Night Night line-up

Sorry no pictures tonight...

For the second night in a row James has had eight "friends" in the bed with him for bedtime. It is pretty amusing and I thought y'all might enjoy the list. He has been working on his night night team for a while and it keeps growing. I suppose we'll stop the madness soon, but I didn't object to multiple animals when we moved him to his big boy bed. I thought more animals might make the new bed more comfortable. Now that the big boy bed is the normal routine, I think we can scale it back a bit. Anyway, here is the list:

1. Panda bear - the most important. Goes with us most places and particularly enjoys riding in the cart with James at the Publix. Gets the highest place of honor in James' bed, tucked under his right arm and under the blanket with James.

2. Orange van - a hot wheels orange van. This is a new addition to bed. It is James' favorite car and also seems to go with us most places lately. Tonight it was in his left hand as he fell asleep.

3. Hippo - big stuffed one from Ikea. When we got it I swear it was taller than James, now James has him beat. But he is the biggest friend in the bed.

4. Stuffed dog.

5. Stuffed monkey.

6. Schatzi - stuffed bear that used to be James' favorite until Hippo came home from Ikea and then Panda bear came.

7. Stuffed elephant.

8. And finally a DVD set of Thomas the Train. This past weekend James had a clear obsession for Thomas the Train on TV. We watched a few and James was hooked. For our beach trip next weekend, we thought it might be good to get a Thomas DVD for the ride. We found a 3 DVD set and James loves it! Not watching the DVDs mind you - because he is already over watching it on TV - but he loves playing with the DVD covers, the little papers inside and identifying the engines. And for the past two nights, Thomas - in the form of the DVD set and cover box - are also in the bed with him.

So James' night night line up: six stuffed animals, an orange van, and a DVD set. Makes sense don't you think?

Spencer Spends the Night

Spencer came to spend the night this weekend so Kelly and Michael might have one more night off before my new niece comes. The boys had a ball! We played with blocks, watched SuperWhy, and played with cars, of course. I think bath time was their favorite but you can judge. They screamed and cackled before they even got in the bath. Yes, that is water flying through the air in the photos. Splash time!! And they both went down to sleep without a peep so I was grateful. Can't wait to meet your little sister, Spencer!

Neighbors

Have I told y'all that Jim and I love where we live? We live on a quiet cul de sac surrounded by other kids. Tonight we got together with three families on our street to sort of celebrate the spring weather and the return of one family to our neighborhood after they renovated their house. We had three two year olds, one 5 month old, and a 5 year old and 6 year old. All those kids plus a sandbox and bubbles and they were happy. We grilled burgers and just had a ball! Here are a few pics... The older girls are our next door neighbors - Mary Ryan (6) and Dorsey (5). They are holding Annabelle who just returned to our neighborhood now that their house is finished. The picture of James and dad does shows off James' new hair cut, which he got today. It fails to show just how dirty he was. Someone brought a watermelon and James was covered in pink juice and dirt but he loved it!

Hmmmmm....

More Easter fun... In keeping with our indoctrination of Star Wars (James can now say R2D2 - Jim is so proud), I found a Star Wars easter egg decorating kit. I thought my boys would love it and they did. After we dyed the eggs-ruining a shirt of James' in the process, oh well-there were Star Wars stickers to put on the eggs. See all the stickers? I thought they turned out cute. What was more cute was James trying to decide which sticker to put on an egg next. He would study the sheet of stickers and say "Hmmm" and sometimes "Hmmm" again before picking one. Do Jim and I do this? Someone tell me - I don't know where he got this but we thought it was funny.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

There are a ton of children on our street and so last weekend we had our second annual street Easter Egg Hunt. Last year we had three babies born on our end of the street alone and then two more expected this year! Kids everywhere! We hunted eggs across the street from our house because Ms. Barbara has a nice flat yard. Here are a few pics from the hunt. James needed little instruction. We explained eggs = candy and he was off!!

The first photo is of our friend Anne and her dad Lewis. Anne is a few months younger than James but her mommy is pregnant again and due just a few days before me. Anne is great fun and comes over for playdates with James. Usually when dad Lewis comes over for a playdate, I mean male bonding time, with Jim, i.e. Lewis wants to watch sports on our big TV...

Learning to climb

So last weekend Aunt Kelly ("Aunt Keke") and I got to have our girly baby shower for the two little girls on their way. We had a great time at the shower and got some wonderful things. I can't wait to wash everything and put them away for Mary Martin to wear. Anyway, lest you think that it was completely a girls weekend, James got to play at this fun playground at a Joe's crab shack with Gee and Aunt Dianne, after we meet them for lunch. Still don't know why Joe's crab shack had a playground but we enjoyed it! Jim taught James how to climb down on the stairs. And yes I know the video is turned sideways - I forgot to turn it for the video.

Indoctrination by the Force

The Star Wars lessons (shall I call it indoctrination?) have started early. Lately James likes watching the animated Star Wars series on TV with his dad. He also has a coloring book with all the Star Wars characters. He doesn't really color in it so much as point to all the characters and ask his dad to identify them by saying "That?"





In other news the potty training continues... James sits on the potty at school and sometimes goes. He will sit on the potty at home about once a day, but doesn't go. Baby steps... Our bigger accomplishment is that James has successfully slept in his big bed boy for almost a week. Last Friday night we tried it for the first time. I admit for the first time, Jim made a pallet next to James' bed and went to bed when James did to help ease the transition. I woke Jim later to join me in bed and James did not stir or wake all night. Now he goes to sleep all by himself, well except for his 9 stuffed animals in the bed with him, and sleeps soundly all night. He even napped in his bed this weekend too. After only a couple of protest filled nights, we now appear to have a new routine that ends in James soundly going to sleep.

I am well aware this is a process and our first bit of success might not continue. But, for now, we are grateful and a little sad at all the big boy progress our little boy has made this week.

Finally - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to James' beautiful cousin Anna Lauren tomorrow!! Hope y'all have a great day and weekend!