Toddler Tales Week 28: Chilly Chilly

This week, Christmas was officially behind us.  My parents left Kenosha on Sunday morning after a yummy breakfast together at Cracker Barrel.  Then we headed home to de-Christmasfy our home.  Asher fell asleep on the drive home from the restaurant and easily transferred to his crib, making the un-decorating quite easy at first.  When he woke up though, it was a different story.  He insisted on "helping" me to put away the tree's lights and apparently didn't approve of the way I packed up all the decorations, as he was continually unpacking them all.  Even so, we eventually got the house back to normal (I am amazed every year by how big our living room feels after we take out the tree).

Part of putting away the Christmas decorations includes photographing Asher's new ornaments and finding new stored homes for them as well.  When Eric was a kid, he got a Christmas ornament every year from his grandma that usually had to do with something he had done or was interested in that year.  Eric and I decided that we wanted to continue the tradition with our children so that they have special ornaments that tell their story to take to their home someday.  To tell the story, I also decided that I will make Asher a book (I got this idea from Pinterest) with pictures of each ornament he receives and an explanation of why it was selected.  Last year, we got Asher a Baby's First Christmas ornament.  This year, since he really began to enjoy reading with us in only the last +/-6 months, I got him the ornament below, which say's "Reading is SNOW Much Fun".  I had picked a different one online that was Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare reading "Guess How Much I Love You", but when I went to the store to buy it, it was all gone.  Oh well, this one worked too.

Asher also got an ornament from his Grandma and Grandpa Migrin.  I asked if there was a reason they selected it and Eric's mom said, "I chose the Rudolph ornament for Asher because I know how much you and Eric like animation and all of the movies that are animated.  I think the Christmas movies are sooooo cute and I know Asher will like them when he is a little older."  ...very true.  I was super excited to introduce Asher to the Rudolph movie this year, but since he isn't interested in anything on TV, it was a no-go.  I will happily try again next year!

After the house was undecorated, I finally got around to taking Asher's 18 month pictures.  Again, they were late, as he had already been 18 months for about a week, but it is better late than never, I suppose.

At 18 months, Asher is a happy, healthy, VERY busy little boy.  We went to his 18 month appointment Wednesday, and he is now 26 lbs, 9 oz. (71%), 34" tall (91%) and has a head size off the charts!!  :)  He got one shot that day, and barely even flinched.  He now says quite a few words (Mama, Dada, Emma, No, Bye Bye, Shoe, Sock, Nose, Eye, Nice, Pretty, Cheese, to name a few) and talks quite a bit, but still most of his "talking" is babble.  He has started to use small sentences, including one of the funniest:, "What was that?"...after he farted!  ;)  ...he is going to be one of those old men!  

He is very loving and now gives (open-mouthed, slobbery) kisses, blows kisses and my personal favorite, gives hugs.  The hugs are my favorite because I can open up my arms wide and ask him if he'll give Momma a hug, and then he will (usually) drop whatever he is doing and run full-speed into my arms.  Best.Feeling.Ever!  :)  He loves cars, trucks and trains these days and is great at mimicking them all.  The train will often pass through Kenosha and because the tracks are not real close to us, we can barely hear it, but Asher hears it every time and says, "Choo Choo".  He still has 12 teeth, but we think he has been working on his upper left canine, which we also think is the reason that he wakes us almost every night with crying and whining (not enough to make us get up, but enough that no one here has been sleeping well for the past few weeks).

Another word that Asher says is "chilly".  A while ago I shared that we will often say "chilly, chilly" when our feet are touching the cold tile of the bathroom floor and do a little dance to go with.  Asher thinks this is pretty fun, but we weren't sure if he actually knew what the word meant.  This week we got our answer.  As we were leaving Cracker Barrel and the cold wind (the beginning of the "Polar Vortex") hit Asher's face, he snuggled into Eric and said "chilly, chilly."

So yeah, to say the least, this week was cold!  I mean I am a Yooper and it was COLD (although I will admit that I've never like winter).  We spent most of the week bundled up in the house when we could help it.  Even Emma did her best to stay bundled up and took a lot of convincing to use the (outdoor) restroom.

On Wednesday, Asher and I took advantage of the chilly weather to ignore errands, stay inside and play the day away. He really enjoyed playing with all his new blocks, and I thoroughly look forward to the day that we can play with big kid Legos together!

Baby Mug Shot

We also enjoyed Asher's new train.  I would set up the track and then we would watch the train as it happily chugged along.  Then Asher would destroy it and we'd do it again!  He is getting better at not being Godzilla to the train town, but it is tough.

When the blocks and train set were no longer keeping our attention, we pulled out the crayons and a big pad of paper and colored together.  I still have a "Big" box of the 96 Crayola crayons from when I was younger that is in great shape.  I think I need to deal with the fact that they will soon all be broken and in a mixed bucket instead of properly stored in the box though, since Asher was more interested in dumping out the box of crayons than coloring.

The rest of the week just went by per the norm.  It gradually got warmer and we just spent our time at home relishing our curious/funny little guy.

Snuggled in Emma's bed!

Look at ME mom! (I'm not supposed to be in here!!)

Asher, ready to start working in the office.

On Saturday we wrapped up the week with the start of Asher's swimming lessons followed by a lazy day at home.  We had placed him in the Aqua Squirts 1 class, which is the same class that he was in last year, because it was later in the morning and we are not fond of motivating on the weekends if we don't have to.  Asher was too advanced for the first class though, so next week we will be attending Aqua Squirts 2.

Playing keep away from Daddy.