Birthday Part II

Stanley figured out how to sit on the swings by himself. Well, he used to be able to sit on the swings, but he wasn't good at holding onto the chains.

Stanley and the other kids in the neighborhood participate in a teambuilding exercise. Later this year, they'll go on a corporate retreat to learn how to better synergize.

Bubbles!

Stanley and Julie grabbed lunch at Days Market, to avoid the paint fumes in the house.

Stanley stops to smell a flower at the park.  

Birthday Breakfast

Stanley is two! The first part of this day-long celebration was a breakfast on the back patio. Stanley had a banana and smoothie. Julie supervised the proceedings.



Yum.  

Stanley has grown up in the two years he's been around.

Weird how much older he is.

This was the classic pose. 

Stanley and Scott at Rock Canyon Park 

Stanley is no longer a compact baby. He enjoys a pillow, and loves to have a load of blankets. 

Dad and Stanley relax for a while. 

Stanley and his friend Morgan were having fun watching church videos. 

A spontaneous hug shared between Stanley and Robyn.

Have a nice hug.  

if the camera is on, Stanley wants a part of it. 

Stanely ended up with both legs in one pant leg when we were dressing him for church. 

Jumper

well, sort of

Stan was kind of picking his nose while I changed his diaper, which isn't something he usually does, so I was just asking him about what he was doing. When I got around to asking him about what he found, he identified it as "nose poo-poo." Well, sort of....

ess ay-ee

This is Ellie, Stan's babysitter. I'm putting this on the blog because he knows about this picture, and says "yes, ellie yes, ellie" when I'm on the computer, meaning that I have to open Picasa and find this picture. I thought this would be an easier way to accomodate his request. Plus I know how you all wanted to see who cares for him while Scott and I are out and about. 

Stan Dances

Julie took this video while I annoyingly sang "The Ants Go Marching". Stanley danced.

NYC Bathtime

I got this video of Stanley taking a bath with our hosts' son, Christopher, when we were in New York. Christopher is about six months older, but they do play well together, despite the occasional water conflict.

A funny picture

He wanted a "milk ball" (Whopper) and so I got one out for him and extended it toward him. He got so excited at the prospect that he started to dance (just the feet going really fast) but the dance was slowly moving him backwards and he couldnt reach the milk ball, but he was trying really hard to reach it. that's funny.

...and I watched in awe as he ate a plateful of raw cauliflower...

Creamy Cauliflower Salad

1 head cauliflower, cut into toddler-sized florets
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
some bacon, cooked and crumbled (it was probably 8 strips or so)
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 C. Miracle whip (or mayonnaise, if you like that, I guess)
1/4 c. sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

whisk together Miracle Whip, sugar, vinegar, and lemon juice. Toss everything else together and pour dressing over it, tossing to coat. chill.

This is based on a recipie by the same name from allrecipies.com, I just added more of the good stuff :) It's a lot like a low-carb potato salad, but even if carbs arent' an issue (like they aren't for us) cauliflower is still one of the most nutritious vegetables out there, while potatoes, shall we say, aren't. Anyway, it's really really good, and I think I'll be making it all summer.

all about stan

Stanley is really starting to talk a lot, saying harder words like soccer ball (backa-bah), and he can ask for things nicely by saying yes please (ess peese cheese; ess peese go). He tries to tell all about it when he thinks something is funny or impressive. He's getting pretty conversational. And he can repeat most of the words in a prayer.

He is learning songs and will ask for them by singing what little he can of them. His favorites are Wheels on the bus (all verses!), Old McDonald, I've been working on the railroad (the dance that goes with that one is to put both hands on top of your head and run around in a circle; he does it every time and insists that we do it to--no one taught him this), and any song with the word Jesus in it, especially Jesus said love everyone, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (with the bounce, of course), when we're helping we're happy, and I amd like a star. I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

He gets excited to see snow, things that are tall, and animals. He likes to (but is not encouraged to) put drinks/bathwater in his mouth and spit it out in a long stream. He has discovered bathtub swimming. Whenever we cross the front porch, he pats this little raised part on the side and says "eat? apple?" (which is how he asks to eat, because of the song I Like To Eat Eat Eat Apples and Bananas...) and I go grab some snack and we have a little picknick. He loves to cook and "do dishes". He loves to jump off things and have us catch him. He LOVES Finding Nemo.

At least once a day we 'play games' by getting out the games, one at a time, taking all the pieces out, and putting them back away. His favorites are Monopoly, Chess, Go, Cities and Knights, Scrabble, a Pooh memory game we just got at a garage sale, and dominoes. he doesn't like Boggle or Sequence. He loves rolling dice. He likes putting on lotion and chapstick, and he likes to try to put on makeup when he finds it, but he usually can't open it. He loves his soccerball and football, and sleeps with them each night. He loves fire trucks and explosions and crashes. He is really good at stacking blocks.

He is still testing and re-testing the rules about biting and hiting, but he is finally starting to respond to phrases like "if you hit me with that, I will take it away; if you bite me, you will go in your crib." He has 4 teeth left to grow, but one of those is finally peeking through. They are the four pointy corner teeth; he already has the molars behind them. He is really a sweet and gentle boy, and he's really starting to be a companion, not just a baby.

Clothes Horse

Stanley likes to put on shirts.

Five shirts are not enough (he has two underneath the striped shirt already). 

Stanley quickly reacts to a camera, mainly interested in viewing the screen on the back. As you can imagine, this makes for a number of close ups.  

This is Stanley as a newborn. Maybe we already posted this picture.  

Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning, we opened presents in the front room and enjoyed watching Stanley open presents. By the time the day was done, Stanley had become adept at opening any present he saw, regardless of whose it was.

We bought Stan some hand puppets: a camel, a scorpion, a tarantula, and an ostrich--the so-called "desert set". He's holding the camel in his hand, most likely asking for our participation in puppeteering.

This was our little tree. It seemed weird to get a huge tree, and we were going to just pass on the whole tree thing, but then we found this tree at Costco and fell in love. It has a real Dr. Seuss quality to it, don't you think? On the left of the tree you will notice that Julie bought me a new propane tank.

We went to church at 11:30, and here's Stanley with his church outfit on. He's a good boy. 

Sock Hand Stan

Stanley loves to wear a sock on his hand. We did not teach him this.

He also likes to carry this blue balloon around, especially when Julie sings "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad." He runs and gets the balloon whenever Julie starts into it. It's part of the "Workin' on the Railroad" Dance. Again, no prompting from us.



Also good for Stan is sitting in the laundry basket, preferably with someone sliding him around.



He has even, on occasion, managed to start eating without us realizing that he has the sock on. Shortly after this was taken, he began to use the sock-hand to pick up the spaghetti. 

Secret teeth

Today I noticed that stan has two teeth I didn't even know about. There is one on each side, not the pointy teeth, but the ones right behind those. This is great! It will be awesome when he can start chewing things instead of just biting and swallowing whole. He is also growing his fourth tooth on the bottom, completing the bottom middle set. He went so long without any new teeth, and now he has three new ones coming in all at once. this will make a grand total of 10.

I taught Stanley how to use the toilet!

I have been throwing up a lot lately. If I drop everything and run into the bathroom, it scares Stan and he cries. If I manage to walk in at a normal speed and say something like, "mommy needs to throw up now, buddy" he just watches and laughs. In the second scenario, he likes to stand right by the toilet and spit into it when I spit, etc. (I know, I know....but it's better than him standing outside the door listening and being scared and crying!). So the other day Scott was in the bathroom shaving and stan went right over to the open toilet and leaned over and made a puking sound. The boy knows how to use the toilet!

dippin'

I taught Stan how to dip graham crackers in his soy milk, which he loves to do. But he also dips everything else into whatever drink he has now. At the end of the meal, the drink is just sludge. It's really gross. Peanut butter sandwiches in water, Wheat thins in water, tomatoes and mushrooms in milk...whatever it happens to be, he loves dipping!

No No No!

Stanley says, "No No No!" as he hits things.

He's a fan!

Hey, Stanley, say "B!"
"bah!"

Say "Y!"
"woah!"

Say "U!"
"haha"

Say "Cougars!"
"cookies!"

Q: What does a doggy say?

A: oof oof.

Bitey

Today Stan just decided he really wanted to bite me. He was biting me all day, whenever he got the chance. If my arm brushed against his mouth when I was 'getting' him in a game of Chase Me, he'd bite. if I was sitting on the couch, he'd come over and bite my knee, or my toes. He's lull me into a false sense of security by goving me a few kisses, then bite my cheek. He'd carefully bite just my clothes and see what happened. each time he'd get a surprised OUCH! and then a stern NO NO and if he did it a bunch of times in a row, he got some minutes in the crib. I wonder how many days this will last. I also wonder if he'll do it to others or if it's just some kind of aggression against me because I finally stopped nursing him.