What Donovan did on my birthday

Practiced using a spoon with his first taste of chocolate pudding. (You may notice he is not using a spoon in any of these pictures, I was video taping too and by the time I got the camera out he was over the spoon)






Helped Auntie Jenna eat her salad.

He crawled up on her lap and sat there very nicely while she ate. Then about every other bite he would watch the food go all the way from the salad to her mouth. Sweet baby Dino.

Laffin'

On monday after Dono got up from his nap I needed to finish something so I turned on PBS channel to find something to entertain the little man for a few minutes. It was "The Electric Company" which we have never watched before. Donovan is more of a Sesame Street or Bob the Builder kind of guy. Well this one clip got him giggling so much; I had never even heard him giggle watching TV before. So I rewound the show and played the same clip and he belly laughed again. Then I rewound again after Tom got finished changing his clothes and he did it again. Finally the fourth go around I grabbed the camera and got his laughs on film. He was pretty laughed out by that time but he still gave it a good giggle. I love it when he really gets tickled by something and this was one of those things. By the way, if you ask me, the clip he was laughing at wasn't funny in the least but he sure thought it was.

Dog food mishap

This is what happens when a little boy runs with a full bowl of dog food. Also, this is what happens when that boy gets mad because he is surrounded by the dog food he has just spilled and does not like the feel of the dog food under his feet but cannot walk anywhere without stepping on the dog food. Notice the curled up feet in the first picture.



Poor baby.

Fun sundays x 2

Today and last Sunday we went swimming with our friends Maria and Claire. Unfortunately neither day did we take a single picture, we were just having too much fun! Claire is 4 months older than Donovan so they get along great, for the most part. If Donovan is doing something Claire wants to do or has a toy she wants then, not so much on the getting along. Donovan is clueless but Claire gets mad. Other than those few times we really do love our hang outs with Maria and Claire. Last week only Dono and I met the two ladies at the pool. Our Tom took a rain check last week and their Tom had to work. But today our Tom joined us (their Tom was working again) and we had a fabulous time splashing and swimming and visiting. Last week Donovan was a little cautious at first but today I had to grab him before he walked right into the pool with his shoes still on and sippy cup in hand. His favorite thing to do was go up and down the stairs on this play area in the pool. The play area has four holes in the ground where water shoots out in a fountain, and there is a lever that you can turn to control how much water is coming out. So he would play in that, putting his face or butt right over a spout of water, and then go down the stairs. Then he would go up the stairs. Then down, up, down, up, play, down, up... I think he must have gotten quite the quad workout because he probably went up and down the stairs about 40 times. I thought he needed a break from that after a while (ok, I needed the break) so we went in the lazy river twice while he yelled at me the whole time and nothing else we did he liked so back to the stairs we went but he was still mad so we went inside where we were all happy again and Dono went down the slide three times and liked it! (severe run on sentence alert) He did a better job today of not inhaling the water when he would go under on accident. Every time he did it we would lift him up and he would catch his breath and go on about his day.

Both days after the pool we had dinner with Maria and Clair and more playtime, first at our house and then today at theirs where Tom O. got to join us for pizza and playing. It is funny to see the difference in the two kiddos. Claire can say a lot more words than Donovan (although he is doing well for himself) but Donovan is much more of a brute than she is. Donovan invented this game where he would climb over the side of Claire's little sofa chair, headfirst, and slide onto the ground. After Claire got over her initial annoyance that Donovan was using her chair, she decided she wanted to join in on the game, so she started launching herself over the arm of the chair, head first. It kept them busy for about 10 minutes. Too silly.

In other news I don't think I realized just how much of a boy Donovan is until yesterday. We had some friends over for a b-b-q last night so we went to the grocery store to get some food in the afternoon. Donovan was being a real joy, yelling at the top of his lungs whenever Tom or I would walk too far away from him. Then when we were going to check out he kept pointing and yelling "truck!" (it sounds more like "truck" then "guck" now but picture it being said by a Russian or someone from that part of the world). I could not figure out what he was talking about so I kept trying to put him down so he could show me but he kept holding his legs up so I couldn't put him down when I tried so instead I just held him and kept walking around trying to figure out what he kept calling a truck. Finally he got frustrated enough that he said "dow" (down) and then he ran about 8 isles over where there was a blow up mini school bus. He stood in front of that thing, pointed and yelled "truck" like "here you idiot! I told you". He was not too happy when I wouldn't get it down for him so he could play with it but it was a display hanging from the ceiling so the kid's gotta get used to some disappointment. I did tell myself later that if it is still hanging up next time I go there I will ask them what they do with it after that promotion is over and if the answer is "throw it away" I will put on my "pretty please" eyes and ask if they will give it to me when that time comes. Then as we were leaving Donovan saw the carts that have the cars kids can ride in attached to them and he ran and played with one until he demanded "up" enough times that I relented and put him in one. Then I became one of those parents that the cart retriever people hate because I then proceeded to push Donovan out to our car in the empty car cart just to make him happy. Sorry cart retriever people. Had I realized just how obsessed our child was with cars and trucks before we went shopping I would have made sure to get a cart with a car but I didn't realize we had a monster on our hands till the bus and cart incidents made it blaringly obvious. He is such a boy and I love it.

