What's in a name?

I love this stage that Cason is at. He can talk more clearly and almost always get his point across but he still mispronounces some words and has his own names for things. Some of his words are so stinkin' cute that I don't correct him. Here are the only examples I can think of at the moment.

He calls Spiderman, along with any spider he sees "itsy bitsy spider".

Back around Halloween, we would see ghosts around town and he would call them snowmen. He was REALLY into his Frosty the snowman book back then.

He's never seen Sesame Street but he somehow knows who Elmo is. I think every kid in the world knows who Elmo is. Anyway, my dad gave him a little stuffed Grover two years ago for Christmas and he calls him "Blue Elmo". I thought this was hilarious so I have continued to call him that.

He loves his Corduroy book (about a bear) so when I told him that a pair of pants he has are called corduroy pants, he called them cordurbear pants. He has since changed it to corduboy pants but I really loved the term "cordurbear".

He always calls the ironing board the "oval".

And then there's the little mispronunciations that are pretty cute. For a long time, berries were babies. So he would eat strawbabies, boobabies (blueberries), and yeahbabies (raspberries).

He calls puke "pookies". One day he randomly puked on a shirt. He will not wear that shirt anymore, even though I thoroughly washed it. He always examines it and says there are pookies on it.

He can't pronounce "sp", it comes out as an "f" sound. So he eats with a foon (spoon) and one of his favorite books is "The Fooky Old Tree" (Spooky Old Tree). Oh, and he sleeps with a fatula. The foon thing drives Kelly crazy but I think it's cute.

I've recently noticed him getting very creative in letting us know what he's saying if we don't understand him. If he says a word over and over and I don't know what it is, he will start describing it so I can figure it out. Tonight I vacuumed and a half hour later he said "our carpets are all clean now!" Except I couldn't understand what he was saying so he got down off the couch and stomped his foot on the floor as he said it again.

I'm sure there are more examples but that is all I can think of right now. Leave me a comment with the cute things that your kids say (or said when they were little)!

My "before pictures"

I got an awesome new DSLR camera for Christmas. Which I love. And have no idea how to use. So I wanted to post some of the first pictures I took with it. I hope to improve and then 6 months or a year from now, look back on these pictures and laugh. I know I have focus issues and exposure issues. I probably have a multitude of other problems that I know nothing about right now. I have the highly recommended Understanding Exposure book and reading it is on the top of my to do list. These are all taken in fully automatic mode. If anyone has any advice for me, I'd love to hear it. I know that at least 4 of my regular blog readers have DSLR cameras so constructive criticism is definitely welcome!































I love me some screaming baby pictures!











Stopping to watch the garbage truck.

On the move

It's been awhile since I've done a Bryce update. Bryce can now army crawl, stand holding onto stuff, cruise, and walk holding onto our hands. He wants to walk so badly but can't yet. He is getting good at his hand-eye coordination and can even stand holding onto something with just one hand while he uses the other hand to play with a toy. His favorite toys are toys where he puts a ball somewhere specific so he has quite a few ball toys now.



He does not babble at all. I think he's too busy moving to worry about such things. He is surprisingly not a fan of food. At all. I've tried lots of different fruits and veggies, tried it homemade and jarred, and tried food warm, cold, and in between. Sometimes he'll tolerate me sneaking an ounce or two in his mouth and sometimes he acts downright angry that I even suggested it and push my hand away. But he is starting to take to the puffs he got for Christmas so I have hope that he won't be on a full milk diet forever.

Goats and football

There are usually a few random pillows on our bed. So now if Cason sees a pillow under the covers, he says that is the goat. He likes to punch the goats. The best was one day when I put him on our bed next to a lump and the lump moved. It was just Kielers under the covers but the look on his face was priceless.

The last part of the video is what Kelly taught Cason to say. Kelly has a love/hate relationship with the Dallas Cowboys.

Didn't have to dream for this white Christmas

For the first time in 83 years, north Texans woke up to a white Christmas. It was crazy because on Wednesday, the 23rd, it was in the 70's here. We went for a walk that day and I wore a short sleeve shirt. On Thursday morning it was cold and the snow started mid morning. It fell most of the day and I'm so glad we had nowhere to go. From what I read online, the highways were at a standstill and there were lots of accidents. It was cold enough overnight that the snow stayed for Christmas morning.

