cosmic creeper digest

stinky skunk

2010-05-23T16:12:00.001-04:00

at christmas time, grandmama took me to english gardens to pick out a new stuffed animal for me. i picked out this cute little mouse i named "stompy." they had the coolest 'guys.' they even had a skunk...a stinky skunk! watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReGElZDt4_I

santa's not too scary

2010-05-23T16:05:00.001-04:00

i went to see santa claus for the first time ever this past year. he wasn't too scary, but i didn't see the need to sit on his lap. what's that about?! he told mom to sit on his lap with me on her lap, but that was just as weird and i wasn't too happy about that. i did shake his hand and thank him for my present (legos) he gave me and i asked him for a play kitchen. santa was at the train museum [the henry ford], so we spent some time there with auntie boo after we visited with santa. i always love to see the trains, planes and cars!

thanksgiving 2009

2010-05-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

i went to thanksgiving with mom and daddy at uncle brian and auntie laura's house. we were there with all my cousins, grandmama, auntie boo and great-grandmama. we had a really good day and night all together, especially with great-grandmama.

baby nana's now 'minana'

2010-05-23T15:57:00.000-04:00

my friend, "baby nana" isn't really a baby anymore! i now call her 'minana' [milana] since she's growing to be a big kid just like me! i went to her house for a party with friends. mama's friend miss karel played with us, too! we had so much fun upstairs, downstairs, under the table, playing with cars and toys and her dog rocket!

jazz band

2010-05-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

we did lots in november! this day, we went to the detroit symphony orchestra and i got to play all these instruments. i didn't even break any of them! in fact, i made some music. i played a cello, violin, trumpet, trombone and a clarinet! after i got to try all these instruments, we went and listened to and learned about the jazz band. the jazz band was good. they were playing a trumpet, drums, a bass and a piano! i learned all about each instrument. after they were done, we went and saw the orchestra play! it was incredible!! there was every kind of instrument EVER on the stage!! we sat up high in what mama said was the balcony. when we were leaving, mom asked me if i would like to play an instrument....yes, i told her...a tuba!

sad zoo

2010-05-23T15:44:00.000-04:00

mama, daddy and i took a drive to a little zoo in lansing, michigan's capital. we were excited when we got there because we thought we were going to be able to ride a camel, but there were so few animals there that we didn't even have to pay to get in. the building that had fish in it wasn't very clean and i think nemo was sad. and the area where the peacocks and ducks and other birds were was really dirty with lots of icky #2 droppings. the only neat thing was that there was a white peacock that mom and daddy said they had never seen before. but then we went and saw the tigers. there was one outside and one inside. the one outside was really sad and just walking in a circle in his really small yard. and the one inside was so sad he was just laying there staring at us. daddy tried to be silly and told us that he was thinking about eating us, but he was just really sad. mama was telling him that we were sorry he was in here and told me how zoos aren't that good of places for these big animals because they're not living in the jungle or forest or desert where they really belong. that makes me sad. i love our zoo because our animals have lots of space to live in, but this zoo was so little and most of the animals didn't have friends to play with. it wasn't very nice. it was really sad. i was kind of excited to see an ostrich when we were leaving, though. we don't have those at our zoo. they're the biggest birds on earth!!

greenfield village in fall

2010-05-23T15:35:00.000-04:00

mommy and i went to greenfield vilage in november on a really, really nice day! i was a little bummed because they had already put the trains away for winter, but we got to see them in their roundhouse. i got to play in the leaves, too. there were also a ton of 'fancy' chickens that had big fluffy feathers on the farm that i played with (they were all just walking around the farm house) AND there were turkeys, too!!

fall fun

2010-04-25T21:37:00.000-04:00

i had a lot going on this fall. i went to my first pistons basketball game with mom and daddy and liked it a lot. i went to another game the night before halloween with auntie boo and mama and didn't like it as much. we sat a lot closer to where the basketball players were (the court), but they had this fire that came out of the basketball hoops and these loud explosions. it was horrible!

i had a lot of other fun though. we went to the farm we usually get our pumpkin from, except most of the pumpkins were gone by the time we got there and it was a field of mud! yuck! and i had lots of fun in the leaves this fall, too.

halloween #3

2010-04-25T20:43:00.002-04:00

at the end of the night, i was allowed to have one treat. i chose a chocolate sucker...whoever made those, thank you!! a combo of my 2 favorite candies....mmmm mmm good [a saying i say often enough to annoy mom]!!! we stayed at grandmama's for a while and i played with my halloween toys there. there was this one toy that had spiders on it and i thought that my tiger may have been scared, so i covered his eyes, then i hugged him and told him, "shhhh, shhh, it's okay." everyone said that was so sweet. i knew i did good job, i took care of my "guy."

halloween #2

2010-04-25T18:49:00.000-04:00

we went trick or treating on two streets this year! i got SO many treats!! mr. ralph, grandmama's neighbor, was so funny...he kept giving me handfuls of candy telling me how cute i was! he even used to give mommy treats when she was little and went trick or treating. grandmama decorated her house with all her pumpkins and her spiderweb and ghosts. it was SO sweet [another favorite word]!!

halloween #1...yes, the actual halloween

2010-04-25T18:41:00.000-04:00

as with every year, mom and grandmama have to do this photo shoot with 200 photos (nope, i'm not kidding). THEN we finally head out! this year, grandmama made me a bucket to match my outfit instead of a bag. that was so cool! it was easy for me to carry and easy for all the neighbors to give me treats. we walked up the street going to everyone's house who had their porch light on and i yelled "trick or treat!!" then they would come to the door and give me a piece of candy or a coin or even crayons or fruit snacks! i got a lot of different treats! we went to the bakery and got a whole little bag of cookies!!! AND they gave me my one sprinkle cookie, too. then, this really nice lady leaned over and asked if she could see my bucket, so i showed her all the treats i had. she then gave me a whole handful of change!!!! she told me that i was so well-mannered in the bakery and that i was so cute, she had to give me a treat! i was so excited! i thanked her and told her i'd put the money in my bank!!

pre-halloween

2010-04-25T18:12:00.000-04:00

we got ready for halloween at great-grandmama's house. first mom and i carved my tiger pumpkin. that was sweet! we did a great job! then, i got into my tiger costume that grandmama made. great-grandmama couldn't believe what a great job grandmama did. she was so proud of her! great-grandmama thought i looked so cute! she was really happy that night and i told her how i'd say "trick or treat" at the neighbors' doors and then they'd give me a special treat. i told her "happy halloween" and then we were on our way!

h'ween at school

2010-04-25T17:20:00.000-04:00

for our school halloween, we went on a field trip that was supposed to be a pumpkin patch and hay ride. it was so funny...well, not that funny. it was at a church! mommy and i weren't too thrilled about it. it was fun to see my friends, but this lady read a boring book, i only got a mini pumpkin when we thought we were going to get my "real" pumpkin from here, then they made us go on this hay ride around the parking lot!!!! it was nuts!!!! what was so funny was that mom has video of me asking if the church garage was the barn!!!

the good thing was we went back to school and dressed up in our costumes and went trick or treating around the school and church. for our treats, mommy and i made these cute little bats on clothespins. everyone loved them!

h'ween at g'fld village

2010-04-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

for the second time, i went to greenfield village to go thru the haunted village and get treats. it was a little more scary for me this year. it was really haunted!! there were ghosts in the houses and scarecrows that came alive!! the headless horseman was even there in the farm field!! the scarecrows really scared me, but my friend nolan was with me the whole way AND i saw my friend kaylee there, too! i have to say that i was really happy when it was over though. we got to have apple cider and pumpkin bread! mmm!!!

non-apple picking

2010-04-25T16:56:00.000-04:00

apple picking this year wasn't all that great. we got apples, but not a lot and not the kind that mama wanted. we still had a great time. it was chilly, but a really sunny day. the hay ride was a lot of fun and we got to see horses along the way. we bought some cider and donuts and fresh honey from the little store at the orchard too. mama was able to make only one pie out of the apples we got. OH, AND, i saw the biggest, furriest caterpillar ever!!!! he was just like the very hungry caterpillar....and the END of the book!!

happy birthday to mom

2010-04-25T16:52:00.000-04:00

for mom's birthday this year, we celebrated at great-grandmama's house. i went over early before the celebration and decorated her present and then decorated her cake that we got from the bakery (one of my favorite places)!

kaylee

2010-04-25T16:50:00.000-04:00

one of my best buds at school is my friend kaylee. we've grown up together. i had the chance to go to her house one night in october and play and we went to her park and had a blast!!

