Thanksgiving with Grandma Winnie

Our thanksgiving weekend consisted of...
*mornings spent playing at the park.*finding big puddles to splash in.*helping Grandma make the cranberry salad.*an attempt at a family photo shoot that ended with rocks and sticks thrown into the river.
(Keep an eye out for our Christmas card in a few weeks. It will have the best shot of the bunch on it.)

And of course lots of snuggles from Grandma Winnie, time spent with family over delicious food and interesting Thanksgiving conversation from a two year old.
When we sat down to eat Thanksgiving dinner (or maybe it was dinner part 2-the day after) Levi turned to Uncle Kirby and very matter-of-factly asked him: "Kirby, (pause to think) you have penis?" Thankfully Uncle Kirby was able to pretend not to hear him, even though Aunt Joann and Grandma Winnie heard him across the table.
Potty training has made this kid very curious about every one's body parts. Normal right?

Thanks again Grandma Winnie and the Johnsons for having us. It's always nice to see you all!

Boys at play

This week's play post is brought out early this week because we're heading down to Oakridge for Thanksgiving. It will be the first year Gabe and I haven't hosted the big day at our house in...I can't remember how long. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. And I have to be honest, I'm a bit sad not to have a big turkey in my fridge and a pie cooling on my counter. But at the same time, this year has been exhausting. I literally feel right now like I usually do in April. I'm so exhausted, and I'm thankful I didn't have to do all the shopping and prepping for the big meal this year.Since I have the week off (unpaid), Levi and I had a chance yesterday to have friends over to play.
I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to be off this week. I sure am thankful for this little mini vacation. I think it will get me through December!

And Finally That Dancing Video...

Here's the dance video that Heidi has been promising. Sorry for the odd aspect ratio, it came off of Heidi's phone.

This One's For Grandma G

Hiding

For months now, one of Levi's favorite things to do is hide things. He hides from Daddy every night before bed. His race cars like to hide underneath blankets and pillows. One night this week Gabe and I came home to this lovely mess. Levi decided one whole bin of random toys needed to hide in the space between the kitchen cabinets and his shelf of toys. Levi is so good at hiding things he very often hides them and then can't find them later. For example, his two favorite race cars who are currently MIA. Levi asked for them before bed tonight but we couldn't find them. We were lucky to get his mind off of them and get him into bed. Gabe's not so lucky. He's still searching for them right this moment because we know the kid will ask about them as soon as he gets up. So far we've both been unable to locate them in all of Levi's usual hiding spots.

Unfortunately for Levi, we don't have enough leaves in our yard to hide in them. But he sure had fun "helping" me rake them up this morning. (Figured we better get some leaves picked up, and gutters cleaned, since we had a dry day today. The rain is suppose to be back on Monday.)I'll see if I can convince Gabe to throw a dancing video on here when I'm done. Or tomorrow...if he's still searching for two race cars when I go back upstairs.

Potty Training in Progress

We've been encouraging Levi to use his toilet for the last 2 months.
He'll go and get really excited about it, but has never been able to really tell us when he needs to go.

Since I had Friday off, we decided we'd let him try big boy underwear and see how it went.
We made this little book in the morning and he got a sticker to put in every time he went in his toilet. He did great! I took him to his toilet every hour and he didn't have a single accident.
Here he is showing off his new big boy underwear.And here he is giving me the side eye for taking so many pictures.

So, Saturday came. Levi went poop in his pants. Twice.
He wants to go in the toilet. He knows big boys don't wear diapers and babies do. He doesn't want to be a baby and talks all the time about how big he is.
After a tough day on Saturday, I was watching him really closely on Sunday morning. He's gone poop in his toilet several times in the last few months and we talked a lot about keeping his underwear clean. As I was cleaning up the mess from breakfast, I spotted Levi in the corner of my eye and I knew what he was up to. I whisked him up to the bathroom and...here he proudly shows Lightening and Francesco what he did in his potty. (I cropped it so you didn't have to see it too!)

So...the potty training is still in progress. For now...

Speaking of "Smile"

This is one of the many silly things Levi started doing this week. Apparently this block that goes to his wooden train, is the prefect camera.

He walked around most of the evening on Tuesday telling us to "smile".

I'm telling you, this kid is quite the character. He's got some really funny dance moves we need to show off one of these days too.

I've surrendered

to stickers!
They are literally all over our house. See:

Even Levi's favorite race car has to have stickers on him.Sure, I could make a rule about where stickers go...but parenting is all about choosing your battles right? And this isn't a battle I feel is worth fighting. Especially since we've seen some "terrible two" behavior for the first time this week. Levi's decided he has to cover his face and cry when he doesn't get his way. Like when he's told he can't take 4 race cars to bed with him.

Well, Gabe's at work today. So Levi and I went to Target this morning and then decided this rainy Saturday was perfect for making a fort under the dinning room table.

This is Levi's new smile. I guess it's what I should expect when I say... "smile".