Growing like a (really cute and nice) weed

The past three days have been really warm. It's good we recently stocked up on summer clothes because I got to wear shorts for the first time this year! You would never know it's February. To celebrate, Mom and I played in our backyard each day.

Mom hopes the warm weather sticks around because my shorts fit me much better than my long pants. I've grown so much, the 12 month pants are too small and the 18 month pants are too big, but I've put on a little weight and Dad and Mom think I will grow taller again pretty soon. They can't believe how fast I grow! Once it's warm all the time, we'll need to go shoe shopping again, this time for sandals so I don't look silly wearing shoes and socks with my shorts. By that time, I'll probably need bigger shoes anyway - I outgrow them really fast!

To see pictures of my outside fun playing in my sandbox, filling my dump truck with sticks, rocks and leaves, and my newest trick - climbing in and out of a chair - click here.

Preparing for Peanut

Here's the grilled cheese video I promised you last week.

This weekend was pretty exciting because we are getting ready for the arrival of Peanut. The biggest deal was I moved to my big boy room! We had to make a few adjustments because I'm not ready to sleep in my big boy bed yet, and we had two twin beds set up in there. Mom and I went to Whole Foods Saturday, and when we came home, I was surprised to find Dad hard at work swapping my crib from the nursery with one of the beds in the big boy room.

When I first walked into the room and noticed one of the beds was gone, I looked around and then tried to sneak out by walking backwards, which Dad and Mom thought was pretty funny and cute. Once Dad moved the crib into the room, I slowly went in and spent some time reading and playing with all my toys. My first night in my new room started out a little rough, but after Mom laid down with me for a little bit, I calmed down and slept all night long. I spent more time playing and reading in there Sunday and my nap and second night went even better.

Otherwise, we've been spending our time preparing for Peanut in other ways. Dad's spending lots of quality time with me while Mom cooks and freezes loads of food so we won't go hungry when she has to spend all her time feeding Peanut. I've been doing my part by pretending my stuffed Curious George is my baby and pushing a little stroller around. Mom and Dad have started reading me books about what it's like to have a new baby sister and how to use a big boy potty. The potty concept seems kind of weird. I guess I'll figure that one out soon enough.

This weekend was also great because I got to eat lots of blueberries and we went to a party in honor of Daddy's hard work giving blood. He has given five gallons of blood. Mom says she doesn't understand how he's still walking around, and we are very proud of him.

19 months!

Today is my 19 month birthday! Hooray!

To celebrate, Mom and Dad took me to Amy's Ice Cream yesterday. I don't love ice cream, but fortunately Grandma and Grandpa sent me a huge carton of goldfish and Mom gave me some of those instead. After we ate, I ran around the park outside Amy's and played with some cows.

I also went to Tot Shabbat with Dad on Saturday morning while Mom got some work done. I liked hanging out with Dad. We same some songs, ate some snacks, and fit in a lot of running around.

Some new things I'm doing this week: dancing, eating whole sandwiches (video coming later this week), moving large pieces of furniture across the room, playing the tambourine, dressing up my Curious George (Mom's going to teach me how to diaper Peanut using George as an example tomorrow), walking backwards, and getting up and down my big boy bed with the greatest of ease.

Making a splash

This week, Dad gave Mom one of her birthday presents early. The present is I get to take swim classes! Tuesday was my first day. Our regular teacher was out sick, so a fun guy taught us how to jump in the water from the edge of the pool, blast off the side once we're in the pool, float on our fronts and backs, swim after floating toys, and - my favorite part - how to blow bubbles. We also sang the Hokey Pokey, Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Thursday we went again and met our regular teacher, Meg. She taught us even more things, like how to float around while hanging on to a noodle instead of our moms.

I am the youngest kid in the class by about six months, so most of the stuff is over my head (although to be fair, I didn't take a nap Thursday so I was kind of groggy because of that). At least this will teach Mom and Dad what to teach me when we go to the pool this summer. It'll be hard to take classes then because they'll have their hands full with my new sister, so we're glad we're taking them now, even if it isn't Mom's birthday yet.

I am still enjoying school, which is also on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday I cried when Mom left but after that I had a great time playing in shaving cream and spending some time on the playground outside. When we went into the building Thursday, I really clung to Mom, so she thought I was going to freak out when she left. But I surprised her - once we got into the room, I saw a toy I liked and took off, never even looking back at her when she said goodbye. She is really proud of how well I'm doing. Today we found out some bad news though. My class only lasts until May. We don't know what we'll do after that, but are keeping our fingers crossed that since our class is so new and they're kind of feeling it out, it'll become so popular they will decide to keep it through the summer after all.

Since I don't have any classes on Monday, Wednesday or Fridays, Mom has been trying to think of other fun things to do with our time on those days. Wednesday we went to the park. Since Mom is so big, slow and sore, she can't keep up with me on the playscape, so we took a ball with us that I could chase around instead. I had to hold the ball while I rode over in the wagon. I threw it out once in the beginning, but after that Mom reminded me to keep it in the wagon, and I did a great job. Mom thought the park was big enough that I wouldn't realize it's the same place with the playscape, but she underestimates my genius. After about 15 minutes of playing with the ball, I zeroed in on the big kid playscape. So before she drug me away, Mom went down the big slide with me a couple of times, which really made me laugh. I was sad to leave but excited to learn that we had another destination before we went home - our farmer Miguel, who I was happy to see (especially since we got some sweet potatoes from him - yum!).

Today we went to the Jewish Community Center again, but not to my class this time. Instead, we went to the Parenting Center, where we've been going the past few weeks. They have a big room with lots of toys and tumbling mats, and special guests - like Rabbi Baker, who visited today - come and sing songs and do mini-Shabbat services. My favorite part of that is eating challah. I also get to run around the open space, crawl around on the mats, see lots of friends, some of whom are in my class, and play with all their toys. It's fun and wears me out. Today my friend's mom even commented on how independent I am, which made Mom proud. She thinks I'm a cool little guy.

To see pictures of our swim classes and my day at the park with my ball, click here.

New family member

I am excited to announce a new addition to our family. No, not a new sister. A new uncle! My Aunt Laurie just got engaged to her boyfriend Jonathan, who will soon be my new uncle. Its very exciting. We are very happy for Laurie and Jonathan and can't wait for their wedding. Mom hopes they get married on a beach.

In other exciting news, I went to this park this weekend and found something totally fun to do. It's called a slide. Mom and Dad put me at the top of it and let me slide down. I loved it. I just kept climbing the stairs and going down the slide over and over again, laughing the entire time. Dad put me on a bigger, steeper slide, and I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that one yet. I'll stick with the fun, short, curvy slide for now.

To see pictures of us at the park and me reading my fun new magazine, Babybug, that Uncle Daniel sent me for Hanukkah (thanks, Uncle Daniel!), click here.