Yes

Geoffrey says "ses" for "yes."

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Geoffrey's Wish List

Geoffrey's Interests:

Geoffrey's favorite things involve transportation. He is especially interested in buses, Thomas the Train, Trucks, monorails, and cars (hot wheels.) He doesn't watch a lot of TV, but he does enjoy Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and he knows who Elmo is. Geoffrey also enjoys rhyming books with strong word patterns, such as "I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words." and certain Dr. Seuss books.

Clothes: 2T / 24 months Shoe size 6 1/2 or 7

Gear:
Potty Training is on our minds! Potty training books would be great - Grant would especially enjoy them!

Flip Slumber Chair: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (It is a little couch that folds out into a bed.) - Toys R Us / Babies R Us $45 (There is also a matching little rocking chair)

A toy box/toy chest

CD:
www.justmemusic.com - The Mickey and Friends CD with Geoffrey's name. I think "Parents" is a coupon code.

Toys (ideas):

Train set: We have a set of the old brio tracks that are up in the attic that we are going to get down and give to Geoffrey for Christmas. These tracks are compatible with the "Thomas the Tank Engine Wooden Railway." So although he doesn't need basic pieces, the add on sets, like the bridges, the actual character trains, etc. could be cute additions.

A train table (home made or bought)

A play kitchen -

The Little tikes cozy coupe (the classic red and yellow one, please).

A tent - for example -
Thomas the Tank Engine Indoor Play tent with Annie and Clarabelle cabooses

A tool set, such as Little Tikes handi worker workhorse

Easel - for example - Step 2 easel for 2
Ideal features: magnetic whiteboard, sturdy clips for paper - paper rolls not necessary,

Sit and spin - classic

Play balls (like those used in a ball pit - light, multi-colored plastic balls)

Imaginarium deluxe pounding bench

wood puzzles

Saying his name

Geoffrey has started saying his name. SO cute! GEOFF - frey.

Two more teeth

Geoffrey's bottom two incisor teeth ate coming up. The one on his left is a little farther along then the one on the right. He has been such a trooper this whole trip! Except for yesterday, he has been in a great mood! What a big boy!

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Speech

Geoffrey frequently amazes us with words that her knows. He is also starting to string words together to make sentences. He is so cute when he tries to say a new word. He will often whisper it a few times until he feels confident in saying it, and then he will shout it out!

Some of our favorite words - "Milka Bobba" Means a bottle of milk.

Momaray - Monorail

Geoffrey! - I can't write it, but he sort of squeals his name.

Roar!

Vroom, Vroom

Chompa Chompa Choo Choo Chompa Chompa Choo Choo

Mouse (Mickey Mouse), Goofy

Gamma (Grandma)

He says LOTS of word - these are some of his favorites. The other day we walked ooutside of our condo at WDW and there were some kids playing basketball at the community center - Geoffrey poitned and said "Basketball!" He also points out "football" on TV, and loves to ride "horse" - the horses on the carousel.

New words

When Geoffrey learns new words, he will whisper them at first, like he is practicing. Then he will start saying it out loud.

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Vocabulary

Geoffrey's vocabulary has been growing unbelievably in the past few months. In August, we started making a list of words (which I will post so we have a list of his first words.) The list got to about 50 before we left Disney World. It seems I am constantly being surprised with words he knows. Last Sunday at Wild Rivers, Geoffrey pointed to the camera and said, "camera!" Yesterday, he pointed and said, "Grandma!" and a picture of my Mom was on the computer screen.

He's also started putting words together. The other night it was "socks off," and yesterday it was "more cheese."

He also does a great lion roar!

Weeee!

On the way home, we hit some turbulence landing in Denver. All the way down, Geoff was going "weee! weeee!" SO CUTE!!!!

We're in Florida! - almost 10 months

Geoffrey is almost 18 months. We are in Florida on vacation.

He LOVES matchbox cars.

He also loves buses. Whenever he sees a bus, he gets all excited and says "bus bus bus tsss, sss." He also likes the monorail and the train.

Geoffrey has been bolder with imitating our sounds, and he will say things all the time - surprising us with "I didn't know he knew that word!" He is really cute when he signs and talks... more "mer... mer..." and milk "mlk, mlk"

Today he said eat eat eat when he was hungry.

Other new words that he says occasionally: no, yes, baby, choo-choo, cracker, truck, dog, bird, tractor, boat, wa-wa (water), fsh (fish)... he also makes sounds - monkey, boat (fog horn) etc.

