Our newest puppy :)

It seems that we have a new puppy in the Brooks household...his name is John Miller Brooks! :) You see....last week, mommy was in the bedroom putting up some laundry and I could see John from the bedroom standing near the puppies food bowl. Well, when I walked over there, I noticed he was sticking his socked feet into the food then sitting down and picking off all the food kernels and then putting them back in the bowl (nothing like tasty sock food for our puppies!). Anyway, I told him "that's for the puppies, we don't play in the puppy food." Then mommy walked away trusting that her very obedient boy would listen the first time and leave the food alone...and guess what...he did! Now, the second part of this story is that I still saw him standing by the food bowls and went back in there to see what was going on and about that time I saw his leg hiked up in the air with his socked food dipping itself in the the puppy water bowl! Yep...we no longer have easy to remove food morsels...we are now dripping wet on our sock. John proceeded to look up at me and point at his sock and make this very complaining sound like "hey mom, this wet sock is really bugging me." So I took the sock off (chuckling to myself of course) and told him the food AND water bowls were for the puppies. About that time, Sal and Vito came up ready to finally eat and drink since they had been inhibited before and took a few bites...John then decided "hey, if I can't stick my feet in the bowls, maybe I can mimick the puppies!" So, he dropped down on all fours and proceeded toward the bowls. Of course I had to stop him, but not before I grabbed my camera and captured this hilarious moment. You can see the "no sock" right foot that had been drenched in water...and you can see how Sal and Vito are wondering what is up? :)

Playing outside rules!

Earlier this week, I had a short day at work because John had a follow-up appointment for his ears to make sure the tubes still looked good. Thank goodness, his ears looked great and his hearing is great...woo hooo! Well mommy thought it was a perfect day to go to the park and enjoy the nice weather (especially since it was supposed to drop down into the 20's later this week). Of course, we had to stop and get ice cream before heading to the park...how do you go to a park without eating ice cream??

So, we make the trek to the park and John is in heaven! He is loving the park even more than the last time we came which was a few months ago. He immediately starts running around and just beaming with joy. He immediately zoned in on something and started running toward it and pointing his finger, so I thought "oh boy, he's found a cool jungle gym item to play on"...well that "jungle gym" item he was interested in was the fountain in the pond! Needless to say, mommy had to redirect that boy back to the actual playground since we wouldn't be able to play in the water feature...we have to at least wait until it warms up. :)

The second picture shows another prime example of kid toys being made for giants! Not only do we deal with the tricycle with pedals for jolly green giants, but now the water gun at the water park is only intended for toddlers who look like they're 20! Another day of being reminded of height problems for my boy. :( The saving grace was the toddler swings they had...John loved swinging and was may more excited than last time (last time he just clung to me in the swing :)). He had so much fun and the last picture captured his "ooh wow, I'm flying" expression...so funny!

How many people/animals does it take to stretch?

This blog is to talk about the funny routine that happens every time Barry gets back from a run or bike ride. You see, he always comes in, gets his blue stretching mat, and then this magnetically attracts every being in the house. Several things start happening all at once when Barry sits down....John immediately runs over to where daddy is so he can start playing with all the cool stretching toys...this usually involves him sitting right in the middle of Barry's lap. Then, Vito comes over to lick his tasty salt treat that is anywhere exposed flesh is showing...so he will lick arms, legs, necks...and the list goes on and on. While Vito is licking away, Sal always runs and gets a toy (usually this stuffed turkey that he loves)...brings it to Barry...drops it down next to him and barks until Barry will throw it. So, the answer to the blog question is evidently four! Barry, John, Sal & Vito! This picture is funny...it shows every one of the things I mentioned...be sure and notice that Vito is in mid lick in the photo and Sal is impatiently waiting under the coffee table for daddy to throw the turkey that is by his side. What would I do without all my precious boys??? :)

I love my "pom pom" hat!

Last weekend was still a bit chilly, but a few days were sunny and it was actually quite nice outside if you were bundled up. So, I put John in his fleece vest and his adorable pom-pom hat and mittens. I just LOVE when he's bundled like this...he just looks so cute! I know he will be so annoyed when he gets older that I put him in a pom-pom hat...but how can I resist how cute it looks when he's running and that thing is bouncing all over the place?? :) The last picture is what the pom-pom hat does to your hair after playing outside in it...that's one cool hairstyle if you ask me...it's the new "static cling" do!

