Friday, August 31, 2012

Ending August

We went to Mazzio's with Jared's family on Tuesday night. I tried Paxton's jeans from last winter on him, hoping that they would still fit. They were way too short, but I had already committed to the outfit...and as much as he hates getting dressed, I didn't want to fight him for another outfit. So, I just rolled his jeans up. I like this age, where you can get away with girlier fashions.


Yesterday, I was sitting in the glider in his room watching him play. He climbed up onto the footstool and curled up and laid his head down and started sucking his thumb. A few seconds later he was back to playing, but I had to capture the hilarious moment.


He got this Boomer costume last year for Christmas from Barbara Sue, but the season was over so he didn't get to wear it for a game. We got it back out this year and he can still squeeze into it. Maybe he'll wear it for some games.


He likes when we take pictures together.


Jared and I have been on a candy kick lately and I have been getting boxes of Hot Tamales. I usually can't eat a whole box at a time. Paxton always finds my open boxes and finishes them off. He always ends up with red stickiness all over his arms and face. What kind of toddler loves Hot Tamales? He always cries when they're gone too...


On the way to the grocery store on Monday, Paxton was alternating between his milk and his water.


Paxton has been a little fussier than usual since he turned 17 months. I think it's his strong will...but we have been trying to do as many of the things he asks us to do as possible. Since his main request is to go outside, we ended up at the park twice this week.








And, in bigger news, we closed on our house today and are officially homeowners!! We're so excited to start making some changes and improvements, and so excited that our first house to own is the same house we brought Pax home from the hospital to!


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Park Thursday

We kept the new park tradition alive this week. I found the second closest park to our house and we tried that one. There was a playground for 2-5 year olds which was good.








Juice break:


Eventually, Paxton decided he wanted to conquer the slide. The longer he sat there, the more terrified he got. I finally just slid him down really slowly, holding onto his hands the whole way (it was maybe three feet long). He hated it.


It took some swinging to recover:


Apparently climbing up slides is instinctual in kids because this happened:


And what kind of little boy would he be if he wasn't interested in bugs?


This park was probably a better fit for Paxton equipment-wise than the one by our house, but it isn't in walking distance. It will probably be our secondary park from now on. I love that he's at an age where he has fun at the park.


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Monday, August 27, 2012

Besties

Last week, our favorite friends from Texas came up and got to stay for five days! It was so good to have so much time together. The past few times we've seen each other, we have tried to fit months of catching up into short windows between the special occasion we happen to be together for.

On Tuesday, Tabatha and Blakely came over to play. As soon as he saw her, Paxton leaned in for a kiss. She burst into tears. Throughout the day, he kept coming over for kisses. Luckily she didn't cry every time.


Aside from the part where he threw his plastic elephant at her face and made her cry, they were really sweet together. I am excited to watch them grow up together.

That night, Pax and I were hanging out in the hammock. Paxton looked right at me and said "down" for the first time and then as I set him down, he said "thank you" for the first time!


On Wednesday, Pax and I drove to Norman and we went with Tabatha and Blakely to the OU football stadium.


We also had time for lunch at one of our favorite places in Norman, Bison Witches. It was fun to reminisce about the fun times we had living there.

Wednesday night, we finally got Jared and Ryan to join us. We met downtown for dinner and drinks. It's funny to think how far we've come since the early days of our friendship. It is amazing to have a friend that is going through the same stages I am.


We ate at Fuzzy's Tacos. It was really good. Paxton laid his head down on the table and came up like this:


After dinner, we stopped for a quick family picture and a little more talking.


We got together on Friday for one last lunch. Of course we had to go to Moe's.

Jared, Pax and I also finally visited the renovated Myriad Botanical Gardens. I have been wanting to take Paxton to the splash park there all summer but haven't gotten a chance. The splash park was closed when we got there, but we still got to play on the playground.








On Saturday, we went to Paxton's toddler friend Dean's second birthday party. It was the perfect party for their age. There were tons of toys in the backyard and everyone could just run around and play.

Dean showed Paxton how the sandbox worked (it was his first time):


And they checked out the bubble machine:


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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Room Re-do!

