Christmas--Take 1

We had our first Christmas at home this week, as we're heading off to Hawaii on Friday to have Christmas part duex with my parents. Trevor decided that roast and asparagus were not really food, and ate banana and dinner roll for his Christmas dinner. However, he did not turn down the gingerbread cookie for dessert. He's starting to get the hang of opening presents, but seems to think that anything opened is his to play with and is offended that it is not immediately handed over to him for inspection. In true toddler spirit, he seemed most entertained by putting one of the boxes over his head and crumpling up wrapping paper.



















(He saw the camera and then lifted up his shirt... I don't get it)

Hello! It feels like it's been a little while since our last post. I've been busy studying for and passing my final licensing exam--so I have now earned my "L" (Licensed Clinical Social Worker), no longer need to practice under another person's license, and get to sign my name with fancy initials.

We've jumped into the Christmas season all of the sudden. Trevor has been a party animal--staying up until all hours (10pm!). We lit the third advent candle at church last Sunday. Trevor barely made it sitting in a pew for the first ten minutes before we were supposed to go up there, but when we were in front of everyone, did his frozen stare. Until I actually lit the candle--then he took his cue, reached out his hand towards it and said 'hot' close enough for the microphone to pick up. Pretty dang cute.

The weather has really cooled down too, so outside boy is having to spend more time indoors. We did make it to the park this morning (with the camera). He's more and more adventurous with slides and ladders. On the way home we decided to stop at Bernadino's for lunch and it turned out to be some sort of anniversary for the restaurant. So we got to listen to the mariachi band. Trevor immediately found his used-to-be-cowboy-hat and now mariachi-hat when he got home.

And finally, here's a recent video--we saying animal noises game while he's moving all over the place. When I ask him what sound monkeys make, he says "mo mo mo" while shaking his finger--this is from the Five Little Monkeys song that we sing a lot. He loves the end where you shake your finger and say 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed'. So long explanation short, that's his rendition and impression of what sounds monkeys make.

Spikey-do

This is for Auntie Marie!

Trevor got his first professional haircut yesterday. I was preparing for the worst (screaming, crying, flailing...), but I think he was so shocked most of the time that he pretty much sat in my lap looking at everything. He was a bit put off by the hair that stuck on him, and did finally give out a cry when the hairdresser stuck gunk in his hair. Overall though, it was not a bad experience.

And I also took a picture of the trick that he learned when cousin Gracie came to visit... How exciting to be able to wear two pairs of shoes at once!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ours was a lot of fun. The Gracie and Trevor experience seemed to result in maximum cuteness. Trevor was very excited to have Grace around--in the mornings he'd wander around looking for her and when he'd find her he'd do his happy dance. She was also helpful in directing him to the best toys that he had to play with right that second. Grace is pretty mellow and didn't seem to care much that her cousin often wanted her toys. But after a couple of days she finally seemed to have enough of the toy nabbing and gave Trevor a nice solid shove. I think he was more surprised than anything.

They didn't seem to think that highly of their really big Thanksgiving snack, but approved of dessert. Friday John managed to trick them both into eating some turkey by embedding it in a grilled cheese sandwich. I am trying the slide show option for the first time, but am slightly worried it wont show up for everyone. If there's any problems let me know... After the slide show is over, you can also click on the little blue writing at the bottom left if you want to see the pictures bigger and at your own pace :)

Visitors

I was charging up our camera and figured I'd post a couple pictures from earlier today... Dan, Marie, and Gracie came in late last night. Trevor was suprised and maybe a little suspicious to find his cousin in the family room this morning. They seemed to hit it off just fine, Grace is pretty mellow with the 'mine' boy and Trevor seemed to share more freely as the day went on. We went out to the pinnacles to camp fire for dinner. As Dan pointed out, they liked it better than they liked anything last spring break (which means periods of fussing and crying and tiredness and general unhappiness, but some glimmers of enjoying themselves). Marie wanted me to add that Grace is also now sleeping in the laundry room... she seems to be happiest there. It will be harder when she visits when she's older and her bed no longer fits in there.

Bathroom is Finished (for now...)

So stage one of operation bathroom is complete. The tub, tile and fixtures are in, the walls are patched and finished, light fixture changed, toilet seat switched out (used to be a wood one), shower curtain up, toilet paper on toilet paper roll... The only thing left really is the floor, and we're waiting for another project first. So this is probably how it will be for a while.

You may be shocked to see that the walls are not brown or khaki/neutral colored. We too are pretty surprised by our decision. I was all for it while painting, then unsure, but now am back on the purple boat. Of course, deciding purple is a great color at this point also means that I do not have to repaint. Anyhoo, eventually the floor will be similar to, but a slightly darker shade than the wall tile (12x12) and there will be a brown mat on the floor. For now we will all just use our imaginations.
Trevor is very impressed with his parents DIY-ness. Okay... Trevor does not really care where he gets to bathe as long as he's allowed to play with running water for a while. But I'm really appreciating being able to bathe him in his own bathroom instead of ours, and to have a tub that doesn't have a shower door to move as he moves back and forth. Overall, we're pretty happy with it, and pretty happy with the timing, as we have our visitors coming next week and I'm sure they'll be all picky and request that they have somewhere to bathe.

Okay... one more Halloween picture

A friend who we trick or treated at just sent this to us--I thought it was cute because it more fully represents how dutifully he carried around his tinkerkitty and trick or treat bag.

Sandbox--mine!

John made a sandbox for Trevor last week--pretty fancy with doors and everything (to avoid potential kitty hazards). Trev was pretty into the whole process of watching dad dig, dad put stuff together, and then dad putting sand inside. I think he may have been happy enough though just having a big empty box to play in... but I guess a fort comes later.

Trevor has now fully learned and adopted the word 'mine' and this is now the favorite word to use whether or not his objects are being threatened. The other night he was walking around the house in circles holding two tupperware lids and yelling 'mine! mine!' Neither one of us wanted the lids and he's always playing with them... but I guess he just wants to make sure that everyone is aware of his ownership. I suppose this is good timing because his cousin Gracie (and his aunt Marie and uncle Dan) will be visiting for Thanksgiving--so he'll be able to communicate about his belongings.

I'm posting a video from about a week or so ago--it's nothing in particular, but I figure it's been a while since posting a video...

Happy Halloween!

I think that Trevor more appreciated the holiday this year, especially now that he has a better understanding of candy. I went with him to his daycare this morning to attend their trick-or-treat parade and then we went out trick-or-treating at as many friends' houses that we could fit into a good hour/hour and a half. At first he seemed not too sure about the whole process, but after a house or two got the hang of it. We'd take him out of the car, give him his bag and tinker-kitty, and he'd start to giggle and make a beeline to the door. He never quite got the staying on the porch thing--instead wanted to walk right on in everyone's houses when they opened the door.

Up until this morning I was curious to how they planned on getting a whole class of toddlers to walk together for their parade. The trick was ropes with slip handles. The kids were pretty cute to watch. They didn't really seem to take notice of eachother's costumes--just another day of parents making odd wardrobe choices.

And the candy--earlier today someone gave him a mini-Hershey bar that was wrapped pretty solidly. He started chewing on it wrapped and I didn't think much of it. By the time we got to the car I found the wrapper still looking intact, but he must have gnawed a bit of a hole and managed to chew about a third of the candy bar out.

Little Friends

Our big exciting event this weekend was getting to babysit Baby Brandon for a few hours. Trevor was great with the baby--first thing he did was offer Brandon Mr. Bear and his blankie. Then he wedged himself into my lap with the baby and put his arm around Brandon's shoulder. The only snag was when the baby was hungry and got a bottle--Trev made the most pathetically sad face I've ever seen. You'd think he had all of the sudden gotten a firm understanding of what his birthday, Disneyland and Santa were and then they were all ripped away from him at once. So he got a bottle too.

When Brandon went to sleep a bit (and we put him in the crib to be out of reach from his helpful buddy) Trev tried to shove jammies in the crib at Brandon through the slots and kept trying to run back and check on him so much we had to close the door for a bit to let the kiddo rest. After a while he kept holding his hands out to let me carry him around the house. Brandon wasn't too much bigger than Mr. Bear, so maybe he thought he could manage it. It was way funny. I was impressed with Trevor's hospitality towards his guest.

I also put a picture of Trevor and one of his friends from the play group we go to each week. He's not quite as hospitable to his friends who are closer in age...but they're usually friendly enough with each other as long as one of the girls (not pictured) doesn't try to hug him too much and leaves his water bottle alone. Once again it can be a curse being so ridiculously good looking.

Pumpkin Patch Day

We went to visit Murray Farms in Bakersfield this weekend--they had a whole fall extravaganza. Rows of pumpkins to run through out front, a hay ride tour of the farm, a pick your own pumpkin patch, a hay maze, an asparagus maze, and a petting zoo. So it was a busy afternoon.

The picture of Trevor sitting in the yellow stuff is like a corn-instead-of-sand box. John was playing 'hide kitty in the corn' and Trevor was getting pretty frantic that his daddy was doing something questionable to beloved kitty.

The hay ride was pretty cool--the actual owner guy was giving the tour. Trev liked the rows of little pumpkins to choose from, but seemed to view them more as funny balls to throw on the ground than somewhat fragile objects to return home with. We'll have to try carving one this week to see what he thinks of the slimy stuff.

