Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

We had a wonderful day, the first Christmas where Grady understood what was going on - for the most part.  We started the day with donuts and hot chocolate.  In retrospect, not the wisest move since Grady was amped up not only on presents but on sugar for a while after.  In any event, he thought both the hot chocolate and the donuts were a real treat.

"Mmmm!"

After donuts, it was time to open presents!  Grady didn't quite get it at first....

Or, frankly, the second time around.

But he was very happy with the gifts inside.  He got a set of 5 trucks from Aunt Annie and Cousin Austin, 5 trains plus track, and some great truck books from Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson.  Some pictures and some quotes from the day below.

"Here comes the engine!"

"Choo choo.  Steam!"

"Oh boy, Christmas TIME!"

He was so excited by all his new toys, that he refused his nap (again, bad call on the donuts).  But remained pretty cheery despite that until very late afternoon.  A trip to the train yard helped quite a bit.

We then allowed the tv to be on in the house, a very special holiday treat (mainly because Daddy and Mommy were pooped).  Grady had no trouble relaxing in front of the tv while eating his snack.  In fact, he's a little TOO good at this.

We finished off the day with lasagna and an early bedtime.  All in all, a fabulous Christmas!  We're looking forward to doing it all over again in Tucson later this week!

Some other stuff from the past few weeks.

Grady has begun to make jokes.  As anyone who has been with Grady for more than 2 minutes knows, he likes trucks.  He likes to point out trucks too, usually saying "Biiiiig truck!"  He really draws out the "big."  We were in the car and he was saying "Biiig truck!" and I teased him and said "BiiIIiiiIiiig truck!"  He laughed and said "BiiIIiiiIIIiiiIIig....  [4 second pause] TRUCK!"  The timing was hysterical, and he has since repeated it often.   The other day he was sitting on his awesome new Grady-sized chair from Aunt Joy.  He would drop his bear on the floor and say "Oopsie!" and then laugh and pick it up.  He then decided it would be even funnier if HE fell on the floor with it.  So he and the bear would do some prat falls on the floor, Grady would say "Oopsie!", laugh hysterically, then climb back up.

Grady's also started to get into pretending.  One unfortunate example of this was at the train yard today, when he suddenly lay down in a puddle, pretending to be a fish.  "Swim river, fish!"

We had a somewhat rough sleep night this past week as Grady had his first "traumatic" experience.  He was at daycare on Wednesday when his friend Thomas threw up during lunch.  It was very upsetting for Grady, who cried for about 30 minutes afterwards.  For the next few nights he would cry in his crib before sleep, which is very unusual for him.  When I went up to talk to him he would talk about it for quite some time.  "Thomas threw up.  Surprising."  I think it was a combination of seeing it, remembering being sick, and then not being able to be comforted by Briana as much as he wanted right after, since she was busy attending to Thomas.  We've since talked a lot about getting all better, and he seems to get it, but then will still get pretty upset by it.  Last night/this morning was the first time since "the incident" that he has both gone to sleep and woken up without crying about it.

At the playground yesterday, Grady climbed to the top of the biggest slide on the playground and slid back down all by himself - on his bum too instead of backwards on his tummy.  He was pretty impressed to be so "up high" - even higher than Daddy!

Baby Girl Wilkinson seems to be doing well.  She has been getting stronger, giving me some pretty big jabs that are now visible from the outside.  I managed to make her a hat this past week - my first completed project for her.  By this time I think I had 2 sweater vests, 2 blankets, booties, and a handful of hats for Grady, but I'm doing my best!  I'm close to half way done with her blanket, and hope to finish that before she arrives.  Here is Grumpy begrudgingly modeling. 

Those are the highlights.  Merry Christmas!

Sick, sick, sick

Grady had a rough, rough weekend - the sickest he's ever been.  He was pretty  much himself on Friday evening until just before bed, when he started getting very clingy.  And then when he threw up all over Matt.  He ended up being sick throughout the weekend, and is still not quite better today.  Luckily he never got a fever, but I remained pretty worried until Sunday afternoon when it was clear he was on the mend.  We did a lot of cuddling, very little eating and drinking, and had some disrupted nights' sleeps.  (I slept with Grady on the couch.  The first night was disrupted from all the vomiting.  The second night was disrupted because he was feeling better enough to wake up several times throughout the night and talk vociferously about, oh, Besa, the ceiling, Daddy, and whatever else came to mind.  Only when given the choice of quieting down or heading up to his crib did he quiet down.) 

So, not much else to report from the weekend.  I will certainly not miss Grady feeling so bad, but I will miss all the extra cuddle time we got to have this weekend.  He's been so go-go-go lately, we're lucky to get a hug!

Other than that, we managed to do a few fun things.

On Thursday we picked out our Christmas tree.  Grady had a great time running through the tree lot, and we picked out a very sweet little tree somewhere between Grady's size and our size.  I have a super cute video of Grady on the loose in the lot, but I think it's too big to email to myself.  I'm trying to embed it below - hopefully it works.


Today, despite not feeling too great, Grady posed for our Christmas card.  (We are behind on everything, so very behind.)  We got some cute shots, and some funny outtakes.  Here's a sample.

