Growing Boy!

Gage had his 18 month check-up a couple of days ago and I wanted to write about some of the things he is doing at this age. He is in the 20th percentile at 23lbs 5oz and 32.5in. Some fun facts:

- He is our wild child! He is in to everything and loves to climb. Bruises and scrapes are pretty normal around here...

- He still has his strawberry blonde hair, but it is becoming more blonde and less strawberry as it grows out and has to be cut. So sad to see the little red snippets in the sink. :(

- His talking is coming along. He is starting to mimic more and using more of his sounds, although he definitely still favors the "d" sound. He uses a lot of inflection in his words which is great. Words and phrases he is saying now: uh-oh (this was his 1st word), mama, dada, sister (dit-tah), bye-bye (dah-dye!), all done, what's that, cheese, cracker, up, down, Addie (Add-oe), thank you (aye-oo), moon, star, toothbrush (ooo-buh), we're home (weh-hoe), more, no (which is basically nuh-uh while emphatically shaking his head), Nolan (Nolo), Emily (Mem), Papa, Grandmama (ahmama), dog, quack-quack, yo ho ho, bird, water, tree, truck, stairs (steh), shoes (soos), and the list goes on.

- He will gently tap tap tap your arm when he wants your attention.

- He loves Sesame Street, especially Elmo. He started calling it "Aldo", which progressed to "Almo", which is now Elmo. :)

- He is so stubborn! I asked Cam this morning where he thought all his stubborness comes from, and he just looked at me like, "Really?..." and laughed. Ok, so I guess from me... He likes to disagree just for the sake of being able to say "nuh-uh", little stinker. Teaching him to say "thank you" and to come when we ask him to are ongoing battles in our house.

- He loves to do anything and everything his sister does including "playing" Lego Star Wars on the Playstation with an unconnected controller. :) They get along so well for the most part and are both very loving and protective toward the other.

- Dancing and listening to music are his favorite! He claps and spins in circles and just laughs. His favorite CD is the soundtrack to Jake and the Neverland Pirates from Disney Jr. and in true pirate form he belts out, "Yohoho!" whenever it plays.

- He is sleeping about 12 hours at night and takes about a 2 hour nap each afternoon. We LOVE what a good sleeper he is. His favorite lovey is a blue elephant that plays a lullaby when you pull the tail.

- He will eat just about anything you feed him, but his faves are fruit, cheese, macaroni, and CRACKERS! He says the word "cracker" perfectly, with pathetic longing in his voice. Gage would marry crackers if he could.

- He is learning his body parts and loves to point out and say eyes, ear, nose, mouth, hair, toes, tummy, and belly button.

- Even though he is our little wildman, he has a gentle spirit and loves to snuggle and give hugs and kisses (big, slobbery, open mouth ones).



Star Wars Birthday Party!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away....

A girl of destiny was born. The Jedi Council named her Adelyn. She was the Chosen One. In the five years that have followed her birth, she has been learning the powers of the Force. Come celebrate our young padawan's 5th birthday with us!

At least, that's what the sign on our front door said on Sunday. We had a small family birthday party for Addie's 5th birthday at our house with a Star Wars theme, because, most 5 year old girls are into Jedi and lightsabers. The cool ones, anyway. :-)



Yoda brought his scotch, so he was ready to party...

There was some pizza eating, lightsaber sparring, cake and ice cream gobbling, and of course gift opening!



Who doesn't want a cake with Darth and Luke battling it out?

The birthday girl (with our version of Princess Leia hair) and Gage wearing their party shirts. Gage's has Chewbacca wearing sunglasses on it!

  

  

  

  



A little playtime with the new action figures from the top of the cake. She was ready to take them off to play as soon as she saw them!

   

Ain't that the truth?



Uncle Matt does it again! He always brings the "it" gift. Star Wars Operation in this case.

  



Another fave. R2D2 backpack. It's almost as big as she is, but so fun! She loved it so much, she took to carrying it around like...



a baby!



