Unusually Warm March

It has been crazy warm around here, which means we have been outside as much as possible.  We love to go to the park.  We play on the toys and walk Wally.  We even fed the ducks once.  This day, our lawnmower even got to come!!!

Steven cracks me up!  When he is trying to concentrate on something, he sticks his tonuge out.  (I totally do that too which makes me think he got that from me!) 

We have also been to the zoo the last 2 Saturdays.  We have a membership so when we go, we don't feel like we have to spend all day there to get our moneys worth.  We can go for a couple of hours, see a couple of things, and come back another week.  

My two favorite people in the entire world on the carousel.  Steven is totally forcing a smile while Dada says, "Look at Mommy.  Wave at Mommy."  It cracks me up. 

Feeding the Lorakeets.  He did a great job and thougtht it was so cool that the birds would hop right up to you for a drink.



Zoo Saturday, Take 2
Yup.  He is in the same outfit two zoo Saturdays in a row.  He desperatly needs some summer clothes. 

Steven kept hearing a bird, but couldn't find where the sound was coming from.  Then, he spotted this huge crane.  The boy stood and watched them for a good 8 minutes or so.



Just Another Manic Monday

I love my Little Man so much!  I am trying to blog more often because he changes so much every single day and I want to remember every little thing I can.  I want to have somewhere I can always come and look back and remember the days, the minutes that are so precious to me. 

Monday morning have always been very special to me because I don't have any of my other daycare kids, just my boy.  We always try to do something special.  Although we did end up going to the park, I forgot my camera.  But here are some photos from our lazy, amazing morning together.  Gosh, I love this boy so much.  I often wonder if every mom loves their children as much as I love Steven.  I can only hope so.  :) 

We start every morning with a diaper change and then downstairs to let Wally out and get a drink of Milk.  He is such a sweet little guy. 

Shouldn't every mom have a super hero like me?  Steven really is my "Super Steven" in so many ways!  I am so incredibly lucky to be his mommy!!

Mom and her Super Bug

"Guck."  Yup...that is Steven talk for "Truck."  Sometimes he says it right.  This boy LOVES trucks.  There are three or four trucks in every single room of my house at any one moment.  They are on the couch, in the bathtub, in my church bag...yup, they are everywhere.  And I LOVE playing trucks with Steven!

My front room table...We sometimes call it Truck Town, after one of his favorite books

Enjoying his favorite snack, fruit snacks, before going to the park.  I love everything about him from his curled toes to his perfectly beautiful blonde hair!

He stood up because there was a truck that just rolled by our house.  The boy stops dead in his tracks and runs upstairs if he hears a truck outside.

Brushing Wally's teeth

This picture totally cracks me up!

Look at those eyes....Melt. My.  Heart!

I just put him down for a nap and I Just love him.  I am sad I miss bedtimes because of work, but so grateful to have had this morning with my Bug.  We went to the park and played on the slide and took Wally for a walk.  Thank you Steven, for bringing joy to my life.  Thank you for making me smile when I feel like I just want to cry inside.  Thank you for making me a Mama!

Eating habits of a 20 month old

 My sweet boy makes me smile with every single interaction.  He loves to "rearrange" my refrigerator all of the time.  I had a pan full of green jello for St. Patrick's Day and my sweet baby put his hands in it.  He always makes me smile.  The boy wanted jello...what else can I say?  :)

Shh...trying to be sneaky.

There's a hole in my jello...



Caught green handed!



One of my favorite things to make lately is homemade pizza. I try to involve Steven in as much as possible.  I asked him to help me put the cheese and pepperoni on the pizza.  Our ideas of "helping" are a little bit different, but I wouldn't change the "help" for the world! 

I am trying to teach Steven about eating healthy, for his sake as well as for my family.  But I can't help it.  I LOVE peanut butter, and so does my sweet son.  Yup...we eat it right out to the canister sometimes.  Seriously, with this face wouldn't you too? 



It is really important to us as parent to teach our children about a good work ethic.  Steven's "chore" it setting the table.  And ya know what?  He really does enjoy doing it.  It cracks me up because he puts all of the plates on one side of the table and spreads them out.  The forks are the last thing I give him...and you can see why. 

Yup, no matter how many times I ask him to put the forks on the table, they always seem to make their way onto the floor.  It is really cool that he can stick them in the carpet and they stick straight up.  You know you want to come for dinner now! 



Blue Poo Cupcakes

Our friend, Emmy, turned 5 on February 27. Her family came over after going to dinner and brought over these amazing (and when I say amazing, I mean nasty) cupcakes. It was the kind of frosting that turned every surface it touched blue.

These were the cupcakes that kept sharing their color after it was washed off of the skin.  The next day, all of the kids had blue bowel movements.  It really cracked me up.  Steven's face in the above about sums it up.  We are grateful for friends who have birthdays!  

