Like Peas In A Pod

This is Levi...

This is Sophia cracking up over Levi...

She totally gets his sense of humor.

Levi-isms of Late

: : Angels are now officially and for always, "Butterfly Men".

: : We've been explaining to Levi that this new baby will nurse (not eat popcorn like he thinks it should).  Levi calls nursing "nu-ing."  And, now, he frequently points to my chest and says, "Those are nu-ins.  When de baby comes out it's gonna nu.  It's gonna nu from the nu-ins."  And, then he very proudly grins.

: : The munchkin talks up a blue streak ....lots of stream of consciousness stuff.   I hope he doesn't mind that my general response is laughter.  How could I not laugh when he looks up at me and in all seriousness says, "I need a fraction of a moon and a box of goggles.  Where's my goggles?"  Where does he get this stuff?  What the heck is a fraction of a moon anyway?

: : Oh, and apparently, I need to quit saying "What the heck?" out loud.  Now, when Levi sees anything (even if he knows what it is) he says, "What de heck?!!"  or "What de heck is dat?!!!"  Ooops!

: : Speaking of his stream of consciousness chatting....the other day, he was telling me all about chickens and eggs and baby chicks hatching from eggs.  He went on and on.  Then, he got a surprised look on his face, and announced, "I'm hatching my boodie!"  That proclamation was followed by a very foul smell and a diaper change.

: : And, only a two year old can say, "I'm the bestest. I am!" and get a smile as a response.

Sweet Dreams

I've fallen behind on the Levi sleeping with strange objects posts, and it's probably going to stay that way.  Generally, now that barefoot munchkin #2 is on the way, I crash as soon as he does.  But the other day, Levi insisted on taking a bag of raisins to bed with him.  I couldn't help but glue my eyes open to take a photo of this one.

My suggestion to put the bag of raisins away was met with:
Shrieking.
"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
More shrieking.
Then a slightly calmer, "I take them night-night."
Me:  "Well, alrighty then."

Boys And Their Tools

A sure fire way to keep a little boy entertained:

Step 1: Hand over the tool box...

Step 2: Let him dig around to his heart's content...

 

Step 3:  Keep smiling even when he points a screwdriver at you, grins, and announces, "I fight mommy!"  Really, where do they come up with this stuff?  What happened to fixing me?

Baby Jesus Is Coming!!

"And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth"

Luke 1:14

 

"Baby Jesus is coming!  Baby Jesus is coming!"  This is what Levi has been saying all day...including in the middle of the Christmas Eve service.  I thought I might die trying to stifle the belly laughs.  I hope he's not terribly disappointed when he wakes up tomorrow and there's no baby in sight.

May you all have a very blessed and merry Christmas!

Have I Ever Mentioned....

...that I'm pretty darn sure I have the cutest kid this side of the Mason-Dixon Line? Oh. my. stars. He just makes me grin every time I look at him. Do you realize how difficult it is to get mad at such cuteness?
In an attempt at entertaining him while trying to clean, I handed him a can of crayons and some paper. You might wonder where the paper is...still on his desk. Apparently shoveling crayons is the thing to do these days. Really, who needs drawing anymore? Mid-crayon shoveling I looked over to see him chewing....
Me: Audible gasp, "Did you take a bite out of your crayons?!!"
Him: Giant grin accompanied by a big ole' head nod.
Me: Side splitting laughter.
Hmmm...guess it's not really a proper childhood without a little crayon chomping.

Potty Time

I got Levi an itty bitty potty of his own. To be honest though I have no intention of potty training him. That probably sounds strange. I know I'm "supposed" to potty train him, but really, do you know any adults who don't know where to do their business? My grandmother raised 7 munchkins...she didn't potty train any of them. So, I'm figuring he'll catch on given time. Until then, he loves his potty. He puts it in a laundry basket and totes it around the house. He carries it from room to room. He stands on it.
He even sits on it, and pretends to be going potty. He generally has a diaper and pants on while doing this. Oh, yeah, note that he's taken the pee catching apparatus out of the potty. Hmmm...what shall we do with this?
Oh, I know! A hat. ;)
He has actually peed in it once. Last week, we were getting ready for a shower when he decided that it was imperative that he sit on his potty. About 10 minutes later he gets up, crouches down for a closer look, and says, "Eeww, goss." Low and behold, there was pee in that potty. Hmmm...maybe he's catching on faster than I expected....then again, maybe not. ;)

Are You Sure These Are Socks?

While getting dressed, we encountered some confusion. I tried to do the typical mommy thing...you know put socks on Levi's feet. Hmmm...apparently that's a problem. He insisted that they were gloves...that as such, they needed to be on his hands....and...he "need do tings." Apparently these "tings" are very important and must be done with socks on hands (and tongue hanging out of mouth).
He's now on a sock and shoe strike...which is fine by me. I'm partial to a barefoot childhood...
Hope y'all are having a great weekend!!

