Summer Fun!

Someone once said that the best thing about being a teacher is June, July, and August. Well they're right! This was the first summer that Andrew and I could actually take Taylor places that he would enjoy and have fun experiencing (no longer a baby boy, but a growing active toddler). And boy we must have been busy because the summer has flown by! Besides being hotter than you know where...we've tried to stay cool and somewhat consider Taylor a "water baby". Before summer began Taylor was still a bit nervous when bath water ran over his face. Not anymore!! He actually doesn't mind it so much anymore, and if you let him he would play with the outside hose and some cups ALL afternoon long.

Here's a photo montage of our summer.

June: Old MacDonald Petting Zoo outside of Houston. The big yellow tunnel was just so much more fun than all those silly animals. Thanks grandma Gegee, aunt Vikki, and cousins Megan and Garrett for coming with us!

Golfing with Daddy!

Austin's Children's Museum with our playdate friends.

Playing in the fountains at the pool.

July: Parade ready! Happy 4th

San Antonio Zoo & Mommy's Birthday with our playdate friends.

Driving the boat...nothing more to say!

Houston Aquarium with cousins Megan & Garrett-a must see if you're in the Houston area!

MyTime Gym Class-nothing else was as fun as the slide. We need to get one of those for the backyard.

Playing with the hose...an after lunch or after dinner must.

The Evolution of Pooh

The classic Pooh Bear has been a staple at our house since Taylor was born. A friend of mine gave me a baby shower gift that included a small stuffed animal of Pooh. Since the day he was brought home from the hospital that little Pooh Bear was in his crib. Not because I even thought that he cared about it at that time, but because it was so soft and cute (plus it was one of the only stuffed animals that we had that wasn't made with small choking hazards...ribbons, buttons).

Around six months that little Pooh Bear became Taylor's Lovey. We took that thing everywhere!!! In the car, Mrs. Heather's house, Houston, Galveston, on the boat, EVERYWHERE!

Everyone in our family knows just how much Pooh means to Taylor. A must at naptime and an immediate soothing mechanism if anything goes wrong. Pooh has been so important to Taylor that I actually bought another one just in case something happened to the original (our backup Pooh-so far we haven't had to use it yet).

So far the original Pooh has seen a lot:

His nose (strings) bitten off-teething

Left on Heather's driveway in the pouring rain

Washer

Dryer

Run over by the stroller

Ears worn off from Taylor rubbing them

Hair clumped together from pure LOVE

Can you spot the changes?

Another Pooh item in our house is the Pooh book, "Yellow and Yummy". Ever since six weeks of age that has been Taylor's bedtime book. We definitely wore that book out! He always seemed so engaged in it until about 12 months when he decided that he could choose the books at bedtime. So for about 6 months "Yellow and Yummy" has taken a back seat to "What's Up Duck", "Jamberry", "No No, Yes Yes", and a series of Elephant, Tiger, and Ladybug books.

Until this week...the Yellow and Yummy book has returned as one of Taylor's favorites!!! We read it at least 5 times a day. And it's so cute because he plops himself down in my lap now and wants to sit and listen to a book (a teacher's delight).

The amazing thing is it's a book about colors and Taylor can now repeat the name of the colors once I've read them, and he will point things out in the story if I ask where they are. For instance, "where is the green frog", or "where are the orange pumpkins". He loves to say the word "honey"! I think I'm writing about this in a blog because this was his very "first" book and now he understands it (tears, tears). WOW, how he has grown! It used to be the teacher in me pointing everything out in the story...but now he does it on his own-way cool and a proud mommy moment:-)

Before the haircut-look at those curls:-)

"Wash Behind Your Ears"

I'm sure it must have been said on, Leave It To Beaver, I Love Lucy, Family Ties, and The Cosby Show and I'm sure my mom and Andrew's mom have said it before too, but until this last week I never fully appreciated the saying, "make sure you wash behind those ears". On Thursday Taylor tried mini Ego waffles all by himself. Lately, Taylor has been obsessed with "sauce". Any sauce will do...ketchup, honey mustard, mustard, BBQ, salsa (Jennifer was witness to that one) apple-sauce and now syrup. He loves the idea of taking his food and dipping it in the sauce. So back to the Ego's. All was going well until I stepped away for a minute. Taylor must have been finished with his waffles because he started to play with the plate and what was remaining on the plate. I must have turned around to late to actually see the act take place but I did notice that he was lowering the plate from on top of his head. Thinking that I must have caught him in the nick of time, I went about cleaning up his highchair. Until something in his hair caught my eye, and to my astonishment he must have flipped the plate on top of his head and smeared the syrup all over!! Wouldn't you know it, we had to be somewhere in 15 minutes and taking a bath right then and there was out of the question. So the quickest thing I could grab was a wetwipe. Lets just say that by the time we got to where we were going and I could actually look at my child's head again, his hair looked like Danny Zuko in Grease. Perfectly combed to the side but crusty and hard as ever. Wasn't until later that evening that we finally got a bath with a double dose of Johnson's & Johnson's on his head. Good as new....or so I thought.
Three days later as I'm standing behind my child and looking at the back of his head I notice something. Something of a brown, sticky consistency on the back of his ear!!!!!! Yes, to my worst fears there it was- Leftover syrup from DAYS ago. Moral of the story...if your child is eating solid foods (by themself) wash behind your child's ears every single night or potatoes just might grow out of them like our parents said.

