The Wave.

Here are a few more pictures from the beach. I couldn't decide which one to put up, so I put up the whole sequence; anticipating the upcoming wave . . .

A Dolphin Weekend.

If you look really closely, you can see the dolphin fin . . .

Brian's parents were in town for the weekend and we all had a great time. On Saturday we took JJ on his first visit to Sea World. The whole way there he kept saying "I want to see world." I don't think he understands different meanings for the same words yet, i.e. "sea" vs "see"! We walked around the park and got to see the penguins, sharks, sea turtles, sea lions, lots of fish, got to touch some star fish in the tide pool, polar bears, whales, and we went to the dolphin show. JJ actually sat quietly and watched intently for the whole 25 minute dolphin show! It was truly amazing to see (JJ sitting quietly that is!)!

He loved seeing all the animals and only ran off a few times. He would only run off when we were out in the open though; when we would go into an exhibit that was a little dark he would whine and want to be picked up. He loved seeing the animals but did not want to walk through the exhibits on his own. Brian and I were reminded a little as to why we love the zoo so much though since at the zoo the crowds aren't as concentrated. It was a little more difficult to keep an eye on super fast JJ with the big crowds.

Brian's parents bought JJ a shark that is now officially his favorite toy and he has to sleep with it! Yesterday when we put him to bed for his nap, he was sleeping on his blanket as a pillow, had a pacifier in one hand, and the shark in the other. Apparently we're now to the age of sleeping with toys in the bed.

Yesterday we headed to the beach and JJ liked it more this time than he ever has in the past. He buried Opa's feet in the ground and actually went out in the ocean with Brian holding him. He still was a little scared of the waves, but didn't cry like before. While we were at the beach, we saw lots of dolphins swimming and "surfing" in the waves. It was really neat to see them out in the wild doing their own show!

We had a great weekend followed by complete meltdown this evening. After dropping off Brian's parents at the airport, JJ cried almost the whole way home saying through his tears "I want Oma, I want Opa." Then on the drive home JJ saw a different Navy ship out in the water and JJ started asking for "Daddy boat." At which point I had to tell him that Daddy and his boat are out in the ocean for the next 10 days which just made him cry even more : ( I felt so bad for him that I let him con me into a dinner of crackers, fruit crisps, and fruit snacks! We'll hopefully both be able to pull it together for the next week and a half and eat some more well balanced meals : )

Tuesday.

Notice the dark area in his hair - it's sand embedded in his scalp! Apparently he had a fun day playing outside.

Brian's gone for a few days this week and I went back to work for the first time in a month. All the changes have definitely had an impact on JJ and today was pretty rough : ( This morning he was super slow getting ready and walking down the stairs. He just kept stopping and saying "pretty dress mommy, pretty shoes mommy." Apparently he isn't used to seeing me in anything other than shorts and flip flops lately!

When I picked him up this afternoon, the woman that watches him asked if he was teething. Sure enough, his fourth 2-year molar is starting to come in and it's not helping his negative attitude this week. When will this teething be over?!?!?!?!??!

On our way home this evening, I needed to stop at the store to pick up a few things for dinner. JJ refused to ride in the cart, so I let him walk. BIG mistake!!! He wanted to carry the basket, but wouldn't let me put any of the groceries in it until the very end. So, when he was finally tired of carrying the basket I had to sit down in the middle of the store to put all the groceries in the basket that I'd been carrying around. JJ took that opportunity to RUN away yelling "I'm fast, I'm fast, I'm fast"! I started running after him in my heels but couldn't quite catch up until he got out the door. I kept yelling at him to stop and strangers just kept saying "oh no, there he goes." Note to strangers - if you see a woman in heels running after her son and yelling at him to stop, it's ok to intervene and help stop him!

