He Just Keeps Growing

Here's a few things that have been reminding me how big and grown up D has gotten lately:

1 - He weighs 42.1 pounds. 

2 - I solely purchase him shirts in size 5T.

3 - He has been whipping out new words (that Dain and I haven't heard him speak before) lately, and using them correctly in a sentence.  These include and are not limited to:  dork, actually, impressive, losers, creepy, etc etc etc...

4 - He's signed up for preschool.  Real preschool.  3 full days a week preschool.  Starts in a few weeks and I'm unable to believe it.

5 - He's signed up for a t-ball league.  Yep.  Look out Babe Ruth.

6 - He now prefers Top 40 music to any preschool tunes.  His current favorite is "Moves Like Jaggar".  Runners up - "Dynamite", "Party Rock", "Pokerface", "Good Feeling", and yes, "Who Let the Dogs Out".

7 - He can name every superhero, maybe ever. 

Ick - my baby is growing and growing and growing.  And there's nothing I can do about it.

New/Old Love of Dr. Seuss

We've slowly been reliving as many as possible of the old Dr. Seuss hits.  And...I have OF COURSE been loving it!

Here's a few hits...some that I'd darn near forgotten about (all of which D loves):

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb was a hit from my youth that I'm so thrilled that D got a kick out of.  It's so simple - but so cute.  The monkeys drumming and multiplying page by page are so brilliant. 

In a People House I didn't remember from my childhood - but Dain's family had it and D took to it immediately in his very early years.  We've recently checked it out from the library again to relive the fun.  Just a great book to go over simple items found around the house.

The Eye Book might have been D's FAVORITE book at about age 1, and still holds a special place in our hearts.  It's just things you can see - reviewed by a boy and a rabbit, but it's a classic.  He would "read" it to us starting at about 2 - because he had it memorized.

Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now has recently become a hit.  I remembered it fondly, much like Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb from my youth.  I love it just as much as I did then I think!  I do wonder though - if it's not the best book for manners.  Yes, they say please - but the book's giant-handed narrative voice is just wanting this poor little guy to LEAVE no matter what means possible.  Not so nice.  But so cute!

The Shape of Me... is our most recent fav.  I didn't know this one either, or didn't remember it.  But it's possibly the cutest one, with the best message.  The graphics are all done as silhouettes, and there's tons of shapes discussed - but the message of the book is that no matter what shape you are, be happy with the shape you're in.

MAN I love everything Dr. Seuss!

THANK YOU!

We MARCHED FOR BABIES a few weeks ago - and you can see by the gadget on your right that I raised a ton of money for the cause!

It was a beautiful day for a walk...and D sat happily in his stroller and just enjoyed our 5K walk the entire time.  We came to the hard realization that this will be the last year he'll fit (or want to fit) in the stroller we have so next year he'll have to walk or go have a playdate while we do the walk.

Here we are at the walk:



















It's so inspiring to see SO many people (I estimated 300+) at our location's walk - and there were tons of others going on all around Chicagoland that day.
I quickly came to the realization of how lucky we are just to have eachother, bringing everything into perspective.  So many teams had shirts in honor of babies who didn't make it.  And it was so inspiring to see the teams of people/parents/friends/relatives who gathered together to walk for this cause and hopefully make a difference for someone else or for their future.

A HUGE thank you goes out to those of you donated or wished us well.  It's always a great excuse for a good long walk along the river.  The added bonus is that we were recognizing an amazing organization that is out to help babies and parents...and what greater cause can you ask for?

Absentee Blogger

Uh - w here have I been?

I've been MIA and I have no idea why. 

I guess life gets in the way of blog sometimes - but that's...well...life I guess.

We've been busy painting the house a lovely shade of beige - in hopes of being market-ready.  Though that may or may not be realistic.  So if not, we'll just be the neutral family.

D has been growing and changing daily.  I'm happy to report that we've not had a pull up on in months!  He's started being REALLY in to dancing to mostly Top 40 radio hits.  His favorite songs have been Moves Like Jagger, Party Rock, Dynamite, and oddly...Pokerface (which he oddly calls, poke your face).

We're facing the reality of preschool and I think we've made a decision on the school.  Stay tuned.  That'll be a great post soon!

And I'm sure to have some book reviews coming up.  GREAT books coming home from the library with us lately. I'm sure you readers aren't thrilled but as children's books are one of my favorite topics of all time, I'll politely say get over it.

Hopefully I'll add some pics soon too. If I can get off my duff and remember to post ;)

Easter 2012

Easter was a hit this year.  D discovered the idea of the Easter Bunny early-on and starting compiling a list basically the day after Christmas.

We had a great time doing our usual routine - Chenoa for the day before Easter Egg Hunt and Boian celebration, and Sunday with the Meyers.

Here's some pics from the festivities...
You're welcome, mom.

 D and cousin Will - busy before the Egg Hunt.

D didn't really help hide the eggs - he more just sat and played with the grass/flowers.

The cousins with "Flat Stanley" in representation of cousin Joey in Las Vegas.

The annual post-egg-hunt picture.  With my "brother" Ross.

D and Will played pool.

Opening the Wolverine Jet gift from the Easter Bunny with Dad.

Ready to hunt eggs at Boopa's house.

Got one!

Haven and D playing catch.  And confused apparently...

He Came With the Couch

It's another book review - and yes, the blog title is the book title.

"He Came with the Couch" by David Slonim is an instant classic - and I could almost tell from just looking at the cover.

I love this book. The guy on the cover drew me in, in the midst of the clutter of books on the library shelves. He looked almost like a familiar character from Sesame Street, or the like. We even got home with it and Dain said "hey, is that a Muppets character or something?" When I read that one of the dedications on the inside was to the late great Jim Henson, I could see where the inspiration had come from, and how it had succeeded.

The cute as a button book is about a little girl named Sophie's family who needed a new couch (presumably the family dog had ruined theirs), and went out to rummage sales to find a new one. They ended up at a junk lot and her dad found a couch he loved and they loaded it in the truck and away they went. When Sophie noticed the little blue creature, she asked her dad who it was and he said "he came with the couch". They tried to get the little guy to leave, but Sophie finally called the family doctor in when he wouldn't budge and he was diagnosed with "upholsterosis" and needed to get out more. The family took the guy, couch and all, to see some of the famous sites - and he still wouldn't move from the piece of furniture in their home.

I won't ruin it - but they finally agree to let him stay...and when they need a new chair, it seems they acquire a second friend. Made me hope there was a sequel!

It's ADORABLE and catchy. Not too long, not too short, and D absolutely loved it!
You will too.

Added to the Amazon list almost directly after the first reading:)

Ring Bearer part deux

He did it! And was fantastic!!

Thanks to some "guy" bribes, Angry Bird fruit snacks, and sweet dance moves...D was the perfect ringbearer. He and my niece Haven were adorable!

Here's some pics from the wedding!