D Day

D Day in our house is Andy's Dissertation Defense Date, which happens to be Thursday.  I can't believe that we are already here!  Andy is busily preparing right now.  He is excited, but said the nerves started to kick in today.

So, what fun is Andy in for this week?   Well, for about one and a half to two hours, he will be in the hands of his committee.  The committee includes five people.  His Director and two Readers, plus a Chairman who is another professor from the school that keeps everything on track, and a secretary which is someone from another school within the university.  In Andy's case, the secretary is from the Chemistry department (Andy is getting a theology degree)!  I think the main purpose of this is to make sure that each school is maintaining their academic integrity by not just awarding Ph.D's to anyone that walks in the door.

Andy will have 15 minutes to present this:

Yep, that is Big Bertha.  The fruit of his labor.

No notes are allowed.  The director and two readers will then each have 15 minutes to question him on his dissertation.  Afterwards, a second round of questioning begins and the Chairman and Secretary are allowed to join in on the fun.  In the best case scenario, members of the committee get into arguments with each other while the candidate stands by watching and letting the minutes tick past.  Ha ha! This has happened to some people. 

After everyone is satisfied that they have a grasp on the intelligence of the candidate, or when time is up, the candidate leaves the room while the committee deliberates.  Hopefully there is not much to deliberate about.  The candidate is called back in the room and if all goes as planned, the champagne gets popped, someone comes in to take awkward pictures, and the newest Ph.D is born! 

If you have a chance, please say some prayers for Andy as he prepares, and especially in the 2-4 time slot on Thursday.  I'm so proud of my hubs!

The picture at the top is of a gift that I got for Andy when he was still doing coursework.  While I was in San Diego on a business trip, he was working his tail off finishing up a grueling semester.  He has kept the plaque in his work area ever since.  Almost time to bring this baby to completion!

19 Months

We are at 19 months now.  Philip is very busy doing all things boy.  One wet morning we went outside after a storm and he immediately started splashing in water puddles.  How do all kids know to do that?  He has started making sound effects with his cars - vroom, vroom!  I haven't mentioned this before, but Philip's absolute favorite toys are balls.  The first thing he pulls off the shelf each morning is a basket of balls.  When we leave the house he is often carrying at least one ball with him.  When we take a walk down the street, he is like a little magnet that runs to every ball he sees in people's front yards.  In other play news, he can now go down small slides all by himself.  He used to have a problem figuring out how to sit down and push off once he got up the ladder, but he mastered it this month.  Our neighbors have a small slide in their yard and he always makes a beeline for it as soon as we walk outside. 

In an effort to help him learn more words, I started trying to get to weekly story time at a nearby library.  The one in our town is only once a month, and on a Saturday morning - we usually miss it because of schedules or just forgetting.  I found one that is really fun and takes place weekly.  The only problem - they limit the number of people in storytime and give out admission tickets.  You have to be standing at the library door as soon as it opens if you want a shot at the tickets.  It is pretty funny to be in a mad rush to get out the door for storytime tickets.  He is really starting to like it and pick up on some of the rhymes and songs that are repeated every week.  If he is bored or grumpy I can start to say one of the rhymes and he will jump in my lap to play. A favorite new game is Ring Around the Rosie. 

I learned the joys of the Toddler Tunes music channel this month.  I had only turned it on one time before, months ago, but decided to put it on one day when he was in a bad mood.  The music turns his attitude around almost immediately when he is grumpy.  It is amazing how those little songs really attract toddlers.  He could care less about most of the music Andy and I listen to, but if I put on a kids song, he starts smiling and dancing.

We started getting Philip to help clean up his toys in the evening.  He is pretty good at helping, but sometimes misses the point - like when he helped fill a basket up with blocks only to dump them all out again once he was done.  I also had him start picking up any food that he tosses on the floor during meals and putting it in the trashcan.  He loved doing it for about a week, but now I guess he figured out that it is a sort of punishment and he fights me on it.

He is getting more picky with food now.  He used to love any fruit I put in front of him, but after having a cold, he suddenly got picky.  I think it may be a texture thing in some cases.  If I give him a grape, he will mash up the center and then spit out the skins.  He was doing this with blueberries for a while too - one of his favorite foods - but he has since decided it is best not to waste them!  Philip has started getting more interested in what we are drinking and throws fits if he doesn't get to have any (which he usually can't if it is something other than water). 

