Jay's First Fishing Trip!

Kissing monkey goodnight after his bath tonight. He loves his new hat....so funny.

Random pics from last week:

Pushing the cart for Daddy around Fresh Market.

I'm not sure what this is about...

His artwork from school....he saw me hammering the nails in and had to do the same with his own hammer....

He and Truman grocery shopping at Edventure.

Pics from the fishing trip!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Ross' in Tifton and then the boys, Carrie, and Mama Ross went to Florida fishing while I spend a few days with Mom. Jay had so much fun (so I'm told) and loved riding on the boat. He just learned to say "boat" last week, just in time for the trip! They said he liked watching the fish but wouldn't get close enough to touch them....at least for now. :) He also likes playing with the fishing lures but doesn't understand why he can't play with the ones with the shiny hooks. As you can see in the pictures, he loved it...especially driving the boat!

Mom and I had a good time visiting and shopping....I was so excited to shop all afternoon without a demanding toddler on my hip! Even though she knew I wasn't bringing Jay with me she kept saying, "I can't believe you didn't bring my baby!" all day. I think it was the first time since I've had him that I went to Valdosta alone so it felt like old times...we even went out to dinner and ate an entire meal uninterrupted!

Jay is going to see Santa this week and I'm a little worried that he will freak out. He sat with Santa at Bass Pro last week but wasn't happy about it. I'm hoping that after he sees the other kids at the zoo sitting on Santa's lap and smiling, he will realize it is ok. We have been talking about Santa all week trying to get him ready. He loves saying, "Ho Ho Ho!" and yells it every time he sees a picture or statue of Santa. Maybe I'll get at least one cute picture out of it!

Here are the rest of the fishing pictures.

Cousins....trying to come inside for more cherrios. I promise we didn't starve them!

Trip to Athens

Here he is tickling sweet Jack... I think Michael is a little overwhelmed with two!

Jay is helping Cristen burp Jack....he thought it was pretty fun beating the baby and not getting fussed at! I think Jack is confused about the game though. :)

Loving on the Rogers' dog, Gus....

Our boys swinging!

My favorite!! Sweet, germ-infested, toddler kisses for little baby Jack!

Talking...

Exploring UGA campus with Daddy.

Checking out the fishpond.

Smelling flowers.

he spent the majority of our time there chasing squirrels....he couldn't understand why they kept getting away.

I have some pictures of our short trip over to Athens to play with Jack, Michael and Cristen's 6 month old. He was precious....I forgot how sweet and easy to entertain they are at that age. And Jack, especially, was so laid back and adorable. I was so nervous the whole time though just waiting for jay to walk over and hit him or throw something at him. Jay was as gentle as I could hope for, with only a few close calls, and had a great time playing "babysitter" when we would let him.

Jay is still a wild man every day and I do my best to get him out of the house in the mornings. Even it is just to the park, it gives him time to run around and be crazy so that he is content to hang around the house in the afternoon. He is still loving "school" and probably would rather me just take him there every day so he can be with his friends. They sent me home with a stack of "artwork" the other day and I almost teared up....it was so cute. I am going to hang them up in his playroom so he can marvel at his artistic abilities.

I have lost count of how many words he says...everyday he just repeats what I say. Some words stick and others we have to work at a little more. Some of the new words that he says over and over are "rice", "tractor", "socks", "bath", "fish sticks", "firetruck", "balloon" and "slide". He tries so hard to say "gorilla" but just can't seem to make it happen. When I say a long word that he can't repeat, he just says, "dat dat dat" for however many syllables the word has and does it so confidently that I am almost convinced he said it right. He says "bye-bye!" to literally everything....book, toys, trash, car, bathtub, grocery store, tree, dirt, clothes, etc. If I have to get him to move on that is a sure way to get him to cooperate. I just say, "tell the slide bye!" and he gets so excited about saying it that he forgets about not wanting to stop. It is a little embarrassing though to say bye to every item in the grocery store. Who knows what people think about me until they see that I am just trying to appease my toddler.

The other day he found his toolbench that we had put up for Christmas in the garage. I heard him banging on something and ran out to find him "working"....he also repeats a few words with me.

Giraffe and "Kitty"

Here are my pictures from halloween. It was a fight to get him dressed since he adamately refused his costume. We had to walk to katie's house so she could convince him that he needed to wear it. After he wouldn't say "trick or treat" I just told him to say "please" when we knocked on the door and, of course, no one could turn him down. Maybe next year he will see that Halloween is supposed to be fun. :) Best friends..... and partners in the great escape from dangerous toddlers. Playing with Kitty...which I guess will be her official name since Jay can say that-and it would completely confuse him if we started calling her something else at this point.

Happy to be walking around after supper.

Trick or Treat!!! (playing with our neighbor's dog)

A little confused...

He went to 5 houses and then was "done!" has he exclaimed while pulling off his costume.

The first time he put it on, he thought it was so funny.

Watching Wes with the power tools.

Jay's new word... :)