I've fallen behind...

I've fallen behind on blogging because it is hard to have your energy zapped by a very active 15 month old and a growing one inside of you! I feel bad because something new is going on in our house EVERY day (no exaggeration). I'm thankful to Ray for doing a good job keeping our blog updated as often as possible. He stayed up to blog on nights that I went straight to bed.

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First and foremost, I want to note something that happened about a week ago. Grayson barked! My mom was here visiting. She was talking to him about Daisy, Mya, and Hobbes. She said, "Does Daisy say WOOF?" Grayson smiled real big, studied her lips, and shaped his (but no sound came out). She said, "WOOF!" Again, he smiled and formed up his lips. After a few times, he said, "Woof!" It was so cute! We got to do it 3 times before he quit. G is so funny. Once he decides he's tired of saying something or doing something, he just flat refuses to do it again. He wouldn't do it anymore that day. However, I have gotten him to do it several times since then.

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On Saturday morning, I went to the store while Ray and G stayed at home. It was a nice and much needed outing by myself. I actually got to walk in the store and shop without having to push a stroller or carry a heavy toddler. I was able to take my time. Of course, I LOVE shopping with Ray and Grayson but sometimes time away by yourself is so nice. I know all moms understand that one (Dads too!).

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Anyway, while I was out, I received an instant message from Ray of Grayson in his high chair. As we've mentioned before, when he is "bow" (means "full" in Chinese) or just not interested in eating, he will take his bib off. That is his way of saying, "I've had enough!" And if he doesn't have a bib on, he will try to take his shirt off. I can't tell you how many times we've turned around to see his bare chest and his arm stretched up pulling the his t-shirt up over his head! He is something else! So this picture Ray send me was of Grayson in his high chair (waiting for breakfast) with his arm pulled from his sleeve and coming up through the neck of the shirt! It was so funny! I hadn't ever seen that before! Well, he did it again today! I had laid him down for a nap. He slept about 10 or 15 minutes and then I heard him coughing (on the monitor). He must have choked on his saliva or something. After that, I guess he couldn't sleep anymore. I heard him talking and playing in his room. I listened and hoped he would get sleepy and fall back. NOPE. He ended up getting fussy ("Hey - come get me! I'm up!" type of thing). When I went in there, I saw the same thing I saw in that cell phone pic Ray sent me. I couldn't help but laugh. He did too! Once I got him out of his crib, I got the camera, and set him down to take a picture so I could include it in this blog. Ready?!

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Check out G's new style!

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Here's G acting silly!

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Just about every day, we've been taking Grayson on a walk around our neighborhood. We always make a trip to the pond to at least see the ducks, if not feed them. Also in the last week or so, he said DUCK. It sounds kinda like "guck", but duck is what he's saying - without a doubt. :) The geese at the pond are loudmouths. They are always yelling and aggressive. We are real careful around them. But the ducks are always pleasant - very thankful (to be fed) and nice. G loves watching them...and hearing them quack. As a matter of fact, he first said "duck" when we were at the pond one day! The ducks are cool. The stay around and in the water a lot, but they also hang out in the neighborhood. They fly over to the elementary school across the street from us, congregate in people's yards, etc. That morning I was gone, some ducks were hanging out right outside Grayson's window! Ray said he was SO excited and kept saying "duck"! I wished I would've seen that. Well, today, when Grayson was in our front room (what is technically the formal dining room), he pulled the curtain back, pressed his face to the glass (I would've loved to have been on the outside to see his face squished on the window he was steaming up with his breath!), and said, "DUCK!" Unfortunately, there wasn't a duck outside. He was looking for one though! :)

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I know - I am full of stories today. I'm just trying to spit them out before I forget! Grayson still coughs a good bit. Sometimes it is a real cough - and sometimes it isn't. Regardless, when he coughs, we still say, "Are you okay?" He smiles whether or not he is really coughing or fake coughing. It is sweet. This morning as he and I were leaving the house, I got choked. I had a major tickle in my throat all of the sudden. I couldn't stop coughing. He could tell it was a real cough, that I was really choked. He held me tight. Sweet boy. Finally, I caught my breath. That's when I swear he said, "You okay?" I smiled and said, "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you." He coughed. I said, "You okay?" He smiled and shook his head yes. :)

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G LOVES birds! He loves watching them light on the bird feeder we recently put in our yard. Today, he was playing on our back porch in play house my mom got him. It is pretty cool. It has a door, windows, a slide, etc. He chooses not to go through the door. Instead, he climbs the slide to get in. He's funny! The birds must have been hungry today. We had 4 or 5 at the bird feeder just in the 30 minutes or so we were outside. Grayson stood in his house and watched them. Okay, the story takes a weird turn here. Bare with me...it does make sense.

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There is this big dirt hive/nest looking thing in the top corner of our porch. Since we moved in, we've tried to decide if it is a dirt dobber's nest (if so, it is quite a mansion) or if it is a bird's nest (if so, it is quite a tiny apartment). Ray leaned toward it being a dirt dobber's hive. I guessed a bird's nest. We never saw any kind of creature go near it to prove us right or wrong. Over the weekend, Ray said, "I need to knock down that dirt dobber's nest". I guess he decided it wasn't urgent since whoever built it seemed to have abandoned it. So, today, G and I were on the back porch. He was playing in his play house thingie (picking up from last paragraph). Out of nowhere comes two birds flying around our porch. One seemed to be chasing (or playing with) the other. They were chirping and weaving in and out of the porch. They whizzed around the brick pillars, disappeared above the house, and swooped down to fly in the porch again. Finally I realized that must be their house - OR they were interested in calling it their own. I don't know if they discovered it at the same time or what, but it seemed as if they were playing a "NO, it's mine!" type of game. I couldn't help but think, "We aren't going to get attacked by these birds, right?!" After a few minutes, I decided Grayson and I were the last thing on their minds. They were too busy trying to claim that nest. Then I couldn't help but think, "Okay, they probably won' t attack us - and they better not take a poop on us either!!!!!!" About that time, I looked over at Gray, who had the most serious look on his face. He was studying everything about those birds. We watched on light on the nest, sit on it and chirp proudly under the other bird came flying in trying to take it over. I was completely and utterly amused between the birds and Grayson's facial expressions!!!! G finally caught me smiling and started smiling. I'm sure he realized I was smiling at the serious look on his face. :) I said, "What do you think about those birds?!" He continued to smile and said something. I so wish I knew what he was saying. But even though I can't understand him, I think I know what he was trying to say. Grayson is so wonderful. He is such a joy. Like Ray said the other day, watching him learn is such an amazing thing.

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