Steps toward autonomy

He fed himself a small bowl of baked beans! He has some trouble getting food onto the spoon, but hitting the target is no problem. He can also push the kitchen chair to the fridge and climb up on it to push the button for water.

He LOVES driving the car. When we get home from driving around he crawls out of his carseat and climbs into the front seat and starts turning knobs, steering the wheel, honking the horn (only rarely does he succeed), turning on the wipers, etc. When I got back in the car after the first time he played in there, the heat was on full blast at my feet and the wipers were on.

I've been buying toys and books and hiding them for our first flight back to the Bay Area. So far I've got little trucks, books about trucks, and a Doodlepro. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. Of course I'll have an arsenal of snacks, but this kiddo has a short attention span and likes to move not be confined to his carseat.

The Gymboree Rebel

Mr Destroyer doesn't participate much in the activities that are instructor led. Instead he goes off and climbs up stairs, goes down slides, and crawls through tunnels. The only time he gets near the instructor is when she has the bubbles out. He's still afraid of the parachute and refuses to sit in it. He loves the balls and it's funny to watch him try to hoard them.

Tongue Twister

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Really he's playing with his tongue because he's teething AGAIN! He's biting me again, drooling buckets, and waking up EARLY! He's also not napping well at all! Since he's been so cranky I've made it a point to take him out of the house a lot during the day. In the morning we go to a park in an effort to push his nap later, and in the afternoon we go meet friends or go to Gymboree. Here he is at the park. He loves rocking now.

Please No Pictures

Future Calvin Klein model? He's got his pants hanging below his "underwear" and running around without a shirt. He's even got the pose for dealing with the paparazzi.

Cough, Sneeze, Wheeze

Poor boy started with a runny nose earlier this week and now he is congested and wheezing. I took him to the doctor this morning because he was wheezing really loudly with each breath. They said he has croup and gave him a dose of steroids to help with the swelling. Unfortunately croup tends to worsen at night so we are in for some fun tonight. This sums up his mood the past week:

I hope that when he fully recovers, he'll start sleeping better. He has had a rough time on and off since we took away his pacifier. We have also been trying to unsuccessfully move his one nap later in the day. Our biggest concern right now is getting him to sleep later. These 5am wake up calls have got to stop! With daylight savings time change coming up next month I'm afraid I'm going to be seeing the world at 4am on a regular basis.

Who Does Gigantor Look Like?

I started a poll to once and for all figure out who Gigantor looks like. I'm including some baby pictures of all the choices.

I should have added both Grandpa's as a choice too because I think he looks most like them. Here is a picture of Dave's Dad and my Dad respectively.

Ladies Man

We went to the tile store today and GTD had all the women in the store telling him how cute he is. He sort of followed us around, but mostly flirted with all the women there - shooting smiles their way and waving to them. He also worked his magic by showing off his belly button and finding his head. They especially loved his puppy dog backpack which he uses to carry his Thomas train. Here you can see the ladies man in his element:
We noticed he and Dave dressed the same today: green shirt and brown shorts. So after teasing Dave, I took a picture.

Miss Tyler visits

Tyler came over and I decided to attempt the impossible...get a picture with both of them in the frame! The only way I could do this was to have Gigantor find Tyler's head. Tyler was a good sport, and GTD enjoyed finding her head.

Is this wrong?

I ordered some hair clips for Stacey's new baby. I know it's a little early considering she's not born AND it's highly unlikely she'll have much hair. However they are so cute and I couldn't resist. I had to order myself an extra dog clip because it looks like Oskar. For Gigantor's sake I hope he has a sister at some point.

Today GTD and I went with a friend to try out a Gymboree class. We ended up joining! He had so much fun climbing and playing and avoiding most of the structured play time to forge his own course. He was also afraid of the parachute and refused to sit in it or under it or anywhere near it.

Yay the park!

It was finally cool enough to go outside! We went to the park and Mr. Destroyer had a blast. He loves the steering wheel, running across bridges, and climbing stairs. Today he also decided to give kisses. He's still working on etiquette (like not drooling over the recipient), but he's still sweet. We did some coloring too, but it was a little coloring and most time spent trying to keep crayons from being eaten.

Gigantor V. Oskar

I find it amusing that Gigantor is learning the same tricks as the dog. He even enjoys getting inside Oskar's crate and shutting the door to read Good Night Moon. Now that I think about it, they are a lot alike. They are both loud and rambunctious, like to eat treats, get up early, don't like having their nails clipped, don't like hair cuts (but need them often), don't feel pain, like squeaky toys, like ice, like to play fetch, like to empty toy baskets (but not put them away), like to run around in circles outside, beg for bananas and cheese, are afraid of the vacuum, and like to chase cats. But Ethan can do puzzles...

Bye Bye Pacifier

This weekend, Gigantor unwillingly started bootcamp to kick his pacifier habit. We went cold turkey. He cried for 40 minutes before taking his morning nap. The next day he refused to take his nap three times before finally giving in at 4pm. We are through the worst of it though. They had a good 15 month run. Here they are in the early days.

Where's your nose?

He has found his head, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and toes. He likes to find his head and nose the best, but prefers to find someone else's ears and belly button.