The Zoo with My Guy

Yesterday was beautiful so Otis and I headed to the zoo.  Usually our zoo trips are with friends, lots of kids running pell mell through the zoo, wanting to play at the park and complaining about being tired.  But with just Otis and I, it was so relaxing!  We meandered through the animals, only seeing what we wanted.  We stopped and ate lunch and had a treat afterward.  When it was time to go home, we popped on over to the train and took a ride before leaving.  Just me and my guy.  A perfect fall day.

Big Kid

I took these pictures with my Canon the other day and as I was looking at them I realized how much of a little boy Otis is now.  No more baby or even toddler, he is all boy!  He is getting so big, putting on his own shoes, taking care of his dishes after dinner, getting into bed by himself.  No more babies.  He starts preschool in the fall, and when we drive by the church it's in, he says "There's my school!"  His school.  He's big.

Art, Sewing, Shiners.

Coloring.  Chalk, markers, crayons, whatever they can get their hands on.

 I got some sewing done, with some help from Otis and baby emma the doll.

 We played cars.

Otis ran smack into the door jamb and got himself quite the bruised face.

 It looks way worse now than when it happened, as it has now turned purple, yellow, and green.  He looks like he's wearing eye shadow.

 He got sick on Friday and has been very clingy when sleeping.  He's been in our bed the past two nights, and his nap yesterday was like this:

 Ingrid decided all their coloring needed to be in an art show, so if you're in the Milwaukee area, be sure not to miss the Ingrid and Otis Art Show now at the Liddle Gallery. 

Oh!  And this morning, Ingrid and I went to see Mary Poppins!  There is a small theater that has matinees on the weekend of classic kid movies.  It was her first time going, she liked the popcorn and thought the seats were funny.  But Mary Poppins is long.  And some of it gets boring.  And it was nearing lunch time.  So we bailed right about the part where there's the bird lady singing about tuppence.  We still had fun! 

 

2 Years 2 Months 2 Days

It's time for an Otis update.  He's *about* 2years, 2months and 2days old, although I may be a couple days late.  What is he up to now, you ask?  WELL!

 

He is now in a big boy bed!  We got a twin bed for Ingrid this past weekend and the toddler bed got moved into Otis' room.  He automatically curled up with a book and a bowling ball and got cozy.  We haven't had any issues with him at all, he just lays down with his teddy bear and goes to sleep.  In the morning he still sits in bed and calls "Oh MAMA, where are you?"  Same as Ingrid, he doesn't understand quite yet that he can get out of bed.  Which is good.

 He is now as much of a chatterbox as Ingrid ever was.  He loves to talk, and sing, and read books.  His favorite books right now are the Gabba on he has in the picture above, and The Doorbell Rang, which was a thrifted find that has become a daily read. 

 Favorite things these days--yogurt.  He wakes up and first thing he wants is a HUGE bowl of yogurt.  Any flavor, doesn't matter.  It amazes me how much he can shove in his mouth...Otis has caught the Gabba bug, much like his sister did at this age.  He loves to watch it and sing along, but his favorite part is the Knock Knock Joke of the Day.  He is a killer knock knock joke teller!  This kid is a comedic genius for being 2!

 He is always busy, but is never too busy for a cuddle.  This kid loves to cuddle, he is so huggy and kissy and adorable.  I will take it while it lasts! 

Mustache Party!

Yesterday was Otis' second birthday party.  And since he's such a little man, we had a little man/mustache party for him!  They are so trendy right now, really, so it was easy to find fun things to add to our party.  All I had to do was peruse Etsy and type in "mustache party" and I found a million fun things!

I chose mustache crayons as party favors.  I got them from this etsy shop, she was so kind and shipped very quickly!  And they were a hit!  (Although honestly most kids thought they were candy and tried to eat them...)

 I also got some mustache cupcake toppers for our ridiculously red and green cupcakes, from this etsy shop.  We also got some thank you stickers from them for the favors.  My mom and I found this cute snowman cake with cupcakes around it, so we got them, never really thinking about how messy the frosting would be with a bunch of littles running around!

 Otis was a very lucky little boy and got many fine new toys for his birthday!  We got him a wooden camera from Little Sapling Toys, which ended up being SO CUTE!  I just love it!  I think it might be my new go-to present for kids 2 or 3 years old.

 Since we had a breakfast party, we had tons of yummy breakfasty foods like quiche, cheesy potatoes, coffee cake, apple bread, and, of course, bloody maries!  The kids were in good pre-nap moods, and once everyone left, all of us crashed and took naps.  I say that is the perfect time for a two year old's party!  I can't believe Otis is TWO! 

Serious Trouble

Otis loves to get into anything and everything.  It's a constant run around in our small house just figuring out where he's gotten to and what is he doing NOW?  His favorite things are getting into the cat and dog food (still) and now opening the refrigerator and getting out the food he thinks looks tasty.  He'll then toddle over to wherever I am and hand me a thing of yogurt or strawberries and smile at me.  It's hard to say no to that.

 He's also a climber.  Much more so than Ingrid ever was, I think.  He finds anything he can get his sausage feet on and climbs and climbs, and gets into more and more.  Yesterday I found this, he was sitting on Ingrid's bedside table stuffing wipes into the lamp.  Because really, what's better than playing with flannel and a lamp?  Who needs toys? 

Big Dude

Otis is becoming quite the little toddler.  I remember it happening with Ingrid, too--one day she wasn't such a baby anymore...This dude is growing like mad, I had to go through his clothes and get his summer stuff out and I was amazed it all fit.  I remember thinking it would be the fall before he'd fit into the 24mo. stuff we had as hand-me-downs, but nope, he's wearing it now.  Today he was a real pisser, just crying at every little thing.  I looked into his mouth while he was screaming and found a random molar on top I had no idea he was even getting!  Makes total sense now.

Fun things Otis is doing these days--dancing.  Which is really just flailing his arms around while smiling.  And pretending to eat food--that's my favorite.  He will pick food off a book picture and bring his fingers by his mouth and say nom nom.  It's incredible.  Tonight we went to dinner with the grandparents and they were highly amused by him using a fork and pretending to eat food that wasn't there.  Just as big of a ham as his sister--I think I have two major extroverts on my hands here, no quiet wallflowers in this family!

Nothing but love for this little guy.

Baby Jeans

Is there anything cuter than a little dude in baby jeans?  I think not.  I love that he has huge cuffs--the jeans are a size too big to accomodate for the huge cloth diaper!

Big Stuff Happening!

First of all, look at this guy:

Standing like a pro!  He refuses to move his legs, but he's got the whole balance thing down pretty well.  I remember how strange it was with Ingrid to see her upright with no one holding her, and it's the same with Otis.  He doesn't seem big enough for this, but he's 13 months today, so I guess he is.  Some kids are honest to god walking at this age, so...I'm in for it.

Speaking of in for it, I got out of the shower the other day to find the roll of toilet paper shredded, a box of tampons strewn about, and a babbling baby doing this:

First the cat box, now this.  He is going to HATE me for these pictures later in life!

The other big thing around here is my new Etsy shop!  For awhile now I've been buying things when I find them and sending them to my pal Heather at 3Ring Circus.  But, she also finds a ton of stuff, and I'm not always the best at sending them out to her.  So, Toadstool Vintage was born!  I now have a vintage kid's clothes shop on Etsy, and I love it!  I've had it open two days and already sold three things, it's so fun.  There are so many supportive vintage sellers, I love it.  Instead of thinking of another shop as competition, all these lovely ladies have completely welcomed me into the fold.  I love it!