He tends to run his consonants together... more becomes mer , milk becomes mlk.

Climbing - he loves to climb. He's also a tough cookie - if he gets hurt, he tends to brush it off pretty quickly.

Rides at WDW - he is more aware of what is going on around him. He met his first height requirement last night - he;s now tall enough to ride Tomorrowland Speedway (32 inches!)

Big Boy!!!

really cool video of world of color

Click the "HD" button and then make it full screen.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2010/07/27/video-world-of-color-viewed-from-on-high-1800-feet-high/

Clingy & No Sleep

Geoff has had an interesting week. Geoff has been super clingy with me - he doesn't want Daddy, he just wants me. If Grant takes him to change a diaper, take a shower, whatever, its "Mama, Mama..."

He also hasn't been sleeping well - he's woken up at least twice for 4 out of the past 5 nights. Not exactly sure what the deal is - he doesn't seem to be in a particularly bad mood during the day (aside from the clinginess.)

He's been eating a LOT, too.

Side note - I went upstairs to check on Geoff - I heard him shouting. He was playing with his basketball thing - and every time the basketball thing cheered "Yeah!" Geoff would cheer back "Yeah!" So cute!!!

12th tooth / more updates

Geoff's 4th molar came in - and he now has 12 teeth.

He did very well sleeping in Vegas, adjusting quickly to sleeping in the pack and play and sleeping fairly normally. He also did great on the drive home - he only slept about an hour, but he played happily for most of the drive!

Whenever Geoff sees a bus, (he started this at Disneyland), he goes "Tsss..., Tsss..." imitating the sound of the bus brakes. SO CUTE!

He also walks around twisting his arms up and down (sort of like the "all done" sign) but he just seems to do it randomly - when he's waling around - although we have actually seen him connect it to turning the lights on and off, and also to say he's done eating. But sometimes he just walks around and does it randomly.

He's also still very into lights. He loves when the car light comes on - he'll point to it and go "ah!" Also, when we go over to Nonna and Grandpa's, he'll walk around to all of the lights to get someone to turn them on for him!

Geoffrey and his Utensils

Lately, Geoffrey has shown quite an interest in using utensils. Normally, more food ends up on the other side of the dining room. This morning, Geoffrey magically woke up with more coordination. He are 2 cup fulls of yogurt all on his own with a spoon. I was quite impressed that none of it ended up on the floor or ceiling.

I didn't scoop the yogurt up with the spoon and hand it to him either. He held the cup in one hand and the spoon in the other and did it all himself!

He also uses his toddler fork a lot more know, but we still have to "load" that up with food for him as he hasn't figured out how to stab his food with the fork yet.

Geoffrey kisses

Geoffrey gives the sweetest wet baby kisses ever.

Using objects

Geoffrey is becoming more dexterous and is using objects for their intended purposes.

He "brushed his hair" (which is really starting to come in now) with his hair brush.

He "brushed his teeth" with his tooth brush (although he really just likes chewing on the bristles.)

He's started using a fork to eat with.

He is sometimes able to screw the lid on to water bottles!

diaper hunt

Geoffrey prefers being naked. If he's wearing only a diaper (without a onesie over it) we will often find him a few minutes later without his diaper - then we have to figure out where he left it!

 

Geoff's word list

On / Off (with a light switch) - Ot/offf

Dog - started with da-da, but is now dug-dug or Beh-Dug (for Belle Dog)

Up - Up - (he uses this in his crib, when he wants us to pick him up, when he wants up from his high chair, when he wants up on a couch or bed, or when he wants to be put down!)

bottle - ba ba

ice - ice (he loves ice!)

hot - ot (he uses this if food is hot to touch, or if he goes near the stove or sees us at the stove)

all done - ah duh (but he only used this for a week or two and hasn't really used it since.)

Mama - Mamammamm - (we think)

Dada - Daaadadada - (we think)

Uh-oh - "Uh Oh" or sometimes just "oh" When he drops something on the ground (and wants us to see that he dropped it).

Signs:
More - he uses this sign a lot - especially when he wants to nurse, but also to ask for more of something, usually food.

Milk - this was his first sign, and he used it a lot. For awhile, he replaced it with the "more" sign, but he's started using it occasionally again.

Eat - rarely, but has signed it.

Yummy - (rubbing his tummy)
One time we were in the pool and he wanted to drink water from the hose. I said, "Yuck! Yucky!" and he smiled that impish smile of his and signed "yummy!"

Also - he is great at shaking his head "no!"

Sleep (11th tooth)

We had a few weeks of random night wakings (and Geoffrey's 11th tooth popped up - his other bottom tooth on the front bottom right.)

But he is now pretty firmly on one nap a day. His schedule generally looks like this, although we base his nap on when he wakes up in the morning:

Wake up 9:30
Nap 2:30 - 4:00
Sleep: 11:30

 

*´¨)
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(¸.·´ (¸.·´*Bobbi Jo*
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New stuff / Ancodotes (15 months old)

In addition to "give me five," Geoffrey has started to do "bump fist..." he thinks it is pretty funny when the fist "explodes!"

When you sing "If you're happy and yo know it," in addition to clapping hands, he does "stomp your feet" (it is so cute!!!) and sometime, he'll rais his hands and do "ta dah!"

I made play dough for him, and he and daddy have started playing with it.

We had fish tacos and gave Geoffrey bits to eat with his finger - but he just wanted to take bites off of the whole taco!

Grant took Geoff with him to a pet store to get pet food for Belle. They had a pet scale there and he put Geoff on to weigh him - it said 23 pounds! We have a Doctor's appointment next week.

steps

Geoffrey learned how to go down the steps by crawling backwards a few weeks ago. Thank goodness! Before, he kept trying to go front-ways and that was scary! Now, though, he just zips down backwards!

He's so cute, though. When he wants to go down the stairs, he starts about 3 feet away from the landing - practically in the play room - and then scoots himself backwards until he gets to the stairs to start crawling down. I love a cautious baby!

new word

ice

McD's Story

We took Geoffrey to McDonalds the other day with Andrew and Cori for dessert. They played in the play area. There was one part that had a tub leading to a large enclosed space - I think it was designed to be a ball pit, but there were no balls.

Geoff climbed up the tube and them strutted around the area, pleased as punch with himself. He came over to the side and smiled, very proud of himself for making it into this new area. He stayed in the corner nearest us, laughing, quite happy.  After a while, though, he decided he was over it. However, he wasn't quite sure how to get out - so he just started saying "up, up!" - he wanted us to get him "up" - or out! (Andrew went up and showed him how to climb back out of the tube.)

So cute!

two new teeth

Yesterday, I discovered two new teeth in Geoffrey's mouth, just poking through! (I must say, it is getting harder and harder to get in that mouth and find those teeth!)

He has one on the bottom on his right. There is a pretty big space between the tooth he has, but he currently only has one tooth on the bottom right, so this tooth could be the k9 or the molar. The other tooth is on his top left, and I am pretty sure that one is another molar.

Poor guy! Probably explains why he was up crying the other night!

14 month development

Geoffrey is getting more and more purposeful in his play. He is getting very good at shape sorters. He can drop balls into the rainspout on his home over and over again. He can stack two blocks easily, and often times, three blocks.

He loves squeezing the paws on Scout to make him talk and sing. (In fact, the other day he saw a teddy bear at his gymnastics class, and went straight to squeeze the paw to see if it would make noise!)

He also loves Scout's songs. "Geoffrey, let's sing a song about you! G clap clap clap E clap clap clap etc." Geoffrey will start to clap along. That song has saved us through MANY fussy periods! (He also claps when you sing "If you're happy and you know it." ) Scout also says "Make a silly sound - oogaly boogaly" and this makes Geoffrey giggle every time!

Another thing that makes Geoffrey laugh is when I say, "give me five - up high - down low - too slow!" and I tickle him on the too slow part. He anticipates it, and hesitates to give me the last 5 because he knows what is coming!

Geoffrey is starting to communicate more. He started signing "more," but seems to get it mixed up with nursing because he uses it to tell me he wants milk, too. He can sign "milk" as well, but seems to be using "more" instead. He has signed "eat" a few times as well. He's signed "all done" once or twice, but this is one of the things he can say "all duh!" He can also say "up, up" when he wants to be picked up. When he opens and closes the window on his house, he says "up," too. He is GREAT at shaking his head no.

Geoffrey is a very proficient walker now. Honing his skills on a moving ship really helped his balance! He is also quite pleased with himself when he walks long distances!

Such an amazing few months! 

Little Man

Geoffrey is just learning how to climb on to furniture. He was able to climb on to the foot rest on a deck chair during the cruise, and yesterday for the first time, he climbed up on the couch all by himself.

