Don't Blink!

So, here I am, 10 weeks away from becoming a mom of two little boys!

I can't believe how fast these months have flown by. James certainly has kept me busy. Each day is something new, fun, exciting, funny, you name it! Sometimes I feel like I'm in some crazy tornado, then it hits his bedtime, and I get the chance to reflect on what actually happened that day. There is nothing, in my opinion, more rewarding and interesting, then watching a child transform from a newborn to a walking, talking, joking, laughing, adventerous, toddler.

I try to store all of my favorite "James-isms" in my memory, but I don't want them to slip away. Some of the things he says and does are just so priceless to me. I love seeing his thought process.

I need to blog these memories down so they don't escape me like so many things do these days.

One of my most favorite "James words" is penyon. A penyon is his word for crayon. I believe its a cross between pen, which he learned first, and crayon. He loves coloring and writing his name with his penyons. I can't find it in myself to correct him because this word is just too cute. I, myself, now want to call crayons "penyons." I can't help but laugh when I hear him say it.

James' favorite toys are his racing cars and trucks. His cars aren't just cars, they must be racing cars. He loves things that go fast. Everything must go fast. I love when he runs by doorways saying "Hi Gramma! I go fast!" He has a little truck that he can ride on, and Patrick pushes him so fast that I can see James' hair blowing in the breeze. He squeals in delight.

Up until recently, James could count to 10, but would always slip up #5 for #9 which would make him jump from 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10. He would stop with a puzzled look on his face, like "hmm...I'm missing something" then start again. Just this past week he started successfully getting though the complete 1-11. He counts everything these days, but mostly his cars, his tub toys, and stairs. Every morning we come out of his bedroom and he says "Mommy, hand" and he gives me his hand. He takes his first step, and shouts out ONE, then goes all the way to eleven. It's so cute, and such a fun routine to have in the morning.

He has been going through a big sleep phase. He loves to put his toys to sleep and tuck them in under blankets, or if there are not blankets around, tissues. When his toys go to sleep, they must be on their backs. This includes his trucks and cars. There will be times that I'll walk in and all of his trucks and cars will be on their backs with tissues or (unused) toilet paper placed gently over them. He'll fake snore and say, "shhh Mommy, the trucks and cars sleeping!" He'll also do this with his tub toys. He'll line them up on the side of the tub and put bubbles on them as blankets. The process requires a lot of concentration and he takes it very seriously. He plays a sleepy game with my mom where he'll say, "Gramma! Sleep!" She'll shut her eyes and pretend to sleep. He'll take his little fingers and (whisper) count, 1, 2, 3, then yell "GRAMMA!" She pretends that he's startled her and it makes him laugh like crazy! I believe his sleep obsession started with my mother's decorative Santa that sat on the hearth. He was in bed and you'd press a button and he'd start to snore. At first, this scared James. My father encouraged him to overcome the fear. Now if you ask James what Santa Claus (or in his words, Ka Claus) says, he won't respond with "Ho! Ho! Ho!" like most kids; instead, James fake snores.

About a month or so ago, my father started taking James down to their finished basement so he could explore. James treats the downstairs like a fort now. As soon as Papa comes home, James begs to go downstairs. Once they're down there, he acts like he rules the place. My dad takes him for rides in his little blue car, lets him throw his stuffed animals all over the place, and most importantly, they visit the furnace. The noise the furnace makes is a thrill to James. He gets scared, but somehow enjoys it. He asks, "Papa noise!" and points to the room that the furnace is in. This love for the furnace noise ignited a love for noise in general-vacuum noise, washing machine noise, dryer noise, etc. He is always talking about noises now.

When Andy gets home from work, I'll announce, "Daddy's home!" This triggers pure excitement and joy from both James and Watson. They both dart to the window to catch the first glimpse of Andy's car pulling in the driveway. Now that its getting warmer out, I open the window a little so James can shout to Andy. Andy walks up to the window, which is face level with him, and he and James go nose to nose through the screen laughing and giving each other kisses. Watson gets jealous and barks and dances like crazy until Andy comes in. This is one of the happiest parts of our day. I love when we're all home together!

