Midnight Treat

I have been pulling long hours at work and at home trying to get everything done that I need to before Baby Sister makes her debut. It is not unusual for me to come home at the end of the regular day to start my second shift (as mom), and then head back to the office after putting Trey to bed to finish shift #1/start #3 (depending on how you look at it). I do some work in at night on most days, but when I'm really busy, the office allows me to focus and be productive without the regular distractions of home (and reminders of everything there is to do in my "home office").

Yesterday was one of those days that I was at the office until late at night. When I came home, around midnight, I probably made a little more noise than normal. Before I knew it, out came a sweet little 3-foot-tall nugget who wanted to say hi to Mommy. He declared "I need kisses!" It was the sweetest thing I'd heard in a long time. We kissed and hugged and he went right back to sleep. Just what I needed after such a long day. :)

Groovy

Trey can appreciate all musical styles... and he definitely knows how to shake his booty! Who knew a cell phone ring tone could be so inspirational.

Little Puppy Dog

Forgive my delinquency in blogging about the fourth member of our household, a.k.a. "Puppy Dog," or "Little Puppy Dog," or "Olsen." Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey these days. This started back in January when we officially weaned Trey from his pacifier. He found another security object in Puppy Dog (as well as his blanket, a.k.a. "Monkey," but that's a subject for another post).

Puppy Dog goes everywhere with Trey. He's just a little basset hound beanie baby, but he is pretty cute, even to a non-dog lover like me. And since we have another basset hound beanie baby that is essentially the same dog in a larger size, this one is known affectionately as "Little Puppy Dog," while that one is "Big Puppy Dog."

As the weeks went by after Trey's initial attachment to Puppy Dog, I realized how traumatic it would be for anything to happen to the little guy. And, after one tragic morning when Little Puppy Dog woke up covered in urine that leaked from Trey's overnight diaper, forcing me to wash him and preventing Trey from taking him in the car that day, I realized we might have a need for a second Little Puppy Dog. So I bought a back up online (fortunately there is a full stock of Little Puppy Dogs out there, including some on Amazon for $0.01 + shipping). And whenever I couldn't find Little Puppy Dog #1 at a crucial time like bedtime, I simply swapped him for Little Puppy Dog #2 until the original could be located, and vice versa (this has caused some confusion on a couple occasions when Trey spotted both at the same time, but we simply explained that #2 was "Mommy's Puppy Dog." Yes, we are not above telling certain convenient lies to our children.) This constant switching led to Daddy's coming up with the clever nickname "Olsen," i.e. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who famously switched out for one another while playing Michelle Tanner on Full House.

Trey knows his puppy dog's name is Olsen, but he still always calls him Little Puppy Dog. He takes good care of Olsen, feeding him dinner and putting him down for naps several times a day. But the sweetest sight is seeing Trey fast asleep at night, curled up in a blanket, hugging his Little Puppy Dog.

Fire Trucks galore!

A few weeks ago, after Trey's swimming lesson, we stopped by the fire station just across the street from our YMCA and thought we would take a chance on them letting us take a look at the fire truck. The firewoman we saw was so nice and showed us all around the engine. She even let Trey sit in the driver's seat while she turned the lights on! All of us learned that there are two types of fire engines - ladder engines and those that carry water. This one was a water engine. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera (or even my wallet) with me since we'd just been swimming.

Ever since that visit, Trey has talked nonstop about the fire truck and the nice lady who turned the fire truck's lights on. And every time we drive down that particular street (at least twice a week on the way to swim lessons or gymnastics) he asks to stop by the fire station. So this weekend, I decided to take him to the Houston Fire Museum so that Trey could once again see some real fire engines up close and personal.

The museum was smaller than I expected, but Trey's admission was free and mine was only $3, and I'd say it was worth that. We saw a couple of really old fire engines, including one that was horse-drawn, which Trey found to be pretty cool. We also saw the old bunker for the dispatcher, which I explained to Trey was where the fireman slept (knowing he wouldn't understand what a dispatcher was), and he asked if they turned out the lights when he slept, and I said yes (which I assume is true). This apparently made an impression on Trey, because ever since he has talked about seeing where the fireman turned out the light and went night-night.

The toddler play area was one of the highlights. There was a birthday party going on in the area while we were there, and we felt a little guilty playing alongside the birthday kids (which we were told to do -- the party area is not private), but Trey loved it. They had the front cab of a real fire engine for the kids to play in, a locker area with real fireman gloves and coats, and even a fireman's pole, which Trey enjoyed sliding down (I didn't get pictures of that because I was using both hands to spot him!).

But the big highlight was when some real firemen came for a visit. This doesn't always happen -- we just got lucky on this particular afternoon. They showed Trey their fire truck (a ladder engine this time, which meant it had no hoses -- who knew!), and let Trey and a couple other kids climb inside the back part of the cab. Trey, having just done this a couple weeks ago, was far less impressed than the other two children.

But he did very much enjoy the tour of the exterior that the nice fireman gave him. He showed him their version of "blocks" and all the compartments around one side of the engine. Pretty cool!

And Trey got to take his picture with a REAL fireman. He talked for a long time afterward about how his gloves were yellow (you can see them in the picture above -- we got in trouble for taking them out of the museum), and the fireman's gloves were black (he had taken them off by the time I snapped these pictures). All in all, it was a great outing!

Haricut Fun

Who says getting a haircut has to be a chore? This past weekend, I took Trey to get his first "real" kid's haircut (previously he always came with me to my salon). You could tell these guys knew what they were doing. They plopped Trey into a monster truck-styled barber seat, stuck a lollipop in his mouth, and went about their business. I think Trey was more fascinated with the key to the truck than he was with the mango dum-dum.

My handsome big boy...

Checking himself out in the mirror!

Chatterbox

In the last few months, Trey's vocabulary has really exploded. He picks up everything now, and with most almost-2 1/2-year-olds, nearly everything that comes out of his mouth is so adorably cute.

With this development, it's time that I retire the "words" and "phrases" list I am months behind in updating anyway. Instead, I've replaced it with "Trey's sayings," where we'll keep a list of funny things Trey says. But for posterity, I've included his list of words and phrases here, otherwise I will far too quickly forget them.

Words
Hello
Uh-oh
Banana
Bubble
Bye-bye
Daddy
Apple
Ice
Cheese
Ma-ma
Ball
Dog
No
Car
More
Yes
Cracker
Shoes
Clock
Tree
Up
Down
Hay
Warm
Eye
Go
Oh no!
Hat
Yellow
Hot
Keys
Bus
Potty
Green
Blue
Cold
Water
Hi!
Boo-boo
Lady Bug
Frog
Moon
Night-night
Outside
Zebra
Elbow
Truck
Purple
Peep-eye!
Doggie
Please
Socks
Happy
Sky
Bee
Tractor
Trash
Trey
Mommy
Bath
Football
Milk
Duck
Papa (John)
Bicycle
Play
Baby
Plane
Nap
Red
White
Diaper
Rain
Orange
Circle
Monkey
Pumpkin
Toes
Kacie
Square
Twinkle
Black
Two
Six
Strawberry
Book
Heart
Eat
Teeth
Doctor
Play
Kiss
Table
Help
Home
Thank you
Party
Cook
Family
Chicken
Work
School
Cookie
Touch
Horse
Sheep
Snow
Coat
Church
Elf
Walk
Christmas Tree
Party
Santa
Touchdown!
Sit
Potatoes
Outside
Broccoli
Present
Hummus
Heavy
Color
Number
Mine!
Again!
Tricycle
Push
Pocket


Trey's Phrases
I don't know
I see you!
Bye bye football (when leaving a game)
Watch football
Brush teeth
More milk
Hello Daddy/Mommy/______
More cracker
Papa Work
Bye bye ______
Daddy Tom
Orange hat
Night-night Christmas tree
Bye bye eat
Andrew da-da-dow (Trey's friend)
More bus!
Two Christmas tree! (two = more than one)
Daddy sit
More milk please
No mess (after "cleaning" the floor)
Big boy bed
I love Mommy/Daddy
One more
Church shoes
Daddy potty; Mommy potty too
Baby Patrick
Purple balloon

Who Needs Toys? (Part 5)