18 Months!

Abram is no longer the only Livermore grandchild - we welcomed Gabriel Martin Rossi this morning, yeah for cousins!!!!

Earlier this week I had a conference in Ames, so Abram and Nana Comstock spent a few days together.  Abram got a surprise when he got to grandmas - a brand new red barn.

He was very excited to put his penguin, ball and books to sleep inside the barn.

Abram got to try out all kinds of new/old toys and books.  Here he is reading one of my old books while rocking on a pony that was his Uncle Andy's.

A trip to grandma's wouldn't be complete with out 'helping' in the kitchen. 

One for the recipe...one for me.

 Of course he had to help clean up the mess afterward - the true sign of a good helper.

He also found some better uses for mixing bowls than cooking.

It's finally getting cold outside and Abram got all bundled up tonight to go on a walk with Caity and Rachel.  Pretty cute!

Busy Boy & Big/Little News

We've had a busy couple of weeks so I apologize for not adding any updates.  Two weeks ago Abram had pink eye and then this past week Josh and I have been sick with colds...yucky cold season.  In the midst of all of this Abram still finds time to have fun.  Some of his new favorite words are:

-ducky:  This is Abram's second favorite animal besides puppies and it's his clearest word, I think most people would understand that is what he is trying to say.

-hat:  Abram can turn anything into a hat as you can see by the pictures below.  He knows where his head is if you ask him.  It's nice that he likes wearing hats so close to winter.

-ball:  Everything that is round is a ball: streetlights, oranges, buttons, etc.  He also loves throwing balls, well throwing anything really.

-bowl:  Another example of something Abram likes to throw!

-boat:  We've only seen boats in books but Abram has a keen ability to point out any boat he sees:  tugboat, sailboat, oceanliner, etc.  He doesn't know the right names but he understands they are all boats.

-hot:  Abram learned that some foods are hot and that the oven is always hot.  Unfortunately he did not pick up the fact that not everything is hot.  So all day we hear how 'its hot' when referring to the general tempterture when it's 40 degrees, that his cottage cheese/applesuace, etc.  is hot.  This is also his only phrase as he throws in 'its' when saying something is hot.

-banana:  Abram has developed a fetish for bananas and has been regularly eating 1-2 whole bananas a day this week.

-bubbles:  One night during his bath a few bubbles were made from his soap.  From this point on for the rest of the bath all he could say was bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.  Very cute so I had to get him his first bubble bath which was a huge hit.

-baby (bebe):  This is a very important word for Abram to learn as he goes to school with a lot of girls and they are always taking care of 'their babies' and Abram tries to help out, usually unwanted help.  So a few weeks ago I bought him a baby and dressed him in Abram's newborn outfit and he loves and hugs and cuddles the baby, until he's done at which point he promptly dismisses the baby to the floor.

This is also an important word for Abram to learn because he's going to be a big brother in April!  We are excited to announce we're adding onto our little family.  I think Abram will make a great big brother - as long as he treats the new baby gentler than he currently treats our cats - but hey, we've got 5 months to get there.

Abram showing off his creative skills in turning just about anything into a hat.

Another creative hat moment during reading time with baby.  This last week Abram also decided he loves books now that he can't be outside as much.  It's so nice to be able to sit and read with Abram.  He still doesn't get the concept of reading all the words and flipping pages in order but I think we'll get there.

 I thought I'd throw in a moment of 'real life.'  I don't even remember what he was upset about but papa caught this tantrum on camera.

Here we are a few moments later, happy as a clam.  Have a great week!

Happy Halloween!

The day started out normal but as the night grew close Abram started to change.  He became a little more wild, he started to ee and oo, and looked a little fury.

 

Then out of nowhere....a monkey appeared and Abram was gone!

 

Our sweet little boy turned into a wild monkey.

He couldn't believe it himself.

He went outside to see if he could find out what had happened when he ran into little red riding hood.  She didn't have any answers, only candy.

He was captured for a moment by the zoo keeper and a wild lion...

but not for long.  Soon he caught back up with riding hood and a bunny.

On his quest for truth he came upon a hot dog (later it was discovered this was his favorite pal Max from next door in disguise).

 The hot dog led him to a lady bug, iron man and thomas the tank engine.

 While he didn't find out what happened to Abram he did find lots of treats!  Somehow all the treats were replaced by animal crackers and raisins by the time he got home.  That zoo keeper is pretty sneaky.

