Christmas Tree Surprise

Sing to tune of "Popcorn Popping."

I walked out of the bedroom and what did I see?

A mixing bowl sitting in the Christmas tree.

Talmage left me such a nice surprise,

A mixing bowl shining right before my eyes.

"I could take a picture," was what I thought,

"Depict the silly boy and his antic I caught."

Oh, this was really so,

It struck me as funny,

A mixing bowl sitting in the Christmas tree!

Under the Sink

We did quite a bit of research on how to get rid of cockroaches when we lived in our apartment, and one of the things mentioned was that you should have a covered garbage can and it shouldn't be kept under the sink. Cockroaches love garbage cans for obvious reasons, and they love the humid environment created in the cupboard under the sink. We keep our covered garbage can in the pantry now, and since we have cleaners and things like that in a high cupboard Talmage can't get to, the cupboard under the sink is essentially empty. It's the perfect little play spot for Talmage.

He loves exploring things...pipes, cords, plugs, etc. Perhaps we have a future engineer in our midst?

Children's Museum

Sam's professor gave us a family membership to the Children's Museum of Houston that lasts a year! I took Talmage and he loved it. It didn't matter a bit that the activities were way beyond his level (until we got to the "Tot Spot," that is). He just loved running around exploring everything and being able to grab pretty much whatever he wanted without me stopping him.

His hair always wants to poke straight out on the left side and lay straight forward in the front. It always works its way out of the neatly combed style it begins with.

He befriended this old man who was reading kids' books in one of the many book nooks. Isn't this picture adorable?

Playing with the matching game

He loved finding the pictures.

I think this one looks like a painting.

They had different nooks that were set up like Christmas scenes from various countries.

The fun, fake food fooled Talmage. (Try saying that five times fast!)

Making animal footprints

He thought this pigeon was hilarious. He chased it all around, much to the pigeon's chagrin.

The water section was a huge hit!

He got pretty well drenched, thanks to the water he was playing in and the water that shot through the air and sprayed everyone!

I finally discovered the "Tot Spot," where the activities were a little more age appropriate. It was very sanitary, too! Adults had to wear little booties, and the babies had to take their shoes off. Any toy that got chewed on had to go into one of the many "dirty toy bags" that were hanging on the wall throughout the room.

Our new plan? Go with Sam to the Medical Center each Saturday and go play at the museum while he does his lab work!

Thanksgiving Festivities

We had a great Thanksgiving! Due to some interesting circumstances we ended up going to 2 different Thanksgiving dinners with families in our ward. We ate one at 1:00 and one at 5:00! There are 3 different men in our ward who work as "Santas" during Christmastime, and I guess they make thousands and thousands of dollars each year doing it! Since we had Thanksgiving dinner with one of these "Santas," he decided to put on his Santa robe and hat and take a picture with Talmage. He looks very convincing doesn't he?

Sam was able to take the day after Thanksgiving off (!), so we went to an amazing Christmas tree farm 2 hours north of us! It was so much fun. If you missed the pictures I posted, you can look at them here:

Christmas Tree Farm

Toothbrush Trouble

We just keep getting sick around here! I'm not sure what the deal is...maybe we just aren't used to the air and humidity here yet or something. Anyway, Talmage had (and still has) yet another cold and was feeling very grumpy on this day. I gave him a granola bar and his toothbrush, and he was set.

He offered a slight smile to appease me.

Then we went out on the balcony. Talmage LOVES being outside, and the balcony is a great option because it is fire ant free, unlike the big, buggy backyard. (Don't get me wrong, though-we love it!)

The only trouble is...

...he likes dropping things off of it (namely his toothbrush)!

Doesn't it look like he is challenging me? His face says, "Whatcha gonna do now Mom, huh?" "Well, son, let's go down and pick it up and wash it off with soap and water."

The End.

Back at the Park with Daddy

A couple of Saturdays ago the weather was so beautiful and Sam had a rare free moment, so we decided to take Talmage to the park. Sam had never been to the park with him, so he was really excited to play with him there.