It was so cute / funny! I was playing wii fit, and in the middle of one of the exercises. Geoff was playing on the floor next to me. When I finished, I turned around. Geoffrey had pulled himself up on to the couch, grabbed my bag of Easter candy, and was sitting there on the couch by himself eating candy!

I did a double take! Who was this kid on my couch? Not my baby boy! So cute!

Development - 13 1/2 months

SO Geoffrey is really walking now. He's starting to actually use it to get around and not just for fun. For example, he did a little bit of walking himself in San Diego this weekend. He's getting very stable! He can zoom up the stairs (crawling) now.

Also Geoffrey has been playing with his toys with more purpose. He is frequently putting things into and out of buckets, or nesting his nesting cups. He presses the paws of his "Scout" puppy to get him to bark or talk or sing. He can climb on to his Rock n roll and ride trike (which is currently set up like a rocker) and rock by himself. He can also stack blocks 3 high now. Very cool!

His signing has increased. He signs milk frequently with meaning now. He has also signed/mimicked more and eat in the past few days, too.

No words yet that we can recognize, although he plays with the light switch and says "ot, ot" which could mean "up, down" or "on, off." (We'll probably count that as his first word). Sometimes he will mimick sounds that we say without meaning. When he is trying to use words with meaning, "dadadada" seems to be his generic word.

On Easter Sunday, Geoffrey woke up at 4 AM (while we were in San Diego) and fussed until about 7. We finally figured out that he had a new tooth, way in the back on the bottom on his left. A molar? Not sure - but it was sure causing him a lot of pain! Poor guy! He did well taking the train back home, though, and had a good time on Easter Sunday at Nonna and Grandpa's. The Easter of the big Earthquake in Mexi-Cali!

Stuff he did today

Mr. Busy took everything out of our whites laundry basket today and moved it to the colors basket.

He also likes rocking on his tricycle rocker and making noise to simulate "vroom" sounds, "ahhhhh, ahhhhh" so cute!

Bratty Mc Bratterson

Geoff has been such a brat lately! He didn't sleep well last week, which I think contributes. It is a week after that MMR, so that might affect it, too. But man - he is testing those boundaries! He keeps throwing food on the floor (how on earth will he gain weight if he doesn't eat?). When he gets mad, he'll sometimes hit (not frequently, but it has happened!) And yesterday? He diecided it would be fun to stand up in the wagon on the way to the park. I would stop and ask him to sit and he would squat, and as soon as I turned  my back he'd be up again. He'd even eye me as I turned around, and kept my head turned toward him - waiting for the precise second I turned away to try to stand!

Terrible twos? Right.

March 16th - One year visit

Geoffrey had his one year visit with Dr. Chang on Tuesday March 16th (almost 13 months!)

He now weighs 20 pounds 6 ounces (which is like the bottom 10 %!) and is 31 inches tall (again, 75th percentile!) Since he is over 20 pounds, we can turn the car seat around, but I think we are going to wait on that. He is also ok to try any foods now, including peanuts and shell fish. He has had whole eggs now with no problems.

Dr. Chang does not seem concerned about his weight - since he is so active he burns lots of calories! He had all sorts of bruises and cuts and both the Doctor and the nurse commented that he is staring to look like a toddler and a boy!

He can have whole milk now. Although I am not in a hurry to stop nursing (never! Wah! - kidding) I am eager to cut down on some work pumpings. He takes cows milk with no problem and we are currently mixing his bottles with increasing rations of whole milk to breast milk. He will take it cold, too, although we still usually warm it.

I pump 8 - 10 ounces first thing in the morning, and usually only 4 at school these days, so I am hoping by Spring Break to just do my before school pumping of 8 ounces and use it to make two bottles each mixed with 4 ounces of a whole milk, a scoop of cereal, and a couple of drops of vitamins, and then pretty much eliminate school pumpings. At home, I'll just continue to nurse as usual in the afternoons.

At this visit he also got his MMR and Chicken pox vaccines. Next visit is in June - in 3 months!

Walking!

On Monday, March 8th, Geoff decided he wanted to learn how to walk. It all started with me innocently pulling out my Yoga bricks - Geoffrey loves playing with them while I attempt to do yoga. On this MOnday, he would pick up the brick, hold it over his head and try to stand up. He would stand, take a few steps, plop on his butt, laugh, and try it all over again. He did this over and over again all evening.

