Excuses and Other Stories

There hasn't been much posting going on in the past few months. In November we decided to build a house and had to make a million decisions about that. Then came Christmas and Grant-being-sick-no-one-sleeping, then our computer caught some nasty malware and was out of commission for about a month. Also during this time we started to try to get our house ready to sell, all while I was having morning sickness and absolutely exhausted. So all of that means no blogging. But I have lots of cute Grant stories if I can remember them.

Troy usually shaves at night so Grant rarely sees him do it. One night Troy shaved before Grant went to bed and he was fascinated. Later that week Grant picked up the stud finder Troy had been using and put it up to his cheek and said he was shaving. He also was fascinated with Troy's stubbly face one night, staring intently and carefully touching it. He finally said "Daddy iron?" Um, well Daddy needs to shave...

Grant has started reading books to us and he does a remarkable job. We'll only read a book a few times and he'll say the lines on the correct page. We've been reading a big brother book and it's funny to hear him say "pizza, apples and ice cream" "special" and "big brother" at all the right times. This book has a line about the big brother singing a song to the baby and at one reading Grant started singing twinkle twinkle. One day in the car he randomly started saying "down down down goes the trash." It took me a minute to realize he was saying a line from Trashy Town.

One night I was getting Grant ready for bed and he patted by chest and said "Baby in there?" It was really hard not to laugh at him.

One morning Grant woke up and we were too tired to get up yet so we brought him into bed with us. Out of nowhere he goes right up to Troy's face and in a high pitched voice said "tickle tickle!"

He is very much 2 now. He has a fit if you don't give him the snack/drink he wants. He doesn't want to ride in the stroller anymore, he wants to push it. We were in a store over the weekend and he kept trying to touch some nasty black gum stuck in the carpet. When I made him stop he laid down on the floor and had a total tantrum. Fun times.

Troy was working on putting up some drywall in his closet while Grant was in the hall "cleaning" with the broom. After answering Grant's "Daddy Daddy!" Troy stopped answering. Grant decided to have his own conversation with Daddy which went like this: "Daddy. Yes Buddy. I cleaning!" Cracks me up that he said yes buddy just like Troy would have.

Since we've been busy getting the house ready, Grant has gotten to watch a lot more tv lately. One night he woke up crying and when I went in he half asleep said in a sad voice "Watch show!" Troy had to go in a few hours later and Grant said the same thing. The boy likes his shows, the favorites being Wonder Pets and Sesame Street. He also likes Clifford, Jack's Big Music Show and Bunnies (which means Max and Ruby).

Grant has really been in to singing. He especially loves the ABC song, but Wheels on the Bus is a close second. He'll also sing twinkle twinkle, itsy bitsy spider, and the Wonder Pets theme song. He went to a new sitter this week and she said he loved it when they sang songs.

When we go to look at the new house we pass by an area where there is road construction and lots of construction equipment. We get to a certain part of the drive and Grant thinks we're going to see the "i'm dirty's" (backhoe loader from I'm Dirty) He gets so excited when we see them all lined up along the road and he always asks to see another one.

Grant is still super polite. The new sitter commented on it. He rarely says please, but he always is saying thank you and no thank you, sometimes at the funniest times. Such as- Let's put on your shoes Grant, and he says no thank you and walks away.

I'm sure there are tons of other stories I wanted to post. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Jedi in Training?

Big Boy!

Grant had is 2 year check up today. He is 36 3/4 inches tall (95%) and weighs 30 pounds (85%). The highest he had ever weighed before this was 40%. That's a huge jump in 6 months! Guess I don't need to be concerned if he only eats grapes and strawberries for lunch again. :)

2 Years Old!

It's hard to believe, but Grant is 2 today! We'd been talking to him a little bit about his birthday the past few days, and every time we would mention it he would get a big cheesy grin on his face. Yesterday at the sitter's he opened a couple presents and was SO excited. He wasn't there in the morning so the girls made him brownies, which they had for their snack after nap. The sitter said he was so excited and happy all day. This morning when we got him up we told him we were going to go get pancakes. He pretty much only said "birthday" and "pancake" the entire way to First Watch. Oh, and "birthday song again" when I started singing "Happy Birthday" (I sang that song many many times today, but it was worth it because he grins his cheesy grin each time). He ate a ton of pancakes and was the best he's been in a restaurant in a long time. We then went to COSI to play. Grant watched rats play basketball, spent a lot of time ringing the doorbells and painting the houses, drove the ambulance (and had some sharing issues with the ambulance), and played at the water table for a long time. We checked out some of the bigger kid areas- played with the hot air balloons, went to the ocean area, and did the slide and tunnel in grossology. After nap Grant opened his presents. He especially loved the mooing cow flashlight. We played with the new blocks, did the new puzzles, colored in the coloring book (he actually made me read the coloring book, and it had no words) and just played. All was fine until Troy put on the Wonder Pets, then turned it off after 30 seconds so Grant would talk to Grandma and Grandpa over video. Grant was NOT happy. He wanted to watch his show. Plus he was hungry. But after some Wonder Pets and food he was happy again and got to video with G and PawPaw, Jared and Jill, and Adam for a second time. I will probably add some pictures tomorrow.
-Our computer has ha d a horrible nasty virus for a while, therefore no blogging. I doubt I'm going to go back and catch up, but maybe I'll do some pictures. We'll see.

