June 23, 2012

Forget Joe Cool. This is Billy Cool.

June 22, 2012

Perfecting the pout. This one is about waiting for Grandpop to arrive.

June 21, 2012

Billy eating dinner at the table like a big boy.

June 20, 2012

Sailabration highlights:

Crying: Mommy, I wanna ship!

"Just remember, stay straight on Gay Street."

After the Blue Angels finished: "More???"

Yelling at the ducks to get out of the water because it was a "no swimming" weekend.

Everybody Needs a Vacation

Everyone needs a vacation, including me. Well, I'm not actually going on vacation, but I am going to be so freakin' busy with work that I need to minimize my daily requirements on my time so that I can hope to get some decent sleep.

For that reason, Becoming Billy will be going on vacation until June 24th. If something really cute happens, I'll be sure to post. No worries, there will be a daily Billy picture post to check in on. Then, check back in on the 24th for regular posting to resume.

Stay sane!

Sailabrate Good Times, C'Mon!

Billy woke up Sunday morning. "Mommy, Nee-yowm!" (Nee-yowms are airplanes). He demonstrated the flying by maneuver and repeated "Nee-yowm!" Boy, was he excited about getting to see the Blue Angels the day before. He was jumping up and down in his crib way earlier than his normal wake up time. Blue Angels are Awesome. That's with a capital A.

So, we decided to take him down to see them again. Only this time, we went to Locust Point to see the Angels. They were so much louder and so much closer than in Fells Point the day before.

Well, we decided to see everything. So we walked from the Kojima to Fort McHenry and back- several miles in all. Then we drove over to downtown and walked from the Power Plant to the Rusty Scupper (aka the entire harbor loop) and back again.

Billy waved at every boat on the water and tried to say hi to all of the people, but there were a lot of people. Too many people to get on the boats- the wait was just too long. So we walked around and looked at them. Billy saw the people out in the dragon boats (paddle boats, not Chinese sailing vessels). "No! No!" he shouted at them. We had had some discussions about not going in the water. Apparently, they were too low in the water and he thought they were swimming, which was a big nono. No swimming in the harbor- ever.

We stopped to eat some festival food. Funnel cakes and fried oreos. Yum! Billy got to try both for the first time. Funnel cakes were yummy, but move over for the oreos. He tried it and you know what he thought? He grabbed mine out of my hand and shoved it in his face. Yep. That good. No worries. I got another one.

We had a fabulous time Sailabrating and look forward to 2014, sure to be an even bigger hit. We're sorry to see the ships go, and I miss the Blue Angels practicing over my office already, but wow was it fun while it lasted!

Posting Postponed!

Yesterday was Father's Day and Daddy wanted to play his computer game, so I couldn't very well kick him off of the computer to blog on his day. Full posting about the weekend will commence tonight. Pictures and all! Check back later!

Sorry for the delay.

The Sunday Post- Sailabrating!

Why I love Sailabration:

On the first day of Sailabration this is what I saw:
12 Sailors singing
11 Pennants flying
10 Bombs a bursting
9 Reenactors acting
8 Tall ships sailing
7 Food stands cooking
6 Captains saluting
5 BLUE ANGELS!!! (well, really 6!)
4 Gray hulls
3 Warships
2 Pirates
And one tour of the Iroquois!

Billy watching the Blue Angels

The Sigsbee and Lady Maryland from the deck of the USCG Eagle

Visiting Ships

You should come Sailabrate too!

June 15, 2012 ~ Learning To Spit

According to Billy, the ability to spit is not innate. Well, on command. Or no...

Actually, let me correct that. He's been able to spit food and water for, oh, about a year now- probably longer. If you count dribbling peas down his chin, then definitely longer. Like, today, when he was purposefully spitting water on Grandma to be silly. I don't think Grandma thought it was all that silly, Billy.

Well, we're learning to brush teeth. I'm not. I know how to brush my teeth. But he's learning. It involves his toothbrush, a stolen toothbrush of mine (lucky I have another one, and yes, it's clean) and a lot of trial and error. The brushing is more like sucking water out of the brush and asking for more water. Then I attack him with a brush while he squirms and then relents, because we're going no where until he molars are at least glanced by a brush. He's got the whole sticking the brush under the running water part down. Now he's working on spitting.

This morning he leaned his head over the sink when I did. Then he made a spitting noise. But... no spit. Just the noise. Hmm. I guess spitting is a work in progress.

June 14, 2012 ~ Cake

(I did not foget to post. Daddy had to beat his game, so I had to wait to use the computer. Better late than never.)

Well, the other day was a big birthday for someone important. