Off The Bottle at 16 months and 2 days!

I am officially off the bottle! For a while now, I have only been getting a bottle at night time. I get a sippy cup at nap time. I didn't mind the sippy cup at nap time at all but I did LOVE my night time bottle! After my bath, while mommy was getting my dressed in my pj's, I would whine and cry for my bottle...until mommy would finally give in and give it to me while she finished dressing me. As much as mommy knew she needed to take away my night time bottle she didn't want to because she knew how much I loved it and it still made me a baby (in mommies mind) if I still had my bottle. (I think I'll always be my mommies baby though no matter what age I really am)! :) But with each new day, mommy and daddy see how I am becoming such a big boy and my love for and attachment to my bottle only get stronger by the day so thus the night came. Last Friday night was my first night sans bottle!

I was a little confused when mommy handed me a sippy cup instead of my bottle. I took one sip, handed it back to her and stuck good 'ole trusty (a.k.a. my paci) back in my mouth. It took me a little longer to fall asleep that night as I layed in my crib talking to myself....wondering when mommy was going to bring me my bottle. But she never came with it, so I quietly gave up and went to sleep. Saturday night, I gave mommy another "look" when she handed my a sippy cup. I took a few more sips than the night before but kept paci close by so I could quickly make the switch when I decided to reject the sippy cup once again. Again, I layed in bed talking a little longer than usual before falling asleep. Sunday (night 3), I decide to accept the sippy cup! I drank every last drop and quietly fell asleep!

Deer!

I often see deer in our backyard since it is very wooded but we actually haven't seen many this summer (they visit us much more often in the winter months) so we were excited to see some of our deer friends again!

An 80th Surprise Birthday Party!

We went to a surprise party for a friend of daddy's family on Saturday. I had a great time, eating yummy food, watching corn hole, playing with lots of dogs, playing with my trucks, and running around!

Mommy and I had a quick photo shoot before we left for the party!

Showing all of the big people cars my little person truck!

There aren't a whole lot of places I go without Bubba, the bulldozer, in hand!


Hanging out with daddy!

Watching an exciting game of corn hole!

Running from daddy! Playing "chase" is one of my favorite new games!

Pet-sitting Fishy and Froggy!

We have two new pets in our house this week who we are pet-sitting. Their names are Fishy and Froggy and I have grown quite attached to them already! I wave hi to them every morning and every time we come home from being somewhere or come in from being outside. I wave bye to them every time we go outside or go somewhere and I say ni-ni to them every night before bed. I also help mommy feed them every other day, wave to them from my high-chair during breakfast, lunch, and dinner and blow them approximately 100 kisses a day! I sure am going to miss Fishy and Froggy when they leave but mommy says I would probably be able to visit them whenever I wanted to!

Meet Fishy!

Meet Froggy!

Mowing with Gammy!

Also, while Gammy was at our house, I showed her how I use my mower. I also wore the sunglasses, for Gammy, to protect my beautiful blues!

Showing Gammy how I push my mower. "Gammy are you watching?"

And showing Gammy where the gas goes.

Dancing with Gammy!

During Gammy's visit to our house in Cleveland a few weeks ago, we threw a little dance party one morning. We turned on our Raffi CD and DANCED! I had a ball!

Saturday and Sunday - in Dayton

As I noted in my previous post, mommy's camera battery died on Friday so unfortunately we don't have pictures from the rest of the fun weekend. This makes blogging and reading the blog not quite as exciting but I can't not write about the rest of the weekend!

Saturday, I met my mommy's best friend from high school little boy, Austin. Austin is about 4 months older than me. We became fast friends and had a wonderful afternoon together. Austin shared some of his teddy grahams with me....and actually put them in my mouth for me (most of the time) and I shared my PB&J sandwich with him. We swam together, played on the swing, played with balls, and ran around....well, like boys! I can't wait to see Austin again and mommy and daddy can't wait to see Erin, Nick, and Austin again either (and Austin's soon to be baby brother or sister)!

Later in the day Saturday we went to visit Great-grandma and grandpa. Great-grandpa played with the mower with me and then Great-grandma showed me all kinds of trucks and cars that I could play with!!! It was a short visit but a sweet one! I'll see them again Labor Day weekend (great-grandma and mommy share a birthday so we will stop in to sing to great-grandma then)!

Saturday evening, we all went to the park (Gammy, Poppy, mommy, daddy, Bailey, and I)! Poppy pushed me in the swing and Gammy, Poppy, and I went down the slide.

