Merry Christmas from Us!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We hope you have a very Merry one and enjoy a special holiday with family and friends. We are spending the holidays with both husbands family and my own, hitting up southwestern PA and northeastern TN! Here's our Christmas family pic for this year! It's so amazing to me to compare last year's with this year's - the kid was a baby last year. This year - He's a little boy!

19 months old

Just before christmas, the kid hit the 19 month old mark ... wow... not only has christmas approached faster than ever, but the kid seems to be growing even faster. its so fun as he hits each new stage and begins doing new things, saying new things, and is just - fun! but a bit bittersweet to me too... as my cuddly little boy is growing up! he is no baby anymore...


We had a snow storm and the day after, got some 19 month pics as he ran around through the walls of snow...


He liked the snow the day after! Not the day of when it was pouring down and up to his waist!


Yea, our baby is now a boy - a toddler:) he talks in sentences and tries explaining things to us - most of which we don't understand but we are still fascinated;)

Santa

Last Year we took the kid to visit santa and he was just - well - nothing. no smiles, no tears, no laughter, no screaming. he just went to santa, sat with him, had his picture made. I, being a mom who wants a grin for every photo of her kid, made faces behind the camera girl, jumped up and down, did funny voices - and he looked at me like he was thinking "whats the big deal mom? its just some ole guy with a white beard sitting in a really big chair." and thats exactly how the photo came out.



This year, we expected something a little more. We had two santa visits - the first being with a santa at our township childrens christmas party. we waited in line, finally got our turn, and i handed the kid over by peeling him off of me for his turn on santas lap. he was LESS than thrilled. there were no tears. just a LOT of Shrieking. and Screaming.



There was not even a chance to grin, make silly faces and jump up and down - no, i was just trying to keep him in santas lap!



i finally took ahold of him and held him by santa. he was then allowed to hold santas jingle bells which sort of soothed him!



So for our official visit to the REAL santa at the exton mall, we were needless to say slightly concerned about how this good photo op was going to go down. we waited in line for about 20 minutes with another little neighbor girl and her dad. when it was the kids turn, it was like a live flash back of last year. see below.



the same reaction. nothing. like so what. Apparently, sitting with the real santa is blah. who cares. but sitting with a fake santa, Scary!!

More upcoming pictures of Christmas and Abram's unwrapping and traveling adventures. Until then, on a mom note, he's walking around here talking to me in sentences these days. Which i must say, i'm very impressed. But the bad part - i can't understand a darn thing he says!

18 months old!

We can't believe he's 18 months old. I had to get my usual round of pictures at landmark 'birthdays' so to speak, even though its really not a birthday. When he was wee little it was the usual monthly picture, then after he turned one, its been every 3 months. As he's gotten older, its become increasingly difficult to get him to STAY STILL for a picture, or smile, or stop talking haha... for these, we went to the nearby golf course, looked at the pine trees, saw the ducks, and played in the leaves. We came back and finished up in our own backyard. Here are some of our favorites.





At this age, the kid is on the go! So on the go, he really has no time or patient for sitting down to eat. He gets all excited to get in his chair and eat, but then is quickly done and ready to play again! He's jabbering more and more - and using so many signs as well. We understand most of what he says, especially if its paired with a sign. He loves to dance to "Go Diego Go" theme song and any type of music really. He loves to let the dogs in and out for their trips into the yard. He protests brushing his teeth as if it were painful. He likes to read his books with me sitting beside him reading another one of his books too. He's not as cuddly at this age, he's just too busy. but when he gets ready for bed, we cuddle and watch his show before bed. I cherish this time even more now than ever!

Arts and Crafts

We are now doing an arts and crafts activity on our fridays together - well okay, its just play doh but he loves it and we call it arts and crafts haha... we tried arts and crafts one other time with markers and crayons and paper - quite a disaster. play doh went much better!! He got the play doh in his halloween treat basket actually... he kept asking to open it so i thought we'd give it a shot.
He did the usual - hey, i want to put this in my mouth - bit but only tried once or twice before realizing that was a "no no" and moved onto acutally playing with it...






