Yesterday was awesome.  Adam and I had a really great day.  It started with this:

We were playing with the webcam on my computer while we waited for Dave to log on so we could chat. Adam likes to see himself on the screen and we were yelling during this picture.  (Fun side note: As I was writing this post, Adam was sitting on my lap.  When he saw this picture he started laughing and yelling again.)

He took an earlier than normal nap (which was very necessary, since he was up way too often the night before), and after he woke up we took a trip to the post office and then went to lunch at Friendly’s.

He was so good at lunch. He colored until the food came and then ate almost everything on his plate – there were a couple of  bites of mac-n-cheese left (he had that with a hotdog) and of course the pickles (because he is just like his mama and daddy in that respect, pickles = yuck).  It was the perfect belated Valentine’s lunch date.

We came home and played for a while. He likes to put a tambourine on my head and then giggles like crazy when I pretend to sneeze and it goes flying off. Then we had our pre-bedtime snuggle in the chair while watching cartoons (it’s a nice way to wind down before it’s time to sleep).  He went to bed right at eight with no complaints.

Pretty much a perfect day.

Some guys can pull off a mustache, some guys can’t.

I’d have to put him in the “can’t” category.

Thankfully these pictures were taken just before he shaved it off.  Without or without the mustache though, there isn’t anyone else I would want as my valentine.

Well, here’s the dinosaur project I mentioned in my last craft related post. I combined the car caddy tutorial with the dino playmat found here. This was just a little more labor intensive than the car one, but still a fairly quick and easy project. The main difficulty was keeping Adam away from it when I was working on it. He really likes the dinosaurs on the back and the numbers on the front. I definitely need to make him one too.

I’m really not sure how it’s going to hold up since the felt pieces cross the fold line. Hopefully it’s not an issue, you can sort of see the creases though already. The velcro and belting went on much easier this time. Especially once I realized the easiest way to keep the belting from fraying on the end was to burn it with a lighter.

Fun fabric on the back, no? It’s been in my stash forever and I have no idea where it came from. Adam loves it though, he carried around a piece of it for a while earlier and kept showing me the dinos and roaring at them. Hopefully the birthday girl (another big dino fan) likes it too.

Yesterday I was sitting down and Adam was sort of sitting/leaning on my stomach. The baby was going nuts – kicking like crazy. I told Dave, thinking it was a cute story.  His response: “Great, the baby’s not even born yet and the kids are already fighting”.

Ha ha.

I prefer to think that Ducky was just saying hello to his (or her) big brother.

At Adam’s checkup earlier this week the doctor asked me how many words he says. I honestly had no idea, but guessed “at least fifteen”. When I got home I started a list. This is what I’ve come up with so far:

1. Mama
2. Mom Mom (Grandma)
3. Dah Dee (Daddy)
4. Hat
5. Shoos (Shoes)
6. Bye Bye
7. PLEEEE (Please)
8. Wah wah (Water)
9. Stay CEE (Stacy)
10. Rob
11. Papa
12. Grandpa (close to how he says “Papa” but different)
13. Uh Oh
14. Oh No
15. Nigh Nigh (Night Night)
16. Hi
17. DINE SAUR(dinosaur – always said in a growling voice)
18. Chee! (Cheese)
19. Na nas (Bananas – this does not refer to the fruit, but rather “going bananas”)
20. I-no-no (I don’t know – said as one big word and normally accompanied by him putting his hands palms up and shrugging)
21. George
22. Eyes
23. Choo choo
24. Ba ba (Belly/button – they are interchangeable to him)
25. Ah-num (Adam)
26. No no no
27. Bah (Ball)
28. Bah Bee (Baby)
29. Dat da (Doggy – this was his first word)
30. Ah no (Thank you – not sure how this translates, but it’s his version)

A little more than 15 – and I am sure I’m missing a couple.

So while this isn’t the big brainstorm craft idea I alluded to in a previous post, it’s close. That project is at a standstill until the fabric I ordered online gets here. It is similar though, so I made this to practice.

Here is Adam’s new car carrier. It took me less than 2 hours total – it’s pretty basic, but I really just wanted to get an idea of how it went together for a different project I have in mind.

(I used this tutorial by Homemade by Jill.)

