Jimmy's upcoming surgery

Just wanted to let everyone know that we went ahead and scheduled Jimmy's little outpatient surgery for Dec. 2nd. They're just going to pop that little cyst out of his eyelid and give him a couple of stitches. She said it's very simple, but she likes to go slowly and take her time so it may take an hour or two. He will have to go under anesthesia, again. (Yes, for those of you keeping count, this is his 3rd time before age 3! I called and talked to his pediatrician about this. He says it's really not an issue as long as we're comfortable with who's doing it and feel it's necessary.) It should be a very different experience though - watching an almost 3 year old wake up than watching a 4 month old and an 8 month old. She tried to reassure me that there will be minimum scarring - I stopped and explained that hers is one of several and we're OK with scars. Anyway, here we go again - but on a MUCH smaller scale!

Halloween

Trick or Treating was SOOO fun this year! I didn't even think to practice and Thursday night, we tried to teach Jimmy to say, "Trick or Treat," and he absolutely refused. He would say, "Trick or Agghhhh" or "Trick or (scream)" but refused to say it. We finally got it out of him once. We worked on it a lot Friday and during the day on Saturday. When Grandpa arrived for Trick or Treating, Jimmy wouldn't say it for him and shyly hid behind me. "He's not going to do it!" I kept saying (so sad that I'd worked so hard on his costume only for him to weenie out).

We wound up Trick or Treating with the kindergarten next door neighbor. (First, Daddy and I took Jimmy to the neighbors' for his FIRST Trick or Treat - Daddy said that was it for him and went to man our bowl of candy.) Anyway, Evan is quite the spitfire and grabbed Jimmy's hand and headed down the street. I walked to the first 4 doors with them and Jimmy DID say, "Trick or Treat," (actually, Evan said it for him at the first house - he even said, "I'll say it for him -'Trick or Treat.'") By about the 5th house, they were going to the door alone - I stayed on the sidewalk. I could hear Jimmy say, "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" from there. (Impressive for our insta-shy around strangers-boy!) Evan kept yelling, "I want to go to the Spooky House." Jimmy just kept repeating, "We goin' to the kookie house." There were a few that were too spooky for Evan, so we just skipped those houses. Jimmy and I went around the block. James said we were gone about an hour and a half. One lady actually recognized who Jimmy was and sang the song with us. She was very impressed. (Have YOU watched the show yet? Go watch it now!)

I tried to make Jimmy do a super-hero pose. Not quite, but still cute!

Hands - In. "Super Readers . . . "

. . . to the rescue!"

Jackolantern

Jimmy and Daddy carved a pumpkin together this year. Mommy got to take out all of the slime - neither of my boys can handle slimy! I wanted Jimmy to be very involved - yeah, it's still a bit early. We let him scribble on the pumpkin with a Sharpie to "Draw the face," then he helped Daddy cut. I thought he'd help take out seeds, but NO WAY! He got a bit bored mid-way through and dug in the cabinets (thus, the blue silicone bowl stuck to his and Daddy's foreheads.)

Pumpkin Patch

Jimmy and I almost missed out on the Pumpkin Patch this year! I thought it went through Nov., but apparently it ends on Halloween. I found this out on Tuesday and the weather was supposed to be rough all week. Our best bet was for Wednesday, so we found a friend that could go on short notice and headed out. It was windy, cold, and soggy, so we took a few pictures then loaded the boys up and went to eat and play at McDonald's. I think we were at the Pumpkin Patch for less than 15 minutes - but I got my pictures. It's just too soon to let the tradition die!The boys would NEVER both look at the camera. I probably have 30 shots of them alternating who's looking at me.I forgot how much Jimmy liked riding these wooden toys. It was even better this year (as everything is!)Jimmy was really into the character cut-outs this year. He spotted the Backyardigans from the van when we pulled in. I asked if he wanted his picture taken with Diego and he jumped right in there with him. I was kind of surprised.

