A wedding, family reunion and a new BFF for Baby Dude

A few weeks ago, we headed up to Montana to attend my cousin's wedding and spend time with all of my family up there. We piled in the minivan with my Mom and Stepdad, then made an uneventful eight hour drive to get there. Baby Dude did really well and had lots of people to entertain him.

Baby Dude quickly became friends with my cousin's little girl. She is 19mths old and just the cutest thing! She has a really fun personality and just charges ahead - so watch out! ;) They played together SO well and I really wish we lived closer so they could do that more.

Before the wedding, he was very interested in the gazebo where the ceremony was going to take place and we snapped some great shots of him in there.

After the wedding, Baby Dude got his first look at a big dance floor and all the kids dancing. He decided that could be a lot of fun and really got into it. He and his new bff/cousin were out there dancing the night away. He was enthralled by all the lights and the big spinning ball. (see pic) He would get so excited by that ball and yell "Ball! Ball! Ball!" then start dancing again!

He's starting to get much better in the pool - he just gets cold too fast and has to get out after about 30mins. The hotel had a great pool that we were in every day. Grandma purchased a swimsuit with built in floaties and he liked that much better, though Daddy is not thrilled about the false sense of security in the water like that.

New tricks from my Little Stinker!

Two (or almost) is a fun age - but a really tough one too! Luckily, the good times out number the bad for the most part.

He is most definitely in another developmental phase and I think it's mostly about doing things on his own, communicating what he wants and not being able to do either of those things the way he wants to yet. But, he's also learning some funny things too!

He asks for "hep" (help) a lot - when he needs something, can't reach it, etc. His latest game - he'll say "Uh oh! Hep" and I'll ask him what he needs help with. He'll smirk and say "Dee Dee" - which means that he wants to watch TV! He'll do this in the car, the store - places where we are no where near the tv.

The past few nights he has been EXTREMELY clingy before bed time. We go through his same routine, and he'll reach for me if he is in Daddy's arms. He throws his arms around my neck, wraps his legs around my waist, puts his head on my shoulder and says "oh Mama" in this sweet voice. Then, he'll stay like that until I pry him off. As much as I love the snuggles, he must go to bed at some point and he's too heavy to hold for too long. Of course, getting put down does not make him happy and he'll scream, even after I leave the room. :(

He ate a lot of waffles for breakfast when we were in MT - part of the continental breakfast, lol. So, now he wants waffles every day and all the time! No fresh waffles here, just Eggo, lol. So, he'll go to the freezer door, knock on it and say "Hello? Waffle?" It cracks me up!

Today, we were in the Mall and I told him we were going home. "No No No! Eat!" *sigh* He has now associated going to the Mall with eating Chik-Fil-A! He LOVES their nuggets. So, we made a quick stop and got some nuggets, sat by the big water fountain and had an impromptu lunch.

Baby Dude jabbers ALL the time and I just know that when he really gets his vocabulary down, he is going to be a little chatterbox and never be quiet!

After some struggling, he has decided that holding our hand in public is ok because it means he gets to walk and not be in the stroller. When he wants to go somewhere, he walks over and says "a hand!" I think he picked that up from us always telling him that he has to hold our hand. It's so cute to look down and see this little person just trotting along holding your hand.

Big Boy Haircut!

Baby Dude seems to have inherited his Daddy's hot body temperature so we decided to cut him short for summer.

We went to Cool Cuts 4 Kids and had the best stylist - and aging hipped named Miss Karla who was not the least bit flustered by his screaming...little stinker that he is!

*sniff, sniff* He looks like such a little boy with this new cut.

Ah, this is the life!

Ah, this is the life!
Originally uploaded by Meazie

Milk, a comfy chair and some cartoons - what more could a toddler need?

Water Table Fun!

All wet now and not too sure about it...
Baby Dude kept saying "hep" (help).