Not digging the antlers:

I tried to get Grady to smile by kicking my legs up and making weird noises.  The result:

And some sweet photos - when I showed these to Grady later, he said "Cute!"

Some other highlights from the week -

Grady and I were having breakfast earlier this week.  I got up to go the kitchen, and while I was gone Besa jumped on the table.  (Not that she respects my authority while I'm sitting at the table.)  Grady said "Besa, NO!  Mine applesauce!  Mine yogurt!" and was quite indignant about it!  He still talks about it.  ("Besa JUMP table!  Besa no!  Mine food!")

Grady counted to ten, accurately, randomly this weekend, which I'm pretty sure was a fluke.  He likes to count to three quite a bit, and does that pretty well and consistently. 

Not much else to share - we've been so bogged down in sickness.  Hopefully we'll have a cheerier post next week!

Trains, Trains, and Boats

Sort of like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, right?

We started off the holiday season with a bang at the Wilkinson household this weekend.  One of the perks of doing a website of kids-based activities is that we get a lot of free tickets to do fun stuff around town.  This weekend we took full advantage.

On Friday, Grady and I, along with my business partner Tabitha and her son Marshall, headed to Hood River, Oregon for a Polar Express Train ride.  This was to be Grady's first exposure to Santa.  Fingers were crossed. 

Grady was pretty excited to get on the train - his first train ride.  He spent quite a bit of time looking out the window. 

He also enjoyed his first hot chocolate with his buddy Marshall.

Before too long, Santa Claus himself came by.  As you can see, Grady was thrilled!

Santa gave Grady a little bell, which he very much enjoyed until he tried to swallow it, at which point I made the executive decision that it would become a Christmas tree ornament.

On Saturday, we took another train ride - this time less of a drive and with Daddy - at the excellent Oregon Heritage Rail Foundation's holiday express train ride.  We live on a bluff, and the train passes right below us every holiday season, so we had been looking forward to going for a while now.  This was definitely the highlight of the weekend for Grady.  He loved everything about this train.

It was a steam engine, and seeing the steam was pretty awesome.  There were also a number of people from school on the train, which was a real treat.

However, the real clincher was that Santa gave out candy canes on this one.

Grady actually ate the whole thing.  I don't even think I've ever eaten a whole candy cane, but his sticky hands and face proved it.  

Here are some more photos from that trip.

Post-candy cane face

Then on Sunday, we went on a "Cinnamon Bear" cruise along the Willamette River.  Cinnamon Bear seems to be a mainly-Oregon phenomenon, but it's basically a Christmas story about this bear that helps two kids find the missing star on top of their tree, and it somehow also involves pirates, a dragon, elves, fairies, and some other stuff....  We didn't quite get the whole thing.

However, Grady was excited to be on the boat - and we have yet more pictures of him looking out the window.

The Santa equivalent on this ride was the Cinnamon Bear.  Grady begrudgingly posed with him, and not-so-begrudingly devoured the cinnamon cookie he received afterwards (we are aware that G is a sweets fiend).

For the most part, Grady was a little too young to completely appreciate all the festivities going on, but he really enjoyed running around the boat and getting to see his friend Marshall again.  He was also pretty interested in the tree, which I hope bodes well for picking out our tree this year.

Despite all our activities, Grady remained a ball of energy when at home.  Although he was a mellow kid for so long - I remember for a couple of months when he was around a year old he used to take lying down breaks in the middle of playing - he gradually has become a really active boy.  He loves to run around, play on the couch, "play" with the cats, and generally tear around.  It's hard to keep him contained all of a sudden!  This led to his first brush with the edge of the table this weekend, and he's sporting quite a bruise from it now.

Grady's been putting more and more words together to form surprising and funny sentences.  He'll now say "she got it!" when Besa gets the cat toy.  He also asks to "sit real chair?" instead of in his booster seat.  Even though his chin doesn't clear the table, he really prefers to be part of the big kid crowd.  He's also beginning to tell stories - at daycare today, he told about the holiday express train ride (steam! santa claus! train!).  He's also been putting stuff together in obvious ways but that still impress his mama - when I got him out of bed this morning, my hair was wet from the shower.  Grady said "Mommy shower."  And when Matt came home today in his running clothes, Grady yelled "Daddy running!"  Make believe is becoming a bigger thing now, too.  He likes to play with his stuffed ducky, pretend to wear glasses, and today for the first time purposefully set up the animals in his barn. 

He is also beginning to get the hang of numbers, which was a big surprise to me!  Here's a video of that before I close.

I did say beginning to get the hang of numbers.

Keep the name suggestions coming on little girl Wilkinson.  We're still not there!

Thanksgiving

We were very thankful to have a visit from Grandpa and Nana this Thanksgiving!  Grady loved spending time with gram-pa and nana, and has been asking after them since they left very early this morning. 

