Banner Art (G - N)...

Again, it is unlikely that anyone (other than Trevor and possibly, one day, Banner) cares about seeing these, but it makes me happy to have a record of my kiddo's "art" projects.  And, well, scanning these in takes up a lot less space than trying to hold on to them in a scrapbook. 

 

Plus, as I mentioned before, it reminds me about what he was learning when and gives me ideas for projects to repeat in a few years when he is learning to read and write.

 

G WEEK:

 

G is for...

 

...glass paintings. 

 

...yeah, no idea.

 

H WEEK:

 

H is for...

 

...horse



 

...house
(or, as Banner says, "a$$")

 

 

I WEEK:

 

I is for...

 

 

...ice

J WEEK:

J is for...

 

...jack-o-lanterns

 

 

K WEEK:

 

K is for...

 

...kite

 

...kings, kittens, kangaroos, kites, keys and knitting

 

L WEEK:

L is for...

...lion

...leaves

 

M WEEK:

M is for...

...Macaroni
(most of which is STILL in my car because it doesn't travel well)

 

N WEEK:

N is for NOTE...

Front of card

 

Inside of card

Backwards and barefooted...

Y'all.  I am so behind.  Again.  It is like the theme of my life.  I'm always thinking I'm going to try to write these short, witty posts about...whatever.  And then I realize that nothing about my life is remotely witty (if only!) and I am apparently incapable of keeping even the shortest story...well, short.

Moving along...

We have stopped duct taping Banner into his diaper for three reasons:

1.  It wasn't working.  He is a determined little booger with biceps of steel.  I watched him rip his diaper off one morning on the baby monitor like a little, blonde Incredible Hulk.  It was simultaneously terrifying and impressive. 

2.  The heat from his body coupled with the, uh, "moisture" from the diaper had a temporary tattoo effect on Banner's skin.  Twenty two months is too young to have Captain America inked on your hip.

3.  My husband is brilliant and realized that Banner couldn't access his diaper to begin with if we simply...wait for it, wait for it...put his sleep sack on backwards.  Seriously, why did we not think of that in the first place?

The only problem is that Banner has already started trying to get of it.  No success yet, but it only took him two days to figure out how to unzip the backwards sleep sack halfway.  I may have given birth to the next Harry Houdini.

In other news, Banner has become suuuuuuper opinionated about the most bizarre things.  Like socks.  And what he will and will not eat for breakfast.  I honestly don't mind.  I just wish I knew which pair of socks he will wear, or why he suddenly hates all things waffle, squeezie and anything defined as "cracker" (a.k.a. his usual favorites). 

Mostly everything about the irrational toddler phase cracks me up, because, really?  What can you do?  But then there are the mornings when you turn around for thirty seconds to grab a yogurt from the fridge and fill up an empty sippy cup, and completely miss the fact that your son has just taken off the "problem" socks in protest (along with his sneakers) and neatly placed them on the lower level of the baker's rack in the kitchen.

Which is how MY kid ended up at school on Tuesday completely barefooted.

(Worst mother ev-ver.)

Luckily, I had an extra pair of socks in the car, and the class had no outdoor plans.  Because the museum's largest fundraiser of the year was on Tuesday, and The Great Sock Crisis of November 12th, 2013 already had me running behind.  There was simply no time to run home for a pair of shoes.  Even if we were scheduled to get our first hard freeze.

(Because why wouldn't all this coincide with the arrival of an Artic blast?)

As I left Banner's class, I kissed my favorite little mess on the forehead and told him to try to be a little less irrational.  You know, for his teachers' sake.  A dad overheard me in the hallway and laughed.

Dad:  "He is...what?  Two?"

Me:  "Almost."

Dad:  "Well, if you think the twos are bad, just wait until you get to the effing threes."

Awesome.  Even more irrational greatness to look forward to.  I may use some of the extra Avengers-themed duct tape to hide an emergency pair of shoes and socks on the underside of Banner's car seat.

Pumpkin Village...

Or as Banner calls them "Monk-ins".

Nothing says fall to me like pumpkins, and we've done a lot to try and get our fill of those big, orange balls this season.  

The following are some of my favorite photos taken at the Arboretum over the course of our many (many) visits there (so far) this autumn:

Sometimes a picture says it best...

Because, yeah.  That's MY kid. ;P

OMG.  His face, you guys.  It kills me.

There are just no words for that kind of awesome.

Parenting Confession...

Thanks to situations like THIS and THIS, we've started duct taping Banner into his diaper at nap/bed time.

And, just in case you are curious, we tried masking tape first because it seemed less extreme:

Masking tape = Duct Tape's wussy little brother.

I insisted on purchasing duct tape from Michael's with pictures of THE AVENGERS on it.  Because, you know, it is less institutional than the regular gray from Home Depot.

(Thanks for going along with me on that.)

It also made me feel better that the brand I purchased was called "duck tape".  Because ducks are cute and oh-so much more kid and diaper friendly than air ducts.  I mean, obviously.

Quack!
(or, as Banner would say, "Duck! Duck!")

Complete disclosure:  It feels really strange to duct tape your kiddo into his diaper.  Even if you've found a duct tape your toddler refers to as a "sticka" (sticker) and completely loves because of all the fun and colorful superheroes depicted on its surface.  There is just a something about securing your kid into his size six Huggies Overnights in this way that screams, "Not Sanctioned By CPS".

But, you know what?  It works.  It is amazing what you will do to avoid having your kid wake up at 4 AM shivering and naked in a puddle of his own urine.

It also helps when you confess the whole thing to your mother-in-law and she tells you that she used to duct tape both of her boys into their car seats when they were little so they wouldn't get out and run amuck while she was driving on the highway.