Potty Time!

Grant has shown some interest in using the potty for a little while now, so we finally got him his own over the weekend. When we brought it in and showed it to him he just stood there with a big grin on his face. He was very excited. He is also very excited to sit on the potty, though he only sits for about 2 seconds, then gets up to see if there is anything in there. The exciting news is that twice over the weekend there was something in the potty when he got up! We haven’t had any luck since, but he sure likes to sit on it. (He also wants to have all his clothes off when he sits on it.)

Grant has figured out that “timeout” is a punishment for doing something bad. Every time we tell him no or to stop doing something he says “Timeout? Timeout?” over and over. Once we asked him if he wanted a timeout and he said yes all excited. He started saying this after a day at the sitter’s so I asked her if Grant had gotten a timeout. She said no, but one of the girls has had timeout before, and the girls pretend to put their dolls in timeout. He must have just made the connection now.

Grant is turning into quite the little jabbermouth. Especially in the evenings, he gets to talking and does not stop. One night I brought a pizza home after work and Grant sat at the table with us while we ate and I think he talked the entire time he sat there. He must get it from his dad. J

On Sunday Grant and I were playing “nite nite” on our bed when he (accidentally) gave me a hard kick right to the nose. I thought he broke it, it hurt so bad, and I cried. Troy was in the shower and when he got out he told Grant to tell me sorry. This must have made an impression on Grant because he frequently looks at me and says sweetly “sorry Mommy,” even days later. He’s starting to make me feel bad!

Grant has started to say “excuse me” when someone/something is in his way. He says it to us when we have our feet on the ottoman or he wants to get around us, but my favorite is when he says it to things. The other day we were in the bathroom with the door partially closed and he stood at the door saying “excuse me, excuse me” trying to get through the crack without actually opening the door up himself.

Grant the Artist and Other Stories

One of these days I will post about Christmas....

-Grant discovered the pockets in his pants the other day. He tried so hard to get his hands in, and needed a little help from Mommy. He ends up pulling his pants down a little while he does it, it's really funny.

-On my day off I made Grant a fort with a blanket, but he kept calling it a fork. Just like he calls his paintbrush a toothbrush.

-We've put Grant on the potty a few times. We really need to get him his own little potty. He hasn't gone yet, but he keeps asking to "go potty" so maybe it will click one of these days.

-For Christmas Grant got an art easel and some art supplies. He loves to use the watercolor paints. And his favorite color to use? White. Hmm, doesn't show up on the white paper. Second favorite color? Brown.

-I've had to brush the snow off my car almost every day this week. When I use the windshield wipers to get the last of it, Grant always says "Bye snow!" I sure wish the snow would go away!

Catching Up

22 months- I haven't been posting these monthly pictures lately because he just won't be still long enough for us to get a decent one. This was the second attempt. Look how big he looks!

Grant took an interest in what he was wearing for the first time the other day. He refused to let me put on the shirt I picked out, put it away, and got out his dinosaur shirt. He then wanted to put on his "Buckeye pants" which are the above 1 piece pajamas. I think I may have to do some fashion training...

Last Christmas Grant got a nativity set. We got it out for the first time and he loves to play with it. He especially loves the angel and baby Jesus. He is always putting the baby in the stable for a nap.

Grant is still in love with Elmo. I brought home an Elmo/Sesame Street pop-up book and he thought it was pretty cool.

This is my favorite picture. Here is Grant in front of the tree giving baby Jesus a kiss.

Troy found Grant watching tv like this one day. I love the crossed legs, arm slung over the arm of the couch look he's got going on.

We took Grant out to explore all the tons of snow we got this weekend. In the bottom picture he's clapping.

Grant is starting to learn his letters and numbers. He almost always can identify R, O, and 8. He usually can get S and U. Sometimes he gets G and K. When he counts he either says 1, 2, 3 or 8, 9, 10. Those middle numbers are tricky. When he sings the ABC song he starts at Q, R, S and skips to "double x... now I know" but he sings the right tune. He also sings Wheels on the Bus as "bus round and round...all town." He is saying new things all the time. The latest additions are excuse me, bless you and hungry. Oh and dotcom. I couldn't figure out where he learned that until I heard the Garmin commercial today and then I heard him say it. I think Daddy must have the tv on too often. :)

Grant is starting to get in to dinosaurs. He gets excited about his dinosaur shirt and the dinosaur books we have. And he can say dinosaur, which I think is his longest word so far.

Elmo and Brutus have a new friend- Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets. Grant got Ming Ming last Christmas, but he just saw the show recently and made the connection with the stuffed animal. Last week Ming Ming was the first to sleep in his bed, but he stayed awake for 1.5 hours 2 nights in a row. Mommy didn't let Ming Ming sleep in the bed and he went to sleep much more quickly. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Ming Ming might be a bad influence.

One last random tidbit while I'm actually blogging. We bought Grant some white Hanes undershirts, which Troy wears all the time. When we showed Grant and put one on him he called it Daddy's shirt. And that's what he always calls them now.