Words, Words, Words!

Mommy use to keep track up my new words but lately I have been saying so many words that she can't even keep up with me anymore!!! Right around 17.5 months, my already vast vocabulary grew even more! I pretty much can repeat the majority of what mommy and daddy say (when I want to, of course)!!!

Trying to Get Use to My Winter Hat!

I haven't been the happiest wearing my winter hat. Ma-ma and da-da have tried to put it on me on some of the colder days but I just took it right off. Last year my winter hat had a velcro strap that attached under my chin....ma-ma was thinking she might be getting a new winter hat with a strap again....but then, on a day where I didn't even need my hat, I asked for it! Let ma-ma put it on! And I kept it on.....for a few minutes!

Da-da and I Working On Our Laptops!

I'm working on my laptop, updating my blog!

What are you doing da-da? Oh, you're reading my blog!!!

Homemade All Natural Play Clay!

Mommy made me some homemade all-natural play clay.

I smashed it,

and held it all in one hand,

and lined it up,

and stacked it,

and kept stacking,

without forgetting about the last one,

and I put that one, carefully, on the very top,

and then I knocked it down and gathered it all in my arms!

Driving Around Mr. Bear!

I was taking Mr. Bear for a ride around the house until......

CRASH!

Evening With Our Friends!

Last weekend we had our friends Janet, Ryan, and Caitlin over to play and eat dinner with us! Caitlin just turned 1 a month ago and she is in my playgroup! When Caitlin arrived, I greeted her with a nice, big, hug! We played, played, played, ate some chili (hence the reason I am shirtless...I don't let ma-ma or da-da roll up my sleeves so they just take off my shirt if I am going to have an exceptionally messy dinner), and played, played, played some more! The adults watched and enjoyed great conversation!

A New Chore Added to My List-Dusting!

Ma-ma's little helper!

"No!"

Mommy and daddy have been wondering when this day was going to come and have been holding their breath waiting to see just how much I would like saying it. The day arrived on my 18-month birthday. Mommy put green beans on my tray and I simply said, "No" in the sweetest, most innocent voice! Though mommy was very surprised by the word that just came out of my mouth (mommy thought that I would never tell her "no"....silly mommy!) she was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't kicking, screaming, and crying as I said it. Though most of the time mommy thought I would never say "no," every now and then when she came down from "cloud 9" she thought that if I did start to say "no," I would be crying, throwing myself on the floor, and screaming "noooooo!"

So now that I know how to say, "no", I say it when mommy wants to change my diaper, wants me to eat something I don't want to, and says it's time to go night-night and I'm not quite ready (just to name a few)!

My Great-Grandpa's 90th Birthday Party!

Saturday afternoon and evening was the big birthday bash for my great-grandpa. You would never know by looking at him or talking to him or watching his daily routine that he was turning 90. Maybe all of his wonderful children and many, many, many (I should probably keep going on with my "many's"..... see the pictures below..but it's getting to be past my bed time) grandchildren and great-grandchildren have kept him young! He is a wonderful man who has been so blessed. He has had a healthy life (for the most part) and has probably laughed more and has made more people laugh than even the best comics. He is full of stories, smiles, and laughs! He has experienced the love of 9 wonderful children and too many grandchildren and great-grandchildren to count! And of course, his wonderful wife of 61 years. Blessed, so blessed! And he is more than deserving of every single one of these blessings. He was a hard working man for most of his life providing for his large family and his wife. He is an excellent husband who loves his wife more than anything. He is a tremendous father who should be so proud of how wonderful his children turned out. And he is a wonderful grandfather who has entertained and loved more children than most grandfather's could dream of! Blessed!

Let the celebration begin!!!

The wonderful man himself!

It's not a birthday without balloons!

And boy, were they fun!

Once again, "oh, the simple things that entertain!"

And entertain!!!

Da-da was happy to see the bowling pins and even happier to see that I was interested in them!

"So this one goes where, da-da?"

Watching and learning from the big kids!

One of my cute, sweet little cousins from Texas found a comfy seat on the basketball. You probably could have guessed she was from Texas, all bundled up in her coat on a beautiful fall day in Ohio. This was winter to her!

Some of the boys shooting hoops!

I loved watching them with da-da!

My great-grandpa with "most" of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. See why I could have said "many" about a thousand more times!

Enjoying a cookie that my great-aunt, Bec, (who I hesitate to call my "great" aunt b/c she's too young to be a "great") snuck me!

Giving ma-ma a look like "please don't take it away, ma-ma, I know I'm not suppose to have it, but it is SOOOOO GOOD!"

And another "look" while holding on tight with both hands.

Enjoying the last few bites!!! :)

Weekend at Gammy and Poppy's!

Ma-ma, da-da, Bailey, and I (oh, and my 2nd cousin, Nata (Natalie)) headed down to Dayton for the weekend. Nata goes to college in Cleveland so she spent the night with us Thursday night and rode home with us Friday! She was my backseat companion who I was so excited to socialize with that I only slept for 45 minutes (out of the 3.5 hour drive)!!! YIKES! Mommy wouldn't let her make eye contact with me or talk to me for the first 30 minutes after I woke up though, hoping I would fall back asleep if no one paid attention to me. No such luck though. After an entertaining car ride, we arrived at Gammy and Poppy's and immediately found Bubba, the Bulldozer, and all of my other toys that Gammy has for me and Addison! We had a WONDERFUL weekend packed full of playtime with Addison, mommy's 10 year reunion, my great grandpa's 90th birthday, and lots of wonderful Texas cousins to visit with on top of all of my wonderful Ohio cousins! WHEWEE! It may take all of us a full week to recover from all of this excitement!

This is one of my favorite things to do....stack all of my trucks (or other toys) together (and then I usually sit right next to them or practically on them!

It was mommy's 10 year High School reunion weekend so I wore mommy's hat while she was getting ready to go to her old High School football game!


My cousin, Addison, arrived shortly after me and from the minute she arrived until the minute we left to go back to Cleveland we were inseparable (except when we were sleeping).

We sat next to each other....

we both sat on Poppy's lap while he read to us....

Addison looked on while Poppy tickled me....

We played pretend with the dishes at our new table.....

I intently watched Addison...

and giggled at everyone....

I pretended to eat off the plate.....and then licked it clean (thanks Bailey for teaching me this)!

Addison did the same..... (thanks Wrigley for teaching Addison this too)!

I ate from the bowl....

and drank from the cup......

and giggled some more....

and more! What is there not to smile about being at Gammy's and Poppy's with my ma-ma and da-da and Bailey and cousin Addison and Aunt Kristi and Uncle Dustin and Wrigley!?!?!