CANNOT BLOG TODAY!

AM BUSY TRYING TO GET EASTER EGG ROLL TICKETS AT OBAMA'S HOME!

(seriously, this is more stressful than logging onto ticketmaster at 9:55)

Haircut/Messy Eater Combo

This is a twofor...a nice capture of his new styling haircut & how he ate his soup last night. Plus some apple sauce. And whatever else is on that bib.

It's a good thing he's cute.

And some days are just not exciting...!

Today, well today, has not been very exciting & I suppose I should be grateful for that, no?

But Nana, you might want to sit down for this, ok?

I took him to get his hair cut.

And it looks TERRIFIC!

OK, you can stand back up now.

But seriously, that's been the excitement of the day around these parts. Unless you count going to the Dollar Tree to see if they have Play-Doh (they don't, only generic) or Paint By Water books (they don't, only regular color books) but I did find some small pylons that Liam uses in soccer (KAPOW!) with nice, little Disney Princess decals on them. Don't worry, I bought them anyway because I forgot to mention yesterday that Liam's favorite color is PINK. And I also got him a little bug collection container just to Boy him up some after the pink, princess pylons; which for the record there were NO boy pylon options.

Then we came home & ate lunch (still with the blueberry cottage cheese) and since he scarved that down I offered him a "meat & cheese" Lunchable that he proceeded to scarf down also. His appetite has picked up since we've be gone & most notably he has really started to eat Mama & Dada Dinners about 95% of the time! He's still a Pain in the Ass Eater but not nearly as bad; he will still refuse the silliest of things but has become very good at trying new things & eating his entire meal. He will eat all types of meat (including lamb), and still loves his green veggies (but not raw or in original form), and will also eat up fruit products (but not raw). Weirdo.

Then I put his ass down for an early nap because he was in bed with me last night (cough was keeping him up) and then woke up at 6:07am for the day. He still likes one of us to be in the room when he is putting himself to sleep & I really don't mind at all. Mostly because he just wants to me to "stay & read" and let me tell you, I've probably read around 7 books since the new year because of it!

But let me tell you something - this Fellow has got quite a little iTouch obsession going on here, folks. He has his own apps, he takes care of his own iPuppy, has memory games, ABC flashcards & shapes/colors games. LOVES that thing! Me? Not so much.

And with that, I must go continue playing with Play-Doh! We've got pink cars to cut, people.

Oh, hello! It's me!

Well, well, well. What an unexpected break that was, right? I have no excuse except to say that December quickly & fantastically got away from me, January became a blur of getting back into routine & two trips up north & February appeared to be Hibernate Month...but yet no real reason for not updating besides business & laziness.

I'm going to try & jump back on track though as I love keeping a record of my little Liam Fellow & I miss writing all about how wonderful I think he is! Matias has even badgered me about my lack of writing so you know it must be bad. He would like me start a little weekly update about Liam's technological advances so I think I might try & start a Techie Thursday to let y'all know how our NASA Programmer is coming along ;)

What I can quickly update with is the following & I promise to come back (hopefully) daily and document more of our fantastic adventures together!

