What tired looks like around here

My child is hyper-active. I mean really, really hyper-active. I often tell friends, play date Mommy's and family members this and I get the impression that they are sort of doing an eye roll towards me inside their head. I get the "Well all kids this age are active" comment a lot - the sort of comment to mask what they really want to say, which is "Clearly you just didn't have a clue what a year and a half old would be like."

Hmmm...actually I did and he is nothing like your kid. How do I know this? Because I have heard you tell me how your kid was so tired they passed out in their stroller on the beach, in their high chair, just laid down on the rug in front of the TV and took a 45 minute nap. Because I have seen your child get tired and ask to be put in your lap, where they sit for 30 minutes, just observing the world around them. I have watched your kid take a popsicle, sit down in a quiet place and eat it. What was my kid doing in those 10 minutes? He was alternating between eating the popsicle and putting rocks in his mouth. He jumped in your kiddy pool and soaked himself. He climbed your deck steps 7 times. Then, when he finished his popsicle, he took the stick and attempted to poke your quietly sitting kid's eyes out with it.

My child has NEVER gotten tired and fallen asleep in his stroller (well not since he was at least 8 months), passed out in front of the TV or his high chair. He is non-stop motion from the minute he gets up until he goes to bed at night (except those ever so brief naps in the early afternoon). We don't read before bed - it's a waste of time. Joseph just gets angry that we are attempting to restrain him on the couch. Instead, we watch while he runs around in circles in the den, falling down and laughing hysterically. We watch him while he takes a plastic bat and whacks the crap out of our throw pillows. We literally take him to his crib at night with his wiley little legs kicking and his little hands grabbing for every possible item he can reach on the way in.

And if you don't believe me, here is a little video proof. This was taken just after his bath, about 20 minutes before bedtime.

Yup, that is how my child acts when he is tired. He kicks the crap out of his father while making insane sound effects. If you still don't believe me that he is hyper-active, you are welcome to come spend a day with me.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Richard's birthday and before Joseph went to bed, he helped us celebrate by singing to Daddy and blowing out the candles on his cake.




Ok, so he didn't so much help, as he tried to climb on the table and attack the cake.


I attempted to corral him, while Richard cut the cake. I didn't have much success.

Joseph does this awesome thing when he wants to climb on the table where he lures you into thinking he wants to sit on your lap. Once he is on your lap, he starts by putting his little feet up on the table and then arches his whole little body to try and get up there. If you take him down, he screams bloody murder.

Once the cake cutting was over, Joseph went to bed and Rich and I spent a romantic evening eating take out Thai food in our bedroom (which was Rich's request for his birthday dinner because I never want to order in Thai). Our TV in our den died last week and the new one wasn't delivered until today. Rich really wanted to watch the season premiere of House - so at 8 pm we were in bed with plates of Pad Thai watching TV. Birthdays just get so exciting at this stage of life.

A Rite of Passage

Joseph undertook a major childhood rite of passage yesterday - he had his first experience licking beaters...

Before a bunch of people get their knickers in a knot, it wasn't cookie dough or brownie mix with raw egg. Nope, just plain old delicious homemade whipped cream (because Cool Whip may be the most disgusting thing on the face of the planet - now Reddi Whip, on the other hand, that's some awesome deliciousness).

Notice how Joseph is still in his PJs? Yup, that's right he got pure heavy cream and sugar at 8 am.

I know you are wondering why I was making homemade whipped cream at 8 am. Well, I can blame that on pregnancy. The day before I had a craving for a favorite childhood treat - Jello Mousse. What is this amazing thing called Jello Mousse you are asking right now. It's normal Jello and before it fully sets (like around the 3 hour cooling mark), you whip in whipped cream and let it re-set for a few hours. Yum...delicious and on Wednesday I wanted it...bad. So off to the grocery store we went for heavy cream and Black Cherry Jello (I recommend Black Cherry or Lime for this recipe - my personal favorites). I never got around to actually making it until Thursday and since it needs about 5 hours to perfect its deliciousness, I had to get started early.

So voila - that is how we get this to this little rascal covered in whipped cream at 8 am.

Blog Name Change Required

I doubt this is coming as big news to anyone who reads this blog - it's been common knowledge with my family for 6 weeks and I announced on Facebook 2 weeks ago and since I don't know anyone who reads this blog who isn't also Facebook friends or is in my family, this isn't earth shattering - but we are having another baby!

Hence, the need for a blog name change. In about 6 months, our little threesome will become a foursome.

Yesterday, we got a sneak peak at our little bugaboo. He or she looked great and even gave us a little wave!

After I showed Joseph the picture below, he babbled something that sounded a lot like "brotha". We'll see if he is right. Both Mommy and Daddy are convinced that little munchkin below has two X chromosomes. While I am excited for the possibility of loading up on everything pink, I have to admit my pocketbook would probably appreciate it if Joseph is correct (although the lack of needing to buy new clothes and nursery attire will probably just up the budget on decorating Joseph's new big boy room - which is currently being planned for an airplane theme). We'll found out in 6-ish weeks whether I am going nuts with pink or airplane purchases! (Don't worry even if it's a girl, Joseph's big boy room will get plenty of attention!)

Aira-pa

I know the title of this post makes no sense to any of you, but it makes perfect sense to Joseph. Aira-pa is how he says "airplane". Sort of a random word to be in his repertoire of 12 or so words, but he's been slightly obsessed with aira-pas lately. Ever since our trip to NY when we spent some quality time in an airport, watching planes take off and land, he's been pretty into them. If we are playing outside and he hears an airplane, he points up and exclaims "aira-pa" enthusiastically.



This enthusiasm over all things aerospace led us to take him to the overlook park at the airport. As we approached the airport, Joseph went crazy in the back seat. He was just pointing out the window saying "Aira-pa, aira-pa" over and over again. Who knew before I became a mother how happy watching an excited little boy through the rear view mirror could make you. He enjoyed the overlook park, although not as much as the car ride. He enjoyed waving hello and goodbye to the planes as they landed.



A video of him watching a plane take off. I will admit at the beginning his love of airplanes is slightly overtaken by his interest in his snacks in his diaper bag. Eventually he regained interest in the plane and watched quietly as it took off.




The other day I also happened upon this little airplane toy at the toy store.



(Porter making a rare appearance on the blog).


Joseph was pretty excited when he saw it so I sprung for the $20 price tag. Once at home, I realized what a difficult challenge it was to get the little passengers inside the plane unlatched from the plane itself. The instructions were of little help.

The bottom part reads "Remark: Retainer not toy then after take out figure. Please give away from child". The toy was made in Thailand - enough said.



Lucky for Joseph we have a lot of travel to and from airports coming up in the next few days. Uncle Jeffrey arrives today from California, Aunt Renee on Friday from California and Grandma and Grandpa on Friday night. Everybody is coming in because we are headed for the beach this weekend! YAY!!!