January Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the past month.

We had several days of FREEZING temperatures and it got really boring.  We hadn't received our Christmas packages so we didn't have our new and exciting toys and we couldn't go outside.  Brock decided to explore the cabinets and found all of the extra toothpaste, shampoo, and lotion.  He had lots of fun sorting the different items and repacking them in boxes. 

Finally we were able to go outside.  Brock missed riding on his truck.  I get a good workout pushing him all over the yard .

Stupid Cowboys!

 

Brock plays cars all the time now.  Daddy made a ramp and now the cars go even faster!

  

We play the piano for about 30 minutes every day.  We go through the songbook and play all of the songs we know.  If I accidentally turn two pages at one time Brock will stop me and go back to the skipped page.  It's absolutely necessary that we play all of the songs.  Brock tries to play chopsticks too.

  

Brock loves this bus that Daddy found at a garage sale.  

  

Look at Brock's helicopter fly way up high in the sky!

  

Other news:  Brock said Ba-na-na very plainly last week but will not say it anymore.  He did let me know that he knows the word Cheerios begins with the letter C.  He likes to take his magnetic letters out of the box and practice saying them.  When we get to letter G he usually does his sign for giraffe because giraffe starts with G.  He knows that because his Little People Zoo tells him when he pushes the G button.  For A he does his sign for apple, because his puzzle has a picture of an apple.  So, the other day when he got out the C he did his sign for Cheerios.  He always looks at the Cheerios box and points out the E's but apparently he's noticed the C too.   Today he used his fork to eat all of his lunch.  Amazing.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Brock helped Daddy blow out his birthday candles and open his presents!  He loves birthdays!

Brock Says the Alphabet

At breakfast this morning Brock recited the alphabet. He started all by himself without me asking him to say it. He got all the way through L and couldn't remember what came next. I helped him out and then he kept going through S. I told him T and he said the rest of them. This is the first time he has even tried to say the ABCs without looking at a book or puzzle.

Harold's ABC

Harold's ABC is the first book Brock selected from the library all by himself. We were at the end of the row and I was looking on one shelf when I felt him tug on my pants. I looked down at him and he handed me this book. I don't know how he found it but it wasn't an accident that he picked it out. He loves letters. I have renewed it twice already.

New Year

We spent the New Year holiday at Aunt Camille's house. This was also Brock's first time to stay with Aunt Camille. There weren't as many toys at her house but she did have stairs to climb and a fun hill in the front yard to run up and down. Brock spent most of the time playing with his cousin Hannah.

The whole family came over New Year's Eve and spent the night. Yes! More presents.
Hannah gave Brock a sheep and Grammy and Papa gave Brock a guitar that plays Old MacDonald. He also got bath toys from Caleb.



Time for pictures! Here are the girls and one with all of the cousins.



On New Year's day we traveled back to Mimi and Boompa's. That was our last stop before home.

Christmas

We hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was spectacular! We began by having our own family celebration a few days before the actual holiday. Brock had lots of presents to open and his favorite was a set of play food. He played with it for the rest of the day and most of the next day. When it was time to go to bed he became very upset because he had to stop playing with his food. It was so sad and I wanted to let him stay up but it was already past his bedtime.



A couple of days later we packed up and went to Aunt Amy's house. It was Brock's first time to go there and we were very excited. It was also our first Christmas at their house. Mimi and Boompa and Aunt Mary and Uncle Jimmy were there too. We hadn't seen Aunt Amy, Uncle Shane, Cousins Benjamin and Caleb in a whole year! Brock did great on the trip. He took naps and watched movies and sat in a big person chair at Wendy's. We arrived on Christmas Eve.



Aunt Amy has a super fun house and Brock's cousins had so many awesome toys that Brock didn't even care about presents. He got to play with Star Wars toys, animals, balls, Sit-n-Spin, Little People, and lots more. It was a toy heaven. There were tons of Christmas cookies he also got to have lots of yummy chili.




Aunt Amy read The Night Before Christmas to the boys before bedtime.


After everyone went to bed we heard jingle bells and noises from the living room. We had a very special visitor - SANTA!!!!!! Benjamin and Caleb woke up right away. They talked to Santa and even sat on his lap. Brock, however, was sound asleep and we could not get him to wake up. He still got to sit on Santa's lap but was not aware of him.



On Christmas morning the kids opened their presents from Santa and played until lunch time. Then we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Brock got an Aquadoodle and lots of toys in his stocking from Santa Claus.


Time for a picture with the cousins!


On the last day of our visit we went to the aquarium. We had a super awesome Christmas.