Sports Class Demo...

Graham and Daddy have just begun a Saturday morning sports class. This week the sport was football. This is them working on catching a ball. As you can see ND fans, Brian Kelly probably won't be doing any recruiting in our neck of the woods anytime soon. The back story on the Brian Kelly response...at lunch I asked Graham what his coach's name was at sports class. He enthusiastically replied, "Brian Kelly". I would assume most of the people reading this know who that is, but for you non-ND fans, he is Notre Dame's new football coach for this upcoming year. The funny part is Pat hadn't mentioned Brian Kelly to Graham since the day he was named coach, oh, a month or so ago. This little guy has the best memory!

Laundry Baskets can be so much fun....

It can be a pretend bathtub.......

It can be a boat while you sing "Row, row, row your boat" with golf club oars...

Or you can play zoo, and pretend to be a Lion. Who knew??

Ooey Gooey Creations class!

We started a new class today, Ooey Gooey Creations. Graham did a lovely fingerpainting today, while asking to have his hands washed every 15 seconds:) He really enjoyed snack time (above) at the end of class!

"working" with Daddy

Graham and Daddy did a lot of little fix it things in the baby's room and Graham's room today. Graham was a big help with his tools. Now we are ready! Graham also stopped to play and cuddle with baby sister's new lovies. Graham has plenty of his own, but really likes hers too. I hope he wants to share!

Valentine Table

Graham's table is all set and ready to go for Valentine's Day. Now all he needs is a date:)

Two Year Well Baby stats...

Today Graham and I went to "Dr. Barrett's house" as he said as we turned into the parking lot of the doctor office. He continues to love the idea of going to the doctor, but once we get there, he hates the actual exam, the stethoscope freaks him out, as does the ear exam. Oh well. The doctor was impressed with his speech, so no worries there. As for his measurements, Graham is 35 inches tall, and weighs 26 pounds. That is 70th percentile for height, and around 20th for weight. So we continue to have a slightly tall skinny little guy! He seemed to "pass" all his milestone questions, so that was good as well. All in all a good visit! Good thing we are going back soon for the new baby though, because I had about three questions I totally forgot to ask. Pregnancy brain!

BIG NEWS!!!

Ok, maybe not that exciting, but if you are a Grandma or another Mommy, you will care about this one. Otherwise, probably not so much. Graham asked to sit on the potty after his bath tonight. As he always does, he requested toilet paper simply to stuff down into the toilet. Today I said, " if you go tinkle then you can have toilet paper". He sat there so still and was concentrating so hard, all of the sudden, he went! YAY! I went appropriately nuts and he was sooo excited! Once he got his toilet paper he was thrilled! Such a big boy! For the next 20 minutes of getting ready for bed he kept repeating "Mommy so proud of you for tinkle on potty!"

Ready to go Strollin' with baby sister!

How exciting! Our double stroller arrived today. Graham immediately told us he would ride in it with "baby sister". He decided he wanted the right side:)

Reliving the moment!

Graham's new favorite past time...watching himself on tv. This was Christmas morning when he first saw his train table. He gets excited everytime he watches it.

Sitting with Santa...as close as we could get::)

We tried! For the second year in a row Santa was just not a hit. Last year we at least got a screaming picture on Santa's knee..this year Graham was too strong and clinged to Pat like a monkey...so this is the best we could do. In his defense, before we left, Graham did want to say Bye Bye to Santa from the side, and he did tell him he wanted to "play golf for Xmas". So at least he got his message across.

Watching the kids before him go see Santa...very cautiously.

Not letting go of Pat..

This is as close as we got to Santa...who was very nice by the way.

Aftermath

Graham did willingly take a candy cane from Santa, and remembered to say "thank you" through his tears..

Moments later, we did crafts and ate cookies, yum!

Toddler Theatre Today!

What a fun morning today! We went to the last Toddler Theatre of the year, and the special guest was a life size Curious George. Graham brought his George in honor of the big guest. He was so excited!

Picking our Tree!

Looking for the perfect tree...

Graham kept running down the small hill and falling, and thought it was hilarious...

Reindeer!

No, the reindeer can't come home with us.........

Graham wanted to touch the tree..

Our hunt is over!

Thanksgiving

Helping me make Buckeyes..Graham sampled a whole peanut butter ball!

Watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving the morning after.....

Sweet Thanksgiving guy~

Graham, G.G., and Bapa

We clean up well for Holidays:)

Sunny days, sweeping the ...

...clouds away! What a great day for Graham! It was a big day here, not only was it "The Game" (OSU vs. Mich), but Graham and Pat went to see Sesame Street Live:Elmo's Green Thumb. Got to love Pat, he volunteered to take Graham by himself, on a big football game day. Though they were back in time to watch the games (with the help of our DVR) it was a nice treat for Graham, and I totally appreciated that Pat wanted to spend the time alone with Graham. I actually got a little sad as I looked at my watch and saw the show was starting, I really wished I could see his little face when Elmo made his debut. I am sure you can tell from the pictures, that he was in awe. I spent the morning running around doing about 6 errands that I had been putting off, and got them all done in record (pre baby days ) time! I felt so accomplished! Graham's souvenir was a Elmo ball, and as you can see he played with it for the rest of the day (after his 3 1/2 hour nap!) Don't be alarmed by his picture with the breathing machine, this is part of our daily routine now. We decided to take the advice of all the doctors he has seen, and put him on a daily preventative asthma medication. So Graham will have to do a treatment everyday now. Hopefully we can scale this back once we are through cold/flu season, so we will reevaluate in a few months. So, we have been doing it as part of the bedtime routine. Ball and froggy were right there to cuddle! Happy Weekend!

Yay! Elmo!

Sunny Days!

In Awe!!!

Standing watching the action..

After the show, I met the boys for lunch..

On the way home, with his new prized posession!

It's been a long, fun day!

This is how we roll....

....when a cold is looming that is. Graham has been wheezy the past few days, which means the breathing machine comes out. I think we caught it early enough this time that it will not turn into a breathing night mare like his last cold. The big thing is, he will now sit by himself and watch a video while doing his treatment. What a good little guy.

H1N1 vaccine triumph!

After a previous failed attempt, Graham got his vaccine! So, let me explain the previous two pictures. We went to another clinic, this one a good 45 minutes away from us. There was another huge one going on at the same time downtown, but I figured this one would be a bit more manageable numbers wise. So we got there, and immediately had to wait in a line....for a ticket. The ticket guaranteed us a shot. They had 1000 vaccines to give, we were number 796. I got there 20 minutes before the clinic was supposed to begin. Anyway, at first I was annoyed that we had to wait forever just to get a ticket, but it actually worked out well, since we knew it was going to be a long wait no matter what. Once we had our ticket in hand (after an hour wait), it gave us a time slot that we were supposed to come back during to get the shot. They had someone announcing outside what number they were one, and which numbers where then allowed inside. So, once we had our ticket, we had at least an hour and a half additional wait until our number was called. But, we were able to leave, do whatever. Since we were so far from home (and civilization in my opinion!) we met up with our friends Carol and Andrew, and watched Signing Times on the DVD player in the car. The boys were so good! They watched contently for 90 minutes, and we fed them the "dinner" I had brought. Around 6:30 (we got there at 3:15) we were up! Just to get in the building, but we were getting closer! So, we packed the boys up in the strollers and went inside. I felt so bad that they had no clue what we were waiting for! So, at exactly 7pm, Graham's bedtime, he got his shot. Poor thing. Phew. Glad that is over, after our 45 minute drive home, he went happily to bed, and I am exhausted! I am not looking forward to the fact that he is supposed to get two of these! In thirty days we are supposed to get another one. Hopefully by then, the supply will be better, and we can get it at our own doctor. I'm off to bed, it's been a long night!

He loves it!

This is Graham's magnetic white board wall. We put a bunch of pictures of his buddies up, and he loves drawing on the white board..

Graham's first chalk masterpiece...lovely isn't it?

Happy Halloween!

What a fun couple of days we have had! Here is a long slideshow of our Trick or Treat from Thursday night, and a very special Halloween, or "Happy Halloween" Party. Graham never just says Halloween, he adds the "happy" in front everytime. It's pretty cute. My friend Jenn threw a fantastic party for the little ones, it was a fun afternoon! So fun in fact that Graham is still napping and I have time to get this done now. Graham was not a fan of actually putting on his lion costume, but once it was on, he was fine with it, and wore it the entire party and for Trick or Treat. Though as soon as he got home, he wanted it off! Have a Happy Halloween!