20 Months

Today Griffin is 20 months old.  He has become Mr. Talkative and we love hearing what comes out of his mouth.  He will attempt nearly any word we ask him to say, although he's still a little shy around people he meets for the first time.  Today we were able to get his H1N1 booster shot, which we had to drive to the next county in order to find.  On the way out of the clinic there was a woman walking in and Griffin said loudly "hi" and then as she walked by he said "bye".  It was really cute to see him notice his surroundings and interact.  When I picked him up from daycare to head to the clinic we stopped at a gas station to get a sucker to help ease the pain of his shot.  It was also snack time, so Mike picked out a granola bar for him to eat on the drive over.  We pulled onto the street and he started saying Wawa (water), and Mike felt really bad he hadn't bought one.  We figured Griffin would forget about it, but ever 10 seconds or so he'd say Wawa again, so we had to stop into the next gas station to get a bottle of water.  It was so cute to hear him tell us over and over what he wanted.  After the third or so out of 20 times asking I couldn't stop laughing because it was so funny to hear him to tell us exactly what he wanted. 

20 Months: 

A year ago today - where did this baby go?

Playing dress-up in a horsie costume:

Feeding the horsie his cheerios:

The Sweetest Words...EVER

Griffin's bedtime routine is the same everynight, with very few exceptions.  First we change him into his pajamas and then brush his teeth.  He chooses between two toothbrushses, and recently always chooses the spinbrush, which he thinks is very fun to put in his mouth.  We are working on getting him to brush his teeth after his bottle, or better yet, drop the nightime bottle, but we're not quite there yet.  After we're finished with his teeth we go to his room and he gets zipped up into his sleepsack.  Then the really fun routine starts. 

First Griffin hands me his pacifier (not Mike, just me), then kisses my cheek, then Mike's cheek, then my cheek again, then we kiss his cheeks and tell him we love him.  Then Griffins says "bottle", and I say "what do you say?", and he says "please", and I say "please who", and he says "momma".  A few days ago after I handed him the bottle and I said "what do you say" and he said "thank you", so that has been tacked onto the end of it.  Tonight after he said thank you, I said "night night" and he said "nigh nigh", and I said "I love you" and he said "love you", and thats where my heart melted into warm cherry jell-o.  My darling, sweet baby boy told his momma for the first time he loved her...I love you too baby.  I love you too.

Little Vampire

Griffin's 1st canine tooth finally popped through on the upper right side.  I've been waiting for a few weeks to see if it would finally come through, it was a little swollen and white in that area and last night it finally made an appearance.

It's the first of November, where did October go?

Griffin and I had a fun day today.  Mike had to work so Griffin and I started out our day with sleeping in until 7:30, but with the time change it felt like 8:30 to both of us.  Amazing that 8:30 is now considered some serious sleeping in. 

In the morning we headed to the basement to play for awhile.  Griffin was feeling especially cuddly and decided to give both of the cats some lovin.

Group hug:

He then decided Henley needed some extra special attention:

Awww...a boy and his kitty (Griffin enjoyed this MUCH more than Henley did):

In the afternoon Griffin and I headed to Toys R' Us so I could use some coupons and finish up the bulk of his Christmas shopping.  This will definitely be the last Christmas I can take him with and run toys past him.  I held up this dinosaur that moved and asked him if he liked it and he said "no".  Okay - moving on then!  Thanks for the input, Griffin.  We ended up with some very fun things and I think he'll really enjoy opening gifts this year.

Tonight we headed to the Bowling Spooktacula that was sponsored by the resident support network.  There were a lot of kids and parents dressed up, free dinner and free bowling.  Griffin's Halloween costume would have been too warm for him to wear inside for a few hours, so I made him another costume for tonight.  He was Napoleon Dynamite which everyone loved.  I even had cute glasses that he had fun wearing at home, but refused to wear tonight - go figure!

They had really light bowling balls for little kids, and Griffin was ready to try one out:

He's so strong:

Bowling with Mike:

Bowling with me:

Vote for Pedro!:

The iron on letters didn't stick very well and I ended up having to hot glue some of them on right before we left the house - it still turned out cute:

Griffin liked pushing the balls down the ramp:

I'm not sure what was going on here, but I know Griffin was having a great time playing with Benji.  They were in the same daycare up until a few months ago and they always have a good time when we get together at the RSN events. 

Action shot:

We had a great Halloween! We typically start out Saturday mornings with Griffin's gross motor play class, but Mike woke up, looked at the clock, it was 8:40 and there was no way we could all get ready and to the class in twenty minutes. We had an easy morning, Mike ran to Panera to get Griffin and I muffin tops which we ate while watching an episode of Fraggle Rock. This last week or two Griffin has really been getting into music and dancing and while watching he was tapping his knees and wiggling which was really cute.

Just before six we started getting Griffin ready to go trick or treating. The weather was in the high 40's, but pretty windy. We knew we were only going to get to a couple of houses before heading back to our house to hand out candy. He had a really good time walking up to each of the houses and was so excited to get his treats that he would leave his dumbell behind. He insisted on carrying his treat bag the entire walk.

Griffin getting his mustache:

Got his treat bag and ready to go:

Before the first house. The woman the own this house is really nice and she had a box of animal crackers for him:

He's working on his muscles after we got back home:

Griffin kept grabbing the treat bowl and like carrying it around while waiting for the kids:
Our house all decorated:
Dropping the candy:

Waiting for the kids:

Earlier in the day he decided it was fun to walk around with the weight belt on his neck. You can also see him using it as a musical instrument:

This is from last night, he was having a great time zooming around on his fire truck:
We hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween!

Read for the weeken

We are ready for the Halloween weekend! Griffin had a fun day at daycare today. All of the classrooms went on a little parade through all of the rest, which apparently Griffin really liked. Typically when I walk in to pick him up all of the kids at the tables point at me and say "mommy, momma", today one little boy said it and the rest of them sat there quietly eating their crackers. I asked Griffin's teacher if they were all tired, and she said "oh yes, they had a big and busy day today". When we got home Griffin just wanted to cuddle on the couch for about 30 minutes before we did anything...which is fine with me. I love cuddling with him!

Here's my little monkey unpacking the groceries:

Little picasso making a masterpiece (with the blue glitter glue from Nana):

Enjoying eating his banana. I love how he licks it in the beginning:

The World's Strongest Boy

Today is the day I'm going to reveal Griffin's Halloween costume.  I attempted to take a picture a week ago so I could send out cards like I did last year with his costume, but he was NOT having that. 

We went trick or treating at my office, followed by a Halloween party at Griffin's daycare. 

So, without further introduction, please meet the World's Strongest Boy!

After trick or treating, I asked him if he wanted to go and he said "no".  He really loved going from office to office picking out the candy and putting it into his sack.

We got another huge pumpkin this year hoping to put him in it.  Well, that didn't go over so well, so here is Griffin NEXT to his big pumpkin, rather than inside it.

A little preview of our "spooky" house:

He was very excited to bring the candy inside and wanted to try some out:

Dumping out his loot:

Checking to see if there is anymore in there:

Griffin showing off the "muscles" that were underneath his costume:

Getting 1 piece of candy - the only other item in that bag he'll be eating is a package of teddy grahams:

Enjoying his treat:

Yum:

Laying down and enjoying his sucker:

More pictures to come, Griffin has quite a busy Halloween social calendar this year.  Friday he and the kids from his class will walk to the bank near their school to trick or treat, on Saturday he'll go to the neighbors houses, and on Sunday we'll be bowling with the residents (and he has a 2nd fabulous costume to debut that night).