A Trip to the Hands on Museum

On Friday our good friends Rachel and Cole joined us to for a trip to the Hands On Museum in Tacoma. Cole is just three days older than Hunter, I LOVE having a friend with a son pretty much the same age as mine! The boys get along great and love each other.

The museum was crazy crowded, which was the only downside of the trip. But they had great areas for the kids to play in. They loved the water area, especially.










After we left the museum, we went to lunch at The Rock where I gorged myself on the best pizza ever. I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures there because the boys were SO cute! They sat across from the moms in the booth and were so good. They ate chatted away, did a little wrestling, and did a good job of eating their lunches!

A few hours after we got home I asked Hunter if he wanted a new baby in September and his response was "No, I want Cole!" And then proceeded to talk about Cole's cool garbage truck toy for the rest of the evening. I might try to find one for his Easter basket!

Wordless Wednesday

Beautiful Weather

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, than you already now how beautiful the weather has been here in the last several days. I'm loving the sunny mid 50's that February has brought to us!

It allowed Hunter to get some much needed outdoor time.

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday.

Potty Training Fun!

So, the verdict is out, Hunter was ready to be potty trained before Mommy was ready for him to be! My plan was to wait until our cross country move in June, unless he showed signs that he wanted to start earlier. And that he did! On Saturday late afternoon, he decided we would start. And let me tell you, I am still completely shocked how this all went down. So let me give you the run down.

Hunter and I got home around 4pm on Saturday. I changed his diaper and didn’t immediately put his pants back on, just left him in a shirt and diaper. A little while later, I turn around and he is trying to take his diaper off. I was a little annoyed by this and asked him to put it back on. He said “No! Hunter go potty!” He had never said anything like this before.

So, I grabbed his potty chair from upstairs. (I got it months ago and he only sat on it before and after bath time, but never had actually used it.) I put it in the living room and let him go naked. Within the next half hour, he had sat down and went pee. I was floored! I made a huge deal about it and gave him a Dum Dum sucker as a reward. I still thought this was just a onetime thing. Boy was I wrong! By the end of the night he had gone four more times and had no accidents! And yes, I did give him four more suckers. I figured I could give him way too much sugar one night to encourage this awesomeness! I put him to bed with a diaper on.

The next morning, the diaper was wet. But… I took it off right away and once again let him run around with no pants or diaper on. He didn’t have any accidents all day! I did have to run to Target to get pull-ups and a potty chair for my parent’s house, so I put him in a diaper for that little outing and then again when we made the forty five minute drive to my parent’s that evening.

He had one pee accident at my parent’s house on Monday, but THAT IS IT! He went poop on the potty Tuesday, Wednesday and today. I am SO proud of my little guy. He just goes and sits on his potty when he needs to and goes. I am simply amazed by this. I’ve taken him out twice for short periods of time in his big boy underwear with no accidents and for a couple hours yesterday evening in a pull-up, only to find that it was completely dry when we got home. Five days ago I had a little boy that had never gone to the bathroom outside of his diaper.

We have switched to small treats, like one tic-tac. I think the next step will be to not use pull-ups at all unless he is sleeping and to move the potty seat into the bathroom instead of whatever room we are in.

Any advice for this momma who was not planning on potty training this early? J What is the next step?? I’m just clueless about how to get from this stage to being fully potty trained.

I guess Jesse and I have a big boy now!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was the most beautiful Fall day here in the Pacific Northwest! It was low 60's, sunny, and windy... my favorite type of weather. So of course, that means that I left work a couple hours early so that I could go to the pumpkin patch with my two favorite guys.















Want proof that my child is now 2? Here it is....






This is what he does when he doesn't want to hold our hand... just drops to the ground. So irritating at times!! :)

Hunter Loves Summer

Hunter has really discovered a love for playing at parks. He didn't start walking until the end of July last year and so last summer he wasn't getting around real steadily. This year is a whole different story. He climbs, swings, and slides like a champ.

On Saturday, he actually got to go to two different parks. He had a great time playing with his buddy been earlier in the afternoon.












And there is your fix for the week of Hunter pictures :)

He's a Talker

In the last week or so, Hunter's language has really taken off! He's starting to put together to for 2-3 word sentences. It's so fun to see how quickly he learns.

These are some of the phrases he has started to say without prompting: I'm stuck, come here, up please, goodnight, bye bye mommy, thank you, more please, good morning, and please don't touch.

He has really turned into my little buddy. He isn't quite so dependent on me anymore. This morning, I told him that we were going to go downstairs to have breakfast. He said "No, mommy." and then ran to the bathroom and pulled out the tooth paste and said "toof bruf!" (Tooth brush). He wanted to brush his teeth before going downstairs. And then he proceeded to brush his teeth all by himself.

I can't wait for Jesse to come home and see how fun, smart, and happy his little guy is becoming!

Playground

I love the fact that we have a playground right next door to our house. On nice days, Hunter and I head next door to go on the swing or go down the slide. He gets the biggest smile on his face with the first push on the swing.

Being the annoying mom I am, then multiplying that by 10 because I'm also a mom blogger, I almost always have to take pictures. This poor little guy is going to be traumatized by cameras by the time he's three. Yesterday was no exception.

He's Doing It Again

Remember last week when I talked about Hunter carrying his John Deer toy up the stairs for bath time here?

Well this morning, it was the same story, but new toy. This time it was his ride on Elmo airplane that he was determined to bring upstairs with him from bath time. This time I was better prepared to take pictures.