That’s my car in the lower left – the purple metallic Dodge Charger. The finished size of this mat is roughly 16×9 inches. So it’s the perfect size to take to a restaurant to (hopefully) keep him entertained while we wait.

Basically the way it works is you fold it in half like this (you can see the fabric on the back – that fabric is 14 years old – left over from my senior year driver’s ed project).

Then you fold it in thirds and tie it closed with the attached shoelace. It folds up to about 5 square inches and is the perfect size to toss in my bag when we’re going out.

We have a birthday party to go to this weekend for a soon to be two year old boy and his recently turned four year old sister, so I decided to try another one tonight.  This time I used velcro to keep it closed – I figured that would be easier for little hands to manage.  I also added some numbers like they did in the tutorial, just to jazz it up a little. I sewed my numbers on, but I think I am going to try her painting technique on the other one I made – since I think the numbers are Adam’s favorite part.

Do me a favor and ignore the crooked velcro here – it was my first time using it. I definitely think velcro is the way to go in the future with these though.

I can’t wait to start on the next one. It involves dinosaurs, that’s all I have to say about that.

Today we had Adam’s 18 month checkup.

He weighs 22 lbs 15 oz and is 30 inches tall.

He’s in the 5th percentile for height, 10th for weight, and 90-95th for head size.

Our kid has a HUGE brain.

Earlier today Adam was playing his xylophone with a maraca.  He certainly loves music (or maybe just noise).

Some other highlights of our day:

– One major meltdown after he finished his scrambled eggs (this was lunch today) and didn’t want to move on to his pears.  He only wanted more eggs.  Too bad kiddo – two eggs is enough for you. I finally got him to try the pears and then once he realized he liked them too he was happy again.

– One trip to “time out” after he bit my thumb. This he did not like at all.  When I sat him down and walked away he started calling for Daddy – sorry little man, he can’t help you.

– He gave me a concert with the microphone he got from my parents for Christmas. It plays music and he will get a song started and then “sing” in to it. He is quite the little rock star.

– We watched about 50 ducks (and no, I am not exaggerating here) in our neighbors back yard. The would waddle across the yard (generally single file – disproving the “ducks walk two by two” mindset that is so popular in my family) something would spook them and they’d all fly back in to the wooded area behind our house. Then they would get brave and start out again. I love showing him the different animals – three times in the past week we’ve had deer in our yard. One gave me a pretty good scare when it walked right by the kitchen window as I was doing dishes.

All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Oh – and for the record – he’s not mad in this picture.  He was watching the ducks and stopped to show me how he can sniff like a dinosaur. It’s pretty adorable.

No words needed.  I love this kid.

So I’ve heard people talking before about pregnant ladies “nesting” – basically where they go nuts with cleaning and getting organized before the baby arrives. I think I’m in the middle of some crafty nesting and while I don’t deny that energy could be better spent if harnessed and focused on housework, I am enjoying it while it lasts.

Last night I cut the fabric (minus the borders) for a quilt for the new baby. Today I came across two new projects that I can’t wait to start. The quilt might have to wait a bit. The one I am most excited about involves matchbox cars and so I picked up six of them tonight while we were shopping.

It probably took me a lot longer than it should have to pick out six cars. I wanted them to be cool and each one to be a different color.  So we (and I’m using the “we” here very loosely, because since they are still in their packaging and I am way more excited about them than Adam), anyway, we got an orange 1970 Monte Carlo, a green convertible, a blue 1967 Mustang, a red 1972 Gran Torino, the Batmobile, and my personal favorite: a purple metallic 1967 Dodge Charger.  I would totally drive that car if I could.  I think it would look so cool with two carseats in the back and trunk full of groceries – don’t you agree?

Also, I’m debating on exchanging the Batmobile for a yellow car or truck – just to go with my bright color scheme. These are the decisions that keep me up at night. Not really, the 18 month old that has suddenly decided he’s nocturnal is what keeps me up at night. Okay, I think I will keep the Batmobile (because, hello, it’s the Batmobile) and pick up something in yellow the next time I’m shopping. For another 98 cents, it’s the best of both worlds.

So yeah, I’m pretty excited about this new project. I am actually going to go get started on it now so that it will be that much closer to sharing with you.  Oh – and Stacy – it’s way cooler than the pictures I showed you.