Jingle Takes Cago

Oh wose me, how time flys away! Here I am approaching 2, and I haven't even told you about the last few months. That's like dog ears in my life!

So, what I wanted to share is about my trip to Chicago last April. I like to call the city 'Cago' because I feel so friendly with it now. My mom, dad and I flew there on an airplane where we met up with Grandma. I didn't remember Grandma from when I was little so was a little scared at first, but I quickly realized that she was important. By the first day I knew that Mama, Daddy and Grandma made up my circle and I had to keep track of them at all times. That was my job. Mama made it difficult because she would leave for work but as long as I knew she was coming back I was ok. I never let Daddy and Grandma out of my site though. We even all stayed in one room together at night! I had a very special place all for me, called the "closet", which I loved!! In the morning I would peek out and see all of them sleeping soundly. They looked so peaceful, I just couldn’t resist waking them up.

The busses in that city made a great impression on me – I will always think of them. We took them all over the place – to the zoo, to the park, to the museums. In fact they inspired me so much I said my first sentence. Grandma was singing my favorite song, Wheels on the Bus, and she sang, “The driver on the bus says…” when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I knew! “MOVE ON BACK” I shouted excitedly. I even did the important hand movements to show I was pushing people back. Man, bus drivers have the best jobs…

Like I said, this trip was dog ears ago, it’s hard for me to remember everything, but one thing I won’t forget from now on is Grandma. Every time I see her pictures fly up on my computer I say “Grandma!” I hope I get to see her again soon.

"Good Mooorning Everyone! Wake uuppp!"

"Oooooh ... I Love Flowers..."



"What? Haven't you ever seen a guy getting his wallet together before the big night out?"

Mama and Daddy look so happy.

We should go away together more often.

This is my favorite picture because the whole circle is complete.

Me and my groupies.

Superstar

I’m a superstar! I know it’s not right to brag, but if my parents tell me this all the time, then it’s the truth right? But don’t get me wrong… I don’t think a person is naturally born a superstar – I think you become one. It takes hard work, a good personality, many smiles, and most of all, style. Because without style Bub, you ain’t got nothin’. Oh yeah, you may be wondering where I got my hipster attitude all of a sudden, but I’m a year and half old now. And that means I know things. Lots of things. I know hats make you cool. I know that butterflies fly and bubbles float. I know the difference between my two black cats. I know how to get pretty much whatever I want. Oh yeah. That’s how cool I am. Like I said – I’m a Superstar.

You may think my Mama dresses me, but you'd be mistaken.

I pick my clothes out all. by. my. self.

Even Superstars like to have fun with bubbles!

Check out me and my ride!



P.S. To my Grandparents: I finally updated the link over to the left there with more photos!

Chillin with the Dancer

I have been in a really good mood this week and I think it’s because of the sunshine. It has rained a lot this year and we were trapped inside for weeks! And the very least it was many hours! Nanny thinks of fun stuff for me and D to do indoors, but when we can’t go outside, we get so fidgety and frustrated. I have been taking advantage of this time to learn more things however. Did you know that the things you put on your legs are called “pants”?? And butterflies are pretty colors and make a “ftftft” sound? These are just two of the many things I’ve learned recently. I think I have also figured out why my buddy is called “D”. I used to think of him as “D’man” or “D-monster” but do you know what the D really stands for? Dancer!! Man, that guy can move! I wish I could have half the rhythm that he has. He wiggles his hips and waves his arms in the air. When I feel the groove I bounce with my knees a little bent. I think I’ve inherited my parents’ dancing skills. No. Seriously. I’ve been watching them dance around the house – and they dance nothing like D. Besides taking dance lessons from the master Dancer himself, we have done some other fun things together lately.

One of my favorite days recently was actually when it rained and we were trapped inside. Nanny decided that it would be ‘fun’ to wash all of our toys. “Really?” I thought, “that sounds nothing like playing on the slide”. We were at D’s house, and watched as Nanny stuck all of our toys in a huge plastic bucket and started filling it with water. What was she doing?? But then, oh, and here’s where it got even stranger, and yet exciting, she let us help!! We cleaned and splashed and made sure that everything was soaking wet including ourselves. It was a blast. We had so much fun that the next day, when it was still raining, we asked Nanny if we could wash the toys at my house. My Mommy and Daddy don’t have a huge bucket like D’s parents do, so we used the bathtub. And, well, here’s the bestest part… we got to take a bath with the toys!! Oh wow, oh wow…. Maybe the rain isn’t so bad.

This week the sun finally came out for more then a couple hours at a time so we’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors. I still love the slide and playground, but lately we’ve also started playing with balls and just running around like crazy kids. And then we come back to the house and have dance parties in my crib. Life is so fun these days – can it get any better??

"Seriously, it's raining again?"

The Race Is On!
(This was so last week)

This week we're hanging in the big kid's playground.

"Oh Wow!"

"Oh Wow!"

At the end of the day, we chill with a drink.

Man Time

You may have noticed that there was no silly Valentine's Day post this year, and that's because I spent most of the weekend with my dad. And we are men. And we don't care about things like hearts and candy and bunnies - oh wait - scratch that last part.