As if I needed further confirmation that married into the right family.

How I temporarily lost my kid in Carter's...

Because apparently my kid knows how
to hide and not make a sound...

Harvest Parties...

There were two parties at Banner's school last week.  One was a class gathering where the kiddos decorated pumpkins with stickers.

Well, except MY kid, who just decorated himself: 

I love the third eyeball.

There was an event at work for the class party on Wednesday, so Trevor and my dad attended in my absence.  My favorite story from the class party, however, involves my father.  I can't remember if I've blogged about it before or not, but my dad visits Banner 1-2 times a week at school.  He had surgery on his back in May, and his physical therapist offices near Banner's day care.  So, after therapy, my dad frequently stops by to see his grandson.  Every time he visits, dad offers Banner a Starbucks mint from a tin in his pocket.  As a result, Banner now associates my father with mints...as do the rest of Banner's classmates.

So imagine, if you will, the class party.  My dad walks in the door and Banner and all of his classmates run up to greet him...AND IMMEDIATELY START STICKING THEIR HANDS DOWN HIS PANT POCKETS LOOKING FOR MINTS.

Trevor had to explain to the other parents what was going on.  ;P

The all-school party was on Thursday, and - thanks to having to work late the night before - it was no problem for me to sneak away from the office a little bit early to attend.  Each class was assigned a football team, and all the kids got to go on a sticker scavenger hunt to all the classrooms.  It was a blast.

Banner's class was TCU.  Since no one in the family are alums, Amy had the brilliant idea to use purple duct tape and decorate one of Banner's white shirts:

Banner's teachers thought Amy's final product was so cute that they asked each of the kids in the class to bring in a white shirt, and Ebony and Natasha decorated it with purple tape so all of the toddlers in room seven matched.  Then, they dressed in purple shirts with white tape with "COACH" on the back.  It was adorable.

And, of course, what is a friendly competition without eyeblack?  Yeah, exactly.

Toddler game face:

After everyone was dressed and finished with snack, Banner taught his classmates how to "hut, hut".  Had he been there, I'm sure it would have been Trevor's proudest moment:

But attention spans are short when you are a toddler, and slides are very tempting. 

And did I mention Banner's Halloween socks?  Because nothing gets you in the mood for a little trick-or-treating like festive jack-o-lanterns on your toes!

(Thanks, Mom!)

Halloween, Brook Hollow style...

Look at those muscles!

Last Sunday (October 27th), we took the little guy to a Halloween party at a local country club. 

We were running a little late because Trevor and I were unaware that Banner did not like his WEARING his costume.  He seemed excited about the idea of the costume, but put it on him and he'd run around saying "all done, all done, all done" (because he lacks the vocab to say, "Get this effing thing off me NOW!"). 

To be fair, the Thor suit was a little snug in the shoulders.  Which is insane since it is a 4T and Banner isn't even two yet. 

But I digress.  There were elements of the costume that Banner really enjoyed, like his "BOOM! BOOM!" (hammer).  And parts that he wouldn't even consider wearing, like his helmet.  Case in point:

Seriously.  The image on the right is the ONLY picture in existence of Banner dressed as Thor with both the helmet AND hammer in it.  And he isn't even holding the hammer.

Since he refused to wear his costume in the car, we had to wait to dress him upon arrival.  It helped that all the other kids were dressed up, but you could tell Ban still wasn't completely sold on the whole idea.  In fact, I think the only reason he kept it on as long as he did was because I told him he had to wear it if he wanted to go outside and play. 
 

Which is probably why he looked like this when we first walked out on the patio:
 

Not so sure about this, you guys.

 

 

But "Thor" soon recovered once he discovered all the games and activities.  There was so much to do!

 

 

Of course, he wanted nothing to do with anything once he discovered the bounce house.  Which TERRIFIED me because of all the big kids inside rough housing.  But Banner was undaunted, walked right up to it, took off his shoes and socks and climbed inside.

At first he lingered near the entrance, but eventually worked his way to the other end.  As a final obstacle, the exit to the bounce house was a giant six foot inflatable slide.  Once Banner knew the slide was there, there was no keeping him away.  I lost count of how many times he crawled through!

And he wasn't unscathed, either.  Ban was constantly getting bounced upon by other kids or knocked down.  He even split his lower lip open at some point, but didn't shed a tear.  The boy is all about keeping up with the big kids.

(Seriously.  The kid is BRAVE.  No idea where he got that from!  Trevor and I were just accident prone.)

After watching Banner risk life and limb for nearly an hour, I caught him at the bottom of the slide before he could run around and climb back in for another go.  His diaper felt pretty full and it seemed wise to take care of that before dinner.  Secretly, I think Banner was relieved to have a reason to stop the bounce house madness.  He didn't protest once and calmly let me carry him to the women's locker room.

After I got the little tyke cleaned up and out of his costume, it was dinner time on the porch:

Banner's favorite food were the meatballs.  I was partial to the fried pickles.  ;P

As a party favor, mom had made a goodie bag for Banner complete with treats, sticker and - Banner's all time favorite BFF - ELMO.  The best thing about this Elmo is that he doesn't do anything, and is small and soft enough to be Banner's newest bedtime buddy.  He is also a much convenient size...you know, for those times that Elmo absolutely MUST join us in the car to run errands.  "Other" Elmo is longer than Banner and randomly starts snoring.

Instant buddies.

It was a very fun afternoon we the added perk that it completely wore our little Ban-Man out.  Bounce houses and Halloween parties are seriously the things DREAMS are made of.  I think he slept for 14 hours straight!  Bliss!