We've pulled it out a few times since and he gets all excited when i yell "arts and crafts" haha...

Some Light Reading...

I picked up some little tiny books at a thrift store the other day, about 5 of them, and abram loves how tiny they are. he sits down with them, and looks thru them, pointing to things and jabbering to himself. This chair is his outdoor chair that he pulled inside a few weeks ago. He got his book and went right to his chair for some light reading...

Wigs

Husband and I each picked up a wig for halloween. I was going to be a 'blonde' for halloween and husband was headed to a concert that night and dressed up as early 90's eddie vedder. My wig was blonde. husband was brown.

I took this one to see if me being a blonde made me look more like abram - i dunno!


abram loved the blonde wig. on me. on him. and on dad! ha.


but he was SO funny about the brown wig. running from it and not wanting to put it on his head but laughing... we finally got him to have it on for a split second...

Dancin'

He's really started to get into dancing but ESPECIALLY to his favorite show (and ONLY show haha) Go Diego Go. He gets to watch 15 minutes of it before bed and has started to really get into the music! this night especially...

Halloween parade, party, & trick or treat

Warning - picture overload. Time is getting away from me! I kept meaning to do the halloween post and now all of a sudden i'm already packing for our Thanksgiving travels! yikes! the kid had a wonderful halloween.... it started off a township halloween parade. I thought there was going to be an actual parade but apparently its a parade of children in their costumes walking thru the park. i took the kid and we walked with his age group. there was the parade, a costume contest, and snack time celebration with to go bags of goods.

waiting in line... making friends with elmo and abby cadabby (sort of... if staring at them intently counts)


Abram preparing for the contest (which i'm still super pissed he didn't win - how could a PIRATE beat my little blue monster!?)


and afterward, getting in some swing time before heading home!


When we arrived at daycare on a friday, i dressed abram quickly in the car and headed in to the party! He always acts strangely when we go and i stay around... and this day he was even more so puzzled because of all the costumes.

THIS is how he stood for the first oh TEN minutes or so after arrival... lol ...


then he relaxed a bit and got comfy with the costumes, ate some treats and played with some of his buddies. here he is with one of his best buds Ryan. they were in the infant room (born two weeks apart) and are now in the toddler room together too!


Then onto trick or treat! It wasn't the best night for trick or treat... we started right at 6pm since the forecast was calling for rain any minute. i first took him in his blue car but then quickly returned to the house and just carried him a good bit. that was actually faster and easier. At first he wasn't sure what was going on, but he was busy looking at the other costumes and kids running around the neighborhood. It only took a few houses for him to get into the routine though. so the last half, he would hold up his hand for his treats, put them in his basket and go ha. the few folks who actually put it in his basket for him - well - that wasn't good enough for abram. he wanted to put it in himself!

Heading out in the car...


got a stranger to take a quick pic of us - my costume? i was a blonde. pretty simple. just a wig:)


back home, checking out the treats!


he spread it all out on his tray and finally picked his treat for that night - a halloween kit kat:) he loved it!


kinda messy...


And the next morning, the first thing he did was run to his pumpkin basket to start organizing his treats all over again... he enjoyed taking it out of the basket, laying it out, and then putting it back in just as much as eating it, if not more!


He had a great halloween and i think next year he'll really be into it!

Exercise...

Obviously exercising is a family event in the sonneborn household ....



Me. Abram. Nelly. Sammy didn't quite make it in this one but he's right there with us...