Seriously though, I have spent a lot of time with my daddy over the past week and we have been having a blast together. It started late last week when Momma went away on a business trip - she was gone one whole night - and Daddy was in charge. I love it when Daddy is in charge - I get to run around the house naked and don't have to worry about running into any girls. He lets me drive the car and takes me to all the best parks. Just this past weekend when Momma was busy playing her loud horn somewhere, Daddy and I went to 6 parks, and that's not including the one we went to more then once. That one is the park behind the library and although it's one of the smallest, I think it's my favorite. First - it's the closest, and Second - we can tell Momma we are 'going to the library' and she thinks we are going to get books, but she hasn't figured out that we are really going to play.

Also, when Momma's not around, we can have eating contests (like who can eat the most salami), wrestle around (see how far daddy can throw me across the bed) and, one of our favorite activities 'torture Mini'. When Momma is here she gets all concerned.. you know.."oh, no, don't give him so much salami, he'll poop"; "oh, no, don't throw my baby - beee carrreeefulll"; "oh, no, leave poor Mini alone"... I know that she means well, but sometimes boys just need to be boys you know? Don't get me wrong, I love my Momma, but, I adore my Daddy. He's the best friend a kid could have. Oh, shoot... I really should have asked my Daddy to be my Valentine.

Takin' the Car out for a Spin

Rockin' out to Loud Music

Unlike last year when I was surrounded by monkeys on Valentine's Day, this year I was like a monkey in a cage.

Just call me the Love Monkey

Driving Lessons

In January I turned 16 months so I started taking driving lessons. When I turned 17 months I was allowed to have someone else in the car while I drove. I've learned to watch where I am going, but you can't always be certain what other people will do so it is very important to honk the horn when you turn the corner to warn others you are coming. I made sure to tell my friend D-Monster this very important lesson before he got behind the wheel. Fortunately, he's a fast learner and we make a good team.

Winter Cleaning

Oh woe is me. I haven’t been able to write in my blog for a long time because I’ve been too busy cleaning the house. It started back at Christmas time when I had to help my parents straighten up and it just seems never ending since then. Part of the challenge is deciding where to put things. Take the shoes for example. When I see the shoes in the kitchen I want to straighten up by taking them all out of their little boxes and piling them on the floor, because then they are all in one place. But then I’m not so sure because Mama’s pretty pink slippers don’t look like they belong with the shoes on the floor so I put them back on the shelf. And then I see my little shoes among the big shoes and I think that they look out of place so I want to put them in my room. But then, on the way to my room, I see the laundry room, and that looks like a good place for shoes too. And that gets me thinking some more…so I go to my parents’ closet where most of Dad’s shoes are and decide that they need to be cleaned. This took me awhile, but one night, I took most of dad’s shoes (one by one because they are heavy) and I put them in the dryer. I would have put them in the washer but I can’t reach that unless Mama lets me sit on the dryer and help her throw things in. Anyway, I put all of Dad’s shoes in the dryer so at least they could go for a spin and maybe get a little cleaner. That was a great idea wasn’t it?

Speaking of laundry – I love doing laundry. That’s my favorite thing of all. I love helping Mom throw the dirty clothes into the washer, and I’m very good at it if I do say so myself. It seems like we could do so much more laundry though, so when I see a pile of laundry on the couch I take the clothes and throw them in the laundry room to help out. I also like to help out with the Tupperware. I can tell Mama likes to reorganize the Tupperware a lot so I will take it all out of the cabinet for her so she can put it back in.

I also like rearranging my drawers. My parents and Nanny always put my clothes away, but they never ask me where I want them to be. For example, they put all the sheets in the bottom drawer that I can reach the easiest, but who cares about sheets? I want to be able to reach my clothes! So, sometimes I’ll pull everything out so that I can reach the clothes better. The socks are higher up and harder to reach too, but I don’t mind that because I know where they belong, so anytime I find socks around the house (in my room, on my feet, in the laundry room) I take them in my mouth over to the sock drawer. Do you see how helpful I am??

And finally, there is the constant clean-up of my formula cans. I have to tell you, I really love these. I don’t know what it is that attracts me so much but I just have to have them. I liked them so much they finally got their own special drawer that I can reach! So, now, I can take them out when I want to, stack them up, move them around from room to room, and when I’m all done I can put them back again. Honestly, I just don’t know what Mama and Daddy ever did without me.

Inspecting my hard work

Washing the Windows

Cleaning out my drawers....

New Year's Resolutions

A few days ago I heard people talking about “Resolutions” so I asked Daddy what that meant, and he said that they are promises of things you will do in the next year. I thought this was a really neat idea because there are many things that I want to do this year!

So, without further ‘adue’, here are my promises for Year 2010:

1. I will learn to take my shirt off by myself
2. I will walk all the way around my block without help (So far I can go half the way)
3. I will learn to run
4. I will figure out how to open doors
5. I will figure out why the star-shaped block will not fit into the square shaped hole
6. I will memorize the words to “Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round”
7. I will figure out how to avoid having my diaper changed
8. My parents say that we are going to Italy this year so I will learn how to say Leche in Italian
9. I will walk up and down stairs (without anyone’s help!)
10. I will learn to ride the cats

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!