*Sniff* My Big Boy *Sniff Sniff*

We cut his hair tonight. All that gorgeous hair is gone, and he's once again my big boy :(

We're off to Atlanta tomorrow. Posting will be limited, but I will try to keep you up-to-date on all the cuteness that is my child (if my husband and mother-in-law cooperate ... since they'll be spending the most time with him. I will be at market with Nana).

xoxo,

Laundry

I know ya'll are so jealous that Allen helps with the laundry. So I thought I would rub it in even more by documenting it for you :)

xoxo,

Artistic photography ... maybe?

Allen got ahold of the camera the other night ... in addition to the picture he took of the animals in his bed, he took this lovely shot of my shoe (and many others that were bizarre and out-of-focus):

xoxo,

New Room

For some of you, this post will serve to show you Allen's room for the very first time. For others, you will be able to see Allen's "new" room (of which he is very proud). So, without further ado, here it is!

And, here are a few pics of the brood in his bed ...
(Allen took the one above)

xoxo,

Where to begin?

I apologize to my loyal readers ... I have been a bad blogger the last few days. We had the CO's visit and company, so it's been a bit hectic. I don't really know where to begin, so I think I will just start with the random "gems" (as I have taken to calling them) from Allen. These are in no particular order ...

• "Noah in the ark" he announced last night at dinner. I don't know why. We were not talking about Noah or about the ark. We were at Saltus restaurant, which is on the water and always causes Allen to think of boats though.
• Exclaims, "We are Penn State!" (even though they lost the Rose Bowl).
• Thursday night he was only disciplined once, and today he was not taken out at all, except to be comforted when he started to cry when our family left the meeting (they had to leave early to get ready for their flights). Way to go Allen!
• Tonight he helped give Micai his bottle. He kept saying, "Cai sit in my yap!"

Obviously, these are not all the "gems" Allen provides us with each day, but these are the ones that I can remember at the moment.

xoxo,

Guilt Trip

So, my sister guilt-tripped me today ... complaining that I hadn't posted in *gasp* three days! But then I went and looked at her blog, and she hasn't posted recently either. So ...

Anyhoo ... we've been very busy down here. Nana, Papa, and "Gamma" arrived Monday evening. Doug and Heidi arrived last night ... it's been family central here in Peanut-land. So I have no pictures to share at the moment, but I'll pass on a few little gems ...

• Allen decided that his meeting entertainment last night (during the CO's visit, no less) would be to choke Mommy with her necklace. He sat in the seat next to me, and pulled as hard as he could on it. And then looked at the sister behind us and grinned (this was done repeatedly).
• After the closing prayer last night, yelled, "Amen. It's over!"
• He looked at me this morning, and said, "Nana, Papa, Gigi, Gamma, peese!" indicating that he wanted to go see them at Nana's house (mind you, we were all still in bed at this point).
• Allen decided that it would be fun to kick Zoe's legs out from under her, and then laugh as she collapsed onto the ground (for those of you who don't know, Zoe is Nana's 14-year-old dog who is deaf, blind, and has a spinal cord injury). Now, to prevent hate-comments from animal activists, please know that Zoe is a small dog, and that my son is not kicking hard ... more like a gentle tap with his foot. Also, please know that Zoe's legs give out numerous times in a day, and she collapses frequently. Apparently, my son finds this humorous and decided to help her along. Obviously, he didn't realize that this was mean. We did tell him that it wasn't nice, and he stopped, though.
• He said "Uncle Doug" all by himself (he never says Uncle or Aunt, so this was pretty amazing).
• Allen and Doug were playing with his blocks, and then Doug started talking with the adults. Allen didn't like this too much, so he started tapping Doug on the leg, and said, "Doug. DO IT!" OK then ...

More stories to come, I'm sure. Including pictures of Allen's rearranged room (which he absolutely adores).

xoxo,

Owen, More Cuteness

First things first ... the promised cookie photos:


So I thought that Allen couldn't get much cuter than his comment about eating cookies "all all day," but it turns out that he can -- and he did.

This afternoon Allen talked to Nana and Papa for a long time, and cried the first time they tried to get off the phone. So they continued to talk to him about how they were going to take him to the park to swing on the swings and ride the see-saw, and play in the house that's there. Finally, they got off the phone, and he called Mom-mom's house to talk to Owen (more on that shortly). A short while later, Allen just started walking around the house crying. We asked him what was wrong, and he said "Park! Park!" The he said, "Nana and Papa!" I asked him if he wanted to call them, and he shook his head, and said, "No, see Nana and Papa!" I guess he thought they were coming right away to take him to the park, and he was very upset that they had not arrived yet. Poor little guy :(

Back to talking with Owen. Allen gets an absolute kick out of talking to Owen (and if you recall from an earlier post, it is hilarious because he communicates primarily in screams and grunts). So today, I decided to videotape it for your enjoyment. Because there is little that brings more joy than hearing a child laugh.

Allen has been broadening his horizons lately, as far as toys go, so instead of just cars to clean up each night, we have cars, blocks, books, markers, etc. Usually he's pretty good about cleaning up before bed, but last night we had a little issue with it, so he wasn't allowed to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom before bed. It was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do -- he was so upset, that he almost became inconsolable -- but with the difficulties we've been having lately, we decided to stand our ground.

Well, tonight, I felt so good about our decision. Because when it was time to clean up his toys, he hopped right off my lap and started helping. Not one complaint out of his mouth. Not only that, but he went right up the stairs, and asked to have a bath! Finally, we saw some positive results out of all this disciplining we're doing.

So we read our stories, and were saying our goodnights, when Allen decided he needed to add six more stuffed animals to his brood (they usually sit in a little shelf in his room). So we tossed them into the crib to join the others. We laid him in bed and started to cover him with his blankets, when he decided that each stuffed animal needed a kiss. He had to sit up, grab the animal, lay down, kiss it, and then repeat ... for each of the dozen or so animals in the bed! He even had to kiss "extra blanket" (the extra blanket we put on him when it got really cold here).

We finally got through it all, and turned off the lights. As we closed the door, Brian said, "And you thought you were done blogging today ...." It's true -- the kid gives me so much fodder for this blog that I'm never struck with writer's block.

Goodnight to you all!

xoxo,