Bless Me, Father, For I Have Crunched

Hi! I don't have much time, because I have not been such a good sleeper the last couple of days, and I need to get back in bed before Mommy catches me. But I have two interesting things to tell everyone. One is that I had breakfast at church yesterday! Since we were all awake, we went to the very first Mass of the day -- the one with all the old ladies who think I am so cute. And I ate my cheerios in the confessional! It's this really interesting room at the back of the church that I found when I was exploring. Usually when we get there, we walk around to say hi to my friends -- Baby Jesus, St. Anthony, John Paul, and of course Mary. The big Mary, not my little Mary. I kiss her and give her a high-five. And I touch the candles that are really prayers. I don't really understand but I LOVE them. And then usually when I see the priest with the big cross I start running down the aisle and I say "CROSS!" really loud so the priest knows I am there and paying attention. I also make sure to say "AMEN!" really loud after we say Our Father. In case God has trouble hearing me.

Anyway, I was having trouble sitting still so Mom let me wander and I found this awesome little room with a chair and a lamp and a picture of Jesus and a climber! Mom said it was a kneeler but I think I know a climber when I see one. Anyway, I was so interested that I sat on the chair right under Jesus had all my cheerios there, and a cup of milk too. Mom just kind of sighed and said it was ok, because He always likes company. We don't have pictures though, because we were in church.

But, the other thing is that Mom got me the most amazing book of all time. It's called "TRUCKS." And it's about trucks. It has every truck in the world. We read it over and over. Probably at least 17 times a day. And that's just in the morning.


When we get to the tractor, I shout, "VROOM VROOM!" And when we get to the dump truck, I bellow, "DUMP!" And when we get to the garbage truck I vibrate and shriek "GA-BA-TA!" That means garbage truck. It's my FAVORITE.

I love my truck book. And my dad.

I Love Aunt Hannah

Hi! I am sneaking out of bed to blog because Mommy has been so busy she couldn't blog. She has been at work a lot and putting lots of our stuff in boxes. I don't know why, and it is starting to make me a little nervous. Like, what if she tries to put my dump truck and trains in a box? I guess I will just have to hide them first. I am really good at hiding things, you know. Anyway, Aunt Hannah came over to play tonight, and said I could sneak out and blog with her! Also she said Grandma Robbie really needs to see a new picture of me or she will be sad. I think my Granny would be sad too. And I don't want ANYONE TO BE SAD! So here I am! Not sleeping! Blogging! I gave her and Uncle John lots of kisses. And hugs. And Patches did too!


And I even took a bath with Aunt Hannah. Well, not WITH her. But I let her hang out with me while I did my bath. It's not every day she gets to see such a cute baby, you know, so I wanted her to have the full experience of me, in all my glory. Here are some recent shampoo horns, just in case you missed them.

Here are my horns from the back:

Wonderful Weekend

Hi everyone! Guess what? One, I learned to climb on the stuff at the park. (I figured it out -- if you just stand and look at it long enough, it starts to make sense and then you know what to do with your legs and stuff.) And I learned how to go through tunnels. And say tunnel.



Ok, that's three things. But there's one more thing. A person, really -- AUNT KELLY! I woke up Saturday and did my usual chatting to Patches, then I called "Mama? Up!" and when Mommy brought me into the family room, AUNT KELLY WAS SITTING THERE! She apparated I think. We had the best time. I took her to my park and showed her all my trucks! We bulldozed stuff and then put woodchips in the dump truck and shouted "DUMP!" really loud together. Also she taught me how to say "Poop!" Mom rolled her eyes a lot but that just made us laugh harder and say "POOP!" even louder!!

Something kind of strange happened though. This little girl came over and looked at me very carefully. And then she kissed me.


She did it a couple times. It was pretty ok. I think it will probably happen to me a lot, on account of how cute Mom says I am.

Up Down and Upside Down

No pictures, but today's new words are "UPDOWN!" and "UPSIDO!"