The timing of the visit was both fortuitous and unfortunate, because Matt and I were pressed to make lots of decisions on kitchen cabinets for the remodel by Sunday, which meant a lot of time (like 9 hours or so over two days) at Ikea.  The first day we were able to convince Dotty to come with us; the second day it was all us.  It did give Grady a chance to spend some quality time with the OGs (older generation), and allowed Matt and I to avoid the inevitable (taken from previous Ikea trips) -

Matt and I made it under the wire, and the cabinets have been ordered.  Now we hold our collective breath and hope they actually fit.

The rest of the week was lovely.  For Thanksgiving day we had Grandpa, Nana, my business partner/friend Tabitha, and her husband Casey and 3-year-old Marshall over.  We had plen-ty of food - two kinds of stuffing, a 16 pound turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, 3 kinds of veggies, salad, two pies....  Luckily most things could be made or at least prepped in advance, so the actual day was pretty calm.  Of course, I forgot to take any pictures.  Everything was delicious, but we are still working through it all!  Matt has about 3 gallons of turkey soup to get through.

We didn't actually do any outings together, now that I'm thinking back.  But there was a lot of Grady hamming it up, flirting with his grandparents, talking about cars and trucks, running around, and eating.  All in all, a pretty great Thanksgiving!  Here are some shots, courtesy of Dotty, of the visit.

Pour!  Kept Grady occupied and cleaned the floor while working on Thanksgiving dinner.  Aim's a bit off in this picture!

Flirting with the camera

Grady LOVES Grandpa!

Hmm, not sure how this one came about.  I turn my back for one minute!

Grady in his beautiful new coat from Peru, courtesy of the grandparents

As usual, we were pretty spoiled by Dad and Dotty.  If only we could sell them on moving to Portland....  Grady's already counting down the days to Christmas.  Well, "Three.  One.  Two." Close enough.

I also have some initial shots from a photo shoot Matt, Grady, and I were able to do with PDX Kids Calendar with Power Blue Photography.

I think they came out great and can't wait to see the whole set! 

A few other random odds and ends from the week before.

Here's Grady getting his first measurement on his growth chart.  Closing in on 3 feet that one!

And here's Grady getting messy eating some oatmeal.  His pants were even worse off.

As we were leaving for school this morning, Grady declared he wanted to "bring cat toys."  He was able to get I think seven of them in his hands!  Here he is with his loot.

Once in the car he kept saying "more cat toys!"

Baby girl Wilkinson has started to really make her presence known.  Lots and lots of wiggles and kicks, and pretty much all over the place.  We're also taking name suggestions - Walterina has been nixed (sorry, Dad) but we're happy to hear suggestions.  Most of our favorites are two syllables ending in"A."  It felt like her arrival was very far off for a long time, and now all of a sudden it seems like there's not much time left!  Only 3 months or so to go - unless she arrives as late as her brother, then closer to 4. 

Welcome home, Daddy!

Matt's been gone since Sunday in NYC for a visit back to work.  Grady and I have managed okay, but we sure can't wait for him to come back later tonight!  Grady doesn't understand the concept of "New York" but he does understand the concept of planes.  So when I ask where daddy is, he'll say "Daddy plane!"  Sometimes when I ask who's on the plane, he'll say "Daddy!  Ciff?"  He still remembers an loves his Uncle Cliff!

I didn't take many pictures this week, but here are a few random shots -

Grady trying on the new hat I made for him, and me forcing him into a sweater vest that no longer fits

All dressed up for my co-worker's baby shower - we had to wake him from his nap for it in case you're wondering why the stink face

"Daddy shoes?"

They fit pretty well this way!

The biggest development for Grady this week has been working on his sentences.  I missed his biggest one - it was at daycare - but he said "I read monkey book?"  He's consistently getting 3 word "sentences" out - "more cracker please," "read truck book," "party on top" (he likes to dance on top of boxes)....  I know all kids go through this, but it just seems miraculous how much he is picking up every day.

Although I didn't take a lot of photos, I do have a bunch of videos to share.  (Sorry about all my singing in these.)

A few weeks ago, Matt was singing the Smokey the Bear song.  Grady started requesting that it be "Daddy bear" instead of Smokey.  It takes some (extremely subtle) coaxing here, but the payoff is worth it. 

For some reason, he can only say "Daddy bear" as if possessed. This next one is a demonstration of how Grady has inherited his mommy's gift of patience.

He just hates those pauses in songs!

And a video of Grady playing with Besa.

This video is mainly for Peggy.  One of Matt's favorite recipe is spinach strata.  It's basically white bread, spinach, cheese, and some other stuff.  His mom sent me the recipe, and suggested that Grady might like to help rip up the bread.  It took him a while to get it, but he eventually did...

after consuming half of it!

In other news, progress on the house continues.  Here are a few shots of the progress so far.  Still mostly tearing down, but you can see the structure of the new bedroom and the progress made on the kitchen side of the house.

Baby girl Wilkinson seems to be doing well.  I've been feeling her move for a while now, but a few days ago her movements became much more constant.  It's reassuring to feel her moving around in there.  I'm measuring about a week and a half ahead (and my belly seems to be measuring even further ahead than that!), and I can tell.  She is strong!  Only four months to go.  Crazy how fast it's going.