Oh, and while we were out and about in Bakersfield John and I would do the holding on to Trevor's hand and swing him in the air thing while walking. Trevor evidently liked this and then went on to expect it in most situations where mommy or daddy require that he hold their hand. So when we were walking in a parking lot yesterday and I grabbed onto his hand, he pretty quickly became limp and swung himself back right into the cement. No injury, so it was pretty funny. My baby is a genius of sorts.

High Desert Fair

We went to the local fair this last weekend--a good almost two hours of entertainment... it'll be super fun for him in another year or two. The highlights were seeing the horses, pygmy goats and various livestock. And Trevor seemed pretty in awe of the different rides and all the noise. We tried to give him a corn dog, but he passed... but seemed to thoroughly enjoy kettle corn (he gets that from me).

I'm getting excited about his Halloween costume (he's going to be Peter Pan)--we just got the tights in the mail yesterday and Trevor had a 'so far' dress rehearsal (his sleeves need doctoring still and he needs a belt and hat). John was trying to teach him how to leap and prance, but it seems a bit past his skill set for now. However, he has developed a kind of new walk where he'll sort of trot around--I think this is a side affect of his jumping lessons with daddy.

Trevor also added a new and important word to his vocabulary today--"outside". So now not only can he bring his shoes and my shoes and stand at the door, he can now start giving more verbal commands.

The Belle of Kernville

We were up in the Kernville area yesterday for Jayson and Michelle's wedding. So I got to dress the little guy up and he looked friggin' adorable. Every time John took him out to wander around outside or to have a playing in the park break he'd get tons of comments on how cute Trevor was--and Trevor did a good job with flirting it up by blowing kisses and waving at people as they'd walk by. He was a little more cautious in the reception hall with the tons of people, but did end up taking many offers to high-5 and enjoyed any part of the reception that had clapping involved. He got to help the best man out in his speech by making an 'ah ha haha' type babble noise during some dead air time. We partied all the way until 8:30. So the little dude is on his way to becoming a rock star (... I have to say sometimes I do feel like we're his entourage following him around all over, offering him refreshments, etc.)

Recent Stats

Trevor had his 15-18 month check up this past week (I guess you could say he's sixteen and a half months now). So here's his measurements:

Length: 32.5 inches (75th %tile)
Weight: 22.8 lbs (20th %tile)
Head Circumference: 19.25 inches (80th %tile)

So it seems that his head is still the most impressive thing about him size-wise and that maybe he needs to eat more oreos. His grandparents (my folks) are visiting this week and are trying to help him out in this area. This time he's much quicker to be friendly than past visits--within the first evening he decided they were pretty fun to play with and even let them hold him a bit.

The pictures I'm attaching are from the Family Fun Fair this morning. He seemed to like the animal shelter booth the best--the dogs and cats were fenced in, so much more enjoyable to him.

Swim Time

I enrolled Trevor and myself in the mommy and me swim class (ages 1-3 years) at the base pool. The night before the second lesson I sprained my ankle, so John got to be substitute mommy for the afternoon. We've been to three now and Trev is definitely upping his comfort level at each lesson. Yesterday he let me hold him belly down with his feet out quite a bit, hung onto and pushed off of edges, and ducked his face in on purpose a couple of times. The video and picture are from his second class. The picture is of John and Trevor using the kickboard. In the video they're supposed to be blowing the ping pong balls around, but Trevor was more interested in throwing or eating the ball instead.

We like hats

Trevor's daycare class asked for a picture of his family and we realized that all pictures had Trevor and only one of us at a time... so our friend Amanda took our recent family picture. Now all Trevor's daycare friends can see how really really ridiculously good looking we are (I've been watching Zoolander lately).

I'm getting ready to start back at the schools this week, and spent most of last week at a work conference down in LA. It's a little sad that summer's over, but kind of exciting to be back in the swing of things again. And school starting means temperatures cooling and holidays approaching. Both very good things.

While I was away for a few days, John discovered that Trevor is now into hats. Very exciting news to me. I guess George left his hat at our house, Trevor found it, and then decided it was fun to wear for a bit. So I got Trevor's own hats out (because he had to return George's) and now he'll sometimes be in the mood to wear accessories. In fact, yesterday afternoon when he decided it was time to go play outside, he not only brought me both of his sandals, but also his little derby hat.

He's also getting into the climbing action at the park. The video shows him doing a bit of the ladder--he climbed it almost on his own a little earlier but for some reason decided it was not as fun when the camera was rolling. But he's still got skills.

Recent Tricks and tub progress

Trevor managed to fit many of his current mad skills into one video. So here you go...

Other than that, the big recent news is that I've started tiling (emphasis on the "started"). I have two walls done, but am waiting for a couple more special tiles, so am putting of the finishing process. Hopefully at least the shower tile will be done by the time my folks visit at the end of September. I'm attaching a picture of the back wall of the shower not quite finished--there are a couple more rows that go above what's there, and no grout yet (so the lines wont be that dark in the finished product). Eventually I'll get to the floor too. Seems my "summer project" is turning into a fall one. I'll also post a picture of John putting up the walls before I was able to tile (because he worked so hard).

