Firefighter Cody

Words of the day: "Chocolate!" "Candy!" "Brand-new!" "Trickytreat!" "Spooky!" "Happyween!"

Firefighter Cody brought along his new best friend, the trusty "MINIVACUUM!" in place of a hose, or dog, or something remotely related to fighting fires. (First thing I hear on the monitor every morning: "Mini vacuum? Awake? Sleeping? Bunk bed? Wake! Mini vacuum? Morning! Vroom vroom!")


As for this, too long to explain. I am not posting the full frontals, but BOY are they cute. : )

Taking Baking...and Kicking it Up a Notch

We made cornbread the other day, to go with Uncle Walter's chili (and by the way, it should be called Uncle Walter's Famous Chili). There was much excitement over the "MIXER!" and "BEATERS!" as usual, but Cody found both the spoon and spatula to be inadequate to the task of bowl-licking. Fingers and fists work pretty well...


But there is a better way -- just take it head on.

Shot through the heart, and you're to blame

The past few days have been full of injections. Yesterday morning, we were able to find a clinic in Virginia that would give us both the H1N1 vaccine, since we are both the highest risk categories. They only had 200 doses, so we took shifts waiting in line from 5:30 in the morning. (By which I mean, Jonathan got the first unpleasant shift -- waiting in the cold -- and I got the second unpleasant shift -- holding down a toddler whose eyes were fixed on a big needle.) He was SUCH a trooper -- the shot HURT (I am still achy today) and he cried a bit, and kept saying "HURT! HURT! KISS IT? KISS IT!" I did that lots, but then he found that if he suggested the same to the nurses, they would kiss him. And then he would kiss them, and say "Thank you! Love you!" Everyone was a winner.

Today, he had his 18 month checkup (oops, 3 weeks late.) The doctors and nurses reported that he is ridiculously ahead in terms of vocabulary (well over 500 words, and putting 2 and 3 together at at time). You'll all be glad to know his head remains in the 99th percentile. His flirtation skills have also improved, as Nurse Diana ("DIE-NA!") discovered. (He loooved her. Perhaps it had something to do with her being dressed up as a cowgirl. He was fascinated; it was a real "They come in pints?" moment.) And then came the shots. For the first time, in his little arms -- so I had to hold him down on my lap for the shots, and this time, he knew exactly what was coming. But he was so brave and so awesome, and after each shot, he whimpered and then said, "DIE-na! Kiss it? Please?" And got kisses from the nurse. He then thanked her, hugged her, kissed her, and asked her for a "Cuddle?" before leaving.

But the best part was that on the way home -- and despite more than 3 hours of car and doctor's office time with no lunch or nap, he was a gem -- we stopped at Wendy's in Woodbridge. We ordered "NUGGETS!" And "FIES!" (Fries.) And on the off chance they had it, he asked me for "ice keam?" Turns out, they do -- so Cody had his first Frosty. It was a huge hit. And the start of a great new tradition. I hate fast food and all, but come on. Four shots in two days (and one more tomorrow) earns you as many nuggets, fies, and ice keam as you want, as far as I'm concerned.



So strange, but despite all the exhaustion and tension of going through this with him, I feel like an actual, bona fide Mom now. And one with the sweetest child ever. I couldn't have hoped for a better kid, really. He's just awesome.

Fun with Blocks

Quite long, so no need to watch the whole thing. But it is kind of funny.

Cody Hefner

Ok just one more thing. I wanted to show you all my bathrobe picture shoot. (I can say bathrobe.)


I am practicing brushing my teeth. Mommy says "spit spit" but instead I like to just suck the toothpaste off my toothbrush and then eat it. (I can say toothbrush and toothpaste and spit.)

And I put my feet in the sink and Mommy says "No turning on the water! You are all dry!" and I grin and I pretend I'm going to but then I just giggle. And then Mommy can't help but giggle too. (I can say feet and sink and no no no and dry and turn it on and giggle.)



Ok. I'm in bed right now and not supposed to be blogging, so I better go. Night night! Buh-boo!

Weekend at Cody's

I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in awhile but I have been SO BUSY! I have had SO MANY VISITORS! I love them, but today I am really tired. Let me tell you all about it.

First, when Mommy came home Wednesday she said we were having visitors. Then a car pulled up and out popped Stephanie, Scott, and MY GODBROTHER JAMES! I can say all their names now! We had the BEST time playing, and James pushed me on my train! He is so big and so smart and knows how to say EVERYTHING. I want to be just like him.


Then, the next night, Mom said I would have MORE visitors in the morning. And she was NOT kidding. Guess who came to see me? My UNCLE BJ! All the way from California! And my AUNT MARY BETH AND UNCLE WALTER! And Aunt Monika! (I say her name "Mock-a-doo.") And Uncle Sean! Do you even BELIEVE it? I can say ALL their names and we had an amazing time.


I took them to Occoquan to show them my ducks and my secret waterfall (I can say that too). Uncle BJ took some pictures of Mom and Dad and I (I can say Shannon and Jonathan now, and camera, and picture) because we don't have that many. (Oh, and Robin is in the picture too. You can see him if you look hard. I can say Robin.)


I got a little tired though from all the giggling.