Well, since we're buying the house we have slowly starting making the kind of improvements we were hesitant to make as renters. Paxton's room was one of the first on the agenda. He had been in the room that was meant to be the master because it was a weird shape for our furniture, but then we switched with him around his birthday. Since the switch, we hadn't hung back up all of his decorations or even his curtains, so we had a lot of work to do.

Here are the before pictures:



We decided to paint three walls gray and one gray and white striped. Here are the after pictures:

First of all, here's the striped wall:





We still need to come up with a solution for all of his cars and trucks...





Jared brings him back these monkeys when he goes on trips for work. They don't sit up, so there was nowhere cute to put them. We ended up combining a few colors of yarn and ribbon together to hang them up where he can reach them to play with them:


It's nice to finally have a nice room for him with all of his pictures hung back up.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SEVENTEEN MONTHS!!!

 Somehow, Paxton has gotten to be almost eighteen months all of a sudden.  This year is flying by!  This has been a really fun month development-wise, but also a challenging month as we struggle to redirect him when he gets into things he shouldn't or throws food at restaurants.  I love watching him learn new things, and I feel like he is starting to pick new things up every day!
 At seventeen months, Paxton:

  • Is running everywhere.  I'm not sure it is officially running, but he is speed walking at all times.  He wants to be on the ground going...not in his stroller or the shopping cart or being held.  He loves to go straight for the street if he possibly can.
  • Is learning new words every day.  Yesterday we were laying in the hammock in the back yard and he looked right at me and said "down" perfectly clearly (which he hadn't ever said before).  I put him down and he said "thank you" (which he also hadn't said before).  His new words are ball, bye bye, down, thank you, yeah, and oh yeah.  His talking is more advanced than I realized it would be at this age and it makes me a little sad to already be losing his baby babbling.  I definitely love his little voice and I melt every time he says "mama"...he gets anything he wants if he starts out with that. He will also copy the inflection of things I say to him.  He won't copy the actual sounds, just the basic rhythm and inflection.  He definitely wants to be a talker.
  •  Throws his arms up when we say "TOUCHDOWN!" (right in time for football season).  He also says "O" and we follow it with "U"! He will repeat that for hours.
  •  "Sings" Twinkle Twinkle/ABC's and Mary Had a Little Lamb.  He knows the tune to both songs all the way through but no words.  He will just say "ahh ah ah ah ah ah ah" to the tune.  It is pretty neat and even people who don't know what he's trying to do can recognize the songs.
  •  Is officially down to one nap a day.  He wakes up at 9:00, goes down between 1:00 and 2:00, wakes up around 4:00 or 5:00 and goes to bed for the night at 9:00.  He doesn't have his sleepy phase at 11:00 anymore, he is usually fine right up until nap time. 
  •  Is getting a little better at restaurants.  He still throws food sometimes, but he spends more time eating now than he has in the past. 
  •  Will dance and jump on command.  Both are hilarious and we ask him to do them a lot. 
  •  Has entered into the mimicking stage.  He copies how we play with his toys, how we walk and if I squat to take a picture. 
  •  Holds the phone up to his ear when I tell him to answer it or when it makes any kind of noise.  He won't really talk into it, but he holds it up and smiles a lot.
  •  Is still wearing mostly 18 month clothes, although a few 2T shirts we have gotten him lately are a little tight...hopefully it's just the brand.  His 4.5 shoes still fit and he is still wearing size 5 diapers.
  •  Gives every baby or toddler he comes in contact with lots of kisses.  He will not give kisses to adults for the most part.  If he is feeling it, he will give me a kiss when he wants to, not when I ask.  He will not give Jared kisses.
  •  Still refusing to wave.  When we try to get him to, he just looks at us like we're silly.
  •  Loves when Daddy gets home.  He usually runs to the door when he hears it open and then takes off running away from Jared so he'll chase him.
  •  When he is done sitting somewhere like his high chair at a restaurant, he will reach for me and say "up" or "down". 
I can't believe he will be eighteen months in September!  It really does go by as fast as people say it does.  I am trying to enjoy every minute with him.  I love that he is starting to try to talk, his little voice is so sweet.  He is starting to want to be very independent.  He doesn't like having his diaper changed or getting dressed, he would rather just be playing at all times.  I am loving learning his personality and watching the sweet little boy he is turning into.