A New Adventure

     Gram gave Jeffrey Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, by Richard Scarry and he ADORES it. She told us Brant checked it out every time she took him to the library when he was about 4. Jeffrey wants to "read" it every naptime and bedtime. We look at all the interesting trucks and such and talk a lot about each page. It's a great "look book" for conversation! He also loves Digger, Dozer, Dumper, Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, Tough Trucks, Roadwork and others. He thinks that when Daddy goes to "work," he is working on roads because of his book Roadwork. We often stop and look at the work going on at the houses built all around our neighborhood.
     He is obsessed with anything TRUCK. I took him to a public playground close to our house where there is a lot of building going on. We got to see so many different types of trucks pass by. He was more interested in watching them than playing. Each time one passed, he'd yell and sign, "Mo! Mo! Mo!" He didn't seem to understand I couldn't just call up headquarters and get them to send out more!
     We watched Cars one Saturday evening and Jeffrey wants to watch it ALL the time. I let him watch 15 minutes in the morning and 15 in the evening. He brings me the remote to turn it on at all times and says and whines, "Car, car, car...Caaaaaaar!!!" He didn't know what that Lightening McQueen push/ride toy was a Gigi's house and now he doesn't want to leave it there when we leave. The best investment I made this week was a large Lightening McQueen toy. He hasn't begged to see the movie and he sleeps with him.

He's been opening on Christmas book every night for our "advent" activity

I love how he rearranges the ornaments he can reach.
Thank you, Aunt "Aza" for the Christmas jammies!

Waiting to see the school bus pass by again

Jeffrey climbed out of him bed on Monday afternoon. I heard a very loud thump and knew exactly what it must have been. He was hurt, with a huge, red goose egg on his forehead. Because he had a fever Sunday and a cough that was progressively getting worse, I took him to the doctor Tuesday. It's the first time we've had to sit on the "sick" side, which is kind of amazing. His flu and strep tests came back negative, so he's on antibiotics and allergy meds. His cough is pitiful, but he keeps on going! Our doctor is very intense and made sure I knew it was time to get him out of the crib and into a bed asap! I'm sure he has seen some bad injuries due to kids climbing out of their crib. I went home and "converted" his crib to "toddler bed." The first night without rail was bad-he slept on the floor most of the night. At one point, his coughing woke me up and I tried to put him back in his bed, but it woke him. It didn't matter how asleep he was after any amount of rocking, he did NOT want back in that bed, so I slept with him on the floor for a few hours. The next morning, I went straight to the store to get a toddler bed rail and he's done great ever since! Our good friend down the street is going through this same thing this week and it's been funny to compare stories. So glad to have her to bounce ideas off of.

Speaking of things that go, Lacey turned 3 this week and she's still going like a puppy. She recently chewed up Jeffrey's bike that we accidently left outside, she has dug down to the septic tank and loves to step into our wet shower and out onto the white bathmat, making paw prints every time. She is a loving girl and is very sweet with Jeffrey. She loves us all and we love her so much too! (As I just finished writing this, Jeffrey says, "eat eat, woof." Translated: Lacey ate my breakfast.)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lacey!

I love to find this nativity I got in Israel after it's been played with. Jeffrey knows all about Baby Jesus!

Annual Christmas party with our friends

Jeffrey playing with buddies at an ornament exchange play date

Jeffrey calls Santa "Ho Ho Ho," and we've been reading and talking about him a lot in anticipation of this day. He watched Santa interact with the other kids from afar. He played with the toys next to Santa. When it came time to sit on Santa's lap, he briefly fell apart. Then he rubbed his head in a nervous way we'd never seen, and pulled it together! He even gave Santa a high five before climbing off his lap. The strange things we do in the name of tradition-This and trick-or-treating are at the top of my list!