Day 14-23

It's been a while since I posted. I'm sorry, but my Mommy has been keeping me rather occupied for several days. Quite by accident, she found out that I am ready to be Potty Trained. I have mixed feelings about the matter, because she will frequently swoop in out of nowhere and take me off to the bathroom. Sometimes she interrupts my play time, and that's not fun. The positive side of it is that we get to read books a lot more. While I sit on my little potty chair, Mommy reads to me about farm animals. I'm learning to imitate cats, dogs, donkeys, pigs, and horses. I'm also keeping my diapers dry for a long time.

I'm growing up way faster than my Daddy and Mommy think I should. ...but I don't think Mommy minds that I'm not using so many diapers now. Daddy thinks it's pretty neat, too, especially since he can hardly keep from passing out when he changes diapers.

Day 14

Today my mommy didn't feel very good, so we didn't really do much of an activity.

We listened to the second part of the Adventures in Odyssey story from yesterday,

and Mommy let me play with the Christmas beads for a little while.

She kept trying to get a picture of me,

but I was an elusive little stinker.

Day 15

Today we made homemade Chocolate Ice Cream. We were supposed to make snow cream, but we still don't have any snow.

First we mixed up the ingredients in the blender.

I used to be scared of the blender, back when I was little.

Then we put the custard stuff into this nifty little machine.

I watched it for a while to make sure no-one got into the ice cream before it was done.

Sometimes you need to blow on food before you eat it. I'm not sure why.

All the blowing must have helped, cause this tastes just right.

Day 16

Today was our Church get together.

How cool is this? My Mommy let me run the mixer. It tickled my hand and made me laugh.

We were making topping for vegetable pizza.

I didn't really like how it tasted, but it sure was fun to make.

Besides being able to steal all kinds of food off Great Grandma's plate,

my favorite part of the evening was playing.

My Birthday Buddy, Payton was there. I was born on his 5th birthday,

so he's all grown up already.

Day 17

Today we did Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Davolt's house.

We don't have real snow, but I got to play with this snowman.

I also got to help Dad and Grandpa fix this tractor.

Mostly, Daddy just held me, because he didn't want me to work in the grease. I guess that's just how it is when your 1 year old - everybody tells you what you can and can't do. Sigh, I can't wait 'til I'm 5.

I got to open some neat presents. Grandpa and Grandma got me some John Deere stuff, and Uncle Harel got me a bunch of Mega Blocks.

Uncle Harel was really tired because he just changed from working nights, to working days, so he went to bed. the rest of us men sat in the sitting room and talked and read the newspaper.

Day 18

Today was our Christmas Program at Church. Mommy forgot her camera, so she didn't get any pictures of me all dressed up. I didn't get to sing or anything, but I did get a bag of chocolate afterwards. In case I haven't already told you, Chocolate is my favorite.

After Sunday night church, my Daddy and Mommy made Sopapillas. They taste really good with brown sugar and milk.

Daddy and Mommy ate them with honey, but I'm not old enough to eat honey yet.

Day 19

Today we had friends coming over for a visit,

so Mommy and me made some scones and coffee.

They surprised us when they got here with some treats and tea that they had made.

So we had a party.

Afterwards the girls and I played while our Moms visited.

We always like it when they come to visit.

Day 20

Today we all built stuff together out of my new blocks from Uncle Harel.

Daddy and I built this chair that had wheels on it.

Daddy let me ride on it.

I think Daddy is anticipating the crash of this Giraffe.

Mommy helped me a little bit with this Robot.

Day 21

Today we went to help a lady clean her house.

She gave me this Teddy bear for Christmas. It's fur feels really soft and fuzzy.

Then after Daddy got home from work, we made Chocolate milk shakes.

Day 22

I'm pretty sure Mommy is running out of ideas, because we keep having treats instead of doing Activities.

But that's OK, because I really like food.