Oh and also I did become that mom in Target the other day too. We (stupidly) went in the toy isle so I could see if this one toy was on sale and Donovan of course spotted a "truck" that he thew a fit about when I walked two feet away from it without giving it to him. So as to not make the other shoppers hate me, I gave him the truck he was lusting after right about the same time I spotted the 20$ price tag. I did not want to spend 20$ on this truck I didn't think was all that special but he had to have it then and there. What is a mother to do, you can't reason with a 16 month old. So a few minutes and a few isles later Donovan was craned around looking at something and I tool the opportunity to see how much he really needed that truck. While his head was turned the other way I slipped the toy on the doll end cap, nowhere near where I got it. Sure enough, Donovan didn't notice one bit. If he had I would have bought it but he didn't so sorry Target employees. I became that mom that puts the toys back where they clearly do not belong. And I have no shame.

Pearl Snaps

Sometimes I just take pictures of Donovan because I like his clothes so much. Yesterday I wanted to document his pearl snapped shirt. I hope this shirt grows as he does because I always want him to be able to wear it.


Donovan was nicely sharing his cherrios with his puppy.

Tom's new favorite picture.

Holding the baby

I mentioned in my previous post that we had some of our friends over on Friday. Kris, Lynn and baby Penelope came over for dinner and a short hang out (turns out kids really cramp your style as far as get togethers go). I really wanted to get some pictures of Donovan and Penelope together since we have seen them several times and have not gotten more than just a couple. I also wanted to see if he would pay any more attention to her this time. The three times before that we have hung out Donovan was oblivious to her, that is unless I was holding her and he wanted to be held. Then he wanted me to get whatever it was in my arms out so he could be there. But other that, he really showed no jealousy towards her. Friday was much of the same at first. But then Lynn was holding Penelope on the couch and we called Donovan over and said "Donovan, look at the baby". He knows what babies are but he doesn't understand what a Penelope is yet. So then he was like "Oh yeah, I do want to see that baby". He crawled right up next to her and petted her head very nice and gentle. Surprising all of us actually. I have never seen him be gentle in his life but he was. Then I asked him to give the baby kisses and he gave her nice, closed mouth kisses on her head. So sweet! Of course he was getting lots of attention and praise as he did it so I am sure that didn't hurt his behavior. After a few minutes he got bored and tried to use her head as a stair to get over the back of the couch but my mommy reflexes were ready for it and I caught his foot about an inch from her face. Before all the novelty of the "baby" wore off and before said baby got fussy we propped those kiddos up for a photo shoot.

It takes lots of adults and supervision to make the photo shoot work. Donovan not sure he likes this thing leaning against him.

"Oh hi baby? When did you get here?"
Just about to give the baby "kisses".

Big boy and little girl.
" Ok enough pictures already. I'm outta here. Scuze me, thing in my arms way." Photo shoot over. Sorry Penelope.

We have created a monster

For the past several days now I have noticed that when I turn on any sink, Donovan requests "UP". So on Friday I lifted him up and let him play in the water in our bathroom's sink and man did he love it! Well that was the wrong thing to do because now every time he even passes a sink he reaches for it and demands "UPPP!". He is not happy when you tell him no and then if you do finally break down and let him play in the sink, it is never for a long enough time according to him. We have had several complete meltdowns over us telling him he was done playing in the sink when he severely disagreed. Friday we had our friends over and he was having one such epic fit that we got out a big truck he got for his birthday that we had been stowing away for a rainy day and put that together to distract him. It worked for several hours. Then later he started demanding to play in the sink again and rather than fight, I just stripped him naked and put him in the sink. He played in that thing for 45 minutes before I got him out so we could get his jammies on and go to bed. Again, he was not happy about it but little boys cannot spend all night naked in a sink. At least we know an easy way to kill time and keep Donovan happy at the same time now. These are the pictures from Friday night in the sink.







Tom says we never should have even started letting him play in the sink but look how happy that kid is!

