The theme of my post tonight is “what’s new?” and because you can’t read tone over the internets, I’ll tell you that I’m saying “what’s new” in a very sarcastic voice.  So what’s new that’s not really new?

1.  Quinn has a fever.  Again.  I wish I knew if it was due to the cough/snotty nose combo that he has going on or if it is because he has a huge molar about to pop through his bottom gum.  At least he’s easy when he’s sick- this kid loves when I stick the thermometer in his ear and he thinks tylenol is candy.  Not that he’s really ever had candy so honestly, children’s tylenol might be the tastiest thing the poor boy has ever eaten!

2. My dog is lazy.  As usual.   On Wednesdays I work from home and it never ceases to amaze me at how profoundly lazy Fenway is.  He did not move from the couch for a good 5 hours straight.  Plus he uses a pillow and a blanket.  Honestly, I’m slightly jealous.  I would pay money to lounge like he does!

What is actually new is that I made Quinn a blanket last night.  Yes, I MADE it.  With a sewing machine and everything!  We were in the fabric store looking for fabric for bedroom curtains and Quinn spotted a lovely little Thomas the train fabric.  He was so enamored by it that I decided I would make him a blanket so he could carry it with him everywhere.  I envisioned this blanket as his new favorite item, his security blankie that he needed to take everywhere until we finally had to break him of it when he was too old to carry a blanket around.  So I lovingly crafted the blanket last night, with the train fabric on one side and a cozy blue flannel on the back.

I gave it to him tonight and definitely got the reaction I was hoping for: jumping up and down, yelling, smiling, choo chooing.  He was so excited!  But then, when I let him hold the blanket, he cried.  And stomped his feet.  And didn’t want anything to do with it.  I think he thought it was more than just a blanket and was sad to learn that it didn’t make noise.  It’s OK though, I still have hope that the blanket will become his favorite.  And if it doesn’t, oh well, I know a dog who would love this blanket!

Tonight I came across some of Quinn’s old baby clothes, like when he was teeny tiny, and even though it was only 17 months ago, it seems like it was forever ago.  Life just moves so quickly with a baby/toddler.  I try to take pictures to remember it all but a lot of times they come out like this…

But I guess, in some ways, this picture portrays him very well- always moving, running, choo-chooing, nonstop.  Or maybe I’m just creating this story to make up for the crappy picture.  Who knows, but I like it!

I decided to try to capture Quinn on video in a (hopefully) semi-regular interview format.  One problem though- he’s only 17 months old and 17 month olders are not good interviewees.  But with the help of leading questions and repeating myself a lot, I was able to get some answers.  (It was definitely hardball reporting.)   I did a little editing (mostly to edit out my annoying voice and series of saying “Quinn, Quinny, Quinnnnyyyy, look at mommy, Quuiiinnnnyyyyy”) and came up with this:

In full disclosure, his favorite color may not be yellow, but it’s the only color he knows at this point.  And his friend from daycare is named Cooper, but Quinn calls him doo-doo.  It’s cute now but I’m not sure how much longer Cooper will tolerate it!  And yes, he has about 25 more letters to learn for the alphabet, but don’t you think his “A” was right on target?!

My plan is to keep these up every few months.  I’m sure as I go along, the questions will be a little more interesting and Quinn’s answers will develop a little bit…and maybe you’ll actually be able to understand him.  But for now, just enjoy his lizard impression!

Looks like Quinn continues to take after Ryan in his skill set:

I think the irony in this is that I can not stand loud noise.  I never turn my car radio on louder than 2 bars- and even that’s pushing it.   Whenever Ryan turns the music up, I always turn it down.  And, yes, I was that girl in the bar who wore earplugs because the band was just too loud.  Ever hear of noise induced hearing loss, people?!?  So the fact that both my husband and my son love to drum, yell and scream together is comical to me.  I can handle their noise, though.  I actually like it – because I love watching them having so much fun together.

Nevertheless,  I foresee a soundproof room in my future.

This is Quinn’s favorite new saying.  OK, I take that back.  It’s a tie between “I do it” and “No”.    Quinn’s witching hour has changed from his baby days and now the worst time of the day for him (and me) is the hour between when we get home from daycare/work and when I feed him dinner.  Our conversation during this hour usually goes like this:

Quinn: Outside, outside

Me: OK, we’ll go outside.  But first put your coat on.

Quinn: No. No no no no.  Outside.

Me: Quinn, put your coat on and we’ll go outside.

Quinn: No.  I do it.  Nooooooo.

Me: Quinn, do you want to go outside?

Quinn:  No.

Me: OK, are you hungry?

Quinn: Eat.

Me: OK, let’s eat.

Quinn: No no no no no no no no no no no no.  No no noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

And after that point the conversation turns into something that can’t be transcribed…it usually consists of Quinn crying, yelling no, crying, laying face down on the floor, and crying.  And during this time I’m either making desperate pleas with him or I’m laughing because I don’t know what else to do.  It’s good stuff.