Last day as a HoneyBear

Today is Trev's last day as a HoneyBear and tomorrow he'll move up to TeddyBear (this is daycare-speak). They sent home a binder full of his art projects and some pictures from the past year, so I thought I'd post a couple. I think the first picture is more recent. The other little boy is Tyler--Trev seems to hang out with him and a little girl most of the time and they all will move up together tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure when the other was was taken but am thinking since he's wearing long pants and those particular shoes it must be late winter/early spring.

Video time!

Figured it was time to post some video again... the first is of John and Trevor playing earlier this week (John's away on work travel this week so now he can watch feel homesick). The second is Trevor playing fetch with 'cousin Holly' (our friends' dog). He's pretty terrified of dogs, especially those who show any interest in him. Holly is especially friendly so it was a challenge... by the end of the night he was brave enough to venture on the floor again and he began to get a kick out of playing fetch with her.

Wa-hoo under 100!

This past week has been very exciting--the highs have been under 100 degrees everyday! Turns out it's still hot, but not quite as dumb hot. My kiddo seems to be turning into a desert rat anyways... he's usually pretty happy to be outside regardless (as long as he doesn't touch hot concrete).

To take advantage of the cool temps we walked to the park the other morning and found that Trevor has developed a preference for the usual one that we drive to some mornings (the first picture). He would not even touch the slides--instead climbed up on the platform, looked around, and then climbed back down the stairs again. He chased some birds and then said it was time to go home again.

The last picture is of Trevor helping with making some bread. He was pretty put off by it at first and kept making whiny noises while going back and forth between rooms before deciding that it might be something to further investigate. He got into taking turns in pushing the bread down and found it even better after discovering the dough is edible.

Also, Trev seems to be understanding the idea of 'mine' more--we hosted playgroup for the first time in maybe a month and a half and he was trying to grab every one of his toys away from the other children as soon as they picked them up to play. And he met his banshee screaming match with one of his little friends while they were figuring out who gets to keep the toy of the moment. Seems he's jumping feet first into toddlerhood.

Switches and Tubs

Here's a picture of Trevor with his new favorite toy-- the light switch. He can climb up on the couch with no problem now and so far has managed to not fall of the edge of it while flipping the light and fan switches off and on. It's actually a bit of a relief now that he figured out he can access them on his own... before he'd want to be picked up and held in front of a switch to turn it on and off... and on and off... and on and off... you get the idea...

The only other big happenings is the tub installation is in progress. We now have a bathtub in the bathroom. It's been a very long process... the installers are nice but keep not noticing problems that they end up having to come back and fix. Tomorrow they're back to fix the drain and hopefully it's the last time.Then it's on to tiling ala Jasmine! I was hoping to get this done way before school starts back up, but it's becoming questionable.

Trip to San Jose

Trevor and I just got back from our week in San Jose, accompanying John on his work travel (John is still up there working over the next week too). Here's some highlights from our trip:


Pro: Lots of yummy restaurants in the area (and tons of Indian food)
Con: Trevor was off and on not amused while sitting in restaurants and has developed a screaming banshee type way of letting us know
Bonus Pro: He does approve of places that serve rice because you can pick each piece up and put it into a cup. And then take it out again.



Pro: San Jose area had tons of stuff to check out while John was at work, such as the Museum of Quilting and Textiles (they were having a war exhibit)
Con: Trevor thought he should be able to run around and feel all the objects. At times he'd use before mentioned banshee scream to note his opinion.



Pro: There was a Gymboree play gym near by and Trevor and I got to go to one of the classes.
Con: ... um... no con. He loved it and played himself silly.






Pro: We got to visit the Winchester Mystery House (was home to Mrs. Winchester of the Winchester Rifle Winchester). She had it in continuous construction and odd structural decisions to ward off spirits of those killed by the rifles.
Con: Trevor decided that he was not amused part way through and proceeded with some screaming banshee.
Bonus Pro: This was short lived and he quickly conked out.


Pro: Aaron and Emily live somewhat nearby so they drove in to visit and we took a trip with them to the Kwik-E-Mart (Simpsons movie promotion)
Con: No cons. Mmm... electric pink donuts...








Pro: We went on a hike through a pretty area with lots of trees and pretty views.
Con: John read that it was only an 800 ft elevation gain, but turns out it was gaining and losing 800 ft over and over again... and evidently Trevor is pretty heavy going up hill.




Pro: Trevor was worn out by the time we left for home and slept most of the way. Proving his love for his mommy who was braving the 6 hour drive with him alone.


Con: N/A





And for the finale, here's a video of Trev and John playing in a grassy area. The number of parks and play areas around was a definate pro. And we could go to them in the middle of the day without the crazy death heat temperatures.