Then he did it on Tuesday... and Wednesday... and Thursday... by Friday, he was easily able to stand and walk a few steps here and there.

That weekend, we went to the store to get him some shoes. Although he has Vans, they are about a half size to big and pretty heavy, which makes it awkward for him to walk. Mostly, he walks barefoot, but we wanted to have some lightweight, flexible shoes for him to use outside in public places once he got more proficient.

Since then, Geoffrey has been walking up a storm when we're home and playing. He can walk  up and down the hall, across the family room, change directions, and he has a great sense of balance. He still does not like walking outside very much, especially with his shoes on. It has been amazing, though, to see him just take off. It was like one day he just decided "I'm going to do this," and off he went! 

Geoffrey's First Birthday

Geoffrey's first birthday was on Saturday, February 20th. We planned his party for 3:00 at Huntington Central Park. The whole week prior, rain was predicted for Saturday - but Saturday morning, after some brief showers during the night, turned out to be a bright, clear day.

After his morning gymnastics class, we headed to the park. We set up on the southeast side of the lake, near the dog park. Again, I was relieved and amazed at how beautifully the day had turned out after a week of worrying!

Mommy showed up with Geoffrey, who had fallen asleep on the way to the park. Grammy and Grandpa Bobby brought all of the food from Costco as well as Geoff's wagon and his Laugh-and-Learn House and Barn. Grant went brought a heat lamp from Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dee Dee's, and Nonna and Aunt Heather brought balloons.

By about 3:30, most everyone had found us. This is about when Geoffrey woke up, as well! We had yummy snacks, and the kids played on the playground and with some of Geoffrey's toys, while the adults played a guessing game of when Geoffrey did some of his first milestones (first time crawling, first tooth, etc.) The prizes were fun kid toys like bubble wands, paddle balls, and punch balls.

Later, we did a Dol, which is a Korean tradition. We put out a bunch of objects and whatever Geoffrey picked up predicted what he would do when he grew up. These are the items we had:
Three traditional Korean items:
string - long life
money - wealth
pencil - scholar
These were items I put in for fun:
recorder - musician
ball - athlete
spatula - chef
ruler - engineer
stethoscope - Doctor / healthcare
computer mouse - techie
car - pilot / driver / transportation
wrench - handy
lightbulb - electrician

Geoffrey was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the attention, and wouldn't pick anything up! We moved some things around and had a couple of incidents of "Did he really pick that up or did his hand sort of land on it?" You can check out the videos to decide for yourself. I know rewatching the videos I had a different perspective from when I was sitting there, nervous... (me, nervous?)

Ultimately, I think he picked:

The last thing he picked was the recorder, and I was so excited, I said, "Yes!" loudly, which scared the poor guy!

Next, it was time to blow out his candle. This was Geoffrey's first cupcake - strawberry with white icing! He loved it and tuned everyone out as he enjoyed his sweet treat! The rest of the afternoon, we played in the park, took wagon rides, went down to the lake to feed the ducks and blew bubbles. Everyone had a really fun time! 

Here are the wonderful people who helped celebrate Geoffrey's first birthday: Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Danny, Grammy and Grandpa Bobby, Nonna and Grandpa Gary, Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dee Dee, Aunt Tammy Uncle Dave, Lexi, and UNcle Mike, Uncle Blake, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Nanci and Uncle John, Aunt Heather, Karen, Jessica, Gina, and Michelle (Mosich), Andrea and Joey Joo, Cathy Roh, Katherine, Reid, and Brooklynn Urey, Joanne, Jared, and Josie Love, and Angie, Cori, and Andrew Rigdon.

After our party was over, we went to Islands for dinner to celebrate our successful day. Happy Birthday, My Geoffrey!

coming home

My favorite part of the day is when I come home and "sneak in" on Grant and Geoffrey (and sometimes Danny). Geoff sees me, laughs, and then crawls over to me as fast as he can. Today, though, was a little different. Today, he saw me, laughed, and WALKED over to me!

Tivo

Geoffrey is fascinated with the Tivo menu. The tv itself he can take or leave - he pretty much ignores it - but if you hit that tivo menu button Geoffrey stops everything to watch the tivo menu screen!

More Dates

    February 16th - kiss mmmm-ah! on cheek
February 18th - Wave "night night"
February 25th - Tooth #6 - Top, 2nd to his right
February 26th - Tooth #7 - Bottom 2nd to his left

 

Tomorrow is Geoff's Birthday!