lighthouses and dunes #3

2010-04-25T16:46:00.000-04:00

like i said, it was a little cold (REALLY cold) up north that weekend. the sun peaked through the clouds just enough though to make a rainbow that ended in the lake! yes! we saw the end of a rainbow! it was so pretty. since the sun came out, i insisted on taking my coat off. well, that only got me a lecture from mom AND i got really cold!! coat went back on real quick once we walked to the edge of the sand dunes. they were awesome! i mean, incredible!!! it was so cold though that we didn't stay long and i wasn't happy about that. i even started crying and begging mom and daddy to stay. mom ended up picking me up and taking me off the dune and i was so sad. she promised we'd go back another time though. we went out to dinner at a restaurant looking over the water and i could watch all the boats. it was great. i had such a good day that i fell right asleep with all my "guys" -- max the moose, baby bunny and baby bear.

lighthouses and dunes #2

2010-04-25T15:42:00.000-04:00

our second day up north we went to the grand traverse lighthouse in leelenau state park. it was a bummer though because it was freezing cold and pouring rain the whole morning. we made the best of it though. there was a playroom for kids in the gift shop at the lighthouse and we spent some time shopping and hanging out. then we took a tour of the lighthouse where i walked all the way down the spiral staircase and stairs all by myself...well, holding daddy's hands. mama didn't like it. she's always afraid i'm going to fall. i can't tell you how many times a day i hear "slow down" or "be careful on those stairs" at home!! but, on the way up to the top of the lighthouse, daddy just lifted me up and handed me to mom. it was really, really steep! in fact, mommy didn't even want to go to the top! daddy and i told her just to "do it!!" though and she did.

we left in between downpours in rain and drove down to leland, a historic fishtown on lake michigan. it was SO neat!! all these old buildings--shops and restaurants and fish smokehouses. daddy and i loved it. it made mama not feel so good though. she doesn't like the smell of fish at all, so she just walked around with the umbrella and found a little gift shop. daddy and i went and bought all this smoked fish to eat and bring home with us (hee hee...mommy wasn't all that happy about that!).

lighthouses and dunes

2010-04-25T15:03:00.001-04:00

another road trip!! 2009 was filled with road trips! i love them. i'm learning how to read a map and i even was showing "baby bunny" and "baby bear" on our way up to traverse city in october. we went to all these different places. first, we got to traverse city where we stayed. then we drove up to old mission lighthouse where it rained a lot! actually, the whole weekend was wet and cold. we got to spend only a little time outside, which bummed us all out.

'nastics

2010-04-25T14:58:00.000-04:00

at the end of summer/beginning of fall, mama and melanie had nolan and me doing 'nastics [gymnastics]. i liked it a lot, but there were some things mama didn't like. first, no pictures! auntie boo got in trouble for taking pictures of me, which is why these are the only 4 pics. :-( that always makes mama sad. what was worse was that she didn't think they cleaned the equipment very good. the other thing was my teachers were just okay. so, i only did 'nastics for about a month, which was okay. she asked me if i wanted to keep going and i actually [one of my favorite words, by the way...actually] said no. i really didn't mind not going anymore.

free night stay

2010-04-25T14:53:00.000-04:00

when mama worked in indianapolis in july, she stayed so long that she earned a free night stay at another hotel! so, we spent the night downtown. we had so much fun! aunt shekini and uncle darryl game to our room to have a pizza party and watch the tigers game. aunt shekini and mama took me for a walk around the hotel and we just hung out all night long! daddy fell asleep early and mama and i stayed up late watching the "move it, move it" movie [madagascar] (that's me and "max the moose" hanging out in the huge, soft bed with all those pillows--it was fantastic--yes, i say fantastic...i like that word). we finally fell asleep, but i woke up in the middle of the night, so i turned the tv channel to a program that was all about animals. i put my pillows all on top of each other on the side of the bed, leaned back and put my feet on mom (yup, mom fell asleep with me in my bed!). mom woke up though and caught me with my hands behind my bed, just chillin' out and i guess i wasn't supposed to be up at 5 am watching tv (or maybe it was that i had my feet up on her?). so, everything was turned off...lights, tv, and mom made me lay back down to sleep more, bummer!

the next day (a few hours after that), we went for a walk for a bit and grabbed some breakfast, then hopped on the people mover! that was great! it took us all around downtown and we hung out on the riverwalk for a while until it was lunch time. we went back to the hotel and got our things and went to the art museum (the dia) and had lunch (we like their little cafe) and looked around the rest of the day. it was a great little getaway right in our own town!!

hotdogs and popcorn #2

2010-04-25T14:43:00.000-04:00

me just leaning back, chillin'!

could i be any happier?!

just hanging (literally) with nolan!

mama and i started to do "self portraits" a while ago...we were a little tired in this one, but we still were having so much fun this night!

hot dogs and popcorn

2010-04-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

and you thought that last post would be the last game of my season? no way! i think it was that same week we went to the game with nolan, and his parents, melanie and jeff. as always i had a blast! i got my favorite dinner, a ball park hot dog (plain; no bun, please) and my special treat at every game is popcorn! i'll do one more post because nolan and i had a lot of fun at this game! we danced to the music all night and i cheered on my favorite player, placido polanco (yeah, i know he doesn't play for us anymore...i'll just pretend and still cheer him on, thank you)!!

run the bases

2010-04-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

i got to run the bases at the baseball game for the first time last summer! unfortunately, i was pretty tired. i was still napping (with no problem...what, me? problems napping..i'm getting big, like daddy, so i don't really need a nap anymore..that is, until i finally give in and lay down and usually fall asleep after an hour of fighting it) and i didn't have a nap that day. but, i did it! i ran all the way around the bases onto homeplate! that game was great because we watched it with uncle dennis, aunt andrea and danny. i had a lot of fun. danny and i hung out and danny even bought me wrist bands to match his and we threw the ball as fast as we could at the park. i LOVE baseball!

my new house

2010-04-25T14:26:00.000-04:00

well, i didn't exactly move, but i got a new house!! a play house!! with a picnic table. it's great. i can play in it, it matches my sandbox and it even has a garage for my cars! how cool is that!?

red raspberries

2010-04-25T14:21:00.000-04:00

so, mama got way behind even in her catching up on the blog...lots going on, as usual, but great-grandmama got real sick and died as mommy was trying to catch up, so we'll start from here, september 2009. hopefully we won't miss much.

we started the fall by going and picking raspberries with auntie boo. we made lots of stuff with them and ate them plain. i LOVE berries, especially raspberries. we even brought some to grandmama and great-grandmama.

last of the lions

2010-02-08T00:18:00.000-05:00

okay, i say "last of the lions" because daddy and mommy think the last time they "played football" was at this practice i went to with daddy, nolan and his daddy, jeff. daddy and jeff took my buddy nolan and i to this outdoor practice and it was sweet [yes, another new word in the vocabulary]! it was a really nice day and they were playing outside AND i got to have my picture taken with one of the lions, aveion cason. i guess he doesn't play for them anymore, but it was still cool to meet a real life football player!

go (?) lions

2010-02-08T00:11:00.000-05:00

mama, daddy and i went to ford field for our first time. the detroit lions were having an open practice there, so we went to check it out. of course, the lions aren't a very good team, but i LOVE football (well, i love any sport). i had such a good time watching the football players play that i wiggled and squirmed in mommy's arms as she carried me out when we had to leave. even though the lions didn't do a good job lately, they're still my favorite football team!

zoo nights

2010-02-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

the zoo in the summer is open late for concerts, but we don't go for the concerts...we go because the animals are crazy at night! they're all talking to each other and playing. we ate dinner there one night and this bird kept coming close up to me and it freaked me out! i had remembered that mama told me what his name was before, so i told her that i didn't like that 'big-cock'!! don't worry...she told me his name was really 'peacock'!! ahhhh...i knew it was something like that. we went with my friend nolan and his mama, melanie, that night and had a GREAT time!! nolan brought some of his favorite flash cards that night...different colored shapes...and he taught me new shapes, like pentagon and octagon!! he helped me learn some hard colors, too, like brown and lavender (it took me a little while to know all my colors).

camping - last one, promise

2010-02-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

saturday after the carnival, there's always a big water fight. mama and daddy said i was too little to play in it. i was SO mad! mama stayed outside and took pictures of everyone playing and daddy made me go in the tent to take a nap. remember, i only had a few hours of sleep the night before. boy, i cried and cried and they just wouldn't let me out to play. once the water fight was over, we all started to get ready for dinner. we cleaned up and ate and then took our family photo before it started to get dark.

that night was the talent show and daddy 'sang' and danced a song. everyone was laughing so hard, but i had finally fallen asleep. it was after 10 pm! mama held me until she got tired and then put me to bed in the tent. she got my jamas on and tucked me into my new sleeping bag and i didn't even know it. she and daddy went and hung out by the campfire until 1 am with all their grown up friends and family until i woke up. i did NOT like that one bit! it was dark and because it was so hot out all day i had kicked off all my covers and now i was really cold. i couldn't see anything and mom and daddy weren't in the tent, so i started to cry...it was a little scary (but don't tell anyone i said that). mama came to bed after that, but i didn't want to sleep. daddy was still hanging out by the fire, so i didn't want to sleep. i just got one of my books out and asked mommy to read it. she was not very happy with me, but she did read it. i finally laid back down when mommy got ready for bed and laid down in her sleeping bag. she actually fell asleep before me [at 2:30 am!!].

the next day, sunday, our last day was fun again. i woke right up around 5 am with the rooster again. i believe that gave me about 9 hours of sleep friday thru sunday. mom and dad weren't too thrilled. but, i got myself up and read and played until mom and dad finally got up and got me dressed so i could go back to the playground and play more in the dirt and sand. we had breakfast and spent more time with our friends and family and started to pack up. while we were packing up though, a huge thunderstorm came through and we had to leave everything out and go into the car. so, everything got soaking wet. mommy and daddy were running around throwing everything back into the tent and they had to cover the tent back up and close it all up. it didn't matter though. everything, including them, were soaking wet! i thought it was pretty funny. mommy literally threw me into the backseat of the car (gently, of course) with a snack and I watched them run around in the rain and thunder and lightning. you know that that meant....after the storm stopped, i got to play in the mud and run around more while mom and dad sopped up all the water that got in the tent and try to dry everything off so they could finally pack it all up. when we finally left, i was really hungry because it was a little later than lunch time. the storm kind of threw off our timing. we got some more snacks out so we could get on the road then get a carry out lunch. i didn't even get one graham cracker eaten before i fell asleep....it was a great first camping trip!!!

camping #3

2010-02-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

on the saturday of camping weekend, there is always a carnival. there are lots of games to play and carnival treats like cotton candy and slushes and nachos. this year there was also think tub-like thing filled with water called a dunk tank. daddy sat in it! it was funny. he sat on this bench and we all threw balls at it and when someone hit the white circle, daddy fell into the water!! look...i threw three balls and the last ball was going to hit right on the circle! i did have a little help (i don't think i threw hard enough). but, i got daddy in the water! he splashed me back, but that was okay because it was really hot out that weekend. i threw a football threw the hole and played a fishing game with tyler, ate lots of snacks and hung out with uncle ron, too. it was a busy morning and afternoon.

camping #2

2010-02-06T11:19:00.000-05:00

camping is so much fun! i didn't want to go to bed the first night. granny took me for a ride on the golf cart, we sat by the campfire with all our friends and family and finally mommy said i absolutely had to go to bed. we went in our tent, but i didn't want to sleep! mama was so upset with me. she was so tired that she kept falling asleep, but i didn't! then i wanted her to sleep with me instead of daddy. i don't think she was happy about that either, but she did it. mama said i finally fell asleep at 2 am.

the next morning, we awoke because the nearby town's fire alarm went off at 4:30 am! mommy said the siren was calling all the firefighters to come and help put a fire out. we fell back asleep, but at 5 am we heard a rooster saying "cockadoodledoo!!!!!" it was so loud that we all couldn't go back to sleep. well, that didn't make mama happy either. in fact, she wasn't happy at all. neither was i, really. i just wanted up and wanted to go play, but it was still dark out. daddy went back to sleep for a couple of hours and mom and i read books and played in the tent until mommy woke daddy up and said we had to start the day and eat breakfast...mommy's and my tummies were rumbling (and mom needed her coffee!). we were up so early, that i was on the playground all by myself. everyone was still sleeping until granddad luke and granny woke up.

camping #1

2010-02-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

i had such a great time camping, i'll have to tell you about it in a few different posts. we drove for a few hours to get to our family friend's campground. daddy has been going camping with all our family and friends since he was young. when we got there, we set up our tent. it's huge! we set up our table and chairs and got our cooler with all our cold food in it out. daddy blew up our air beds and mommy got our beds all set up for night time. then it was time to eat! mommy and i had made our special sweet potato pies for the cooking contest. everyone loved our pies! granny was funny and she took one of the pies and hid it so she could have some for later. i was excited to see everyone, especially my friends coen and k.j.! i played with them as much as i could that weekend.

big trucks, great friends

2010-02-06T10:39:00.000-05:00

one night in august, my friends samuel, olivia and i went out to dinner with my mommy and kara and jeremy, their mommy and daddy. afterwards, we went for a walk to go see all the city trucks and cars. it was sweet!! [yes, i really do say this phrase] i got to sit in a police car and a tow truck. we also saw a mail truck and a dump truck and got to go inside a fire engine truck and look at us standing on it...that truck was HUGE! even mama said so!!

camping at grandmama's

2010-02-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

mommy, daddy and i were getting ready to go camping when grandmama surprised me with my very own tent to play in at her house! look how cool it is. it came with a vest and a whistle, too. i didn't get to sleep in it, but it's been fun to play in and i got to sleep in our real big tent when we went camping a week later...you'll see those pictures later.

tooth doctor

2010-02-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

well, it had to happen sooner or later. early last year, mama and auntie boo brought me to the dentist because mama thought i had a cavity. i wasn't very happy about that. mama tried to hold me on her lap, but our dentist, dr. homer just had a hard time looking at my teeth....okay, so i cried and refused to open my mouth.

in august, mama took me back to get my teeth cleaned. i was all ready for that, really i was this time. but, when we got there, the cleaning lady said dr. paul would have to tell us if it was okay that they clean my teeth because of my heart murmer (turns out, it's okay). but, i didn't get my teeth cleaned that day. she said i didn't have a cavity yet, but that i needed to really brush my teeth good, so i have been.

daddy took me back in december for my very first cleaning and i did great! my teeth are now all nice and shiny and i brush them really good with my tooth paste. i have orange AND strawberry toothpaste and sometimes i like mommy and daddy's mint toothpaste, too. the dentist gave me a bag of cool stuff, too. i got a new toothbrush and yummy bubble gum toothpaste.

baby nana turns 1

2010-02-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

the beginning of august started with my friend milana's [i used to call her baby nana, but i can now say her name] birthday [i've also started saying birthday instead of ooo-day]. it was a great day! we went to milana's granddaddy's house, mr. moore's. i made lots of new friends and sang happy birthday and ate yummy cake and cookies. oh, i got to play with milana's dog, rocket, too!

girls (???) night out

2010-02-06T00:36:00.000-05:00

mommy and nolan's mommy, miss melanie, took us to a jewelry party for aunt becky one night. it was fantastic! the store had lots of shiny, beautiful jewelry and lots of tables with cloths to climb and hide under. nolan wasn't too happy in his stroller, so we ran around until we had enough, then our moms couldn't get out of there fast enough. we got to go out to eat for dinner after and that's one of my favorite things to do!!

zoo ("date") night with mom

2010-02-06T00:32:00.000-05:00

since i've been able to spend so much time with daddy this past year, mom and i started to do things all by ourselves once in a while. last summer, we went to the zoo one night and had a really good time. all the animals had already eaten dinner and were all out playing and having fun. the one i didn't like, though, was this huge, king cobra snake! he kept standing up and scaring me. i know this guy is behind the glass, but come on...snakes are pretty scary, don't you think? all the animals were going nuts that night. the tigers were talking and the monkeys were all talking loud. even the kangaroos were bouncing around! it was so cool!!

auntie boo, play ball!