I LOVE this picture! Their matching facial expressions just scream joy, don't they??

Eating a peanut butter cracker while swinging...that's the life!

Mistake

"Oh Mom, how silly of you!"

Sorry again for the absence there for a while. I had a little mishap with the computer that involved all of the pictures since Sam and I began dating becoming corrupted files...I'm sure you can imagine my anxiety when that happened, but after a looong time spent on the computer, I have resolved the issue, and I'm back and blogging! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Food

Talmage isn't exactly the best eater...his tastes pretty much match up with what mine were when I was a child, so it really shouldn't surprise me that he throws most of his food on the floor and adamantly refuses to eat it!

He will eat quite a bit of a banana if I smear it with peanut butter first. Here he is after eating his fill!

He also loves fruit in smoothie form, so I can trick him by blending up fruit and milk and having him drink it.

I was rather shocked when he began scarfing down pomegranate seeds one night! He wasn't feeling well, and as you can see it wasn't one of his happier moments.

This is the look he gave me when I told him to say "Hi." Classic.

As a side note, the peanut butter/banana pictures were taken the day before Thanksgiving. Note that he is wearing shorts, while Utah was experiencing a blizzard! It has finally dropped down out of the 70s/80s here!

Stowing Things

Talmage finds great joy in putting things in new places. He loves to "bee-up" (clean up) his toys and throw them in the toybox or into whatever container they belong in, but he also likes transferring things to new places. In the above picture, he opened his pants drawer and proceeded to take out his pants, one by one, and throw them in his dirty clothes hamper. That is a common activity at our house. It is also pretty normal to find a puppet in the bread pans, his sippy cup in his toybox, books in his laundry basket, pictures or recipe books in the basket of blankets, shoes in his sock drawer, and on and on. He loves playing with the laundry as I sort it, and one day he carried off a shirt. I couldn't find it until a few days later I saw it wadded up in the bottom of his toybox! Seeing his little mark spread all through the house is rather endearing. :)

Still Here

We're still here and doing well! Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I have been busily working on projects for Christmas! So I guess you can expect a lot fewer posts until after Christmas. I'll try to keep things up though!

Dishes, Okay, Yeah, and Hiccups

That title pretty much sums up these next few videos.

Here is Talmage helping me unload the dishwasher. His favorite things to do are help with the dishes, the laundry, sweeping, cooking, etc. I hope he always loves these tasks!

10/6/10

Here is Talmage enthusiastically demonstrating a couple of his favorite words.

10/13/10

I get really loud hiccups. I have been teased about them since I was little. Whenever I would get them at school, my teachers would stop class to try to eliminate the distraction. As much as I have been teased about my hiccups, I never thought a 13 month old would make fun of me for them! But here, Talmage laughs at my hiccups and then tries to imitate the noise himself.

11/5/10

Asking Nicely

The request for me to please open the phone so he can press the buttons. His urgency is clearly displayed on his face.

"Here ya go, Mom!"

And off he goes to play at his favorite spot (of course).

And just because it makes me laugh, here is another picture. Doesn't that face make you feel like he is doubting what you're saying or something? He already thinks he's smarter than us, as he shows with his "arguing" and fiercely independent nature. We're in for it with this one...

Life From the Floor's Perspective

Sometimes Talmage eats the Cheerios he dropped from his high chair onto the floor. Under his high chair has got to be one of the cleanest places in the house, though, considering how many times each day I am down on my hands and knees scrubbing up the food that found its way under there.

He carefully navigated himself past the bar,

but then got stuck during the extraction process.

After trying for a while, he decided maybe he would just hang out in that position...you know, lay his head on the tile, clutch his toothbrush...that sort of thing.

He made his way out and then came to give me a cute half-smile. I'm not sure what is with the ghost face on the right side of the picture...

Then he continued eating Cheerios...in a very stoic fashion.

And this picture just makes me laugh. He was just putting another Cheerio in his mouth, but it looks like he is either very soberly shocked or is pulling some sort of strange dance move with his hand moving across his face.

Happy weekend!