Super Why

OK, so every year, Daddy comes up with the plan for Halloween and it's my job to make it happen. This year was his best idea yet (I say that every year!) Jimmy is obsessed with the PBS show SuperWhy. It is truly the best show on TV! We Tivo every episode and sometimes I'm tempted to watch it during naps. It has incredible reading skills that Jimmy has really latched on to! Anyway, this year he's SuperWhy - with the power to read (as Jimmy likes to add). This year, Mommy finally learned to do shoulders and made actual pants instead of just shoving him into a flat body outline like I have the last 2 years (I'm pretty proud of this costume). I started on it Friday and finished it Monday morning, 2 hrs. before our Mommies Group Halloween party. He looked awesome. We'll take more pictures on Halloween, but some of you (No-No) were dying to see the costume. He's holding the "Super Duper Computer" that Daddy made (it's a key part of the show - seriously, watch it, you'll love it!)

Check this out!!! I didn't eat my first whole apple until college, and I still have a hard time biting into an apple. Today, Jimmy didn't want me to cut his apple. I thought, "yeah, right," but he dug right in. He is still pluggin' away and has already eaten about half of this very large apple! I just asked him if he was all finished with his apple (he was kind of slowing down and trying to play with his trains one handed), he replied, "No, not quite." Mollie is chasing him around, just praying he drops this delicious apple.

While we were in Memphis, Jimmy and I also went to the Children's Museum. It was phenomenal. Jimmy had such a blast! On the way in, they told us, "Be sure to touch everything!" He had so much fun, he even ate some pizza for lunch, (which was all they served - he usually won't touch pizza).Yes, this is my child, about to hurl his fishing pole, (which he did). This was a model of the Missippi river with currents and the kids could send boats down it or fish with magnetic fishing sets. Jimmy's pole was still on a center island when we left.This little store was sponsored by Kroger - it was awesome. The items really scanned and the register printed receipts. There was a fully stocked store. SO fun - we went back twice.There was also a TV station. Jimmy made a rock video. We also tried a weather report, but the fans came on and blew like crazy and Jimmy was NOT having that!This area had a firetruck, police car, and police motorcycle to play on. Jimmy, of course, LOVED it all! It was a very popular area filled with little boys.There was a dress-up area filled with sports uniforms.

FedEx had a full sized plane in the museum. I think I was more impressed with the cockpit than Jimmy was. Overall, we had a fantastic time!!!

YIKES!!! Over 2 months without an update to the blog! OOOooops! I've been really busy selling stuff on Etsy, (which is GREAT!), but meanwhile, Jimmy keeps growing, changing and doing fun stuff. So let's backtrack a little. Mid-September, James' job sent him to Memphis for training and Jimmy and I got to tag along. It was the closest we've ever gotten to a family vacation. (What happened to us? We used to take a vacation every year at least - oh yeah, JIMMY!) Anyway, Jimmy and I had a blast. Here are some pictures from the zoo.Jimmy kept wanting to go back to the giraffees and elephants. They were his favorite. Notice the opening in the fence, so the little one can see. I could just push his stroller to the opening.The sea lion show was amazing. What a great facility. There were polar bears across the way in a similar set-up - only much larger! The zoo keepers were doing "chats" at certain times, daily, all over the zoo. We made it to the sea lions and the giraffees.Memphis is one of only 2 zoos in the nation with pandas. These are on loan from Bejing. They were really amazing and the other panda was sleeping against the glass. Jimmy said, "I no like him." They were almost too close for comfort.

What a BIG Day!

Wow! Saturday, we had a big fun day! Jimmy's been waking up really early for about a week (sometimes before 7:00), so I wasn't surprised when I heard him Saturday around 7:30. Since we got up pretty early, we were able to do a lot before naptime hit. We started our day by going to claim Jimmy's 2 free donuts from his Summer Reading Program. We let him choose - a chocolated dipped holeless donut with a white icing football on it and a chocolate dipped with sprinkles. He just about finished both - which is odd considerring he doesn't usually eat much breakfast.

