Rice Christmas Peas

Today at the store we picked up the supplies to make rice crispy treats and Diego wanted to help! He sat on the counter and helped stir and happily ate marshmallows and "rice Christmas peas". I love the way he says many things, but this is my new favorite. I try not to correct anything he says, I find it endearing the way he interprets things. His favorite part about making the rice Christmas peas (besides eating them) was that I let him put pink sprinkles on them. They had a Valentine feel to them because we used strawberry marshmallows (they are pink) so we added a little more pink. Fun times! I like having a little helper in the kitchen!

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Picking Out His Own Clothes

Today Diego picked out his own clothes for the first time. Normally he has no interest it doing so and would rather I just did it for him. So today when I asked him to pick out his clothes so he could get dressed I was shocked he came back with clothes! He has mastered removing his clothes but not quite putting them on. He does great with pants and can put his arms in his shirts if I put them over his head first. Lucky for Diego, I don't love putting clothes away so there was a laundry basket with shirts in it in his room and his pants are in drawers, so that made grabbing clothes easy. I loved what he picked out too!

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No More Baby Gates

Right after Christmas we took the baby gates off the stairs. They were both broken, and even though the company agreed to send us replacement gates for free, we decided it was time to take them down permanently. Diego is almost three and manages the stairs very well. Honestly, I think Eddie might have left the gates up til he was 5 or so, but I talked him into taking them.down for good.

Diego loves the freedom and goes up and down the stairs many times during the day. He will even take his clothes up to the hamper in his room if he gets dressed downstairs. Score! Less trips up and down for me.

The first week the gates were down we put a tension gate at the top of the stairs at night to prevent accidental tumbles. But, quickly learned this was a terrible idea because one morning Diego pushed the gate out and fell down the stairs. Lesson learned. We both felt terrible, but he survived without any bumps or bruises just a little healthy fear of going down the stairs carefully.

He has wandered downstairs a time or two in the middle of the night but other than that we are all loving the now open staircase. Diego loves to play games on the stairs or take a ball to the top and watch it crash down. His favorite game is "pillow". He carries a pillow to the top of the stairs and rolls it down to one of us, and we toss it up to him. He thinks this is the funniest thing ever!

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Swimming Lessons, 3rd Time Around

Diego and I are wrapping up our 3rd session of swimming lessons. I decided to try the Kroc Center this time and we have both really enjoyed it. Every lesson day, Diego says he doesn't want to go, but never actually has a real protest and by the time we get there he is so excited to get in the water. He gets really excited if the slide is on and he can go down a few times before swimming lessons start. Our first lesson, he decided he didn't like any of the toys they had available, so we brought our bathtub Thomas for the next few, after that I "accidentally" forgot Thomas at home and all was well. The class has really improved his ability to follow directions and stay on task. I am continually impressed at how well he has begun to listen to me, especially in public. Its weird, but he listens better in public places than he does at home, in most cases. He really enjoys the songs we sing during swimming and sings them at home a lot. His favorite is the "poky poky". His favorite part of lessons is when he gets to jump in and show his stuff! He is really helpful when we are getting changed in the locker room and can remove his own shoes and clothes, which makes things go so much faster! I asked his teacher if she thought he was ready to do Pre-School lessons (without me in the pool) and she said she thought for sure he was. He can't start until he's 3, so he will have to skip one session, but I will be enrolling him in the spring. I am a little sad he is old enough to be done with Mommy & Me swimming lessons, but also grateful I was able to participate in them with him for 3 sessons over the last 2 1/2 years. I'm excited to see him learn even more in Pre-School lessons.

Bowling!

I took Diego bowling twice in the last month. The first trip was with Mindy, Jaycoby and Ella. We all had a blast! Mindy and I went ahead and used the bumpers with the boys and by the end, they were using our turns too. Diego loved bowling and using the ramp to get the ball rolling down the lane. He enjoyed waiting for his ball to come back and picking it up all by himself. One turn, he was having a really hard time getting the ball to the ramp and then dropped it, but we quickly realized it was an 11 pounder! He had been using a 6 pounder but this one was the same color so he just grabbed it.

The second time we went with Auntie Erica, Uncle Bryan, Grandma, Uncle Lance, Aunt Yuni, Via, Jag, Jack and Bennie. The adults had their own lane this time, so no bumpers. I was reminded once again what a poor bowler I am! Everyone beat me, even the kids!!! We had a blast and Diego can't wait to go back,and I clearly need some practice.

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Christmas 2010

I didn't take as many pictures as I wish I had during the christmas season this year, but we really enjoyed the season. Diego was really excited about decorating the tree this year and I loved having a helper. Eddie is a scrooge about it, big shocker. :) Diego had a lot of fun playing with all the christmas decorations while they were out. He had some favorites, including a gingerbread train my Aunt Laurie sent us a few years ago. He loved it. He was also really into opening gifts this year, which was super fun to watch. This picture is on christmas eve, he was opening his Christmas jammies and movie (Thomas, of course). He also opened a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas pop up book and we enjoyed looking through it that night.

On Christmas morning we came downstairs and he tore into all his gifts. He loved every one. He loved opening so much, that while we were out of the room, he opened a gift that we were saving for when my Mom came over. Luckily it was for him, but my mom wanted to see him open it. I was talking to her on the phone when he opened it, so it was ok.
While my family was here, Diego wanted to help everyone open their presents. Everyone let him, except Jag wasn't too excited about it. He's a real trooper though and just goes with it.

We really enjoyed the day. I enjoyed hosting because we didn't have to go anywhere and I didn't even mind the cooking and cleaning up. We played toys, ate a wonderful meal (smoked ham on the traeger) and enjoyed each others company. Christmas really is magic with a child of your own. I can't believe this was his 3rd Christmas, he's growing so fast.

SPA Kids Christmas Party

This was our third year attending the SPA kids christmas party and we always have a great time. Diego always enjoys seeing Santa and this year I think he even told him what he wanted. When it was time for Santa to come out and hand out presents to the kids Diego was so excited. He waited as patiently as an almost 3 year old can and when they called his name and ran up to Santa to get his gift. But, as soon as he saw it, he ran off the other way, crying. I went up to get him and realized he ran because he didn't like the gift. Eddie and I were both mortified, but we laughed anyway. Diego loves his Thomas, but recently has enjoyed Toy Story 3 as well, so on the form I listed either Thomas toys or Toy Story. Well, Santa picked Toy Story and Diego was pissed. Everyone in the gym had a good laugh and Diego sobbed all the way out the door. Diego manages to draw attention to himself every year. I'm anxious to see what he does at next year's party to entertain us all!
If this isn't the perfect Santa picture, I'm not sure what is.