No, No, NO!!

One of the funniest, yet frustrating, things that Dolly does is create some problem or some mess and then come and find me, point in the direction from whence he came and tell me, "No, no, NO!" So, it's simultaneously amusing and anxiety-inducing to hear these words from him because I know and he knows that he's gotten into something he should not have.

Case in point: I was in the shower and could hear him rummaging around in the drawers of the bathroom. It became silent...silence always worries me...but I tried to picture him quietly curled up, reading his Danny and the Dinosaur book while sipping hot tea and eating biscotti. Welllllll, that's not exactly what was going on.

This is what he was doing to occupy his time:
Yep!! He pulled EVERY SINGLE Q-Tip out of the Q-Tip box. When I stepped out of the shower to see what was captivating him, he immediately started to point to the millions of white sticks on the floor and say "No, no, NO!"

Toddlers....gotta love 'em.

Let's Play a Fun Game!

Question: What do these 3 men have in common?

President Obama

The guy on the front of this I Want to be a Truck Driver book

Dominican Republican President, Leonel FernandezAnswer: Dolly pointed to pictures of these men and emphatically said, "Da-Da!" Oh, boy! The fun I've had with this!!

I guess I can kinda see the resemblance.

Ball

So, while my kid and I were playing on the floor today, he pointed to my belly and said, "Ball." Just thought I'd share.

Meta Hello

This is a clip of him watching the clip of himself emphatically saying hello.

Do I dare post a clip of him watching this clip of himself watching the clip of himself emphatically saying hello? No, I do not dare. That, my friends, is what they call overkill.

9th flight!

Jacob and I hopped on a big bird headed to NC last week to visit Grandmom, Grandpa and Great-Grandmom. It was his 9th flight!! Too bad I can't get any frequent flier miles out of him.Anyway, I was very concerned about having a squirmy toddler on the packed flights that awaited us, but he was no problem at all. In fact, I would argue that it was easier to fly with him at this stage than in previous stages...but that's for my husband and me to debate.

He's got this fascination with cars, you know, and Grandmom's house did not disappoint. She had so many collectible cars that Jacob couldn't decide which to play with. There were antique buses, Chevy's, firetrucks--anything a vehicle-hungry kid could want. Heaven, I tell you!

We took part in the Azalea Festival activities in downtown Wilmington. Jacob wasn't exactly pumped about sitting in his stroller to watch the 3 hour parade and no graham cracker,or pacifier could convince him otherwise.Seriously, if it did have large wheels and a truck bed, he wasn't interested. So we headed down by the water front to let him stretch his legs. He seemed to perk up when Grandmom shared her potato ribbon with him, a festival favorite!
I ran into so many old friends at the festival. One particular friend noted my pregnancy size and stated, "You are big for 5 1/2 months." Hmmmmm......wonder why she's an "old friend"?

At the mall, Dolly took advantage of the free sleep-at-your-leisure seating and then played on the cars in the play area. Have I mentioned that this kid likes cars, trucks, vans, buses, RVs, ambulances, moving trucks, UPS and FedEx vehicles?We had snacks with Grandpa and Sadie, one of our four-legged host,
got to visit some old and new friends, Rain and her son, Jackson,(know what's great about the following pics? Jackson is hiding my rather large belly. Thanks, kid!),
played in the birdbath, (I love how he looks at me when he's doing something that he knows that I don't particularly approve of)

enjoyed going up and down the stairs, both inside and out (this was exhausting work for someone who is 5 1/2 months pregnant but looks 8-months pregnant),and ogled at Grandmom and Grandpa's motorcycles. Nice wheels!Thanks to Grandmom, Grandpa, Great-Grandmom, Rocky, Sadie and Walter for a wonderful and much needed vacation!!

As a side note:

So, you know how you get kinda insecure when you're considering names for your in utero child and you worry about telling others the names that you like? You know how you worry about what others will think, even if you try to convince yourself that you don't care what others think? You know how you really pay attention to peoples' reactions when you decide to face your fears, spill your guts and voice a considered name, as if looking for some clue, some sign, as to how they really feel about the name, regardless of what they say?--because you know that they are going to say, "Oh, that's a nice name" even if they hate it. Well, funny story: I'm visiting with my 89-year-old grandmother and this topic of conversation comes up. I feel myself getting kinda tense and nervous as I decide to share with her a name that Brian and I like and feel may be a good choice for our new kid. So, I share. And how does my listener react? She reacts by grimacing, telling me that the name sounds someone throwing up and then proceeds to act out throwing up while saying the name. Yeah, that's pretty much the worst reaction you could imagine. Old people, though....gotta love 'em.

So, it may come as a big surprise that we've nixed that name. I guess sharing our considered names now won't be so difficult. Reactions don't get any worse than that, huh?