23 Months

One more month, and Peter turns 2! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. He is getting so big, and he is learning so many things. His vocabulary is incredible, and he's forming more and more sentences.

My two favorite sentences heard from Peter's mouth tonight - "I'm naked!" and "One minute."

As a teacher, I often find myself giving 10-minute, 5-minute, and 1-minute warnings to the kids so they will know when it's time to move on. I've done the same thing at home with 2-minute and 1-minute warnings. I've been laughed at many times for telling my 1-year-old that he has 1 more minute to play. I've been told that he has no idea what I'm saying. After tonight, I beg to differ. No, I don't think Peter actually gets the concept of time. However, I think he does understand that when I say "one minute", it's getting very close to something else happening. After running around the house naked after a bath, Peter chose to end the day by jumping on our bed (in a diaper, of course!!). He loves to stand on my pillow and jump face-first into the comforter.

After a few minutes of this, I told him that it was time to go to his room to go to bed. His response? "One minute!" He gets it. :)

Walkin' in Mommy's Shoes

Peter has a thing with shoes. If you come visit and take off your shoes, you can be almost certain that he will wear your shoes around the house. He has played with the shoes in my closet all summer. Yesterday morning was the first day of school. After wearing flipflops for the entire summer, I put these shoes on for the first time in almost 3 months. Peter was noticeably upset when he saw me wearing them and told me, "Mommy, no - shoes!!!" I took them off, and he immediately put them on! I think he really thinks they are his. :)

Last Free Plane Ride

Peter took his very last free plane ride when we came home from New Jersey. Once he turns 2 next month, we have to start paying for his seat. Although spending the extra money doesn't sound all that great, it will be helpful for him to be able to sit in his seat and have that extra space.

We really didn't have a lot of extra time in the Newark Airport. We got there in plenty of time, but security took a while. Unlike the Austin airport, Newark is actually busy. Check-in and security in Austin takes all of 5 minutes. Check-in and security in Newark can take forever!!! We made it through security with no problems. Peter even walked through the metal detector all by himself. He is getting so big!

We got to the gate, and I went to the restroom to change Peter's diaper one last time before the flight. Not that it really made any difference - he had two poopy diapers mid-flight!!! He ALWAYS has poppy diapers on the airplane, and I have no idea why. Luckily Continental has changing tables in their bathrooms. :)

Then Andrew went to get us a snack, and Peter played with the luggage and socialized with the other people waiting for the flight.

He walks over to another passenger who is working on a Sudoku puzzle. After waving and saying hi, Peter proceeds to watch him work the puzzle very intently. The man must like kids - he gave Peter his pen and let Peter draw all over the page. Peter loved it!!!

Once on board, Peter did great. We often have to wait A LONG time to take off from Newark (remember this???). We were blessed to be 4th in line time, and we were in the air in no time! Peter was a bit fidgety when he had to sit in my lap for take-off, but he spent quite a bit of his time standing between my legs or sitting in Andrew's chair while Andrew stood. There was a boy in the seat next to us (maybe 12?), and he didn't mind Peter talking to him and playing with the buttons on the pocket on the side of his shorts. I'm glad we had someone nice sitting next to us. Peter read books, played with his garbage truck, ate snacks, watched DVDs, and looked for dogs in the in-flight magazine. He really has a thing for garbage trucks and dogs these days!! The flight was smooth, and we made it home without any problems. Peter was so tired (he didn't sleep at all on the flight) that he fell asleep as soon as we got to the car.

Next flight will be with 2 little ones - I'm hoping Peter teaches his sibling all about being a good flyer! :)

19 weeks ~ 1 day

Peter and I spent a little bit of our morning at the doctor's office. The appointment went well -- everything looks great, and the heartbeat is strong. Peter is a good sport about sitting around in an OB/GYN office for 30 minutes. This morning he spent his time reading his garbage truck book and eating grapes. :)

New York City!

Our last bit of fun before heading back to Texas was a trip into New York City. We took Peter last year, but he was really able to enjoy it this summer.

We took the ferry over, and then we took a bus to Times Square. Peter loved riding on the bus! One of his favorite songs these days is "The Wheels on the Bus", so he was very interested in everything on the bus. He probably would have tried to drive it if we let him!

Once we arrived in Times Square, we walked down to Central Park. Peter must have been tired, because he fell asleep right before we reached the park. He took a little nap in his stroller near the playground. When he woke up, he was ready to play. With a NYC pretzel in hand, he explored the park - swinging, the sand, and of course, the water!

After the park, we had pizza for lunch. I will definitely miss the pizza from up here. It's so much better than anything I can get in Austin! Peter's favorite pizza these days is sausage. Sausage pizza just hasn't sounded good since I got pregnant, so I opted for pepperoni and bacon - YUM! (I have no idea why that text is underlined, and I have no idea how to correct it!)

After lunch, we headed to FAO Schwarz to look at all the toys. They have toy brands that I have never heard of. Peter had a great time looking and playing with everything. He even found a giant garbage truck!

Finally, it was time to head home. We caught the bus to the ferry, and rode home on the upper level. I was exhausted after all the walking, but it was a fun way to end our trip to the Northeast.