We had the best Christmas that we could ask for without going home. It's never nearly as fun to celebrate any holiday without our extended families. But we were able to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa G. and Grandma B. and got to talk to Grandpa B., Aunt Alissa, and Aunt Lou Ann on the phone. Also, on a sad note, my uncle Leighton passed away Christmas evening and he will be missed.



We started out the day with our stockings. Cason and Bryce checking out each others' loot. Bryce stole Cason's pretzels so Cason is seeing what these Gerber puffs are all about.



"ooh, Daddy, what did you get?" Note the animals that I made many, many trips to Michaels for. I refused to pay $4 per animal so I went back every week to use the 40% and 50% off coupons.





I taught the dogs to open presents many years ago so they got in on the fun too.



I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast -- a long time tradition carried over from my house growing up. This was Cason's first time to try one. Don't be fooled by the picture, he loved it.



As expected, Bryce loved the wrapping paper.



Forget the presents, give me more wrapping paper!



Cason loves his new scooter. I love how he's wearing jammies, a cowboy vest, elbow pads, and knee pads.



Playing with their awesome new bath toys. For anyone out there with young kids, these toys are really cool! It's the Yookidoo Flow 'n Fill Spout and the Yookidoo Stack 'n Stream Tub Fountain.





We ended up the night by driving around looking at Christmas lights. Overall, it was a great day.

It's fun to stay at the YMCA

Cason received almost enough dress up costumes for Christmas to impersonate all of the Village People.







He also received a fire fighter, fighter pilot, and doctor. He loves them!

Not too many kids

Not too many kids take a spatula to bed with them. We let Cason take something to bed with him as long as it isn't battery operated and isn't a choking or strangulation hazard. The past week or two, his selected item has been a spatula.

I thought boys weren't supposed to care

I thought boys weren't supposed to care what they wear at this age. Apparently, I was wrong. Cason has been pretty opinionated on what he will and will not wear lately. So a few weeks ago, I rearranged his closet so that he can reach all of his long sleeve shirts. All of his socks and undies are in the top drawer, the pants in the middle drawer, and jammies in the bottom drawer. This way, when I tell him to go pick out a shirt, he can go get it himself.



Here are Cason's greatest hits. He is always looking for either his "baseball shirt", "basketball shirt" or "didas shirt". Note: he has four shirts with baseballs on them but this blue one is the only one he cares about. I have no clue what it is he likes about these three shirts but if none of them are clean, we might have a rough start to the day.



This new closet arrangement has led to some interesting combinations such as the baseball shirt with swim trunks or a sweater and athletic pants together.



Other Cason fashion tidbits:

He will NOT wear socks. Will not. I gave up trying since we do live in Texas and all.

He has been obsessed with his orange sandals since I bought them last spring. He never wants to wear his brown shoes, only his sandals. I gave up on this one too but usually make him wear real shoes on preschool days since they play outside and it is usually cold in the mornings.

He hates jackets. I actually didn't even buy one for him this year because his jacket from last year still fits fine. If it's cold enough to need one, I let him pick a hooded sweatshirt to wear instead of a jacket.

He is obsessed with his pajamas. This is the first winter that he's been big enough to fit in the good Carter's two piece fleece jammies. Sizes under 2T are one piece, which I refuse to buy because they never fit right and are a pain. So this year when I brought home three pairs of fleece jammies, he was in heaven. He usually only wears real clothes for 3 or 4 hours in the morning when we leave the house. After lunch, he wants right back in his jammies. The only exception is when it's one of the "greatest hits" days. Then he wants to sleep in that shirt all night instead of the pajama shirt. Like right now, he's sleeping in the basketball shirt and his rocket ship pajama pants.

Until recently when it's been colder, he almost never wore pants at home. Which I am okay with since he wears boxer briefs instead of tighty wightys.

I wish I wouldn't have bought him so many pairs of pants. Next winter, I think I'll just get 3 or 4 pairs and be all set since he would rather be in his jammies!

