Last week of February...

Boy are we looking forward to the warm weather! We have serious cabin fever and have resorted to:
wearing dad's shoes and trying (sometimes successfully) to walk around the house. Dad wears a size 12, James is a size 7 toddlers, i.e. big difference!
Pulling on Brodie's tail and trying not to get caught. When we do, we say "i'm sorry" now without being prompted. Atleast all of mom's teachings on this subject have not been ignored.
We stare out the window longingly at our playset and swings in the backyard wishing we could go out to play.
And when we get really bored, we blow fish faces on the window and practice our kissing techniques. Spring please come soon.

Another week in review...

Highlights of the week...Here's a picture when James was 6 months old with his friends (THEN) and a shot of the most recent Valentine's celebration (NOW). James is the one in the blue pants above and khaki pants below. How time flies!

James has been busy putting together 2-3 word sentences this past week. Some of our favorites "come here" (come EEEEre), "stop it" (we must say this to brodie a lot as James will only say it to the dog), and then various "I sit", "I eat", etc. It's fun watching him try new things and get excited over our reactions. We are really looking forward to the warm weather as James has now taken to giving me my jacket and shoes every morning and saying "go outside". It's still only 28 degrees!! Soon enough.

We had a great long weekend with daddy and miss him a lot today. Only 4 days until we get to pal around together again.

The week in review

James enjoyed watching the first half of the superbowl on Sunday...in between playing with his beloved Little People farm set. Of course, most evenings someone in our house is designated the hat-wearer, and Sunday was James' night. This week we got back on track by going to our normal activities (all except our playgroup on Tuesday because of the snow, we hope Spring comes real soon). James has also been taking champion naps these days. By the picture you can see James LOVES the orange cow that Boppa got him when he was sick last week. As great as this napping is for mommy, it does backfire every morning at the 520am wake up call. James also surprised mommy this week by starting to point out shapes and colors he sees without being prompted. Circle, triangle and the color green are the varieties he prefers to comment on most. It was very exciting to hear James declare that his potato pancake was green in a very skeptical voice last night (mom got a variety with spinach in it and yes he did eat it!). He amazes us every day.

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?

The past few weeks have been busy for the Hartigans hence resulting in the lack of postings. Here's a quick recap: mom and dad took their first big trip away from James to California. James got to stay with Nanny and Boppa and from the daily pictures we were sent (see all the photos) he had a good time. Mom and dad had a nice time up in Sonoma/Napa and then headed down to Southern California for a conference. Mom got the better end of that deal - she got to go see Will and Megan! It was fun to see Will in his own environment (even if he was still a little sickie). We were happy to get home to James late last week but not so happy to be met with our own sick boy and soon to follow sick momma. We're all on the mend now but, is it possible James is getting his 2 year molars? We think so!
James is also getting better everyday with his talking skills. We are practicing a more coherant pronunciation of "school bus" as it still comes out as a perfect "cheeseburger" but those of us in the know understand what he's saying :-) His favorite thing to do is narrate his own day "taste, walk, run, drink, eat, sleepy, watch, see, drive, shower, up and even help me". We are also starting down the slippery slope into the Two-zone. "No" has become a favorite word. "Yes" is gone and replaced with "yeah" and those spontaneous fits are not so sporadic anymore. They've actually become more of a regular activity a few times a day. Patience and consistency (no matter how tired we are) are virtues we pray for more of each day!
Mom is hoping the 530am wake up calls go away again soon as we had gotten used to the 7am lazy mornings before we left for CA. James is looking forward to this winter-thing being over soon so he can get outside and run around. Thank goodness for the Danbury PAL center open gym and our other activities!
We hope everyone is having a good winter and Happy Groundhog day!