Big Shoes

Griffin loves wearing Tom's shoes...  it's crazy to think that his feet will actually be this big some day, unless of course by some genetic mishap, he takes after me and has tiny Asian feet...

Zelda

That's what Griffin named our elf on the shelf.  We gave it to him yesterday in a red paper package that Santa dropped off while we were outside playing.  His first suggestion for the name was "Vera", given that our elf is a girl.  Now let the nice behavior begin!

Face Plant

Yikes.  Griff was at Pickman's playground for about 10 minutes this morning after swim lessons.  The first 8 of those were on the swings.  Then almost immediately after he went to the climbing/sliding thing, he bit the dust big time.  He tripped on a step and hit his face on another step on the way down.

Bloody nose.  Fat lip.  This is the first frightening amount of blood I've seen from either of this kids. By the time I ran him back to the car for some wipes etc., he had already gotten a lot on his coat, my coat, and all over his face and hands.  It freaked me out a little bit.  Vicki was my rock - jumping out of the car with burp cloth in hand to stop the bleeding.

On the car ride home, Griff said "I'm a hot mess and a blood mess!"  After the initial crying, he pretty much was good with the whole thing.  He doesn't even really notice that his voice is a little off due to the swelling.

He's a trooper.  Its all good now.

Picture of his fat lip (he looks a lot like Uncle Alex, who has big lips, haha):

Children's Museum

Pictures from our adventure to the Boston Children's Museum:  (Griffin spent an hour in the construction zone with Dad, Mike and Connor, a half hour in the balls room, and a half hour climing the crazy structure.  Vera slept.)

Playdoh Toilet

(V): I made the toilet, Griffin added the poop inside.  We are quite the artistic duo.  Also, Griffin loves to mash and mix all of his playdoh colors together, which inevitably turns this color of brown... Brown happens to be his favorite color, so it works out perfectly.

Boys Night

Griff and i went to orange leaf for froyo followed by Chet's to rent a movie and a slice of pizza at Tony's.  I had quite a few "i really like being a dad" moments throughout our man-date.  Just watching him feed himself or pick out a movie is pretty cool.  And he starts new thoughts in conversations, rather than just responding to whatever i say to him.  I love you Griff.

Pumpkin Family

 

If our kids were pumpkins, they would look like this... (these are the "Griffin & Vera" pumpkins that Griffin picked out this year... he painted the "Mommy" pumpkin brown as well as his face, and Tom carved the "Dad" pumpkin into a cool jack-o-lantern)

Penguins, Stingrays, and Seals, Oh My

Griffin and I went on an adventure to the Aquarium today with Connor, his mom Sandy, and his Gma Lorraine.  The boys loved snacking, running up the ramps, snacking, pretending to swim around, playing in the kids play area, and giving each other fist bumps... oh and the fish were cool too. :)

Penny & Simon, My First 2 Babies

Oh my sweet Penny & Simon.  Despite having a human baby, these 2 crazy kitties are still my first 2 babies.  I try to give them as much love and attention as I can, and I try to keep Griffin's crazy antics away.  Admittedly, they are still a little nervous around our unpredictable 2 year old; can't blame them.  Here are a few recent pictures of them:

Griffin gave Simon "a drink".  Simon was watching Griff, Harry Bear, and I having a picnic in the living room.

Here is Simon rocking Griffin's blue striped polo, complete with a popped collar.

Here is Penny 'tolerating' Griffin brushing her fur.  Griffin often brings Penny her stuffed cat and mouse...

Penny is relaxing in Griffin's play tent.

Like Mom, Like Son

This happened last week:

For about 15 minutes post dinner, Griffin walked around the house with a pile of half chewed carrots in his mouth.  The carrots were going no where fast.  When I wasn't watching, Griff walked into the kitchen, pulled open his tupperware drawer, which is where we store his bin of hand wipes, took out some hand wipes, spit out his mouthful of carrots, and left them on the floor. 

When I found the carnage, I laughed as this reminded me of myself as a kid when my parents used to make me sit at the table until I completely cleared my plate (a rule I will never enforce).  Unfortunately, I remember sitting at the table for upwards of 2.5 hours alone with large piles of dried/ABC (Already-Been-Chewed) meats in the side pockets of my cheeks.  I used to "have to go to the bathroom" during dinner, where I'd spit my unwanted food into the toilet... or there were also times when my mom finished washing the dishes and as soon as she left the kitchen, I'd cleverly throw my veggies or meat out in an empty milk carton in the trash... Once I vividly remember getting caught red handed, and my mom made me eat all of the milky cold watercrest or spinach or whatever gross greens they were... it was so nasty.