Email Cookies

The other day Levi brought me a pot from the kitchen. He said, "Coo-key, coo-key. Make coo-keys. Cook oven. Coo-key, Coo-key." He then set the pot down and pretended to turn on an imaginary oven. All the while jabbering about wanting to make cookies.
I couldn't possibly resist. We made oatmeal cookies. He stood on a chair and "helped." I can't believe how big he is getting. He tries desperately to help me stir...especially when nothing needs stirring. I just wanted to kiss him a billion times and I might have had the urge to eat him up with a spoon
.
.
.
I resisted.
The cookies cooked as he went on and on about "Coo-keys, coo-keys." When they were finished and cooled he announced to me that we were eating "email coo-keys."
.
.
.
My heart nearly burst, and my side nearly split from the joy and the laughter.

So, that's the story of email cookies. I don't think I'll ever look at another oatmeal cookie the same way. It's funny how these little critters totally transform the landscape of your life in such funny, quirky little ways.

I Could So Start A Weekly Post On What This Kid Goes To Bed With

Yet another strange object to sleep with...

Yes, ladies and gents, that is a shovel that my little munchkin took to bed with him. Don't you ever get the urge to snuggle up with a shovel?
While we are on the topic of Levi sleeping...The other night I got into bed extra late. He stirred just long enough to go, "Vroom-vroom." And, then he was asleep again. Actually I'm not sure he was ever awake during that one. I'm pretty convinced that he was dreaming about cars, trucks, trains, and/or firetrucks.

A New Book And A Sweeping Story

His new favorite book...What Do Wheels Do All Day...Are you surprised? Vroom-vroom. I think boys are born programmed for this stuff!
On another unrelated note (have you noticed an inordinate amount of unrelated notes in my blog posts lately? What's up with that?)...Anyway, sometimes little boys are rambunctious and slightly difficult to deal with. And, then other times they do things that are so utterly and completely sweet they nearly have you in tears. A friend from church gave us a bunch of corn. We got a little assembly line going to get it prepped for freezing, and Levi's job was to throw the cobs out after they had been shucked and cut. He was faithfully working away until there was a lull in cob production. Boredom quickly ensued. So, I asked him to pick up the silks and husks that hadn't quite made it to the trash can. He walked off. My thought...Argh! Now it's going to be chase the munchkin time, and all I want to do is finish getting this pile of corn in the freezer!!! I called to him a couple of times, and just when I was about to go hunt him down, he reappeared...with a broom in tow.
He swept and swept...and then proudly walked over to the door to "sweep" the dirt outside (which is exactly what he sees us do). Not a single bit of trash made it into the trash bin or even outside, but the effort he put into trying to help nearly had me in tears.

Basket Case

Levi is such a little riot. He's gotten very into stuffing his cheeks as full as he can possibly get them...with food, of course. I'm pretty good at prevention, but occasionally he gets past my radar and starts shoveling the food in faster than I can blink. And, then he's off to hide, so no one can steal it from him. Seriously, the way he acts about food you'd think we lived in a third world country...or he had 5 brothers vying for his snacks. Here he is hiding with food nearly escaping from those bulging cheeks!
While we're on the topic of silly things Levi does......Who needs toys, or chairs for that matter? A good book and a basket certainly suffice.
Excuse the bedhead. This was his seat of choice directly after waking up. Personally, I prefer slightly more cushioned spots for my reading adventures. But, to each his own.

Hammin' It Up

Normally, Levi won't say words on command, but for some reason he was really hammin' it up for the camera today. This one was especially cute:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

P.S. "Baw-Baw" is what he has recently dubbed his Grandpa.

Words...Sort Of

Levi's vocabulary cracks me up. Though, I'm not certain that it truly counts as a vocabulary since it primarily consists of animal noises. Thus far he has conquered the following "words":

Momma
Nana
No
Bye-Bye
Moo
Meow
Ruff
Neigh
Baa-as in Baa, baa black sheep

Once upon a time he actually said "da" for dog, but that has since been replaced with the above mentioned "ruff". Then of course there's what we call his indecipherable vocabulary. "Un-duh" belongs to that one. If you find a magic baby translating machine, I'd like to give it a whirl.
He can also sign a few things like "more" which he uses to mean 'want' and 'nurse'. And, then there are the signs for "fan", "light", and "love". Although love has only ever been used in reference to Grandpa.

Oh, and I almost forgot, when he's upset he actually says "Waa, Waa, Waa" just like a cartoon baby. I have to suppress laughter every time.

