Self commentary...

When Landon watched Kari writing the "Chugga" post and saw the movie of himself, he said, "oh, Etti dance."



I also wanted to include this picture of the bubble gun from Easter at Z's .

Easter Day

LT woke up Easter morning to his first Easter Basket (well second or third depending on when you start counting.). His "grandma" easter bunny came a week early and I am sure he had one or two last year from various easter bunnies, but this was his first one that he opened by himself on Easter morning. From the look on his face, I think he likes this concept of the Easter bunny. Unfortunately, he's not old enough to understand that it is only filled by the bunny once a year and everytime he sees the basket he asks for toys.
Admiring his new stickers. The bunny brought him some stickers and a book, poor deprived kid got no candy this year.
Until... Uncle Steve and Aunt Madeleine came over. I knew Mad loves Peeps and so we bought her a pack. LT saw the package and had to open it and have one the night before, so Madeleine got an opened pack, she didn't seem to mind. This is LT enjoying his second peep (only takes a bite before being done each time) on Uncle Steve's lap. We had a nice relaxed brunch with Uncle Steve and Aunt Madeleine and then a long afternoon nap before heading to Z's house for a big easter party!
LT showing mom what he found in the plastic egg during the easter egg hunt.
Dylan trying to open the egg he found.
LT trying not to bump his head while getting an egg hidden under the table.
Shawn had the table set for easter egg dying, always a big hit. LT usually likes to just put his whole hand in the dye, but this time he did pretty well helping me put the egg in the dye.
Probably the biggest hit (and most fought over) toy at the party was the bubble gun.
LT trying to catch the bubbles, while also avoiding getting them in his eyes.
Z laughing, of course, at the bubbles attacking him.
Dylan found a nice comfy octopus chair to relax in during the chaos of the bubbles.And, like any two boys would, Z and LT each found a broom at the end of the party to help clean up!

Chugga

LT, like many other little boys his age, really loves Thomas the Tank (Percy, James and Gordon too). He also loves his music class, in fact he asks for it almost everyday, and definitely knows where the building that the class is held is when we drive or walk past. The class is organized into "semesters" and each semester comes with a new CD of songs. By the time a new semester comes, both Brian and I are eagerly awaiting the new songs because that is all we are able to listen to in the car when LT is with us. Luckily, the music is pretty good. None of us know the new songs when the semester begins and so we listen to it to learn the lyrics quickly. This semester there is a train song, which, once found, is frequently asked to be played on repeat (and unfortunately it is very short). This video is from one of the first times we listened to the CD and, as you can see, he quickly puts together the lyrics of the train song and his Thomas trains. I will translate below what he is saying because the video isn't very good. The song isn't very clear on this video either, but it basically says "Chugga choo choo" over and over again with train sounds and whistles.




"Train song"
"CD"
"Oh, Chugga, trains, chugga"
"chugga, house, chugga, trains"
"Percy, oh two Percy's"
"Choo Choo"

Elmo Doo-Doo

LT is pretty much obsessed with Elmo and Big Bird (doo doo). Shawn and I saw that Sesame Street Live, Elmo's Green Thumb, was coming coming to Denver and so we decided to take the boys. I have no idea how old I was, but one of my earliest memories was going to Sesame St. Live with my family. I am not sure if I truly remember it, or if I have seen the pictures so many times that I feel like its a clear memory, but regardless I wanted LT to experience the same enjoyment. I was slightly worried about taking an almost 2 year old to sit through a 90 minute show. However, we decided to go ahead and risk it.

LT and dad walking to the show, LT proudly holding the tickets.

We got to our seats and LT settled right in. He didn't budge a bit during the entire show, clapping, smiling and watching his favorite characters intently.
Having a snack during the show.
Halfway through they show, they had a 15 minute intermission. We took LT and Z down by the stage to a big area where they could run around a bit.
Z brought some cars, of course, and the boys enjoyed driving them around the open space.



With the dark lighting and sporadic clapping, it was difficult to capture LTs adorable clapping and excitment, but this was the best video we got. He clapped when everyone clapped, often times cheering as well!
And, of course, mom needed an emergency stop for ice cream on the way home, but LT enjoyed it just as much!

LT's new....

