Legacy

I was so happy to see James pick up his harmonica and meet his musical legacy from Great Grandpa Ruben Gutierrez. My grandpa has played the harmonica for as long as I can remember (and probably longer). James has been playing around with the harmonica for a few days but only today he figured out how to make music. He loved it!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We also formed a sort of marching band, with James switching between the harmonica and drums. It was so fun to play in his band- James on the drums (a cookie tin with drinking straw sticks!), me on the harmonica, and Jim on the cymbals (mini bundt pans that he banged together). We taught James how to conduct the band. He will count off and say, "1..2..3..4" and we play! I also taught James how to bow at the end when we clap, but he doesn't like doing it all the time. What a fun time!

We love you Grandpa!

Painting

James has reallly been loving to paint. If you've never seen him paint, he likes to use several brushes and wet them all with water. He usually wets his piece of paper and then will add the colors. He likes to mix and mix colors. His watercolor set drives me a little crazy because its a messy mix of colors. I am not the artist that James is though, so I give him lots of freedom to mix and mix to his heart's content. I think his paintings are beautiful!





I think this one is one of my favorites. I love the red!










This painting got a little wet. I think it gives a good texture to the masterpiece though :)

Milestone

James is still having a great transition to his new daycare. He has a hard time in the mornings, a bit of separation anxiety, maybe, but we are dealing with it. He cries when we leave him :( I've watched in the video monitors and he is fine soon after we leave the room. He is easily distractable and he really is having lots of fun at his "school".

Each day we get his update sheet and I'm excited to read about what he has done that day. There is also a large white board hanging in the classroom, that has more detail, so I read that and the day's menu to see what they attempt to feed my baby. (Today was tacos! I wonder how he did on Meatloaf Thursday?)

This update sheet is from Monday. They had a guest speaker- a baker! Mike the Baker showed the kids how to make cookies. And of course they got to eat them! I was told that James loved the baker presentation and ate two cookies. I'm not surprised! :)






I found this cute t-shirt at Target and knew I had to get it for James. Grandma Laura loves the Snoopy characters, and while I'm trying to give James some room to figure out which characters HE will love, I knew I had to get this t-shirt. Grandma Rosie had the same idea because she gave me a duplicate shirt! So funny.




Skipping ahead to today. Jim and I went to the State Fair! James still went to daycare, he was paid up for today and we thought it would be easier to navigate the crowds without him. I felt bad about not taking him, but I knew Jim and I needed to have our fun!

Jim tries Macaroni and Cheese on a stick. Our verdict: just okay.


My corndog was GREAT. Expensive, but great. There was a much larger corndog, if you can believe that!


Jim was too excited. Sweet Martha cookies at last!


Jim tried to win me a stuffed animal but this game was too hard, despite his pool skillz.


James had a great day at daycare. Before we leave we make a stop at the potty. James is excited to sit on the potty now! He must have a lot of encouragement at daycare and I'm trying to continue that at home. I don't force him to stay on the potty long, but I'm just trying to get into the routine of having him visit the potty. I only manage a few seconds of sitting before he says, "I'm done on potty!"

This is a smaller toilet. Just his size!






I have great news! James used the potty for the first time! He earned a sticker on the door chart!!! I am very excited. They told me that they whooped it up and congratulated him. I hope I'll have the same chance to do this at home!!!


James has a locker! We store his change of clothes, a blanket, and his beloved Blankie in the locker.


So he did have a great day and week!


After dinner we have James sit on the potty again. I forget what he was saying to me in this picture, but he's just too damn cute!


Playing outside tonight-






We got him to golf! He shot a couple balls and then got distracted with chalk art, his bike, but then went back to golf. I do like that he's so well rounded!






Dada shows James how its done!


I love this picture. My boys are so cute!

What did you do today, James?

"I eat ice cream!"

I love the part of the day where I ask James what he did that day. Today he was able to tell me that he ate chocolate ice cream, played with Grandma (Rosie), and saw a rabbit sleeping.

Oh, and he's asked to do it all again tomorrow!

My Golden Boy

Basking in the morning sun.

What's James doing NOW?

Inhaling pudding!

We just heard from Tia ChaCha and Tio Donkey- they are at the Vikings game!




(Last year's picture)

New Daycare Days #1 & 2

Day #1 was a big success. We both dropped off James yesterday morning for his first day. We had some paperwork to take care of too, but we both wanted to see how James would do on his first day and whether he would have a hard time. Nope! He did cling to me in the first few minutes but once he found some interesting toys, we said goodbye to him as he was playing independently and that was that. I called later in the morning to check on him and they said they still hadn't gotten him to play with others, but he was doing well.

This also was his first day in Pull-up diapers. They were going to start him on the potty immediately. I know this will work eventually because he'll see the other kids using the potty and he'll want to too.

At the end of the day I went to pick him up but I watched him through the monitor first. It was story time and James (and all the kids) were sitting in one area, on the floor, listening to the teacher. Some of the kids were making the hand motions, following the teacher, but James was sitting still and listening. I watched while a little girl tried to interact with James, first by putting her hand on top of his head. He tried hard to shake it off and then laughed. But then they played tug-o-war with some object and it looked not so friendly. The daycare director was just telling me that he hadn't interacted much of the kids all day, and so I pointed out the struggle with a laugh.

James gave me the most wonderful greeting as I walked in the door. "Mama!!!" with a smile and running towards me. He told me too, "I fun with friends!" So I knew he had a good day. I checked his folder and found these papers to take home.







At home, he was still happy about his day. He told us many times that he had fun and about his new friends. He mentioned his teacher Jamie a few times.

This morning he did NOT want to go to "school". I think the real issue was that I didn't let him watch TV and we left right away, soon after waking up. He cried a little in the car, and was again clingy when we arrived at the daycare. I stayed for a few minutes in the preschool room and helped him to get crayons and paper to color. While he got busy with that, I left the room to put his stuff in his cute little locker. I watched him from the window and the daycare teachers encouraged me to just leave without saying goodbye. I feel bad about that but I know he is doing fine.

Chef James and other fun

James was in a weird mood one morning and I found him "swimming" in his toys. He looked to be enjoying this- what a mess!


Yup, I made this mess.


Mama got skillz.


I found James' winter coat while shopping and was so happy that it matches his penguin hat from Tia ChaCha!


This is too cute! James was saying this while hugging Blankie, "Blankie so beautiful!"


I like how Blankie has become a "him" recently. James will look for Blankie and when he finds it, he says, "I found him!" Blankie also has an appetite. The other day James told me, "Blankie wants pudding, Mama."

Help me, Mama!




He's got a mischievous look in his eye. Know what he's doing? With my encouragement, he's giving Jim "spider fingers"- making his fingers crawl to look like a spider. Jim is scared of spiders :)


"I cook." (James makes GREAT hamburgers!)


Do you want cheese with that?


He really does understand the concept of cooking. He tells me often, "Go cook macaroni cheese." Ummmm, can you say please?

Recent artwork: