Hero Salute and Headed to Sesame Place

So with Johnny's new love for "Melmo" Momma got searching the Internet for discounted tickets to Sesame Place which is an awesome amusement park designed for preschoolers who love Sesame Street, which Johnny does. We went with Ella right before she turned two (kids are free before they are 2 and after that are a full price ticket of $50) and I thought it was really cool. The characters come out and and play and there are a ton of water areas to play in and rides just for him and really big play grounds!!! Besides it is in PA so it is just under 2 hours for us to get there.




Anyways I started looking and found the Hero Salute program, which allows an active duty soldier member and 3 direct dependents free admission to one many different amusement parks (sea world, bush gardens, sesame place.) This means that we save $100 on admission to Sesame Place making it very affordable to go!!! We can take a small cooler which picnic lunch and not buy any food there (while staying on our diets) and save even more!!! OH MY I am so excited I want to call my mom right now and tell her (that is what I do when I find something like this, call my mom :) but it is 12:30 in the morning, so now I go to sleep, tomorrow I finish making my hair normal again, and then taking Johnny to an Ironbirds game, thanks to Grams and Pops. This week end will either be Sesame Place or the Harford County Farm Fair, we will have to see on the weather predictions, we might do the farm fair this week end and Sesame Place next week end, then we are off to Ohio the week end after that!!!!! I love it when we are busy...means more chances to take pictures :)

Park Trips, Then and Now

Aug 2008, Johnny made his first trip to play at the park by Grams and Pops house, he was 6 months old....now at 16 months old, going to play at the park is a lot more fun!


Then


and Now



Then


and Now

So in 10 months look at how he has changed and grown!!!! Isn't it crazy? He learns so fast and so much.

Oh and on a side note "Melmo" (or Elmo in Johnny language) has become VERY exciting. I really wanted him to like Cookie Monster, but I guess Melmo is Okay too :) Johnny found an Elmo chair in Samantha;s nursery today (before he made a cold coffee mess every where and gave Momma a stress related heart attach) and smiled, laughed, and pointed at the chair and said "Momma MELMO!" and sat in it contently. Then at bath time we have a potty seat that is Sesame Street and Johnny likes sitting on the potty before his bath, he excitedly pointed at the part of the seat he could see and said "MELMO MELMO," so loudly I could hear it downstairs :) I guess Melmo is just apart of our lives now.

110 Pictures from a Visit to Grams

So we went to the park at Gram's and Pop's house and Grams began to weed (why not) Johnny found it very interesting and started helping (Grams brags that she taught Ella and Johnny to weed)

But shaking the dirty from roots was the most fun, until he got some in his mouth.

Look at that belly!!!

Climbing up the slide then sliding down it was what kept him busy for about an hour.

Then Uncle Tommy and Ella showed up and they helped and Johnny loved it.


After an hour and a half at the park we came back to Grams' house and she started making jumbilia, and let Johnny cut some kalbasi.

This is not kalbusi that he is adding to the mix...it is a piece of an apple..Grams said it was yummy.

Then Johnny decided why cut the food for others to eat, when he can eat it himself....Grams let him.

I didn't post this yesterday because I took 110 pictures at the park and I was overwhelming.

Just our Day

Teething has put Johnny on a bad cycle....rough sleep at night means waking up early and needing a morning nap, which means he won't take a second nap in the afternoon, which means he needs to go to bed early which means waking early and the cycle starts again. This morning he sat like this on Daddy for about 15 minutes before he decided to take him to bed.


But when he did wake up he had a great time with his toys!

Johnny recently learned to climb on the couch all alone, with no steps, such a big big boy.

Twice this week I have come into contact with people who make me realise how lucky we are and make my heart cry with what they have had to endure. Right now we are trying to offer as much help as we can to a local family whose father came back from a deployment and they could not have worse luck. They are sweet people who are doing their best for their 4 kids, and can't seem to catch the breaks they are due. Not sure what we really can help with, but we are trying. On one hand that could be us down the road, on the other hand how lucky are we...even with two deployments and multiple moves, Shawn missing Johnny's birth and paper work issues around every corner, we are really lucky to all be so healthy and happy and together. Someone who I haven't seen in a long time, found me via facebook, and asked me if I was really happy, if life finally settled down for me. It took me a while to find the right answer. There will always be something to complain about, life will never be what we think it should be, but yes...life has worked out for me just as it should have. Looking into Johnny's eyes melts me, and being held by Shawn clears away all my stress.

