Lead Baby

This juggling business gets hard sometimes - and you have to let a couple things go here and there -- so posting has a little slow. But luckly for you, I have a bunch of photos to share.

Toddlerhood is a funny thing. Victor is a pretty good kid overall - of course he's a nuge here and there, but generally pretty fun. We've really come to understand that he needs a healthy dose of outside time each day. At night, after dinner and before bath, we've been going for a walk -- looking at the holiday lights and burning off any left over energy he has stored up. It seems like it's been a good routine for him. We have him on his kiddie leash so we can snatch him up easily when there are cars -- it's so dark and there are some chances I'm not willing to take. So kiddie leash it is. We look at the stars and the moon. Tonight we were trying to spot the international space station which was visible for 1 minute in our southern sky at 6:59 -- but if we saw it..we didn't know.

Victor loves to cook. He uses the pumpkin carving knives to chop bread, veggies or whatever he can get his hands on. He'll sneak over to the coffee maker and try to get coffee started too. Of course, coffee ends up more on the counter and floor - but his heart is in a good place. He did help me make the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving - which was tons of fun. The hard part now is he wants to cook all the time -- and sometimes I don't need help or we're not cooking...we're trying to get ready for bed. I know before long, he'll understand there are times to cook and times we won't be doing that. I also know how important it was for me to be included in cooking when I was a kid -- I'm grateful for the extra effort my mom and grandma put out so that I could take part in cooking. I think we'll make cookies (slice and bake -- maybe homemade...maybe not) and I think he'll enjoy decorating them.

It's been a while -- but here are some things he loves -- and other things he would be happy to skip.

Loves --
Paci - also known as Baba
Going on top of grandma's bunk bed
Going to sleep with Daddy
Oatmeal that Mamma Hedy makes
Quesadillas -- also known as "dia"
Trains
Airplanes
Helicopters
Trucks
School buses
Climbing (after nap today he climbed out of the crib and opened the door to his room -- that was a surprise)
Flushing
Reading his airplane book (which is a guide to commercial aircraft -- with a photograph and a description of various airplanes - it's an adult book, but he looks at it every night)
Reading books in general
The poopy corner
Riding the car past the airport
Going to the park
Being outside
Being in the garage
Coffee (with milk and no sugar)
Screaming -- more like a dolphin call it's so high pitched.
Squeezing as much diaper creme as possible from the tube
French fries
Green beans from a can - not heated
Cranberry juice - also known as Dada milk

Dislikes
Having the diaper creme tube taken away
Going inside
Not be able to go outside
Being told no
Not being able to cook
Going to sleep without Daddy
Being put on the porch so he can scream if he feels like it outside
When his buddy Michael isn't home on our nightly walks

Well -- it seems like photos will be coming soon. Blogger is grumpy right now -- next post.