Trash!

It's been more than 2 weeks since kingston has used a Binky!  I'm so excited and proud of him. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit worried they were going to be around for awhile. When he was sick with an upper respiratory infection I felt he needed the comfort, when his teeth were coming in, I felt he needed the comfort, and if he was fussy and tired at night, well... hello binky!  But when he began to ask for it, in his sweet little voice "binky?" I knew we needed to wean!  An inner voice told me that if he could ask for the binky, it was no longer needed.  And so, once his uri cleared up, and his teeth calmed down.... we just made the binky disappear!  I actually found a bag of them (thanks grammie for putting them in one place) and threw them away!  Proud to say that at 18 months old we are binky free!

he has however found 2 holes on his face that he thinks are the greatest thing in the world. Toddlers and their exploring!

wordboy

Each and every day he is saying new words.  All of them aren't clear, some of them are complete babble, and others are clear as day!

He is familiar with vowels.  I'll admit, he doesn't know what a vowel is or word structure and the importantce of these letters, but he is familiar with A-E-I-O-U and loves to say the letters!  He also loves repeating parts of the alphabet, there's really no doubt in my mind this is because when no lullabies come to mind, I sing the ABC's!

He also loves counting. To date he counts to four. I typically start the "one" and he finishes with the "two, three, four".  Could this be thanks to Feist song 1,2,3,4?!

I love watching his little lips form to try and sound out a word.  I love how he says the first letter of the word when he can't figure out the pronunciation. 

Each child he sees is a "baby!" and he says it with great ethusiasm.  I love the tone in his voice when he says "momma" and how it differs when he's not feeling well or is tired, it's more like a "mum ma".

He calls trucks "beep beep", cars are "cahs" with a wicked boston ascent, and buses are "bus" with a silent s.
Tonights new word at dinner was "beans".  How appropriate as we ate Busch's baked beans.

Mmmm Coffee Grounds

I was on the phone this morning, in the living room.  Kingston was with me, however, he then ventured into the kitchen.  He loves hanging out by the fridge, playing with his vtech alphabet magnets.  He ususally chats while taking the magnets off & on the fridge, however, it was awfully quiet, and I asked Jaime to hold a minute while I went to check on him.  There he was, sitting on the floor, next to the trash with black stuff all over his face.  The black stuff happened to be coffee grounds from a Kcup!  He had removed it from the trash, opened it up and sampled the hazelnut kcup. When I asked him if he liked it, he shook his head "no". 

Here's a picture of him, happy as can be, face covered with coffee grounds. Future coffee drinker? Perhaps!

A visit with the Easter Bunny

Kingston is a very outgoing child.  This is a personality trait he takes after me.  Willing to chat it up with anyone, anywhere.  He met the Easter Bunny and LOVED him.  Last year he was so little, that I'm not sure he knew that he was sitting with a big white furry creature.  This year however, we were at a local town event for Breakfast with the Bunny and it wasn't crowded, allowing quality time with the Bunny.  He sat on the bunnys lap, posed for some pictures and then got down, only to motion that he wanted to sit with the bunny some more.  Put him back on the bunnys lap, where he proceed to snuggle with the bunny, resting his head on his lap.  I suppose I'd do the same if no one was around, afterall the bunny was soft, and cuddly!  It amazed me at how he couldn't get enough of this cuddly creature.  Kingstons friend Lexi, who is one month younger was also with us, she was NOT interested in the bunny, let alone sitting on his lap. She stood from a distance admiring the big white creature. 

After breakfast, we participated in the egg hunt.  Visiting stores downtown, where we recieved two eggs, a bracelet, and bubbles.  It was FREEZING outside, however, Kingston was a trooper, all bundled up, riding in his stroller. After the hunt, we gathered at the green, where the Peter Cottontail gave us a bag of gold candy.  A great day, spent with Auntie Lynzee, Grammie, Melena and friends.

Dead Battery!

The weather has been really funny the past couple of weeks.  We've had warm weather, rain, and freezing cold temperatures! But, one thing is for sure, Spring is here!  With that in mind, and my evergrowing boy, we hit the outlets to get some new clothes.   Kingston took a nice long nap on our hour commute to Westbrook, and arrived well rested.  We opted for Pizza for lunch, I had a spinach ricotta slice, Kingston had plain cheese.  I don't typically like cooked ricotta; however it was delicious, Kingston even tried it and liked it.

Then we hit the stores, got some fashionable attire, what's any season without engineer stripes?!.  After shopping, we were on the other side of the outlet, I took Kingston out of the stroller and allowed him to walk back to the car, he was excited to get out, and I figured a little exercise would be good for his little legs. It was a beautiful day, and the fresh air felt great, he agreed as he danced down the sidewalk.  We arrived at the opposite side of the outlets, closest to the car, where he spotted the "Choo Choo" train.  He was ever so excited.  We sat on the bench for a few minutes, talking about the train, the colors, the noise it makes and just playing.  I treasure these days.  Mommy & Kingston days.  They rock.