• We've been gone so long that Liam has been registered for PRESCHOOL in the Fall! He will be going to a co-op where I have to volunteer on a monthly basis & that suits my control issues & hippie tendencies just fine. Every time we drive by though he says "me go to preschool, Mama!", I've explained to him that has to be 3 not 2 & he has to go do-do on the potty first!
• We've been gone so long that Liam is wearing UNDERWEAR now! He is still a Nocturnal Pooper but we go pee-pee on the potty ALL THE TIME NOW! He's been accident free for a WEEK! And only had 2.5 accidents prior to this week-long streak. He has pooped on the potty but only twice & only for Dada. I still keep him in overnighters for noni & night night sleep since he's mostly pooping there & does still go pee-pee while he sleeps.
• We've been gone so long that Liam needs another hair cut! We haven't gotten his hair cut since the beginning of December when they hacked his hair off right before his Santa picture & our family protraits. We are partial to it long though so I've been putting it off but also because I'm afraid of the Hack Job that might be in our future. I'm thinking of showing them his Santa picture and just saying "NEVER AGAIN". Think that might get my point across?
• We've been gone so long that Liam has be enrolled in Soccer TWICE, music once & art class once! Soccer will be a keeper as he is LOVE with his coach & is really getting the hang of it...he's quite a good dribbler! Music may not be renewed because it's about 40 minutes away & at 9:45 which is a little early when you take into account potty training (where peeing takes 15 minutes!), breakfast (where eating takes 40 minutes!) & driving our asses out there. Although, th next sessions has a 10:30 start time & that sounds a LOT better to me. Art class is a 'meh'. The art portion of it is good, messy & experimental; exactly what I wanted for him (AND ME!) but then there's other 'stuff' thrown in that I just find distracting and unnecassary for an ART CLASS. Like, why do we need a big, huge ball brought in? That never ends well.
• We've been gone so long that Liam has moved on from Blue's Clues & My Friends Tigger & Pooh and is now OBSESSED with Little Einsteins & Wonder Pets. And I would like to take this moment to thank Dada for downloading two whole seasons of hell on earth Little Einsteins for us.
• We've been gone so long that Liam actually ASKS to eat out! Now, granted he asks to eat in Old Town that is right next to the TRAIN TRACKS but still, he asks to eat out! And he behaves!

Basically, we've been busy. Busy with life, busy with a full calendar, busy with exciting events taking us fun places. And I cannot wait till Spring so that some of those places can BE OUTSIDE. I'm sure there's a higher precentage of SAHM who suffer from Cabin Fever; there's nothing worse than crap weather, a toddler & being stuck indoors.

I wanted to say thanks to anyone who has nudged me to get back to writing this for Liam. It's important to me & I don't know why I let it go so long but whatever, right? I should be able to get back on the blogging horse & gallop off with it again, I'm sure!

Until next time, I leave you with a new favorite picture of mine!

Liam Fellow waving at a passing plane, convinced that Nana & Pa are still on a plane!

BABY CRACK!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

YAY! Barack Obama!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

A Boy & his Geo Trax

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

My Review of Electronic Sounds Gas Pumper

Originally submitted at LIttle Tikes

Made in the USA with US and Imported Parts

This updated electronic pump is the perfect complement to any Little Tikes® ride-on or even to service a whole fleet...

Electronic Sounds Gas Pumper

Fill 'er Up!

By DMB Mama from Manassas, VA on 1/15/2009

 

5out of 5

Pros: Fun, Durable, Batteries Included

Cons: Flimsy

Best Uses: Imaginative Play

Describe Yourself: Stay At Home Parent, First Time Parent

The only con is the "flimsy" credit card that is included. I would prefer something a little sturdier than we've got. Something a little chunkier & with more weight to it would be harder to lose than the one supplied!

(legalese)

The hands behind the head hip thrust move made me lose it.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Holidays!

Since I've pretty much stalled here, I just wanted to post these pictures from our little family Christmas picture taking evening before taking off to Camp Carolina! We will be there through the New Year so I'm not so sure I'll get back on the blogging horse until next year...

The Official Nino Family Holiday Picture!

Liam actually took this picture of me!

2nd Place/Runner Up for Official Nino Holiday Picture

My Sily Little Crazy Eye Boy

Liam's visit with Santa!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

My Little Fellow Elf

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Someone likes the tree!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Whipped.

I've been sick since I got home from Camp Carolina but I haven't really stopped do anything that needs to get done so I haven't gotten any better, in fact, I think I have an actual sinus infection.

And we are going to CT tomorrow.

Liam has shifted his nap time & it's killing me. He used to go down between noon & 12:30 for close to 3 hours. NOW? Now he goes to bed at 2pm and sleeps for maybe 1 1/2 hours tops. This has not been fun with me not being fully charged. I've been losing my patience easily & not wanting to do a whole lot with him because I simply don't have the energy. I just have not been the best or funnest Mom lately.

