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.