What I'm Loving Now



Poke-a-Dot: Old MacDonald's Farm (link to Amazon)

 I first saw this book a while back when Grant and I made our first trip to Barnes & Noble. I made a mental note to buy it for Grant's Easter basket and I'm so glad that I did! He absolutely loves it. He's a big button pusher and this is a lot like pushing buttons for him (and I think he loves the popping sound the bubbles make). Since this a learning to count tool and he can't actually count yet, I count off the animals while he pushes the buttons. When we have "found" all the animals he gets very excited and claps for himself. It's too stinking cute. He enjoys when we read it together, but also likes to "read" it by himself too (plus it's really sturdy so I'm not worried about Grant tearing it up like he could some other books). I'm always looking for fun new books (and old classics) to add to our collection and this one was definitely a good buy.

What books are your kids/nieces/nephews/grandkids loving right now?

Day 2 - Top Five Favorite Books

1. Anything in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I've read them all and I love love love all the characters. She just came out with a new one not long ago and I'm holding off on reading it because then it won't seem like so long until the next one comes out. 

   

   A few of the Elizabeth George books. Stolen from
   last year's 30 day challenge.

   
2. Phantom by Susan Kay. I've read this several times. Its is a different take on the original Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (which I also loved).

3. Dancehall by Bernard F. Conners. I'm actually re-reading this one right now. I bought it on a day trip to Lake Placid a few years ago. Part of the book is set in Lake Placid and it's based on a true story. I think it would make a good movie too.

4. The Harry Potter series. Who that has read the HP books didn't love them? I was very reluctant to read them because of how popular they were. But I found myself in need of reading material and decided "What the hell, I'll give Harry Potter a try" and I loved them. And I know I'll read them again sometime.

5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I was a little later than most reading this one too. I kept seeing it everywhere but never paid much attention to it until I saw the commercials for the movie. I'm so so glad I read it because it was a really great book. And the movie was shockingly good - and accurate - too.

It was tough to pick just five. I loooove to read and wish I had more time to do it. But less time to read makes me appreciate the times that I do get peace and quiet to sit down with some coffee or tea and a good book.

Easter 2012

This year Easter kind of snuck up on me. I totally forgot about it. I know...bad Mama! But, I still managed to put together a little basket for Grant that he was very excited about. I didn't want to go overboard with his basket. Last year I just gave his basket to him, but this year I hid it! Of course, I helped him find it too. We walked all over the house trying to find it. (Husband apparently didn't see me hide it the night before and kept asking me who hid the basket. I was very tempted to say that it was the Easter Bunny!). We finally found it behind the rocking chair in Grant's room and he immediately shouted "Ball! Ball!" because he had a new football tucked in there among his new books, bubbles, and play foam (also some lollipops).



Showing Mama his bubbles.



Checking out a new book.



He immediately loved his new Poke-a-Dot book. It's
a counting book that you poke as you count.

 

See Daddy?

 

Of course Brodie got a little basket too.



We went to my Mother-in-law's house for Easter lunch. Before we ate, Grant got to open his giant basket from Grandma and Grandpa Earl. Which was - much to Grant's delight - fill with cars and trucks.


Can't you go any faster Grandpa?

After lunch they brought out a big basket of Easter eggs for Grant to play with. But I wanted to play with my new camera! So we went outside to see if we could get some cute Easter pictures and to let Grant burn off some energy.



Playing with Grandpa



Playing on the trampolene!



It's empty!

Grandma, Uncle Scotty, Daddy, and Grant



And we did actually manage to get a decent family picture before...

 Grant decided he was done.

 This is probably my favorite "serious" picture of the day:


There's nuffin in it?

  Sorry for the picture overload. Honestly, I have a ton more I could have posted. I'm loving my new camera! But anyway, as you can see we had a great Easter and I hope you guys did too!

Coming soon: Monster Jam! Stay tuned :)

First Trip to a Bookstore

In my 17 month post I talked about all the stuff Grant is saying these days. Trucks being the biggest topic of our toddler conversations. Since we had no plans yesterdays I decided to take Grant and wander around some craft stores and then I figured we'd stop at Barnes & Noble to find some truck books since Grant didn't have any books yet about trucks.

