mowing over mommy

tanner is LOVING his mower. i have been "attacked" several times by a little boy and his lawn mower. one afternoon i was on the phone with my mom and he was following me around with his mower. well, he got a little close and i ended up jumping over the mower to avoid him running over my toes. apparently seeing me jump over the mower was just hilarious to him, because ever since that, his new game is chasing people (and dogs) and trying to run over them. he laughs uncontrollably-it's funny! and i'm amazed...he's really gotten pretty good and turning his toys as he pushes them...enjoy the belly laughs and cackles!

(sorry it's sideways-i couldn't figure out how to turn it and i must have been holding my cell phone the wrong way as i jumped to avoid losing my toes!)

what a mess!

we've had a great week! tanner ate chick-fil-a 2 days for lunch (made me a happy mommy!) and he has also decided he likes toast and has even tried a few bites of blueberry muffin! baby steps, people, baby steps! just in general he has been back to himself-eating like his normal self. yea!

i've figured out a trick to getting him to try new things...I have to be eating it (but he's more likely to try it if it's finger foods...he's not as much interested in food i'm eating with a fork). since we don't normally eat the same things, i normally make my coffee and breakfast after i finish feeding him his breakfast. but after he asked to try my chick-fil-a, i thought i'd try breakfast together. it worked! so we are now eating as many meals as possible together (which sometimes creates a little more work, but if he'll eat, it's worth it!). and on the upside, if we eat together and then play together, maybe we can avoid the house looking like this (oh yes, this damage was done all before 9 am one morning-mainly while i tried to eat my breakfast)...i took pictures just so i could remember how fast he could destroy a room!

every sippy cup and measuring cup was OUT of the cabinets, aprons and bowls on the floor and he decided he didn't like the chairs at the table and had pushed them around the room to rearrange...

living room-laundry on the couch (if it was folded he unfolded it), chair out for mickey mouse club house, cozy coup in the middle of the floor, more sippy cups, washcloths for wiping down the furniture, a basketball goal in case he feels the urge to shoot some hoops, wipes and kleenex that he's left wadded up on the couch, and a lawn mower for whenever he feels like a little yard work

while the kitchen and living room were completely trashed, the play room (with all the toys) was spotless. go figure! why do we buy toys?!?!

but it is so fun watching him explore things...some days i feel like i can actually see the little wheels turning in his brain!

the last 2 weeks

yes, there has been a lack of blogging the last 2 weeks (of which i was kindly reminded of by the grandmothers this weekend). the reason is simple-we have been focused on allergies, snot and eating! so here's the last few weeks in pictures since by the end of each day i was way too exhausted from trying to get my child to eat to do anything but sit on the couch or sleep!

after coming home from tanner's 15 month appointment and being told we need to work on him eating more fat and protein, he decided he just wasn't very hungry and wasn't really interested in eating much...for almost 2 weeks. his allergies and drainage have been just awful so i can't say that i blame him for not being too hungry, but can we say stress-ful for this mama! even his favorites weren't appealing-yogurt, hot dog, fig newtons, fruit-he'd take one bite and be all done. and for the first weekend after his appointment, any time he would eat something significant, he'd end up getting sick from his drainage and it'd all come back up. ugh!

here he is one afternoon snuggled up with uncle grant...

at this point i was willing to let him eat whatever he wanted. we have had LOTS of ice cream in an effort to get him to just eat something...anything. braum's chocolate is his favorite. i'm surprised the people in the drive thru haven't started recognizing us.

this is the day he decided to stop eating...notice ALL the food on his tray-he wanted none of it-no hot dog, fish stick, chicken nugget, corny dog (i had just gone to the store and stocked up on all kinds of toddler "junk" food in an effort to put some meat on the kid's bones). so we ditched all the real food and pulled out the blue bell. of course he wanted to hold it himself!

gosh mom, this eating is tough!

thankfully, despite him not eating much the last 2 weeks, he's become a huge fan of his milk!

