The "Classics"

Met my very pregnant friend Elissa for coffee with Grady and by the end, he was pretty fascinated that she had a baby in her belly. He told Rick all about it when he got home. You can only imagine what he thinks about stuff like that. Last week I was changing his diapers and he said to me, "Mommy, you have a baby in your mouth." What? He repeated it, laughing like crazy at my confusion. Then it clicked: we'd watched a TV show about a mother cat taking care of her kittens and he'd seen her carry her babies in her mouth. We'd talked about it but who knew he'd remember it? So funny.

He picks up on the craziest things. We'd gotten caught in the rain walking in the woods and I sang "Raindrops keep falling on my head, they keep falling." and he loved it. That's all I could remember but he kept asking me to sing it so I had to look up the lyrics and now he loves to watch a clip with BJ Thomas singing the whole song. He asks for it every time it rains now, and sometimes when he goes to bed.

He loves all kinds of music but I never thought he'd go for the oldies. REAL oldies. We watch cartoons (Thomas!)on PBS and one evening we turned on the TV, still tuned to PBS, and he instantly fell in love with Lawrence Welk. These shows were on before I was born, and this one in particular is "Tunes thru the Years" or something, starting with 1900 and running to the "present," the 1960's. I remember watching it with my Grandpa and Grandma Morrison when I was a very little girl in the early 70's.

Rick and I recorded it and he asks for "Bubbles" every so often. He loves the tap dancing and the big band numbers. He dances around too and shouts out all the instruments as they come up "Trombone! Clarinet! Piano keyboard!" He wants me to sing "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" as a bed time song so I've added that to the repetoire too. With Rick being a fan of classic country and me loving 80's music and Norah Jones, this kid is going to have the craziest musical background.

Poor Little Bug

Grady Bear has a cold, a real one this time. He's only ever had the sniffles for a day or two, and hardly seemed to notice. Even this real cold hasn't slowed him down much, but he's sneezing a lot, coughing enough to send us to the doctor and demanding every so often "Blow my nose, Mommy!" I heard him wheezing on the baby monitor in the middle of the night and it scared me. Sounded like someone with ashthma who needed an inhaler, and he was coughing with that deep barking sound that's kind of scary. I sat up with him the rest of the night, holding him while he slept and making sure he was ok. Doctor first thing in the morning, but I swear its like taking a car to the mechanic and it won't make "that noise" when you get there - he seemed fine, but she said croup is going around and told me what to watch for. I put on his vaporizer (so cute - shaped like a cow with the steam coming out of its ears), gave him some Benadryl and he seems to be doing much better.

Its getting really hard to blog or be on the computer at all when he's around though. As soon as he sees the laptop he shouts, "I want to see trains on the pew-tair!" Grandpa got him started watching train videos on YouTube and he's an immediate little addict. He's so funny the way he says "computer." We say he must be fancy or French because he says it (pew-tair'). Kind of like "Tar-zhay" for Target :o)

I also got my very first dandelion bouquet from my son, which was really sweet. And he's washed his first car with Daddy. Rick was only going to wash his Mustang, but Grady insisted Daddy do Mommy's car too so there you go. He had his own little sponge and bucket and we couldn't get him to stop putting soap bubbles on the vehicles, even after they were rinsed and we were trying to dry them. So I pulled out his little push car and he washed that too. Sooooo cute. And he also has his first mosquito bite - right on his neck. He keeps telling me, "I ishy, Mommy, I ishy." Poor little bug.

Talk, talk, talk

Just heard Little Bear singing to himself so I went in singing our "Good Morning to You" song and then he announces, "I'm Grady Albin and I need a new diaper." He cracks himself up, and me too. He's so giggly and cheerful in the morning. Most of the time, actually. Every night when he goes to bed we go over what we did that day, and what's coming up the next. So this morning he tells me, "We're going to lunch with the girls, then run errands, then to Home Depot (wishful thinking on his part), then to Toys-R-Us (more of the same but I'll probably cave on that)."

He's speaking really well, lots of new vocabulary every day (Rick and I have to watch those "driving words" we say when someone cuts us off. G's already repeated one of Rick's) Sometimes though it still sounds like a foreign language. He was trying to tell me something yesterday and I finally said, "I don't know what you're saying, Grady." "I know what I'm saying!" he shouted.

Its so much fun to start seeing how his little mind works. One of our favorites stories was when Rick was going for a haircut and took Grady too. When they got back, I made a big fuss over him, "Did you get a new haircut?" G: "Yes, did!" Me: "Did Daddy get a new haircut too?" G: "No, he got an old haircut!" Rick told that one at a convention on parenting in Holland and got a good laugh.