Sunday Morning Fiasco

Levi wakes up sweet as can be every morning, and this morning was no exception. I got loads of kisses and hugs before we even got out of bed. It's a good thing, too, because all that sweetness put me in a good mood for what was to come. When we got out of bed, we headed to the bathroom for a shower. As we were getting ready, he started to poo. As usual this was a huge production. When he finally finished, I took his diaper off and wiped his bum. Thinking he was finished with his business, I left him diaperless and proceeded to take off his shirt. He began to bare down and started grunting, so I swept him over to the toilet, and much to my delight and his confusion he used the potty for the first time. After wiping his rear once again, I put him on the floor naked, certain that he could do no more harm. Of course, before I could even turn the shower on, he was peeing on my floor. As if that weren't bad enough, he started to poo, again! My child NEVER poos this much. I whisked him over to the toilet, but before we got there, poo landed on my foot. Ah, the joys of motherhood. I started cleaning up, only to witness a river of pee running all over the floor. As I began to clean that new mess, I realized that in the brief lapse of time between pooping on my foot and peeing on the floor, Levi pooped yet again. This time it was all over his bum and his foot. Ewwwwww!! Needless to say, we were late getting to church and missed Sunday school. Despite all this grossness, I still think he's the cutest, sweetest little munchkin to hit the face of the planet.

Eatin' Cake

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Joys of Motherhood

Levi has taken to crawling into the shower with me and insisting that I hold him. I have a walk in shower with a shower curtain instead of a door--no bathtub. :( It's pretty easy for him to crawl right in now that he's so mobile. He did this for the first time a few days ago. When I have to shower while he's awake, I keep the curtain cracked enough so that he can see me, and, more importantly, I can see him. Well, the other day, he decided just to crawl right on in with me. It was all I could do to pull his clothes off before they got too wet. He is terrified of the water and clings to me for dear life. Every time the water hits him he ducks and cringes. It's really quite pitiful. The difficulties encountered while trying to shower with an extra 25 pounds are definitely interesting. I only thought reaching my toes was hard to do while I was pregnant. Despite all this it absolutely melts my heart. He'd rather be clinging to me in a terribly scary place (i.e. the shower stall) than sitting out in the dry safety without me. How much better could it possibly get?

Basket Case

It's a mostly girl's weekend. It's just been me, Nana, Aunt Annie, and of course, the little fella'. Yesterday, we had a fun and fabulous shopping day. I splurged on a very cute and very green gigantic purse. It was a whopping 22 bucks which I know isn't much, but I really didn't need need it. I just wanted wanted it. It's a perfect purse/diaper bag. I'll have to post pics soon. We topped the evening off with a good movie, Dear Frankie. During the movie Levi entertained himself by crawling in and out of a gigantic basket. Seriously, who needs toys when there are big baskets around?

I Tried, And I Tried...

And I tried some more to download a video of the little munchkin. I waited and waited. I even left it to do its thing all night. This morning I wake up to a "Sorry, blah, blah, blah..." message. Is there a better method of downloading videos? I'm telling you, I'm technologically unsavy. I used the Blogger video downloading thing-a-ma-jig. Should I try something different? Is it me or maybe my computer? Arghh!!

On a happier note, I got some cute pics of Levi playing yesterday. If only he had been that happy all day long. He was a mite fussy yesterday--possibly a combination of not having done his proper pottying for the day or a couple of days is more like it (i.e. poo) mixed in with learning some new and improved mommy friendly nursing habits. What I can't hurt mommy? What will I do with my day? I jest, but it was news to him that bouncing and nursing really don't mix well. It's just not the Olympic sport that he makes it out to be. When people refer to "bouncing baby boys," they are so not lying.

And then we have this morning. Levi has this one stubborn patch of hair that just decides to flip up every so often. I must say, I love it. His hair has always been so perfectly clean cut, little boy, so when it shows it's wild side I rather enjoy it.Mischief abounds.Oops! Caught red handed!Seriously, though, if anyone has any tips on downloading videos, I'd be ever so grateful if you shared!

More Mischief

Levi is in to EVERYTHING now. I mean nonstop. So, "No" has become a common word these days. I have to say though it is terribly difficult to discipline a child when you're about to bust a seam laughing. My mother warned me of this. The other day Levi crawled over to the dog's water bowl. He sat down next to it and started to reach his little hand in. This was about the bajillionth time he'd done this, and I was getting tired of lugging him away from it. I kept my seat, and said "Levi, No!". He looked up, quickly put both hands in his lap and grinned up at me with this you-know-I'm-the-cutest-thing-you've-ever-seen look on his face. I grinned back at him, and he reached for the bowl again. I said, "No!". He jerked those hands back into his lap and gave me the most devilish little grin and proceeded to try it again. This time the "No!" came out mid laugh which made him grin even more and me laugh even more. I guess all that laughter prompted him to give up his pursuit because he started crawling towards me. Of course, the whole thing ended in me scooping him up and smothering him in kisses. Oh, I just love being a mom!