Abbey

Going from a months old to 16 months old in one year changes ones tastes a lot. Marek loves Little Pim and Signing Time DVDs, Reading, dancing with Dad to TV show opening credits (Josh's cardio), Christmas lights (see picture with great grandparent Fonda's xmas tree), Boats, Airplanes, riding on toddler vehicles, trampolining, Dancing on tables, flags. Milk is obviously still pretty high on the list, as are Mom and Dad. However Abbey is one of his most favourite things.

Of course Marek loves Leo (especially riding him like a dog), and hugs him often. But M adores Abbey, and Abbey like Marek (just not in her bed). Don't ask me why. Okay, Abbey likes his food crumbs. M climbs in her bed, hugs her way more that she'd like. They even give each other kisses, when Dad and Mom have to beg for those rare kisses (from M not Abbey).

Merry Christmas!

Oh what a busy few days. Xmas Eve brunch with Yaya, Xmas Eve evening Handley style, then all day Xmas at the Fondas'. Absolutely everyone was spoiled and stuffed beyond belief. Now to recoup.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Great Birthday. Mine are always great as I pretty much demand a week long celebration of me. Highly recommended. If I'm getting older I might as well enjoy it.

M is a big fan of roast beast, and Papa cooked a Roast Beast Feast. M's personal favourite though was Grasshopper Pie. I've never seen M as into dessert as he was into Grasshopper Pie. Will have to remember this. He sucked it off the candles and scooped it into his mouth with his spoon. Luckily there was lots extra for Birthday Girl (32).

Me and my Moneky

It's odd how a toddler can surprise you. Marek has never been into building blocks, and then he just stacks 5 to prove you wrong one day.

More surprising is pretend play. Yesterday Marek brushed his Monkey's teeth at bed time (no prompting by us), made Monkey dance when music came on (again all his own idea), and jumped Monkey way up high, when I asked if Monkey could jump.

The jumping Monkey was pretty cute as Monkey can jump really really high and just stay up there for a minute or two before coming back down.

How bunsiness meeting are conducted at Handley House

He's even nailed Josh's facial expressions.

Forts

M has gotten crazy into play forts. General companions in the fort are his star making turtle, and Monkey. You can see here that Monkey is wearing clothes but not M. M was really against wearing a shirt that day.

Boots and Savings

Must be my child.

See M signing shoes?

My Xmas Elf

M has a cold, so we're trying to find new ways to entertain him inside: Ring a round the rosy, Pop Goes the Weasel, and throwing things down stairs (over baby gate) are current faves.

Hell No!

First ever Lafarge Christmas Children's Party for us. It was a wonderful event, so nice to see all the families.

Marek after a brief warm up period ran every where. He liked the guitar player, and the balloon animal clown. He petted babies (yup, you red that right) to every ones amusement. Ate cookies. Took in the blingy chandeliers (lots of ballonn and light signing)

The only thing he didn't like was Santa. He had a death grip on me the minute we got near him. Although I think that's pretty typical.

Telephone

Why is it all kids love telephones. Marek loves blackberries. He's even taken to playing in Mountain Man's office and is quite convinced the computer mouses are blackberries. Picks them right up and has pretend conversations.

Here you see him with said mouse signing hat, because he lost his Indiana Jones hat.

Oh Christmas Tree!

It's been a while since I saw the look of wonder of M's face. Putting up the Xmas Tree and turning on those lights brought back that look. He was and is fascinated by the Xmas Tree, and Xmas lights.

M loves to take off and play with the lower toddler friendly ornaments. Stack the presents. He calls the reindeers horses; clicks his tongue like hose hooves which is something I do when signing horse.

The last shot you see him signing light. That's a Xmas light inspired sign for M.

M has been helping me wrap the Xmas presents. I wrap them in newspaper and he colors the paper. Ribbon and voila. Dancing to Xmas music is also a big hit.

Life Goes On

So extremely freaky cold weather kept us inside for a week, as it was just to cold to take M out. So we came up with new things to keep us entertained. This included colouring, which often led to M being a riot of different colours.

At the end, we ended going up to the cabin. As you can see, Marek still adores Abbey Dog. Luckily, Abbey adores all the food crumbs M drops, so she puts up with Marek.

We're up to over 30 ASL signs. I don't know how parents live without sign language.

Snow Day part 2 of 2