Stayed home today…

We had hoped to send Monkey to daycare for the day so I could go to work and Duhdee could finish installing the new toilet we bought this weekend as part of our ongoing remodel but the daycare was full! I ended up staying home to watch him because we NEED a toilet!

It turns out that it was a good thing I did stay home too! Duhdee definitely needed a hand with the sheetrock on the ceiling and when he changed the shut-off valves for the sink. It turns out he had shut off only the cold water to our bathroom and to Great Grampy’s when he thought he’d shut off the cold and hot in our bathroom. This was discovered when he took off the old hot water shut-off valve and water sprayed across the room. I used 3 buckets to catch the bulk of the water while he ran downstairs and shut off the water to the whole house until he could figure out the problem. It was messy but a fan quickly dried up the water that I didn’t catch. It would have been a lot worse if we hadn’t had 2 people!

Other than manning the buckets I pretty much just hung out with the kid…I’m so lucky! Monkey was being very cute. In the morning I filled up the water fountain in the office because it was almost empty. Later, while I was making some sweet tea, Monkey came to the kitchen, grabbed the measuring cup I had used to fill the fountain earlier then went in and pretended to fill the fountain himself.

During nap time he was a little less cute though. I put him down and he pooped, then fingerpainted with it before falling asleep. I didn’t realize what he’d done until he was sound asleep. I let him sleep as long as I could stand it then we woke him up and cleaned him up. *GAG* Folks, I suggest you buy stock in Clorox wipes because this is starting to become a habit for him. Ick.

Vacation Wrap-up.

We’re back, vacation was awesome. Duhdee spent most of his time helping work on the new house. He and Grampa got a lot done this past week. So much that before we left today we actually moved furniture in. I think “Knottacamp” is officially open for business (just don’t expect any heat or hot water just yet, lol.)

My job was pretty much to entertain the Monkey boy. I think I did a bang up job of it too, lol. Monkey and I had tons of fun riding on the quad. Grampa bought a harness so Monkey was safely strapped to me while we were riding and it worked out great. We even did a little bit of trail riding (very easy trails of course!) Monkey’s favorite part were water (puddle) crossings. He would giggle and sign “go, go, go” everytime he saw even a little trickle of water across the road or trail. He was not a fan of crossing the brook at full speed. Duhdee tried that trick once and I had the pleasure of helping a soaked and stunned Monkey off the quad, lol. He bounced back quickly though.

Speaking of Monkey, the boy had an amazing week. I’m sure I’ll forget some stuff but here’s a list of his new things.

  • he slept in a big boy bed for a week
  • he is doing really, really well walking on uneven ground (the whole yard is uneven right now!)
  • he is doing really well climbing stairs (up and down)
  • he said “mah nanana” on Wednesday (translation “more banana”) while eating breakfast
  • he perfected his “truck” sign
  • he learned to sign “go, go, go” (quads are a great motivator!)
  • he has nearly perfected the official “helicopter” sign (it involves two hands and is pretty tricky, he is concentrating really hard on this one!)
  • he is using his stacker toy all on his own with no begging
  • he and Grammy have a game of their own (throwing rocks in the brook) and he actually engaged her on his own while Umma backed off
  • he saw an airplane when we were riding across the field behind the neighbor’s camp on Thursday and told Duhdee about it the next day when they got to the same spot
  • he is now signing “bird”
  • he didn’t freak out when he saw me with my wet hair wrapped in a towel, in fact he LAUGHED and signed “hat”
  • he is now signing “hat”
  • he is perfecting his “please” sign
  • he pretended to sip my tea, including lip smacking (no idea where he got that but it’s CUTE!)
  • he can now put the ends of his pop tube together to form a circle (he’s been trying to do this for months)
  • he played the Hat Game with me and Auntie K (OK, so he THREW the “hat” at K instead of handing it to her but it is progress!)
  • he signed “ball” in the truck on the way home

And as long as that list is…I know I am forgetting some stuff. He just had an AMAZING week. Oh, and on Saturday…everyone and their brother showed up at Knottacamp to help out and Monkey was perfectly at ease. He didn’t cry or try to hide. He ate and played in the living room with his toys with a new little friend even when Duhdee and I were in another room. Truly amazing.

He’s learning so much…

Today started out with quite a display of Monkey’s appetite! He got up with Duhdee at 9:45 and ate some melon. I got up a half hour later and he wanted a cracker. I decided to try giving him some toast instead. He ate the toast and asked for more. I grabbed some pineapple, he ate that and asked for more. I cooked him an egg with cheese. He wanted more! I cooked him another egg with cheese and he was finally done. OMG!

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Family Reunion!

Each year my mother’s side of the family has a reunion. Since Monkey’s birth we’ve been making sure that we go each year. Today was the big day.

Monkey did really well today too, he’s not a huge fan of crowds or strangers so I was expecting that he’d be really whiny but he wasn’t. He smiled a lot and interacted with people. He even laughed when his cousin tickled him. Normally he doesn’t like anyone but Duhdee or I to touch him. I was really impressed with his behavior. I was also impressed with his eating. He ate 3 hotdogs, 1/2 a hamburger, a half serving of potato salad and about 1/2 a cupcake. Pretty impressive for a wee boy. Read more