Sunday, Grandpa Sacksteder came over to play! I showed him my mower and all of my trucks, of course! We played all morning and then, sadly, it was time to say bye-bye to Grandpa Sacksteder....and shortly thereafter, Gammy and Poppy too.
:(

I had a great time at Gammy and Poppy's (so did mommy, daddy, and Bailey)! It was so hard to say good-bye (especially since I was with my Gammy/Na-na) for 6 days in a row!!!

For the next 2 days back at home, I was looking all over for Gammy and asking where she was. Mommy showed me pictures of Gammy and said Gammy's at her house but we will see her soon.

Just a few more weeks!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Friday - In Dayton!

Friday, we woke to another beautiful day so we decided to spend it outside! In the morning, we went to a park (just a short drive from Gammy's) that had a splash pad too! It was very crowded at the time so Gammy and I stayed more along the perimeter, filling up my bucket and splashing around!

Then we went to the regular part of the playground!

And crawled through tunnels...

And swung on the swing!

Later in the day, after my morning nap, we headed to Gammy and Poppy's pool (aka The Kettering Rec Pool). We had such a great time at the pool but unfortunately we only have 3 pictures to show it. Mommy didn't bring home her charger for her camera battery.....and she was not happy. She said she learned her lesson. Silly mommy! (And actually it wouldn't have been that big of deal but we were seeing mommy's best friend from High School and her son (who is 4 months older than me) and us boys had not met yet so mommy was bummed she wasn't going to get pictures of us together)!

Back to the pool, we swam, mommy and I went down a water slide about a gazzilion times because I kept taking mommy's hand and leading her back to the slide every time we finished going down (which we don't have a picture of due to a dead battery), I had a super-duper big Popsicle (which we don't have a picture of due to a dead battery), and I took a shower in the big boy shower at the pool (which we don't have a picture of due to a dead battery).

We also fed the ducks by the big pong on our way out of the pool (which we don't have a picture of due to a dead battery).

Here are the pictures we do have from the pool! :)

That night, Poppy read me a book and Gammy put me to bed because my mommy and daddy were at a baseball game with some of mommy's high school classmates!

Thursday - Heading to Dayton (with Gammy)!

So Gammy spent Monday through Thursday morning at our house and now we were going to Dayton to spend the rest of the week and weekend with Gammy at her house!!!! What a week...best week of the summer BY FAR!!!! :)

I sat in front of my toys that I piled together while mommy, daddy, and gammy loaded up the car! Mommy gave me a snack to keep me occupied!

Then we all piled in the car, Gammy in back with me, and began our 3.5+ hour trip to Dayton. I only slept a short while. It was unusual for me to have company in the back seat and since it was one of my favorite people in the entire world, I wanted to chat and play...not nap! :) This made the trip a little more interesting but I was a very good boy for the most part.

Once we arrived to Gammy's, I took a little snooze. I had to rest up so I had the energy to help Poppy cut the grass that evening!!! When I woke up, Poppy was already home from work and I was so excited to see him too!!!! I greeted Poppy with a nice hug and a sweet kiss! Then...he put me to work!!! :)

Aren't I a big help, Poppy?!?!

Waving to Poppy!

Still waving!

Wednesday - My Favorite Park (with Gammy!)

Wednesday was another beautiful day and slightly cooler so we decided to show Gammy my favorite park!

I should note that it only took being with Gammy for approximately 20 hours when she changed from being my "Gammy" to my "Na-na"! Since I can't say Gammy yet, I made up my own interpretation which is "Na-na"! Every time Gammy left the room or I didn't see her, I would walk around calling her by saying, "Naaaaaaa-naaaaaaa"! This, along with my wonderful hugs and sweet kisses practically melted Gammy's heart over the past week!

Okay, back to the park! I was so excited when we arrived at the park and instantly took Gammy's hand to show her around!

I showed Gammy the swings!

The fire truck!
The train!

The slide!

The bubbles!

The music making chimes!

The little play houses! This one was Poppy's Gym!

Another kind of slide!

The "ball wall"!

The color wheel in the school house!

The teeter-totter!

And would you believe this, on that day at the park there was all kinds of construction work taking place on the other side of the fence!!! Fascinating!!!

Gammy and I also played in the sand!

I found a shovel just about as big as me!

Gammy brushed the sand off my hands when I didn't want it on them any longer!

I found another shovel....a little more my size!

Just enjoying this summer day, playing in the sand, hanging out with my mommy and Gammy! How perfect!

We ended the park with a nice, refreshing drink from the water fountain!

That evening we played outside with our neighbor, Grace! I love Grace so much and always want to hold her hand and give her hugs! That evening, I wanted to sit on her lap! :)