Last night I was in the kitchen making dinner and Hunter brought in one of his books - "What Does Baby Say?" - sat down and started "reading" it on the floor. I picked up the camera to try to catch him without notice, as he usually will start pointing to the apple on the back on my phone and want to see the picture if he sees me with it and then the photo-op is over, but I managed to get a little bit of it on video. He was saying what the baby says from looking at the picture on each page. It amazes me every day how much their little minds pick up at this age!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfgIf8kx8Hc
We had a bit of a rough start to the week as we all passed around the stomach flu. Luckily everyone is better and the house is now completely sanitized from top to bottom. :) I sure hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
21 months
Here we are....at 21 months. I'm already starting to think about Hunter's 2nd birthday party. Crazy. "They grow up too fast" is just one of those cliche lines that you always hear from people when you're pregnant or have a newborn. Kind of like "Your life is about to completely change" or "You'll never sleep again"...you just think "Yeah yeah yeah, I've heard it all". But man, it really does go by too fast. It's just not right!
One thing that I forgot to mention on my previous post and wanted to make sure I documented was something Hunter said on Christmas Eve. We went to a candlelight service at church that evening. Hunter hasn't really ever been around candles except for birthday parties, so when the candles were being lit he started saying "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday" over and over....and quite loud I might add, which stands out a little while Silent Night is being softly sung. :) So, it turned from just "Happy Birthday" to "Happy Birthday Andrew", "Happy Birthday Dada", "Happy Birthday Mama". AJ told him that it was Jesus' birthday and to say Happy Birthday Jesus. Which he did....repeatedly for almost the entire car ride home. Regardless, it was pretty stinkin' cute and made me smile thinking about the sweet innocence of children and the true meaning of Christmas.
He's getting much better with his colors. Everything used to be blue, but now he's saying the correct color of objects more and more - green apple, orange golf club (yes, he does have an orange golf club, he's not just making it up!! :) ), yellow school bus. He also can correctly identify about 8-10 letters, depending on his mood. Sometimes he'll get stuck in a rut and keep saying the previous letter over and over again so then we have to call it a day on practicing his letters. :) He can somewhat count to 13. I say somewhat because sometimes a couple of them get jumbled up in the middle, but he's doing a really great job.
He's moving right along with putting sentences together, even sometimes saying "I". The other day he said "I push the door dada" (he LOVES to push doors closed and still loves pushing buttons), which is by far the best sentence he's said so far. He also said "I want another" at dinner the other night. Still, most of the time it's more like "Hunter jacket on", "Hunter drink", "Hunter sit", "Maggie eat pood (food)", "open it please" (his manners are still fantastic). He's starting to get the hang of the fork and spoon more and more and claps for himself when he successfully gets the food on to the fork/spoon and into his mouth. So cute! He knows his last name is Johnson and says Hunter Johnson all together. The other day he even caught the football from a short distance about 6-8 times in a row! He's currently sleeping about 12-13 hours at night with an 1.5ish hour nap during the day.
He's such a sweet little boy and when he tells you he loves you out of the blue it just melts my heart!
One thing that I forgot to mention on my previous post and wanted to make sure I documented was something Hunter said on Christmas Eve. We went to a candlelight service at church that evening. Hunter hasn't really ever been around candles except for birthday parties, so when the candles were being lit he started saying "Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday" over and over....and quite loud I might add, which stands out a little while Silent Night is being softly sung. :) So, it turned from just "Happy Birthday" to "Happy Birthday Andrew", "Happy Birthday Dada", "Happy Birthday Mama". AJ told him that it was Jesus' birthday and to say Happy Birthday Jesus. Which he did....repeatedly for almost the entire car ride home. Regardless, it was pretty stinkin' cute and made me smile thinking about the sweet innocence of children and the true meaning of Christmas.
He's getting much better with his colors. Everything used to be blue, but now he's saying the correct color of objects more and more - green apple, orange golf club (yes, he does have an orange golf club, he's not just making it up!! :) ), yellow school bus. He also can correctly identify about 8-10 letters, depending on his mood. Sometimes he'll get stuck in a rut and keep saying the previous letter over and over again so then we have to call it a day on practicing his letters. :) He can somewhat count to 13. I say somewhat because sometimes a couple of them get jumbled up in the middle, but he's doing a really great job.
He's moving right along with putting sentences together, even sometimes saying "I". The other day he said "I push the door dada" (he LOVES to push doors closed and still loves pushing buttons), which is by far the best sentence he's said so far. He also said "I want another" at dinner the other night. Still, most of the time it's more like "Hunter jacket on", "Hunter drink", "Hunter sit", "Maggie eat pood (food)", "open it please" (his manners are still fantastic). He's starting to get the hang of the fork and spoon more and more and claps for himself when he successfully gets the food on to the fork/spoon and into his mouth. So cute! He knows his last name is Johnson and says Hunter Johnson all together. The other day he even caught the football from a short distance about 6-8 times in a row! He's currently sleeping about 12-13 hours at night with an 1.5ish hour nap during the day.
