Fun weekend

Andrew and I had a busy, fun, extremely hot weekend visiting family in my hometown. We spent most of three whole days at my dad's, hanging out with my stepsisters and their kids. At my dad's house, there is little need to go indoors. The backyard is awesome, and it's usually where the party's at. Needless to say, Andrew was in heaven. He adores his cousin, M, who (usually) enjoys playing with him and making him laugh. Saturday was M's eighth birthday party!



Digging... just digging. ~ Watching M open his gifts.


New friends.


Bin full of vehicles = heaven. ~ Playing with big cousin M.


More digging.


Oh, and a crib-climbing update: It lasted only a weekend. Last Monday night he fell while trying to get out. He wasn't hurt, but it must have scared him pretty good, because he hasn't climbed out ever since! I am so relieved. With any luck we can get another six months or more of crib use.

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Beautiful May

Hello again, beautiful May, with your glorious spring days! This month we will celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary and our sweet little boy's second birthday. Who knows what else it might bring?

We had a taste of spring last weekend and again yesterday, and I'm infatuated all over again. Andrew, it seems, loves to be outside now. When we were visiting my mom for Easter he couldn't get enough. I wish we had a backyard for him to play in at home. I'll have to make up for it with frequent trips to the park.

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My little monkey

Considering his love for monkeys, we really had no choice...

He came.

He played.

He shoved stuff into the storm sewer.

And then he went home for lunch.

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Introducing... Mama!

"Mama." Could there be any sweeter word from the lips of your child? Like most mothers, I eagerly anticipated hearing it for the first time. Oh, sure, he babbled it when he was first finding his voice months and months ago, but when would he say it with meaning? When would he say it to me?

And then, just over a week ago, he said it, clear as day. He was climbing up some stairs outside, with me close behind, and he said, "Mama, Mama!" As if to say, "Come on, Mom, hurry up, I have places to go." My heart melted.

And he has said it many times since. It soon became clear, though, that he wasn't talking about me. He was talking about Monkey — his best friend and lovey. Monkey was a birthday present from Mommy and Daddy. I guess we sort of forced him on Andrew. We started putting him in the car seat and in the crib, and pretty soon Andrew was carrying him everywhere. It's awfully cute. Monkey is now a constant companion, and he seems to be a special comfort whenever Andrew is sick or upset. Here are a few shots of Monkey in action:







(Sometimes I tell myself that Andrew really is referring to me when he says "Mama," and that he has a slightly differently pronunciation for Monkey. It's more of a "Mo-ma," isn't it? And he just happened to start saying both words right around the same time. That's likely, isn't it?)

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Self-feeding fun

I've been letting Andrew try to feed himself with utensils lately, which is, of course, messy business. Sometimes he isn't really interested and is content to let me feed him. Sometimes he doesn't want me to feed him, but he doesn't want to try to use the utensils either. That's when the real fun ensues!


Yes, I see the fork, but I'd rather just use my hands.
Outta my way, fork!


Hmm, maybe I can lick it clean.


Maybe I can shake some food out?

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Rise and shine!

Okay, enough about me. How about a picture post?

After a two-hour nap this morning, my boy was all smiles! (For a while, anyway.) I know I'm a little bit biased, but is he not adorable?








LOVE!

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"Happy Birthday"

"Happy birthday to you..."

"Happy birthday to you..."

"Happy birthday, dear Andrew..."

"Happy birthday to you!"

Yes, he touched the flame. I'm a bad mommy.

I hesitated a moment before setting the cake in front of him, but I figured I could keep his hands away for the duration of "Happy Birthday." It's a short song, right? I pulled his hand away twice before he got past me and burnt his poor little finger. Actually, his finger was fine. I think he was just shocked. But it ruined the moment and the whole cake experience.

I'm going to recreate the smash cake and try it again on his actual birthday. I NEED to get some good cake-smashing photos!

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Birthday party

We celebrated Andrew's birthday at our apartment with a few friends and relatives on Saturday. It was an awkward affair. Andrew was having a rare miserable day (teething and constipated, poor thing) and clung to me and cried a lot. Our guests — about a dozen people drawn from different aspects of our lives — mostly did not mingle but sat quietly looking bored. I don't really blame them; I know the onus is on me as hostess to keep everyone entertained, although I wish certain individuals had made a little more effort (and I sincerely thank our two outgoing friends who did their best to break some ice). The only trick up my sleeve, besides Andrew, who was little help that day, was the five-minute year-in-review slideshow I made (which I will post here later this week). All I can say is that we will not be having another party like that if I can help it.

Even the pictures are a disappointment. Andrew is not smiling in a single shot. The props are the highlights. I'm so glad I went with a cute theme: it's called "mod monkey." Instead of buying a banner I made the little wall display on the right out of cardstock. It went above the couch. The two monkey heads will probably find a home in Andrew's room after his birthday.



Andrew adored the balloons. He kept pointing at them and wanting to touch them. At one point he batted them all around — most fun he had all day. Several days later, he's still obsessed with them.



But best of all, I am SUPER proud of the cake I made. I had no previous decorating experience and learned several new tricks to accomplish this beauty. It's a three-layer banana cake (monkeys...bananas...get it?) with chocolate-banana filling, buttercream frosting, and fondant decorations. I also made a little matching smash cake.



This is the smiliest pic we got of the birthday boy. I love his monkey shirt!

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