2010-02-06T00:26:00.000-05:00

guess what!? the night after i went to the ball game with aunt shekini and uncle darryl...i got to go again! auntie boo went with mommy and me this time. it was great! i showed off my ballplaying skills (see video) and we snacked on popcorn, of course...you can't go to the ballgame and not get popcorn (or peanuts).

baseball summer

2010-02-06T00:20:00.000-05:00

last year was the best because i went to baseball games all summer! this game i got to go with uncle darryl and aunt shekini. we got lunch, hot dogs of course (no bun, thank you...i just prefer the plain dog!) and popcorn and mom always brings a juice box for me. the other night we heard some people on the radio talking about baseball and i asked mom if we can go with aunt shekini and uncle darryl again. she said yes!! uncle D and auntie S...get your 2010 tigers schedule out!!!

poopy park

2010-02-06T00:15:00.000-05:00

word of advice, don't go to this park called stony creek to play in the grass. it's full of goose poop! eeeewwww yuck!!!! mom, auntie boo and i did make our way tip toeing thru all the "#2" to get down to the water, but it was SO gross, we left pretty quickly...plus, i had to go potty and was still doing good not going in my pants!

pool party

2010-02-06T00:12:00.000-05:00

well, here we go again. it's been months since i've written about all the fun i've been having and i'm really behind. mommy keeps saying how we need to catch up on the blog, so as i'd say, "just do it then...it's not that bad!"

in july, i got to see my friends from tennessee, josh and amanda. i was so excited. lots of my friends got together at a pool party at josh and amanda's grandparents' house. cali, morgan, samuel, olivia, josh, amanda and i all got to play together. it was great!

mr. bear goes to the bakery

2009-10-29T23:21:00.000-04:00

one night in july, mommy and daddy went to their friends' wedding, so i got to stay at grandmama's. this night i took mr. bear for a walk in my wagon to the bakery to buy him a cookie. i love to go to the bakery. the ladies there are very nice and give me a free cookie every time.

my train

2009-10-29T23:11:00.000-04:00

i love my train. i have a train at grandmama's house and even when i'm at home, i ask to play with it. i wish i could have one at home, too! it's my favorite toy ever!!

indy #3

2009-10-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

okay, on our last day in indy, we went to the indianapolis speedway. it was the best! i got to ride on a bus for the first time. they took us around the race track. i was so excited i didn't want to sit in my seat. when they stopped and let us out, the took us to the start/finish line. here it's made up of a row of bricks because the race track used to be made of all bricks. everyone kisses the bricks because whoever wins a car race does that, so i did that. i didn't really understand that until after i started just kissing the race track all over and everyone started laughing at how silly i was. well, they could have told me to just kiss the bricks!!!

indy #2

2009-10-29T22:53:00.000-04:00

the children's museum had an indy race car that daddy sat in with me.

there was also this neat area about egypt! i LOVE egypt stuff, just like my little einstein's show. there was a market area and a couple different houses that showed how people live there. i got to put a big loaf of bread in a special oven and i made mommy her coffee in this really neat silver pot.

indy #1

2009-10-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

when mommy was done working in indianapolis for the week, daddy and i drove down to be with her. it was a good drive. i tried to be good for daddy. i kept my underwear nice and dry and daddy took us to "the french fry place" [mcdonald's...mom doesn't think i know the name of this place and people think it's cute i call it the french fry place, so i just keep it up...it makes everyone happy, so shhh...don't tell!]. we got there just as mom was finishing work. we parked at the hotel, then walked to her office and got to see where she worked all week. the building was huge because it was in a downtown, just like our downtown detroit! the day we got there, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and wait for the rain to slow down, then walked to a restaurant called weber grill for dinner. i had a huge hot dog dinner, but got a little tired so we left pretty quick when we were done eating (okay, so i wanted to run around...can't blame me...i was in a car for 5 hours!). we walked around downtown and went to the capitol building. that was huge, too!

the next day it was raining terribly. we decided to go to the children's museum, but so did everyone else! we waited almost an hour just to get in. we saw really neat ancient egypt stuff and stuff that an ancient egypt king named tut had. that was pretty cool. but the best part was playing all day. they had a play kitchen and a merry go round.

and they also had this neat little tree about being a good person like sharing and being nice and helping clean up. this section of the museum had a place where you could write down how you would make a difference in the world. i still really don't understand that, but mom asked me 'what would you to help make the world a better place?' so, i told her -- 'i'm going to paint!' (i love art projects) she asked me what i would paint, so i thought for a second -- 'um, strawberries.' hey, i don't know...i'm only 2!

week w/dad

2009-10-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

the week after 4th of july, mom had to go to indianapolis (yes, i really can say it) for work. we took her to the airport and i was so upset she was leaving daddy and me that i didn't want to say goodbye. it was pretty cool to see all the planes at the airport though. because mommy was gone all week, daddy had to take me to grandmama's house the nights he had school.

one night, i made a playdough birthday cake. i helped grandmama water her neighbor's flowers. i played outside. and when i started to get tired, i got to lay down and chill out. i read books (okay, i realize this one was upside down...i switched it, don't worry). my typical day at grandmama's having to do it all.

every night mommy was gone she called me when she was done working to tell me goodnight. i told her all about my day and i asked her how she was doing. i would make sure to tell her "i doing just fine" (my normal answer when someone asks how i am).

4th of july #3

2009-09-13T11:08:00.000-04:00

okay, this is my last post about the 4th of july. it was a really, really busy day though. so, after the parade and grandmama's house, we drove out to my friends cali and morgan's house. we had SUCH a good time! cali has a cool swing set and a trampoline and trucks that you can ride around on. we all played all day. then daddy and rick did fireworks for us. they were really loud!

we played basketball on cali's (rick's) new basketball hoop (i LOVE basketball!), ate dinner and snacks and treats, and when it got dark olivia and i played with the doctor set. i acted like dr. paul and made her she was all good...yup, she's healthy.

4th of july #2

2009-09-13T10:58:00.000-04:00

as we do every year, we go to grandmama's house and walk to the parade. mama also takes my picture with the 'merican flag. i see 'merican flags all over the place now that i know what they are.

here's a picture of my great-grandmama on the 4th of july. her shirt says she was borin in the usa a very long time ago! hee hee! i recently asked mama if great-grandmama was very, very old...she giggled and told me just what her shirt said...she was just born a long time ago.

4th of july - #1

2009-09-13T10:36:00.000-04:00

the morning of 4th of july, mom, daddy, auntie boo and i walked from grandmama's house all the way down to my friend ryan's house. ryan and i got to sit right on the curb and watch the parade. we had bags to collect all the candy that people were handing out. there were even clowns (they're kinda scary, but this guy was nice and shook my hand).

after a while, it got a little boring. the best part was getting to see my friend ryan. i don't get to see my friends from school a lot since daddy's been home. i miss my friends a lot. since then, daddy takes me to school one day a week and that makes me happy! i like my school day. i like being home with daddy, but i still like school, too.

happy 3rd of july

2009-09-13T10:26:00.000-04:00

the night before the 4th parade, i got to play with my good friends samuel and olivia. we had such a good day and night! we played the whole time. i even gave olivia a ride...wasn't that sweet!?

beach photos -- take 1

2009-09-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

we always go to our special beach in june because that's when i turn my 1/2 age. that's right! you ask me how old i am and i'll be sure to tell you, "i two and half!" well, our day at the beach didn't last very long. less than 1/2 hour after we got there, the sky got very, very dark. it started thundering and lightning and then these pieces of ice started falling from the sky with the pouring down rain--it's called hail! mom was holding me covering my head as she, daddy and auntie boo ran with all our beach gear back to the car. we never got to do our special family photos after that.

visits with great-grandmama

2009-09-13T10:18:00.000-04:00

now that great-grandmama lives a lot closer than before, we visit her a lot. i get to go over and show her how smart i am (she says i'm so smart all the time). i tell her abcs and sing to her and she likes it! then she lets me have some candy that she keeps in the glass bowls on her tables. i ask to go see great-grandmama a lot because her house is fun and she likes to see me doing things. she has a whole toy box full of fun stuff to do for me.

go tigers...and stormtroopers?!

2009-09-13T01:46:00.001-04:00

i think i already talked about this game, but i didn't put photos with it. so, i'll tell you again! i got to go to my first baseball game for the year in may with my friend nolan and his mommy, melanie. i love them. we have so much fun when we're with them and they LOVE tigers baseball even more than i do! we got to go on the merry go round AND it was my first baseball game that i didn't wear a diaper to!! that's right! it was the first game i went potty on the toilet at! oh, and it was some special night called "80s night." mama and nolan's mommy were liking it (i think it's cause they're old and know all the music). there were these guys walking around in white costumes. they were called stormtroopers.

summer vacation - day 8-9

2009-09-13T01:40:00.000-04:00

a week after we left home, we were in tennessee at our really good friends' house. it was josh's birthday! in the morning, we got ready for josh's party. we played and watched tv and played with amanda. but then our moms and dads let us go outside in the pool before everyone got there. we had so much fun. for the party, josh had a bounce house and it was the first time i ever got to go in one. it's now one of my favorite things. i'm the best bouncer ever! check out how high i can jump! we stayed on vacation just that one more day and left in the morning. on our way home (day 9) the excitement of the day was when we were about 5 hours from home, i decided to stick a small toy in my mouth as far as i could put it. well, i ended up throwing up all over me and my seat. it took mom about 1/2 hour to clean the car and me up and she wasn't happy. well, i wasn't happy either. i made me not feel so good, it was dinner time and i was tired of being in the car and now my seat was wet! i ended up closing my eyes and sleeping for a while. mom and daddy surprised me though. when i was sleeping, they went to panera (one of my favorite restaurants) and got me a sandwich, gogurt and juice. that made me feel better. we had such a good time seeing friends and family and new places, but we were all so excited when we saw detroit. there's no place like home.