Anyway, it's funny to see Griffin even begin to use these "tricky" tactics, like when he gets put down for bed at nigh,t and as soon as the lights are off and the door is shut, I hear him shout, "Moommmmy, I have to pee on my potty!", which of course, I fell for once. 

I like that Griffin is a little like me.

Pic of Dad & Griff

Omg this is too cute.  I love my 2 boys.  This was taken a week ago, and it's definitely one of my favorite Griff & Dad pictures to date.

Trip to Babci's House & Redd's Pond

Griff and I had a great morning at Babci's (Sesbastian's Grandma Phyllis' house in MHD).  After having played his little heart out with his best buddy from school, Sebastian, aka "Bashy", Griffin is currently napping (hopefully for a long chunk of the afternoon, fingers crossed, though I probably just jinxed myself from typing that).  The boys played bikes on Babci's porch, then Carrie and I took them on a stroller ride to the Gerry School Playground to play, we stopped at Redd's Pond to visit the ducks, strolled back to Babci's for lunch, and then the boys finished up their playdate dumping all of the toys from 2 big treasure chests onto the floor in Babci's living room.

P.S. This morning I made a total novice-Mom move, as I prematurely leaked the news to Griff that we were headed to Babci's house or "Grandma Phyllis" as Griffin calls her.  I did this a solid 2.5 hours before we were actually going with the intention of getting him excited for our day... except, all morning long my little parrot-child kept saying "I want to go to Babci's house to play." (We're talking like 9 times in 2.5 hours).

P.P.S. Darn it. I did totally jinx myself.. I can hear Griff awake upstairs half talking, half whining. Seriously?  He had a super active morning and all I get is 50 minutes of quiet?  Are you kidding me?  It sounds like he is banging his feet against the side of his crib and he is saying something like, "No Mommy, I don't have to wear shoes.  Where is my doggie?"  What?  Back to reality.

Life Goals of a 2 Year Old

During bath time last night, Griffin said, "When I grow up I want to water flowers, and I want to be a fire fighter, so I can drive a fire truck."  These are his current life goals... :) 

Water Table, Hooray!!!

Griffin loves his new water table... yes, he's naked.. as usual.

Hot Dog Griffin

Griffin ate his first hot dog a few weeks ago on March 27th.. It was one of those foods that he's just never been interested in eating.  He ate it totally plain with no bun or ketchup, or utensils for that matter. 

Speaking of hot dogs.. a favorite Dad/Mom & Griff activity is wrapping Griff in a blanket like a hot dog, or wrapping him up tightly in his towel after bathtime.  Griff usually says, "I'm a hot dog; do you want to eat me with ketchup, mustard and relish?" And when either Tom or I respond, "Oh yes, I want to eat you..." and we pretend to chew on him, he freaks out and says "No, don't eat me!!!"

I love wrapping Griffin up.. It's like a giant toddler swaddle. So cute!

Naked Tricycle Riding

Griffin loves being naked... I mean, who doesn't appreciate a naked tricycle ride? 

Albany Weekend

We took a road trip to Albany to see Uncle Alex, Aunt Anny and Grandpa Victor.  As a bonus, we also got to see Lisa, Adam and Nora and take a tour of the new YFC rock gym, The Edge.  2 memories from the visit: 1) My dad went to the basement and brought up my old slot machine and Alex's old robot for Griffin to play with.  He dusted them off gave Griffin some quarters to use for the slots (Asians learn to gamble young)... it was a very cute Grandpa moment.  2) On our drive back to Boston, Tom and I were singing along to one of Griff's Kindermusik songs, when Griffin scolded us and said "Mommy, Daddy, don't sing that!".  Though we tried not to, we couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the fact that we had just gotten schooled by our 2 year old!

Red Sled Ride

Here are some pictures of the one and only time Griff got to go sledding this non-snowy winter...  He had a blast, other than when Tom accidentally dumped Griffin face first into the snow when whipping him around a turn... :)  The first 2 are of Griffin's first shoveling lesson.  It's so cute how he is looking up at Tom to make sure he's holding up his shovel to pose for the picture correctly...

oops.

traumatic snow face plant

wah wah

snack time

happy again