I quick update though! Liam is still going pee pee on the potty!! I have to ask/take him up as he has stopped telling me he has to go but that's ok with me, I just have to remember before it's too late. Still no poops though. Still ok with me.

Liam has new footie jammies that do NOT have a clasp at the top. One day he woke up naked. The next day he woke up with POOP everywhere and claiming it tasted like CANDY. We have not put him in anymore footie jammies.

One day Dada put him down for a nap with no pants on and a Pull-Up. Want to guess what happened with our Nocturnal Pooper? If you guess a whole load of laundry was done .5967 seconds after he woke up and .231974 seconds after he got a bath you might win some of our special candy. I didn't know Dada hadn't put his pants back on him until like a DAY AGO. Should have mad him do the laundry since he committed two fatal flaws here - no pants and a Pull-Up.

We are still being controlled by train schedules & You Tube. But now he says "box car", "cho-cho" & squeals with delight over tanker cars.

Liam was afraid of the vibrating option on his new (to him) Radio Flyer Retro Rocket Rider.

That's what she said

Day Two: Success!

Day Two has been a success with the PT!

Liam has gone pee pee every time in the potty!!  He is a nocturnal pooper so this will take some tranisitioning but I'm sure we'll get there when we get there. I bought him some Pull Ups and he's not very thrilled about them, had a little arguement about this this afternoon...he wanted to wear his Bill a Bah Huh overnight diapers instead. All the Pull Ups have characters on them that he doesn't know cause I did look for that aspect of it when I was shopping for them this morning...so I cannot really (unless I keep searching around other stores) get him different ones to make him happy cause I already attempted that!  

We've been fighting still about getting re-dressed after going potty & I do want to stress to him that Mama & Dada pull their pants back up after they go potty so I'm not really looking to let him run around naked after going to the bathroom. I'm not into making this a "game" with "rewards" (OOOOH MEAN MOMMY!) or "fun time" and "sparkly soap" this is about going to the bathroom not summer camp, you know? I know, Mean Mommy. Whatever.

I finally got his Pull Up on him though after we went pee pee. I don't know what that was all about though...

I'm hoping we don't screw him over this weekend by traveling. The store (not Target) didn't have travel size pottys, in fact, they only had ones with tons of bells & whistles on them and if you think I'm buying one of those, please read that Mean Mommy paragraph again ;) I do have to stop at CVS tonight so maybe they will have something?

I've been putting him in his over night diapers & his regular diaper during nap time. I don't feel confident that the Pull Ups are intended for long term use (maybe I'm just used to the POS swim diapers?) so I wouldn't want to let him wet himself (or worse) and become self conscious about it, you know? Is that what everyone else does?

We are heading to CT this weekend for Family Picture for Christmas Card event & to celebrate Matias' birthday (it's Tuesday, he's 32) so we won't be back until Tuesday evening. I'm going to try and post though cause I'm attempting to a post a day again this month and I wouldn't want to mess up because of weekend travel :)

How I Spent My Thursday Afternoon

Can you believe it??!?!

It all started this afternoon when he woke up from his nap & Matias took him into the bathroom with him (TMI?) & decided that he wanted to go potty also. So he sat him up there & he went pee pee a little bit. We decided to go get his potty actually out of the box & set it up in his bathroom & introduce him to it. I showed him his potty chart that Auntie gave him with an Elmo activity book & he was really excited about it all.

We left to run some errands & he had some milk while we were out so when we got home, I asked him if he wanted to go pee pee on the potty & we went upstairs WHERE HE PEED ON THE POTTY ALL BY HIMSELF LIKE A BIG BOY!!! And we wiped, and flushed & washed our hands and came downstairs to celebrate with Dada. I told him the next time he has to go pee pee that he has to say "Mama, pee pee!" and he listened and we went on our merry train watching way.

