Hard workin' man

Mommy said she was getting tired of being the only one who ever did any chores around the house and since I'm almost a year old she told me it was time to start earning my keep. She said I could start out with dusting. Hi mommy! Look I'm going to help.

(please ignore the kilt action I've got going on, daddy is always too lazy to button my shorts back after diaper changes, I think he thinks its funny for me to look like I'm wearing a dress, we'll see how how funny it is when I make him wear a dress!)

Anyways on to the Saturday chores. Ok now exactly how does this thing work?

Oh ok I see I just wave it around on things and it picks the dust up. Hey this might end up being fun after all. I don't see why mommy complains so much, I like dusting. I'm going to be the official duster from now on!

Since I did such a great job dusting on Saturday, mommy said she'd let me help with the laundry on Sunday. Ok mommy I've 2 shirts for you, now where do they go?

I'm supposed to fold these ginormous things? Now how do you suppose I go about this, I don't think this is going to work.

I wasn't too skilled at the whole folding laundry thing, I think I'll stick to dusting. Mommy agrees, but at least I tried!

My View on Sleep Training

I found this email about this new thing my mommy has been attempting and it fits me perfectly.

"OK, here's my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost 11 months. The first few months were great - I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened.

Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep thru the night).

At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I've talked to other babies, and it seems like it's pretty common after Mommies have had us for around 6 months.

Here's the thing: these Mommies don't really need to sleep. It's just a habit. Many of them have had some 30 years to sleep--they just don't need it anymore. So I am implementing a plan. I call it the Crybaby Shuffle.

It goes like this:

Night 1--cry every 3 hours until you get fed. I know, it's hard. It's hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, it's for her own good.

Night 2--cry every 2 hours until you get fed.

Night 3--every hour.

Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about 3 nights. Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don't give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW IT'S HARD! But she really does not need the sleep, she is just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn't eaten pears since lunch, what's up with that? The cat said "meow". I should know. My

Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right--doesn't matter! Keep crying!!

It took awhile, but it worked. She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies' internal clocks.

P.S. Don't let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me."

Yup, thats me in a nutshell. I like to trick my mommy into thinking that I'm going to start sttn by occasionally sleeping all night for a couple of days and then I break her back into the routine. I mean seriously she's gone all day long, the least she can do is get up with me all night long.

Sleepover at Gramps and Grandma's

After my first birthday party we went to Grandma and Gramps' house. It was a suprise and boy were they happy. I wanted to stay up and play all night long but I was so tired and just wouldn't go to bed so were had a very long screaming match. But when I woke up the next morning Grandma got up bright and early with me at 6am and we played! Grandma let me get all her pots and pans out of the cabinet. I found 2 wooden spoons that I loved. I carried them around all weekend, I'm practicing to be a drummer. Sunday morning Gramps went to the store for a surprise for me, I couldn't wait to see what it was. Could you believe it was a blow up swimming pool for me? He got me a toy boat and a sand bucket too. Had lots of fun skinny dipping but boy was the water cold. Its getting to be hard for me to take naps at Grandma and Gramps' now, I just want to stay up and play, so mommy put me in my stroller and we took a walk in the house. How funny is that. But I liked it and I fell fast asleep until it was time to go home and see daddy.

Happy Birthday to you!

Went to mommy's friend's son's birthday party today at Little Gym. Had lots of fun watching the big boys play on the mats and blow up gyms. Got to play with balloons and snuck a few bites of chocolate ice cream.

I'm a model!

Today mommy and I went to the coolest park I've ever seen. It was all for kids, they had 3 different playgrounds! Mommy met a new friend from a forum that she plays on while at work, shhh don't tell anybody I let her secret slip. Her friend Jamie was wanting to work on her photography portfolio so she followed us around and took a ton of pictures. I felt like a celebrity!

We stopped by the store on the way to the park and I got my very 1st balloon! It was so cool, I love balloons. The man at the store let me watch as he blew it up, its very exciting. I was so happy I started giggling and he gave it to me for free. I wanted to play with my red balloon all day.

Mommy thought I might want to try and perfect my walking skills, however I thought that the ground held lots more exciting things. I can walk all day at home, when am I ever going to see these strange weed things? Hmmm I wonder what they taste like?

There are so many curious things at the park!

Would you believe there was a hippo at this park! I was a little scared when mommy put me in its mouth , what if he decided he was hungry?

The hippo was very interesting, its teeth were as big as my head!

I had such a great time, mommy and I high-fived each other and practiced how to be Indians with our oh-oh-oh calls.

My favorite part was when I got to swing. This swing was much different than the swing at Grandma and Gramps' house but still just as fun. But boy do I have to watch out for mommy, she likes to tickle my feet when I get in these things!

It was really sunny out so I thought maybe I'd put on my hat for a little shade.

After the swing we sat down for a mini picnic and I got a bottle and some puffs. It was a great time to relax after all the excitement of the swing.

But of course I couldn't relax for too long, the ticklebug appeared and I couldn't get away!

It was a great day at the park and I can't wait to go back and bring daddy with me next time!

Aunty Erin

Erin, Damon and Boy came to visit this weekend

Alphabet Soup

Mommy is just so silly, today she said we were going to make alphabet soup! I didn't know what that was but it sounded yummy to me. Well first she said we had to fill the bathtub up with warm water, gosh we must be feeding a bunch of people! Then she added some bubble bath but called it chicken stock, I'm not so sure that was a great idea as the bubbles don't taste so great. Then she put the alphabet noodles in. (I know they were just a bunch of foam letters) And last of all she said we needed to add the chicken - I didn't think we had any chicken but then she scooped me up and stuck me in! Silly mommy I get it now, want a yellow noodle?

I was excited for my alphabet soup bath at first but then I got to thinking, what if she really is going to eat me? You're not going to eat me are you mommy?

I had to close my eyes when she poured more water on my head, she said it was a little salt & pepper to make sure I seasoned just right. She's really got me worried!

Maybe if I pucker my lips and look like I'm sour she won't eat me.

Phew, mommy didn't eat me. It really was just bath time, although I think I'd rather her stick to our splish splash takin' a bath routine instead of this alphabet soup scare.