He is now able to easily climb onto our kitchen chairs and is constantly on them - yikes! Sometimes they are pushed all the way under the table and he gets his belly on top and then can't sit up.  He has decided that he wants to sit in a real chair for meals and snacks. I didn't expect him to give up the high chair so soon - or for him to be the one making the call on that - but it is time. We have a booster seat set up on one chair, but if he had it his way, he would sit in Daddy's chair all the time.

Philip loves to see pictures or videos of himself, and why not - he is especially adorable!  My blog is my homepage and if he is sitting on my lap when I get on the computer he usually starts laughing when he sees himself.  I scroll down the page to show him other pictures and he laughs and points.  He likes pictures of other kids too.  One morning at breakfast I was going through a batch of mail that included lots of kid-centric advertisements.  He smiled and laughed when he saw the ads.  I propped a couple up for him to look at while he ate and he was so happy looking at the pictures - so sweet! 

One more big accomplishment forthe month:  Sleeping Through the Night!  Yes!!!

Activity of the Month:

No!

Philip learned the word "No" last week. I'm pretty proud that we got through 18.5 months before he started to say no!  His little voice is so sweet that hearing him say it is really cute (most of the time).  He uses it at funny times too, like last week when he didn't like the sippy cup he was using and he was telling it no while trying to drink out of it.  Or over the weekend when he was saying no to his crayons (I think he was having a hard time putting them back in their box).

Andy thinks Philip uses the word no to answer any question, even if he means yes.  Although he started saying yes a few months ago, he dropped it after a week or two and we haven't heard the word again.  Hopefully soon!

Last week I was trying to video tape Philip dancing and he came running over to grab the camera.  After letting him hold it for a little bit I told him it was time to put it away.  He didn't agree with me and accidentally hit the record button while he said no and crawled onto the floor to throw a tantrum. So, here is a recording of Philip saying his new word.

And on a happier note, here he is dancing to the music that his toolbench plays.

{this moment} Bright Eyes

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18 Months

My little baby is already a year and a half!  Boy does time fly when you are having fun!

The giraffe is back for the half year shot -

much harder to get a good shot now that Philip is on the move!

Philip is talking a lot.  I call it turkey talk because he makes a lot of gobbling sounds!  We hear "uh-oh" around here a lot.  I'm working on trying sign language again and we've got "more" down.  Now trying to work on a sign for "all done" other than throwing food.

He got his second hair cut this month.  It was very traumatic even though he got to sit with me the whole time.  We made it out alive, but with his hair still kind of long.  The hair dresser was scared to touch him!  At least the back of his hair is straight now - it was a bit crooked after his first haircut, but considering what the hairdresser was working with, we just went with it.

Philip also got the last of his teeth, other than his two year molars.  Oh happy day!  The sooner we could get through the teething phase, the better as far as I'm concerned.

My little daredevil now wants to walk down the stairs front ways (as opposed to sliding down on his belly). This is no fun! It was especially hair-greying at Christmas when we were visiting houses that had no baby gates. Back at our house, he has been good about letting me carry him down the stairs and we just practice walking down our front stoop - only one step, so not too worrisome if he slips. 

He decided to take a walk in my shoes...

And he liked it!

He's learned a few other fun (for him) tricks this month.  Philip can now open a locked dishwasher.  He is tall enough to pull out the glasses from the top shelf of the dishwasher.  Talk about an accident waiting to happen!  When the dishwasher is running, he likes to push the buttons on it which has paused many washing cycles.  He is also tall enough to reach up and push the water and ice dispensers on our refrigerator door.  After having a toddler, I have brand new ideas of what I would look for when shopping for appliances!  One funny thing he is doing now is opening the dishwasher, pulling out an old sippy cup, and going to the refrigerator to fill it up with water.  No more wondering if he is thirsty!  He also stops whatever he is doing and runs over to help me fill up my cup anytime he hears the ice or water dispenser going.

Mischief of the Month

He went straight into the bath after this.

Philip is helping with a new chore - he is feeding Herbie.  He loves to get the cat's food dish for us to fill up each day.  Luckily he is not trying to bring us the water dish (yet).  He is so proud of himself.  After he puts the dish back in its place, he stands nearby pointing at it and telling me stuff in turkey talk.  Too funny!

