Long Time Gone

Well, who can believe it's been over two months since I last took some time to chronicle MP2's life.  I am finding we're too busy with our active social lives to spend much time in front of the computer - well that and the fact that when I even look at the closed laptop, MP2 senses I am about to pay attention to something other than him and he makes sure to bring focus right on back to him.

We have been having so much fun lately.  I am thanking our lucky stars for an incredibly mild winter where we've been able to enjoy tons of time outside.  We take lots of trips to the park, take many neighborhood walks, or just spend time in the afternoon hanging out in the front yard.  Over the past two months MP2's vocabulary - both what he says and what he understands seems to be exploding more with each and every day.  He is finally pairing more than one word together too.  I was beginning to wonder if that was ever going to happen!

We're staying busy with activities as well.  We have made some mom and kid friends on the CoMO circuit, and have our little routine down now...Mondays we go swimming, Wednesdays to Lend and Learn, and Fridays to Storytime at the library, followed by an outing with our buddies if it is nice outside.  We aren't leaving all the fun to the kiddos either - the moms have had a couple nights out on our own as well.  It's been really fun getting to know some new friends the past few months.

 

MP2 at the park.  Lucky for my sanity, most parks have some pretty extensive trails that MP2 prefers to the playground anyways, so we typically just take nice walks...you know find some rocks and a body of water in which to throw them.  Typical fun times.

We also spend quite a bit of time hanging around the Columbia Mall.  Who knew the wonders it would hold - many of the train variety...

The Barnes & Noble train table.  He could spend hours here.

 

 

The model train which runs around the top part of the wall at the Mr. Bulky candy store.  Thank god he doesn't understand what's for sale in that place.  I realize it's only a matter of time though before the allure is no longer the train, but the sweet and delicious treasures to be found inside the shop.

 

And, perhaps the very best of all...an ACTUAL train!!  (Well, for all intents and purposes anyway.)  This puppy is a racket.  At $3/per person per ride, we can only fund about one ride a week.  Though I will say that it's a nice long train ride for our $6.  So there is that.  Otherwise, our tactic is to only go see the train when it's not actually taking kids on rides.  I am sure someone wouldn't like this if they knew we were doing it, but we just let MP2 climb all aboard the different train cars and he has a great time...and I save $6.  Win, win if you ask me!

 

Oh, yeah.  There is that trip I took in January too.  My first time to leave the MPs alone - MPnest 2012 as it was to be known.  All MP2 got to commemorate his time apart from me was a Miami Beach t-shirt.  I think with a little distance now, we can call the weekend a success.  It was a rough one for the MPs - MP2 was going through a weird phase and not in a great mood.  I had a great time meeting up with one of my oldest and best friends at the beach, but learned that two nights away would offer plenty of recharge and three nights away was just a little too much.  Not to mention getting to or from CoMO is about as easy as going to Hawaii (just not nearly as exotic).  Regardless, I do look forward to another shot at this whole weekend away business.  I think we'll all get it right next time around. 

 

Dinner parties have taken on a whole new meaning.  An adorable new meaning, but they are most definitely not the same as they once were.  Our buddies in the neighborhood get together with us from time to time at our place or theirs and we get to enjoy some beers, dinner and kid wrangling.  It's a far cry from taking hours - or make that days - to put together the perfect multi-course meal.

 

Man's best friend may be a dog, but I don't think the MP2 is a dog's bestie.  He does not really show the love, though we're certain he feels it!

And rounding out our catching up is Nana and Papa joining us for MP2's second college gameday.  It's a little different atmosphere at the basketball arena.  

 Papa had to show his UT pride among all the MU fans

 We were hoping for a close-up of Truman, but easy access to come and go afforded us only the nosebleed section.  MP2 got a glimpse anyways, and had tons of fun running around the arena.

 Gameday bus!  He's sure grown since last time we went to Gameday, huh?

With Nana and Papa at the playground.

My funny valentine.... 

 Another activity we've been doing is attending a parent-child class at the Waldorf preschool here in CoMO.  It's been a neat experience to learn more about the Waldorf teaching method in general, and see this school in particular.  The very best part of all?  The chickens!!!  MP2 runs straight to the coop every Saturday saying "Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!".  He can stand here and watch them forever.  Poor kid's never met an animal that makes the sound we tell him they make.  Someday he's not going to believe us anymore.

 Our little buddy had his first round of antibiotics after a pretty high fever for a couple of days that went right along with an ear infection.  Hated to see him under the weather, but he was a trooper and powered right through it.

Can you believe how big MP2 is getting?  I surely cannot.  These last two pics are just to show what a big big boy he is becoming.  I think it's official, I don't have a baby anymore (okay, so most would say that I haven't had one for a long time, but I am just now owning up to this fact).  It is a good thing he's so cute, because he sure is a lot of trouble.

Oh, finally - so there is one big thing missing from this post that is supposed to cover the last two months or so...Our visit from Ama, Grandpa, Theresa and Isla!!!  What a fun time we all had together.  It's deserving of it's very own post, coming very soon (like, really soon...not in-two-months-soon!)