summer vacation - day 7...on the road again

2009-09-13T01:26:00.000-04:00

we left grandma and granddaddy's early in the morning and headed to my friend josh's house in tennessee! i was SO excited to go see him and his baby sister amanda. it wasn't a bad drive at all. we were going to help celebrate josh's birthday and to visit for the weekend.

summer vacation - day 6(c)

2009-09-13T01:19:00.000-04:00

well, i have to admit that i didn't like granddaddy's tractor until the night before we had to leave. it was SO loud and big. yeah, i thought it was cool, but i didn't want to get on it. daddy finally showed me how it was okay, so granddaddy got his wish and i sat on his tractor with him (he turned it off first, so it wasn't loud).

summer vacation - day 6(b) / warm rain & cold pie

2009-09-13T01:11:00.000-04:00

when we got back from the aquarium, i told granddaddy all about it (he had to work, so he couldn't go). while we were telling him about everything we saw, it started to rain! we were all so excited. mom got my rain boots out and we thought it would cool us off. but then, it rained WARM rain! ick! well, not so ick...i got to play in puddles (one of my favorite things), just in warm rain.

when it stopped raining, it was steamy out, so we went inside. granddaddy wanted a snack and i got to share it! PIE!!! mmmm....granddaddy gave me a huge piece with a huge cup of milk.

summer vacation - day 6(a)

2009-09-13T00:59:00.000-04:00

one day we went to the georgia aquarium and it was awesome! i got to see jellyfish, seahorses, sharks, whales, alligators and even nemo and his house--a sea anenome!!! we went with grandma, sharae and grandma and granddaddy's friend's grandson, "Q".

summer vacation - day 5

2009-09-13T00:53:00.000-04:00

day 5 on vacation was great! we got to go pick up my cousin sharae at the airport. she flew down from detroit. when daddy went to go into the airport to get her, mama took me up as high as she good in the parking garage--it was the top of it--and we watched the airplanes land and fly away. after we were all together again, we went to a dinosaur museum (http://www.fernbankmuseum.org/)! look at how huge dinosaurs were!!! we all had so much fun that sharae and i fell asleep on the way back to grandma and granddaddy's house.

summer vacation -- day 4(c)...keeping in touch

2009-09-13T00:44:00.000-04:00

while on vacation, i tried to keep in touch with back home. mom and daddy kept calling people and checking the computer [puter...still not pronouncing that com with the puter--it's cute!], so i figured i needed to keep in touch with my people! so, i asked to call grandmama and auntie boo......

summer vacation - day 4(b)

2009-09-13T00:42:00.000-04:00

i got to go fishing for my very first time when we were in georgia. granddaddy took us to a "fishing hole"--a little lake nearby--and i was the only one to catch something that day. too bad it was a turtle! mama helped me put it back in the lake. i liked fishing. it's serious business (note: no smile in any photo...very serious business).

summer vacation - day 4(a)

2009-09-13T00:36:00.001-04:00

it was so hot down south that mom and i went out to play first thing in the morning. mom and daddy didn't let me go out after lunch time. it was THAT hot! grandma and granddaddy have a fun yard. it's huge and it's on a big hill, so i could throw my ball and it'd go really far and i'd have to run to get it before it went all the way down. the only thing mom kept telling me to be careful because there were ants there that bit and the dirt was red--it was called clay--and she said it would ruin my clothes. it was okay though, i didn't play too much because it was SO HOT! we'd go for a walk down the street to see the farm country where they live. it's really pretty there.

summer vacation - day 3

2009-09-13T00:30:00.000-04:00

on my third day of summer vacation it was time to leave the nice hotel. daddy and i went down to get a cart for all of our bags. daddy let me ride it ALL the way back up to our room! when we got back, mom wanted to pile all the bags onto the cart right away. we were headed from north carolina to georgia that day. well, i thought for a little while this summer that if i closed my eyes no one could see me. i mean, i can't see you, so you can't see me...well, i thought. mom's was laughing so hard it made me laugh! i had to get off the cart anyway...i was hungry, it was time for breakfast! oh, and i don't do that anymore...the closing of the eyes, but you better believe you'll find me covering my face every other day or so, giggling, asking mom or daddy "where did cole go?!"

we left north carolina and my mountains and headed to grandma and granddaddy's house in georgia. it wasn't too long of a drive. we first stopped at a restaurant called "5 points" for breakfast. they had the best sausage! it was spicy and i loved it. a spice is like cinnamon, which is probably my favorite spice. but this sausage was hot and i ate all mine and asked for more. we drove out of the mountains and got to grandma and granddaddy's before dinner time. we unpacked the car and i tried my best to stay right next to mom. mom kept telling grandma and granddaddy how i'm just "shy" at first. that means i like to be by mom until i get used to a new place. well, it didn't take long. granddaddy had a tractor in the garage and they have a huge yard to play in. then, i think all our cousin's showed up! todd, india and da'jour were down in georgia on vacation too. then empress and raymond came over too! it was so much fun. there were so many people, it was a party. cousin raymond helped me get my first fishing pole ready to go and that was nice.

summer vacation - day 2(c)

2009-08-10T21:31:00.000-04:00

what's a vacation without swimming? well, i got my wish. it had been quite a while since we went swimming so, as promised, mom and daddy took me after our very long day in the mountains. i was so excited. we had the pool all to ourselves and i swam all over the place. i didn't go to sleep until 10:30 that night, late again. i couldn't help myself. i was just so excited to be in that hotel room and i got to sleep in that big bed (and roll all over mom and dad -- they didn't sleep very well those nights).

summer vacation - day 2(b)

2009-08-10T19:49:00.001-04:00

yes, we did a lot on our first day down south, but it was good. well, other than having to be in the car. i really, really got sick of being in the car. the roads in the mountains are narrow and winding and even made mommy not feel good.

our second and last stop on our moutain trip was mount mitchell. it's the tallest mountain on this side of our country! there was a neat museum there that had all these birds in it and you could press buttons to hear them sing. then we went for a really long walk all the way to the top of the mountain! you could see for miles. we stayed up there for a while and played around and then we went out to dinner at a restaurant on top of the mountain. i love the mountains!

www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/momi/main.php

summer vacation - day 2(a)

2009-08-10T19:40:00.001-04:00

on our second day of vacation, we went way up into the mountains. i mean WAY up there. we went to one called grandfather mountain. www.grandfather.com there was a museum there -- i like museums a lot because there's lots to look at and i get to ask what everything is and why is it what it is -- and i saw what animals live there and what flowers grow there and what birds fly there. after we looked in the museum, we went for a walk down this trail and saw a bear and lots of deer that the people who take care of the mountain take care of. i've never seen deer so close and that was really neat. after that, we went to this bridge, the mile high bridge. it was SOOO cool! i wanted to walk across the rocks with daddy, but they wouldn't let me. they would hardly let go of me and it was really, really annoying. i was NOT happy about this. they wouldn't even let me just stand next to the sign telling everyone where i was. ugh!

okay, but NOW here i'm a little happier. what you don't see is that mom has her hand on my foot. that was okay though, she finally let me sit on a rock on top of "my" mountain [yes, cole claimed this mountain his own; and what he didn't realize was that there was a second ledge of rocks just behind him...we're not crazy].

look here...there was that bridge i went across. i would have walked across it by myself if daddy would have just let me!

summer vacation - day one

2009-08-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

in june, we went on vacation down south. the first day of our trip, we drove through ohio, kentucky, tennessee and then into north carolina. to get there, we went through these cool tunnels that took us right into the middle of mountains. they were so cool...it was really dark in them if they didn't have lights.

i got to see the mountains down south for the first time ever. look how tall they were. there were even clouds up there--we were high in the sky.

i did really good on our trip. i went potty every time we stopped and kept my underwear dry [i always say, "i just dry" when mom and dad ask if i have to go potty]. all the way to our hotel room, i stayed dry. because we had to stop for lunch and dinner and potty breaks, it took us 12 hours to get to asheville, north carolina. we stayed at a really nice hotel called the holiday inn. http://www.biltmorehotels.com/ we could see the mountains from our room and i could climb up on the air conditioning unit and look down into the pool. i loved the hotel room so much that stayed up until after 11 o'clock that night! plus, daddy didn't want to bother putting up my pack-n-play bed, so i got to sleep with mommy and daddy!

danny's oo-day

2009-08-10T18:10:00.001-04:00

our friend danny celebrates his birthday [oo-day] in a very special way each year. early in june, the big people have a bean bag throwing contest and aunt andrea and uncle dennis get all their friends and family together to get celebrate. instead of presents we all give some money that goes to the special olympics. danny is great. he likes me and calls me "hole." i like it because it makes me laugh. he's a funny guy, just like me!