The Ketchup King

It seems that John's little taste buds are going through some changes...one day he really loves something, and the next day he seems to turn his nose up at it. I started thinking about some of the things he wasn't liking and broccoli was one of them. I had just been buying frozen broccoli since it still holds all the nutrients of fresh broccoli but makes it easier to serve since I can pour out a little bit and heat it up in the microwave. Well, I realized I was feeding him something that would taste pretty bland to me too...so I put a little salt on there and then thought about the wonderful condiment of ketchup. He has REALLY been enjoying ketchup on his bocas so I thought a little ketchup with the veggies might be quite tasty too. Well, that boy devoured all his broccoli! Once the dipping began, it never stopped until the pile of broccoli was gone..it was so fun to watch. He would dip carefully and then eat...and then after the "careful" dipping began, that went away very quickly...he started rubbing his hands all through it as he would "dip" and then eat a bite. By the end of dinner, he had ketchup everywhere...just look at the pictures for confirmation. :) I even realized that ketchup makes a pretty fabulous hair gel! There was one point after dinner that I swooped him up really quick to check the "blood" that was all over the back of his head...as mommy began to feel her heart rate kick up a notch, I then realized the stench of tomatoes was coming from his head..and I've never smelled blood like that, so my rapidly rising heart rate quickly subdued and I began to laugh, my boy had ketchup all over his head! I believe this occurred somewhere in the middle of eating when I saw him stretching his arms back behind his head...I just thought he was stretching out for an intensive continuation of ketchup eating...but he was in fact using it as shampoo!! :)

Bye-Bye Santa!

I think I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs that John LOVED Christmas and all the great decorations. One of the things he loved was the blow-up Santa that was in the front yard. Whenever Christmas was over and we quit turning on Santa, John was so confused. So, to try to make him understand, we visited the deflated Santa and I tried to tell him that Santa was "sleeping" and would be "bye bye" very soon. :) He proceeded to walk over, pick up Santa's arm, and question me with a "ba?" I'm taking "ba" as "hey mom, what in the world happened to the big guy?" We proceeded to say bye-bye to Santa and John set his arm down and walked away. Mommy was really close to putting all the decorations back up so he wouldn't have to go without them one more day...he was so sad pointing to where everything used to be...especially the Christmas tree!

I think we're finally rounding the corner on forgetting Christmas decorations...that is until we walk in the garage and he sees all the wooden Santa statues and yells "Santa!!!" and I have to rush him back inside. I guess that means we should get the Christmas decorations back in the attic before October...not that we waited until October last year or anything...you people quit judging me! LOL!

Look at me riding my Bop!

I figured the blog about the "bop" wouldn't be complete without an action shot! So, I think John was trying to show that his legs aren't too short to ride the bike...but if you look closer, you will see that, yes, his right leg is touching the pedal, but he is leaning so far to the right that his left foot is nowhere in sight to the pedal...poor little guy! I'm writing red flyer a nasty note about making my boy feel like he has short legs! :)

I love my new BOP! :)

I should probably explain the title of this blog before I get too far into my writing. You see, John is surrounded by quite a few bikes in our household...our garage is full of 6 bikes right now along with tons of bike parts, race wheels, etc....we are definitely a cycling enthused household. Well, being around tons of bikes makes John very happy...he will point at the garage door and ask to go see the "bops"...yes...his interpretation of the word bike is a portion of an hold Hanson song (we'll see how many of you know that reference, although no one will actually admit it..ha!). There are several times each week that we just walk out into the bike shop (yes, we have a bike shop that our third garage has been converted into...I told you we were cycling enthusiasts!). John loves to look at all the bikes and touch them...he makes his daddy VERY proud. So, when it came time to do Christmas shopping, I knew Barry was going to beg to get John a bike...this was inevitable since he begged last year too (John was 5 months old!). We ended up buying him a red flyer bike that has an adult steering portion on the back until John can figure out to ride on his own. Of course, he won't be able to ride on his own until he can actually reach the pedals. :( Our poor little son's legs are about 3 inches too short! Seriously, this bike says it's for his age and up, but he would need to be a 6' toddler to reach them! Ok maybe I'm over exaggerating slightly since he's always in the low percentile of heights...but he would need to be at least 5' then!

Christmas this year was SO MUCH fun! We got everything wrapped and under the tree and put the "bop" out from Santa. We weren't quite sure what John would think walking out to all that, but he had such a wonderful reaction. He ran right up to the bike and smiled really big and wanted to get on and ride. Needless to say, the rest of the presents were on hold while we rode around the den, kitchen and front foyer for awhile...he was one proud boy!

So, enjoy the pictures!