Little Quack

I guess we shouldn't be too surprised this would be among his first words. : ) Quack!

Tater Tot

Cody had his first tater tots tonight. A total tater triumph.

Yum!

And, we discovered something long suspected -- Cody is perfectly capable of holding his own bottle. He still gets one at night, not that he really needs it, but I'm paranoid about him getting enough milk, and he seems to still want it even though he drinks plenty from his cup now. Anyway, why force a change until there's a reason, right? For the most part, he likes to drink it lying on his changing table while one of us holds it. I've tried to suggest he hold it himself, but he just stares past me. Well, tonight he drank all during dinner from his cup, but must have still been thirsty, because he grabbed the bottle while I was pouring it, and just decided to down it right there. By himself.

The thing is, Bob, it's not that he's lazy -- it's that he just doesn't care.

Ave Regina Bathtubum

If you thought our day couldn't get any better or Cody John Paul couldn't be cuter, you would be wrong. Tonight after dinner he started gesticulating and grunting toward the kitchen window sill, on which stand a statue of Mary and a rubber duckie. Naturally I thought he wanted the duckie. Turns out I was wrong. He wanted Mary...and only Mary, for the rest of the evening.





When bath time came around, I tried to pry Mary from his clutches, and promised she could stand right on the sink and watch him the whole time. Such howling despair followed this proposition that I figured, hey, what bishop could really frown on this? It's a rather unique kind of Marian devotion, sure, but blessed are the clean of feet, and all that. So, in she went.

P.S. He ignored every other toy in the tub tonight -- no boat, no plane, no ducks, no trains, nothing but the BVM.

Mallrats

Cody and I are having, perhaps, the best Friday ever. Want to know why? Surveying the play options for a rainy day, we decided to go back to our roots. And we drove out to the Landmark Mall. Why on earth would you go THERE, you say? It's a craptastic mall that should have died long ago. This is true. But malls are Cody's birthright. And you know what it turns out this one DOES have? An indoor kids play area. Yessssssssss.



Instead of crawling through the log, Cody tries to roll it over, and can't understand why it won't move.

The Frog Prince.

Well, CJP was having a great time. I thought I'd never get him to leave. But then, over the smell of greasy McDonald's fries and Sbarro slices, we heard a telltale toot -- a spine-tingling chug-chug -- and around the corner came....


That's right. A train. In the mall. Well, you can only imagine. CJP ran right over and insisted we take a ride.


He chose the blue car. The thing was, he had this incredibly pensive, slightly suspicious look on his face the whole time. I wish I knew what he was thinking.




I was worried he wasn't actually enjoying it, so when we came back to the station 5 minutes later, I lifted him down, turned around to get our bag, and when I turned back, he had climbed into the coal car. Just sat there expectantly. So I handed over another fiver, and off we went. Same serious expression, just taking in every last detail.




It was the greatest. When we finally left, we decided to really make a day of it, and eat in the food court, and then do some people watching. All the while, the train tooted in the distance, and Cody's eyes sparkled.


Suck on THAT, Rockaway Mall.

Why This Is Not A Public Blog, Or, My Son Will Resent Me For This Someday

But I can't help it.



So. Darn. Cute.

Batty

Check out those fat little guns. :)

Ave Maria

Cody and I attempted church on our own today, at St. Mary's. And I have to say, it went surprisingly well. He's usually fine until the homily and/or Eucharistic prayers, because there's so much singing and standing and reciting that he's quite interested in what's happening. After that he starts to get bored. When we ran out of goldfish and had giggled at the (equally bored) teenage boy behind us one too many times, we explored the back of the church, where he discovered how to turn on and off the automatic prayer "candles" (I hate those, so cheesy!). I assured him he hadn't really turned off anyone's prayers. By then he was trying to climb up into the organ loft. Anyway, we made it all the way through.

Two highlights: the first was at the end of the Our Father, when everyone said "Amen," and then, in the silence left behind, a small voice rang out: "AAAAAAA-MEH!" Yep. That's my boy. And on the way out, I asked if he wanted to go see Mary, and he made a beeline across the sidewalk to go say hello.

Ok Daddy, it's time to come home now.

JVL has been away since Wednesday, and Cody has really been missing him. After lunch today, he rubbed his eyes, went into his room and got Patches and Blankie, and then wandered out, saying hopefully, "Dada? Dada?" And when I told him it was still me, and I was right where he had left me 20 seconds ago, he looked balefully at me and then flopped down.


I know, I'm no daddy. We miss you, babe.

Jetty Want A Cracker

CJP discovered graham crackers last night, and life will never be the same.

This is Jetty doing his Buster Bluth impression.

Earmuffs!

Cody the Climber

CJP has been showing a great interest in climbing the past few days -- curbs, little steps, and of course, into the car at the park. Today he almost mastered it, nearly by himself.


The second time up, he took the wheelchair ramp.

Ok, so maybe Celine Dion isn't so crazy after all.

Well, I'm a terrible mom, and a traumatized one. JVL and I have been talking about getting Cody's hair trimmed again, as adorable as the curls are, because he is just so hot with all that hair. Like me, he has a ridiculous amount of hair. And though it's fine, it's also heavy -- so he gets sweaty all the time. So today I decided to bite the bullet after a particularly sweaty outing to the park, and I am now devastated. Because he looks...four. Maybe even five. I don't know, but REALLY REALLY OLD. So cute, but just...not a baby anymore, even remotely. I will never, ever cut his hair again.



After his cut I took him to get a cupcake at Buzz (he was so good during the cut and only grabbed the scissors once). When we walked in, Holli (one of his favorite baristas) gasped and said, wide-eyed, "What did you do? He looks so different! He looks so much older!" And then I started to cry. Not just tear up, mind you, but weep. Right there in Buzz. For which I got a free brownie, but I'm pretty sure it will taste like ashes.

Little Bears

Tea for Me!

Mom says the amount of distraction necessary to get me fed is getting ridiculous. I don't know about that but I love when I get new boxes of stuff to dump out!

Oil Change

I don't think the steering wheel goes here. Does it? Hmm.

Great Moments in Child-Proofing

Dude, It's Like Cloverfield

Where's the monster?

HD CJP

It's just like being there.

PS: For the full effect, click the little "HQ" button near the lower right-hand corner.

Baby/Cody

Today after my nap I only wanted one thing: my baby. We did a lot of playing, and kissing. Then I heard Mommy say "park?" and I ran to the door with Baby. Mommy said she would bring Baby but I said I WOULD DO IT! Really loud. So I brought Baby in the backpack with me. It was a little crowded and Baby's nose kept sticking into Mommy's back but I didn't mind.


Once we got to the park, we went for a drive.

In this one, Baby and I are trying to decide if Mom will notice I might have accidentally broken the steering wheel.

So Cute It's Dangerous

Fun from the past few days

I know I'm behind the blogging ball, but this has been an unusually busy week, so when I haven't been taking care of Jetty I've been working -- and neglecting our faithful readers. All five of them. : ) So here are a few pictures from some of our adventures in the past few days.


I will never make the above mistake again. He had WAY too much fun. And I had not enough Advil.




Here, I must just point out the awesomeness of his hair.



And here's a little blast from the past -- Cody in July.

Same house, or boat. Same fat legs. These are the ones that make my heart break just a little. It is going by fast. I wouldn't have said that this past Tuesday (thanks for listening to me vent, Mama) but it's true. Little dude is not so little anymore.


Aaah. All that playing really wears a kid out.