Grandma and Grampa B visit

Last week we were lucky enough to have my mom and dad come in town for a visit. For anyone who doesn't know (which most of you do) my mom was diagnosed with Breast cancer early in the summer. She is doing well and recovering from a couple surgeries while waiting to start Chemo in a few weeks. So in between doctors visits she decided that she was up for a Donovan visit. I was very excited to see both my mom and dad and to have them see Donovan again because I feel like he changes so much every day. He is talking much more than he was last time they saw him and he is doing so many silly things now that I just couldn't wait for them to see him. We had a good (albeit hot) time and one of the things that we did together was go to Grant's farm.

We learned a valuable lesson when you go to Grant's farm, THE EARLIER THE BETTER! The place opened at 9 and we were there by 9:40 and the line was already long for the tram. Luckily it moved quickly and there was a new tram waiting to pull into the loading area as soon as the full tram left so we only spent about 10 minutes in line. When we left (2 hrs later) though there were no trams waiting and the line was across the street, and far into the parking lot! It was probably at least a 45 minute wait in the scorching heat! No thank you. So we were patting our selves on the back after we saw that. Anyways enough about the line. Donovan did very well during the tram ride. He sat on my lap and didn't wiggle once. He liked seeing and pointing at the animals that we passed. Then in the park his favorite part was the parrots. My mom held him up by them and after a few minutes she walked away and he fussed to let her know he was not quite done checking them out. He was pretty clingy the whole time we were there. Not wanting to walk like a big boy or ride in the stroller but preferring to be held in the sweltering heat. How nice of him. We got to see goats, tortoises, elephants, camels, lamas and lots of horses. We showed him the old carriage collection they had which I thought he would love since they have wheels (so they must be "gucks" as Donovan believes) but he was just slightly amused by it. By 10:45 my mom and I were drinking our free beer samples and I was texting Tom pictures of us to make him jealous. All in all it was a good day but I think Grant's farm will be a much bigger hit next year.

Sitting on the tram, waiting for the fun to begin!
Checking out the animals (there were some I swear).
Checking out the goats with Grandma B.
Donovan almost petting the goats. He preferred to pet the air about an inch away from the goat.
Hanging out with his Grandpa B. All smiles when he is being held.
The pasty white gang (minus cameraman Grandpa B).

Checking out the Clydesdales. There were two mommas and two babies there. Donovan petted them a little but he petted a big guys butt in the barn the most.

Shhhhhh!

A couple days ago I was yelling at Petey to shut up when he was in one of his million barking fits of the day when I decided that I should teach Donovan how to yell at Petey too. It can't hurt. Dog doesn't listen to me so maybe he will listen to someone his own size. The nice way I came up with to teach Donovan to yell at Petey was to show him how to put his finger over his lips and say "Petey, Shhhhhhhhh!". Donovan thinks it is so funny to see me do it and after a while he thought he would give it a try. However his "shhh"-ing consists of his finger up his nose and him blowing with his mouth. Close but no cigar. I couldn't quite get a picture of the finger up the nose but this picture was too cute not to share. Look at how happy he is to learn how to shush the dog :)

Reading

Donovan reading a new book.

Getting a pro to help him out. (Grammie B)

Fun Saturday

On Saturday we took advantage of the free mornings at the Missouri Botanical Gardens with our friends John, Emily and Donovan's best friend, Ian. Donovan was pretty crabby at first until we figured out he was just hungry. After eating though he was a happy boy! Here are some of the pics we snapped of our day.

The boys hanging out in a wagon. Notice Donovan's new Card's hat. We lost the old one. Oops.

All this cool stuff to look at and play with and Donovan goes straight to the mulch.
Donovan was not having any of us trying to get him to walk up this bridge. I caught Tom scolding me for taking pictures while Dono was fussy though!
They have this cute splash area for kids in the kids section. Donovan took a LONG time to warm up to the idea but Ian was a hoot! He just jumped right in and got soaked immediately. That's him in the background. Donovan just observing.
"I think I like this. But I am not sure just yet."
Ian man having a blast!
This was a pump that you had to push down in order for it to pump water out. Donovan watched and helped the big kids at first.
Then he tried it out for himself. With no success. Even on his tippy toes he wasn't tall enough to get leverage on the top and push it down. That's where the parents came in.
This is the best picture! You have to click on it to enlarge it and look at Ian's face! The water would shoot at random intervals and he was looking at the hole where the water shoots out when guess what... it shot out and got him square in the face. He loved it! No tears for that kid. And us parents all got a good laugh out of it.
By the time the boys were done playing Ian's pants were past his knees. Even after they got squeezed out a few times.
Soggy bottom boy.
Donovan finally deciding to take Ian's lead and get all wet.
I have this idea that as long as this wagon is there we should take a picture of the boys in it together every summer to see how they grow. Here is the picture for year one. Look at those little guys!
Best friends!