This is what I wish Brian looked like

for a nice day out.

But sadly, this is what Brian looks like when we leave the house.  Even he does not look thrilled about it.

I have spent at least the last 6 months hoping to get rid of the bib.  However I think we might be at an all time drooling high.  I met a mother a few weeks ago who informed me that her son used one until he was 2 years and 9 months.  She said that the drool even continued past his second molars coming in.  I am truly convinced that people assume Howard and I have the largest 10 month old they have ever seen because everyone refers to him as a baby.

Fun and free are two great words

but when you put them together they are utterly fantastic.  On days we don't have anything planned Brian and I sometimes take a trip downtown to Barnes and Noble.  The key is to get there right after they open so the Thomas the Train table is not packed with smelly, unattended ankle biters.  Brian stood at the table and played so happily for almost 30 minutes.

NEWS FLASH LADY

If you are the loudest and most obnoxious person in a small restaurant with at least 5-6 toddlers there you deserve a muzzle along with a swift kick to the noggin.  I took Brian to the small sushi restaurant down the street from us tonight for dinner.  Even though it is a small restaurant it's usually very quiet in there.  Brian and I sat behind a table of 5 adults.  After 2.5 seconds of sitting there I wanted to turn around and ask the incredibly loud and obnoxious lady why she thought other people in the restaurant would be interested in her mothers birthday gift, all of the names she has for her mother (mommy, mama, ma - truly original, I know) and best of all what her nieces and nephews call their grandmother.  I do not mind if you are a dull person without an interesting story to offer up to your friends.  BUT, keep it to the table and please do not pierce my eardrums with it.

On a different note Brian shoveled in about 8 pieces of chicken katsu, potato and shrimp tempura and white rice.  I tried to get him to taste some edamame but he politely put the small green beans back on my plate.

One hot mess

For those of you who didn't know, Brian attended school on Fridays for the last 5 months.  I would say that for the most part Brian truly enjoys going to pre-school.  I don't think he enjoys it for the typical reasons such as great teachers, getting to play outside, new and different toys, etc.  I am 99.9% sure Brian loves going to school because he gets to color all over himself.  Every week when I go to pick him up he comes out with a new art project.  I don't think any of Brians artwork has been more colorful or decorative than his arms, face and clothing.

Brian the observer

Ever since Brian was only a few months old people would comment to us about how observant he was.  For an almost two year old Brian is more laid back than most of his male counterparts.  Brian likes to be moving but at a much slower and more careful pace than I see most little boys.  I am beginning to think this is because if Brian is moving too quickly he worries he will miss out on seeing something important.  I first noticed how much he was paying attention to about 4 or 5 months ago.  I was sitting on the couch with an empty protein bar wrapper while Brian was playing in front of me.  He looked up and me and noticed the empty wrapper in my hand.  Without a second thought Brian took the wrapper from me, walked over to the cabinet the trash can is in, opened the door and threw it away.  I am not sure if this is abnormal behavior but I was so amazed that my 17-18 month old threw away my garbage without being asked or ever shown what to do with trash.  Over the next few months Howard and I noticed other behaviors that were clearly being mimicked because they were not things we specifically showed Brian.  For instance, before we would leave the apartment Brian would close all of the doors to the bedrooms, he started filling up Daisys food dish when it was empty and recently has started to take a tissue and blow his nose.  The nose blowing is something I am impressed by but also trying to prevent because at 22 months the snot ends up in a lot more places than just the tissue.  About a week ago Brian began doing something, that sadly many parents probably don't even teach their children, so far beyond his years Howard and I are convinced he is ready for a lifetime of health, wealth and achievement.  Brian walked into his bathroom, shut the door, and a few moments later exited while flossing.  I realize that Brian is not flossing properly, however, I am so excited that he is already familiar with the idea.  So go ahead Grandma, retire whenever you want.  Brian will be flossing before those baby teeth ever fall out.

What day is today....

Today is partner day!!!  I would like to announce to my tens of readers that Howard was promoted to partner earlier today.  I could not be more proud of him.  IMHO (in my humble opinion) no one in the history of public accounting has deserved this more.  He works so hard every day and always tries to do right by his clients and co-workers.  I am 100% sure that this is just one of the major milestones to come in  what will surely be an amazing career.

After a 3 month hiatus I would like to dedicate

my first post back to Uncle Mike.  There are a few reasons for this.  1) My sister alerted me to the fact that he checks the blog regularly for updates even though I have been awful about it and 2) Brian could not get enough of Uncle Mike during our recent trip to Las Vegas.  I promise there will be more Vegas pictures included in later posts once I go through all of them.  So, without further ado it is the magical coupling of Brian and his Uncle Mike.

I am aware this photo does not include Brian but it makes me very happy and it is my blog so I decided to include it.

I eat like Aunt Laura

When we were in NY for the holidays my best friend Pam and her fiancé Tom gave Brian what turned out to be the greatest Christmas present of 2011.  They gifted him with a set of utensils and a plate which helps the kids with using a fork and spoon at an early age.  Attached below is a link to the items in case anyone is interested in seeing exactly what I am talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Constructive-Eating-3-Piece-Utensil-Matching/dp/B0049OO3F6/ref=pd_cp_t_0

Since Brian started using these utensils he has decided that he no longer wants to be fed by Howard or I.  He is now a big boy that can feed himself.  I have included some photos so everyone can see what a great job he is doing.

Thank you Aunt Laura

for my Mickey doll and ears.  I love my Mickey doll but I am still uncomfortable in hats.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa

for my Valentines Day card.  Mommy mumbled something to me about there not being something called a scratch off in there but I loved it nonetheless.