The story of Daniel, according to Cason

Target practice

This morning when I woke up all was quiet on the two baby monitors. But soon, I heard laughter coming from Bryce's monitor. It was quiet again for a minute, then more sweet baby giggles. I turned off the monitor, let the dogs outside, and headed to his room. He didn't see me open the door so I crept over to see what was so funny. I had expected him to be laughing at his crib aquarium but it was not turned on. Instead, he was lying sideways in his crib and was on his side, reaching for a pacifier. I always put him to bed with at least five pacifiers surrounding him, usually 6 or 7. You know, so he can always find one when he gropes for one at night. Anyway, this morning he would pick one up, play with it for a bit, then drop it over the mesh crib bumper and shriek with delight. It was the cutest thing. Not the action of him launching them, just the joy that he got out of it. When I moved his crib, there were three pacifiers all right next to each other, like he was doing target practice.

O Tiffany, O Tiffany

A few weeks ago, I was letting Cason paint with some Christmas glitter glue. We were trying to make ornaments but they didn't turn out so cute so we scratched that project. Anyway, he LOVED the glitter glue and as he was playing with it, he kept saying "tiffity!" I kept asking him questions, trying to figure out what he meant by that. Finally I said "tiffity? Where?" He replied, "at churchandplay". Hmmm.

So over the next few weeks, he kept saying "tiffity" at random times, when we were nowhere near glitter glue. I asked him if it was a person and he said yes. So I decided that maybe he was talking about someone named Tiffany. Maybe one of his teachers at church's name was Tiffany. So the next few times we went to church, I said "maybe you'll see Tiffany" and he always replied "yes." I even checked out the name tags of the girls when I dropped him off at his classroom and asked one what her name was.

Then on Monday, we got the Christmas decorations out and waited for Cason to wake up from nap so he could help us put them up. He went straight for the big box that had the Christmas tree in it and pointed to the picture and said "tiffity!". Ohhhhh. Tiffity = CHRISTMAS TREE. Come to think of it, they've had a Christmas tree set up for awhile now at church. I felt stupid.

Last year we decorated the tree when Cason was napping but this year I thought we'd let him help. He really got into it. I bought some unbreakable ornaments and let him go to town with them. All Kelly and I did was set up the tree, throw some lights on it, put some garland around the entertainment center, and tape the stockings to the mantle.



Cason and Bryce's names aren't on their stockings because I bought four stockings last year (polar bear, dog, penguin, and reindeer) and wanted them to be old enough to choose for themselves which ones the want. I will put their names on in future years. This year, Cason chose the polar bear and chose the dog for Bryce.



Just to prove to the Sterners that we really do watch the movie every year and think of them.



My nativity on top and Cason's on the bottom. I had to rearrange furniture this year to give them a more prominent place in the house.



Yes, I left it like this, with most of the ornaments on the lower half of the tree!

What's the weather like today?

I was surprised when I looked out the back door today and saw snow falling. I don't pay much attention to the weather forecast but it was probably in the 50's yesterday so I really didn't expect it. This is our fourth winter in Texas and I'd say it only snows once or twice per winter. I don't remember it snowing a single time last year, although I might be wrong on that.

Since I wasn't sure if Cason really knew what snow was, I was excited to wake him up and show him. I walked in his room and told him he needed to tell me what the weather was like. As I opened his blinds, I sang his weather song from preschool. Then I asked him what the weather was like. He said "it's snowing outside", half asleep. I asked if he wanted to go outside and touch it and see how cold it is and he said yes. So I bundled the kids up just in time for Kelly to get home from the gym to go out front with us. I needed a picture of Bryce and his first snow since I have pictures of Cason and his first snow in March 2008.

This is CASON back in 2008.


And this is obviously from today.



Bryce has this look on his face a LOT these days.



"It's so cold!"





I'm glad we went out before breakfast because by the time we got home from MOPS at noon, all the snow was melted.

A pile of leaves

This is the story

of a boy

who found a pile of leaves.

To his great delight

he realized

that not only

was he allowed

to throw the leaves,

but he was actually

encouraged

to throw them.

So he threw

the leaves

to his heart's content.