i had such a good time this year. it was the first year we went to his party where i got to play with other kids and all the cool stuff they had while mom and dad did their own thing too. i even wandered off next door (the party extends to over there too) and scared mom and dad a lot! mama hugged me a little too tight when she found me. oh, yeah, but then i got yelled at. okay, she didn't yell, but i got the "someone could take you away from me" talk. sigh.

at the end of the night, i didn't want to go home. aunt andrea's sister made me a really cool detroit red wings octopus because the playoffs were on. then aunt andrea took me for a ride on danny's sweet bike! how cool is this:

busy bee

2009-07-17T22:56:00.002-04:00

well, after so many months of plans with friends and visiting family and taking trips, i'll try to catch up and keep it short.

in april, i made grandmama cupcakes for her birthday. then, i got to help celebrate my friend samuel's 4th birthday! and THEN it snowed even though winter was over! i made a snowman with grandmama, auntie boo and mama and had a snowball fight, too. then there was easter. i was sick. it was the third easter in a row that i had a cold and this one gave me that croupy cough. the easter bunny came though and brought me presents that were all blue and yellow. i got the basketball i asked him for and i got a neat new fridge toy and an easter snoopy dog, plus lots of treats. mama and daddy made a yummy dinner and auntie boo and grandmama came over and brought me more easter treats, like my cool new garbage truck! i love the garbage truck and thank the garbage man every week for coming and taking my garbage away. at the end of the month not only did i go to the zoo, but grandma came up from georgia for a visit! we went to the art museum with her, cousin sharae, mama and daddy and had a great time. check out all my pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindywyckoff/April2009#

in my last post, i told you about my new baseball cap. well, i went to the detroit tigers game with my friend nolan and our mamas. we had such a good time. it was a special night where they were playing music that our mamas knew (from the 80s) and i got to meet these guys called stormtroopers. they are star wars guys mom said. now i like star wars guys! i even have a little toy guy called darth vader. i can say his name pretty good and i like him except that he's kind of a scary guy. oh, so then i got to go to nolan's 2nd birthday party at gymboree. it was a blast!!! we played for a long time on all the climbing toys and slides. we sang happy birthday to you [still comes out happy ooday to you] and had cupcakes. i then got to see a lot of my friends in the middle of the month. josh and baby amanda, cali and morgan, samuel and olivia. josh and amanda were up here for a visit, so we got together to "hang out"--yeah, this is my new phrase lately. I had a night at the park with nolan and then helped move great-grandmama from her old house to her new house next door to grandmama. everyone had worked so hard on the new house and moving her, it was nice to be done. plus, now i get to ask if i can go see great-grandmama every single day because she lives so close! in the middle of the month, i started to stay home with daddy instead of going to school. i like it a lot because i get to hang out with daddy, but i also don't like it because i have to hang out with daddy ALL day long. i love daddy, really i do, but you know what they say. the terrible twos...i'm two and a half. i'm a big boy. so, i want to do my own thing. i also miss school a lot. i miss my friends and ask about them a lot. mommy has said to me a couple times that i get to go back once there are more jobs. mommy said lots of people can't work right now because there isn't enough work for everyone. but, she still gets to work, so that's good. i guess moms and dads work so we can have a house and cars and food, but mommy said that helps me have toys and clothes too! so, that's a really good thing! okay, so at the end of the month we celebrated with a bbq at samuel and olivia's house and i got to see all my friends there. check out all our photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindywyckoff/May2009#

we did so much in june that i'll tell you about it in a separate post. as you can see, i've been quite the busy bee!

b-ball

2009-05-04T00:38:00.000-04:00

uncle dennis (my mama's boss), aunt andrea, danny and katie went to florida for vacation a couple months ago. when they were there, they brought me back my first real baseball cap from this thing they call spring training. mama said it's when the baseball players practice before they start the real games. well, not only am i excited about my first hat, but i get to go to my first game of the season tomorrow night with my friend nolan! i can't wait to show him my hat.

now, talking about b-ball games...i like to, well, 'act crazy' (as mom calls it) and run back and forth in the house as fast as i can. this is often with a truck or car or sometimes just on my own. most of the time i yell something out to mom kind of like an announcement of sorts. this week, i was pushing my school bus around really, really fast (sometimes, i'll even fall to my knees and i slide on the wood floor--that's the best!) yelling "bye mom!! see ya later!!" but, then, she asked where i was going!? huh?! why would she ask that? i mean, does it really matter? well, i told her i was going to work. but, then, she asked where i worked? huh?!?! well, i didn't really know what to say. i mean, come on, we all know i don't work--i was JUST playing. but then she asked what i did at my job. well, that's obvious (i've been a little obsessed about basketball lately). i told her--"i play basketball." (sorry uncle dennis--i like baseball, but not as much as my basketball!)

daddy's homework

2009-05-04T00:24:00.000-04:00

you all know i love to read. well, i decided to read daddy's book for school one day, but mama caught me! darn! i LOVE all the letters....just look at that page. there are 'really lots 'o letters!'

i heart the dso

2009-05-04T00:23:00.000-04:00

i know it has been a very long time since i last wrote, but there has been a lot to do. i have a lot to catch you up on, so let's go! on valentine's day, mama and auntie boo (auntie becky, but i've started calling her boo all the time now) took me to the detroit symphony orchestra for the very first time. it was so neat! they showed us all the instruments they were playing and how they work and they even told stories to the music. i didn't really get into it much (they wanted us to dance and clap and stuff) because i was just so amazed and happy to just be there and see all the instruments played. it was just like quincy on little einsteins with all his instruments but, of course, a ton better! this was the real thing! i can't wait to go back again. i love music, especially when it's played like that with the instruments.

giraffes [are] cute

2009-03-16T00:01:00.000-04:00

look waaaaay up and you'll see a really cute giraffe! that's right. "giraffes cute!" giraffes are my favorite animal and mommy and auntie boo took me to the zoo last month when it was still cold and i got to see the giraffes (even a baby!) really close. they're REALLY tall and have REALLY long necks! i could have sat there and watched them forever. mom kept asking if i was ready to go...like she didn't know the answer was NO!

we did get to see some other things. the tigers were out and were talking really, really loud and i didn't like that. we saw the camels and lots of monkeys, who were being really loud too. the polar bears were outside sleeping in the sun, but we got to see a seal swimming back and forth. i also saw turtles and lizards eating lunch. did you know they eat salad? i wonder if they eat ranch like me?

i scared.....i not 'fraid no more, etc.

2009-03-15T23:54:00.000-04:00

there's a lot to be afraid of in life. dinosaurs for one thing. monsters. tigers (they roar really loud). trains (sure, they're cool but, they're SO big--they even rumble our house once in a while). oh, big trucks sometimes. i guess that's most of what i was afraid of.

what happened? well, one day i just realized that i'm a big boy now, i'm not a baby anymore (and don't ask...mom and dad keep saying if i'm so big why can't i go potty on the toilet...shhh...don't tell them, but hello?? wouldn't you let someone change your diaper, too? cool underwear and all, i'd rather keep on playing and sleeping all the way through the night--oh, okay, i'll talk about sleeping in a second). i had been waking up in the middle of the night for about a month or so...okay a bit longer. at first, i was so scared. i'd think about all these scary things in my sleep and would wake up and want mom and dad! they'd even bring me in their bed and that was a blast. i'd climb on dad and head-butt mom, but then they got mad and put me back in my bed. so then i learned i needed to tell them the problem. they always ask, "what's wrong, cole?" so, i'd say, "i scared train" or "i scared tiger."

well, they've caught onto my trick, so i've had to grow up. mommy started telling me, "the tiger is asleep at the zoo, cole...he's sleeping just like we should be" or "cole, the train has already gone up the track...see i can't hear it anymore." so, i figure i might as well just get my sleep. in fact, i've decided i don't need to nap since i'm so big now. yeah, i almost fall asleep in my dinner, but it's just on the weekends and that way i don't miss a thing! not being afraid has also let mama let me watch the movie "monster, inc." again! that's one of my favorites, but she stopped playing it for me because i kept saying i was scared of the monsters. so now, even though i'm still a little afraid, i sit through the scary parts at the beginning and end of the movie just to show her because i told her on the way home from school one night this week, "i not 'fraid of monsters no more, mommy." of course, what did she say, "cole, say "I'M not Afraid..." ugh...she's always correcting me.

dr. cali & friends

2009-03-15T23:40:00.000-04:00

my friend, dr. cali, told me i was "all better" one night when mama took me to her and morgan's house. daddy met us later on because he had to work late. we had lots of fun. we had lots of snacks and pizza and even ice cream sundaes! we played house and doctor and ball games and even watched a little tv.

i got to play with my great friends samuel and olivia, and of course cali and morgan, and even my friend sophia was there! it was a lot of fun. i like seeing all my friends.