Peed on toilet

Johnny and Daddy just went upstairs for a bath...
Johnny asked Daddy to get up on the toilet
Daddy put him on the toilet
and Johnny peed!!!
Mommy is still avoiding potty training, but we are getting closer I guess

Sesame Street is for Military Kids

I wanted to share this here since I think it fits our situations. When Shawn left for Iraq when I was 2 months pregnant, the day he left is when I started to get nauseous and all those other unpleasant pregnancy things. I was lucky enough to have my parents open their doors to me and walk me through the pregnancy and child birth and first few months of Johnny's life. Johnny will never remember Daddy being gone (god help us we will never do a third deployment) But what about those kids who are born when Daddy starts his year long deployment and Daddy comes back to walking, talking, stranger danger scared toddler? Or a 5 year old (Ella comes to mind) who all of a sudden a reserve parent living a civilian life is gone with only web cam to comfort. How do you explain to that child where and why Mommy or Daddy is gone? Or what if they don't come back? or come back with an injury? How even the "simple" process of adjusting back to normal life when that long gone parent comes home? Sesame Street can help!!!!! Talk, Listen, Connect is a Sesame Street program where Elmo tells kids in ways they can understand all of these difficult situations. I think it is amazing!!! We got the free DVD from the clinic, but anyone can watch it and download it from the website. This won't cure all problems or make it as if that parent isn't gone, but it can smooth out some rough spots. Johnny wanted to watch it this morning, Shawn said he couldn't get through it, being the Daddy missing life being born is hard too.
ps...having already been through this, watching the shows made us both a little emotional, Momma cried.

Little Monster

Momma went to Kohls today (while Johnny went to McDonald's for a special lunch with Grams, Papa, Ella, and Chloe and got to eat a happy meal and play in the tunnels, which he loved!) And bought him this new monster hooded towel!! It is soft terrycloth and has the horns, eyes and teeth as well as claws that are pockets for his hands and embroidered spikes down his back! I love it and had to show it off...Johnny is so darn cute!


So Momma gave him his bath tonight and that means pictures....hehehe

This is the real reason Momma went to Kohls today, big boy jammies. In the past week I have had to clean out his closet and learned that his jammies (that I remember buying in February) are all too small, we had to buy 2T today and make sure nothing had elastic around arms or legs and none of the arms or legs are tampered or to tight....this is a big boy and needs big cloths. But I love these dinosaur jammies, which have an extra top in the set!!

So this is the time out chair. I know it looks awfully comfy, but the point is that he go into it for just a minute to calm down or get away from what ever it was he did wrong. He has been doing well by knowing that this is not a chair he is allowed to get out of alone. This particular time out is for throwing food on the floor. After he calms down (which usually takes less then a minute) I then take him to clean up the food, which he also does really well. Other things he gets put in time out for are throwing toys at people or animals, messing with the water cooler, throwing a fit (mostly while food is being prepared or a sippy is seen but not given to him.), climbing on things, jumping off things, and getting into Momma's knitting basket. I never let him get too worked up or start really crying, it is just the whining he needs to stop.

So I thought I would throw in a few cute things about Johnny right now....lets see...his current favorite toys are balls and he can now say ball and does often. His current favorite food is still bananas, but he has really taken to avocados and raisins too. We try to watch a little sesame street every day and he likes the grouch the best and always perks up when he sees it start, he likes to watch it while sitting on my lap, but not cuddling too much :) And he hates it when toys or books are put away. We do a daily dance where Momma puts the books on the rack and the toys in the baskets and he very thoroughly, and with a system removes them and places them back on the floor, where he thinks they belong.