And then he proceeded to throw off his towel after bath time, and run to his airplane and ride on it naked.



I love this little boy. :)

He's Busy.

I feel like this is usually what comes out of my mouth when people ask about Hunter. He is busy and that is the truth. The kid never stops moving. He runs from one room to another and from getting into a kitchen drawer to crawling behind the TV to trying to climb over the baby gate and onto the stairs to climbing up the bar stool to the kitchen island to get himself a snack. It never ends... until he goes to bed.

At a baby shower on Thursday night, he ran around the private banquet room, trying to keep up with his 4 year old pal, Andrew.



Yesterday morning, I told him it was time to go upstairs and take a bath. He's gotten really good with the stairs, so I headed up first to start the water, while he made his way up the stairs. I started the water and then headed back to see what all the thuds up the stairs were about. I look down to see Hunter trying to drag his ride on John Deer ATV toy up the stairs with him. He had made up half way up the first flight. When he heard my giggle, he just looked up, smiled and said "Help?". So I grabbed the toy and put it at the top of the stairs, so it was waiting for him when he made it all the way up. I then went to turn off the water, turn around, only to find Hunter trying to drag the toy into the bathroom with him. He was not happy when I didn't let the huge toy into the bath tub with him. What a weirdo. :)



And this evening, I found Hunter in his room, both in a box and trying to eat some paper. He kept telling me "Night, Night" and then would start laughing uncontrollably. He thought it was his new bed or something.




This little boy is developing a bigger and bigger personality and it simply cracks me up. I hate to admit it, but I think he got his weird sense of humor from his momma.

Incredibly Blessed.

Hunter has always been a great little boy. Sure, he can be a bit mischievous at times and is a bit stubborn at times, too. But overall, Jesse and I have been so blessed to have such a wonderful little guy.

But, I'm telling you, ever since Jesse left, I think God has done something very very kind for me. He has turned this little boy into the easiest toddler ever! It's as if God is giving me this gift to help me get through the rough time of Jesse being gone.

Hunter has been sleeping around 16 hours a day, 12-13 hours straight at night and then usually a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day. And to top that, he's been going down for bedtime and naps without any complaints! I tell him that it's "nigh-night time" and he goes happily up the stairs and walks right into his room. When I put him in his crib, he grabs for his blanket, gets all cozy with his pillow and grabs either his Build-a-bear puppy or his pal Scout. Then as a walk towards the door, he just looks up and waves bye. Not another sound heard.

He's even starting to pick up on the manners that I have been trying to instill in him. After handing him a cracker the other day, without any prompting, he said "Tank you!". Of course my heart melted and exploded all at once in that moment.

He has just turned into such a wonderful companion for me since Jesse has left. He's matured and become a "big boy". I find myself reflecting on this often on my commute to and from work and I start getting teary. I just wish Jesse was here with us to see how awesome his son is. But, I'm sure Jesse would be happy to hear that I am in great company while he is gone and that I am not feeling overwhelmed in the least, just incredibly blessed.






* I am suddenly regretting writing this post for fear that the terrible twos might begin moments after pressing the "Publish Post" button. Please be on the look out for quite a different post in the morning. ;)

Amber Alert... Not Really

My kid tried to escape yesterday! Seriously.

Hunter and I had a play date with our friends, Rachel and Cole. The boys are only 4 days apart, so it's so fun to see them play together.

In the middle of our play date, I realized that Cole was in the living room but I hadn't heard Hunter for a couple minutes. So, I got up and looked in the hall, no Hunter. The bathroom door was shut, but I still opened it and checked under the cabinet, since he likes to hide there. No Hunter. Checked the coat closet and the closet under the stairs, still no Hunter. I ran back into the living room and asked Rachel if she'd seen him, nope. We checked in the bathroom again... as I turned around and faced the window, I saw Hunter at the end of the driveway, in the rain, with no shoes on, staring at me through the window with a big grin.

So that means... Hunter has now learned how to open the front door and he was also sneaky enough to close it behind him as well. Lovely.

I ran outside and scooped him up as he giggled. My little boy is a prankster. He knew what he was doing. I'm so thankful that the situation wasn't worse. My heart stopped when I saw him outside because I got to thinking of all the bad things that could've happened, but am thankful they didn't. Lesson learned. I will be going out to get some safety locks for the door handles today.

Here is a picture of my reenactment of the scene:



Here are some pictures of the rest of the afternoon: (Note Hunter has no pants on because they got soaked while he went on his little adventure outside)

Hey There, Chocolate Face!

This is what I said to Hunter when I saw the mess he made eating a piece of S'more pizza. Jesse turned around and looked at me with wide eyes. "What??" "Do you know how racist you sound?!" "Ohhhhh, a Borat term, whoops!"

Where's Hunter?

Hunter has found a new game. We try to keep the downstairs bathroom door closed so that Hunter doesn't get in there... but sometimes we forget. This morning I was trying to get ready for the day and turned around and Hunter was gone!

He wasn't in the kitchen or living room or hallway. So, I figured he must be in the bathroom. I popped my head in and nothing! So I turned around and said "Hunter, where are you?" That's when I heard a little giggle coming from the bathroom. He had climbed in the bathroom cabinet and closed the door. He thought this was a funny game!

So I walked in the bathroom and played along. "Where's Hunter???" Giggle. "Hunter, where did you go?" Another giggle. "I think I lost Hunter! Oh no!" Big giggles and then a hand peaked out.

I ran and got the camera and we played again.