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!

Spoon practice

James has been feeding himself cold cereal for some time now but really prefers to sit back and have his servants wait on him for most other spooned foods. Up until a week ago, he was perfectly happy being fed anything that he couldnt pick up with his hands. So mommy let him try his hand (and spoon) at yogurt today. Mom may have turned away for a few minutes to clean up in the kitchen and when she turned back, she was greeted with this smiling face.

the tides turn

A few months back, James took over Brodie's bed. Brodie was a pretty good sport about the whole thing and shared rather reasonably with the little person. Little did we know he was plotting his revenge. James' chair is now the favorite resting spot of our furry pal Brodie. However, James isn't as eager to share the chair and we sometimes find James trying to sit on Brodie to get him to move.

Couldn't resist sharing a "then and now" photo. James used to love his exersaucer (see 6 month pic). When Nanny brought out hers for Emma to try, James had flashbacks of his fun times and insisted on giving it another try (he climbed in head first and got stuck with his feet in the air).

Our Future Ski Bum

Dad is getting ready to head out to Steamboat, CO later this week for a visit with Uncle Vince and Aunt Karen. We're all real excited for dad's trip as skiing is dad's third love after mommy and James.
Because of this, James is learning a thing or two about the great sport of skiing. This weekend we helped dad pack and our little curious monkey got an opportunity to check out dad's gear. Getting to wear dad's boots was a real treat and there were many "more"s and "boot"s being spoken during packing. And dad was kind enough to leave the boots in the family room that night so James could inspect them thoroughly. While he's on the slopes, the rest of the clan will be up in MA visiting Anna and Emma. Here's to champagne powder!

TOUCHDOWN!! GO GIANTS!! (yes we have taught James how to enthusiastically say "touchdown" and "foooootball"!!)

Belated Christmas

After 4 straight days of celebrating Christmas, we've been taking a backseat to webpostings and enjoying all our new toys and quiet time at home. We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays as much as we did. James thought all the Christmas celebrations were pretty cool: he got so many new trucks in all sorts of shapes and sizes that his little mind couldn't keep up with the excitement! Most of the past week you could find James clinging to his yellow school bus (see picture) and his prized red ukelele (the guitar in the picture he borrowed from cousin Ryan on Christmas day). James has also been increasing his vocabulary and amazes us every day with more and more words. We hope 2009 proves to be a year filled with many happy times & exciting milestones. Happy New Year!

Too much eggnog?

there is something to be said about a child who can sleep anywhere. James has come a long way in 17 months in this department. We enjoy this sequence very much and hope you do too. Be honest, we all secretly wish we could (still) do this sometimes and get away with it.

A Weekend of SNOW

What a weekend filled with lots of snow! We think there's about a foot or so out there after the 2 storms. We had fun venturing out in the SUV on Friday night to get Chinese food, watching the birds spend all day at the feeders and on Sunday, we took James back out for round 2 of snowplay. Going out in the snow for a toddler is much like going in the ocean: it's a love/hate relationship filled with laughter and tears. Only in the snow, you are wearing ten tons of clothes and cant move to save your life. James learned quickly that the driveway and garage were the only places he could get around in. Unfortunately, the plastic sled mom got wasn't a big hit with the little James (it was with the big James though). Maybe it was the pelting snow coming down that took the fun out of the sledding? We'll keep trying! Hope everyone enjoyed the snowy weekend as much as we did.

The hat distraction

James has a signature sure-fire sign his teeth bother him: his blazing red cheeks. We are only waiting for one more molar on top and it still proves to be a tough process. Here was James' idea of a distraction on this particular day: wearing his construction hat while doing everything (thank you for the hand-me-down from cousin Nick Ferrante).

First Snow

This weekend brought the first snow of the season...and, James' first real experience with the white stuff. Mom and dad had flashbacks of their own childhood while dressing James for the big event. Once he was in his snow suit and we felt certain that there was no possible way he could get up on his own if he fell, (Christmas story anyone?) we all ventured outdoors.

Important lesson: mittens and little hands do not mix well when it comes to functionality. After many frustrating attempts to pick up snow, his shovel and his outdoor truck, James decided that the white stuff was just ok. Good trial run for mom and dad. We all took an afternoon field trip to Target to get better mittens and search for a good toboggen (not just a measely sled, we need something that will go fast for our thrill seeking son). The search is still on, but the season is young.

