Who are you and what have you done with my son?!

I found myself asking James this question yesterday.  I'm not complaining.  Far from it.  Our biggest struggle with this child has been food.  Everyone should know that.  He didn't like to eat.  There was a very short list of things he would eat willingly.  In the last week or two we have added to that list meatballs, cheeseburger, sausage, grilled/baked chicken, rice, cantaloupe, apple slices, and that's just off the top of my head.  AMAZING!!!  A switch has been flipped somewhere in his brain.  I am trying to not get my hopes up too high because I'm afraid this is a stage and he'll go back to his old ways.  But I'm loving this as long as it lasts.  The strategies that never worked are now working.  I'm really hoping this lasts, but don't be too surprised if I'm back on in a couple days saying it's all back to normal.  Whatever just happened, "Thank you, Lord!"

A short cute story

I woke up yesterday at 6am because there were weird noises coming from the monitor.  In my half dreaming James was saying ow! over and over.  When I was finally able to wake up enough, I realized he was howling.  He laid in his bed and howled for at least 5 minutes then went back to sleep.  He must have heard coyotes. 

Counting

A friend of mine noticed months ago James pointing to items and saying something as if he was counting.  It blew my mind that a kid that young could pick up on that.  Not sure that's really what he was doing, but that's what it looked like.  Then in the nursery at church, the worker told him he could have one goldfish and he held up his two pointer fingers and said "two".  So cute.  The first time I noticed him counting he said, "two, two, two, two..."  I guess that was the only number he recognized.  Now he says, "one two, one two" and occasionally three.  Just thought I'd share something I think is pretty cool. 

Choo-Choo!!

James LOVES trains!  Toy trains, real trains, pictures of trains, videos of trains, Thomas the train, Chuggington the train, any train.  As of a couple weeks ago, the only age appropriate toy train I could find was a Thomas whistle that also blows bubbles.  Pretty fun, but it doesn't last very long. One or both of us gets bored or lightheaded.  While Matt and I were in San Antonio for our Anniversary (4 years, oh yeah!) we went to Target and found an affordable wooden train set.  Well, of course, he loves it.  He will play with it by himself for longer than anything else.  At least, until I need to fix something.  It's the first thing he asks for when he wakes up in the morning and after nap.  He goes to the box where we keep it, begs me to open it and then to build the track.  Matt also found a train DVD.  It seems pretty boring to me.  Just a bunch of trains running around with two weird guys (one never talks but only blows on a train whistle) telling how trains work.  James will watch the entire 30 minutes of it at one time.  I've also learned that if I want James to like something, such as his toothbrush or potty seat, I just buy one with trains all over it.  By the way, we have a Thomas themed toothbrush and potty seat.  So, to make James happy, get him a train, or show him a train, or talk about trains.

Quote of the Whatever (QotW):  "Frying pans, who knew, right?"

For those who don't know:  QotW is something my sister and I did when I was in college.  She has started it up again and I think it's fun.  Extra points for the first person to guess what the quote is from.

PS: I typed this whole post and then with one click of the mouse, James somehow deleted every word.  And of course, it automatically saves after I type something new, so it saved it that way and I had to retype it. 

A day in the life

I kept James yesterday so that Claire could work in Dixie's shop.
He was in rare form.

Last week James found some plastic animals in the toy box.  I thought he was too young to play with them, but he has really enjoyed the giraffes and the baby lion.  I call the baby lion 'simba.'  He plays with it a lot but he doesn't call it anything.  I was hoping to teach him some Swahili words for animals at least.  Maybe it'll catch on.

He started taking pictures with my camera.  I HOPE you can tell the difference, but maybe he's a genius photographer and I'll just have to live with it.

Gigi and James, what a pair!

New stats

James' 18 month check up was about a month ago, but I forgot to update you guys.  So, here we go:

Weight: 21 lbs 1 oz (below 5th %)
Length: 29 in (below 5th %)
Head: 19 in (25th %)

Doc was a little worried about his not gaining weight, but what can you expect from a kid that doesn't like to eat?  We're supplementing with some Carnation instant breakfast in his milk to give him some extra calories and stuff. 

Dr. Amy sent us to the eye doctor because she thought he had a lazy eye.  My first thought was, "Dang it, another specialist!"  Gigi and I took him to Austin to the Pedi eye doc.  Everything is fine.  His eye is a little weird, but there's nothing wrong with it.  It looks slightly different (most people will never see it), but it won't affect his sight. 

Every day is a challenge getting him to eat, but we're still working on that. 

He is so smart and talks all the time.  He comes up with new words every day it seems.  His favorite words are Mommy, puppy, and of course Bapplejuice.  He woke me up this morning saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy..."  That's the best wake up call ever! 

Duck Duck Goose!

On Wednesday, James and I went to La Grange to keep the girls I babysit.  At the church they were having Wacky Wednesday which was 2 hours of running around playing games.  We played duck duck goose, some German games, did a craft and had a snack.  It was a lot of fun and good to get the kids out of the house for a little bit.  Mostly James just stood there and watched in amazement.  When it was our turn to run around the duck duck goose circle, he laughed his head off.  At the end, he decided he wanted to do it by himself.  He started patting people's heads saying quack...quack...quack... then he took off running until someone caught him.  The look on his face was one of sheer enjoyment.  We need opportunities like that more often.