Wish List

I have been teaching Blake about Santa Claus. He has a copy of "The Night Before Christmas" that he wants to read all the time so that he can pick out Santa and the yum-yums (candy). Today, as I was unloading the groceries, he saw a can of ravioli and exclaimed "Santa! Santa!" I suppose he wasn't too far off. Chef Boyardee does have similar resemblance to Santa Claus.

Blake made his Christmas Wish List for Santa last night. Here are some of his requests but unfortunately my card ran out of memory at the end. He does really want the last item I suggested!

'Cuz I'm a Gangsta

Comin' to you straight from the hood.

Blake would probably look a little more gangsta if he wasn't wearing my scarves and hat, but regardless, he loves finding and putting on random hoodlum articles of clothing. I'm still figuring out how to be a mom to boys; is playing dress up ok?

Gangsta snowsuit.

Daddy's hat = ultimate gangsta fighting champion.

Blake wouldn't be a complete gangsta if he didn't give "bones" or "knuckles." That and "oh no!" are our favorite things that he says right now.

What Does a Goat Say?

We had a random stretch of really nice weather in the 70's last week so we took advantage and went to Wheeler Farms with Blake's playmates. We have gotten together with these moms and toddlers several times for fun outings to the park, water streams, and pool, but I always forget to take pictures. It is so much fun that Blake is getting to the age where he really enjoys such outings. He pointed out the sounds that the different animals made and we also enjoyed a tractor-pulled hayride and a picnic lunch. We'll take more November days like these!

Blake's buddies Zenden and Sadie.

The highlight of the day was feeding the goats. None of us could figure out what a goat says. Baa? Gruff? Bleat? Maa? Who knows.

The goats really liked eating the fallen leaves as opposed to hay. Blake was cautious and nervous at first to let the goats eat out of his hand, but he eventually got brave enough to enjoy the activity.

In fact, he enjoyed feeding the goats so much that he made this hysterical laughing face each time the leaf was snapped into the goat's mouth.

Zenden and Blake fed the ducks together. Zenden is the seventh friend we know that was born the same week as Blake. There must have been a storm that week to put everyone into labor (oh wait, there was). These boys are exactly the same size and into the same things.

What would a day at the farm be without a souvenir stick? Blake is such a boy.

Blake Button

Blake is talking a lot more and putting words together. One of his favorite recent new words is "button." He loves everything that has buttons; remote controls, cell phones, garage door openers, toys, lamps, the insides of cars, doorbells, credit card swiping machines, handicap door openers, etc. For about a week he couldn't quite finish the word "button," so everything was a "butt." He begged for "butts" everywhere we went, which was getting somewhat embarrassing in public. Thankfully, he can now finish the word, as well as say some other new phrases. He also thinks that dragging his head on the floor is the funniest thing in the world.

Boys are Buds

Blake is so blessed to have such wonderful male role models in his life who love him so much. He absolutely adores his dad, his uncles, and his two grandpas. Unfortunately, he doesn't get to see all of these people all of the time, but he can recognize them in a flash when he sees their pictures or hears their voices on the phone.

Blake loves to spend time with his dad. They are always forming hobbies for just the two of them, which most of the time contains rough-housing. However, the other night when I came home from a Young Women's activity, I found them sitting in separate chairs quietly reading individual books. Troy had given Blake a stack of books to flip through so that he could enjoy some quality reading time as well. I thought it was sweet and Blake didn't even catch on to the fact that his daddy was trying to focus on something else. He just thought that he was so cool sitting in a big chair, imitating his dad!

Blake also learned how to "chill" from his dad.

If Troy doesn't instigate a daily evening rough-housing event, then Blake does. He says "Up, Up!" until Troy lifts him onto the couch and throws him around.

How could his dad resist that little giggle?

Blake went trick-or-treating at his dad's office and then "helped" him with his settlements. He is already learning how to juggle the headset and the computer at the same time; maybe he is business bound just like his dad. Troy's work team decided to dress up as The Jets from West Side Story. That was mostly just their excuse to wear jeans and t-shirts instead of their normal attire.

Blake also loves his grandpa (and his other grandpa too, but he lives far away). We had Troy's family over for dinner on Halloween and then the whole crew went trick-or-treating. Even Blake's great-grandma Tanner walked from door-to-door around the block with us.

Boys are just buds. Blake was thrilled to stroll on his grandpa's shoulders. I was relieved to not have to carry my 25 pounder around when he got tired of walking.

Blake: "Pease? Pease? Ohp? Ohp? Hep Me!"

Interpretation: "Please? Please? Open? Open? Help Me!"