Grady- 20 months

Grady is one funny guy.  He likes to do a dramatic stomach reveal, play peek-a-boo (also in dramatic fashion) and doesn't miss a beat with food.  If you are eating it, he wants it...now!  Clementines are currently his favorite fruit.  He can just eat and eat and eat them. 

He loves all of the adults in his life but also loves Layla, Shea, Liam and Ryker.  Those four kids make his whole face light up.  Grady is much more likely to jump in with the group than Layla ever was.  I am still trying to decide which is better.  Layla clung to me but I always had her close by.  Grady runs with the kids and I am always chasing him.  Both have perks and drawbacks, but at least I get to experience both ends of the spectrum! 

Grady likes his boo boos kissed immediately, enjoys showing off his muscles and loves brushing his teeth.  You should have seen his face when he opened a spin brush for Valentine's Day....just a bit excited!!  Just be ready, if you ask him to show you any body part or trick...he will want you to do it right back.  Steer clear of asking about the belly if you would like to keep yours concealed ;)

Grady still loves to dance and "sings" into the microphone on our toy keyboard.  He likes the snow but if you place him in the snow, he will just kinda freeze and take in his surroundings.  It comes in handy for getting in some quick shoveling!
 
Grady still loves his basketball but he also is really digging books (especially with animals, body parts and the word "uh oh" in them) these days and also is more interested in coloring.  He especially loved the window markers this past week.

Really cute.  Really busy.  Really funny.  20 months.   One more day until he is 21 months. Next month I will try to be a little faster with the post!

Valentine's Day

 Valentine's Day was finally here!  We celebrated playdate style with a few friends.  The kids all did great.   Layla gave the playdate a big thumbs up with a little thumbs down due to a collision between a door and her head during a game of hide and seek ;)

  

I forgot to take a picture at the beginning...they were pretty tired by the end.

 

Layla had a hard time picking out valentines this year.  She initially wanted to make a different one for each friend.  We finally settled on animal valentines for the playdate and she was proud of her choice.  Layla made no less than 50 valentines this year.  It was a lot of glitter and name writing!  Every time I turned around she was working on a new batch.

Cupcakes!

 

Lunch with friends.

 Grady loved the food at the playdate, especially the Jello jigglers!  Grady was a bit busy and kept me running for the day :)  He loved checking out the hotspots that are typically blocked off to him (stairs and the bathroom sink!).  He is doing pretty well with the stairs but not quite ready for the gates to leave.

 

Crafts

And we finished off the day with pizza and arcade games with daddy.  It was a really nice day.  And now...Layla is pumped for St. Patrick's Day and Easter!

F-I-V-E

 Happy 5 years to our sweet nephew, Shea!  

We had a blast celebrating Wild Kratts-style with him this past weekend and 

here are a few pictures to show the excitement level :) 

One week later...

Last week, thunderstorms and lots of rain.  This week, lots of snow!  Woo hoo!  We have been waiting for winter to come.  We better make it count...the groundhog is predicting an early spring :)

Poor guy and his boots.  We cannot find boots that fit him.  The Spiderman boots are too tight in the width and too long in the length.  Grady wouldn't move in them.  So now we have gone the shoe, baggie, sock route to play in the snow.  And he moves around okay with the crazy get-up on his feet!

Layla and Ryker making snow angels

 

And ending a trip outside with hot chocolate to get ourselves "warm and cozy" as Layla would say!

 

 

And more snow is falling as I type.  Stay warm!  Or enjoy the warmth depending on where you live!

It is February!!

February means we can officially go Valentine's Day crazy!  I don't know why, but I have always just loved Valentine's Day. With the urging of Layla, we have had our decorations up since right after Christmas but now we can officially have fun with the holiday of hearts without looking like crazy people. 

Gotta love when you find good clearance items from last year in the holiday bins.  Layla and I were digging through and found all of these little projects we bought last year for a steal.  Layla is getting lots of projects ready for a Valentines playdate.

More projects!

 

Here is a fun little project if you haven't already seen it on Pinterest.  You put letter stickers down and then have the kids finger paint over the canvas and letters.  I had Layla do the base color (pink) and let it dry.  Then Grady did the top color (red) to finish it off.  Then, all you have to do is peel the stickers off and you are finished!  It was really easy and I liked that both kids could equally participate.

She doesn't even know we are sneaking in some cutting practice :)

During preschool, we are sometimes able to squeeze in a playdate with some Grady-sized friends.  Here is Grady at his first playdate where he actually participated in the activities like a big boy.  He made a project (just a heart and pom pom balls glued to a piece of paper, but his first time interested at all!) and decorated a heart cookie.  He also dumped an entire cup of sprinkles on the ground.  Baby steps :)

Happy February!