Fill 'er up, please!

Sometimes he forgets to hold the dish level...

and this happens.

The Christmas Round Up

Yes, yes, I know it is almost a month past Christmas, but I still wanted to share our activities.

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day with Philip for the first time this year.  St. Nicholas brought him a car and two clementines.

He thought it was super cool to find oranges in his shoes!

One day I took Philip to a local garden center where I knew they would have great decorations.  I was hoping to get a good shot for our Christmas card.  He was so distracted by everything that I couldn't get him to look at the camera.  After about ten minutes, both my battery died and my memory card was full.  I had left my camera bag at home, so I didn't have any back ups!  We had fun anyway.  Philip liked playing with some of the decorations, looking at the train display, and chasing birds.

We used this as our Christmas card picture instead:

A couple other cute pics of our little reindeer:

I have been collecting figurines for our nativity set for years.  I put them all in a basket and each day let Philip pick one out to put in the manger. 

Hmmm, which to choose?  This water trough tastes good!

We went to the Gaylord one night for their Christmas celebration.  They put on a music/light show with their fountains each evening.  Afterwards we went out to dinner.

This tree is made of glass

Philip loved seeing the reflection of the lights on the floor

Before Christmas, Philip and I took a trip up to Connecticut to see my cousins and aunt.  One of my cousins has been living in Europe for most of the last six years.  The last time we saw her was when Andy and I took a trip to Italy in 2007.  The timing worked out that Philip and I could go up for a two day visit the week before Christmas - unfortunately, we had to leave Andy behind so he could work.

My cousin and aunt

We had brunch with all of our cousins one day. 

I got to meet their newest daughter for the first time. 

For Christmas we went to Andy's parents house.  We stopped to visit family in North Carolina on the way up and back.  My parents spent Christmas in Texas with my sister, but they stopped through Atlanta and we got to spend a day with them on their way home.

Opening stockings with our brother and sister-in-law

Andy's parents

We were having so much fun that, believe it or not, we didn't get any good pictures of Philip opening presents.  He had a great Christmas though and enjoyed opening presents and playing with his cousins.  He is having fun playing with all his new toys.

My Mom made this great quilt with favorite pictures from Philip's first year. We love it!

17 Months

Philip is 17 months old now! 

He started dancing!  He likes ride-on toys.  He started running and hiding from us - especially if he sees signs that a diaper change is coming.  Philip loves for us to chase him around the house calling out, "I'm gonna get you!"

New words, "Mmmm" and "Uh-oh!"

Mmmm

He has learned to slide off the couch and our bed using his feet first.  He loves romping around on our bed!  Philip is also starting to climb up the stairs using his feet part of the time (as opposed to climbing on his knees). 

He kisses our cat and also a statue of the Holy Family.  Unfortunately, he observed Andy pet the cat using his foot one night.  His interpretation of petting the cat with your foot usually turns into almost stepping on the cat before one of us runs over to stop him.

He is mooching our food which has greatly expanded his culinary horizons.  He has learned to enjoy a lot of new foods, but still loves his old favorites - bread, yogurt, fruit, and squeezie packs.  At meals, he likes to put things on top of each other and then try to eat them (like putting a vegetable on top of a piece of bread).  He also likes to use his spoon to feed himself.  Usually both of these actions involve the majority of the food falling on his tray before making it to his mouth, but he is still somewhat successful! 

Begging for food

One of the biggest advancements over the past month or two is that he is getting much more independent at playgroups.  He used to cling to me for most of our visits, but now he is a lot quicker to run off and play on his own, or try to keep up with the big kids.  Luckily, he still checks in with me frequently, so I get lots of hugs when we are out!   He absolutely loves to watch big kids play - especially if they are running or playing with a ball.  Sometimes he tries to join in, but he is still a bit timid!  I love to hear him laugh as he watches the other kids play.

Playing ball with the big kids at the beach

Toy of the Month:  Who knew that a box of wipes could be so much fun!

Chasing the cat

The cat also liked the box when it wasn't otherwise occupied!

Mischief of the Month:  While trying to check in for a flight, I decided it would be okay to let Philip grab the cereal box off the kitchen table.  A couple minutes later, I heard "Whoosh" and I just knew what I would find when I turned around.

Luckily he helped clean up by dropping handfuls of cereal into his toy box!

A few favorites from the month: