Thomas!

Reading Thomas.. Look Mom, it's James!

Trying On

We leave for Florida this Friday so I had to try a few outfits on AJ to make sure they fit...

 

Looking super cute in a 12-18 month summer outfit

AJ and Mommy love

Thanks Baba for the shirt set - it fits me so well!

Porter Lovin'

Over the past few months, AJ has taken a liking to Porter.  He will randomly try to hug and kiss Porter... it's adorable!  And thank goodness that Porter accepts and embraces the love!  Tonight I was able to capture a few photos of the love these two share...

Sharing a moment.

He loves his kitty cat!

Hugs

Hi Mom!

They love each other!

Rudolph Fun

Ever since Christmas, AJ has been obsessed with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  We literally watch the movie about 3-4 times a day.  I've tried to switch it up and have him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Thomas, but within the first five minutes of the different show AJ is requesting Rudolph again.  So on goes Rudolph, again.  I'm thinking Rudolph is going to become a staple in the house and we will be watching it year-round!

Hanging out on his giraffe with Rudolph on in the background.

Loving life with Rudolph!

Future Chef?

About ready to dive into Daddy's Michael Symon cookbook

Flipping through the pages trying to find something he likes.

BEEF...yum!

He found a recipe he liked!

Fun with Yogurt and Pasta!

Tonight's dinner for AJ consisted of wheat penne pasta noodles and some strawberry greek yogurt.  I usually spoon feed AJ, but figured tonight would be a perfect to let AJ do it all by himself.  He started out keeping it clean and keeping the two foods separate, but by the end all of the pasta was in the yogurt and AJ was only playing with it all instead of eating it!  Oh well... he had fun and that's all that matters!

Look at him.. doing it all by himself! By this point, I don't think any noddles had made it into the yogurt!

Telling us to 'shhhh' just because.

And here's where the messiness began... AJ realized his hand was covered in yogurt.

Then he realized both hands were covered so he kept squeezing them 

feeling the different texture on his fingers.

Finger lickin' good!

'Oooh... there's still more to lick off!'

Yum yum!

The pasta has made its way into the yogurt at this point.  And even Timber wanted to get a bite of the yogurt with pasta!

Uh oh.. AJ realized Mommy had the camera on him.  And I don't think he liked being so messy!

Relaxing Time for Mommy

Mommy got her hair highlighted and trimmed this morning... ahhh.. relaxation!

Thanks to Baba and Dziadzi for watching my little guy!

Sitting on the Potty

Grandma and Grandpa gave AJ a Thomas the Tank Engine potty seat for Christmas and we've had it in the bathroom for a couple of weeks now.  And lately, AJ has been saying 'I pee' so we've decided maybe it's time to introduce the potty to him.  I've tried to have him sit on it a few times but to no avail.  He'll sit for a second or two, then immediately get up.  So, I tried to outsmart him tonight and brought in a secret weapon - Mommy's iPad!  And it worked!  I was actually able to get him to sit on the potty for a few minutes while he played around with baby's first app!  Unfortunately, he didn't push out any pee or poop, but it's a start and I'll take it!

'Hi Mom'

Having fun with Baby's First App and learning about numbers, letters, objects and animals

'A whale goes squiiirt!'

Concentrating.

Back to playing!

My Little Cowboy

He's become a bit wild on the horse now thanks to his partner-in-crime, Allie-Cat!

He was riding him so fast I couldn't get a clear shot!

Our little wild man!

Bathtime Breakdown

After AJ woke up this morning, I drew a bath for him and let him play for a few minutes.  He was having a grand 'ol time with all of his toys and was splashing his hands around in the tub, when all of a sudden Mommy brought out the big black box.  His entire demeanor changed and he became cranky AJ.  All I wanted to do was get some cool pics of him splashing in the tub, but instead this is what I got...

Someone wasn't happy when Mommy brought out the camera.

'Stop taking my picture'

'Enough already'

'I just want to take a bath in peace'

A furry friend stopped by for a couple of seconds and AJ stopped fussing.

But once Porter left, it was back to being upset.

'I'm going to leave if you don't stop Mom!'

Teacher AJ

Cioci Kimmy is helping me out by watching AJ on Tuesdays while my in-laws are on vacation.  Katie started the trend by pretending to be teacher and asking both Allie and AJ to sit on their bottoms so she could read to them.

So once Katie was done, AJ followed suit and decided to be teacher AJ!

AJ's New Friend

As we were leaving Babcia and Dziadzi's tonight, I was buckling AJ in his carseat when a new friend decided to join us.  Butterscotch had helped himself right into our car and wanted to snuggle with AJ!

We have a visitor!

Trying to find a comfortable spot on AJ's lap

Still trying.. unfortunately his furry bottom was in AJ's face! 

AJ was loving the snuggles from Butterscotch

Butterscotch wanted to pose for the camera!

Front Camera

Sorry for the overload of AJ and me pictures, but AJ is currently obsessed with taking pictures from the iPhone's front camera.  I'm not going to argue though.. I'm loving the cuddle and camera time we're getting together!

Visit from 'Auntie' Carrie and Lilly

'Auntie' Carrie and Lilly came over again tonight for another visit.  (I know - two visits in one month - shocking!)  Carrie, Michael and I made two amazing quiches and Lilly made a cheese and pepperoni pizza.  After dinner, of course there was lots of girl talk between Carrie and I while AJ and Lilly played in the living room.  But then AJ wanted to get in on the girl talk....

He also wanted to let us know which coupons were good deals.

What a mess he made during our girl talk! haha

Haircut at My New Haircut

Michael's co-worker told him about a new barbershop in town (My New Haircut) so when it was time to get AJ's haircut, we decided to give the new shop a whirl.  We were very impressed with the shop!  It has a nice waiting area with cartoons on tv for the kiddos and plenty of books/coloring books to keep the kids occupied if they're not interested in television.  

We had about a 15-20 minute wait before it was AJ's turn, but he was completely content with watching Caillou for a bit before turning it over to the coloring books.  (Mom - he went straight for the Halloween coloring book - you would have been proud!)  He was in really good spirits.  But then it was AJ's turn to sit in the barber's chair.  He was fine for the first few minutes, but then the meltdown ensued.  He was not thrilled about nor did he care that there was a super cool tv behind the mirror and that lady - she was using scissors on him, ugh!  Of course Michael and I are standing there with our phones trying to bring up a Thomas and Disney Junior app to try and distract AJ, but nothing worked.  He was cranky and not happy about getting his hair cut at all.  The barber even told us that we could come by a little bit later in the week when AJ had calmed down if we wanted, but we figured we would just get it over and done with in this one shot.  

After all was said and done, even though AJ was cranky and upset with us, he came out looking like a million bucks!  Our handsome little boy was back!

Not too excited about her cutting the lower portion of his hair

He was ok for this though...

Daddy showing AJ a Thomas the Train video on YouTube to keep him distracted

More Thomas that kept him calm

And this was right before he had his meltdown.... But we survived and he came out with a super cute cut (which I forgot to take a photo of!)!