 And for the final gift of the day, a special scavenger hunt surprise from Mommy and Daddy...

Looking for a clue in the pantry...



There were 4 clues, each written in the "voice" of a Star Wars character- Yoda, Princess Leia, R2D2 & C3P0, and Darth Vader. Each clue was actually a puzzle piece; she is putting them together in the picture above. And once she had the puzzle all done, we flipped it over to reveal...



We're going to Disneyland!
We have been planning this trip for such a long time, it was so hard to keep it a secret from her! We will be at Disneyland on the date of her actual birthday and we have some fun stuff planned, so stay tuned!

Happy 5th Birthday to our little Boog! We love you so much!

Easter Egg Fun!

Today we went to an Easter egg hunt put on by the city and the pics are too cute not to share!

 "So...What am I supposed to be doing?"

 Gage was unsure how to proceed with the egg "finding" (they were just scattered all over the softball field, so not much actual hunting was to be had) so he just stood there for the first few minutes. One of the city employees held out a few eggs for him which he took and tentatively placed in his bucket while staring at her suspiciously...

 And, when almost all of the eggs were picked up, the lightbulb went on and he ran to get one of his own, snatching it right before this little girl could grab it. I did feel sad for her, but mostly triumphant for Gage. :)

 Checking out his loot. Fruit snacks!

About 20 minutes after the 2 & under hunt, it was time for the 3-4 year olds. Here are Addie and her cousin Daphne waiting for the Easter bunny to say, "Go!" 

 Addie did not have any hesitation in running straight for the eggs. It was hilarious watching her scramble around. She had so much fun!

 So proud of her finds!

"I would much rather eat this plastic egg than the fruit snacks inside, thank you very much." 

Yeah, so we are totally those parents who made our kid take the picture with the creepy adult size bunny. Clearly, Gage enjoyed every second... Hopefully he is not traumatized for life now.

Here he is clinging desperately to my leg after his mean daddy subjected him to the evil bunny...

How can you resist that little face? Love him!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter tomorrow! He is risen!

Adventure Pack

The other night before bed, Addie came out of her room dressed in full adventure gear headed for the garage door. She let us know she was headed out on an adventure. As in, she was literally going to leave the house. After a serious talk that was honestly a little heartbreaking, she now (hopefully) understands that it is not ok to leave the house without mommy or daddy. Some of her protests, "But real superheroes go on adventures outside, not pretend ones." "I want to be a real superhero. They don't just pretend, they go by themselves!" Oh, it was terrifying and sad at the same time. You could just hear the desperation in her little pleas to go on a "real" adventure. After we got through that little discussion and came down off our nervous adrenaline rush, we could appreciate the cuteness of the adventure pack. See below.

On the left, her adventure outfit. Star Wars shirt, boots, and "utility" belt.
On the right, the gear she had in her adventure pack.
1) A notebook and pen - "In case anyone is hurt, I can write down what's wrong with them."
2) Umbrella
3) Water shoes
4) Mittens
5) Flashlight
6) Mini "lightsaber" - "For fighting bad guys"
7) Book - "In case anyone wants me to read them a story."

I will so miss the day when she does not have this imagination.

Nolan Patrick Dickman

Happy 1 week birthday to my brand new nephew, Nolan Patrick Dickman. He made his arrival on March 1st, 2012 at 7:38 am. Our lanky new addition weighed in at 9lbs 4oz and 21.75 inches long.

He was in a hurry to get here and did not wait for his Auntie and Grammy to get to the hospital in time for his birth, missing it by only 10 minutes. I can't stay mad at his cute squishiness, so he is forgiven. :)

Welcome to the world, little man! Much love to Erica, Trevor, Emily, and Nolan!

They say it's your birthday!

This is Eggy (and Addie in her sweet leopard print pjs).

Today, Eggy turned 4. So naturally...

We had a party, complete with Play-Doh birthday cake. As you can see, all of our favorite Snuggy friends were invited. I love 4 year olds. 

Laughing at nothing in particular...

Sorry about the quality, is from a video message!