Cuddling with Superman

Matt lost his job 2 weeks ago.  It has been a trying time for our family.  We were very lucky that is just so happens we were down 2 instructors at school, so I was able to pick up some extra class hours.  But it has absolutely been at a price.  Matt says he appreciates now what I do with 4 kids all day long more than ever.  But it has been extremely hard on Steven.  To say he is a "Mama's boy" would be an understatement.  He loves me just as much as I love him.  He loves to be next to me, cuddle with me, hold on to me...everything is Mama all the time.  (I feel the same about him!)  It has really been hard on him that I haven't been home to play with him in the mornings or put him to bed at night.  It has been torture on me too.  I cry every morning as I leave the house for work.  And  cry every night when I come home knowing that he is in bed. 

As I mentioned, it has been very difficult on Steven.  He is much so a creature of habit.  He doesn't adjust well to change and he doesn't like when things change without his consent.  At around 3am he has been coming to our room with his blanket in one hand and his trust stuffed dog, Woof, in the other hand.  He walks up to my side of the bed and in his sweet little voice says, "Mama."  He always speaks my name with such reverence.  I picked him up and pulled him into bed with me.  I didn't know he would go to sleep, but he did.  He almost immediately fell asleep and cuddled next to me until around 7am.  Matt said he woke up and saw me cuddled up with Superman and it melted his heart.  We call our little guy, "Super Steven" and he has Superman pajamas.  Seriously, I am in love!  I love this little boy so severely.  Don't worry, we are putting a kabosh on the sleeping in bed with us tonight...I love him so much, so severely, so dearly, eternally!

Growing Boy

I don't know if every parent thinks it or what, but I KNOW my boy is so smart.  :)  I absolutely adore him in every single way.  I am really trying lately to allow myself to relinquish some control and let him help out more.  He is a pro at unloading the dishes from the dishwasher (okay, so some of the silverware gets put into his mouth, but who will notice, right?)  He loves to feed the fish and Wally.  A week or so ago, he put his shovel in Wally's food bin and that totally cracks me up!  He is even getting really good at picking up his toys and putting them away!  How stinkin' responsible!!  He loves to help Mama dust anything and everything.  If you give him a wipe, he will clean off his toys or anything else he is asked to. 

He has a book of shapes and he can now say and point to "circle" and "star." 

The child loves his trucks!  I have always wondered if we are ingrained as girls to like dolls and boys trucks, but whatever it is, he loves his trucks!  He is all boy!  Wherever we are in the house anytime during the day, if he hears a truck drive by, he looks up at me with his big blue curious eyes and says, "Truck?"  Yes sugar, a truck.  He hears every single airplane that flies by our house too.  We are still working on airplane. 

It seems like he learns more new words everyday.  He now says "fork" fairly clearly.  Some of his other favorites:

-Bye, Bye     -Jesus   

-Night Night  -Go, Go 

-Dog       -WaWa 

-Dude!     -Hello

-Thank You (although he mostly signs this one) -Drop

-Truck Town (one of his favorite books)

-Cookie -Baby
-Up    -Down

He loves to help me in the kitchen!  One of our favorite things to do is cook together.  I was going to make banana muffins the other day, but Steven kept signing and saying "Cookie" over and over.  So, what is a mother to do?  I gave in and tried banana chocolate chip cookies.  Yup, they are delicious!  He pours in the ingredients from the measuring cups and he loves to watch the mixer mix.  Anytime the oven timer beeps, he runs into the kitchen and says, "Hot!  Hot!  Hot!"  Yup, I did somethin' right there!  He knows to stand way back. 

Steven loves music!  Whenever he hears it, he starts dancing or banging on whatever is near him.  He really is very good with rhythms as well.  One of our favorite games to play is pounding out rhythms on the table after eating.  He does very well with mimicking whatever rhythm we start with (or visa versa).  The child LOVES the piano.  He often plays little ditties.  And there HAS to be a book of music open on the piano for him to play.  He loves to pound out little songs and then turn around for his applause! 

He is getting so good using a fork/spoon.  It started out that he would throw the utensils aside and just use his hands.  As he got better at it, he would pick up his food and then stab it onto the fork, or put it into the spoon with his hands.  Now, he uses the utensils with ease.  Sometimes after a meal his hands even look clean!  We are working on when he gets done not throwing his food, but simply pushing his plate and telling us "All Done."   

Yup, his hair-dos are crazy in the morning!  After he eats he knows we go upstairs to brush our teeth and do our hair.  He has started telling the baby in the mirror how handsome he is after his hair is done by giving him a High 5

I really love this one with the macaroni on his nose!

His daddy talks to him in Portuguese in hopes he will be bi-lingual.  The only word we have heard him say in Portuguese is "Luz" which means "light."  But he knows all of his body parts in Portuguese and English:

Eyes-Olhos               Leg-Perna

Ears-Orelhos            Toes-Deidos

Mouth-Boca            Head-Cabeça

Nose-Nariz              Hair-Cabela

Belly-Barriga

Tongue-Lingua

Teeth-Dentes

Knees-Joeilhos

Feet-Pez

He is truly a sweet child! He cares so much about everyone else. If one of the other children are crying, he goes over to them to give them a hug. Overall, he is a very cuddly boy. It makes me so absolutely happy! thank my Heavenly Father for him numerous times a day, every chance I get.