Milky Way Farms

We hit up Milky Way Farms for their annual hayride and pumpkin patch event... and let me say, next year, we'll definitely NOT wait until the last weekend - ridiculously crowded. but not as bad as highland orchards. we went there first, parked WAY far away, walked up, saw hundreds of people, and walked right back to the car. no way. we then headed straight for milky way farms and though it was crowded - much more pleasant! the above picture was the only one we made at highland orchard - and the only thing we did - ha... i'm back there holding him up:)

Waiting in line to get on the hayride... which took us out to the pumpkin patch


just got off the hayride which was pulled by the john deere tractor shown behind him. you'd think he was really pissed off about being here by the look on his face... but we thought he enjoyed himself ha.


he considered getting this green mini pumpkin...


but was most excited by the rocks which were much easier to pick up, or put in his mouth which is awesome too...


he finally found a pretty darn good one and we took it home!


more halloween pictures of the blue monster to come soon!

chick magnet

Yea, the girls love me... what can i say?

17 months old!!

Wow... 17 months old. I can't believe it... so much changes so quickly once they start walking. being mobile is a whole different world. once they're on their toes, they aren't babies anymore! its sad to me. and fun at the same time. i'm enjoying each stage he's in to be honest. He's talking - saying a lot of words, which only we can understand probably.

he does a lot of signs as well - sock, shoe, all done, more, please, light, help, again, cup, eat, ball, nose, ear, belly, head, mouth, show me, and thats all i can think of right now.

we're bumping up to a size 4 in diapers next time we buy a box. as the kid gets bigger, there's less diapers in a box. What the?!?!

i think i may have a wes on my hands! my cousin wes has been a ketchup addict since he was born i think haha... and abram seems to be following suit! he dips most anything in ketchup - potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocados, tofu, carrots, peas, just to name a few. i'm buying the al natural organic ketchup from trader joes and i'm thinking about stocking up!

he still loves his green smoothies, larabars, fresh fruit, steamed veggies, and carob pudding:) i love cooking up stuff for him. but i've noticed he's starting to have his own opinion about what he wants to try and not try. he has loved this fresh raw applesauce i make out of dates, apples, and cashews for months! this morning - he took one look and shook his head "no". i persist, you LOVE this remember?! No. same thing with hummus. i used to make hummus in huge batches he ate so much of it. the last three attempts, head shake and 'no', 'no', 'no'. Hm. Okay - more smoothies then! he also has taken a liking to our fresh juice we do on the weekends - his favorite combo seems to be carrot, apple, cucumber. he likes oatmeal again too, after a 3 month boycott.

He loves to dance to music and when we're home together we make this an activity at least 3 times a day. He enjoys being chased, throwing things (to you or AT you!), rolling ball, going outside, waving to neighbors, and pointing out the window of the car at trucks.

He's getting into the i want to help stage and the i wanna do it myself stage too! we're figuring out the logistics of this haha...

He loves to try on shoes and hats (a boy after my own heart!) and here's his newest hat i picked up at a local consignment sale!



His hair - still blonde and starting to get long in spots!!



We're just so in love with him we can't stand it !!

the pantry...

He's obsessed with the pantry door...

while cooking i go back and forth, a dozen times over it seems, because i can't ever remember to get it all out on one swoop. since he's been mobile, i always (the goal is always!) shut it behind me so he's not sprinkling snack crackers on the floor, grabbing lara bars and running off while yelling "nak, nak, nak" (snack) or making a dive for all of my glass jars.

his hearing is amazing. he hears that door come open and zoom, he's there!

deep in conversation with husband and trying to hurry through some sort of meal prep for dinner, i realized it was quiet (NOT at all the norm when its dinner time at our house - the kid arrives home starving it seems). Uh Oh. quiet? thats suspicious. very.

i glance around the kitchen wall to see the kid having a ball.



who wouldn't love sprinkling powdered white stuff all over the carpet and their shoes! FUN!



Organic powdered sugar no less ... not cheap. i told him this. he didn't seem to care.



so i figured a few good snapshots before we forced him to abandon to fun!



i do look forward to the day he cleans up his own messes and will maybe stop smearing food in his hair lol ... but until then i'm trying to enjoy everything, even the messy stuff;) and i do!

and no, i haven't forgotten to shut that pantry door one other time since!