Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Houston Rodeo

The Houston Rodeo is a big deal around here, but we had never actually attended (other than the Cook-off one year).  The other day I was picking Jackson up from Petsmart and in the parking lot I saw horses tied up on trees and I thought to myself, it must be rodeo time!

The Hubs and I decided that it would be fun to take Grayson to see all of the animals.  I took off work a little early and we got to the Rodeo around 5:30.  Our first stop was some yummy carnival food and bbq.  Then, we were off to find the pig races.
Waiting patiently for the races to begin

After the races (and a swimming pig!), we walked over to the tent that had a lot of sheep hanging out.  Since my sister is in the lamb business, and it is one of the three animal sounds that Grayson can make, we were excited to see them.
It was a little chilly out by this time and we decided to warm up inside the convention center.  We thought that there were supposed to be a lot of animals inside, so we were on a mission.  We hit the jackpot!  There was a petting zoo inside with a TON of animals.  Grayson and I went in first while P took some pictures, and then The Hubs walked around with Grayson for a little while, too. 





There was also a cute area set up about dairy products, and Grayson decided he needed to climb in the cheese. 


We really had a great time.  We liked that it wasn't too crowded since we were there on a Tuesday night, and although we couldn't stay long (bedtime loomed), it was a good amount of time to see everything. 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

17 Months


At 17 (1/21-2/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 18-24 or 18 month onesies and shirts
-wearing 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 4 diapers    
-sleeping 10-13 hours a night depending on the night.  This month we really tried to get bedtime festivities started by 7 so that Gray would be asleep by 7:30.  Some nights were a little better than others, but we are getting better.  This month P put Grayson down most nights and toward the end of the month we (he) started putting Grayson in his crib and then sitting in the recliner while Gray fell asleep.  It was met with a lot of crying at first, but P is a champ (notice I don't say that I am) and Grayson is going to sleep better on his own.  We know that this is something he needs to learn, and we're trying to help him acquire this skill.
-walking & running
-drinking whole milk. 
-drinking 3 sippy cups of milk a day.  He is a little camel with water - he will drink it whenever you offer it.  He LOVES ice water.
-For dinner, we still struggle getting Grayson to eat any sort of meat.  In order to get him to eat meat, we still give him some Stage 3 Gerber meals (very occasionally at this point).
 -teething- Gray got his last 2 bottom teeth this month.  They broke through the gums early this month, but at the end of this month, he has been putting his hands in his mouth quite a bit and a little more slobbery. I can't figure out what is going on here - I THINK he has all of his teeth before the 2 year molars come in.
-blowing kisses on command - he has added a "mmmwah" sound to them lately and it is so cute!
-taking afternoon naps that are anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hours long.
-much better at drop-off in the morning.  He has really started to understand our morning schedule.  After The Hubs brushes Gray's teeth and hands him off to me, Gray starts waving at P because he knows it is time to go.  He gives P a kiss and starts blowing kisses and waving until we are out the door.  In the latter part of the month, he has just walked right into the classroom and after a millisecond of shyness, he gets picked up by a teacher and is waving goodbye to Mommy, too. 

Word Count:
-This month he added a lot of words!  For a while it seemed like we were hearing a new word every day.  He uses the following words appropriately: "mama, dada, apple, cheese, cracker, shoes, baby, wash"  He added these words to "uh oh, ball, hot" from last month.
-will sign: more, all done, his own version of please, hungry/food, milk, water 

Other notables:
-Travel this month - None!
-Grayson started doing the hand signs to the Itsy Bitsy Spider when his dog Scout would sing it and the first time my Mom and I saw it, we were shocked.  Apparently it was a favorite song of another kid in Gray's class, so they sang it often.  He still starts doing the spider sign out of the blue when he wants us to sing it.
-Another surprise from daycare was when Grayson said 'apple' out of nowhere.  I was so surprised when he said it because it just isn't a word we use all of the time.  His teacher said that it is in a lot of the books that they read, but I still find it crazy that he has that word.
-Grayson started saying 'wash' every time I would wash my hands or he would hear water running.  He loves to play in the water and have us put soap on his hands.  I think this word also came from daycare - it is so cute!
-Gray can identify his nose, ear, eye, mouth, and now tongue and belly button! 
-We have a climber. He now climbs on the ottoman next to one of the couches in order to climb onto the couch. 
-Brooklyn came for a visit and Grayson gave her sweet kisses.
-No real sickness this month!!
-Pointing to everything and inquiring what it is.
-Grayson understands so much of what we are saying to him these days.  He understands commands and is able to put things in the trash, put shoes in a basket, or get up and down when we ask.  (umm...he also sits when we are telling Jack so sit...but its hilarious).
-Grayson helps me with chores:  He stands in front of the dryer and I hand him clothes from the washing machine for him to put in the dryer.  He also helps me unload the dishwasher.  He hands me our utensils one at a time and I put them in the drawer.  It is so neat to see that if we channel his energy, he is great at helping out. He is such a sweet sweet boy.    

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

From,

  Our little Heart Breaker!

P.S.  I made heart shaped eggs last weekend on our new griddle (thanks Aunt P!), and it got kind of freaky when this happened:


At least they turned out pretty.  Happy V-Day!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Independence can be messy

A new skill!

Grayson has started to really prefer feeding himself at dinner time - I think they have to feed themselves lunch everyday at school, so he is getting used to it.  We know that Grayson needs to develop this skill, and we don't want to hold him back, but my goodness!  It is such a messy process!  Gray comes home from school with food all over his clothes most days (ruining some shirts - I'm talking to you $20 Baby Gap Valentine shirt that he only wore to school ONCE!) and then proceeds to add more food to his clothes at dinner.  I would obviously prefer that he were eating mostly finger foods, but considering the kid lives on yogurt, it is hard to do.  In the video he actually did a decent job of staying clean, but let me assure you, most nights he ends up looking something like this:

yogurt monster

We love our little yogurt monster!