Clothes Shopping

We spent the day shopping in Orlando today. Casey was great.. I tried six pairs of jeans and two pairs of shorts on him, and that was only at Baby Gap.. we hadn't even been to the Quiksilver store yet (by the time we got there, he was starting to get annoyed). Every time I'd put a new pair of jeans on him, he'd go right up to the mirror, fold his arms across his chest and look at himself..

[ Don't mind his hair, he slept on it funny in the car while it was still damp. ]

Not long after this (actually, our second visit of the day to Baby Gap) he fell and hit his mouth on the side of the bench :(

Potty Training

The Easter bunny is going to be bringing Casey a potty this year!

After looking everywhere (by 'everywhere' I mean Babies R Us, Target and Walmart), I realized that the basic little potty we all grew up with, is almost extinct. I really didn't want anything that plays music, has flashing lights, a million different pieces, a flush sound or looks like a real toilet or urinal.. I just wanted a simple potty.

Then I came across this one on the Baby Gap website, which is exactly what I had in mind ;

We're going into Orlando tomorrow to do some Easter shopping and get some new jeans and t-shirts for Casey, so hopefully they'll have them at the store. If not, I'll just order it online. We don't have Baby Gap here in Lakeland, which is craziness.

Anyways.. I've done some research on potty training methods, and what works, and from everything I've read, the trick is to not make a big deal out of it. We'll introduce the potty, tell him what it's for and how it works, and where it is.. put him in pull-ups and let him do it in his own time. If he's ready, he'll show interest and we'll encourage him.. if he's not, then we wont push it.. there is no rush.

He's still very young, and the only reason we've decided to introduce the potty so early is because he loves walking around without a diaper.. when he gets out of the bath, he'll run away and hide so I can't put a diaper on him, and if he's not wearing pants he'll often take his diaper off. We were going to wait until we were back in Naples (August), then put him in a toddler bed and bring out the potty at the same time.. but an early start couldn't hurt :)

I'd love to hear about your experiences.. what worked / didn't work for you!

Just came across these..

from March last year.. awww..

These two amazing boys are my world.. ♥

The things he is saying ♥

Here is a list of the words that Casey knows so far (this will be an ongoing post, and I'll just add to it whenever he says something new) ;

Mama - 5 months
Dada - 5 months
Mum / dad - around 8 months
'Du' (duck) - 12 months
Hi / hiya / hello - 13 months
'Gog' (dog - but any animal can be a 'gog' .. unless it's a bird, in which case it is a 'du') - 13 months

'Ba' (bath) - 13 months
'Beh' (bed) - 15 months
'Buh' (bunny and book) - 15 months
'Muh' (monkey) - 15 months
Nanna - 15 months
'Neh' (Nell) - 15 months
Bear - 15 months
Yeah - 15 months
Bye - 16 months
No - 16 months
Gone - 16 months

Other sounds ;

Vroom vroom - 13 months
Mmmm (yum) - 14 months
Woof woof - 15 months
Mooo (cow) - 15 months
Baa Baa (sheep) - 15 months

He can also shake his head 'no' and nod his head 'yes' appropriately (13 months), and he does this all the time.
If I ask him a question, he'll shake his head 'no' or nod his head 'yes' .. or if I go to change his diaper, he'll shake his head 'no'. He'd happily soak in a wet diaper all day if I let him - he hates having his diaper changed.. he actually hates wearing a diaper at all.. he much prefers to be naked, lol.

British Vs. American

When typing a post, I often have to stop and think about the words and spellings I'm using before hitting send.

90% of the time I'll type up a post, then read back over it and realize that I've spelled everything the British way ('favourite' as opposed to 'favorite' or 'colour' as opposed to 'color') - I learned to spell in the UK, so it's obviously what comes naturally - but have used American words (for example, in the US it's 'breakfast, lunch and dinner' and in the UK it's 'breakfast, dinner and tea') - because after living here for seven years, I'm just used to using American words now.

Sometimes I'll go back and change everything to both British spelling and British words, other times I'll go back and change everything to both American spelling and American words, but usually I'll just leave it how it is.. a mixture of British spelling and American words.

I have both British and American readers.. so it's difficult to know which to use and when. I'm sure everyone will understand what I'm saying either way, but I do sometimes wonder whether the British person reading is thinking I'm an idiot for not being able to spell 'color' right.

When it comes to words though, I've found that the British are more familiar with American words.. they generally know what a diaper or a sippy cup is.. but if you ask an American what a nappy or a beaker is, they wouldn't know.

This is a completely pointless post.. just something I've been thinking about, lol.

Play-Doh & Vitamins

Casey played with Play-Doh today. He loved it.. he was stuffing it into the pots, then taking it back out again.. rolling it out with a rolling pin, poking holes in it, making it into balls and throwing it on the floor, then laughing hysterically when I had to keep picking it up, lol. I let him play with the real stuff, and he didn't put it in his mouth once.

We got him some vitamins today. I'm quite confident that he's getting everything he needs in his diet.. he loves his fruits and veggies (besides carrots), he gets plenty of grains and at least 1 serving of meat or fish per day.. then he'll get around 18oz of milk in his bottle. I try to follow the food pyramid as much as possible when making meal plans, and I think I do a pretty good job of it. But.. I'm paranoid about making sure he is getting all the right nutrients, so I figured a multivitamin wouldn't hurt.

And he's mastered the spoon!

He does prefer the fork though. I would have though it would be the other way around..

I wonder if I can get him to eat carrot sticks if I let him dip them in yogurt..?

I tried making edible play dough today, which didn't work out at all.. I can't imagine what I did wrong, but I just couldn't get it to form a dough. I'll try a different recipe tomorrow, and if it turns out well, I'll post it. We do have a few containers of real Play-Doh, but at 16 months, I know the first thing he'll want do is put it in his mouth.

This kid loves water..

Is it just me, or are these 16 month olds getting more and more difficult to keep entertained? ;)

I tried something different this morning. Casey loves water.. so I filled the kitchen sink with water and a load of dish soap, his stacking cups and various kitchen utensils, and let him stand on a chair to play in it. He played for over an hour and a half, and would have happily played longer if I hadn't had to put him down for his nap.

The kitchen ended up like a swimming pool, but he had loads of fun!


And just a few pictures from the playground this afternoon ;

Daddy's idea, so he could swing next to mummy :)

I wish our neighborhood  pool was heated. It's been getting down into the 50's almost every night for the past few months.. so although it might be in the 70's during the day, the temperature drop at night means the pool never manages to heat up completely.. leaving the water too cold to swim in 90% of the winter. It has to be the only unheated outdoor pool in the world. Hopefully by later this month, the nights will have started to get warmer.. otherwise we might have to join to Y just to use the their pool, lol.

On another note.. is it really March already??

I've agreed..

That we can get Casey's hair cut before Colorado in May. On the condition ;

a) It's not too short.
b) I can 'lightly' spike it.

*Sigh* I know I'm going to regret this.. but in all fairness, Peter has wanted it cut for quite some time now, and has been more than patient waiting for me to be 'ready'. So I have three months to get used to the idea..

[ July, 2009. ]