Monthly update

Simon just gets more funny every single month.  A few of the funny things he says all the time are "Oh my gosh!" when he sees something exciting.  Or, "Oh my goodness!"  He has had a blood blister for some time now.  Even though it doesn't hurt him, he can see it on his finger so he constantly demands that it be covered with a bandaid.  We have run through almost a whole box of Spiderman bandaids at this point.  The boy is so funny.

We had a little bit of snow on Christmas, so we went outside to build a snowman.  Simon has a book about Babar the elephant where they build a snow elephant so that is what he wanted.  Luckily when I pulled out the hat, he got excited about a snowman again because I do not think I could make a snow elephant.  The next day, we were driving around and Simon was very concerned about things being so dirty (especially the cars).  He would tell me each car that needed to be washed.

 
Simon also potty trained this month.  He is doing perfectly with #1 and not so great with #2, but we are working on it.  On the first day of potty training, we kept him with nothing on.  I went upstairs to get something.  He was downstairs with Russell and I suddenly heard Russell shouting "oh no! oh no!'  It turns out that Simon had pooped.  He told Daddy "I pooped!" and then Daddy asked "Where?" Simon answered "Everywhere!"  It was the truth.  Because he was naked and did not make it to the toilet, he was covered in it.  He had to take a shower, but luckily it was not on furniture or anything.  We are so proud of how well he is doing!

Simon has become quite the negotiator.  He knows what he wants to do and often when we say something like "It is time for bed." or "It is time to go pee pee".  He will answer back, "Is not for nap time." "Is not for pee pee."  He will then tell us what it is time for by saying something like "One more story" or "One George" (meaning he wants to watch an episode of Curious George.)  We also used some sweets as bribes for potty training (which worked well) but sometimes he will try to negotiate "One popsicle".  We have a long road ahead of us if he is this smart at 2 1/2 years old!

When I put Simon to bed, he generally either goes straight to sleep or sings to himself a bit.  One night he was yelling so I went to the monitor to see if I could hear what he was saying and he was shouting "I want to be happy! I want to be happy!" over and over.  I have no idea where that one came from, but it was funny.  I went back into his room and said it was time to sleep.  He rolled right over and I did not  hear another peep.  

Simon got to take his first bubble bath too!  We held off for a long time because we knew how much he would love the bubbles and that we would have a hard time getting him out of the bath.  While that has turned out to be true, it is worth it to see how sweet and happy he is about his bubbles.

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving at home.  Simon was so happy because the Tyrells came over so he got to be with his best friend Conor.  These boys are so cute together!

November Fun

Simon was so happy to help Mommy vote for the presidential election in November.  

He carried the "I voted" receipt all day long

 We also celebrated Buffy's birthday and Simon was so excited to pick out a cake for her.  He ended up picking a giant cupcake and licked the frosting.

Simon has been taking a Wiggleworms class at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  He actually got the class for free because they put him on the program cover last year.  He loves music and especially loves the play the instruments.

 

We spent a lot of time at the park and playing in the sand with trucks.  He could spend all day digging the dirt and sand with his trucks and shovels.

Visit to Colorado

Back in October, Simon and I went to Colorado to see our family.  The boys were so happy to be reunited.  Simon was also very relieved to see that Dennie and Jackson's toys made it to the new house.  He had been very concerned since he saw their empty house in Evanston.  We miss them so much and can't wait to go back for our next visit.

Simon is such a great traveler and even carries his own backpack

These boys at a lot of pancakes and "dip" (syrup) 

At the Pumpkin Farm

A lifelong dream fulfilled for Simon (though it would have been better if it was actually moving)

"Hiking" in Boulder

The hills are alive!

Such fun throwing the leaves

Patti was so sweet to come hang out with us twice! We love her!

Monthly Update

Simon is so well spoken that you can have a full conversation with him.  There are only a few "baby" words left.  As nice as it is to see him grow up, it is a little sad when the baby words go away.  He still says "Ochans" for orange and "Yeyow" for yellow.

Sometimes when I put him in his crib, he says "You put me in a fence".  It is so funny because if you think about it, it is sort of true.

He also has added a step to the bedtime routine.  Once I am done singing Baby Beluga and I lay him down in the crib, he gets back up and says "Kiss" and he gets one more kiss.  Then, he lays back down and goes to sleep.  It is so sweet.

He likes to ask about our favorite things too.  He often asks me what my favorite color is.  He knows that mine is purple so before I get a chance to answer, he says purple.  Then he will ask other people what their favorite color is and he usually tells them what it should be.  And when you ask him what his favorite color is, he always says green.  He does the same thing with animals.  He asks me what my favorite animal is and always tells me what it should be.  Then if you ask him what his favorite animal is, he usually has a different answer.  Sometimes it is "Rhinososos", sometimes elephant and lately it is a T-Rex.

He is obsessed with a new toy that he got a few weeks ago.  It is basically a crank machine that turns playdoh into little rocks.  He calls it his construction site and he ends up with 7 or 8 trucks on the counter pushing around the rocks.  He says he builds houses and asked me to make a foundation the other day.  I do not know where he comes up with this stuff!

Chatting in the car

The other day, Simon and I were driving in the car. We went over a very bumpy area and here is the conversation that followed:
Simon: Oh, no! What's going on?
Mommy: It's just a little bumpy
Simon: The tires are broken. I need to fix them. I need a tool box to fix them
Mommy: Okay, honey
Simon: We need a new car
Mommy: What kind of car should we get
Simon: A green one

This boy is so funny and cute!

Monthly Update

We had a very eventful month and it flew by!  Simon talks all the time and says really funny stuff.  It is so interesting as a parent when you hear your child say something in your voice.  He often says "This is crazy" or "What's happening?"  (I think those can be attributed to me).
He will also walk into a room and announce, "It's me, Simon".  The other day he told Russell he had a pineapple in his pants (twice).  He definitely understands when he is being funny and really hams it up.


Popo came to visit and brought Simon a fun farm set.  It was a big hit!

We got to celebrate cousin Will's 13th birthday.  I can't believe he is a teenager!  Time really does fly.

We went to Blake Morton's 3rd birthday party.  It was super hero themed and Simon was excited to have a reason to wear the cape Grandma Lin made for him

Super Simon in Action

Very excited about the Spiderman Cupcakes

We also went to visit our family in Colorado, but that will have to be a separate post because we took about a million pictures.

Halloween was so much fun this year.  We went to the Lincoln Square celebration with the Tyrell's.  These boys are just too cute together!

Simon the elephant and Conor the King penguin

 On Halloween, Simon decided to wear a Lion costume instead of the elephant.  Both were equally adorable!  He loved handing out candy to kids in the neighborhood.

Handing out candy to a fellow Lion

Say Cheese!