James loves attention and acknowledgement. If more than a few minutes go by without anyone talking, you'll suddenly hear, "Hi Mama," or "Hi Gramma," or "Hi Papa," etc. When you meet eyes with him you're greeted with the sweetest smile. This is something he's done for a while, but it continues to melt my heart. He also loves talking to people in stores. James gets so excited to go to the store and ride in the carriage. He talks to anyone who will acknowledge him. "Hi Lady!" "Hi Man!" "Hi Girl" "Hi Boy" etc. It is so funny. It makes so many grumpy shoppers smile. Although recently he and I were shopping for some summer shoes for him at Target, and he saw a "baby" AKA a toddler that looked older than he is. He said, "Hi Baby-I shop for shoes!" The toddler was not impressed and started crying. The mom was like 'Don't worry, you're a big boy." When the toddler started crying, it worried James. He looked at me and said "Mommy, baby crying!" "Don't cry baby!" This irritated the toddler more to the point where I decided we'd let them have the aisle and we'd come back later.

He and my dad have a special bond. I've finally figured it out. My dad lets him do whatever he wants, and James loves this. I still remember a night that my dad called down to me from his room and said, "Do you want to see your son try to kill himself (obviously in a light hearted way). I ran upstairs and found all of the pillows from my parents bed on the floor and James standing on the bed. My dad said "Ready, Set, GO!" and James ran off the bed and landed in the pile of pillows. He was so excited and laughing so hard. This has become one of his favorite games.

When Bailey, my parents grumpy, old man, dog barks, James runs to the window saying, "Papa's home!" "Bonnie's home!" "Jamie's home!" just hoping that someone is there to visit him.

Every Saturday, Andy's sister Coleen, and Mr. McKenna take James to Boston's for breakfast and a walk around the waterfront. If you ask where he's going, he'll say, "BOSTONS!" and then he talks about sausage. He steals Mr. McKenna's sausage and loves it. They walk around the waterfront and he talks to everyone and gets to pet all the dogs.

Now that my little escape artist knows how to get out of his crib, we have to have a talk before his nap and before bed. I tell him he has to sleep and stay in his crib. He looks at me very seriously and tells me with his little finger extended, "Don't fall boom!" I agree and say, "No, we don't want you to fall boom." I know the days of the crib are winding down, and soon he'll be in his big boy bed, but for now I enjoy the peace of mind knowing he's safe in there.

James loves to dance. My father found a Disney record that my mother bought for me when I was a baby. My dad plays it and James dances. His favorite song is the "Cow Song," AKA "Old MacDonald." He dances like crazy and sings along. He loves singing and dancing. It amazes me how many songs he already knows. When we drive in the car I'll sing part of a verse of a song, and he'll finish it...and so the car sing-a-longs begin!

James and I went for a walk the other day. All of the houses in my moms neighborhood have short driveways, but one. This one particular house has a long driveway covered in trees. James stopped and pointed and said, "Mommy-house is hiding!" I thought this was such an adorable observation from my little guy. Just last night we were reading his Curious George book that he loves so much lately. He opened the book and the first pages are blank. He looked up at me and said "George is hiding Mama!" These little concepts make me smile!

He's mastered all of his colors, (silver being my favorite) by 20 months old. Everything is now labeled by color. He's very proud of this accomplishment-as am I!

James is the ultimate backseat driver. If he feels that I'm going too fast, he'll tell me to slow down and be careful. If a car stops up ahead, he'll tell me not to crash. If he sees a police car, he'll say, "Mama Policeman!" which I must admit, I do appreciate at times. If I'm at a stop light, he tells me to "GO!" If we hit a pot hole, he says, "MAMA BANG!" The most fascinating thing to me is he knows directions and streets already. As soon as we turn on to Rt. 36, he says "Yay! See Watson Doggy!' because he knows we're close to home. If it's a night that I pick Andy up from the train and we have to pass our street, he says "Mama! See Watson!! Stop!!" He knows I've missed our street and he's letting me know. He knows how to get to my parents street, the McKenna's street, Ma's house (his great grandmother), and Liam's house (AKA The Alchorn's house). He knows exactly when the street or house is coming up and starts saying "YAY in the backseat." He also gets excited when we pass the Plympton Police station and he can see the police and firetrucks. I know, that at age 28, I'm lucky I can figure out where I'm going. Here he is at 22 months old already becoming a human GPS like his dad! Thank goodness he inherited Andy's excellent sense of direction!

I could clearly go on forever because there is so much I want to remember. As I said before, every day is something new and I never know what he's going to come out with. He is full-time entertainment. No matter how exhausted I am at the end of the day, there is absolutely nothing I would change. It's all so worth it and it all goes by way too quickly. Although I feel like my life can sometimes be a tornado, its one that I love. When I sit on the couch at the end of the day, and see little trucks, cars, stuffed animals, potty seats, etc scattered around my living room it reminds me that I have a beautiful little boy living with me now. I'm so thankful, and so blessed!