#1 & #2 on the potty

Today marks the day that Gordy first made pee and poop on the potty!  We've had the little squatter for quite a while, but haven't made much of an effort to use it.  But, the other day, we got a potty book from the library and he's been super into reading it.  So, when we woke up this morning, I took his diaper off, put the potty in one of his typical pooing spots and let him sit on it while he played on the ipad.  There was quite a bit of time with nothing happening, but then - tinkle tinkle!  He was so surprised about what was happening, that he cut off the stream, jumped up and looked inside... pee pee!  So, he sat back down and finished his sesh!!  That was such a great success that I left his diaper off to see if we could get him to make #2 on there as well.

After breakfast, he started doing a weird little dance, so we went back to his potty with the ipad.  Sure enough, success!  We did a potty dance and then he got to dump his accomplishment into the big potty and flush it down.  "So cool!"  

With our morning potty business complete, we put a nice, fresh diaper on him to get him ready to go to the playground. But, after a few minutes I found him crouching next to the couch filling his diaper with more poo - doh!  Lesson learned... excitement may override the need to continue to potty, so we need to return to the throne a few times after our successes to be sure that all is done.

Yay Gordy!  Hopefully our diapers days are nearing an end.

tidepooling

We've had a lot of south winds and low tides lately, which to Gordy means - great tidepooling conditions!  We can walk along the beach without getting blasted by the wind and can explore the exposed reef.  Our typical findings usually include sea cucumbers, sea slugs, hermit crabs, black rock crabs, sea turtles, fish, and rocks... yes, rocks.  Gordy must have seen the neighborhood kids picking up shells and things off the sand, showing them to each other, and the kids all bending their heads down to look at what they've found, because that's exactly what he does.  He picks up any old rock or piece of coral, calls out to me to come have a look and then he croutches his head down and points to it as though he's showing me something tiny and spectacular on the rock.  Then, once I've exclaimed how "beautiful" or "cool" it is, he beams proudly and chucks it into the ocean giggling when it splashes him.

Sometimes our neighbor, Sophie, joins us - Gordy loves to play with her.

20 months old

Not a whole lot has changed in the last month... Gordy still loves books, puzzles, sidewalk chalk, bike rides, animals, and being chased around the house.  He'll eat almost anything we give him to eat although his favorite foods are apples, peanut butter, granola bars and cashews, all of which he'll ask for by name.  He will feed himself with a spoon.

Todd recently got a baby bike seat for his bike that sits in front of his seat giving Gordy an unobstructed view of the road ahead, and boy does he like it!  he even "drives" the bike by holding onto the handlebars with dada and will make the vroom vroom noises while he drives.

He calls me "mommy" now instead of "mama".  Not sure why, he just changed it one day.  He's started climbing into things (i.e. his kitchen, under barstools, the library bookshelves).  Sometimes it's to poop, but mostly, he's just being adventurous.  

He's figured out that if he puts his socks on and walks around on our floor, he can slip and slide like he's skating - so, we skate around the house at least a few times a week.

He will take turns reading his books with us by babbling at a page and then pointing to us telling us that it's our turn.  After we've read that page, he'll turn to the next one and babble some more before it's our turn again.  And, he really loves to help with chores - putting things away, taking out the trash, watering the garden, sweeping the floors.  He's not great at any of them yet, but he sure makes doing the chores more fun/interesting!

He used to want me to tell him stories while he nursed, but lately he's been wanting me to list all of the trucks that I can think of... man, I sure have learned the names of more trucks than I'd have ever been interested in knowing.  He's started giving hugs and will even pat us on the back while he's loving on us.  And, he's started repeating a lot of the things he hears us say - cool, huge, beautiful, silly, dumb-ass (good one Todd), etc.  Some of them he'll remember and say on his own, but mostly, he mimics words.

new friend

There is a white cat that appears to live at the end of the street.  We don't know where she/he lives, but we've heard from neighbors that her name is Snowflake.  She tends to hang out by the beach access and will hound anyone who lingers there for petting.  Gordy LOVES her.  He's even started asking to go see Snowflake instead of going to the beach... we'll walk around at the end of the street calling to her and when she finally emerges, he gets super smiley and starts running around in circles to celebrate her arrival.  While he does like to pet her, his favorite thing is when she follows him.  He'll walk around looking back to make sure she's there, and when she gives up and lays on the ground, he'll trot back over to her, give her a few more pets and then slowly walk off in hopes that she'll come after him.

PUDDLES!!!

We have been having some seriously wet weather the last few days.  And, what's the best thing about rain?.. PUDDLES!!!!  

He runs back and forth through the water kicking up as much as possible and covering himself in mud and filth.  He makes it look like so much fun that I actually joined in today in an attempt to rid my feet of sand... sadly, the sand stayed stuck and the puddle just added dirt, but i have to admit - it was quite fun!

creatures of habit

Todd and I have always had a bit of a routine to our life - no matter where we live or what we have going on, we have rituals that are more or less set in stone.

Morning coffee is one.  Every morning Gordy climbs onto his stool (Todd's tool box), does his cappuccino dance, and begins directing the event.  We fill the bottom of the coffee maker with water and let Gordy put the coffee holder into the water.  Then, we load up the coffee holder with grounds (unless we are out and need to grind some- which is one of Gordy's favorite parts), put the top on, set it on the stove, and turn on the heat.  While the pot begins to cook, we pour soy milk into our frother and press the start button.  Here is where Gordy's real job beings.  He keeps an eye on the frother for us and let's us know when the button goes from red to black - meaning that it's finished.  Foamed milk goes in each of our cups with a little scoop of sugar in mine and Todd's.  Gogo gets to lick his finger and sample the sugar out of the jar :)  Once the coffee screams that it's done, we add the liquid gold to mommy and daddy's cups, give them a stir, and head over to the Gogo's play area to enjoy our drinks together.  Cheers!

Friday sprints is another one.  After work, we load up the car with towels, Gogo snacks, a stop watch, sometimes beer, and head up to whichever beach is most likely to have a flat area of sand to run in.  Lately, when we arrive, Gordy will tell us all about how we are gonna start "over there" and then are going to run "over there" and will go back to the start line "over there"... really he just points left and right and says "over there" in each direction, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to lay out the night's plan for us.  Sometimes he'll cheer each of us on by saying "go go go" or "run run run".  Sometimes he'll take off with dad from the start line and run till he falls.  Other times he just plays in the sand.  Regardless, we all end up feeling good about our night and more often than not get to enjoy a pretty great sunset together.

pb

Gordy loves peanut butter.  He loves it on eggs, on bread, on sushi, on apples, on pretty much anything.  The other day, before I could spread it on his snack, he took off with the jar, sat down and proceeded to eat it straight.  The end result was a sticky mess and a happy kid!