blog and I want to brag. My sister, we shall call her Boo, is a freshman in high school. She has been swimming since she was six and on a swim team since she was 9. She tried out for the high school team this year and made varsity. She is one of only 2 freshman on varsity. And it is not a huge varsity, there are only 15 spots. I am so proud of her. She is so awesome. She is an absolute klutz on dry land but you put that kid in water and her middle name turns to grace. She is so beautiful in the water. My favorite is her butterfly. Keep up the great work Boo!

The tomato eater

Tonight at the market, Bear got a hold of the bag of tomatoes. Of course I did not notice this, as I was drooling over the truffles. (By the way he added a pumpkin in white chocolate, heaven.) Anyways, his wife said "oh how cute you gave him a tomato." I looked down and he had grabbed both tomatoes, bit one a couple times and threw that on the ground and was digging into the next one. I thought hey, how much can he eat in a few minutes? What will it hurt? In the next 5 minutes that I stood there making the toughest decision all day, he knawed it down to this:

A pack rat already

Right now in his grocery cart are: A picture of mommy and daddy, a pin wheel, a truck, a key card, a sippy cup, a phone and the one thing every little boy needs; a tampon. I wish I knew what criteria he went by for things allowed to go in the cart. And of course he pushes this thing everywhere saying "va va va voom!"

You think it's funny when your nose is runny, but it's snot!

Bear has had a runny nose for the past week. Combine that with sneezes and being to young to understand that the green stuff coming out of your nose is not a very slimey toy, and you get one big mess. I won't go into too much detail in this but let me just say that I had no idea that snot could stretch out that far from ones face.
I have tried to teach him how to blow his nose. I was successful in this venture for the most part. The part he does not understand is that you should (just to be polite) blow your nose into a tissue. We went down to Seattle on Sunday night and he blew his nose the ENTIRE way down. Without a kleenex. And there was nothing I could do. I could have gotten off the freeway-found a safe place to park-found my way back to the freeway every five minutes, but it would have taken us 5 hours to get there. So I let him play. And play he did. He made that snot do things I never do snot could do. Of course I have to chisel it off his face when we finally got there, but at least he was quietly entertained for the car ride down. (Now you may think me a bad mother for doing this. But I don't care. If you have kids, you understand this. If you don't have kids, go have some and then try to judge me.)
By the next morning I had finally taught him to blow into a tissue. I was putting on makeup and letting him play with the toilet paper. I looked down at one point and he had taken some t.p. and torn it into teeny tiny little microscopic pieces and was blowing his nose on each one and then setting it on the floor. He looked up at me with the proudest smile.
And I really can't complain about any of this. At least he isn't sniffing it back into his face right?

one and a quarter!

15 Months. It has gone so fast. Just 3 months ago I was freaking out because he had just turned one. Too fast.
We went to the Dr for his well baby check. Every thing is good. He is 33 inches long and 25 lbs. So he is in the 95% for his height and 75% for his weight. He is so skinny. The Dr was pretty impressed that he was so tall and doesn't drink milk. I have tried goats milk, but he refuses. Will not drink it. But the Dr said he is getting enough calcium from all the string cheese he eats.
The Dr was also very impressed with the way he is putting words together on his own. He said that he is speaking like a 2-3 year old. Great. That just means he will be mouthing off even sooner than his friends. No really though, it is fun with him saying so many words. Daddy and I counted the other day and he knows about 30 words. That is not just repeating what we say, that is just speaking on his own. Everything else though he repeats. So we have to be very careful about what we say. One day I said, "crap!" because I slammed my finger. He ran around for the next hour yelling, "cwap! cwap!" Luckily he stopped before daddy got home.
I have taught him how to say "bless you" when someone sneezes. So far he will only do it when we are alone, but it really is cute. He hams up around everyone else. "Bwess you!" Sometimes I fake a sneeze just so I can hear it. :)
Yesterday he mastered Aunt Kimmy(aunt mimi) and Aunt Donna. He had been calling her Nonna, but yesterday he spit it out just perfectly. He will bring me the phone and say, "Nonna, Nonna. Hi!"
He is changing so much everyday. He loves his trucks. He loves to push them around and make the noises. He still plays with his baby doll, but he still acts like a boy with it. He drags it around by its feet or face. He has such a little personality. And boy does he love his "dods." At the end of a long day he will curl up with Tela and just about fall asleep. He loves to sit on her front legs and lean back against her and just rest. And she just lays there. He will stick his face right in hers until she licks him and then say, "ew!" One day I caught him licking her face. Lets just say I was not too happy with that. He loves his "Doot" too but he is still too much of a puppy to lay down and be crawled on. Bear still tries though. He has gotten real good at hugging his behind real quick before Duke can run away.
Sigh. I guess I had better get used to this because I am guessing the rest of his life is going to go this fast too.

