Bad boy!

Guess who refused his afternoon nap? Yep, he decided after singing and playing in his bed, he was all done with naptime. He walked out and said, “I all done with my nap, mommy.” So there you have it!

We all love ice-cream!!

especially Vaughn!

First day of school pics

Vaughn started pre-school a few weeks ago. Although he still cries when being dropped off in the mornings, he really seems to enjoy going to school.

First day of school breakfast, pancakes with sprinkles!

Backpack, check! Army tank, check! All set, let's go!

Walking in to school with Ms. Flynn.

Fun in the sand

Summer Fun!

Vaughn's new train table!

Got milk?

Dammit

Oops - Jody was in a pickle because a piece of toast had fallen though the cracks in the toaster oven, and was on the verge of becoming a cinder and setting off the smoke alarm.  In the heat of the moment, she says "dammit!" - guess who picked up on that right away?

Vaughn looks at her when she's finished sorting out her little fiasco and says "dammit"!  Then, as she's buttering the remaining piece of toast, he says "close call mama" ! :)

Spinal Tap would be proud

Vaughn can now count to 11 without any help :)

Getting big!

Vaughn is now big enough to reach the dome light switch when sitting in his car seat!  Somewhat distracting for the driver when he's fussing with it ;)

Creatures

Summer really brings out the creatures around here. In 12 hours, Vaughn saw a snake (black rat snake, as far as we can tell), a box turtle, a heron, a deer (with antlers), terrapins, Canada geese, and a praying mantis. And all in our neighborhood!

Lots of fun for a little boy!

Me close gate

We have a baby gate on Vaughn's room, just in case he gets the urge to wander in the middle of the night. One of the things he gets a kick out of lately is saying "dada play cars . . . no mama in my room" and slamming the gate closed.

Daddy thinks it's cute ;)

Good Question

Jody asked Vaughn tonight, "what would you talk about if you'd never seen Cars?"

You see, Vaughn absolutely loves that movie and is constantly talking about Tractor Tipping, Mater, etc., and sometimes seems to have nothing to say about anything else ;)

At the moment, he's asleep with a death grip on Snot Rod...

Thunder

During some storms tonight, Jody told Vaughn that the thunder outside is from "clouds bumping in to each other."  Vaughn then went to the window to check out the clouds, at which point Jody told him that the "clouds are too high - they're way way up." 

So, Vaughn then goes to get his toy binoculars!  The amazing thing is that he has almost never played with the binoculars, which were given to him as part of a little camping kit by a playmate, and neither of us has any idea how he knows what they're for.



Neat!

Spring!

Playing at the park by our house.

Having fun with Papa on the tractor.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor Aquarium

Vaughn loved the aquarium! His favorites were the dolphin show and the big fish.
Mama: What do the dolphins do?
Vaughn: SPLASH!! Plus, he slaps his hand down to show how they hit the water.
It was a very fun day for him!

A boy who LOVES sleeping!

Vaughn is such a good sleeper. Sometimes I have a tough time waking him from his nap. I'm sure if I'd let him, he'd enjoy a 3-4 hour nap every now and again. Oh...to be 2 years old again!

Attention to detail

Vaughn had been a bit too quiet for a bit too long.  Turns out, he had decided to let himself outside via the garage and was busy in the driveway.  He'd pulled the lawnmower out of the garage, pulled his small plastic lawnmower out as well, and had placed a can of Foster's beer on the ground nearby :).

Rain, rain go away...

It's surprising that I ever tolerated the 8 months of continuous rain while living in Portland, OR. It's been raining here for two straight days and I'm finding myself checking weather.com to see when it's going to end! Vaughn and the dogs are equally bored and ready to head back outside. I think the dogs are really looking forward to dry days. When they are cooped up in the house with Vaughn they never truly relax. They're on constant look out for a Tonka toy roaring toward them or the bubble mower, wheel barrow or just about anything a 2-year old can carry from point A to point Dog! Rain brings constant chaos to our house!

Bored boy #1

Bored boy #2

A clear case of boredom causes loud screaming in Bored boy #3

He's been walking around the house with a plastic shovel in his hands pretending to shovel dirt. Bored boy #3 really needs to play outside!

Fixing the engine

Another picture of Easter fun!

Another picture of Easter fun!

Easter fun!

It's official!

The search for a decent preschool is over! After a brief "test" and interview on Tuesday, Vaughn was accepted to preschool for September. The school is small, clean and very well organized. I was amazed when I observed the preschoolers quietly doing their tasks. He'll attend 5 days a week, for three hours in the morning (I still can't believe it!). We toured the school last weekend and immediately decided it was a good fit for Vaughn. He liked the classroom, seemed at ease with the teachers, and especially enjoyed the water fountain! I especially liked the program style (Montessori). I think Vaughn will do really well in that kind of environment.

Over the summer Vaughn was diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech (see http://www.apraxia-kids.org/). He attends speech therapy once a week and has built up quite a vocabulary! He's currently working on word endings, such as ending the word milk with a strong K, almost like adding an A to the end. An apraxic child typically says, 'mil' for milk, leaving off the ending. So, we teach him to say 'mil-ka' for milk. He's doing really well. We're very proud of him. He still has a long way to go, but he's working so hard and really never appears too frustrated with the language. Initially, he was very standoffish toward his playgroup friends because they could talk and interact in a way that he couldn't. He's gained confidence in his language skills since the start of speech therapy, and it now shows in his ability to interact with his friends. Anyway, I think the small class size and Montessori style will be the perfect fit for him. I can't wait to see him explore this new adventure! I ask him if he likes his new school and he says yes! A good sign indeed!

Four double-A's

Wow. I wanted to go downstairs briefly to get something, so I left Vaughn occupied with a little sound machine and four loose AA batteries that needed to be installed in the sound machine. I was downstairs maybe two minutes before I heard the sound machine turn on. Wow! He put in all four batteries, properly oriented. Pretty cool!

Big boy time around here!

We took the plunge and decided it was time for Vaughn to have a big size bed. His crib converted to a full size bed, so it was an easy change. He only got out of his new bed twice at the start of his first nap in it, and after that he hasn't gotten out since. He's on night two in it and I think it's going to be just fine. He LOVES the cars on his sheets, blanket and walls. A good selling point!

Yum, Chinese food!

Vaughn loves when we get Chinese food take-out. His new favorite is Won ton soup.

Scoop

Blow

Slurp

Yum!!

Mmmmm

Yum, whipping cream!