He also told Rick, "Daddy, you talk all time." For me its "Mommy kiss me all time." Guess that's not too bad.

A Hippo, a Bunny & a Bear Peeing on the Floor

(28 months) Putting Grady to bed, he randomly pops out with "Hippopotamus!" I say, "Where did you get that?" He says, "TV. Hippopotamus!" I say, "You're funny!" He says, " I don't care who you are!" Hippo was cute, Larry the Cable Guy means waaaay too much TV lately...

It must be all the sugar from his chocolate Easter bunny. He's steadily chomping it away, from the ears down. He had a ball hunting for eggs in the garden, but then picked through his basket and took out any of them with a crack in it or a smudge of dirt. So much like his daddy - I'm doomed!.

I was changing his diaper the other day and he just announced "I'm a morning person." Cracks me up. I told him he was a night owl so he thought for a minute and tells me, "I'm a night owl AND a morning person." Ain't that the truth. Why do you think Mommy quit her job so she could get more than 4 hours of sleep a night? Sooo worth it, Grady Bear!

And this happened a while ago, but is too funny not to share. Got Grady in the tub and finally returned a call to my brother when G stands up in the bath, slippery with bubbles. I lean over to help him sit down before he falls and he grabs for the phone, knocks it into the water. I'm not sure if he's in danger of electrocution or what so I snatch him out and stand him, dripping, on the floor. I'm swishing around in the bubbles, trying to find the phone, saying, "Shitshitshit!" I get it and its screaming this horrible high-pitch shriek so I yank out the battery... only to hear a little voice saying "Shitshitshit!" while he laughs and pees on the bathroom rug. I had to just sit down and laugh too -- Nice, huh?

"Whatever!"

(26 months) Here's what happened when Grandma Sandi wanted to fix you breakfast.
Grandma: Scrambled eggs?
Grady: "No."
Grandma: French toast?
Grady: "No."
Grandma: Yogurt?
Grady: "No."
Grandma: "Grady, you have to eat something for breakfast, what do you want?"
Grady: "Whatever!" complete with an exasperated eyeroll and hands in the air.

We all went to lunch at Rose's on the lake, and sat in a booth overlooking an enclosed patio area. You bounced into the seat, looked out the window at the table full of women just outside and said, "Oh! Girls!" and immediately proceeded to blow them kisses. Totally charmed, they were all in love with you in seconds. Me too!

Bad Blogger Mommy!

(26 months) Can't believe its been SEVEN MONTHS since I blogged about Grady! Guess its too easy to post little factoids on Facebook, but the blog so great to go back and read. I must do better. Sorry, Grady!

Yesterday you had your first trip to McDonalds, and no, I didn't let you eat any of their crappy food (I brought you some nice applesauce, you can thank me later). You did, however, get to play on their cool Playland stuff (kind of a human habi-trail, like hampsters use, only bigger). At first you were content to watch everyone else and crack up, then you started jumping up and down on your seat, getting really excited. You peeked into the tubes kids come out the slide, but wouldn't go up the tube to try it. You danced with a cutie named Hannah in the ball pit, then finally got brave enough to climb up the ladder tube -- and I freaked out when I couldn't see you! I was ripping my boots off, preparing to go in after you when Hannah's
Daddy calmly told me Grady was popping out the slide tube behind me. Whew! You had a ball and didn't want to leave until I bribed you with your first chocolate milk.

"What's going on, people?"

OK, Ingrid, Mom gave me your message to "get blogging!"

19 MONTHS OLD
I had SUCH a great weekend, getting to see my nephew, visit w/family, shop IKEA and hit the Ann Arbor Art Fair. Whew. Grady had a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's, mostly playing in the pool with cousin Alex. They did pretty well together - Alex shared more easily than you would expect from a 2 1/2 year old. He did think it was hilarious to squirt Grady w/cold water from the hose which made GradyBear cry.

After the second time of "No, Alex" not working, I said (really friendly), "Hey, you want to get squirted too?" and flipped him a little water. He sucked in his breath at the cold, then pointed to the patio table and told me sternly "Go sit in your chair!" But he quit shooting the hose at the Bear.

After they'd moved on to other toys in the yard, Mom turned off the hose. Eventually, Alex picked it up, saw there was no water, turned to the adults and asked, "What's going on, people?" He's soooo cute! I'm sure I'll live to regret this, but I can't WAIT until Grady's really talking. Its so funny the things the little ones come up with!

We rounded out the weekend with some finger painting which Grady loved. For a few mintues. Note to self: don't try anything new just before nap time...