Look at this face.  It’s a mix between Mr. Independent and Mr. Mischievous.  Which I’d say is about right!

But at the end of his meltdown, he always comes running to me for a hug.  And, if I’m lucky, I can distract him with something fancy- like tupperware or a wooden spoon.  And all of a sudden, poof-  Quinn turns back into my sweet little boy and the rest of our evening is smooth sailing.   I guess he’s giving me a taste of what to expect during his 2’s!

check out those chompers- he’s getting new teeth every day!

Quinn and his Valentine!

Fenway may not outwardly show his affection toward Quinn, but we all know he loves him.  Quinn, on the other hand, gives Fenway dozens of hugs and kisses every day.  He has also started to help feed Fenway, which he takes very seriously.

Now when the vet yells at us for having an overweight dog, we’re totally blaming it on Quinn!

We got a potty for Quinn a month or so ago because he always pees on the floor right before his bath.  We figured we would try to get him to pee in the potty- not really potty training, per se, but just getting him used to the idea.  Unfortunately, neither one of us thought about how little boys usually sit down when potty training.  So Ryan modeled how to pee in the potty, complete with making a “pssss” sound; and now when we tell Quinn to show us how you pee in a potty, he’ll bend his legs, stick out his belly and say “pssss”- but not actually pee.  It’s really funny, especially because he will do this on command, anywhere, fully clothed.  It isn’t something that I want him to keep doing, though.  I have visions of him doing it in daycare when they start talking about potty training and then we’ll be “those” parents who have taught their child something wildly inappropriate.  So we’re going to have to take our maturity level up a few steps (big steps!) and stop encouraging it and laughing when he does this.

I did, however, want to teach him a very important skill that many  men haven’t quite mastered yet- putting the seat down.  I’m happy to say he’s learning quick!

Quinn’s expression sums up our weekend- lots of fun!  We took a trip down to Northern Virginia to visit our college friends and, as usual, had a blast.  Times are a’changin’ though…there are now 2 of us with little ones.  Luckily, this crew is made of such wonderful people that it doesn’t really matter what we do, it’s always fun.

We stayed with the Biggs family, which was expanded in November to add little Benjamin.  Quinn and Ryan met him for the first time this weekend.  I’d say they all liked each other!

It took a little adjustment time for Quinn to get used to seeing Ryan and I hold Benjamin, but by the end of the weekend he was fine.

I must disclose that I stole a lot of these pictures from baby Ben’s blog.  His parents are rockin’ photographers and while I would love to take credit for all of the pics, some of them are Donnie’s.

The weather was beautiful so we went for a couple of walks and I’m ashamed to admit that my calves are still sore today.  In my defense, they were some long walks with uphills.  And I was pushing a stroller for part of the time.  But really, I’m just out of shape!

The ride to the park was pretty funny.  We managed to fit 5 adults, 2 babies in car seats and one 85 pound dog in my car, along with our gear.  It was cozy.

Quinn made some new friends…

…and loved having an audience.  He completely hammed it up.

Ben thought he was amusing…

Quinn was in the company of a fellow train enthusiast, so all their talk of choo-choos really tired him out!

It was a great visit.  Quinn thinks that we picked ourselves some wonderful friends!

Dino and Bear have already made their blog debut, but lately Quinn has been including them in more of his activities so you might be seeing much more of them.  The other morning they came downstairs with us before breakfast and Quinn pulled out a book to read to them.  There were no intelligible words said during this storytime, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves!

So I’m a little behind on posting; the busy weekend was followed by a busy week and I haven’t quite caught up with everything yet.  Along with the fun playdate on Friday night and ski day on Saturday, on Sunday we went to a children’s museum for a group playdate and then watched the superbowl with our neighbors.  It was fun to see Quinn interacting with other kids his age.  I know he does it every day at daycare, but I don’t get a chance to actually see it.  It was nice to see him share and play with his friends.  I don’t want to fool you though- he definitely had moments of not sharing and ignoring!  Luckily no biting though, that is a treat that is reserved strictly for his daycare friends.

The museum had a life-size ambulance that was right up Quinn’s alley.  It met all of the criteria on his checklist of what makes a good toy, which is basically that he can make a vroom noise and  yell beep beep or choo choo while playing with it.  In this case, the answer was yes to both and it made Quinn a very happy camper.  He even practiced his driving.

There was also a water table at the museum that Quinn loved.

He spent about 75% of his time at the water table and entertained himself by throwing the turtles and ducks into the water while yelling “ooooohhhh” and making the face from Home Alone.  I took some video of him in action, but wasn’t able to upload it like I usually do because sometimes my brain disappears and I mess up technology related things.  But you should be able to see the videos if you click here and here.

Quinn had an equally fun time watching the superbowl and playing with our neighbor’s son who is 3 days younger than him.  The busy weekend ended with a sleeping Quinn in my arms while the rest of us finished watching the game.  We have another busy weekend ahead of us, with a trip to Northern Virginia to visit with some friends.  Quinn will meet baby Benjamin for the first time and I can’t wait to see what he thinks of him!