"New" Slide!

I've been scouring ksl classifieds for weeks, trying to find a decent slide for a decent price for The Frog. We don't have much entertainment in our yard except for throwing dirt and picking plants, so I thought I better arrange some entertainment to save my sanity.
Finally we found a little slide and The Frog just loves it!

It's been too cold to play outside (too cold for me anyway...) and so I hosed it off and brought it inside for the time being. I don't have any photos here, but he loves sending elmo and his other stuffed animals down. It's adorable.

In order for The Frog to let me take pictures of him, he wanted to have a turn with my camera. I compromised and gave him my old one. Here he is trying to figure out how it works!

The Master Builder

We were fortunate enough to inherit many hand-me-down toys for The Frog, even before he was born. So many, in fact, that we think it superfluous to have them all on hand at all times (and we don't really have the inside space). We have instead devised a (loose) system of storing the majority of toys in the garage, and rotating them in (and out) every few months. It seems to be going well and it's really fun to discover the toys that used to be uninteresting and are now a highlight. These blocks are a huge hit now, and it's so fun to watch the funny looking structures The Frog so purposefully and deliberately creates. His face is so concentrated and he seems to have a plan for every piece. I love watching him as much as his emerging towers.



I love that he put the car right on top! :)



What a masterpiece!

Fried Fanny

The Frog is still into tight spaces... When not found turning out toys baskets or lounging in laundry baskets he seeks out new places to place his patootie.

Elmo Mania Part II

Remember the Elmo Mania? Well he's at it again.



This came with a baby I got for him (that he sleeps with) but he never liked using it for the baby. He wore this during an entire trip to the grocery store- in the car seat and all.

Cookies and Consonants

I don't have much by way of pictures lately- I'm going to try and be better about that, now that I'm starting to feel less nauseated. But I did manage to get a couple the other day. I made some chocolate chip cookies that claimed to be "the best ever" (which I disagree with) and you should have seen the conniption we had to deal with to get The Frog to consent to waiting until after dinner to eat one... He finally did eat his food, though and relished every bit of his one little cookie. It never ceases to amaze me at how something so unseemingly messy (the cookie wasn't even all gooey and warm anymore) can be made to be messy with the right person eating it. (For example, I never knew how bad baby carrots could stain until I let The Frog eat them.)

I even particularly picked a cookie that had the fewest chocolate chips! (mean, I know)

Even so, I'm sure I'll probably miss this one day :)

The past couple of weeks, The Frog has started ending words with consonants, namely "p", "n", "m", and "t". So now he can actually say "sun" and a very deliberate "pop". Even the ever-talked about "cat" occasionally gets completed. (though he usually says "tat"). I just love how thoughtful and forced the last syllable sounds. It's adorable. He also says "turtur" (turtle) with two very clear "t"s, and it makes me realize how lazy I am with so many of my consonants. (I would say "turdle"). I wonder if teaching another to speak will help me have better annunciation.

doubt it.

CPK was A-OK!

After several unpleasant restaurant experiences with The Frog, we've generally tried to avoid taking him to them lately. However, I was given a thank you gift of a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen, and we decided to all go together and see what would happen. Turns out, now that he likes to use crayons correctly (as opposed to eating them) it was totally fun and relaxing. I didn't bring my real camera, but we got a couple of phone shots. I love that you can specifically tell he really wanted to color his most favorite object- a ball. :)

Here's The Frog enjoying one of the lemons from our water. Notice he actually bit a chunk (with the rind) off and ate the whole thing, totally unphased. What a tough kid.
We decided that booth seats are the best with small kids, and were glad they even provided plastic cups with lids for the kiddo. I think we'll definitely go back when we want a family-friendly meal :)

Grapefruit

I went to go eat a grapefruit today and I noticed something a bit odd...

Elmo Mania

The Frog has recently become obsessed with Elmo. I admit, it's my fault for letting him watch sesame street clips while I take a shower- something I promised myself I wouldn't do until he was 2. I often find myself walking around all day with this or this in my head, as a result. The Frog often asks to take naps with Elmo or wakes up from his nap asking for him. Right now we're learning that pretend things eat pretend food, so that he doesn't keep trying to mash crackers and cheese into his stuffed animals mouths.

Now whenever we play with his plastic food, he immediately thinks to feed Elmo. (and often wants to get it out once he's done eating.)

The other day, I opened the closet to get out the broom and I found this:
Thanks to our CA cousins for so generously giving The Frog one of their Elmo dolls :)

In case you were wondering, here is my all-time favorite Sesame Street clip (no Elmo, much to The Frog's chagrin). I just love this song!

Happy Birthday Cousin S!

The Frog's little cousin S turned 1 year old and we decided to hang out with him to celebrate. We went to the Discovery Gateway and though I'm still nostalgic for the Salt Lake Children's Museum, this was still pretty cool. The first place you come to is a series of balls (like the kind in ball pits) and tubes and I'm pretty sure The Frog would have been happy spending the whole time here! This picture is funny because he looks like "what IS this place?!"

Here's a shot of the Birthday Boy!

The Frog quickly got the hang of what you were supposed to do and got really into putting balls in all the holes. I wish we could have some kind of installment in our home for him because I know it would keep him busy for hours...

We finally pulled the away and got to check out the other parts. Though most things were a bit too old for our kids to grasp, there were still a few things that they found neat. Poor boys, we crammed them into this truck for as long as it took to get one decent shot. :)
Obviously I thought this was a better Kodak moment than The Frog did.

They had a real helicopter you could sit in- a couple of boys were hogging the cockpit, but we got to checkout the back.
It will be really fun to go back as they get older.