Another Grey Hair

Birthday Tradition

kandis — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:21:31 +0000

My husband and I were trying to come up with something special we could do for our son every year on his birthday. We weren’t looking for anything expensive or elaborate just something to help him remember his previous year and to let him know how special he is to us. After much online searching and asking friends, we decided to make a quick digital memory book. Now eventually (like when he’s in his 30′s since that is when I will have the time), I plan to make him a real scrapbook, but for now choosing about 100 pictures and arranging them with the help of Shutterfly was our best choice. It was an easy project to complete though I will admit it made me tear up several times. Here is what we included:

A cover page with a head shot from every month
Pictures from every month (arranged together by month)
A story or short note about the month
A letter from my husband and I to our son

I know that he is young and that for now the book will be just like any other, but someday I hope that he looks back at these with fond memories.

My Little Red Wagon

kandis — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:23:15 +0000

Thanks to some beautiful 60 degree days in January this year I got to try out my biggest Christmas present – a Radio Flyer Wagon! I didn’t get the Radio Flyer Wagon that Mom and Dad remember from when they were little; no, no, no I got the deluxe addition (Thanks Great Grandma and Grandpa). My wagon has seat backs and cup holders just to name a few of its amenities. Anyway, Grandpa and Mom took me on a walk after putting it together. I thought I was going to have to wait forever but Grandpa had it built in 10 minutes!

My ride is super smooth and my seat is very comfortable. In fact, I made Mommy let me eat snack in the wagon when we got home from our walk because I wasn’t ready to leave my throne. Mommy and Daddy think my wagon is awesome too because it is super easy to steer, thanks to independent front wheels. Grandpa likes that the handle is longer now than it was when Mommy was little because that means he doesn’t have to bend over to reach it. This present is a winner – everyone loves it! You should get one then maybe when we are older we can have wagon races.

Radio Flyer Pathfinder Wagon Red

Bath, Bath, Baby

kandis — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:44:29 +0000

Dinner is over and once again I have thoroughly enjoyed putting cherries and avocado in my hair. Daddy looks at me and just shakes his head and I hear those five words “I guess it’s bath night.” At first I don’t know whether to laugh or cry for I have gone through several phases of bath loving or shall we say bath hating.
When I was tiny, bath time was great! Mom or Dad held me in the sink while the other one gently massaged me with soap. They would rub my head and use a gentle spray to rinse me off. That was the life.

Then as I got a bit bigger, they had to move me to the tub. Mom and Dad thought I would love my lounge chair, but boy were they wrong. I’m an on the go kind of kid and laying down for a bath just didn’t feel right.

This quickly lead to shower time. This was wonderful as long as Mommy or Daddy could hurry. If they were trying to take a shower too, forget about it. I don’t have time like that to waste in a day.

Now, I take a bath in the big tub without a chair. It took some getting use to but now I’m a champion at sitting on the wet surface. In fact, now I have figured out how to crawl around on it a bit. Come to think of it bath time is pretty fantastic since I figured out how to sit in the tub. I get to play basketball thanks to my uncle and this holiday called Christmas, Daddy puts on puppet shows with my wash frog, and I can splash all sorts of water around without making Mommy cry about cleaning the floor again. The only part I don’t like so much now is getting the soap out of my hair. Luckily, Mommy found this pitcher that makes it a little better. This thing has a soft front so it fits on my head and keeps the dreaded water out of my eyes.

Whatever phase of bath loving or hating you are in I guess we have to deal with it because Mommies and Daddies don’t seem to be okay with food in the hair or super dirty babies. Live it up too because I hear when we get bigger we have to do the bathing by ourselves!

Johnson’s Head-to-toe Baby Wash, 9 Ounce

Summer Infant Fold ‘n Store Tub Time Bath Sling (Just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean you won’t like it.)

Little Tikes Little Champs Bathketball

Jumping Bean’s Blue Monster Wash Puppet Mitten Terry Cloth Baby Toddler

Baby It’s Cold Outside

kandis — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:58:52 +0000

Winter has finally set in here in Ohio. The other day there was this white stuff falling from the sky and Mommy insisted that I should watch it out the window. It was fascinating for about 15 seconds and then I got bored. After all, it just keeps coming. Anyways, a little while later Mommy and I bundled up to go and get the mail like we do every day, but this time the white stuff had built up on the mailbox – I just had to reach out and touch it. That stuff is cold. Mommy called it snow and then told me it is wet and cold – silly Mommy I already knew that I had my hand in it. Since I seemed to like the snow, Mommy took me inside and put me in these fluffy pants and put my coat and hat back on; then, she made me go and play in it more. It didn’t take too long for me to get cold and want to go back inside. So why I’m writing this post?/ I want to make a list for all of you babies so you don’t have to freeze to have fun in the winter. Here are some other places to take your Mommies and Daddies:

Shopping Mall or Department Store: We usually don’t buy anything but I get a kick out of watching all of the other people and running around in the big open space. Mommy often takes me into a lot of different shops so I can see different kinds of things.
Restaurants: Our favorite restaurants are the ones that are more like little coffee shops because I can run around a little bit and no one thinks I’m strange. It is also cool to go to these places because I get to eat a bit of bagel or some muffin.
Aquarium or Pet Store: These are some of my favorite places. I really like the aquarium best because I get to spend a lot of time looking at the different fish and I can walk around by myself with Mommy close by; but, in a pinch the pet store works too. Either way, there are lots of cool things to look at inside.
Grocery Shopping: As simple as it is I love to look at all the stuff in the grocery store. I get extra excited when Mommy lets me carry the bag of tortilla chips!
Museums: I don’t really understand everything in these places but I like to walk around and Mommy and Daddy like to look at all of the old stuff.
Children’s Art Studios: My Aunt B owns one of these places so I may be prejudice. Even though I’m not one yet, I can still create some cool stuff. We go to open studio and drive cars through paint or squish the homemade playdoh. There are often other kids my age there too!

No matter where you choose to go or what you choose to do, I recommend keeping your Mommy and Daddy inside and out of the fluffy pants as much as you can. Honestly though, the white cold stuff that fell from the sky isn’t all bad but I only want to experience it in small doses.

Mossi Toddler 1 – Pc. Snowsuit

Sleep Solution

kandis — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:29:35 +0000

I’m an on the go kind of kid but every now and then I have found that I need sleep. That’s right I admit it – I have to sleep. Now, Mom and Dad for a long time thought that if they just put me in my crib when I was sleeping peacefully in their arms everything would be okay, but recently they have figured out this isn’t the case. I mean seriously people who wants to wake up alone in a crib when they were being cuddled. You don’t sleep alone now do you?!? Anyway back to my point, to help me stay resting peacefully Mom and Dad gave me a little frog blanket. It is called a Lovey or something girly like that. My frog is perfectly safe and easy to hold. I love cuddling up with it and when I wake up just a little I rub the soft side and fall right back to sleep. My frog even smells like Mom and Dad. I have a sneaky suspicion that they carried it around under their shirts for a while but I don’t have any hard evidence to prove it. From one on the go kid to another, find a way to train your parents to help you sleep so you can be even more full of awesome than you already are!

Angel Dear Blankie, Brown Giraffe

Toy Shelves

kandis — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:29:27 +0000

My grandma and grandpa are so smart. For Christmas they bought toy shelves with baskets for my house. Sounds pretty boring I know but they are awesome! After Mommy and Daddy put them together, I could see all of my toys at once. Now I can make a mess twice as fast, make sure my oball didn’t go missing, or find my tambourine to make noise without getting distracted by something else first! I also love how my shelves are so sturdy that I can stand up and walk somewhere else without Mommy running to stop me. Best of all, Mommy thinks that the shelves were a present to her so they didn’t count as one of my gifts. That is why my grandparents are smart!

Tot Tutors Toy Organizer, Primary Colors

Table Food

kandis — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:02:22 +0000

How many meals do you want to make at dinner? My answer – one. Never did I think that making a different baby friendly meal every night so our son could eat table food would be tiresome, but after a few weeks it was. Then I realized I was overly complicating dinner. The only real change I needed to make was taking his food out prior to salting our portion. This and the take and toss containers I store his “leftovers” in have changed my dread for dinner into an excitement. Additionally I have a 10 month-old who eats Brussels sprouts, Greek yogurt, enchiladas, collard greens, and anything else you put in front of him!

The First Year’s Take and Toss Snack Cups (4-Pack)

Oh, Pretty Lights!

kandis — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:30:50 +0000

Baby’s first Christmas is quickly approaching! Though I know this is the year of boxes, tissue paper, and bows, I’m quite excited about sharing this season with our son. One thing worried me however – how were we going to keep him out of the Christmas decorations? We devised a plan and though we won’t claim perfection it has worked quite well.

1. Put only soft ornaments at the bottom of the tree.
2. Do not use ornament hooks on low ornaments.
3. Make a rule about not touching the tree and stick to it. We often have to divert his attention with something else when he forgets this.
4. Put child friendly decorations at child height (ie the Charlie Brown nativity, the soft stuffed snowmen, etc.) and allow Baby to play with these.
5. Don’t expect to use all of the same decor you always have used – some items just aren’t safe right now.

And We’re Walking!

kandis — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:09:35 +0000

After the initial “He’s walking!” comes “He’s walking.”. If you have never experienced extreme excitement quickly followed by dread you will the day your child learns to walk. Let me elaborate. Our son started walking independently at a very young 7 1/2 months and we were so excited for about 1 minute. Then, in addition to our excitement we were terrified – every piece of furniture we own was pretty much at forehead height. After a significant amount of thinking, we decided our best head saving option would be to put foam pipe insulation around the edges of our coffee table and low shelves. Yes, our son likes to try to pull the insulation off and yes, it can be a “weapon” for patting the dog or cat, but in the end this solution has saved us a number of black eyes and bruised foreheads.

Toothbrushing Parties

kandis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:50:21 +0000

So our little man’s first tooth, or more accurately teeth since the bottom two came in together, popped through about 6 weeks ago. Immediately we wanted to help him develop good toothbrushing habits so we started having family toothbrushing parties right after breakfast. In the beginning, our son would just turn the toothbrush over in his hands and we let that be enough, but after a couple of days of “brushing” his teeth with us he started putting the toothbrush in his mouth. Now, when he did this it was often the wrong end but we would gently tell him and pull the toothbrush out. Amazingly in only one month, he started using the correct side of the toothbrush and is now mimicking our movement fairly accurately. In the last week, we have added baby tooth and gum cleaner (fluoride free of course) to his brush and you can see our 8 month old bursting with pride each day as he cares for his own teeth!