He says "up" when he wants up, and "down down!" when he wants down. But "UPDOWN" came out of his mouth as we stood in front of the elevator at the market today. He started bobbing around and pointing at the elevator doors, saying "UPDOWN UPDOWN!" Which I guess means "elevator!" :)

And when we swing around the house upside down, he's started saying "UPSIDO!" And then giggles like a crazy monkey. :)

Ok, that's it for tonight, Mama. :)

Fantastic Friday

Cody and I are having an awesome day. I feel like I haven't had real quality time with him since I've been in the office more, and we've been trying to get ready for The Move. Today, he slept in til 7:15! We then breakfasted at Buzz, and on the way, saw three garbage trucks (honk, wave, screech, quiver), two moving trucks (vroom! vroom!) a train (choo choo!), and Sully (hug). After another satisfyingly long nap, we went to the market.


It's kind of an event. We name everything, touch everything, and snack our way through the store. And when he pauses between bites ("Crackers!" "Buber!" [which means blueberries] "Chips!") we race the cart down the aisle. Like so.

WHEEEEE!

But the BEST part was the drive home, during which we were sandwiched between a concrete mixer and a fire engine. I thought his head was going to explode. He was trembling with excitement. He didn't know where to look, but finally decided the fire engine took precedence.

I wish I had been able to record what happened next. He reached down for his fire hat (still in the car from his stint as the token stripper at Hannah's bridal party), put it on his head, waved madly at the firemen, and made an ear-piercing siren sound. Top of his lungs. WOO--WOO--WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I almost drove off the road, and the firemen just burst out laughing.

We called Granny to tell her and put her on speakerphone. Suddenly drops of rain started hitting the windshield, and Cody bursts into his own special version of "RAIN, RAIN! GO-GO-GO! RAIN, RAIN! RAIN RAIN RAIN!" He and Granny sang together all the way home.

Luckiest mom ever.

15 Months of Fun

Cody turned 15 months last week (what?!) and weighed in at almost 25 pounds and...33 inches tall. That's fully 2 1/4 inches longer than he was at his one year visit. No wonder he's been sleeping so well. He's a giant. I am only 61 inches, mind you. Regular followers will be glad to know his head is still ginormous -- 99% percentile, as usual.

I took this the other day -- it suddenly struck me that he towers over his Learning Table.


I vividly remember the day we got it, in December. How much has changed in 6 months!


He's also trying desperately to talk. He's got between 30-40 real words that are either clear English, or very clear to us. Among my favorites: "crash," "dump," "uh-oh," "garbage," "dirt," backpack," "grape," "diaper," "truck." Among the sweetest: "ice," "night-night," "cupcake," "cookie," "crackers," "Patches," "bath," "duck," "quack-quack," "up" (his first request in the morning!), "help," "cross," "Amen," and just today, "thank you," "please," and "sorry!" He's got "mama," "dada," "Nay Nay" (for Granny), "Em-ly" (his babysitter Emily) "Pop-Pop," "Hannah," "Robbie," "Mary," and last week he said "MONKA!" for Aunt Monika. It's so funny to hear him try to speak sentences -- it's obvious they make perfect sense to him, but they come out as gobbledygook to us more often than not.

Someone told us that each stage would be better than the last. It's true, but to me, all of them are precious. I love seeing him be so independent -- climbing, talking, eating, doing everything on his own -- but I love it even more when he cuddles up for a hug or, even more rarely, falls asleep in my arms.

Catching Up

Hi everyone! Did you miss me? I have not have time to blog because we have been so busy! Let me tell you what we've been doing. First, GRANNY came to see me! It was amazing. She took care of me for a few days because Mommy had to go into work extra days. I missed Mom but not that much because Granny and I played and played. Then, Grandma ROBBIE came! And Aunt Hannah! And Tom! They came to my house and we played soccer.



Then Mommy went away with Grandma Robbie and Aunt Hannah but only for ONE night. It was a little weird because I'm used to having Mommy with me when I go to bed. But Daddy and I had the best time, and when I woke up, Daddy took me to the hotel to surprise Mommy. I cuddled with Grandma Robbie. Then Tom took me to throw pennies in the fountain! It was awesome.





