Toddler Tribulations

This is an old photo, but it's one of my favorites. He had just discovered pockets and loved putting his hands in them. Now he comes home from school with woodchips from the playground in his pockets.

Well birthday #2 has come and gone and we had a ball! Daddy voted for a Backyardigans theme since all we seem to hear these days is, "Pablo! Pablo! Pablo!" However, I hate doing character cakes because I never can get the eyes just right and they always look sort of deranged. So we compromised and did a Backyardigans Pirate cake. They have 2 or three episodes where they pretend to be pirates so it all worked out.

He had the whole gift opening thing down this year and he hardly needed any help at all.

One of his favorite gifts was the firetruck from Aunt Wendy. In fact he liked it so much, we had to hide it to get him to open the rest of his gifts. Had I known that he was going to like it so much, it would have been one of the last gifts he opened. Let that be a lesson parents - try to find out gifts ahead of time. A meltdown in the middle of the gift opening is a real bummer for everyone.

In fact, he liked the firetruck so much, he didn't want to stop playing with it long enough to blow out the candles on the cake. And David had to practically force feed him to a bite of cake. Maybe if I had made it out of peas and carrots he would have liked it more.

OK - so it's been awhile since I posted. I've got an active toddler. That's the only excuse I have, but I think it's a good one. Actually, I have an active, inquisitive, determined, willful toddler. Boy does he keep us on our toes! He learns so fast and he moves even quicker. He's learning shapes at school. So far he knows heart, diamond, and triangle. Colors are coming slower, but he gets them right about 30% of the time. He has an amazing memory and he talks almost non-stop. Most of the time we understand him, but sometimes it's still just a bunch of jibberish. He's clear enough when he wants something though. We're working on please and thank you, so at least he's polite about it. Also, he sings now. Not every word mind you, but about every other word. He loves Wheels on the Bus, If You're Happy and You Know It, and anything about trains.
He's more of a little boy now than a baby and I'm reminded of that almost everyday. Today for instance, when we got home, he came and asked me to help him take off his shirt and pants. Then he went to his room to put his clothes in the hamper. He was back there awhile and then I heard a weird crackly sound. So David went to check on him. The next thing I heard was, "Get out of there right now!" He was playing in the diaper genie. This was followed closely by, "Where's your diaper?" I got back there in time to see my completely naked child opening the diaper genie and reaching in to show Daddy where his diaper was.
Sunday night, I heard a very plaintive, "Help! Help!" coming from his room. I went back to find him wearing only a diaper, straddling the end rail on his crib (much like one would ride a horse) and hanging on for dear life. Seems he was unable to dismount.
See this is why I don't have time to blog