my blooms

2009-03-15T23:36:00.000-04:00

mommy's boss, mr. lemke, and his family bought us this pretty [plitty] flower before christmas. it wasn't a flower then though. it was just dirt! it was amazing! for over a month it was just dirt, but then all of a sudden these green leaves started to pop up!! after what seemed like forever, mommy showed me how there were flowers going to "bloom." this was a new word for me and i liked it.

every day after school, i came right in the house and asked mommy to "see my blooms." there was one, then two, then all of a sudden six of them! the coolest thing was that the plant was as tall as me!!! this was one of the best presents ever--and i love presents.

no more na-night

2009-03-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

this is the last picture of me with my "na-night" a/k/a my pacifier [and, i can say pacifier perfectly!]. i'm also hanging onto my duckie, one of my favorite "guys," in this photo. my other guys are my new mickey mouse from uncle dennis, aunt andrea, danny and katie, cookie monster, giraffe and bunnies. i don't sleep with them all. i usually throw most of them out of my bed because i'm mad at mama and daddy when they make me go to sleep. i usually hang onto the duck though.

oh, yeah, so back to the na-night. i'm a big boy now. one weekend daddy said that i was too old for it and it was time for it to go. mama just happened to be going to see people play music instruments with auntie "boo" (becky) and i was already upset because she was leaving. okay, okay, i'm still liking to be with mom a lot. when daddy put me to bed, i cried for at least an hour before i got so tired and gave up. but, i did it! it was my first real night without the na-night. mom and dad don't give in either. i started asking to have my pacifier back thinking if i used a big word they'd think i was old enough to know what was best for me. it hasn't worked yet.

i do what mom says

2009-03-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

here i am...yes, i'm still here. mom and dad have kept me very [vewy...even though i can say my 'r's just fine, i choose to say ve-wy] busy this year. so, i'll try to catch you up on all the stuff i've done since my last post.

i like to stand really close to the tv. that way the picture is really big and the the sounds is really loud. one day last month, mom caught me (she always tells me to stay on the rug or sit in my chair) and told me to go and sit in my chair or the tv would go off. so, i got my chair and sat in it. i have to tell you...mom smiled when she walked back into the room. i think i made her laugh. i did what she said (and she's always asking me, "why can't you just do what i ask you to do?")...i sat in my chair. i just happened to move it nice and close to the tv like i like!

sick day project

2009-03-04T00:22:00.000-05:00

everyone has been sick lately. all my friends and teachers and i caught a bug too. i didn't feel good for days. my teacher called my mom and she had to come get me from school and bring me home. i didn't get to leave the house for almost a week! i had a fever and a horrible cough...when we went to see dr. paul he said i had something called croup. mom stayed home with me the rest of that first week, then daddy stayed home with me a couple more days the next week. one day mom bought me new paints and i had so much fun! i mixed all the paints up and made a project--yes, i LOVE projects!

cookie monster

2009-03-04T00:06:00.000-05:00

my friend olivia's birthday was in january and mama took me shopping one day to the big toys r us store to pick something out for a present. i told mom when we were walking in that i wanted to get olivia "cookie monster" for her gift. mama looked everywhere for a toy or a book, but couldn't find anything. it took mom two weeks to find him, but she did it! my mom's the best!! she got both olivia AND me a cookie monster!! olivia loved hers just as much as love mine. happy 2nd birthday olivia!

motorcycles, toys and projects

2009-03-04T00:03:00.000-05:00

mama moved uncle dennis' office last month for him. he moved next door into mama's old boss mr. alandt's office and he had this great motorcycle that mom brought home for me! it's awesome!!! it drives around, but also has this thing mom calls a kick-stand so it stands up all on its own. i love it!

i've been really liking my toys a lot. my books are always my favorite, but i've really been into my barn with my farm animals and especially my cars and trucks and planes. i like my planes so much that i threw one in the air and it flew about 4 feet. oh, oops...it did hit mom in the nose though and i even made her bleed! i kept saying sorry. i really did feel bad. i even reminded her that "i gave mama boo boo" when i woke up from my nap that day.

my favorite thing right now though is doing my projects at school. we have a new theme every week and a few weeks ago it was dinosaur week! another one of my favorite things. i have a cool dinosaur book with spiky dinosaurs, giant dinosaurs, the big t-rex, raptors and even a mama dinosaur with her babies. my dinosaur project at school was with dinosaur bones and i still talk about it. we had mardi gras proejcts where we decorated masks and now we're doing shamrock projects this weeks.

Nolan nice

2009-03-03T23:24:00.000-05:00

my friend Nolan is really nice. last month (yes, i'm catching up...as you'll hear, i've been very busy), mama, daddy and i went over to my friend Nolan's house. i ate dinner with Nolan at his table that is just our size. he showed me all his toys especially his kitchen! yes, he has a kitchen! the stove boils water and everything. i ate all my dinner and we had such a great time!

big boy coffee cup

2009-01-30T23:00:00.000-05:00

it's been very cold outside. it's been snowing a lot and we hardly go outside at all. one night, mommy made hot chocolate milk and it was SO yummy. she said i could have marshmallows or whipped cream in it too! i even got to drink out of a "big boy coffee cup." mommy and daddy always drink hot coffee out of big coffee cups. i like coffee, but they don't let me drink it. i snuck it once when mom left her cup on the table, but she caught me! she never leaves it there now. that's okay, because now i get to drink hot chocolate out of my own big boy coffee cup.

bear hugs and love bites

2009-01-15T22:56:00.002-05:00

as i said earlier, mommy and daddy haven't been too happy with me lately (noting the comment on those terrible twos). last week, i wasn't very good at school, not to mention i guess you can say i wasn't the best kid at home either. i just like to get my way, eat what i want, go to bed when i want...did i mention hitting, screaming, kicking and biting? oh, yeah those things too. i don't see why i have to do everything that they tell me to do or not do what they tell me to stop doing. what's the big deal. so, i've just gotten a little frustrated. so, i'll scream really loud to make sure everyone knows they've irritated me. or, at school i bit a friend of mine last week. no one knows why i did it. i just leaned over at the lunch table and took a bite! she's my friend though, don't worry. in fact, we've been caught kissing even! hee hee...just a friendly little kiss and now all the adults think we're so cute that we like to kiss buh-bye at the end of each day. then, i hit a friend over the head with a toy car. i have gotten in trouble for all these things, so i've settled down a bit this week. from the time outs at school to mommy blabbing on the way home about how i have to be nice to my friends, then she's been making me go to bed earlier (she thinks i need more sleep, but she must not get it yet that i'm waking up in the middle of the night to play because i don't need that extra sleep!), then i hear about how i have to be nice to my friends and give them hugs all the way to school. i figured i'd chill out this week. well, i got a bite of my own today. one big bite on my face! i was a tough guy though, don't worry. i didn't cry. i didn't tattle on my friend. i just toughed it out. my teachers noticed later in the day, but don't really know what happened and that's okay. when any of us get a time out, we all go visit them while they sit down for their little rest and say hi because it's sad since we all just want to play. mommy said that maybe i won't bite anyone again and i agreed with her and told her it hurt. so, now i have this boo-boo...teeth marks and a big red mark right by my ear. it's okay though, it goes well with my big black and blue bump on my forehead from me tripping and falling into our bookshelf at school. i know mom likes all my head injuries.

on a good note, i LOVE to give BIG bear hugs! see, i'm nice.

more pics

2009-01-15T22:36:00.002-05:00

check out my latest photos!! i did good. i smiled a lot this time (mommy and auntie becky had to act pretty silly though). after my pictures, we went out to eat at this restaurant that was so cool! there was a nemo fish there, a big plane hanging from the sky and even a choo choo train that went around the whole restaurant. how neat is that?! i can't wait until the next time we have pictures taken! i hope we go out to eat again. i had a yummy lunch. i ate a huge mickey mouse pancake and sausage. mmmm....

oh, check out all my pictures on our photo site: http://picasaweb.google.com/cindywyckoff/January2009#

baby, it's cold outside

2009-01-15T22:31:00.000-05:00

oh, is it ever cold. mommy makes me wear mittens, my hat and my hood to school every day. it's so annoying. she warms up the car, so we're only outside for about 3 seconds, so i just take it all off as soon as we get in the car. that really annoys her, especially when we have to go shopping since we end up being outside longer then so she puts everything right back on me. of course, i fight it though. who wears two hats?! that's silly.

i did have fun in the snow last week though. mommy had to go outside and shovel and it made me really mad. she did it while i was eating lunch, so i screamed really loud so she could hear me when she was outside. she came back in and i told her i wanted to help. of course she just had to bundle me all up and even made me wear these goofy pants called snow pants that made a funny noise when i walked. my boots were pretty funny too. they're all clunky and big and make me feel funny when i walk. helping mom shovel was lots of fun though. she kept taking the shovel away from me though saying she had to do it super fast because it was cold out. i like the snow now.

terrific twos

2009-01-15T22:24:00.001-05:00

i don't know what mommy and daddy keep talking about...this "terrible twos" thing. look at how happy i am, especially here...just a fun night playing with daddy. i'm fun and i'm funny and, look, i smile a lot!