1st Haircut

The time has finally arrived to take Taylor to his very first haircut. It's taken a long time to grow what hair he does have! He has some crazy curls on the sides and in the back that are becoming a little unruly as of late. For the first time since he was born, we've had to use water on his hair just to get it to lay right. Today we took him in for just a trim in the back and around the ears...nothing crazy(no #2 razor yet)! We were dreading this day just because of the fact that he may scream and cry and we would have to leave...happy to report just the opposite-sigh of relief. He sat in daddy's lap (holding mommy's hair foam) the whole time without a peep! Andrea (our favorite hairstylist) couldn't have been better. She showed him the little strands of hair that she was cutting and he was very interested in what she was doing and where that hair was coming from. We survived and hopefully we wont have to do that again for 6-12 months!

Born with some hair which proceeded to fall out and grow back in a lighter shade of brown.

Fork or Spoon, Left or Right

Lately we have introduced Taylor to a fork. It sounds simple enough...hold it in your hand and scoop things up with it and put it in your mouth. Let's just say it has taken 5 months to "somewhat" master the Spoon!! I say "somewhat" because he still can't decide which hand to use and lets just face it, using your hands to eat it just so much more easy. Our troubles with the spoon started when Taylor wanted to flip the spoon over right before he got it to his mouth. Needless to say, not much food was getting to where it needed to be, but he loved trying and had to have a spoon with every meal. Recently, the "flipping" technique has subsided and he is able to hit the target straight on-YEA! I think he still likes the "shovel in as much as you can with your hands" technique the best because he still does that too! The spoon just doesn't allow for a mouthfull and I mean a mouthfull!! So back to the fork. Right hand or left hand-both seem to get the job done right now. He is crazy excited about this new utensil. He stabs his toast, chicken, pizza with it and puts it in his mouth. Oddly enough, he likes to eat his applesauce with his fork! When you have a picky eater like us, however he gets it in is fine with us! Enjoy the mealtime pics:-)

Say "CHEEZE"

I can remember those early months when Andrew and I would lite up with the tiniest of a grin from Taylor-as if to tell us that he did remember us and he missed us. Well it seems like overnight he has mastered one of his earliest milestones...the act of smiling! I can recall the early days of being excited and filled with joy when he would "smile", but then let down because I learned it was just a reflex. That reflex has grown and developed into the best thing that I wake up to every morning. I don't think I've ever loved a smile more (well maybe his daddy's smile)! Such a simple gift to be able to do, and to know that it can actually change someones mood. Of course the progression of the smile has taken 17 months to master, it has been an amazing journey. From a toothless grin, to a toothless smile, to a wholehearted BIG teethy all out smile, to recently a picture perfect "say cheeze smile". One day soon, we'll have a smile with all of our teeth:-)

Taylor's First Trip to the Zoo

On Monday, we went to the San Antonio zoo. It was the first time for all of us. Needless to say, Taylor had an awesome time! So awesome that he was hard to contain at times. Being the boy that he is, he loves to run and play and being in the stroller for extended periods of time was difficult. We saw as many animals that were out braving the hot Texas sun...Taylor loved the indoor (air conditioned) Hippo exhibit. They had fish swimming around and he loved looking at them. I think standing on the rocks to look at the fish was a big hit too!
With no nap in sight while we were at the zoo, Taylor cashed out the entire way home...at least until we stopped for Dairy Queen!!! Taylor loves ice cream.

On a side note we've spent the last day recovering from the zoo trip. Taylor came down with 103.7 temp later that night (hightest temp yet for us-scary!). Tylenol brought it down to 102 and allowed Taylor to try to get some sleep. By morning the fever was back and we were headed for the doctor's office. A step test later (very red sore thoat), thankfully negative, and another poor rectal temp check for Taylor and we were sent home. The afternoon was better, some normal activity, but by evening it was clear that his thoat was bothering him and he got to sleep with "paci" something he hasn't done since 12 months. Good ole "paci" did the trick and he's finally asleep. It sucks being sick as an adult, but it tugs at your heart strings when your little one seem so helpless.