Follow the Leader

I took this video last night during dinner because Patrick was in a really good mood and we had a fun game of Follow the Leader.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlibyXcaIRg

Another Eye

As I was putting my whiny child to bed tonight, I thought, "I wonder where my sweet happy boy went who I was playing with at the park this morning." Then I started putting his jammies on and noticed a little white sliver poking out of the right top side of his mouth! Another eye tooth popped through! Hooray! These eye teeth have been the worst for Patrick. For his others, he whined a little, but he mostly just drooled. But with these, it has been hours of nasally whiny when he doesn't really want anything.

On the bright side, it is warming up and we have fantastic parks near our house to go play and use up his energy so he sleeps really well. And we only have two eye teeth left.

Haven't Done Much Today . . .

I started reading this morning and I can't put it down.

The Time Traveler's Wife
by
Audrey Niffenegger

Learning Important Life Lessons . . .

Like how to lick the spatula after Mom makes a cake.

Video

Okay, I didn't get him to actually say fish, but here is proof that I can't leave our child alone for any amount of time. I left the room for about 30 seconds, and he automatically climbs on the table.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FoYDcAyxKc

Fish

Patrick now says, "fish" and knows what they are! I bet Grandpa Cook is super excited about that!

Other words he is working on:

hi
up
this
bye
amen
hot
cold

Growing Up and Using a Fork

We had macaroni and cheese for lunch today, and Patrick was being a little ham, so I thought I would take some pictures of him. He is doing a very good job of feeding himself and using his fork. He would take a bite and then make this silly face at me. He had two big servings and a whole glass of milk! (Which he will only drink with the cup upside down, btw).

More Proof that Patrick is Silly

I always talk about how silly Patrick is, so here are some stores and pictures to prove it.

The first four pictures are of Patrick being silly while mommy is trying to work. I try to work during nap time, but that doesn't always work out. I have to keep him in the office or else he goes and climbs on top of the kitchen table.

Here he is laughing at the puppy movie and pulling his socks off.


Here he is climbing on our boxes of books. Climbing is his new favorite thing.

Here he is eating the socks he managed to get off his feet.

Mommy just told him he was a silly boy, and he agreed with me.



On Friday, we had a play date with some friends to make cookies. We were waiting for our friends to come pick us up and Patrick got a hold of the sprinkles. I caught him before the whole bottle was on the floor, but I was still vacuuming for several minutes. As soon as the sprinkles hit the floor, though, Patrick dove and tried to vacuum them up with his mouth.



Here is a picture of the three boys at play group. Jack, Miles, and Patrick. Miles is our friend that lives just a couple blocks away, and we play together a lot. Miles is six months older, a bit taller, and talks a lot. Patrick is starting to talk a little more now that he has a friend that talks.


This last picture isn't as much silly as it is pathetic. Today (Saturday), has been a rough day for Patrick. The last couple days he hasn't had much of a nap, he has been teething, and then last night he threw up a couple times while we were at our friends' house. We brought him home and he slept fine last night, but we knew he wasn't feeling himself when he woke up. So I spent a lot of the morning with him in the rocking chair. He has a slight fever, but we think that could also be his teeth. He finally slept for a good three hours and woke up at 1. He ate a little and was finally starting to talk and get in to stuff and act normal. He did this for about 1 1/2 hours, and then he laid down next to the couch with blankie and in about 2 minutes he had fallen asleep again! I guess we just played too hard this week. Hopefully all this sleep is doing some good and he will be back to normal soon.

Taxes!

I should not be so excited about that subject, but we are still poor enough that we benefit greatly from credits, and we still get wonderful refunds. This year is no exception! Our federal return is over $12,000 because we bought a house, have a kid, and oh yeah, Obama likes to give out lots of money to "stimulate the economy." I don't know if our refund will stimulate the economy or not, but we are thankful for it!

I have used Turbo Tax online for three years now, and even though I don't qualify for the free edition any more, it is still really worth it because it only takes me a few hours to do my taxes (got them done during nap time today), and the questions are really easy to figure out and answer. Because of the house credit we don't get the e-file, so I have my fingers crossed that it will still come relatively quickly because we have goals for this money: 1) pay off all debt except house and student loans 2) save at least $5,000 3) do a couple minor projects on the house like gravel for the driveway and pavers in the backyard and 4) possibly one small splurge item like a new computer.

We'll see if I'm still so excited about taxes next year!

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!

We celebrate by eating sausages for dinner (get it?). Anybody else celebrate this odd but exciting holiday?