For those of you who are blog followers, we found out today what we will be having. If you ask LT, he finally answers us and says, "baby sista", but he's wrong! LT is going to have a baby brother. We are all really excited!!!

LT-isms

Brian and I couldn't stop laughing yesterday at all the funny, cute, intuitive things LT was saying to us. I had a hard time while Bri was at work not telling him everything LT was saying, and so I would IM him cute quotes throughout the day from LT. I am sure Brian got annoyed with me, but then once he got home, the roles switched. I was trying to work upstairs while he played with LT. Bri ended up doing the same thing and IMd me every few minutes, from downstairs, something cute LT said. Of course we can't remember them all already... Every time we turned around we were shocked by what he was saying. Of course, writing them down never does it justice, you just can't reproduce his sweet little voice and adorable 2 year old "accent". However, we will do our best to give you the gist of some of the funny things LT has been saying lately (any of you who have small children or have grown children could probably list many many funny lines from your kids as well, this age is just too cute). As most parents, Brian and I understand much more of what LT is actually saying than others do, so I will write these as phoenetically as I can straight from LT and then translate for all of you :)
-Yesterday, I asked LT if he was poopy, he replied, "Etti, no poopy, Hay, faaat" (LT isn't poopy, Hailie farted!) Already blaming the dog.
-During a haircut (by mom!), he said, "kippers feel yunny" (clippers feel funny).
-We came home to find his elmo backpack destroyed in the backyard, his response, "Oh man, Bone bake it, Elmo pack pack boken" (Oh man! Bowen break it, Elmo backpack broken). The best part was he proceeded to pick it all up from the backyard and throw it away, never once upset. Then he came in and said, "mama, new elmo pack pack?"
-At dinner last night, Brian and I were talking about how all the little kids are sick, LT replied, "sosi, no sintins, Z, no sintins" (Sofi, no symptoms, Zack no symptoms). I think he's ready to get back to playing with his buddies!
-LT likes to help cook by getting his "white stoo" (white stool) and watching. He, knock on wood, has been good about not touching the burner if we tell him its hot. While making eggs, LT looked in the pan and said, "oh, eggs! chicken in?"
-Brian and I are taking LT down to Phoenix next week to relax by the pool, the last time I took him swimming, he wasn't very happy. I heard there was a great pool in our neighborhood and wanted to try out swimming with him (for those of you who live in our neighborhood, the Ashland rec center has a great little kid pool!). I said, "LT do you want to go swimming" (not thinking he would even remember what it was.) He said, "Yup (common answer to most things), simming in waba" (swimming in water). I then said, "OK, we have to put on your swim diapie". He said, "Oh neat! Nemo diap, simming in Nemo diap, Etti, waba, yep, etti simming nemo diap, waba, oh neat!, yep, yep yep". (Oh neat, nemo diaper!, swimming in nemo diaper, LT water...) I am still pretty sure that he was more excited about wearing the nemo diaper than the actual swimming, but he was a good sport about it and had some fun.
-This morning, LT was taking the vacuum apart and was holding the cover to the dust bag. I said, "LT that is gross, can we put it back?" He said, "Nope, I yike (like) it!"
-We find out tomorrow whether LT will have a little brother or sister. For the past 2 months we have been asking him regularly whether he is going to have a brother or a sister, a sister or a brother, whether the baby is a boy or a girl or a girl or a boy. LT is very consistent that it is just a "yep, baby". He, at least daily, sometimes hourly, lifts up my shirt to give the baby a hug and a kiss, sometimes to feed it also. While he doesn't fully understand the implications of actually having a new brother or sister, he definitely is pretty cute about it right now and excited. He also LOVES babies. Especially Ofelia (Sofi's sister).
Some of Brian's and my favorite things he says are:
crackcoons (racoons)
yeyo bus (yellow bus)
yotion (lotion)
The word that he says the most often, yet leaves both Brian and I befuddled, is "sopping". He says it about 10 times a day, in all different contexts. He has said it while looking for food, playing in the backyard, during music class, driving in the car, playing Thomas trains... just about everywhere. Anyone, anyone, any ideas as to what this might mean? We have been looking for patterns, but there just isn't one. He doesn't seem to be frustrated that we don't understand, but I sure wish I knew what it meant!

Little helper

Before too long, LT will be giving up his room to the new baby. Don't worry about him though, his new room will be bigger, have more widows and even a nice little balcony.