Happy Thanksgiving

Monday after Thanksgiving weekend is always a hard day: you are extra full from a few days of eating delicious food and spending time enjoying the beginning of the holiday season. James had a blast on Thanksgiving with his cousin William. He was especially fond of all the matchbox cars William brought with him to Grandma and Grandpa's house. There were many exhuberant "Whooah"s and "Coool"s from James when he saw the loot William had. We also were excited when Aunt Kelly shared the news that they will be welcoming a new baby this summer! No more baby James in the Hartigan family soon.
We also got to spend a lot of time with Aunt Alison this past weekend. She taught James what sound a horse makes and put together his new train table when it arrived during naptime on friday. We all enjoyed having her around & Sunday morning James could be found wandering around looking for his Aunt Ali.
James is now learning all about the Christmas season. We're playing lots of Christmas music (he's partial to Jingle Bell Rock) and we'll be putting the lights on the Christmas tree this week. (it sits in the family room now & James enjoys pointing at it saying (oooh treee)
Can't wait to see his reaction to all the fun things that are Christmas!

Gearing up for the holidays

Life is still busy these days so James is catching some sleep where ever he can. James has perfected the sleeping-in-the-highchair routine and even performed it for his Grandma the other day during lunch. The exciting news is he has taken a big leap with his tastebuds and he is are starting to enjoy many new foods.
We're all learning to be extra cautious with our choice of words as James can be heard repeating the last word of your sentences. some of his new favorites are "YES" and "MORE" which are positive communication words that we love hearing! Of course we get our share of the "No" word as well :-)

We've been busy

It's been a very busy couple of weeks for us Hartigans, hence the lack of blogging. Not to mention the fact that James decided we no longer needed a spacebar on our laptop which in turn makes typing a bit of a challenge. Here's a quick recap of the happenings:
Our beautiful niece Emma was baptized and Uncle Jim and Aunt Bridget were honored to be her Godparents. Emma performed well at the ceremony & we feel after partaking in a total of 4 baptisms where we were major players, this was definitely our best showing. Bridget got the directions wrong for cousin William's, we all almost missed cousin Anna's because of a timing issue, and James downright hated his main event. Thank you Emma!
This month Jim embarked on a new business venture which has made for some intense days and nights and we are all thrilled with the outcome. Even though dad has been pretty busy with his great new job, he's been able to witness the incredible vocabulary explosion with James. Now that toddlerhood has settled in, (what do you mean I can't have my way???) we are experiencing a whole new world with James. Each stage is both challenging and rewarding. One of the best things mom has taught James is the word "please" (instead of screaming). It is very hard not to give in to that sweet face when you are greeted with a smile and a "peas" in a delightfully polite voice.
We also got the treat of spending time with cousin Megan, Josh and Will this past weekend. Being that they live in Southern California, we don't get too many opportunities to hang out. http://www.theplateniks.blogspot.com/
What fun we all had seeing how much the little ones have grown. And, Great Grampa enjoyed seeing all of his great grandchildren together. Thanks for the memories!

Great Grandpa with his three granddaughters (Bridget, Megan, and Becki) and 4 great grandkids: James (16 months), Will (15 months), Anna (2 yrs.) and Emma (3 months)

Our T Bird's Halloween night

This year, James was not going to settled for being another meat product (last year he was an unhappy hotdog) so mom was creative and dressed him as a T Bird from Grease. Our festivities began last weekend when our little greaser won first place at a costume party & posed for pictures with his friend Katie who was a 50's girl (perfect couple!) For Halloween, we took James to Main St. to the biggest Halloween party around where he got the chance to see giant spiders, 50 jack-o-lanterns all lit up in a row and hundreds of other creative costumes (we enjoyed the oopma loompas and the average Joe). A big highlight was coming across the Grease-themed house where James fit right in. The Pink Ladies LOVED having a pint-sized Danny Zucco stop by. Though we didn't get a ton of candy, we all had a great time experiencing Halloween through the eyes of a very curious little boy. Happy Halloween!