The picture isn't charming

But the experience sure was!

Aidan from our adoption group and his mommies came over for a playdate today. We had a great time. The cutest thing was watching Aidan give Anthony rides. First he pushed Anthony around on the fire-truck and then on the rocket ship.

It was great watching them play together. Alas, our attempts to document the experience appear to be lacking.

John came to visit!

Bob's old roommate was in town this week. He moved back to New Jersey years ago, but comes back on business trips a few times a year. The last time we saw him, Anthony was a teeny little thing.

They had a great time playing together. Basically they had 20 minutes of "let's get Anthony really wound-up time", then he and Bob went to pick up dinner and I was lucky enough to get Anthony asleep by the time they came back.

Too bad Kerry and the kids couldn't come. I haven't even gotten to meet their youngest and he is four.

Fat Tuesday

Tonight our family went to IHOP for dinner to celebrate Fat Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday). We enjoyed a free meal of buttermilk pancakes (and eggs that we paid for) along with a donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

We had a bit of a wait as there were a lot of people looking forward to free pancakes. Even though it was essentially Anthony's bedtime, he was a good sport at dinner. During the fifteen minute wait he pretty much charmed up the crowd. He walked around flirting with everyone and even demanded to be held by several different people. Last weekend someone commented that he doesn't have stranger anxiety, that's an understatement for sure! (I generally don't let total strangers pick him up, I do think its a bad habit.) Generally the people that Anthony picks find him to be particularly charming. I've noticed, though, that he prefers strange men to strange women. Hmmm...

Obviously these pictures are not taken at IHOP. Refills for little dude's medicine arrived the other day and I gave him the box to play with. I imagined him putting things in the box. No, he wanted to climb in it, and once inside, he promptly sat down. It was quite a squeeze, but he managed.

Bathtime Fun

Anthony LOVES playing in the bathtub. He particularly loves drinking bathwater which is why most of his bathtoys have been taken away. (He was drinking out of the cups, etc.) He'll also get down on all fours and slurp water directly out of the bath.

Fortunately I've found that if I leave the water dripping slightly that he will drink the clean water going into the tub. Its also fun to play in!

The bottom picture shows him playing a new game. You stand up in the tub and then plop down on your tushie. If you do it right water goes everywhere!

Valentine's Day

Bob took Anthony with him on Saturday to buy me grocery store flowers for Valentine's. (That's all I wanted, and I said no to roses.)

When they got home, Anthony was very excited to walk in with the balloon he got for "me". Anthony has been admiring the red balloons at Safeway for quite some time and Daddy is a sucker.





When we go to the grocery, here's how the conversation works:
Anthony (pointing at balloon), "Guh, guh"
Mommy, "Balloon"
Anthony (escalating emphasis), "Guh, guh"
Mommy, "Not for Anthony"
Anthony (voice getting increasingly frantic and gesturing madly), "Guh, guh"
Mommy, "Balloon, not for Anthony"
Repeat as needed until we clear checkout

Fortunately there have been no tantrums over balloons. Yet.

Playdate with Ciaran

Anthony's pal Ciaran came over for a playdate Saturday. We've been getting together regularly for a year now, but those visits have been for the grown-ups. Just the last week or two the boys have really started enjoying each other's company and playing together.

This top picture doesn't do the play justice. Ciaran was inside the discovery dome and Anthony was peering inside at him and both boys were laughing hysterically. It was so much fun watching them play together.

Valentine's day

Anthony's is in a family daycare which means that he's with kids all different ages. He has two girlfriends his age, but the majority of the kids are older. I came home from school a few weeks ago with his Valentines list.

In the spirit of overkill, Anthony's Valentines for all his friends** were homemade brownies. I made my standard brownie recipe (off the Nestle package) and cut out heart shapes after the brownies were baked. I then decorated them with pink buttercream and finished them with tags I'd made the previous week. I think they turned out pretty good.

That was actually plan B. Plan A was square brownies with a small heart cut out, then filled in with buttercream. Unfortunately, the brownie shell was not strong enough to hold its shape. Fortunately I knew to make a protype before I committed a whole pan-full. (Bob took the leftover brownie bits to work with him.) If I were to do something like this again I would use a royal icing or something that dried hard as the buttercream was a little fragile.

**When I was telling Janet about my plans, her response was, "These are the Valentines for the kids who tattle on him?". Yes, the very same.

but I don't want my picture taken....

I picked Anthony up at daycare today and saw that Maria clearly had too much time on her hands. Its hard to tell from the picture, but she styled all of his hair into one giant curl.

He also hadn't napped properly and was in a bit of a mood when we got home.

Mama's Shoes

For months Anthony has loved my shoes. Evidently they taste very interesting.

Yesterday he decided to try them on and go for a spin. (He found that walking in them was pretty tricky, its much easier when Mommy is holding your hands.)

At least he wasn't in the cat food

Anthony typically finishes breakfast before Bob and me. We usually let him out of his highchair to play, and then chase him out of the cat food.

This morning he was playing nicely in "his drawer" for quite awhile before I went to check on him. There I discovered him literally playing IN "his drawer".