finally, after switching allergy meds and a prescription for a sinus infection, he has decided he needs food again! thank goodness! he is back to eating like his normal self. and today for lunch HE ATE CHICK-FIL-A! oh my gosh i am so excited! 1-it's meat 2-it's from a restaurant (we have to take his food everywhere...there's no sharing our meals with him or ordering a kids meal for him) 3-it's not hot dog!

so we really have been spending the last 2 weeks hanging around the house focused on EATING! but he's still been very busy...

he has typed messages on the computer...

pulled and pushed boxes around and around and around the house...

he's tried cooking (it's hilarious that he knows exactly what to do with oven mits...he tries to copy anything i do!)...

played silly games with daddy...

loved on the puppies (and also gotten in trouble for hitting and chasing them)...he thinks it's a great game to chase dakota around the house-he laughs hysterically. dakota, on the other hand, doesn't think it's so fun...

learned to like his chair a little more-watching mickey mouse club house...

discovered how much fun it is to drag a hair dryer around the house...and then also decided to measure how much floss was in one dispenser (yup, it can circle our kitchen, living room, play room and dining room almost twice!)...

tried to help mom clean up...maybe he realizes what a mess he makes some times!

kept on being my happy, smiling boy...even when he wasn't feeling 100% and wasn't eating, he still knew how to smile!

tried to put on his shoes by himself and escape from the doctor's office...he was pounding on the door and babbling...he must have been saying, "let me out!!!"

decided it was hot enough to go swimming...and since i didn't have a swimming pool ready for him, he thought he'd try out the dogs' water bowl...

and watched every move of his daddy as he mowed the backyard (hence the lawn mower in his easter basket)...

So thankful that he is eating again and we can focus on other things other than JUST eating! Maybe blogging can pick back up! MOPS Friday was a great reminder...even when tanner doesn't eat-

Philippians 4:5b-7 The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Happy Easter!

We've had a great week celebrating Easter! Last weekend we went to Rockwall for an early Easter celebration and egg hunt...and Tanner figured it out pretty quickly (with a little help from dad)! 

 He was quite entertained by the bunny in Gigi's yard!

A basket full and quite proud of himself!

After an exciting egg hunt, Gigi made a pallet and the girls watched the Veggie Tales Easter video. Tanner lasted on the pallet for about 60 seconds.

 The rest of "pallet time" with Tanner looked a little more like this...and Audrey was such a trooper with Tanner crawling all over her!

Then this weekend we had a second Easter celebration. Grammy and Ipop came and I think Tanner had a great time with all the festivities!

Opening his Easter goodies from Grammy and Ipop. Forget the toys, his favorite thing to play with was the golden egg (which really was for use in a few years...it's breakable!). He had the most fun putting it into the container it came in and then getting it back out, and then doing it all over again!

 Man, mom, this is FUN!

 The Easter bunny made a visit overnight and left an Easter basket full. 

He wouldn't put the bouncy ball down...even as he mowed through the living room with his new lawn mower. He was quick to figure it out-pouring gas from the gas can and pulling the starter string.

 I promised him he could have his chocolate bunny after breakfast. He ate a good breakfast (which was huge-eating issues is a whole other post) and so up next was chocolate. Honestly at this point, if he's willing to eat it, I'm willing to give it to him. It was a hit!

 After he demolished the ears in just a couple of bites, I decided it might be best if we didn't eat ALL of bunny for breakfast.

Tanner got to wear his Easter outfit to visit Meme, and after lunch we had another egg hunt. Tanner was in heaven-Gigi and Pops came over so he had both sets of grandparents here to play with him!

Showing Gigi and Pops his new mower

3 generations in 1 chair...poor pops!

 my happy boy! and getting some mommy time!

 and the egg hunt was on...

 after the egg hunt all he wanted to do was run...up and down the sidewalk! thankfully he had lots of people to chase him!

and of course he needed some water after running around...

 what a wonderful day celebrating that He is RISEN!