More vacation pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation to Florida. These are from Seaworld! Eric loved seeing the penguins. We also got to see the polar bears and the horses. He wasn't too sure about the horse but the polar bear was out playing and he thought that was cool. Thanks again Alyson and Caleb for a great day!!!

Vacation Pictures (round one)

Here are some of our vacation pictures from Disney, Universal and Christmas. He wasn't too sure about the Whos from Universal but he loved the characters at Disney. I got to march in the Universal Studios Macy's parade with a bunch of crazy people! It was a fun experience. We had a great Christmas and Elmer was able to watch via the web! Santa brought Eric tons of stuff but his favorite gift came from his Mom mom and Pop pop which was the car that he refused to get out of. He ate breakfast in it. He would drive away and then drive back for another bite of cinnamon roll. Thanks goes out to my Dad for getting us in to Disney for free and my grandparents who got us in to Universal.

It's Potty Time!!

We have officially started potty training. Eric learned to take off his diaper and pants a while ago but never showed much interest in the potty. Mom mom and Pop pop bought him an Elmo potty chair that talks and encourages him to use the potty like Elmo. Well at first he only wanted to put his toys in the seat and then he finally sat down on it clothed. The other night when he was getting ready for his bath he sat down without his diaper. I gave him a book to look at hoping he would stay a little longer. Well, as fate would have it he stood up went over to the tub and took a pee all over the carpet and the side of the tub! We are getting closer everyday. Hopefully he will catch on quickly and we can stop buying diapers for a while!

Eric

I remember one of the many times (ok not so many he was a really good baby) that I wished Eric could talk and just tell me what he wants. Well, I am not so sure I feel that way anymore. Just kidding! He has grown so much and so quickly too. He has some pretty funny phrases he loves to use like "no no no, that's not nice" He used this one on me when I was wiping his bottom one day. Apparently he wants us to invest in a wipe warmer. I bought home a Happy Meal for him one day and he got all excited and yelled "I see Yi Yi's" (french fries aka his favorite food). His speech is so clear and he is learning new words everyday. He has hit that independent stage that comes with being almost 2 and he loves to say "I do it!" He loves life and playing at the park. He loves animals, especially dogs, cats and penguins which he calls Happy Deets. He loves to hide in his tent and get out the Monopoly money. Apparently he is now paying me for my mommy services. He only gives me fives! He loves putting (real) money in his piggy bank since it plays music. He loves singing Popcorn Popping and his Pizza Jesus song. These are his two favorite words and he made up his own song for them. He is a little ham! One thing that he loves the most is talking to daddy. He talks to Elmer everyday on the phone and gets to see him on the webcam. When I do something he doesn't like he goes over to the computer and talks to daddy (we have his picture up there as a backround) and tells him all about it. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for us especially with him. We love him so much!

Made it!

We are home! We made it back to Germany on Feb. 24th but we have been sick so I haven't had a chance to post. Eric got sick the night before we left so I went 48 hours with no sleep. He was really good on the plane but proceeded to throw up once a day for the next few days which resulted in a trip to the doctor. He was his normal usual self and the doctor reassured me that he would be fine. Needless to say the virus made its rounds. My mom and Ashley came back with me and so far my mom has avoided the plague.

We had a good trip (pictures to come). One of the highlights was seeing my best friend Alyson who is expecting her first baby this summer! We had some girl time which was great. She took us to Sea world where Eric could see his new obsession Happy Feet! On the day after Thanksgiving I went shopping. I love Black Friday! I bought the DVD of Happy Feet. I thought Eric would like it, I didn't know he would love it! We watch it every night. He goes around dancing and singing. He loves to get up and dance during the movie and when we dont' watch it for a few days he walks around asking "Mumble okay?" He has several stuffed penguins and can pick out a Happy Deet from a good distance.

While we were home I got to see my sisters in Tampa and their families which was nice. We also got to eat a various restaurants including Chick Fil A which quickly became Eric's favorite. We have Taco Bell, Charlies Subs, Subway, Burger King, McDonald's and Popeyes over here so something new like Chick Fil A is a big deal. We also loved going to Walmart, Barnes and Nobel and Babies R Us. Eric loved Barnes and Nobel the most since there is a train in there he could play with. We went to Lake Eola a few times and he loved going to nursery on Sunday.

We enjoyed our time home but it is nice to be back!

I promise to post pictures of our trip soon!

UFOs and Evolution

Tonight I realized that Evolution is a load of poop. In my case literally! After dinner of cheese ravioli I gave Eric a bath. He played and laughed and then I inspected the water a little closer and realized why he was playing and laughing... We had UFOs!!! That's right Unidentified (what did he eat?) Floating Objects. I scooped him up, got him dried off and dressed and then went back to fish them out of the water. Tonight I have to go and clean everything! He laughed and thought is was the funniest thing in the world. This incident made me think about the theory of evolution and how we all evolved from monkeys etc. I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!! There are days I could use a tail to open the door when my hands are full or an extra set of arms to carry all the groceries in. If we had evolved, labor wouldn't hurt so bad and the baby would just slide right out. I guess that one could argue that we have evolved into a nice little technologically advanced society but I for one want my tail back!

Patches aka "No No" the Horse

I tried to get my Christmas shopping done early this year. Since I don't have help and have 2 flights of stairs to go up I put Eric's Christmas on lay a way. Over here if you see something and don't buy it, it won't be there when you go back to get it... even the next day. I found little Patches the rocking horse and thought how wonderful it would be for Eric. The best part was that the box was light and I could carry it and Eric up the stairs, so I bought it. While I was packing I decided that Patches came in a nice lightweight sturdy box that I could use to pack clothes and shoes in to ship. What I didn't expect was for Patches to come with thirty something stickers. I began putting them on being careful to make sure that everything was in the right place. Eric loves stickers! He tried to pull them off as I put them on and I said "no no" Now Eric understands what No means and he can even point to the things he isn't supposed to touch. I finished Patches and I felt proud that he actually looked like a horse. I gave him to Eric and he walked up to him, pointed to him and said "NO NO" and walked away. It took me an hour or more to convince him that he could ride his horse and that he wouldn't get in trouble. He kept giving me this look like "Lady, I know it is a trick! You just want a reason to put me in time out so you can get a break! I am not stupid! You can keep the horse!" Needless to say I learned yet another important parenting lesson. Put stuff together after the baby is in bed. As of today (2 days later) everytime he gets on Patches he looks at me just to make sure it is ok.