Poor Greyson, hasn't been photographed or blogged about or anything lately. I will not go into excuses, but start back up with a few quick anecdotes.
Greyson loves raisins, and he's a food shoveler - packing as much food into his little mouth as he can at one time. Last week he had so many raisins in there, it looked like he was chewing tobacco. Plus the little trail of brown raisin-juice drool leaking out the corner of his mouth made him look like quite the little redneck!
I was away from Greyson for one night last week. I left Thursday afternoon and returned Friday night in time to cuddle and put him to bed. Friday morning he woke up early and Mike brought him into the big bed. Greyson chanted Mama Mama Mama on the way there, but Mike reassured him that I would be back soon. Greyson crawled over to my side of the bed, looked for me and cried "Nooooo!" in his sweetest little voice. Awww. So sad and yet so sweet.
This kid has so many words, he cracked up the other guests at Madi's party this weekend by showing us where his nose is and then announcing what comes out of his nose: "Boogers!"
And he's putting two words together. At night when we put him down in his crib he goes through his paces - bye bye lizard, bye bye daddy, night night mama, night night house, etc. And there's lots of pretend babbling too, which is super cute. My favorite thing right now is that he uses people's names, when he knows them. He recognized my brother in a photo and called him "Mite" - one of his favorite names to say, also used on Cindy's boyfriend Mike. He knows his friend Trace at school, plus of course Mama, Dada, Jo, and Pops. He will try to say any name or word that you ask him to repeat, with varying degrees of success.
Will get the camera out for sure this weekend, as we're having our 5th Annual 4th of July party. I'm never good about photographing the party but I'll try my best!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Addict
I am addicted. To Craigslist. I know I'm not the only one. I have seen friends post about it on Facebook. Just writing this entry, I realized I have not yet checked the Baby & Kids listings today...
OK, I'm back. When Greyson was a wee babe almost everything he had was brand new or given to me directly by a friend. There was the crib we bought from a friend, and the glider that is still on loan from another friend, and all of the lifesaving things from Emily. I guess a lot of our larger items were hand-me-downs - so maybe I didn't need Craigslist then. Then there were the baby showers, where we were graced with tons of new and fancy things.
Fast forward a year and a half. We want to keep spoiling this kid! He got a mini big-wheel for his 18 month birthday, and a few other toys around that time. Then I realized how broke our family is, and how much money the nice toys for toddlers cost. I had an itch to get him a slide, a water table, a picnic table, a play kitchen, a wagon - especially after seeing how much he loved riding in Fabiana's wagon! But wagons go for about $60 brand new. We could wait for his birthday, but that's a ways away. So I started my Craigslist stalking.
We are keeping a lot of our baby stuff, just in case we ever have another. We did sell/give away a few things a while back - and that's when I discovered Craigslist for baby stuff. After a garage sale where not much baby stuff sold, I advertised and successfully got rid of a bunch of things. I realized how much used baby stuff is out there.
So I started looking for used wagons and slides and water tables, etc. I got to know the ins and outs of the baby listings. There is stuff that people post day after day. There are people that post dozens and dozens of items. There are things that you see a lot of, and things that get snatched up as soon as they are posted. There are, as we have all learned, people that do not remove their postings once they have sold the items. But there are some real gems, if you're paying attention.
Our babies & kids stuff listings are very active. I can leave my desk for an hour, come back and reload the page to find 25 new listings. It's worth the time to look through several pages, and I do. One friend on Facebook worries that she'll miss a bargain on something she never knew she needed, and that's what I have succumbed to. Just ask my husband... Every day for a week I came home telling him how I might have to go somewhere with his truck to pick something up - if it hadn't sold yet. What was it? Maybe something from my list of must-haves, but maybe something else entirely... whatever caught my fancy that day.
I'm happy to report that the great buying spree is over. For now. Greyson is the proud new owner (at least temporarily, until I become addicted to selling things on Craigslist) of a sand & water table, a slide, a picnic table. I found a cheap wagon through the Craigslist garage sale ads - that could become "a whole nother" addiction, as they say. And the play kitchen? I got that one for free from a friend... so I'm not spending all of our money :-)
OK, I'm back. When Greyson was a wee babe almost everything he had was brand new or given to me directly by a friend. There was the crib we bought from a friend, and the glider that is still on loan from another friend, and all of the lifesaving things from Emily. I guess a lot of our larger items were hand-me-downs - so maybe I didn't need Craigslist then. Then there were the baby showers, where we were graced with tons of new and fancy things.
Fast forward a year and a half. We want to keep spoiling this kid! He got a mini big-wheel for his 18 month birthday, and a few other toys around that time. Then I realized how broke our family is, and how much money the nice toys for toddlers cost. I had an itch to get him a slide, a water table, a picnic table, a play kitchen, a wagon - especially after seeing how much he loved riding in Fabiana's wagon! But wagons go for about $60 brand new. We could wait for his birthday, but that's a ways away. So I started my Craigslist stalking.
We are keeping a lot of our baby stuff, just in case we ever have another. We did sell/give away a few things a while back - and that's when I discovered Craigslist for baby stuff. After a garage sale where not much baby stuff sold, I advertised and successfully got rid of a bunch of things. I realized how much used baby stuff is out there.
So I started looking for used wagons and slides and water tables, etc. I got to know the ins and outs of the baby listings. There is stuff that people post day after day. There are people that post dozens and dozens of items. There are things that you see a lot of, and things that get snatched up as soon as they are posted. There are, as we have all learned, people that do not remove their postings once they have sold the items. But there are some real gems, if you're paying attention.
Our babies & kids stuff listings are very active. I can leave my desk for an hour, come back and reload the page to find 25 new listings. It's worth the time to look through several pages, and I do. One friend on Facebook worries that she'll miss a bargain on something she never knew she needed, and that's what I have succumbed to. Just ask my husband... Every day for a week I came home telling him how I might have to go somewhere with his truck to pick something up - if it hadn't sold yet. What was it? Maybe something from my list of must-haves, but maybe something else entirely... whatever caught my fancy that day.
I'm happy to report that the great buying spree is over. For now. Greyson is the proud new owner (at least temporarily, until I become addicted to selling things on Craigslist) of a sand & water table, a slide, a picnic table. I found a cheap wagon through the Craigslist garage sale ads - that could become "a whole nother" addiction, as they say. And the play kitchen? I got that one for free from a friend... so I'm not spending all of our money :-)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Summertime fun
Greyson and I have been having lots of fun lately. After school and work we usually hang out close to home and explore the yard, neighborhood, and house. He's got a new play kitchen (thanks to Della and Kristy!), a few ride-on trucks, and a big wheel to keep him busy, plus all of the other random things that distract him.
He still loves to go look for oranges (or tangelos) that have fallen off the neighbors' tree. By now most of them are gone and the rest are rotten - good for inspecting at great length. He's already proving to be quite the little boy, loving the rotting fruit, bugs, and all the dried up worms in the driveway after our monsoon last month. He even noticed my discomfort after he picked up a dead worm in the driveway and proceeded to pretend to put it in my hair! Oh, the girls at his preschool are going to love him...
Speaking of preschool, he has moved up to the 2 year old room at daycare. Miss Fiona, who runs the place, thinks it's more stimulating there for him. Most of the 1 year olds in his room are barely one, and I think he's bored there with the little tots. Most weeks we have to sign an "incident report" about him biting another kid or getting bit. I'm anxious for that phase to be over!
So, am I a bad mom for letting Greyson pick up the dead worms in the driveway? I think I'm not your typical first-time mommy. I'm already over the germ factor and figure it's easier to clean him up afterwards than deal with the tantrum if I try to keep his little paws off all the good stuff we find outside. Plus exposure to some germs is good for you, right? We definitely don't live in a bubble at my house!
In addition to playing with worms and eating dirt, we also do traditional fun summertime stuff in the backyard. We got Greyson a sand and water table to play with, which has been pretty fun. I think we are finally rid of all the sand that arrived with the used table - so now it will probably just be a water table, until he's old enough to not throw the sand and coat his scalp with it (requiring a lot of excess rinsing in the bath). Last weekend, since the rain was gone for a while, we got out the "big pool." Instead of using the 3 foot molded plastic one, we inflated the big 6 foot pool - big enough for Greyson plus Mommy and Daddy to all swim in. We can spend a whole afternoon just lounging and splashing around, I think that will become a Sunday tradition this summer.
We did get to play in one "real" swimming pool two weekends ago, but honestly the backyard inflatable one is more enjoyable for Greyson - he can walk around and splash and fall down and not worry about being in a floaty or mom's arms the whole time. We're thinking about swim lessons just for fun this summer, but we'll save that for when it gets good and hot.
He still loves to go look for oranges (or tangelos) that have fallen off the neighbors' tree. By now most of them are gone and the rest are rotten - good for inspecting at great length. He's already proving to be quite the little boy, loving the rotting fruit, bugs, and all the dried up worms in the driveway after our monsoon last month. He even noticed my discomfort after he picked up a dead worm in the driveway and proceeded to pretend to put it in my hair! Oh, the girls at his preschool are going to love him...
Speaking of preschool, he has moved up to the 2 year old room at daycare. Miss Fiona, who runs the place, thinks it's more stimulating there for him. Most of the 1 year olds in his room are barely one, and I think he's bored there with the little tots. Most weeks we have to sign an "incident report" about him biting another kid or getting bit. I'm anxious for that phase to be over!
So, am I a bad mom for letting Greyson pick up the dead worms in the driveway? I think I'm not your typical first-time mommy. I'm already over the germ factor and figure it's easier to clean him up afterwards than deal with the tantrum if I try to keep his little paws off all the good stuff we find outside. Plus exposure to some germs is good for you, right? We definitely don't live in a bubble at my house!
In addition to playing with worms and eating dirt, we also do traditional fun summertime stuff in the backyard. We got Greyson a sand and water table to play with, which has been pretty fun. I think we are finally rid of all the sand that arrived with the used table - so now it will probably just be a water table, until he's old enough to not throw the sand and coat his scalp with it (requiring a lot of excess rinsing in the bath). Last weekend, since the rain was gone for a while, we got out the "big pool." Instead of using the 3 foot molded plastic one, we inflated the big 6 foot pool - big enough for Greyson plus Mommy and Daddy to all swim in. We can spend a whole afternoon just lounging and splashing around, I think that will become a Sunday tradition this summer.
We did get to play in one "real" swimming pool two weekends ago, but honestly the backyard inflatable one is more enjoyable for Greyson - he can walk around and splash and fall down and not worry about being in a floaty or mom's arms the whole time. We're thinking about swim lessons just for fun this summer, but we'll save that for when it gets good and hot.
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