I Forgot...

One more thing-Chase, yes Chase was recognized while we were in Trader Joe's today. I had no idea who the person was. She ended up being friends with my sister-in-law, and had met Chase before. No big deal really, it was cute. She also sees his picture all the time. According to Jas, add this to the list of hundreds of reasons why we do not have Facebook. He hates running into people.

Like my brother just said, "You do have a blog Kate, no different." I think it is-a little. Enough said...

Busy Season

We've officially entered our busy season. From birthday parties, to showers and weddings, this spring is going to be jam packed with activities. Oh yea, and throw in race Sundays every other week or so too. This past weekend we had some fun with "Uncle" Shawn from Brooklyn(he shops for clothes and shoes more than I do-and since he was traveling without his wife he took advantage of the Promenade:), had the gang over for our regular brunch and F1 race, and hightailed it up to North Jersey for my best friend's daughter's 2nd birthday. This upcoming weekend's agenda-Easter Egg Hunt, dinner with out of town friends, and my grandmother's 90th. I'll definitely be taking lots of pics, squeezing in posts however, may be a different story.

Hanging with the Guys

I make my own rules

The Birthday Girl-JULIA

Little Gym Rocks! Chase didn't want to participate in all the activities, but he had a blast.

Center of Attention

Chase thought the bounce area was like our air mattress. He was confused about the fact that you are supposed to jump on it.

This would have been a great picture if I had gotten them all looking. Here's Chase with Julia and Sesha.

I am pretty sure Jas even chimed in and sang!

I tried to get him to return his bells without me. He wasn't too sure.

I told Jas we could totally make this with PVC piping!

Julia's insanely tall birthday cake

Digging in!

We headed back to Julia's house for a little teatime.

Pink overload. Chase didn't mind:)

Buddies, just like their mommies!

Buddies

Chase started swim lessons two weeks ago. Since I swam for so many years, and started lessons at 6 mos. old, I wanted him to gain the same experience. Not gonna lie, the first session wasn't very successful. While he did get in the pool with me, he pretty much had a death grip on my neck, and cried on and off during the entire time. This past week went a little better. We had practiced blowing bubbles in the tub-sort of a chin and lip dip, and this week he at least didn't cry as soon as we walked onto the pool deck. Chase was a big fan of the kickboard, and loved watching the older kids that were playing in the pool after their session was over.

There is only one other little one in our class, and both the boys and mommies(us more so) really get along:) Cooper, only 9 mos old, but as big as Chase, is quite the little water baby . I think each lesson Chase warms up a little more to the idea of being in the water, and this week he went under a few times. By mommy and the instructor's choice of course! He didn't get a mouthful of water every time. So I think we are making progress. Baby steps:)

I took our underwater digital camera, but the humidity is so high in the pool that the photo are a bit blurry. I'll post once I remember to take them off the camera!

Since Cooper's mom, Cait(yeah another one, but spelled differently) and I started gabbing like moms do, we decided to meet at the park for a play date and take advantage of the gorgeous weather this week. We had a great time at the park. Chase ran around like a madman, and Cooper took it all in. I told Cait to enjoy, and take advantage of these two-nap prewalking days with her little man. On more than one occasion this week Chase just decided to forego his nap all together. He also still preceded to have a few night waking episodes as well. Lovely for Mommy and Daddy.

Cait and I hit it off, and had an especially good time people watching at the park. Some mommies in our area hit the playground dressed to the nines with full makeup. I even saw one pair of Uggs and it was 80 freaking degrees outside. Really is that necessary? Anyway, we shared a few laughs, and realized we both have a penchant for distressing furniture(yep I'm hooked), cooking without recipes, and love to have our cameras accessible at all times. Cait however, is a professional photographer, and I on the other hand still use my fancy DSLR as a point and shoot most days. She had her camera handy during our play date and captured some adorable candid shots. Chase for some reason wasn't in much of a giggly mood-too much to see and do, but we did nail him down for a few pics. The camera loves Chase, but I seriously think Cooper is probably one of the most photogenic kids I've ever seen. His cheeks are awesome! You can check our our pictures on her blog and all of Cait's fabulous portfolio on her main site:

http://www.caitlinscottphotography.com/blog/

Yay for new friends in South Jersey! I miss my MD girls dearly. Especially since Friday festivals will be starting in May. It was a near weekly tradition for the past few years! There is sadly nothing similar up here. Maybe the Swanson clan will make it down for a few Fridays this summer!

Reinforcement

I have a confession. On certain days, well most days, I have some difficulty disciplining Chase. I can't for the life of me not smile or giggle when he does something ornery. I try so hard not to feed into his mischievousness, but for some reason when I set a limit or say "no" I absolutely can't keep a straight face. Perhaps its because he is so stinking cute!

The kicker is, that for over the past decade it's been my job to refrain from negatively reinforcing any inappropriate behavior. Quite simply-don't feed into kids' behaviors! I've trained countless staff and child care providers on planned ignoring. You ignore the behavior, not the kid. At work I could almost always follow the plan. Over the years I've pretty much seen it all, and over the years I've been able to hold it together.

For some reason however, I can't bring myself to follow these practices with my own child. Am I a horrible mother?

Not that this is news to any of you, but grabbing the camera when your child is causing trouble most definitely reinforces negative behavior. Here Chase is repeatedly locking daddy outside. He is mostly just being silly, and its become a game. Not that big of a deal. There are, however, times like when he is intentionally throwing something, or yanking the hell out of the dog's hair that I have to bury my face in my forearm after giving him a direction. I really do try to keep from laughing...I swear!!