 His last hooray for the night was to take the big candy bowl that was meant to keep all the wild things at bay and fling it across the room.  Given that Abram had turned into a monkey, and we know what monkey's like to fling, we can be glad it was only candy.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll wake to find that Abram has returned home and the monkey has gone back to the wild.

Pumpkin Carving

Fall is officially here!  We carved pumpkins this week.

Abram was very interested in the insides of the pumpkin but wasn't too sure about sticking his hand inside.  He kept 'dropping' his spoon.

 What's inside?

 It's raining leaves!

 If it looks like all we ever do is play outside in an orange jacket in the leaves - you are correct.  This is 90% of our waking hours if Abram has his way.

I don't have any pictures from the weekend because Abram came down with pink eye and looks pretty miserable.  He's still in the mood to go 'oughsigh' though.  We've just been keeping our distance from his little friends.  Too add to his red eyes he fell down and used the door frame to break his fall with his face so now his has pink eyes and a black and blue cheek.  

Those of you who live in the tri-state area, be aware of a small brown monkey on the loose Sunday night!

17 Months

Abram turned 17 months old today - time is flying by.  I thought I'd share some of things that he's up to these days.

• Abram's absolute favorite word and location is 'ousigh' which translates to outside.  He's been waking up around 5 a.m. and he will go straight for his shoes and start saying ousigh, ousigh.  He doesn't give in until we go outside.  Once we do go out, usually  no earlier than 7 he is usually so shocked he'll just stand in the doorway taking in the awesomeness of being ousigh.

• Since his favorite place is outside, his favorite article of clothing is shoes.  He loves shoes in all forms, his, ours, random kids shoes he's found outside.

• Abram is also an animal lover.  He especially loves dogs which he calls 'woof woofs.'  Abram can spot a dog a half a mile away.  As soon as a dog gets close Abram gets so excited he starts shaking and laughing.  

• Independence is also very important to Abram.  He loves eating with a spoon or fork and will go so far as to use his hands to stick something on his fork and then eat it rather than eat it with his hands.  He also wants to be the one to push his stroller rather than ride in it.   This is somewhat of a problem since he can't see over his stroller.  We are also starting to have problems taking him to the grocery store since he wants to push the cart.  He also loves to pick up really heavy items and lug them around.

• Another one of Abram's favorite things is taking a bath.  I've had to start spelling b-a-t-h because if I say the word out lout he'll jump down and run into the bathroom and try to crawl in the bathtub.  When we stayed at a hotel a few weeks ago the first thing he did was figure out how to turn on the water and get in the tub.

•  Abram's also become quite the little helper.  He likes to 'help' do whatever we're doing, raking leaves, sweeping the floor, folding clothes.

• And finally, if there is anything that is a constant it is that Abram LOVES to dance.  Anytime he hears music he'll bust a move.  There is pretty much nothing cuter than seeing my baby dance.

Have a great week!

Where's Abram?

Can you find him in all the leaves?

We don't need Disneyland, Chuck E Cheese, or the Zoo - we have leaves! 

Leaves are great - we can't leave them alone!  Josh loves my leaf jokes, I think he's actually praying for snow - much harder to think of puns.

Wait - where did he go? 

I'll leave you with this last picture....there I go again, I just can't help it. 

I hope you enjoyed leafing through these pictures.

Fall is so great in Iowa I'd never want to leave!

Josh just told me I'd have to leave the house if I didn't stop.

Busy Week

Grandpa Terry came to visit for two days this week.  Of course he and Abram just HAD to go to the mall and came back with a whole new outfit.  Here Abram is showing off his new style.

He's so cool he can't even talk to me - he's too busy on the phone.

Thank you Grandpa for such a nifty outfit.

I love you!

This is my grandpa!

Saturday night we had a neighborhood block party and the trampoline was a big hit with all the kids- especially Abram.

We tried to gather all of the kids in one picture - I don't think they all made it in but it still gives you a good idea of how family-friendly our wonderful neighborhood is!

 Sunday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Livermore came down for a visit.  After a delicious lunch we headed to the apple orchard.  While we didn't find very many apples we still had a great time.

The orchard has some picture cutouts which I thought Abram wouldn't really like but once he figured out he could see papa on the other side of the Board taking pictures it was lots of fun.

So much fun that he tried every pose!

and one more...

 We ended the day tired, sweaty and ready for naps!