If LT's new room sounds a lot like my office, that's because it is my office and I'm getting evicted in a few months. The way I see it, I've basically got three choices,

1) Actually going into the office every single day. M-F. All year.

Clearly that's not going to work.

2) Move my office into the currently unfinished basement.

Kari calls it 'the dungeon' although compared to our old house, it's a freaking paradise. The crawlspace of the old house earned the well deserved nickname of "spidey hole" with the not to code and probably not even legal hole that had been haphazardly dug out from under the existing structure. The new basement is really pretty nice, as unfinished basements go, and I could probably manage just fine with my office down there. However, it is a little too reminiscent of something I might have done in high school. Now that I'm a father and all, I feel like I should do things in a little more proper and acceptable manner (sometime ask Kari about my newspaper window shades). So that leaves us with...

3) Finish the basement and move my office down there. We'd also get a nice play/family room, another bathroom and a legitimate guest room. So after some serious stressing out over the decision (because that's what I do) we've decided to finish the basement*.


We have to get everything out of the basement before the work begins and yesterday morning LT gave me a hand while Kari was at yoga. For some reason he was really into the bumbo chair, which had been in storage for many months, which is supposed to be only for little babies who are just learning to sit up on their own. He was never a big fan of it when he was the appropriate age for it but he sure had fun with it yesterday. Somehow though, I don't think the chair's designers intended it to be used by a kid that could pick it up and carry it all the way across the house in order to have a nice seat for playing with his trains.




LT was also a big help by going through the mail while I carried stuff up from the basement. He opened some of it (I think that's a felony, son) and filed the rest inside the window shades.



* And by saying we are going to finish the basement, what I really mean is that we are going to hire someone else to do the work. Had my grandfather said those same words, the actual meaning would have been very very different. He built the house my dad grew up in with his own hands. I installed a towel rack once and even fixed a leaky swamp cooler but that's about the extent of my handyman skills. I often lament that I don't have the same ability to create real real physical things of quality like my grandfather. I write computer programs and lately I don't even do much of that. I spend more time thinking about how to write computer programs and telling other people how to actually do it. While there is some value in that, it can feel very abstract compared to the act of physical construction.

Tough guy?

Easter Part 1

My parents went back east to visit my grandparents for Easter and so we all celebrated a week early with a really nice dinner. Grandma and Papa were very cute and had a little plastic easter egg hunt set up for LT in the basement. LT was very excited about it and carried the basket down the stairs. He found the first egg, and that was it. He was on to other things, like riding the Thomas train (always a favorite of his and my parents).
After the Thomas riding excitement wore off we helped him look for more eggs and he was interested again for a few minutes opening them (mom had filled them with coins, another favorite!)
They also "hid" a few little toys, like a motorized "Percy", which LT still plays with daily.
And... finally, an excellent dinner. LTs salad was specially prepared to look like a dog or a rabbit, depending on how one's artistic eye sees things. Needless to say, it was very cute and LT gobbled it right up. The salad course was followed by a ham, quiche, sweet potatoes, fruit, cheese and best of all a delicious apple cake! Neither Brian or I remember LT falling asleep in the car at night in over a year, possibly since he was less than 4 months, but he must have been in a food coma because not long after we got on the highway to head home, he was passed out in his carseat. It was a great start to the Easter holiday!

Plastic Paradise

Recently a new branch of "Monkey Business", or what I call plastic paradise, opened in Denver. I have to admit that its not my favorite place, but LT loves it and it wears him out. Its basically a big room full of plastic outdoor toys, with a bouncy area and a few other assorted kids play things. Last week we went with several of LTs little buddies and when I asked him who he thought he would see at Monkey Business, he replied, "MONKEYS!!!! FISHIES!!!!" The monkey part makes sense, not sure about the fishy part, but those two always go hand in hand for some reason.
From about 6 months, LT has loved opening and closing gates and doors. His passion for this still remains and, it just so happens that much of plastic paradise is filled with little houses with doors to go in and out of. LT spends most of his time doing this there.

And... of course, it wouldn't be a morning without having to stop for "sacks" (snacks) several times from his "elmo backpack".

Playing in the sink

One of LT's favorite activities and a top cause for needing a change of clothes.