Bear and his cousin

A graduate

Yeah Duke!!!

After a month of driving 30 minutes each way two times a week so Duke could learn some manners, he finally graduated from puppy training. He can now sit, stay, lay down, loose leash walk, shake and combat crawl. When he feels like it.

The female I found in my bed...

Pure Pandemonium

Last night we went to the local pools swim with your dog night. Don't be too grossed out by this, they drained the pool today for a weeks worth of maintenance. I don't know why, but in my head I pictured maybe 5 dogs being there. It would be nice and quiet and Duke would have a grand time splashing about with the other 4 dogs.

We got there and the parking lot was packed and there was a line of dogs and owners out the door. The pools were packed. There were dogs running around everywhere. I thought Bear was going to lose his mind. He tried and I think achieved petting all 100 dogs there. He cared nothing about the pool, he was running around with his eyes bugged out at the sight of all these dogs. And boy was it loud. You had to scream so the person sitting next to you could hear you. My dreams of Duke loving the water? No way. Daddy took him in the small pool and he seemed okay, and then he took him to the big pool and pulled him in. He freaked out and tried to climb right back out. He took him back to the small pool and did nothing but try to climb out. So we pulled him out and just watched the chaos. It was hilarious. I encourage you, even if you don't have a dog, go next year. Bring a tub of popcorn and sit back and watch. I promise a good time. I just wish I had brought my video camera.

Need a laugh?

Go to this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z02ox6ttIjg

I promise no matter what mood you are in, you will be laughing along quickly!

Before I lose all my friends...

I realized tonight that all I ever talk about is my dogs and sons bodily functions. I saw a couple of friends tonight at the farmers market and for some reason I felt the need to tell them about Duke and his ailments which include a staph infection and mommy induced barf. It seems to be all I talk about anymore. Diarrhea, butt rashes, barf, boils on doggie private parts, cat hairballs, snot, pee, and probably some more disgusting stuff. I am sorry for this. If I walk up to you and start a conversation with "I had to make Duke puke tonight because he got into the cream cheese," please stop me. Or if I start talking about diarrhea while we are on the phone and you are trying to eat dinner, please stop me. I can't seem to stop myself. Start a new conversation. Something safe, the weather, politics(if you are brave) or flowers. I feel this pulling need to talk about this disgusting stuff that I would of barfed at before kids and dogs. I apologize to you my friends, you know who you are.

Its been awhile so...

Little Man and Bear

At Little Mans house
First face painting

Bears gang

The petting Zoo
Auntie

A self induced allergy test

This morning as I was in the bathroom, Bear got into some left over dessert that someone left on the living room floor the night before. I didn't know it was there, I didn't even think to look. All I know is that I came out of the bathroom and saw him hunkered down facing the couch. I said his name and when he turned around, I couldn't help but laugh. He had caramel all over his face and hands and looked up at me with the biggest grin and said, "hmmmmm!" So now he has a diaper rash. I guess at least he enjoyed the caramel.

