Grayson is 18 Months Old!!!

Well, my baby is now 18 months old! Can you believe it?! *I* sure can't! He's getting too big, too fast!! We had his regular check-up, and the doctor says he's growing well, and is very healthy. He's still very skinny and tall -- he's just over 23 lbs, ... and I don't know exactly how tall he is. The medical assistant measured him, but when I looked at the graph they gave us, it said he was 83 inches. And I'm preeeeeetty sure my one-year-old is NOT almost 7 feet tall. Yeah. I think it's wrong. But it's pretty funny that that is going to be in his medical records :) I'm guessing he's somewhere around 36 inches tall -- though I guess she could have just typed it backwards, and he could be 38 inches tall. Anyway, the doc also said that Gray is super-coordinated and very articulate for his age :D (proud mommy moment!) He was very impressed by all the words Gray knows, and how he speaks in short sentences. Yeah, I have a smart kiddo :) I was very happy that Gray didn't need any shots this time -- he's completely up-to-date on all of his vaccinations! Yippee!! Grayson was ALSO very happy with this, and accepted his lollipop from the MA with a shocked sort of look on his face, like "What, that's it?! You're not going to torture me first?!?!" It was quite funny.

Then, today was Grayson's very first venture into Nursery at church! I have to say, I was a bit nervous, because Gray is a VERY shy boy, and does NOT like new people and situations! But I went in with him,(he had to pull me behind him everywhere he went - even when he was going two steps away! Guess he needed some reassurance that I was still there) and he seemed to have a great time! He loved exploring all the new toys, enjoyed his teddy grahams, and even clapped along to a few of the songs. However, it all went downhill pretty fast because of a few simulaneously occuring circumstances: 1)it was way past his nap time, 2)I made him put away the cow and horse toys he had toted around for the whole hour -- it was time to clean up, and he needed to follow the rules, too! He didn't like that... and 3) an older boy decided he didn't want Grayson to sit by him, and showed his displeasure by kicking Gray in the head. Needless to say, that was the last straw, and Gray grabbed my hand, pulled me quickly to the door (sniffling the whole way) and pounded on the door, saying "out! out! out!" and looking up at me with puppy-dog eyes and a quivering lip! So we left an hour early and put him down for a nap. All in all, I'm counting it as a success! I think he'll do better little by little every week (at least that's what I'm HOPING!). *sigh* my little baby isn't a baby -- he's a little BOY now!! :)

Dinosaur Park Fun

Yay! I finally figured out how to make my pictures work! So here are some of the pictures I took of our adventure at the dinosaur park. I know you're excited.










Lots of staring, lots of pointing, lots of "WOW!", lots of fun! :)

What's Been Going On Lately

Wow, I haven't blogged for a while! We've been really busy, but I haven't been taking any pictures -- I'm a bad momma. I do have one pic -- of Grayson licking his first beater from when I made cupcakes. It was hilarious -- he LOVED it -- kept saying "YUMMMM!" and "more, peeease" -- he really is my son. So here's the one picture I have:



So here's what else has been going on lately, besides awesome cake batter. Last weekend, we went to the Barkers' cabin at Bear Lake (thanks again, guys! It was so fun!), but it was really cold, so we didn't actually go out on the lake, or even to the beach. Maybe next time. But Gray had fun playing with Jackson and Brylee :)
Then, on Monday, we went the the Treehouse with my mom, Sarah, and Rowan for Toddler Time. Gray was in HEAVEN. Ohh my goodness!! He didn't want to leave! That place is so fun! There is SO much to do there! I don't think we even explored half of it! My mom bought Gray a membership there, so we're going to be going all the time now :)
Then on Monday night we had a BBQ with the Tribes and Speechlys -- so much fun to get everyone together!
On Wednesday, we went to Cherry Hill with my family. Grayson had a blast again! He LOVED the kiddie pool part. He'd hold your hand and make you run all over in the water! And he liked the little slide, as long as someone went down with him. He didn't like it so much when Steve tried to send him down alone. Poor little guy screamed so loud! But he enjoyed everything else! He liked the lazy river too -- nice to relax and chill for a minute :).
Friday, we went to the library and picked out some new books for Gray, and got an Elmo DVD and CD, too. Fun stuff. He was most interested in the rugs on the floor, and trying to pull as many books off the shelves as he could. Fun for all.
Then today (Saturday) we went to the Dinosaur Park! I DID take pictures of this outing, but for some reason my computer isn't uploading them -- I'll post them when I figure it out. Thanks Mom and Dad for going with us! It was a free day at the park, so there were lots of people there, but it wasn't too bad. Gray was amazed by the dinosaurs -- he kept saying "WOW!" or "WHOA!" or "BIG!" or "REALLY BIG!!!" It was so funny to watch him! He also had a great time running and running and running! And he loved the hand rails, for some reason. :) Such a funny kid.
So we've had such a busy week! So fun!!!

Things Grayson is Saying Lately...

I just have to document some of the things Grayson has been saying -- you don't have to read it if you don't care :)Skip to the bottom though, and read the story -- hilarious. The rest is probably only interesting to me and his grandmas :) but I have to write it all down.
I swear the boy says about 5 new words every single day! And he's talking in freakin' sentences now!!!!! No joke! Steve and I got back from our vacation, and all the sudden our baby was saying short sentences!! It blew me away!!! He says "What's that?!", "Want that" or "Want this", sometimes with "please" tacked on at the end. Also "Want milk" or "want juice". He also says "Nana and Pop!" when he wants to go to their house. And when I tell him we're going to see Nana, he says "And Pop?" -- it makes me smile every time :) He also says "Go out" and "Let's go!" when he wants to go. He says "Bye daddy!" every morning when Steve leaves for work -- so sweet! He knows SO many animals and their sounds -- seriously more than I ever thought a 17 month-old would know!! :) His favorite animals are elephants (obviously -- he doesn't go anywhere without his!, but he can't quite say "elephant" - he calls them "ellie"s), cows, hippos, and pigs (his pig snort is the funniest thing ever)! But he can also say horse, dog/woof (and "Ollie" and "hhhh" for Henry, my mom's dog), cat/maow, duck, bird, giraffe (grrr-raff!) "guin" for penguin, "dile" for crocodile, "mommadeeoh" for armadillo (no joke!), and knows the sounds for monkey (ee! ee! ee!), gorilla (a really deep "ooh ooh ooh" -- cracks me up), sheep (baaaa), lion/tiger/leopard etc ("rarrrrr!"). And there has probably been tons more that I can't really think of right now!

Now for the best story in a long time: I was doing the dishes (why do all of my funny stories start this way? I must ALWAYS be doing dishes.) Anyway, Grayson comes up behind me, give my legs a hug, then reaches up, pats my bum, and says "Hippo!". Yep, my bum is so huge, my child thinks it resembles a hippo. I have a hippo butt. Gee, thanks, Gray. Thanks a lot. ;) hehe I'm still laughing about that one. Laughing all the way to the treadmill.....