I love love love to read. And even though I have a Kindle now, I still love going to bookstores. When Grant was just a teeny tiny guy I started reading to him before bed and now, it seems, I've got a little book lover. So I knew he'd love Barnes & Noble. When we got back to the kids section, I started hunting for one book in particular: Richard Scarry's CARS and TRUCKS and THINGS THAT GO. My sister and I used to love the Richard Scarry books when we were kids and I've been  waiting to get them for Grant until he was old enough for books that are so busy. As soon as I showed him that book - in the very busy but very quiet kids section - he went "OOOOOOHH!! Truck!!" I couldn't help but laugh at him. He was so excited. So we got that one. And we also got a little story book (I don't really consider the Richard Scarry one a "story book") called Little Blue Truck. That's one of the ones we read before bed last night and it was a really cute story. But I think the Richard Scarry one is definitely his favorite right now:

Ooooh truck!

I had to limit myself because it would have been really easy to buy every book that Grant would have liked. BUT, I did make some mental notes and get some ideas for his Easter basket and it's always good (for me, at least) to be planning ahead!

14 Months

As usual I'm late with my monthly updates on Grant. At least by now the few people that read this blog have most likely begun to expect it. I am amazingly busy for someone who is really quite boring. So without further ado, my 14 month old Peanut:

Seriously cute, right?

 Not much has changed since my last update. And this may be fairly quick because I'm taking care of my sick little guy today. Thanks to a doctor's appointment today we know that Grant weighs about 21.5 pounds. So at our next well visit (15 month check-up) we're going to get the doctor's opinion about changing Grant to forward facing in the car.

He seems to be going through a bit of an awkward phase with clothes. 12 month shirts are too small but most 18 months are too big. That's easy to deal with - we just roll the sleeves up. Pants are another story. Most of the 12 months are too short for his long legs but the waist is great because he's so damn scrawny. But if we do 18 months...they fall down when he walks. So for now we're just dealing with how he looks in the 12 months (when I say "we" I mean me because Husband doesn't care).

Grant is doing good with the whole milk now. We no longer have to flavor it to trick him into drinking it. Sometimes we still put stuff in it as a treat (he loooves some chocolate milk!) but at least now he'll drink it without any flavor stuff. And he's doing pretty well with food. He's becoming less picky - which I think we need to thank daycare for. However, if given the choice I think he'd eat macaroni & cheese (or any pasta dish, really) for every meal.

And we've begun Operation: Bye-Bye Paci. It's by no means in full swing, we still need it sometimes as much as Grant wants it. But we're starting small. Keeping it from him during the day. If he finds it and puts it in his own mouth, we take it away. If we're in a store or restaurant we don't let him have it unless he's tired or moody and about to cause a scene. Like I said, starting small. Right now we're just trying to get him used to not having it so much. We've regressed slightly in the past couple weeks because he hasn't felt well and the paci calms him when he's fussy. But we're all relying on it less, so that's good.

That's about all for now. I've got a sick toddler that needs to stay hydrated :) (Pedialyte is pretty awesome, by the way.)

Secret Crush

Ok, so it won't be a secret after this. But here's the deal. I am not someone who ever desires anything that can be labeled under "electronics". Fancy smart phones? Don't care. Ipod? I have one...and I never use it (sorry Husband, I'm going to make an attempt to use it more). Fancy lap top? Ipad? No, thanks. I've always said I'd rather pick up a good book than play with one of those silly gadgets. But what if you could do both? There it is, folks. I've been fighting it but I officially want a Kindle. When they came out I said "That's stupid." When Amazon sent advertisment e-mails I said "Hmmm...I guess they're kind of cool. But who needs that?" Well, the answer is that no one needs one. But I want one and I've been lusting after them for a few months now.

Ain't it purdy?

So I've decided that I'm saving up for one. I haven't decided yet if I want the blackish-grey one or the white one. I feel so silly for wanting one but I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later. And, much like with all silly electronic gadgets...I can accessorize :) I've already found some cute covers for it like this one on etsy:

Or this one (also on etsy):