He's such a sweet little boy and when he tells you he loves you out of the blue it just melts my heart!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Negotiation - Toddler Style
Hunter LOVES Mickey Mouse and Elmo. He always asks to watch them but, of course, doesn't get to as much as he would like to. Somewhere along the line he's learned that persistence pays off though, because if I say no to Mickey, he'll go through the entire line of characters hoping that I'll eventually cave. The conversation goes a little something like this -
H: "Mickey, please"
Me: "Not right now, sweetie"
H: "Minnie Mouse"
Me: "No, Hunter"
H: "Goofy"
Me: "Maybe later"
H: "Duck"
Me: (starting to ignore him)
H: "Elmo"
and it continues...."Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Peeeeeeeease Mama."
He also picked up on one of the not-so-common Mickey Mouse characters while he got to watch whatever he wanted to in the car during our road trip. The older duck with the glasses named Professor Von Drake, or "Propessor Dake" as Hunter says. Sometimes he'll throw that one in there too because he knows it cracks me up every time. :)
H: "Mickey, please"
Me: "Not right now, sweetie"
H: "Minnie Mouse"
Me: "No, Hunter"
H: "Goofy"
Me: "Maybe later"
H: "Duck"
Me: (starting to ignore him)
H: "Elmo"
and it continues...."Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Peeeeeeeease Mama."
He also picked up on one of the not-so-common Mickey Mouse characters while he got to watch whatever he wanted to in the car during our road trip. The older duck with the glasses named Professor Von Drake, or "Propessor Dake" as Hunter says. Sometimes he'll throw that one in there too because he knows it cracks me up every time. :)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We spent Christmas morning here at home this year. Santa was very good to Hunter and Andrew. They woke up Christmas morning and opened their gifts and later on we hit to road to drive up to Indianapolis to see my family. This is the 3rd time we've driven. The first time was pre-baby and it took us 16 hours. Last year, Hunter was 8 months old and it took us 19 hours. This year it was about 17 1/2. Not too bad and Hunter really did great overall in the car. He had his moments, but heck, so did we! All I can say is thank goodness for the Volvo DVD system!
We arrived on the 26th and got to spend a couple of days hanging out with Aunt Mitty and Uncle Brian (and their doggie "Petch" -- translation: Fletch) before they jetted off to Florida for the new year. We spent some time with Grandma Hunter and other family members, and of course Hunter loved hanging out at Mimi and Papa's house (with their doggie "Fo-fee" -- Sophie).
Big milestone here - Hunter pee-peed in the big potty for the first time on 12/26! I'm not expecting this to become a regular thing, but he said he had to go and sure enough, he went! There was a bit of a mess involved, so I'll spare you the details. :) He has a Sesame Street potty seat that sits on top of the big potty here but all he does is sit there and point/name all of the characters. I think I'll need to get a plain one when we start full-blown potty training!
I was terrible at taking pictures once again, but here are few from the past couple of weeks.
Hunter's new playhouse:
Trying to get a good pic for our Christmas cards:
Opening his rocking chair from Mimi and Papa on Christmas Eve:
New Year's Eve dinner - here he is looking at pictures of himself on Mimi's phone:
Hunter, Daddy and Papa. It was actually quite balmy in Indy that night:
I have NO idea where he picked this up but think it is totally hilarious and still crack up when I watch it. I guess he's seen AJ doing push-ups before, but it is one of those things that the says/does out of the blue that make you realize how much he actually does pick up on! Such a little show-off. :)
We spent Christmas morning here at home this year. Santa was very good to Hunter and Andrew. They woke up Christmas morning and opened their gifts and later on we hit to road to drive up to Indianapolis to see my family. This is the 3rd time we've driven. The first time was pre-baby and it took us 16 hours. Last year, Hunter was 8 months old and it took us 19 hours. This year it was about 17 1/2. Not too bad and Hunter really did great overall in the car. He had his moments, but heck, so did we! All I can say is thank goodness for the Volvo DVD system!
We arrived on the 26th and got to spend a couple of days hanging out with Aunt Mitty and Uncle Brian (and their doggie "Petch" -- translation: Fletch) before they jetted off to Florida for the new year. We spent some time with Grandma Hunter and other family members, and of course Hunter loved hanging out at Mimi and Papa's house (with their doggie "Fo-fee" -- Sophie).
Big milestone here - Hunter pee-peed in the big potty for the first time on 12/26! I'm not expecting this to become a regular thing, but he said he had to go and sure enough, he went! There was a bit of a mess involved, so I'll spare you the details. :) He has a Sesame Street potty seat that sits on top of the big potty here but all he does is sit there and point/name all of the characters. I think I'll need to get a plain one when we start full-blown potty training!
I was terrible at taking pictures once again, but here are few from the past couple of weeks.
Hunter's new playhouse:
Trying to get a good pic for our Christmas cards:
Opening his rocking chair from Mimi and Papa on Christmas Eve:
New Year's Eve dinner - here he is looking at pictures of himself on Mimi's phone:
Hunter, Daddy and Papa. It was actually quite balmy in Indy that night:
I have NO idea where he picked this up but think it is totally hilarious and still crack up when I watch it. I guess he's seen AJ doing push-ups before, but it is one of those things that the says/does out of the blue that make you realize how much he actually does pick up on! Such a little show-off. :)Monday, December 13, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, November 29, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, November 15, 2010
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!!
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!!
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