About an hour later, he came over and said "Mama, pee pee!" and we rushed upstairs, pants off, diaper off & PEE PEE ON THE TOILET AGAIN!!!

When he went out with Dada to get dinner, I set up his potty chart on the fridge for him to see when he got home & the look on his face when I read it off to him & showed him all the check-marks he has already received - he was just beaming.

Then right before going to bed, he told me AGAIN that he had to go pee pee!!!

He's doing so well with this SO SO SO unexpectedly. NOT that I'm surprised he's doing so well at it but more unexpected that I'm doing this TODAY. I wasn't planning on potty training today but he wanted to & he's doing it so well that I'm just going with the flow (HA!). I hadn't done any research or reading on it but Nana is helping me along so I'm really just doing this by the seat of my pants (HA!).

Tomorrow, I'm returning our (unopened) carton of diapers, getting a smaller (in case of emergency) pack, some Pull Ups and maybe a portable potty since, of course, we are traveling this weekend. All three times (!!!!) we went pee pee on the potty, his diaper was dry :) I am really looking forward to the Pull Ups for the ease they will give me in getting his pants off quick enough but more importantly back up quick enough! He's, obviously, still at the stage where he's a tad fascinated with what he just did & his hands are quick so I'm struggling with a naked Fellow where as I would much rather be struggling with a Pulled Up Fellow just to help out with accidents & all around general "this is how we go to the bathroom" routine; which includes putting our pants back on. And not trying to grab the toilet paper in the potty.

I cannot believe my little boy is potty training. This is seriously happening really fast. I will really keep on top of it to ensure that we get it done right & done the first go round. Or at least I will try, I know there can be set backs but I feel like going full force on this one since he's picked up on it so quickly & so well.

Did I fail to mention?

That we've spent the last 6 weeks at swimming lessons every Monday & Wednesday nights? And that tonight was our last lesson? I think I might have mentioned it in talking about my schedule sort of passing way but I can only say that, holy Moses, does this kid like water.

His skill set has improved by leaps & bounds. His teacher, Ms. Lori, is fantastic with him & the other kids too. She's very keen on what they want to do and how to get that to mesh with what they have to do. And Liam is loving it. Matias has been coming with us also, I like that he's doing structured lessons with Liam. I think it's good for him to be in the situation also and not just Mama, so that he learns to pay attention & behave in those surroundings for more than just me. And the strange thing is, I think he kind of likes swim lessons better with Dada than me.

And I'm pretty sure that hurts my feelings.

Tonight I had him to myself for class & he was a total Klingy Koala Bear the entire class. Sure he did things he was supposed to but it took some talking into and then some scraping off of my torso to get him into action...

Even Ms. Lori commented on how different he is with Dad. I know she didn't mean it in a bad way but it's weird to have someone else notice it also.

Good for nothing, child of mine. I'll have to sign him up for another session just to show him who's boss around here.

Fellow says Vote for O!BAMA!

He deserves change we can believe in.

Slight Annoyances

Not much to say today, still getting over our colds (Liam was saved though), taking it easy & sitting on pins & needles for tomorrow...

But this morning as I was getting ready to leave the house & putting Liam's shoes on, I noticed that one of them was covered in some sort of animal poop all over the bottom. I haven't put these shoes on him in a while so I know it wasn't me...

The thing that really irks me though (and Nana can attest to this, first hand) is that someone else knew it was there & didn't do anything about it. So I had to sit there & scrape it off with a toothpick (all in the treads, of course), being mindful not to soak the entire shoe when I tried to dampen it in order to scrape off the crap easier...

This kind of shit, LITERALLY, really annoy me! How hard is it to clean it off when it happens? It's easier when it's still "new" to begin with. Also? To not say something to someone so at least maybe they can do something about it is just rude. And to say that you didn't notice is poppy-cock. You cannot help but notice. I mean you have to hold the shoes in your hands in order to take them off the child's foot to start with!

So there's my slight annoyance :) Anyone got one of their own?