You might be a liberal if...

1. You don't believe in marriage except for homosexuals.
2. You believe trees have more rights than unborn humans.
3. You believe no one is guilty of anything except for what their ancestors did.
4. You believe there is nothing wrong with adultery unless you smoke afterwards.
5. You believe pornography is fine but eating a hot dog is immoral.
6. You believe that partial-birth abortion is fine, but spanking is child abuse.
7. You only believe in the death penalty for people who hurt animals.
8. You believe the truth is whatever you believe it is.
9. You believe RIGHT and WRONG, UP and DOWN, and NIGHT and DAY are only a matter of opinion.
10. You believe that ILLEGAL immigrants have more rights than citizens in the USA.

I stole this off of craigslist. I added #10 myself.

I can't say it didn't hurt a little

I just got Bears pj's on and I picked him up and was holding him like a newborn and I started singing a lullaby and he looked up at me with his big grey eyes like he could just stay there forever listening to my beautiful voice(snort) and said, "dow peas." That, to all of you who don't speak baby Bear, is-down please. Well at least he said please right?

A hot date

Last night I decided that Bear and I would go on a date. So we went to the drive in just south of town. He was so excited. I don't think he knew why but he was just bouncing out of his car seat as we drove in. We went and got popcorn and waited in a HUGE line. But he was patient for the most part. He played limp noodle a few times and it was really fun when he did it while I had popcorn and a pop in my hands. But we managed. On the way back to the car I had been just putting the popcorn up to my face(I know-real lady like) to eat it because my hands were otherwise occupied and he did the sweetest thing. He looked at the popcorn and then my mouth and back at the popcorn, reached out, took a piece and put it in my mouth. And then fed me all the way back to the car. I let him sit in the front seat and I put the popcorn between us and we sat back and watched the previews and then my favorite, the cartoon. It was a classic road runner vs. Wile E. Coyote. Those always crack me up. Road Runner will be doing like 200mph and yet Wile E always has time to be like a mile ahead of him with the next booby trap set up.
We made it about half way through Harry Potter before we had to go. It didn't really matter, I didn't really get to see the first part anyways. I was too busy trying to keep Bear contained. And I was busy getting fistfuls of popcorn shoved in my face. Bless his little heart. Even though we didn't get to stay I had more fun last night than I have had in a long time. Excuse me now, I need to clean to face and tongue prints off of my passenger side window. Hey- it kept him and the people parked next to us entertained until the movie started.

You have to keep a sense of humor

Warning:
This post is about bodily functions. If you do not think that you can handle a topic based on this, please scroll down and enjoy some of my other poopless posts. Thank you.

Poor Duke was up last night with diarrhea. And that means I was too. Every 30 minutes I had to take that dog outside so he could blow brown water out of his hiney. By 5 am I was tired. So when I put him back in his crate I must not of latched it properly because at 5:22, I was awoken to a lot of noise in my bedroom. Normally Tela is not that loud, so I opened my eyes and found Duke in my face. I flew out of bed to see what he had ruined in 22 minutes. I turned on the light and had to laugh so that I would not cry. He had gone to the bathroom and not in an easy to clean up way, all over the place. So I put him away and got the Natures Miracle. I scrubbed and wiped and sanitized for the next 30 minutes. As I lay my head back down to get a few more minutes of much needed sleep, Bear lets me know he is awake by letting out a wail. So my day that really never ended yesterday had started again.
This morning, Duke has made it outside for the most part, we did have an incident in the kitchen but that was an easy clean up and doesn't really count. So I took a nice deep breath and let go of the night before and jinxed the heck out of myself. Not 2 minutes later, I changed Bears diaper and let him run around naked for a minute. He ran straight into the hall, squatted and pooped and peed right there. I have a feeling that this subject is what my day is going to be centered around. Pray for me please.

If we didn't have dogs...

he wouldn't have been able to get into these messes: