Damien Loves His Elmo

Damien is pretty in love with Elmo. Just like most toddlers I guess. They sure got that character right. Damien still loves to watch Elmono, although it has fallen to second place behind Thomas. But, he still adores his two Elmo dolls, and will insist on having one of them when he does watch Elmo and when he goes to bed. He also loves all of his Elmo books.

Feeding Elmono some sting cheese.

"No Momma, you may not remove Elmono and Night Night to feed me."

"I love Elmono so much, I could just eat his eyes off."

"Yeah, that's right, TWO Elmonos. That's how I roll."

Damien Loves His Dada Mathias

A few cute things Damien does with dada. First, he says "Dada?" alot. Dada responds with "Yes Boss." To which Damien echos, "Yes boss." It is soooo cute.

Another thing Damien does, is call Dada Mathias on occasion. He picked this up from Momma of course. It is funniest when he says that in the morning. Just the other morning, we were lying in bed and awoke to a spirited "Mathias, Mathias, Mathias." Too funny.

Some of Damien's favorite activities to do with Dada is play "soccer ball" - especially on the concrete sidewalk at the park where he tries to kick the ball into the street, play frisbee (he can actually throw it), rough house, bubbles (Dada is the master bubble blower) and help papa weed (i.e. throwing the pulled out weeds everywhere and distributing dirt all over the sidewalk).

Damien sure loves his Dada.

And his Dada sure loves him back. As Dada says, "He's alright!"

But how could you not be smitten with this face - drool and all?

Damien is a Ball of Energy

Go go go go - as Damien often says as he runs off someplace. He's always on the move. He doesn't like to sit down much. He refuses the high chair, and sometimes, he will only eat standing up, getting a bite from his little table, running off, and returning for more. He's a little less inclined to sit and read books now, but you can grab him for a book or two here and there (especially when he is tired).

Off to the races.

Somebody likes to climb all over his chair and jump down from it.

Attack of the Damien. Most photos end up like this these days, once Damien see's mommy with the camera, he charges like a bull.

Feeding Elmono crackers - D doesn't mind sharing with him.

Besos anyone?

I mean serious silly business.

Damien is a Silly Monkey

Our little guy is getting so big, and so demanding, errr.... independent! He's always on the move, often running from place to place. He loves to play chase and hide and seek. He's a thrill seeker so he just loves to be startled (while playing the game).

Daddy Long Legs

Loves to chase Momma when she is talking photos.

Catch me if you can.

That's right, I'm number 1!

As Damien loves to say and demonstrate - "Naked Baby." Yes, the dude peed on the rug shortly after this photo.

Damien is 17 Months

Well, Momma's been remiss in updating the blog. She's been uber busy. But she's back! And introducing Damien at 17 months! Can you believe it! Time is flying by. On the one had, it seems crazy that he is almost a year and a half. On the other hand, it's crazy that he can do and say so much and is so independent, but not even a year and a half!

So, now for a summary snapshot of our little boy at 17 months. He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine - and all trains - and Elmo. Every time we read a book that has a train in it, he just wants to go to the page with the train, and he says, remarkably, in a surprised and ecstatic voice "Chooo Chooo!" As if he didn't see that page 1/2 a second ago. Adorable. He now loves reading books. It is such a joy, he will pick up a book, walk over to you and turn around and sit in your lap to read. It is sooo awesome. His favorite books are his Elmo books, his Thomas books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Sandra Boyton books, and a special Monkey book his Grandpa Yum Yum and Grandma LoLo gave him.

He also likes to watch TV a little much. He loves Thomas and Elmo, and will ask for them often. See the thing is, Daycare and the parks, etc. has brought a TON of illness this season, and when he is super sick, TV is usually the only way to get him to stop crying. We do what it takes. When he is not sick, we try to limit it to a little before bed in the crazy hour, and not every night.

D also loves to play soccer. He can say "soccer ball" so well. And, he's really good at kicking and running with the ball. He also loves to play racketball with Mommy's squash racket and a balloon. He still LOVES bubbles, stickers, and dancing. He loves to go riding in his car, to see the neighborhood dogs and cats, and he loves the park, especially slides. A new fan favorite? Brushing his teeth. He screamed when we tried to get him to do this a mere few months ago, now he squeals with delight! Go figure. He also knows EXACTLY what he wants, and has started to throw tantrums (and throw himself on the floor) when he doesn't get his way. We had our first major public meltdown at the Library, cause Momma wouldn't let him throw all the books on the floor. Sigh.

He's still a hit or miss with food. Usually, avocado, string cheese, chicken soup, eggs, cheerios, raspberries, bananas, turkey, apple sauce, cheddar bunnies, hummus and yogurt are the go to foods. And he can say almost all of those words!!!!!! But, just this night he ate broccoli like it was going out of style. He loves his milk and juice, not thrilled about water, unless he can pour or spill it!

Our happy guy - when he's not sick, and not not getting his way!

Oh, the devilish look, we get this often. He's smart, real smart, we are in serious trouble.

He loves books now. And is mostly gentle with them.

This Monkey Book is a favorite.

He loves to play with beans (pinto and coffee) in the kitchen while mommy cooks, and make a "mess" - "uh oh!"

But cleaning up is so much fun!!

The rain lovers bond.

I get to play in the rain, awesome!

Damien Loves to Cook

One of D's favorite activities - hatched during momma's desperate attempt to make him his usual egg breakfast without him screaming at her feet - is to cook alongside momma. Aka, he sorts, pours and mostly SPILLS pinto and coffee beans. He LOVES it so much. He is on a chair, right by the stove, and the toaster, and the knife rack. So, Momma has to watch him closely, and he knows to stay away from these things, although does seem to test to see if momma's watching every now and then. And, ALOT ends up all over the floor. But, it's worth it cause he has sooooo much fun, and says "I did it" and cheers himself along. Priceless.

Damien Does Reno

Damien's Grandpa Yum Yum and Grandma LoLo are/have moved to Reno so Yum Yum can work at a clinic as a Dr. We are all super excited that they are a mere 3.5 hour drive away - rather than a plane ride to Chicago (although we loved visiting them in Chicago!). We took a last minute trip to visit them in their new place, which hasn't been furnished yet (movers were on the way with some stuff!). D loved the place, his own personal soccer palace. He also loved getting to see his grandparents. D was a champ on the drive out there - mostly cause he watched Elmo on Mommy's portable DVD player - and was a total sweet, well behaved boy all day. He slept peacefully on the drive home. We can't wait to go back.

Indoor soccer.

Lunch on the floor!

Enjoying a stroll to lunch in the nice weather.

Story time on one of the only pieces of furniture in the place!

Amazing dinner with friends where D got to run around!

Our tired boy snuggles with Daddy.