After I finally caught up with him as he was running out the door, we were both pretty mad. He then started running back into the store saying "too fast, too fast" but I was able to get a hold of his hand and stop him. At this point he got very mad at me and started banging his mouth into my hand/arm/leg. He then turned his head away from me and kept crying as I held his hand and kept him in the check-out line with me. Lots of crying later, a very nice Trader Joe's employee got down on the floor and asked him what happened, if he fell, was having a rough day, etc, and that he would get him something to take care of his lip. Sure enough, at this point JJ finally turned around to reveal that his bottom lip was bleeding! Definitely a Mom of the Year Moment since I didn't even know he was bleeding!

After a 20 minute drive home that JJ cried "I want apple juice mommy" the whole way, we finally got home and I was able to start making dinner while JJ stomped around in my pretty heels : ) When we sat down for dinner JJ refused to eat anything, so of course 10 minutes before dinner he wanted cookies. I decided to instead get out his leftovers and I sat him back down for dinner. He actually ate a little bit, then we read two books, and he finally went to bed. JJ's now sleeping soundly and I'm finally enjoying a nice glass of wine : ) I know that every stage has its own challenges, but this fast and opinionated toddlerhood is pretty exhausting sometimes!

Washington.

JJ and cousin Ryland enjoying some Goldfish

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?!!?

JJ was making her sleep. Even though JJ is a horrible sleeper, he thinks it's funny to make people pretend to sleep!

JJ and my friend's son Elijah reading some books

JJ and I went up for my friend's wedding in Washington this last weekend. I was in the wedding so don't have any pictures of the wedding, you'll have to ask my mom for those. We had a great weekend and got to see lots of friends and all our family on both my side and Brian's which was really nice.

The plane ride wasn't very fun though, especially handling JJ by myself. I determined that the airline should make a few changes. . . I think that they should change the age requirement for when you have to buy a ticket to a height requirement. Although I did appreciate not having to buy JJ a ticket, he was waaay to big to not have his own seat! For the last hour on the flight up he kept trying to push me out of the seat so that he could sit there all by himself. I also think they need to install child locks on the tray table. On both the way up and the way down he thought it was a fun game to put down the tray table, then put it back up, then back down, then back up . . . It was very annoying.

Although it was a long flight up and back, we both survived and there were even a few funny moments. JJ's been taking bubble baths lately and on the flight up there were lots of "fluffy" clouds above the ocean and JJ just kept pointing out the window and yelling "bubble bath"! It was really cute: ) After we landed in San Diego, I thought JJ had pooped, but he hadn't, so then he started yelling "Mommy pooped, Mommy pooped, Mommy pooped" over and over again!!! The people around us thought it was really funny!

We had a nice time and JJ got to enjoy the cooler Pacific Northwest and playing outside. We saw some deer at my parents house and JJ didn't seem to appreciate that they weren't in a cage like he's used to at the zoo! He also got to ride a small kids tractor, see lots of cows and horses, and hear a rooster. It was a very "Graham" vacation weekend.

23 Months.

His attitude today. . .

Bonus points if you can speak "JJ" and know what he's saying!

JJ's been very "good" lately so it's no surprise that today, just one month away from turning two, he was crazy all day! He's been sleeping horribly lately and his teeth seem to be causing him lots of pain. He now has three out of four of his "two-year molars" but they're coming in very slowly and not enjoyable for any of us : ( He's been drooling lots again and always has his fingers in his mouth. We really can't wait to have this teething thing over!

Today JJ ended up on two "real" timeouts. The first was when we were coloring, but he decided that instead of coloring he wanted to throw colored pencils at my head! I told him to stop numerous times and then told him if he did it one more time he would be getting a timeout, then one handful of pencils later, he was crying sitting on a timeout on the stairs!

The second timeout happened when I was cooking dinner and JJ climbed up onto a chair, then onto the counter, then started turning on the kitchen faucet on hot over and over again. I was concerned about JJ falling and burning himself on the hot kitchen sink water, so I told him if he did it one more time he would have a timeout. After three more times of turning on the faucet, JJ was sitting again on the stairs on timeout. This time he didn't cry during timeout, he just sat staring at me like, "what, I did it, what are you going to do about it?!?!?!!?" Brian and I definitely have a willful little boy on our hands.