We are busily planning for tomorrow's birthday! We are planning to have the party at Huntington Central Park - we're just hoping it doesn't rain!

Last night, Geoffrey waved bye bye to me when I went to sleep! The first time I've seen that!

Also, on Tuesday, Geoffrey started making a kissing sound. He goes "mmmm - ah" and will lean towards your cheek to give you a "kiss!" So precious!

Walking

Geoffrey walked about 5 feet tonight on his own. He walked from his play table to the couch.

Baby Steps!

Geoff will now take a step or two in a direction he wants to go - if something is close enough, he knows it is faster to take that step then to sit down, crawl, and then get back up. His ability exceeds his confidence at this point - he will hold on to something (like my pants) that offer very little support just to feel secure. I think it is great that he progresses in a way that makes him feel secure!

He's going to be walking before we know it!

 

a couple other things

Geoffrey's been making this sound lately...like a hard /k/ sound in the back of his throat - like he's hockint a loogie - but he uses it whenever he "talks" to you.

"Hi Geoffrey"
"k-, k-" (with a smile)
"Do you want banana?"
"k- k-"

We call it his "sound of the week"

Another sound he likes is to hiss while smiling.

He also has been sticking his tongue out and moving it from side to side.

So cute!!!

Geoff has his 2nd Gymnastics class today. Last week went well. He liked the free play. The structured circle time was a little different for him, but he liked some of the activities - especially when he got to wear the bells and "dance" around!

Development - 10 - 11 months

Gross Motor/Movement: Geoffrey's been working on standing by himself. Throughout December, Geoffrey would be able to stand for short periods on his own. Typically he would pull himself up to standing on the couch and then find objects to hold on to - leaving him standing by himself for a few seconds before squatting down to a sitting position or holding on. Recently, he has stood up from sitting by using a squat (no hands) and standing for a few minutes.

He mostly gets around by crawling. He is quite quick. Sometimes he does what we call the "Pirate shuffle," where he crawls on one knee and one foot (half crawl half spider.) Another cute thing he does is sit and use his feet to spin around in a circle (like the old sit-and-spins, but on his own!)

He hasn't started walking, but we've seen him "shuffle" a few times while standing. he cruises everywhere easily. He can also take a few steps while you hold just one of his hands - but his balance is still pretty wobbly that way!

Fine Motor: Geoffrey is getting much better at self feeding. He is clapping more frequently ( a skill he learned in early December.) He can bang objects together, and has recently attempted to roll his cars on the ground. He can open and close doors on cupboards and on his play house, and open and close the playhouse window. He can't quite do the shape sorter yet, but he is starting to recognize the shapes and their matching holes.

Sleep - Sleep is somewhat of an issue. He only sleepd 9 - 10 hours at night, and takes about 2 45 minute naps. We think he needs more sleep, but we can't quite figure out what works for his naps. We're playing with this!

Food - He can eat all solids now except honey, egg whites, peanusts and shell fish. He does better some days then others. He loves wheat bread/toast, bananas, any kind of fruit, really, and, of course, cheerios.  He is proficient at drinking water out of his sippy cup. Some days he will eat a lot, other days, not so much.

One of his favorite ways of "testing the boundaries" right now is to drop his food on the floor. He will look right at you and drop his food to see how you will react. So we're trying to balance making meal time positive, and making sure he's eating enough, with teaching him that dropping food is not acceptable.

He really does have a little personality now. Overall he is very happy. But he does have a few impish things. When he's mad, he learned to throw "mini-attention-getting-tantrums" by falling backwards onto his back and crying. Unfortunately, this method didn't always work for him as he would keep his eye on you and not check if there was anything behind him, causing him to often fall uncomfortably on a toy or worse, banging his head on a hard floor. Now, he sort of eases into his preferred on-the-back tantrum position - while still keeping his eye on you, he reaches back with one hand and sort of slowly goes down on his side before rolling on his back - checking to be sure his comfortable before starting his fit. The advantage to this (besides not having to worry about him smacking his head) is that the added few moments sometimes gets him to forget why he was upset. Sometimes he'll lay there looking at you trying to decide what pissed him off in the first place - and sometimes you can distract him from getting upset at all. hee hee - so cute!!!

 

Geoffrey's First Christmas

2009  - Geoffrey's First Christmas

Christmas was so wonderful this year. Having Geoffrey in our family has added a whole new dimension to our celebrations!

We set up our Christmas tree one weekend when Andrew and Cori were visiting. We set it up in the Living Room, and only put ornaments on the top 2/3 of the tree. Geoff still spent lots of time trying to grab the lights!

Christmas week was wonderful. Geoffrey got to see so much family!!! Uncle Danny suprised Geoffrey with a present every day leading up to CHristmas. Geoffrey didn't really get opening presents, but we had fun helping him.

On December 22, we went to Nonna and Grandpa Gary's, where we opened presents with Uncle Blake. Geoffrey's big gift was his Red Flyer Wagon! He still didn't quite get the opening presents thing, but he LOVED any package that had a bow on it.  

On December 23, we went to Disneyland with Angie, Andrew, and Cori. We started at DCA and rode the carousel, California Screamin, the sun wheel, Monster's Inc, and Tower of Terror. Then we headed over to Disneyland and rose Pirates before watching Fantasmic! (Finally, the new dragon!) and the Believe in Holiday Magic firework show. We finished our evening riding Haunted Mansion Holiday!

On December 24th, we went to Aunt Heather and Uncle Ron's house. Nonna and Grandpa Gary were sick, so Uncle Blake came with us. Geoffrey got to meet Kipp, Kim, and Jeff. Geoffrey felt a little clingy - he spent some time holding close to Mommy. He warmed up after a while and loved looking out of the glass door at all of the dogs  in the back yard!

FOr dinner, we went over to Grandpa Bob and Grandma DeeDee's house. Geoffrey started of clingy again, but he did go in the new pool with Grandpa Bob for a few minutes for its inagural weekend. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dee Dee got Geoff his first remote control toy - a cute little alien!

Back home, Tammy and Dave came by to open their gifts from us and to skype with Mom and Bobby while they opened their gifts (x-box!!!). Aunt Tammy and Uncle Dave gave Geoffrey a really cool gift - the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Barn. We are so excited to put this together - it is a stand up barn facade with lots of activities on both sides. Geoffrey currently has a play table that he loves pulling himself up and playing with the activities - we think he will love the barn as a next step!!!

On Christmas Day, Geoff, Grant, and I flew to Michigan out of Ontario.  Geoffrey did really well on the flights. On the first leg of our flight, we were lucky to get a row of three to ourselves. On the 2nd leg, a very nice man made a couple of moves for us so we could each have our own row of two right across from each other. (The kind man ended up with his own row of two, as well, but it was still very nice of him. At one point, he offered to let Grant sit with him in a row of two so Geoff and I could have our own row - Very nice to offer to give up your own row!)

We got into Michigan and we were greeted by Grandpa Bobby, Grandma, and Aunt Michelle. Uncle Andy was out the house and we had another big Christmas! Geoffrey got the cutest talking bears - one from Aunt Michelle that goes with the barn Aunt Tammy got him, and one from Grandma and Grandpa that says his name!

The next day, we drove to Columbus to see Aunt Florine, Teri and Sasha. We got to visit for the evening before heading on down to Cincinnati. On SUnday, we visited with Geoffrey's Great Grandma Edith. The drive home was longer than anticipated due to lots of snow - and poor Grandma got really sick - the same thing Grandpa Gary and Nonna had! Grandpa Bobby and UNcle Andy got sick that night, too. The illness only lasted a day, but it was pretty intense!

We spent the rest of the week relaxing, playing, shopping, and enjoying each other. We spent New Year's Eve watching the Times Square and hanging out. Geoffrey made it to midnight and went to sleep right after!

We flew home on New Year's Day.We were lucky enough again to get rows to ourselves for both legs of the trip - the last leg, from Arizona to Burbank, had only one empty seat on it - luckily we got it!

When we got home, Uncle Danny had one more suprise for us! He said he had rewrapped Geoffrey's barn that Tammy got him so Geoff could have one more present to open. When we opened it, it wasn't really the barn - is the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Home! Uncle Danny had bought that for Geoffrey!!!!

Geoff sure is a lucky boy. And we are so fortunate to have him. My best Christmas gift was getting to be with my two favorite boys - Grant and Geoff, Uncle Danny, Belle, and getting to see all of our family!

Happy 2010!

so much to blog about

But I want to post this today so I have the date! Geoffrey's 5th tooth is here! his top tooth, 2nd on his left!

 

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(¸.·´ (¸.·´*Bobbi Jo*
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