Potty

A few weeks ago Howard and I bought a small plastic potty for Brian.  No, we are not so naive we think our child will be potty trained anytime soon.  However, we figured it wouldn't hurt to have him get used to it and sit on it whenever he wanted.  Needless to say he enjoys sitting on it.

Just like Grandma

After 18 months, 1 week and 6 days

it finally happened..............Brian took a crap in the bathtub.  I was convinced that it wouldn't happen to us this late in the game.  Sadly, I was mistaken.  Howard and I were playing with Brian in the tub earlier today when all of a sudden he stood up, smiled and a large turd slid out seamlessly into the tub.  He then proceeded to squat down and squeeze out another 3 large pieces.  I realize that this is not that big a deal and it happens to almost everyone.  My concern is that Howard and I were laughing so hard when this happened Brian is going to try his hardest to do this every time he is in the tub to get the same reaction out of us.

On a side note, for anyone that has never tried to remove large wet pieces of feces from a tub it is much like an amusement park game, IMPOSSIBLE.

For anyone out there that enjoys cooking

I stumbled across a woman's blog/website titled skinnytaste.com.  So far I have made two recipes from her site and they have both been fantastic.  Attached below are the links to the recipes I made.  Both were so simple and quick.  Also, for anyone following weight watchers she includes the number of points per serving.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/01/turkey-sausage-and-tomato-sauce-over.html

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/08/chicken-rollatini-stuffed-with-zucchini.html

Just as a side note I did not use lean turkey sausage because they did not have any at the grocery store.  I used mild Italian sausage so it was not quite as healthy but I'm sure it made it taste better.

The life of a stay at home toddler

      When Howard and I get snuggles like this we refuse to move until Brian does.

18 Month Wellness Visit

Brian had his 18 month check up with the doctor on Wednesday morning.  They were running a little late so we had to spend about 15 minutes in the waiting room.  Brian was having so much fun in there I was convinced he had blocked out the last trip we made to the doctor (4 shots).  Before my foot even made it all the way into the exam room the memories from his 15 month visit must have come flooding back.  Brian proceeded to cry hysterically for the next 30 minutes.  They were unable to weigh him but we did manage to hold him down long enough to measure him.  My tater tot is now 33.5 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds (we only know how much he weighs because just like both his parents, Brian makes sure to weigh himself on our scale at home every morning).  Those measurements put Brian in the 75-90% for height and 5-10% for weight.  I couldn't be more proud that my son is already following in his fathers manorexic footsteps.

A few pics from December to brighten your day

Our little thug

Brian wanted to go under the seat on the flight back to NY in Daisys carrier

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a golf club and ball from the Dollar Tree.  Let it be known he LOVES it.

Giving Daisy his old big bird to chew on

I would like to share a very simple recipe

I came across this recipe in the "flat belly day" of my women's health magazine.  It is intended for breakfast but I have been eating it for lunch right before the gym.  I apologize for not taking a photo before I ate it this afternoon but I will post one later in the week.

The recipe, if you can even call it that, calls for two poached eggs on top of a whole wheat english muffin. Top it with two tablespoons of fat free greek yogurt mixed with some lemon juice and lemon zest.  I found it to be slightly plain so I added some salsa on top.

Brians alter ego

Up until a few months ago Brian never minded getting his hair cut.  One day he decided he was not going to stand for it any longer.  That was the day Howard and I decided we would wait as long as we could in between trips to the "stylist."

Now, for anyone that has spent an entire day at home with a toddler they know you need to become creative to help the time pass.  I took the opportunity prior to Brians last haircut to work on my hair skills.  I have always had a hard time practicing on myself and my son was so accommodating I took advantage.  For the rest of the day Brian was known as Brianna.

And this was my monkey after his haircut.

I think about a lot of different things

when I go to the gym each day.  I think about how much I enjoy exercising, how lucky I am that Howard pays for me to attend such a lovely facility, but mostly I think about the fact that just because something comes in a particular clothing size does not mean you should be wearing it.  I want to inform the 60 year old wearing a white spandex top with no sports bra that I can see her nipples that sit right above her belly button.  I want to let the woman in the very light pink pants know that I can see her black thong.  Most importantly I want to tell at least 50% of the women there that I can see every ounce of cheese through their pants that are so damn tight it would be inappropriate to wear them anywhere else.  I have tried so hard over the years to subscribe to the camp of "it's their lives, people should be able to do whatever they want and it shouldn't bother me."  However, how could I possibly let that be the case when I KNOW I am right.

On another note, I would like everyone reading this to know that my New Years resolution was to be nicer (at Howards request).  So if you read the above entry and thought, that wasn't very nice, trust me it was nicer than it would have been prior to January 1st.

There are two reasons

I have not posted in the last 6 weeks.  One is because we spent 3 glorious weeks in NY during the holidays.  Two is because Brian is going through a phase where every time he sees a camera he stops doing whatever adorable thing made us bust it out in the first place and starts trying to grab it.  Example below:

Can't you just hear the whining through the photo.

I have an important announcement

For those of you that know me well this might be very hard to believe..........I have made a friend.  For those of you that don't know me well I have just painted myself in a bad light.  Anyhoo, I met her a few months ago in a music class for toddlers.  She has twins that are a month older than Brian.  Their family moved to northern California from Vancouver in March.  In the beginning of December she invited Brian and I over to her house for a playdate.  Of course I was thrilled but I just assumed she was desperate because she didn't know anyone here.  However, last Thursday was the turning point in our relationship.  She invited me to attend a preschool fair with her.  We spent 3 glorious hours together and I must say, I really enjoy my time with her.  Now I am just trying to figure out if she will think a BFF necklace is too much.