Singing "Hey Jude" as he locks the door

Yep, that's daddy out there

"Okay, so here's the plan. I'll unlock it, but only for you."

What?

Done!

Finally our basement renovation is finished! We still have a few more pieces of furniture to move in, and need to decide on a rug, but otherwise it is complete:) I thought just like in the past, I would include the before and after pictures of the space. I'm going to take you all the way back to the walk-through photos so you can see the "potential" we saw in the basement. Obviously our style is a bit different than the previous owner's.

When you first walked into the basement...

BEFORE

AFTER

Eventually Jas' race simulator will be moved into the storage room, and we will have more seating and a table. For now it goes with Chase's car/play area motif.

BAR BEFORE

BAR AFTER

The bar front used to be carpeted. Same wall-to-wall carpet as on the floor. We covered it in lath. Pretty much scraps that people have when they tear down plaster walls. It cost us $24! Pretty sweet right?

BEFORE

AFTER

Jas knew as soon as he saw the space that it could accommodate a much larger screen than our other house.

BEFORE

AFTER

My Favorite Picture-no more hideous poles

This sofa table used to be two cabinets we knocked down in our kitchen. They were a dark wood and not our style. I however, was determined to make them into something. After doing research on distressing furniture, and buying some sweet chalk paint, I got to work. After a few hours of painting and sanding, and a little extra lath leftover from the bar-here is my masterpiece. The pictures don't do it justice.

Already full of Chase's toys. Gotta get some more baskets so I can hide his stuff behind the glass doors!

On to the next project...I think we are going to take a break from inside and tackle some new landscaping next!

Snapshot

Here are a few blurbs from our household recently-

Mommy: Chase, where are you going with my crockpot?

Chase: Heehee

Mommy: Chase would you like a cracker?

Chase: Cockcak peez.

Daddy: Oom, bow, bow, chicka chicka(Ferris Bueller)

Chase: Chickaaaaah

Daddy in the car: Suck it

Chase in the car: Suck it

OOPS! Luckily he hasn't repeated that last one since.

Birthday Fun!

Happy 15th Birthday Aunt Zandy!

After brunch at Redstone, we headed back to MomMom and PopPop's house for cake! Chase assisted in calculating the correct # of candles, lighting them, and showing off his new strawberry eating skills.

Too busy trying to figure out if he can swipe some icing

He did help blow out the last candle

I think it will fit!

Like I Said...

This was the text I got from Jason as he was about to leave work yesterday. No explanation needed! We already lost one somewhere. Now he would have been earless. Poor Mr. Potato head:(

Random Things in Random Places

A few months ago before Chase was walking, but after he'd started to get into things, we had dinner at our friends' house. Not only are they our closet friends in the area, they also are the most prepared out of everyone for when we come to visit. They watch their young niece and nephew all the time, so their house comes with lots of toys. Chase even knows all of the hiding spots for said goodies. Anyway....since during this visit Chase wasn't yet walking he crawled around playing, and was quickly entertained by a basket of magnetic letters housed on their refrigerator. If I remember correctly, more than a week passed and my girlfriend was still finding those little letters in random places around her kitchen. Fast forward to Chase running around and leaving trails of things everywhere he goes.

I thought I'd humor you with some of Chase's hiding spots for items throughout our home. Over the past few weeks I have found crayons in the couch(not too odd), a sneaker in our bathroom drawer, the alarm clock remote in the laundry basket(missing for a bit since we hadn't done whites), a Q-tip on the alarm clock(he was cleaning), golf clubs in the bathroom, toilet paper shreds just about everywhere, and today my MIL found a washcloth and socks under the sofa. He doesn't have a blanket or toy he is attached to, he just loves carrying stuff around. I swear we watch him! He just likes collecting things, throwing things in the trash, and sometimes leaving items wherever he feels like it.

Side note-new things he likes to tell/show us...he tells us when he's made a mess, pinches his nose to say he stinks(he's been saying "I pooped" for a while now), and singing more song lyrics. Today he sang part of "Bon Bon" by Pitbull when he saw it on a beer commercial. Lovely right? Oh, and he told me we were having couscous for dinner. So stinking smart!

Terrible Twos Here We Come

Look at our little angel's hair! Lately he has become more and more independent and creative. Throw a little stubborn in there too. Last night he was less than cooperative when we went out to eat. Chase wasn't terrible per se, but it doesn't hurt that we know the owners, and the waitstaff adore him! He was however unwilling to eat much of his dinner, stay in his seat, or be very quiet. It's a busy place so he wasn't really disturbing anyone, but running around a packed restaurant on a Saturday night is not a good idea. Our toddler did not quite understand that the bustling dining room was the last place he should be exploring. Crayons didn't cut it, neither did toys, and guacamole only got us so far. Gotta get more creative with our entertainment next time!

Some recent antics:

Am I not supposed to crunch up the circulars and shove them in the couch?

Here Chase is building some kind of barrier with my graduated bowls. Luckily Daddy got me a new set for Xmas and these are now included in Chase's collection.

You have to be kidding me!

Trying to get a cute shot. All I got was him sticking out his tongue. He likes sitting in the little chair by the fireplace. Looks like a timeout chair to me!

Even though he's been a handful lately. We wouldn't trade him for anything. I suppose he's a keeper!