Then it was time to go, we walked back to the car, and I tried using the key fob to unlock the honda, with no luck.  I knew something was wrong.  I had to manually unlock the car with the key, something I haven't done since I had my '98 Geo Prism.  Boy am I spoiled.  Opened up the car, loaded it up with all of our goodies, put the boy in his seat, climbed in myself, to find the car wouldn't start.  Looked down and found I had left the lights on!  Immediately called AAA, who came to my rescue in less than 15 minutes!  I found it doesn't hurt to mention I'm with child!  Danny jumped my battery, and we were headed home, when Kingston started to get finicky in the backseat, I tried turning on the radio, to find that the preset code needed to be set, just for the record, 1,2,3,4,5 doesn't work.  Drove back to Westbrook, went to the Honda dealership who showed me where the code is kept, they reset it, and then we were back on our way home!  What's a ride in the car without music, especially BareNaked Ladies & Jack Johnson?! 

Lesson learned, don't forget the lights!

Spring is here!

Everyone was sick last week with the stomach bug!  It circulated thru the whole house, not leaving one person out!  Kingston & I were 100% by Wednesday... so we attended playgroup on Thursday, came home, had lunch and ventured back out to the park to meet our friends Lauren & Benny.  The boys don't seem to be all that interested in one another as they are in the rest of the world, but it was fun, none the less.  Lauren is infamous for packing snacks and Benny was kind enough to share goldfish.  The boys sat by the ducks, or swans, Lauren nor I could establish what they were, we'll call them ducks for the sake of simplicity!  I suppose I should refresh myself with wild animals, so that I can teach Kingston the proper names.

While we waited for daddy to get home; Lynzee, my 9 year old sister offered to pull Kingston in the winter sled in the front yard, at first I hesitated, then I gave in.  Afterall, what harm could be done? They had a blast.  He's been calling her "sissy" lately.  He knows her name and calls her that also, it's quite funny, he adores her, and she adores him!

For dinner I suggested Hank's, since it was opening day.  Hank's is a staple for good weather & yummy food.  Unfortunately, I could have never predicted what would happen.  EVERYONE in Northeastern Ct was also at Hanks, we ordered at 7pm and didn't get our food till nearly 8pm.  I felt so bad for Kingston, he ended up having a squeezable apple sauce & milk while we waited.  Then we got our food, which was delicious! Lynzee, my 9 year old sister and I had ice cream after dinner, Kingston was nearly falling asleep, however managed to get a lick or two from Lynzee's vanilla cone.  Ahh yes, Hanks is open, Spring is here!

Kingston has a few new words in addition to sissy, he's been saying "bus", "choo choo" when referring to the train, I've heard him drop "ugh oh" a few times also, and my favorite, "peek boo".

No crust

Today is Thursday, which happens to be my favorite day of the week.  It has been for a long time.  It's my day off.  It's the day Kingston and I have been known to jam pack a million things into one day, or the alternative, lay around the house in pjs all day.  Either way, we always have a great time together, just Kingston & I.  As of December, Kingston & I have been attending playgroup on Thursday mornings.  We went this morning, it's interesting to see when we enter the room he searches for the same toys each week.  He favors the train table, the school bus, and a few other vehicles.  Not so interested in the play food, the baby dolls, or building blocks, yet.  We haven't ventured into sitting at the table and participating in the arts & crafts activities - today involved paint.  We'll pass, until I feel confident that he won't eat the paint.  You see, my child has an infacuation with putting everything in his mouth, and I've read books that this is normal... but paint?!  at playgroup? nah! we'll pass! I was relived when I saw another mom, with an older toddler check out the table today and pass on the activity.... "maybe next time, maybe next year", afterall, my toddler is only 15 months and 29 days, we'll have plenty of time to eat paint.

We did however go outside and play!  Nothing like taking advantage of 54 degree weather in the middle of March.  He played hard too.  Small meltdown when it was time to go inside.  He played dead.  Dropping down, laying on the woodchips, curled up in the fetal position.  No sound, no movement, just laying there, making his mark.  Once we got inside we had snack time, he had some banana and graham crackers - I think it was truly the first time he ate all his snack!  After snack, we washed up and got ready to go.  Another battle... leaving all the great toys behind, good friends, and well, simply just a good time.  Kingston is still taking 2 naps a day - based on his needs, not mine. So, there we have it, another fit - and try explaining to a toddler "it's time to go home to get some beauty rest, you can see your friends next week."  ha!  The good thing is, he is easily distracted, by the time we got outside he was my happy-go-lucky boy! A truck passed by and he was amused!

Came home, took a nap, had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich minus the crust for lunch and headed to a good friends house for a playdate with C&B.  I love how the two toddlers played nicely together.  I loved how the two of them took turns pushing her baby stroller.  How B "shook her butt" & Kingston danced to the music.  They are both becoming quite the little people, it's a pretty amazing thing to witness.

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