But then it got even better. I saw elevators and I told Daddy 'UP! UP!" That is one of my new words. Also I can now say help, thank you, dirt, ice, and garbage! Anyway these elevators are glass and you could see THE WHOLE WORLD from inside! I said "UP UP!" and Daddy and I went in, and pushed the buttons, and went ALL THE WAY TO THE SKY and then back down!


And then I said "UP UP!" and we did it again! And again! It was AWESOME. Mom said next time it rains we will go again! Rain, Rain! Come again!

Fish & Chips & Chains

On Sunday, we ventured out to Eamon's, a little chippery in Old Town, to toast Andy Roddick's heartbreaking match against Darth Federer. Not that you could doubt his parentage, or heritage, but Cody proved he is an Irish Last by immediately grasping the glory of fried food. He went to town on his cod, his fries, and a lot of other stuff on the table.

But the best part was when he discovered that if you shake the chain hard enough, you make a very loud and satisfying CLANG! CLANG! sound. Which he did for the better part of 10 minutes. With exactly this look on his face:

Pool Party!

In glorious high-definition.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY!

A Fountainous Fourth

Cody's second Fourth was brought to you not by fire, but water. We set forth on our walk this morning, Cody wearing his Independence Day hat Aunt Rose made. (He likes to showcase his own independence by taking it off when he thinks I'm not looking.)

When we got to the fountain in the town square, Cody was interested as usual. And as usual, I explained that we could walk around the fountain, but that kids weren't allowed to go in. After our fountain patrol walk, I went to put the stroller in the shade and Cody got Daddy to supervise him. Cody didn't mention our talk about kids not going in the water. Things started off innocently enough.


But then, JVL had to physically restrain him from diving right in. (Notice the shoes.) There wasn't a dry square inch by the time he was done splashing.


So we decided to kick it up a notch and take him to the pool, at one end of which is a little fountain. I wish I could explain the unbridled joy this brought him. He stood there and splashed and drank and splashed and screeched and giggled until his lips and fingers were blue and his gums were chattering.



He was devastated when we took him out. I have a feeling this is something we will do many, many times before the end of July. : )

Duck Overboard

This just HAPPENED somehow when I was helping Mommy clean the bathroom! Right after it just HAPPENED somehow I said, "Uh-oh! DUCK!" Mommy tried to look Stern but instead she giggled. She also said we can't ever tell Daddy about this incident. And I'm supposed to ask Aunt Monika if they make a duck sanitizer, too?

Comical

On Saturday Daddy and I popped into the comic book shop. Since I'm not really allowed to touch stuff yet I practiced Slam Peekaboo!


Mom and Dad say I look funny with my duck shoes and no shorts, just my onesie, but I told them I was SO HOT and hollered when they tried to shorts me. And so I got to go out like this. Mom said it was a compromise because I was planning to go just in my diaper and maybe one shoe. Also she made me wear a hat but I got to pick and I picked the crazy orange one because it's nice and cool. And easy to take off when Mom's not looking.

Library Day

Yesterday Mom and I went to the library. It is one of my favorite places.


These are my books! Sometimes I pick them out and Mom and I go read them in the big poofy green chair. Yesterday mostly I wanted to practice my climbing on it. I couldn't get down though.



In case you were wondering about my shirt, Aunt Monika got it for me. It says "Refuse to Snooze."


Isn't that an awesome saying? I like it A LOT!

Five Guys

Tonight I went to this amazing place called Five Guys! Mom brought my dinner but I threw my chicken at her. I know I'm not supposed to. It makes Mommy get Stern. But she just doesn't understand about my eating habits. It was almost a not-good dinner. We were having a staring contest after I threw the chicken and I think maybe I was winning (they key is to stare so stubbornly that Mommy's mouth twitches -- and also, you can't blink) but then Dad came out with this big wet bag that mom said was grease and it broke the tension between me and Mommy. There was a hot dog inside! And a hamburger! And I had both! They were amazing! I ate and ate and ate. I just like to keep Mom on her toes.