Derek's "Baby" And The Proper Way to Eat Cereal

Derek has adopted a teddy bear. The past couple days, he's been calling this little guy his "baby" and telling me when is cries, needs a diaper and wants to be "colored" (ie, cuddled). He's probably getting this stuff from nursery and some of his little girl friends but I think it's super cute!

He's cuddling the bear and patting its back because it's crying

Isn't this the cutest? I love the reality check at the end, lol. Just in case you thought I was getting a little too comfortable with Derek handling babies...

Part Two: Derek has been asking for cereal for just about every meal. Usually I can talk him into something else but sometimes he refuses to eat anything but his beloved cereal. He can't sit still long enough to eat cereal with Silk (almond milk), but I finally found the solution to our dilemma - cereal and yogurt!! He found the best way to eat it, too...

Legs crossed, bowl in lap. Too cute!

200!!

Wow, this is my 200th blog post. I feel so accomplished. :) No really, this from the girl who couldn't keep a journal longer than a week? Who has never been able to keep track of ANYTHING?! One small step for mankind and one HUGE leap for Kadi. ;) It's been a great blessing to be able to go back and read my posts and see how life has progressed for me in the past four years. Granted, I really didn't start posting until Derek was born, but life really didn't vary much from day to day til then.

So what is the content of this momentous 200th post? Derek and his love for trains. Yep, nothing stellar, mind-blowing or insightful. Just recording those moments I want to remember. And Derek sure does occupy a lot of them. I pulled out this set of train tracks today because I just can't wait til Christmas. Really, why wait? He's got a big wheel coming for Christmas and the kid is OBSESSED with trains and train tracks right now. He's constantly pointing out the tracks when we cross or pass them and he's always on the lookout. Anyway, when I pulled out this little bag of tracks, his eyes went wide and, I kid you not, he gasped and clasped his hands to his chest before he started jumping up and down and yelling "TRACKS IN THE PARK! TRACKS IN THE PARK!" at the top of his lungs. The whole "tracks in the park" is referring to his current favorite movie, The Little Engine That Could (2011) on Netflix. There's one part where a young boys stumbles across train tracks in the park next to his school. Derek thinks any set of tracks are the tracks in the park. It's cute. :)

His train sounds are very authentic

At first he was happy to say "Cheese" every few seconds but after a while...

...my efforts were completely ignored. Shut in his own little world. SCORE!!

New Post!

Yep, feeling unoriginal today, so that's the title I'm sticking with. :) Derek has been learning how to dress himself lately and, while I'm not pushing him, I'm certainly encouraging him. I gave him an open ended go-put-on-a-shirt-so-we-can-go directive (he did have pants on at the time) and this was the response I got...

 T-shirt he slept in the night before (and decorated with oatmeal at breakfast), clip-on tie he refuses to wear for Sundays, and his favorite light-up Lightning McQueen shoes (impressively on the correct feet). Priceless.

This past Sunday Mitchell pulled out his Warhammer game to assemble some new pieces while Derek was napping. Naturally he was still assembling (some of these things have 20+ pieces!) when Derek woke up... and Derek made a bee-line for them. I love it when these two get together to "play" Warhammer. It's adorable! We'll teach Derek the rules of engagement later on but, for now, he sure does get a kick out of playing with "Daddy's toys."

Playing with Daddy

He was determined to take out Mitchell's guy

 Shooting something with the motorcycle. Apparently both accuracy and shot burst increase with the correct facial expressions. 

 The motorcycle suddenly sprouted wings and became airborne - see the tongue making a propeller sound?

What Happens in Sam Moon, Stays in Sam Moon...

...unless I bring my camera!! HAHAHAHA!!! Sam Moon is a jewelry store heaven. Jewelry and purses line the walls and nary a male is seen... except the not-so-little two year old boy with his mom, Nana and Aunt Bella looking for the perfect wedding hair piece. We didn't find anything similar to THE piece Aunt Bella saw at the bridal shop (but lots of pieces looked very pretty) so we decided to stop in to another part of Sam Moon that contains luggage and all kinds of gifts. Derek immediately dragged me to the back of the store to look at all the little toys and knick knacks and I spied a bin of rubber masks... and couldn't resist...

 I put this rubber horse head mask on him and helped him find Nana and Aunt Bella in another part of the store. Imagine turning around to see this 3'3" horse-headed toddler walking toward you.

What does the horse say?

 He's found yet another nose to pick

 This was the easiest mask for him to see out of

Demented Squirrel Dance

I wish I'd gotten video of our reaction to this picture. We laughed all the way out to the car.

After Sam Moon, we went to see Finding Nemo in 3D. Bella has been talking about taking Derek to see Finding Nemo in 3D for several months now, so we're glad she finally got to live her dream. ;) I was very pleasantly surprised and very relieved to see that Derek sat still for pretty much all but the last 20 minutes of the movie... and even then, he only switched between chairs and laps. We had the theater almost to ourselves except for one other family with a small toddler way down in front of us, so that really helped my stress level stay down. This theater served lunch, too, which was delicious!! Mitchell was even able to take an extended lunch to watch the movie with us, which was a huge bonus! What a perfect day! :D Thanks Mom and Bella for spending that precious time with us (and for getting me out of the house, lol). 

Dress Shopping!

My little sister is getting MARRIED! AHHHH!!!! She drove up to Dallas and we were able to spend some time together this weekend. Of course, when it came time to go dress shopping, we had to do a little research first. 

 This was hilarious. Kelly and Amy taught Derek how to scroll using the arrow buttons and he had a blast pointing at the dresses they pointed at and screwing up his face while he talked as if he had an opinion and wasn't just parroting what they were doing. HA! So cute!!

Online dress shopping with a toddler

Waiting for the bride to try on the first dress... and taken before the dress lady pointed to a sign that said, "No pictures please." Poo. Real-life dress shopping with a toddler is NOT recommended... but in the event that you don't have a babysitter handy, it can be done. Sort of. 

Wish you could've been here Val. We love you!

Sunday Best

I snagged a chance to get pictures of Derek in his Sunday best today... he's so handsome! We've given up trying to get him to keep his tie on but he still looks cute! :D Mitchell had a last-minute ward missionary meeting to go to after the three-hour block, so Derek and I hung out in the car listening to Mercy Me and sucking on Dum Dums. It was fun. :)

Isn't he a handsome little guy? Wish he'd keep his tie on though. :)

I love this kid!

Another "Artistic Photo" Post

We went bowling with Jeff and Tammy last night! It was a lot of fun. Derek kept trying to pick up a bowling ball every time our backs were turned and we were really surprised to see him actually lifting Jeff's 16 lb bowling ball... all by himself! Luckily, he never got the chance to carry it anywhere but it was cute to see him try. Mitchell, Giga and Papa were a HUGE help watching (ie, running after) Derek. He was just a bit too much for my prego belly to handle, though I did take him to time out a couple times. He was so mad at being put in the corner that he stomped some poor, unlucky crickets to death. Wrong corner, bugs. My photos are rather artistic this time around because my camera is a bit difficult at quick nighttime snapshots, but I thought these were rather cool.

 Mitchell just chillin'

 Giga and Derek

Papa helped Derek roll his little 5 lb ball down the ramp when Derek's turn came. He couldn't care less if the ball actually hit the pins; he was only interested in rolling the ball down the ramp.

Bath Time!

I love finding waterproof toys. We added some new bathtoys as I've been going through our toy bins and this was by far the "funnest" bathtime we've had in this apartment. It was great to have him entertained and corralled for a half hour while I got to read (in the bathroom, of course). 

 This grosses me out.

 Tell me your secrets, Serpent!!

Waterboarding the snake when it refused to talk

He refused to smile at me til I told him to show me his teeth. Haha!

Telling the snake to "Chug chug chug!"

Watching the Game

 We found out that one of Amy's volleyball games was being streamed live over the internet and figured we'd tune in. Wish someone would do the same for Valerie's games! Anyway, we found out my camera takes pretty freaky pictures with just the right (or should I say wrong) setting...

Ghost boy in my living room!

This one is the creepiest picture ever! I swear I didn't retouch this picture at all. Black eyes are creepy.

"Yay Point!"

Remember 9/11

Because we must never forget. God bless our troops and their families.

Singing and Dancing

Derek is absolutely hilarious. Mitchell was testing out all the speakers we've accumulated to see which ones work and Derek was loving the tunes! I've never seen him dance so enthusiastically. :) We turn tunes on around here pretty regularly, but I guess I've found the genre that motivates him to move. Not surprising since he'd wiggle to Shakira's "Wherever, Whenever" song as an infant. Seriously, wish I'd thought to get that one on camera. Please excuse the mess as the nesting instinct has thoroughly kicked in and I'm attacking all boxes with a vengeance that only my living room can contain, lol.

Dance, Dance Baby!

The other part of this post deals with a discovery I made only yesterday. I turned on Tangled (for the first time in at least a month) and Derek surprised me with his... rousing... rendition of "When Will My Life Begin (reprise)." With some trepidation, I reveal to you....

"When Will My Life Begin (Reprise)" featuring Derek