Thank You

This was part of our conversation at dinner tonight:
Levi: Mommy its dark outside.  I see the moon.
Me: Levi, you're so smart.
Levi: Thank you Mommy!


Later, Levi was dancing on the table and spotted his fire truck.  He looked at Mat and said, "Gimme that truck Daddy."  Mat said, "You'll have to come get it yourself," and Levi said "Ok, thank you, Daddy."

:)

Let Me Entertain You

Levi loves music!  His requests have moved beyond "Hog Dog" in the car to other music, and I'm very thankful for that!  He loves to sing (or scream) along and dance (or jump up and down!)  He also loves to use the Wii remote as his microphone.  :)

He especially loves it when we all sing and dance.  He'll grab our hands and drag Mat and I into the kitchen and say, "DANCE MOMMY!  DANCE DADDY!"

Facebook Status

I tend to write down quick notes about things Levi is doing and saying on Facebook.  I don't want those  cute things to be lost forever, so I decided to do an entire post dedicated to some of my facebook posts.  To those of you that have read these already, sorry! (I started this post in JULY...)

• Yesterday, while we were in the pool, I asked Levi if he wanted me to spin him in circles.  He said, "No...triangles!"
• Levi's two requests for breakfast this morning: broccoli and green beans!
• One of Levi's newest phrases- "Nok!"  Sometimes it means no and sometimes it means ok!  
• At dinner tonight, Levi took a bite of broccoli out of his mouth, made a funny face, and said, "George!  Heal!
• Levi has now decided that pirates say "Arrr" and "Ho, Ho" (instead of YO ho).  This could get confusing at Christmas.
• Tonight, with a very concerned voice, Levi looked at me and said, "Oh no Momma- no pennies in my pocket!"
• Levi and I were talking about sharing this morning.  After our conversation, he walked over, picked up my (empty) coffee cup, and said, "My turn!"
• Levi took my sunglasses off my head when I came home from the grocery store on Sunday, and I haven't seen them since.  Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, I found them...in the refrigerator.  
• When I asked Levi if he hid my sunglasses, he said, "Yeah, in the friger..."

Levi the Musician

Levi playing his "guitar"

Singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

He's a self taught musician and doesn't need any help from his Mommy!  "Get off" is one of his newest phrases.  Lovely, isn't it?

23 Months

Dear Levi,

Twenty three months!  I can't believe I'll be writing your TWO YEAR post next month.  I know I say this each month, but we love watching you learn and grow.

One of my favorite things you do right now is to pretend everything is a guitar.  You use your highchair tray, part of one of your baby toys, books, cell phones...  You walk around the house playing your guitar and singing.  I love watching you!

You love hearing music, singing music and dancing.  You like for us to have dance parties in the kitchen.  :)  You love to hear Mom or Dad sing the Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and you are very demanding about it.  When we see a bus or you find your bus toy, you say (or scream) "SONG!"

You also love to sing your ABC's.  It's one of the most precious things ever!  You're pretty good with your letters, but we still have some work to do.  :)  When you get to the end, you sing, "Now I know my A, B, C, D, E..." and start all over.

You are BUSY!  Whenever there's someone new working in the church nursery, they always tell me how busy you are when I pick you up.  They tell me you ran and played the whole time!
For the most part, you don't cry when you get dropped off at Misty's or the church nursery.  One of the few exceptions to that was one of the first nights of Summit Groups when I dropped you off instead of Dad!  You were mad at me about a lot of different things- you wanted to play on the slide, Wednesdays are busy days and we don't have long at home, and you're not used to me dropping you off- and you passed out as I was handing you to Bandi!  I know that it's happened before but I will never ever get used to seeing that!

You're wearing 24 month shirts, 18 month pants, and size 5 diapers.  You wear a shoe size 5 1/2 WIDE which is difficult to find- and almost impossible any where other than Stride Rite.  You love getting new shoes though.  Yesterday we went to get you some new church shoes, and I told your dad that you could wear your new shoes with jeans too.  Later on that evening, you brought me your shoes and said, "I wear with jeans?"

You love pretty much any form of transportation.  I have found myself getting excited as I drive around (even when I'm by myself) when I see a bus, train or "Big Truck" (as you call them).  You love to point them out as when we're in the car, and you get MAD if they go in a different direction that we're headed.

You also love pirates, the Backyardigans, but most of all Barney.  Your dad is not very happy that I introduced you to that one.  I was looking for a sing a long show one evening, and Barney happened to be the one that I chose.

I can't believe that you'll turn two in less than a month.  What a precious little guy you are!

Love,
Mom

Take Your Kid To Work

Levi has been sick for the last couple of days.  He started running fever on Tuesday...my first day of school!  Other than the fever and being a little bit more irritable than usual, Levi has seemed fine.  He's even been running around playing like normal.

Mat stayed with him on Wednesday, and I stayed with him Thursday.  When he was still running fever Thursday evening, Mat decided he'd stay with home with him again.  Then, Friday morning, Mat had the crazy idea to take Levi into the office with him (This plan had been pre-approved by Mat's boss).

Some thing's Levi enjoyed while at Dad's office:

• Drawing on the white board while standing in the chair 
• 52 card pick up with Dad's brand new box of 500 business cards 
• Taking over Dad's chair
• Standing in a different chair to practice turning the lights on and off
• Giving Mat's coworker (Gus) the nickname Gussy 
• Participating in casual Friday by taking a nap in only his diaper
• Answering the (pretend) phone by saying "Thanks for calling"

This makes me think of the times when my sister and I would go to work with my Dad.  Our favorite things were drawing on his white board and drinking the free sodas!  Thankfully Levi didn't have any soda.  :)

It was a challenging day but productive day and one I'm sure Mat will remember forever.

22 Months

Dear Levi,

This past month has been a whirlwind!  We were gone for most of the month, but you have become a great little traveler.  This month you went on your first train ride, boat ride, and airplane ride.

You are fully of energy, and I love watching your personality grow and change.  You have become a little bit more affectionate this month.  Every once in a while you'll walk by and say "HUG!" and wrap your arms around my neck.  You've also started saying "I love you too" when your Daddy or I say it to you.  Those are the sweetest words I've ever heard!

The heat this summer kept us from spending too much time outside, but you love the time we do spend out there!

Speaking of your vocabulary- the things you say amaze me (and sometimes make me laugh!)  You've started saying "excuse me" and "yes man" which both melt my heart.  You know most of your shapes now- square, triangle, rectangle, star, oval (or obal), and diamond.  You've skipped over the first few numbers when counting and now start at 5.  It's usually "5, 6, salmon, 8, 9, 10...12"  :)  I wasn't sure where we stood on colors, but I know you know red, yellow, black, and white- those are the colors on the RCA connector cord you carry around.   :)

You HATE having your teeth brushed and your nails clipped.  You kick your legs and swing you arms around and scream!  The screaming makes my job of brushing your teeth easier, but the flailing arms and legs only complicate Dad's job of clipping your nails.

You are at a stage now where Mom's kisses can heal any injury.  You fall down...a lot...and you always come running, saying "Kisses!"  You've even asked me to kiss your eye, tooth, and bottom.  I'm usually happy to oblige...but sometimes you just have to draw the line.  :)

You have started pretending your highchair tray is a guitar.  You sang and played your guitar for almost 20 minutes this day!

This past week was your first full week back at Misty's.  You've been tired, but I think you're enjoying having other kids to play with every day!  I love hearing you talk about your friends.  The other day when we left Misty's house you cried.  As much as it pulled at my heartstrings, I am so happy that you love going to her house- it makes leaving you every day a little bit easier.

We love you, Levi!