ABC'S

James loves to say his ABC'S and play with letters. He always goes and gets his letter magnets and we have to go through all the letters together. The only one he really knows is O, but he can say most of them. He also likes to sit on Mom's chair and read books. Sometimes he says words, sometimes he says letters while he is reading.

We recently put up James's name sign in his room and now every night before bed James and Dad have to read the sign together. Its actually been really nice because I can now get James to go in his room for bed without throwing a tantrum.

If you couldn't understand it he said, "J, A, M, E, S, Plane, Train, Car."

What is he doing?

Last night we had probably one of the longest dinners ever. James is usually done with dinner after about 5 minutes and on to something else. Last night we sat at the table for at least 30 minutes, eating. Why did it take so long? Well before every bite James had to do this...

We could not figure out what he was doing, so we thought we would take a video and see if anyone had any ideas. So what is James doing before every bite?

A Good Big Brother

The other day I saw James giving his monkey a ride on his rocking horse, so I ran and grabbed the camera. By the time I got back he was done with the horse, but I followed him and got this really cute video. Of course notice his reaction when he discovers that I am video taping him.

The next day again we were giving Monkey a ride on the rocking horse, but again by the time I got the camera he had moved on.

He is going to be such a good big brother! Of course we probably wont have the same reaction if he tries to do this with his little brother.

Gymnastics

Yesterday I signed James up for a parent-tot gymnastics class. I thought this would be a good way to let him get some energy out. We were the only ones in the class, so we joined with the 3-year-old class, which was surprisingly all boys. James had a really difficult time doing what he was supposed to be doing. There were so many new things that he wanted to try, his coach said they are all like that at first for a few weeks. I think it will be really good for James to have one structured activity in his life. Last night we went back with Doug and Uncle Tim to play around so I got to take some pictures and videos.

After the kids warm up for a minute they go to the floor to stretch, and practice some jumps. James didn't like the stretching but he loved the jumping. I think the floor is is favorite place, it was much bouncier then I thought it would be. This video is not taken on the floor, but you get the idea.

After that they did the balance beam. James did that really well. I knew he would like it because he is always trying to walk along lines on the ground.

After the balance beam we hopped over to the "high" bar. They had a really little one for the kids. James liked the hopping, but he didn't really want anything to do with the bar. After the bar we went to the foam pit where the kids practiced falling into it. James hated it so his coach took him over to the trampoline instead. This he loved, I guess it's anything to do with jumping! After the trampoline we went and joined the other class at the rings. James did really good hanging on and swinging out. His favorite part was running on the trampoline floor after. This is a video of Doug and James running on the floor and jumping into the pit (we didn't do this in class) James didn't really know what to think, but after a few times I think he started to enjoy it a little.

Finally we went back to the floor to sing the good-bye song and get a stamp. Overall I think James really enjoyed it, and I was exhausted by the end of the 50 minute class!

Didn't we move to Idaho?

So we moved to Idaho 4 months ago, but every weekend this month we have been down to Utah! So this weekend we went down to put in a new floor in the living room, and hopefully have someone sign a lease. We left Friday right after work and got to Salt Lake about 7 that night. After letting James run around for an hour we put him to bed and got to work tearing out the old carpet. My brother Chad came over to help, which was really nice because I got really tired after doing not very much work. Once we got the floor ready for the wood we went to bed.
On Saturday we went to a Lumber Liquidators store to see if we could get a good deal on the floor, and we did. We saved about $.60 a square foot by going there which was really nice. Then it was back home to put in the floor. My brother came over again and James and I left for 2 hours to find an area rug and when we got back most of the floor was in! So after less then 24 hours of work we have this nice new floor that we don't get to use!
While James was taking a nap I decided that while the baseboards were off I would paint them because they looked a little beat up. So I had them all painted and laying out to dry on plastic and boxes. Just about the time James woke up from his nap the people who are now renting came over to move stuff into the garage. So we were really busy and not paying close enough attention to James. I turned around to answer my phone and when I turned back around there were little white foot prints all over the brand new floor. I prayed that it was saw dust, but when I touched it and it was sticky I knew it was paint! I ran and got Doug, who luckily had brought some paint thinner, to clean it up.
On Sunday we met the whole family who is now living there, and they seem really nice. We are so glad to have gotten a good family in there and we don't have to worry about it as much. It is still hard every time we go down there, I really miss it, and James really loves it there.

Not Caught on Camera

Some of my most favorite James moments from the past two weeks I have not gotten on camera, so I thought I would write about them so I don't forget what a cute, fun stage my little monkey is in right now.
1. James took us out to Dairy Queen with a gift card he got from his grandparents. While we were there he stood up on the bench, turned around and started shaking his butt to the Michael Jackson song that was playing.
2. We had this conversation the other day:
Mom: "James are you ready to go night night?"
James: "Yeah"
Dad: "Do you even know what you just agreed to?"
James: "Night night."
3. Every time I walk into the room I get a very enthusiastic "Hi"
4. James has started insisting on feeding Loa. He puts one piece of food in her bowl at a time, telling her to "sit". Not great for an impatient dog on a diet.
5. James often hands me CD's he finds, usually for the computer, and tells me "Dance". Then we have to go turn his music on so we can dance.
6. Last night at dinner James said, "Ye-haw, it's you, you, you. Wood-dy" this is basically what Jesse says to Woody when they first meet in Toy Story 2, it's his favorite part.
7. The other day James told his first lie. He was supposed to be taking a nap. After 30 min I went to see if he was poopie. He was, I changed his diaper and put him back down for a nap. An hour later he was still playing so I went to see what was going on. When I walked in he told me "poop", I checked, there was no poop.
8. Every morning James tells me "Pul" and goes to the freezer. This means he wants a waffle. So I hand him a frozen waffle, he puts it in the toaster and pushes down the button then waits for it to pop up.
9. Whenever James is done eating he says "Done, tay wash."

Our Newest Obsession

Rexburg has this little place called the Cocoa Bean and Cupcake Cafe. I think it is pretty much a Mormon coffee shop. These cupcakes are so good! I got some for Doug on Valentines Day and we are hooked. Doug treated us to these two cupcakes the other night. The one on the left is the Better than Whatever cupcake and the one on the right is the Grasshopper cupcake. They also have a really good brownie cupcake with marshmallows and frosting on them. Not a great obsession for those who may be trying to drop a few pounds, but I figure I am pregnant and need to gain more weight! Of course I will probably regret this once the baby is born.