He just cut and is still working on 2 back molars and 2 front teeth on the bottom, hence the constant angry face and grabbing at the side of his check. With this massive teething comes extra clingyness and more random tiredness and sleep during the day, very slight use of the binkie when it gets really bad (it is the only thing that can reach the morals coming and make them feel better) and just general unhappiness. But he still loves his family and has learned to call for Papa, goes to the gate at the top of stairs and shakes it calling for Papa to come up and play. He gets real excited when Shawn and I are both with him and thinks it is so much fun. He is just growing so fast and we are having so much fun with him. I was taken aback again today at how lucky we are to have him. He is so healthy and happy and such a good boy. I can't find words again, I never can when it comes to this. I look back and there is Johnny, I look forward and there is Johnny, happy and full of life in every way he makes life real and our little family makes it full!

Papa Visited and Momma and Dadda Getting Healthy

Papa came over for a short visit yesterday after work and watched half of a really bad B movie called Dinosaur, the kids like it too!!


Sharing a snack on Papa's lap, isn't this great? They love it (we all do!) when Papa comes to visit, makes the entire day special!

Mommy and Daddy are getting super healthy!!! We are doing this detox diet I found, it is not easy, but it is simple and I think it will get us huge steps in the right direction!! My wonderful Aunt Cookie also sent a care package with this three part cleansing system, i am on day two and I already feel better!

First Hair Cut!!!! Hansome Little Man

Sitting with Papa waiting for our turn (Papa got a hair cut too)

Grams and Pops meet us at the hair studio for Johnny's first hair cut.

Look at our big boy. He didn't like sitting alone, so he sat on Daddy's lap and Daddy was able to help keep the Monkey still since he wanted to watch the lady in the mirror and see what was going on. He didn't cry at all!!!! Just wiggled a lot. The woman who cut his hair was very helpful and saved a lot of his hair and just trimmed the bangs and evened out the back, keeping as much adorable curls as possible. She was very happy we brought him in so young, saying it will help when he gets older. I hesitated a lot taking him in, since his hair is something I really love about him, but I am so glad we did, the entire thing was a great experience and he looks so much more pulled together and adorable!




Watching Papa get his hair cut.




back after, see controlled curls!

side after, we had her not cut around his ears to keep the curl there and I am glad we did.


Front after, look how hansom our little man is!!

Johnny spraying the dog with the hose alone

I am the devil child....hahahahaha...now bring me raisins or I shall visit upon you plagues of POOP



Doogy has been really good with Johnny, plays but doesn't get too rough, it is very cute, Johnny just laughs!!!

so this is what we did with our Saturday....

O Day and Otakon...bleh

O Day or Organization day at Shawn's unit was yesterday, a day where all the soldiers and civilians who work at the clinic get together and bring there families and build moral and have half a day off for mandatory fun. There wasn't a lot to do and it was really humid and hot, But Johnny really enjoyed all the attention he got for being so darn cute and then the playground.



He could have done slides all day!!!! It is so cute, when he gets excited and knows something fun is about to happen he starts to laugh in preparation, deep and cute.


He wanted to get his face painted but the lady wanted to do his hand, so he got the superman symbol, but it didn't last very long.


As always there is a love for food...this time Johnny got to have the entire piece of watermelon, and chewed down all of the fruit till barely the rine remained.


This is Otakon, the anime convention in down town Baltimore that Shawn and I had been really looking forward to. We went last night and Johnny spent the night with Grams and Pops and went to an Ironbirds game with Uncle Chuckles (I am told he got really excited when he saw the stadium and followed the game and had a great time!) Shawn and I went to Otakon waited for 40 minutes just to get our tickets and then wandered around for a few hours. We tried to sit in on one of the "classes" or discussions and got really let down when the people running the discussion didn't know what they where doing and just screwed around. We had fun being in the environment and out with no responsibility, we had dinner at our favorite Irish restaurant in down town Baltimore. But we came out around 11 exhausted!!! We woke this morning and went to get Johnny from Grams and Pops for a little while, then we were going to head back up to the convention and try again (leaving Johnny for another sleepover with Grams and Pops which all of them enjoy!).... but when we had Johnny back we realised that one of the reasons we didn't have fun was because we missed Johnny and maybe we have grown out of stuff like this. With the money for gas, parking and food and all of the other stuff it takes to do a day at Otakon, we decided not to go back, but to enjoy a full Saturday with the Monkey, appreciating being his parents and having responsibilities :) Life is good