Christmas!

So - the holidays kicked my butt! I never appreciated how the holiday triumvirate of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas can wear you out hardcore with a little one. There's just so much activity, so much to try and do that we've spent the last week recuperating :)

Christmas was so much fun, though. We hosted my brother's fam and my parents here and it was very laidback. We had a great dinner - although I think the best thing I made was some homemade mozzarella sticks - THEY WERE AMAZEBALLS! Totally making them again, you can even freeze them so you can enjoy them whenever. Tangent, yes, but worth the mention.

Rutherford had a wonderful Christmas. I put a lot of prep into it and it was so worth it. Both his grandparents teamed up to get him an adorable new kitchen for his playroom and he LOVES it! It makes sizzling sounds on the stovetop and he loves making coffee for his guests :)

I have a bit of video from Christmas and some pics from my mom so hopefully get them up soon, but here's some pics I got!

Elmo Has Arrived

Rutherford doesn't watch TV yet. I think he's old enough but we just have the one TV and we haven't really baby-proofed the family room (in progress though!) yet. So in the meantime, we watch short videos online.

In the mornings now we all snuggle in bed together before breakfast. Papa reads the news on his iPad and R and I watch a few videos on my Kindle Fire. His favorites are Mickey Mouse and ELMO. I'm not sure what sort of mystic baby voodoo Elmo enchants kids with, but man - it's real. Within five seconds R was hooked.

The video above is his favorite. I think the ducks are hilarious. I had forgotten how good Sesame Street can be, even if you're an adult. The duckies' subtle body language and faces are so effin funny. Ned and I sing this song a lot now. R loves to quack along.

Aquarium

Yesterday R and I hit the aquarium with PB and Colleen. We had a great time! I can't believe these two have been hanging out since they were just a few months old. They had fun looking at the fishes and especially loved walking around independent-style, sans mama's hand. R even took a ride on the teeter-totter and loved it. Cute little baby friends.

Baby Friends Christmas Party!

R hosted his first playroom party this weekend. We thought it might be fun to celebrate the holidays with a few friends, so Penelope, Ryder and Madison came over to play. We had snacks and cookies, colored, played with the felt Christmas tree (totally bomb by the way) and just had fun. The bubbas played really well together and it was so much fun! I've already starting thinking about a Baby Friends Valentine's Day party next!

Dog Chasin'

Rutherford LOVES chasing the doggies around. I don't let him do it too often because:

1. He is still Mr Wobbles and if he gets too excited, he gets moving too fast and bad things happen, like running into walls or sliding on strewn newspapers and doing the splits accidentally; and/or

2. The doggies get cornered and have no where to run away from his flailing hands and scary giggles.

But yesterday I let him chase Lucky just for a bit. Hilarious. Rutherford thinks it's the funnest thing in the world. Lucky kind of gives me a "please help" look.

Chatty

Rutherford is learning new words every day. Some things only Ned and I understand, but it counts I think! It's hard to keep up with everything he's saying, but here's a pretty comprehensive list:
- Hi
- Bye (pretty much the cutest thing ever)
- Cup
- Bowl
- Boo
- Mar Mar (doggie next door)
- Socks (kinda sounds like "tocks")
- Blueberries ("boobas")
- Lawnmower ("mambooer")
- Bubble
- Car
- Bird
- Mama
- Papa
- Bib
- Spoon ("dooo")
- Thank You ("da doo" TOTALLY the cutest thing ever)
- Banana ("nana")
- Grandpa ("gapa")
- Book

I'm sure there's more but wow so many new words! Smart lil Bubba.

Little Blue Chair

We're retiring R's exersaucer in the kitchen - he hasn't used it (except as a snack receptacle) since he started walking. But I wanted him to have a lil something in the kitchen that was his size. I picked up this really cute plastic chair and table combo from Ikea (actually online as they didn't have it at our local store). Anyways, he LOVES it! In the morning he sits in his chair and has his milk, and in the afternoons he eats his snack there, too. And of course, he invents new ways of playing with it - this morning pushing the chair all around upstairs was the thing to do. I'm hoping it takes him a while to figure out how to use it as a step stool, but until then, have to keep a close eye on him! :)