BIG trains, planes & automobiles

2009-01-15T22:21:00.000-05:00

on new years eve, mommy, auntie becky and i went to the henry ford museum. mommy used to go when she was little a lot, but that was my first time. mommy decided we could after i kept bugging her about seeing the train. a few weeks ago, we got to see the train that goes by our house two days in a row. mommy is great and she rolled down all the windows of the car and we could hear and even feel the train go by. it goes really fast and it's really loud. mommy said i'd see trains at this place and boy did i ever. i didn't know they were so big. i didn't really know what to do...they were just SO BIG!

i even got to see a truck that was named after me!

there were tons of planes and cars and a special christmas train! i loved the christmas train. i can't wait to go back.

i'm a big kid now

2009-01-03T01:09:00.001-05:00

at my 2-year check up with dr. paul, we found out that i am 34" tall and 27+ pounds (i wiggle a lot just so they can't get a number, but don't tell mom that). i figure, i'm a big boy now so i don't really need toys. i like to help mom clean and throw things away and put things in the sink and help cook, so i look to things like empty boxes and bowls to play with and newspapers and books of mom's and dad's to read. after all...i'm almost 3 feet tall and close to 30 pounds...that's quite the big boy! okay, okay...don't talk to me about my pacifier and going potty on the toilet yet. yes, yes, i tell mommy i'm a baby when she asks if i'm still a baby when she tries to take my "na-night" (my pacifier) away--it works doesn't it?!

my maddy & danny

2009-01-03T01:04:00.000-05:00

i love my maddy and danny. they are my cousins i've told you about before. you all know that maddy hasn't been feeling too good lately. we've had two big parties to help pay for things maddy needs to make her better. mommy worked really hard at that. then mom's work decided to buy maddy and danny presents for christmas. they called it "adopt a family." it was so neat. all month long, mom would pick me up from school with a bag of presents and she would remind me they were not for me. i was okay with that because i love my cousins so much. i wanted them to have lots of presents, so i was always good about it. when they were under our christmas tree, i never touched them. even on christmas i knew they weren't for me.

we had a little party for them a couple days after christmas. mommy and daddy made lots of food and had drinks for everyone. my aunt cathy brought the kids over and my other cousins matt and sarah (my aunt cathy's kids) came over too. so did grandmama and auntie becky. we watched maddy and danny open all their great presents from all my mom's friends at work and even really nice people who are just good people who asked my mom if they could help out. maddy got all this stuff for this girl called hannah montana and this doll was so pretty that i helped her brush her hair. danny let me play with some of his things too. then danny let me lay with him when it was bed time. he's really nice to me and i love both him and maddy a lot!

we also got some good news about maddy and that bad thing she has called cancer. mommy arranged for her to go to a special place called children's hospital. aunt cathy finally was able to take her and they said that her doctors have been doing a really good job right from the start in taking care of her! in fact, her cancer has gone away!! we were all so excited to learn about this! she still has to get the medicine called chemo that makes her so sick though, so that still makes me sad. i can't wait until she's back to her old self again and can just play any day that i want and we can go places together like we used to. mommy says this spring we might be able to go back to our old ways again and i hope so!

i funny

2009-01-03T00:23:00.000-05:00

mom doesn't call me a "ham" for no reason! "i funny." i even tell people that! i like to pose for pictures now and did a good job on christmas. just look here in my cute snowman sweater and with my new blanket. notice my christmas train pajamas? i picked them out at the store!

mewwy ismas!!

2009-01-03T00:19:00.001-05:00

my hope came true! i had hoped santa would bring me a bike and LOOK!! i got it, i got it--a cool, green bike!! and santa even filled up my stocking too. i got disney pajamas and a little einsteins t-shirt and a rocket christmas ornament. i got 4 new dr. seuss books, too.

granny flossie and granddad luke got me this incredible wagon!!! and grandma and granddaddy got me 2 outfits, dinosaur pajamas, a coat, a stuffed elephant called horton and a movie and book all about him and a frame with pictures of us in it. grandmama got me this cute dog that swims in the bathtub. mom and daddy got me a ton of great new books and little einsteins videos. i also got a dinosaur book and a snow shaker from the nice people at daddy's work. auntie becky got me fake food since i love the fake food at school in our kitchen so much. granny flossie made me my very own football blanket and aunt cathy got me new pajamas and a neat new animal book -- everyone knows how much i like to read!

manta claus

2009-01-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

"manta claus is coming!" i kept warning mommy and daddy that he was on his way and all they would say is, "that's right, so you better be good." i'm always good, i kept thinking, even though i know i have really been "pushing it" as mom's says lately. i made sure to be good on christmas ["is-mas"] eve though. i went to my friends samuel and olivia's house and we ate dinner and lots of snacks and made really yummy cookies for santa ["manta"]. we decorated them all by ourselves and it was so much fun.
we didn't go home until really late, but mommy made sure we got those cookies set out for santa. she told me how if i was a good boy all year and i made him cookies and set them out for him the night before christmas that he would bring me presents. so, she got out our special plate and bottle for milk just for him and i picked out three of my cookies i made. it was so late that i started to get hungry though, so i snacked on one--oops! i guess i wasn't supposed to do that. the last thing mommy asked me before i went to bed that night was what i hoped santa was going to bring me and i told her i wanted a bike.

eeewww...yuck!

2009-01-02T00:42:00.001-05:00

mommy and daddy try so hard to feed me healthy, good foods and i do SUCH a good job of NOT eating all that stuff. when i was allergic to wheat and barley, all i got was stuff with rice in it. i had had enough, so i refused to eat rice for a while. i like it once in a while again, so last week, right before christmas, daddy made a rice dish that came in a box. i think it was even organic or all natural--what we try to eat most of the time. it was quite funny, i think. i broke out in a bad rash all over my face--see, there's a reason i only like hot dogs and cereal bars (okay, there's more that i eat, but that's the bulk of it). mommy thinks i may be allergic to something called soy now...ugh! oh, and yeah, "ew, yuck" is a favorite saying of mine at the moment.

holiday card "take 3"

2009-01-02T00:34:00.000-05:00

you know how some parents are obsessed with certain things in your childhood...i've learned that mom is obsessed with our holiday card. my first year, i was only 10 days old when they took me to the park all wrapped up in a blanket and a santa hat with my bear, "mr. happy." last year, i was just one year old and there was a snow storm and it must have been zero degrees out and super windy. i hated the snow, i hated my snow suit and boots and they bundled me all up to go take a silly picture. THIS year, mom and dad had been so busy, that we didn't get out until just a few days before christmas and some of our friends were about to start celebrating their holiday, hanukkah. it was 8 o'clock at night and we headed out, yet again, after a snow storm all bundled up to try and find a place for our picture. it turned out that we had a picture almost the same as last year because after 2 hours of trying to pick the perfect place (according to mom), the perfect lighting (according to mom), the perfect pose (according to mom) and getting the perfect smiles and angles (yeah, you know), daddy told mommy that was enough. this was our shot for 2008! i look pretty cute, don't i!?

fantastic family

2009-01-02T00:19:00.000-05:00

wow did i ever have a whirlwind week in between my birthday and christmas. my grandma and granddaddy, my daddy's parents, who live in georgia came here for a visit. it was the first time i got to meet my granddaddy and my second time seeing my grandma. it was great. we all got our pictures taken and i even got to see my cousins and auntie tracey and i even got pictures taken with just mom and dad and a special one with daddy and granddaddy. we went out to dinner afterwards and i had lots of fun.

that weekend, grandma, granddaddy and even granny flossie and granddad luke (my daddy's Godparents) came over to my house. mommy and daddy made a yummy dinner and even aunt clara came over to visit. granny and granddad luke brought me birthday presents -- two really nice outfits and a very cool spiderman hooded jacket!

i showed grandaddy how i can read and i colored with granddad luke. then i showed everyone how fast i could run until i ran right into the dining room table and gave myself my very first black eye! boy did that hurt!! i even asked for ice, which was a first for me. i know i usually don't like ice on boo-boos, but this one was different. i got a cut right by my eye and it was bleeding. so, everyone left for the night and i got to sit with mommy and daddy and i ended up eating the ice!

...i kept my black eye almost the whole week!