Sometimes a Jetty just needs to zonk out. I wanted to zonk out on the rocking chair at the pumpkin patch too.


I love rocking. It's awesome. (I can say zonk out, rocking chair, and pumpkin patch too, in case you were wondering.)

Cody, what do we always say is the most important thing? Breakfast.

And so, for the first time, Jonathan gathered his family around him in the model home . . .

No, son. Family.

Batman and...

Hi everyone! I have some news. First, Mommy and Daddy and I discovered a new town. It's called Occoquan. I call it "OCCANON!" I am getting SO GOOD at talking. Anyway, it's really cute. Mom says it's like Stars Hollow and Shelburne Falls and Denville all rolled into one. I just love it because there are lots of things to look at and DUCKS AND GEESE! We go to the little dock and feed them! I share my Cheerios and I say HONK and QUACK. I also have a lot of Cheerios too. Just so the ducks and geese don't feel lonely. I keep them "COMPANY!"



Occoquan is not quite like Old Town. It's really little. But I like that, because it's my size. But anyway. That's not all my news. And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure how I feel about the rest of it. Check this out:

See? It's me, and Mommy, and Daddy. There aren't a lot of pictures of the three of us. But that's just the thing. There are actually four of us in this picture. It's just that one of us is sort of wearing an invisibility cloak. And Mom is the cloak. Except you can see Mom. In case you don't follow, this means that I'm going to be...a big brother. Mommy has a little baby in her tummy. This is the baby, though if you ask me, it doesn't look ANYTHING like a baby. It's not very cute, the way I am. Mom says someday I will understand.

We call the baby Robin right now, but someday he or she will have a different name. A real name. Like I was Jetty, but now I'm Cody, but sometimes I'm still Jetty. I don't really understand that but that is not the point. I'm just...a little nervous. I mean, what if I'm not a good big brother? What if Robin knows more stuff than me and can say more words than me? What if Mommy and I don't play as much anymore? What if I have to share my birthday? It's just all a lot for someone little to take in. And I am still little! Like Occoquan. Right?

"Two Guys"

In case you have missed it, Cody's latest obsession is with Five Guys. Or, as he and JVL call it, "Two Guys," since my two guys always go together. Tonight, JVL had to work late. Around dinnertime, I asked Cody if he was hungry, and he looked up and said, "Burger? Two Guys? Eat it!" I could hardly deny such a request.

After surveying the beast, he made it his own.

Ate. The. Entire. Thing.

The God of Small Things

Yesterday was a long-awaited, and truly awesome Mommy-Cody Tuesday. Among other things, we walked back over to the pumpkin patch ("PUNKINPATCH!") so Cody could again conquer The Box of Small Pumpkins.

("Reach! REACH!")

You Give Me Fever

Sorry for the slow blogging, but Cody has been sick since Monday with a high fever and lots of discomfort at night. In fact, night before last Mommy and Daddy slept about 90 minutes total. We were reminded how powerful the mind can be at protecting one from painful memories...such as the first three sleepless months of Cody's young life. But we all survived, and this morning the fever has broken and Cody seems to be on the mend.

He looks pitiful (and has been) but you can't even imagine the cuteness of him saying (over and over): "Cody tempeetur! Hot hot! Sick! Tempeetur! Fee-vah! Tempeetur! Tempeetur? Take it?"

Turns out I'm not the only Studfinder in this family

Cody's favorite room in the new house is the garage. Loves it. Only place he wants to play. In fact, we often hear him on the monitor first thing in the morning, saying: "Garage? Garage! Open it! Ladder! Vacuum! Garage! Open it!"

This is partly because of all the dangerous things in there, like fertilizer and propane and hedge-trimmers. But also because of small household tools, of which he has become enamored. Exhibit A:



Clearly, he loves this because it beeps when you push the button, which means you can make it beep WHILE you walk backward -- one of his favorite activities.
Exhibit B (and yes, we have to do this pretty much every day, and at night we hear him on the monitor saying "Night night, vacuum!"):




And in keeping with the rugged theme, yesterday he fell and cracked his head on the garage step. After much mournful and hysterical wailing, plus some blood, he felt sufficiently recovered to pose for the camera. To the surprise of...no one.

Pumpkin Patch!!

YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY! I woke up and GRANNY AND KELLY WERE AT MY HOUSE!! And then we went to A PUMPKIN PATCH! Did you even ever hear of such an amazing morning? Look! I look like a pumpkin too!

I wanted Aunt Kelly with me the WHOLE time.

Then we did 1-2-3 WHEE! I can count to three now you know.

These are some of my adventures...









These are called wind chimes. Mom says you let the breeze blow them gently but I found it was more effective to pull on them as hard as you can!

I LOVE PUMPKIN PATCHES!

After lunch, Granny and I played in the sandbox. We made sand towers and then I bulldozed them! And then we drove my car!


Then I took a nap because I had such a busy morning. After I got up we went to the playground, and then we came home and explored the yard. I played with the lid of the trash can! It was awesome. Mom said I looked like a little garbage gladiator.


And finally, I rolled around the grass with Aunt Kelly!

It was the most amazing day. I can't wait for tomorrow!