P.S. Please take my survey along the sidebar. Look for my final Advent post and survey answers sometime around New Years. We are going to be really busy Celebrating Jesus' birthday for the next week, so I probably won't update again until then. Merry Christmas, and don't forget Jesus in all of your celebrations.

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas! I didn't do so well with getting cards out this year.

Notice how Wylie had to close his eyes for this one. :)

Admiring Grandpa and Grandma D's Christmas tree.

We will plan to have the little boy back to posting, perhaps tomorrow. Meanwhile, take his opinion poll along the sidebar. Check back sometime around New Years to find out what all he got for Christmas.

Day 9-13

Day 9

Today Mommy made me take a nap while she made play dough for me. She usually makes me take at least two naps every day, but today, I wanted to stay up and help her cook, but she wouldn't let me. She says I'm to young to use the stove.

The play dough was pretty fun, because I could do all kinds of stuff with it. I didn't think it tasted very good, but it was fun to make pound on and stab at with my fork.

In this picture I'm beating it with my hands, like Mommy beats bread dough. ...only she gets to use the big huge mixer. I want to use the mixer, but she won't let me.

I got a little grumpy because Mommy didn't like for me to throw the dough down on the carpet.

This thing doesn't work like my big marble rolling pin! Hmmm... maybe I should've asked for that one.

Day 1o

Oops... we got to busy today! Mommy forgot to pull out our advent activity until I was already in bed, so we just put it off for today.

Day 11

Today is Sunday. ...another big day for me. This morning I went to sleep in church because I just couldn't take sitting still for another minute. Daddy and Mommy don't mind if I fall asleep in church, but they were sad about it this morning, because I did it on purpose. (I don't ever go to sleep on purpose!!) They are afraid I don't like church. Actually, I wouldn't mind church if I could get up and play the piano like Daddy does, or go up front and have everyone's attention for the whole service. I can sing pretty good, too, so I don't understand why I can't stand up front and wave my arms at everyone to tell them how to sing.

One good thing that came from sleeping this morning is that during prayer and testimonies tonight, my Daddy let me come up front with him. That was so much fun. I'm not sure if I'll get to do it again though, because I caused to much of a disturbance. I made faces at everyone while they testified and talked when it got quiet. I kept trying to get the mic and Daddy kept making it move away from me. I thought that was a fun game, but I don't think Daddy thought it was so fun.

Mommy says I was a clown, (whatever that is) so I'm not sure if they'll let me go up front any more or not.

Since we missed yesterday's activity, we did lots of fun things today.

I had my own dish of ice cream, and I shared a little bit of it with Daddy.

This activity was a little weird. We were supposed to make a snowman, and since we don't have any snow, (I have no idea what snow even is) we each had to come up with an idea for one section of the snowman.

Daddy used the big exercise ball. Mommy teased Daddy about using something so original, but I thought it was a great idea. Mommy stuffed a coat with pillows for his clothes, and I used another ball for his head. I guess I kind of copied Daddy's idea, but he didn't mind.

I didn't really like the snowman, because when I tried to play with him, he just fell over in a heap.

Daddy and Mommy made some caramel corn, and I helped eat it. Once I found an un-popped kernel, but I gave it back to Daddy so that he could re-pop it. He just threw it away.

This is the shelf where some of my toys belong. Mommy and Daddy thought I took them too literally when they said to clean the shelf up. For some reason they think a clean shelf means to put all the toys on the shelf, not take them off. I think it looks much cleaner without them, what do you think?

This is my other clean shelf.

Day 12

I loved today's activity. Mommy had just put fresh clothes on me right before she gave me this powdery stuff that she said was like snow, only not cold. It smelled funny too, kind of like babies smell.

It was so fun! Can you tell? I swirled it up into big puffs of white, perfumed clouds. I didn't know that snow was so sneezy.

I was pleased with my hands, they looked like I'd been painting or dry-walling. I wish I hadn't had to wash that off. My pants looked pretty impressive, too.

Even though my clothes were just fresh, we had to throw them into the laundry as soon as I got done playing.

Next time, maybe you can come join me.