For lunch, we went to McDonald's. In case you haven't heard, he now climbs to the top of the playscapes!!! Saturday, he went to a little higher deck that looked out a skylight. He hadn't been in that section before and, of course, he couldn't get down. We hear, "Momma, heeeelp," which he says often and I've finally learned to quit panicking about. I looked at James and said, "Start climbing, Buddy." You see, Mommy was quite content with Jimmy staying in the toddler area or using just the low tube that came straight out the slide. But, a couple of weeks ago, Daddy took Monday off and went with us to storytime at McDonald's and encouraged my boy to climb up. Lucky me - now HE'S STUCK!!! After about 15 minutes of trying to talk him down, we sent a little stranger girl up to get him. Once he slid down the slide, he headed right back up again, but I think he'll avoid the top deck for a while. (The pictures are actually from last Saturday, Aug. 8th)

After lunch, we headed to Home Depot to grab some little stuff, so Jimmy was excited to ride the tractors! In the parking lot, we saw a firetruck - Jimmy's favorite obsession! As we were looking at it, the firemen came across the parking lot. One of them yelled, "Open it up, put him in." We don't even usually let him touch it, just out of respect. We thoroughly inspect at least one firetruck a week, but we don't touch! Sure enough, the guy comes over and puts Jimmy in the truck! I'm so glad digital cameras are tiny and affordable, I keep it on me at all times just for this type of situation - How much cool stuff did you older mommies miss pictures of when we were growing up? We called No-No from inside Home Depot to tell her what we did. Jimmy was sitting on a tractor. So, what does he tell No-No and Paw-Paw? "I ride the tractor!" The TRACTOR? What about the firetruck??? What can I say, he lives in the moment!

Big Boy Bed Update

That first night, when we put Jimmy to bed in his new big boy bed, he stayed in bed just fine. I checked him with the video monitor about every 10 minutes (Man, I LOVE that thing! the sound is going out though, starting to freak me out!). Anyway, when we went to bed at 11:30, he suddenly was not in his bed, but I could hear him snoring. I had put a bean bag under the opening of his bed, just in case. When I went in, he was perfectly draped across the bean bag, sound asleep. (He looked just like the piece of fish on sushi!) I decided I couldn't just leave him there, so I picked him up and put him right back in his bed. I think he missed one snore. He was so asleep that it didn't even really phase him to pick him up! Mom and Dad had both warned me that when we first started in a bed, we often woke up on the blankets on the floor. Luckily, last night, no floor time! I hope it was just the first night jitters! Again, though, he still is not getting out of his bed - just that first time. Glad Daddy was home to make a permanent impression that we don't get out until Mommy or Daddy lets us!

Jimmy's Big Day

This morning, we transitioned Jimmy's crib into a toddler bed. He was just getting too big to lift over the side - especially if he was not wanting to take a nap and was fighting me! I made new sheets for his bed so that it was a little more exciting for him.

I worried that Jimmy would have a hard time climbing in, but he ran from his doorway and hopped straight into the bed like he was using a springboard.

He is obsessed with "Noo-nooing" his tag rag that I made him. He used to noo-noo everything and leave big wet puddles. We're currently stopping him from noo-nooing our shirt buttons as it's gotten a little creepy as he's gotten older. He likes to noo-noo smooth things. When he's tired, he noo-noos his thumbnail.For his first sleep, he took a nap. We only had to go put him back in bed once when he got out to play - YEA! Tonight, he went straight to sleep without getting out of bed once. I don't think most people have it this easy!We took him to McDonald's tonight for dinner and he did some serious climbing! This was the biggest play structure I've ever seen at McDonalds and the only way to slide down was to climb up a tube to the very top! It was probably 25 feet high. He loved it and climbed through twice. We were thrilled with his adventurous spirit!