Memories of my Toddler

I just wanted to write some memories I have of Calvin at this toddler stage.  Counting.  He used to count by saying "Two, two, Go."  And if I asked him to say, "One," he'd answer by saying, "Two."  I have been teaching him colors and my favorite one is "Purkle."  I love to ask him what color mommy's shoes are because then he says "Purkle shoes."  He used to call airplanes "boats."  It makes sense if you think about it.  Another thing he says is 'do' for 'yes.'  He used to say "I do," but then shortened it to just 'do.'  He loves coloring, especially with pens if he can get  his hands on one.  He loves doing chalk outside.  Speaking of outside, he says that as "aussie." Right now when he says his own name, he says it "Talna."  He loves to pretend to shoot me by saying 'doe.' He loves it the best when I pretend to die.  He loves being chased and tickled. Another thing that he says that is cute is "See you later."  Of course he mumbles the other words, but 'later' comes out pretty clearly.  If you put soap, lotion, or hand sanitizer in his hands, he'll rub it in his hair.  He probably learned that from watching his dad use hair gel. Sorry these are pretty jumbled.  I'm just writing them as they come.  This is mostly for myself anyway.  Lately he has been doing "trust jumps" off of things.  He jumps (sometimes when I'm not ready to catch him) off things and expects me to catch him.  I absolutely love his laugh.  I will have to record it someday and put it up on this blog. 

Halloween Sneak Peek

We have been watching a lot of My Neighbor Totoro at our house lately.  Calvin loves it.  So, I thought it would be cute if he dressed up as Totoro this year.  I bought a pattern that was for a fox, raccoon, bird, or hedgehog and I modified it to look like Totoro. 

Halloween post

Happy Halloween everyone!  It has been very fun to have a toddler to dress up for Halloween.  Our Calvin dressed up as Calvin and Hobbes.  We had fun showing him off at the ward Halloween party  and at the "Screamin' on Main" Halloween dance last week.  We are looking forward to some trick-or-treating tonight.  We carved three pumpkins this year.  I love Halloween. 

Calvin and Hobbes and "Dad"

Trunk-or-Treat.  The eyes even wiggled back and forth.

At the dance.

My Halloween decorations.  Thanks to my mom for letting me borrow the tombstones!  Thanks to my mother-in-law for the pumpkins!

Invader Zim, GIR, and a spooky pumpkin.

Hobbes

Lots of pictures again.  I wanted to make a Hobbes for Calvin.  I found a pattern and proceeded to make him.  He cost between $20 and $25.  He looks very home made, but that is part of the charm... He took about a week to complete.   I made the body and sewed it together, then I added the face, then I sewed every black stripe on by hand.  I made the body first, and Calvin loved throwing it around.  After I added the head on and showed it to him, he made an "oh" sound, like now he understood what it would become.   I am planning to use it as a Halloween prop, then wrap it up for his birthday. 

Right after I put his face on.

First stripe.

Both arms.

Arms and legs.

Head and beginning of back.

All the back stripes.

Completed back.

Completed front. 

Pinterest Fun

I found this idea on Pinterest to let your baby play with cooked spaghetti.  We gave it a try today.  I prepared the pasta while Calvin took his nap.  I put food coloring in the water while the spaghetti was cooking.  I did green and orange.  The rest of the story will be told with pictures.

The finished spaghetti.  Waiting for nap time to be over.

A little trepidation at first.

Tasting it.  He put his head in the bowl. 

Touching it.

Pulled most of the orange spaghetti out of the bowl.

We moved to the kitchen so I could supervise while washing dishes.

He spent a lot of time just eating.

He lost interest, but then I gave him a spoon and he was able to explore even more.

The final mess.

Bianca came to see what she could eat.

Playing with the bowl during clean up.

I saved most of the spaghetti.  I think we can get a few more play sessions in with it.  I think he had fun.  Now I have to go clean up the rest of the spaghetti off the floor. 

Enjoying the Harvest

We put a pepper plant in our garden this summer.  Mark chose the Cajun bell pepper variety.  It is small  and SPICY.  We decided to try it for the first time yesterday.  We bought a one topping pizza from Papa Murphy's and added our peppers to it, along with some black olives.  I knew the peppers were hot, but I didn't realize how hot.  I couldn't get the heat off my hands.  I decided to take my contacts out and my eyeballs felt the heat. Ouch!  Now I know to make Mark handle these peppers.  They didn't taste too bad on the pizza.  It was pretty neat to eat something we grew ourselves.

Another Gardening Post

We decided to try and grow vegetables this year.  We built a 5 x 4 foot raised bed in the backyard. We planted a tomato plant, a bell pepper plant, some lettuce seeds and some pea seeds.  We started really late, so we might not get to try everything, but we have enjoyed the peas and the lettuce.  It was a good learning experience for us.  I hope next year our garden will be more successful.

Before.

After.

Bonus picture of Calvin wearing earmuffs.