Day 14

Today, we listened to the first part of "The Star" on Odyssey. Then Mommy and Daddy took turns reading the Christmas story, while the other one helped me re-enact it with my special nativity.

I think the Angel was supposed to be singing in this picture, but Mommy didn't trick me. I know she was being the angel's voice, because the angel's mouth wasn't moving, but Mommy's was.

Daddy said that they didn't have trains at the first Christmas. Then when I wrecked the engine into the stable, he said that the Christmas story had been derailed.

Mommy thought that was pretty funny, but I'm like my Dad. We are very good at hiding it when we think something is funny. I guess that's just part of being men.

Day 6-8

Day 6

Today we did more Baking. We needed a few more items to put on our candy plates for the neighbors, church people, etc.

I liked making fudge, because I got to sample lots of chocolate,

test it for texture,

and check out its durability,

I also helped with the cookies by making sure the maraschino cherries were OK. The good ones I ate, and the bad ones ended up on the floor.

When we delivered a plate of candy to Great Grandpa and Grandma, I helped them eat the candy. They didn't seem to mind sharing, especially after I a cried a couple of tears. I'm learning that sometimes even big boys like me have to cry a little to get what they want. Sadly, Daddy and Mommy are on to me, so even though the tears tempt them to spoil me, they put on a tough front and don't give in. Sometimes when I put on an especially good show, I've caught them turning away quickly or hiding a grin behind a hand. I haven't figured out why they do that.

Day 7

This Day was lots of fun. Well, at least after the sirens quit, but that's getting ahead of my story. Every year our little town has a Christmas Parade.

This was my first year to go, because Daddy and Mommy forgot to go last year.

There are lots of neat things to see.

There was this big black dog, that was pretty much as big as an elephant. I thought

it was fascinating. I wish Mommy would have gotten a picture of it, but she was to busy

trying to "capture" every pose and angle of me and Daddy.

It started out with Policemen and Firetrucks. I like the cars and trucks,

but they make this really scary noise.

I cried and cried, and this time it wasn't fake. That noise hurts my ears,

and I can't figure it out. Mommy says its normal to be afraid of what we

don't understand, so I don't feel too badly about crying.

Next came the school marching band, and girl scouts. Then there were floats from the hospital, an assisted living, banks, churches, and some farm business.

I really liked the earth mover. There were two boys up with the driver. If I was up there, I wouldn't have been waving at people, I would have been driving.

Everyone was throwing candy at me, but I couldn't catch it. One man gave me everything that he picked up. He told Daddy and Mommy not to give it all to me before I went to bed. I'm not really sure why he said that, because even though I had already eaten lots at supper time, my belly still had plenty of room left for candy.

The man with the microphone said that somebody named Santa Clause would be taking pictures with kids, but we didn't go. I'm not sure who Santa Clause is, but I hear people talking about how he comes down the chimney. Daddy and Mommy say that Santa tries to take Jesus' place in Christmas, and that we don't believe in Santa. I guess maybe that's why we don't have a chimney at our house. I'm still learning a lot about Jesus, but I guess He doesn't need a chimney or a door. He just wants me to ask Him into my heart.

Day 8

Tonight we went to the little church right down the road from us for their Christmas Program.

It's a mennonite church where some of our really nice friends go.

The girls there give me lots of attention!

There's also a new baby there who is going to be my friend when he grows up. Last night he wasn't my friend very much, because he sat in my Mommy's lap. I'm the only kid allowed to sit there.

Daddy is a little worried about when we have another baby, because he says I might have troubles being jealous. He doesn't need to worry about that though. I'll be fine with a little brother or sister as long as they never sit in Daddy or Mommy's lap.

Later, after Mommy gave the baby back to his own Mommy, I decided he was pretty nice. I think I'll ask Mommy if he can come over and play with me. I'm not sure yet what we'll do, but we might either make our cars swim in the toilet, or climb in the dryer. Whatever we do, I'm sure it will be lots of fun.