Quiet signs from Ross

Ross has developed his little ways of letting us know when he wants more of something. We have 2 baby gates in the house. One is in the bathroom and one in the kitchen. He has recently started balancing his snack cup on the gates when he wants more of his snack. If he is finished he leaves his bowl wherever he may be at that time but if he wants more you'll find it on a baby gate. Last week I gave Ross some grapes before I got in the shower and when I finished the little cup was sitting there on the bathroom gate waiting on me to fill it back up. It was really sweet and made me smile! In the mornings when I go to the kitchen he knows I'm getting ready to make his juice. At that point 9 times out of 10 he'll bring his milk cup and leave it for me to trade him with his juice.

and just so I won't get fussed at for not having a picture of Ross here you go. He has to get all his buddies with him for bed, and make sure he's touching them all. Here we have blue dog, pig, woo woo, and Lester. Blue and Woo Woo are the constant buddies. He mixes it up with who else gets the privilege of sleeping in the bed with him every night.

I can do it!

We have magnetic locks on the drawers and doors in the kitchen. I really like them better than the other child proof options available. Though Ross has watched enough to know what we are doing. He's also learned where the magnet on his snack drawer is located in order to 'unlock' it.

Yep here it is Mom. Exactly what I wanted.

Gym Class

Ross started gym class on Saturday at The Little Gym. At first when we walked in he was having no part of it. I tried to put him on different things and he would just say "no no" and want me or Daddy to hold him. Eventually he got on the balance beam and after that he went non-stop.

Class is organized and they do different things throughout the course of the time. Part of the time is bubbles - it is supposed to teach hand-eye coordination. Ross loved this part of class. It was also the time when we were actually able to take pictures b/c the rest of the time was spent helping Ross on different pieces of equipment.

Band Jam Session

When Dad and family came up on Saturday we all got the chance to have another jam session. Ross loves this. Everyone has an instrument and you play it as loud as you possibly can. Granddad didn't play quite as loud as we are used to though. We'll have to work with him on that.

Ross turns 2!

On Saturday Ross and I set out to make cupcakes for his birthday. I decided to make ice cream cone cupcakes. Ross was a big help. He kept the sprinkles organized. It was a tough task and he had to have some nourishment in the form of Mam's Three Layer Delight, which we brought home from the night before. (The hairstyle was thanks to me and my Dyson handheld.)
The finished product (after 3 attempts) sans sprinkles.

Ross was sick on his actual birthday so we decided to order pizza in and some family came over. This is Uncle Kevin and Granddad (Ross' great grandfather). Once again my photo taking skills didn't do so well and the pictures of everyone else were fuzzy. I must get better at this...After pizza we had our cupcakes. Everyone could decorate their own, if they wanted. Ross wanted. :) He chose star sprinkles.

His OCD would kick in and he to make sure they were all on the cupcake and not on the plate.

He was showing us the star! He even had a star candle to blow out.

Yum! Yum!

He kept offering me and Da-Da a bite. I said ok to one bite but then it was just a wee bit too soggy. His Da-Da was a better sport and took as many bites as Ross offered. Thanks but no thanks!

Oh he was trying to get a big bite. To do so one must wrinkle one's nose.

Birthday boy says "cheese" while eating! Oh yes my boy is quite talented. Almost gone and as you can see not the blue Smurf from our previous party. I think he still had fun. We did have to replenish the stars a few times.

Everyone warned us as to how fast time would fly by but I had no idea. This has been a most excellent two years! I can't wait to see his changes in the next year. He's quite a character and a blessing to us!

Party at School!

Ross had a birthday party at school on Friday. We took cupcakes and goodie bags for his friends. We got yellow, green, and blue icing cupcakes. Ross LOVES cupcakes. Ross got a blue...My birthday boy clown! Ross eats a cupcake from the top down. Slowly working at it until he's either full or the cupcake is in his mouth.

He really never quits eating it. Kind of like Bugs Bunny and a carrot.

Just in case you haven't seen enough of his cute little blue face! :)

As you can see the kids with the green or yellow cupcakes don't look quite as, um, fluorescent!

Below is after the party and after Ross had been wiped down MANY MANY times. He'd been Smurfed!

We had dinner with my Mom and fam. When we got home Ross had a present waiting on him in the door from his Great Aunt and Uncle. A firetruck! He loves firetrucks! He has gotten quite good at opening his presents. Christmas was excellent practice for my little dude!

The downside to this, and I must share, is that now that I've typed the word firetruck I have a Barney song in my head.

"F-I-R-E-T-R-U-C-K; here comes the firetruck hooray! hooray! hooray!". I can only hope it doesn't last long.

Snow days!

Once again we had snow around Ross' bday. So far we have had snow on or around his birthday since the day he was born. I didn't get many photos because the first day my battery died and the second day I brought the camera outside but forgot to put the battery in it. ha Since I was dressed like Ralphie's little brother I opted against going back inside for the battery. I did get a few videos. However, after 2 days of trying to upload them I'm about to give up.

Play Doh time

Ross got some Play Doh accessories while we were out at Babies R Us over the weekend. Play Doh is a lifesaver for us since we don't go outside much in the cooler temps. (He starts gym class next Saturday - his birthday - so that'll be a fun activity during the Winter/Spring).

The kit we got had a lot of different things in it but this doohickey was by far his favorite. You can change the slides and make different things. His favorite was the "spaghetti" but much like when he eats it there was quite a mess with that slide!

First you load it up! Then push the handle and voilà!

I told him to cut it when all the Play Doh was out; meaning to cut it from the slide but he preferred to pull it from the slide and then cut it.

Once he cut it we would make a bracelet and he'd wear it for about 1 second and then the process would start over.

Sidebar comment: To my Mom/ Dad friends I definitely do not recommend Moon Dough! I thought you might want to learn from my mistake. :o) Very messy and zero fun!

New Year's Day

We went over to some friends' house to visit and Ross got to play with their kids. He and Lilly had a great time. He loved her kitchen. He also loved her beads!!! He would go in and out of her closet hiding b/c she has the door knobs that he can turn. Luckily, we don't have them at our house! He also loved her tunnel and tent! She had cool toys! He was attacking me!

We hope everyone had a great New Year's day and that 2011 will be most excellent!