20 months

At 20 months, Hunter is an absolute hoot. He is such a little parrot and will repeat ANYTHING. Example: Yesterday as I was driving my GPS says "Turn left", I hear a little voice in the backseat saying "left, left, left". He repeats pretty much anything at the end of a sentence. He's putting sentences together like "Mommy's car", "Hunter's jacket", "Two socks". When he hears someone laughing or just thinks something is funny, he'll crack up and then sigh with an "aww, man!" at the end. Hilarious! He has great manners and even impressed another grandmother while we were in the waiting room at a Dr.'s office the other day.

Also....he can COUNT!!! He doesn't start at one and go to two, three, four, five, but he does start at one and when you ask what comes after one he says two, ask what comes after two and he says three, ask what comes after three and he says four, ask what comes after four and he says three. :) We're getting there!

There is a gymnastics studio here in town that opens up their gym to toddlers on Mondays and Fridays. Our friend Allison introduced it to us and it is a great way to let him run off some energy in the mornings. He's still going to Gymboree and loves it, although isn't into the class portion of it as much as the free playtime.

We are making a little progress on eating with utensils. He is more and more interested in them and requests a "pork" at every meal. He can sometimes get the food on his fork and into his mouth, but mostly holds it in one hand and eats with the other hand. I still wouldn't trust him with a spoon and jar of yogurt all by himself yet though!

Ready for Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Connecticut with AJ's family this year. It was my first time in Connecticut and we had great food and great company. Hunter did pretty well on the flights although he is becoming harder and harder to travel with in my lap. We had an open seat next to us on both of the flights on our way back and I'm beginning to think it is almost worth it to get him his own seat even though he can fly free until age two.

Hunter loves our shower. He loves to get in it because he knows he's not supposed to. Our hotel in Connecticut only had a shower - no bath tub - so Hunter got to take his first shower last week. Boy oh boy, he really thought he was getting away with something. He LOVED IT!


The week before Thanksgiving was pretty busy also. I'm a first year member of the Junior League this year and we had the Christmas Affair (same as the Holiday Mart for you Indiana folks) from Wednesday to Sunday. I only had to work two shifts but was down there pretty much every day for shopping, Santa pics, etc. Hunter wasn't such a huge fan of Santa this year. He cried when I sat him in his lap but they managed to distract him long enough to get a decent shot. I should have done a better job at talking him up beforehand!


One last pic of Hunter climbing in Maggie's cage and actually shutting the door this time...his face says it all.

W&B Visit

Aunt "Mitty" and Uncle Brian came in town this past weekend to visit. Hunter has had a hard time figuring out how to say Whitney, but it is now a very clear "Mitty", sometimes preceded by "An" for Aunt. I just realized as I am typing this that I didn't get pictures of them with Hunter. Darn it! We had so much going on.

They had an AJ and Kristin-style travel day on Friday, getting in about 6 hours after they were scheduled to, so that day was pretty much a wash. We were planning on going to Chuy's (a must for out-of-town guests) but ended up picking it up and bringing it home because Hunter was asleep by the time they got in. Saturday, Miss Anna stayed with Hunter while we took the Indiana kids down to tailgate Texas style. Granted, the UT football team isn't great this year and the fans aren't as crazy, but we still had a great time. Milestone for me -- it was the longest stretch that he's stayed with a babysitter (other than my mom when we went on vacation). Anna is great though...I know he loved playing with her and we had a great time at the game.

On Sunday we relaxed and AJ cooked a great meal on his Big Green Egg and they left today. It was short trip but was a lot of fun. We loved having them here and can't wait until they come back!!

19 months

I'm in denial again about how old my baby is getting. Closer to two now.....unbelievable. Although, two is his favorite number answer to everything, so maybe that will work out for us. :) (Blue is his favorite color answer, but we're making progress on our colors) He is so much fun right now and I just love being with him.

We've had some unseasonably warm weather this week, so Hunter and I took advantage and went to the Austin Zoo on Tuesday. It's a small zoo - more of an animal sanctuary as the animals that live there are rescues. For example, two of the lions that lived there were old domestic pets that had been given to the zoo. Others were circus animals that lived in small cages. Even though it was small, it was the perfect size for him and allowed us to explore without being overwhelming. He even got to feed some goats and deer until some random brown substance from one of their noses appeared on his arm, so I broke out the antibacterial wipes and then we were done with that... :) All in all, it was fun and he got excited about seeing the monkeys and now knows what a lion says.

Here are some of the other animal sounds he knows:
Monkey
Doggie
Kitty Cat (LOVE when he says meow!)
Sheep
Pig
Cow
Duck
Horsey

He can identify many more animals than that by pointing to pictures in a book, but those are the ones that he knows what they "say".

He's really in to Gymboree now and is becoming quite the climber and more and more adventurous. He's not to the grabby point (yet) and doesn't care when someone takes something away from him. He still loves the balls and bubbles and really likes the rocking horse. At this point in toddlerhood, he's really a very well behaved child and well on the road to developing great manners (saying "thank-you" more and more unprompted, "please" all of the time and "bless you" very frequently). I really couldn't ask for more!

Happy Halloween!

I'm not one that really gets in to Halloween but I was really excited about it this year. It was Hunter's first year trick or treating so we spent a lot of time trying to pump him up by talking about it with him, trying to get him to say "trick or treat" and dressing him up in the CUTEST. COSTUME. EVER. Seriously. :)


He loved going to everyone's house and wasn't timid at all....as a matter of fact, he cried after we left the first three houses because he wanted to go inside their house. We went to a few houses just down the street from us and then came home and recycled all of his candy for our trick or treaters. :)

He also attended his first UT football game on Saturday. We've taken him down to tailgate a couple of times and Hunter and I have just gone home while AJ went in to the game. We decided to see how he'd do going in to the actual game this time. He lasted until halftime, which considering the facts that 1) he napped for about 20 minutes on the way down there and that was his only nap all day, 2) it was an evening game (6:00) and so he was getting close to his bedtime anyway, and 3) he spent a couple of hours tailgating beforehand, he did GREAT. I was very proud of him! He loved watching football and clapping when everyone else clapped. :)

Such a big weekend for a little guy!

Pumpkin Patch

AJ, Hunter and I spent Sunday afternoon at the Sweet Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was about an hour drive and was really a gorgeous, scenic trip. The weather this year is quite different than it was last year....our pics from last year show us in sweatshirts and jeans...this year we are in shorts and flip flops. We are having some unseasonably warm weather which makes it a little bit harder to get in to the fall spirit. My favorite season in Indiana is the fall....I just love the crispness and smell of the air and the gorgeous scenery with the leaves changing. The IU campus is absolutely amazing this time of year. But, I digress...

Sweet Berry Farm seemed to have a lot more to do for kids Hunter's age than last year's Patch. I think next year he will be able to really get into it. He wasn't thrilled with the drive so he was really excited to get out of the car and run around. He loved the goats and thought it was funny that they ate the leaves that he was feeding them. He also liked trying to pick up every single pumpkin in his sight (and there were A LOT of pumpkins) and enjoyed watching the bigger kids ride the horses.

All in all, it was a great trip and I'm looking forward to heading back next year.

Tomorrow we will be trick-or-treating at Dell. I'm trying to teach him how to say "Trick-or-Treat!"...we're getting there! Hopefully he'll have it down pat by Sunday so he can earn lots of candy (for us to eat... :) ).

American Idol 2025?

Hunter has been a singer for a while. He would usually do it in the backseat, mostly when he was tired as if he was lulling himself to sleep. He has an Elmo book that plays "Take me out to the ballgame" and sings along with it sometimes, which I FINALLY caught on video the other day. Click only if you can stand the cuteness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le1g_PiyQxg

18 months

Hunter is officially closer to two than he is to one. Unbelievable, but true. :( He can tell you how old he is though, putting up one finger and saying "one". Everything else that you ask him, though, the answer is "two". Examples - Hunter, how many naps did you take today? Two. How many blocks are there? Two. Etc, etc, etc.

I was excited for his appointment today because I really feel like he has been growing a lot lately. He pretty much skipped the 12-18 month size and I'm finally buying age appropriate sizes. 18-24 months are still a little baggy but make much more sense at this point to get him through the season than 12-18 month would. So...his official stats are: Height - 30 3/4 in. (10%), Weight - 23 lbs, 10.5 oz (22%). He's finally out of the 5th percentile and slowly moving up! The most impressive part of the day is that he got three shots and didn't even cry a tear! I was such a proud mommy. :) His little face got red and he let out a tiny little whine but never cried or shed a tear. The nurses were talking about him as we were walking out of the room because they couldn't believe it either! He is such a big boy!

Here are some more pics from his half-birthday:


Since my last post, Hunter attended his first high school football game. Our friends Chris, April and Owen had been to one recently and invited us. Hunter loves watching football and can point it out on TV, a magazine, anything that either has an actually football on it or a player in a football uniform. Hunter and Owen had a blast and we lasted until halftime only because Mommy and Daddy needed to eat!


He has been so much fun to watch at Gymboree lately. He is really enjoying all of the activities - climbing, expoloring, playing with the other kids, etc. rather than just playing with balls by himself. Here he is playing basketball this week. He made a couple of baskets by tossing the ball in as he does here rather than tipping it over the edge of the rim but I couldn't catch him making it on video...of course!

This setup was outside of our grocery store - who would have thought it? Couldn't resist Hunter's first John Deere picture!

First Dentist Appointment

Hunter had his first dentist appointment today. He was so well-behaved and I was so proud of him. It was pretty easy but he was a perfect angel while the dentist was brushing his teeth and looking around his mouth. This office sure isn't anything like the dentist I remember growing up! The waiting room looked like a toy store and the exam room had a flat screen on the ceiling cued up to Baby McDonald before we walked in. I really liked his dentist and he said that Hunter's teeth and mouth looked great! We won't need to go back for a year.

Here are a few pics from today:

Chatterbox

Hunter's vocabulary seems like it has grown exponentially over the past week or two. He has been talking throughout most of the day for a while, whether it be baby talk, pointing out things around the house that he knows the word to, or saying "Hi doggie", "Hi mommy", "Hi dada" (I LOVE how he says hi to everyone. So sweet). However, he is now consistently putting together three to four syallable phrases. His latest are: Bob Builder (Bob the Builder), Bless you (appropriately after someone sneezes), Here go Mama, Let's go Mama. He also says please appropriately, which I can't resist. He gets whatever he wants if a "peeease" follows it. :)

He also says thank you occasionally unprompted but mostly after I tell him to say it. He says hot when he sees food or the oven (thankfully the door doesn't get hot on the outside). He touches whatever he says as he says hot, so we need to work on not touching things that might be hot. He does blow for hot things, mostly coffee (foffee, as he says), which is pretty darn cute. He has started hiding his eyes with his hands and saying peek-boo while uncovering them, recognizing the Longhorn logo and saying Texas as he points to it. No fear, my fellow Indiana fans, he has been saying IU for a while now. :) We tailgated for the first time last week and he has about half of the hook 'em horns hand gesture down -



His other lower molar came through yesterday. Man, his teeth seem to come through slowly. He has been waking up in the middle of the night again, so I think these molars really bother him.

Big parenting milestone!

Our 3rd wedding anniversary is coming up this month so AJ and I decided to take our very first post-baby vacation sans baby. We went to Maui, which is where we went on our Honeymoon. We love it there and it has sentimental value to boot. Mimi flew down to stay with Hunter while we were gone. It was definitely hard to leave him but I did okay and knew that he was in great hands. She kept me updated throughout the day with pictures, emails and phone calls so that made it so much better. Unfortunately, Hunter had his first ER visit while we were gone. He had a fever and wasn't eating or drinking but it ended up being a virus and we just had to let it run it's course. His molar also FINALLY came through when we were gone. So, poor Mimi had to babysit a sick and teething baby. Good thing she's 1) a great mom/Mimi and 2) a great nurse. :)

Here are a few of Mimi's cutest update pictures:

My favorite - Hunter stacking 3 blocks. He looks so proud of himself!



Doesn't even care that we're gone... :)



Trying to brush his new molar -



We picked a different resort than where we stayed during our Honeymoon so it was nice to experience a different side of the island but we did go back to our favorite restaurant that we stumbled upon while we were the last time. We mostly hung around the resort, had some great food and relaxed. AJ played golf a couple of times and I got a massage at the most amazing spa I have ever been to. Just my kind of vaca! It was a wonderful, much needed vacation and if we could have shipped Hunter there I could have stayed for another 2 weeks. :)

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

View from our room -



View from breakfast every morning -



Lahaina Grill...our favorite!! -



Hanging out at the pool on our last day -



Missing Hunter -

17 months

Hunter at 17 months: He's about 23 lbs and 31 inches. Next month is the big 18 month well-check so I'm anxious to find out where he ranks on the percentile chart. He still has 8 teeth - 4 on top and 4 on bottom - although he has a molar that is taking it's sweet time to come in and should be popping through any day now.

Papa was able to take some time off so he came down to visit last week. Hunter had a great time playing with him and it was good for him to spend time with Papa!

Yes!

Hunter's new response to everything is "Yes". It's very cute and I'm glad he prefers it over "No" (although he does tell the dog no and shush her on occasion). He not only responds yes when you ask him a question, but he preemptively says "Yes, yes, yes" for something he sees that he wants. Example - If he sees one of us eating fruit, he drops everything and comes over, saying "Yes, yes, yes". If he wants his shoes on, he'll bring them over to you saying "Yes, yes, yes". He'll bring his monkey backpack over to you saying "Yes, yes, yes". I was having a little fun with the yes questions/answers in the store the other day and couldn't resist sharing the video. I think it is hilarious. I'm having trouble with the Blogger video upload so here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIi28SnLl58

He's now saying "Uh oh". He likes to say it when he falls down or anything falls on the floor, even if it is a purposeful drop/throw. Sometimes says it before he drops/throws just to let you know what's coming up. Another new favorite is "Hello" as he holds the phone to his ear. Most often it is the phone at least -- it can also be his hand, the monitor, a shoe -- anything that makes sense to put to his ear. :) I've been trying to take video of it but it he mostly has my cell phone when doing it and by the time I get back from grabbing the real video camera he quits performing. Today he grabbed my phone and said "Hello....hello....Mimi". I said "Do you want to call Mimi?", which he of course responded "Yes" to. So, we called Mimi. :) It is so much fun to have little mini conversations with him. He is growing up TOO fast!

Indianapolis Children's Museum and trip update

Hunter and I took a trip home last week for a few days. We saw Grandma (his Great-Grandma but that is waaay too many syllables :) ) one day, and met up with my college roommate Nicolle and her son Hudson at the Children's Museum another day. Indy has a fantastic Children's Museum. It is huge, has a lot of exhibits - complete with a carousel - and hours of entertainment. I wish the Austin Children's Museum was like that! Here are some pics from the day...

It's hard to get two toddlers to look at the camera at the same time--

Fun in the water and sand --

First time riding a carousel --

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Hunter -

Playing with Aunt Whitney --

Hunter loved to walk all around and occasionally sit on the chairs (he says "up, up!") in the screened-in porch --

This was our first flight since Hunter has been walking so I prepared us with plenty of surprises to break out when he wanted to get down and run. He actually slept for a majority of our flight up from Dallas to Indy but wasn't so great today on our flight home. AJ had a work trip which landed him in Columbus, OH while we were in Indy so he drove over last night to see us and fly home with us today. It definately helped to have Daddy there to entertain, change laps, and so forth. All in all, it wasn't too bad at all and am chalking up to a success. :)

16 months old, 1st haircut and new tooth!

Well, either I measured incorrectly last month or Hunter hasn't really grown that much this month because it looks like he is still around 30.5 inches long and about 21.5 lbs. We have a lot of exciting updates since my last post!

Hunter had his first haircut on Friday, 8/13 (which also happens to be AJ's birthday). We went to a little place called Snip-Its. They cater to kids and it was very cute and entertaining. Hunter really did a great job...he wasn't super squirmy and behaved very well. I was sad to get his hair cut for the first time -- it feels like we're running out of "firsts" -- but I managed to hold it together. :) Here are a couple of pics:

Pre-haircut. Look at those curls!

Mid-cut...being entertained by Daddy and some Goldfish:

Post-cut with his new big boy 'do:

1st haircut certificate:

Hunter's 8th tooth finally popped through yesterday. He now has 4 on top and 4 on bottom. His little gums are so swollen around where his molar would be coming through and I think it is really bothering him right now. Last night he woke up at 1am for the first time in months.

He has learned how to fist bump -- "pump??"-- anyway, REALLY cute. He's also starting to hide things in random places. GREAT. The other day I found his missing shoe in a kitchen cabinet. The next day, a coaster in the plant. Today, some laundry in a shopping bag. I'm just waiting for the day that I can't find my cell phone and I hear it ringing in the trash can. He's also becoming quite the climber. He's been using his little musical table as leverage to climb up on to the ottoman and the fireplace so I thought it would be safe in the middle of the room.....not so much....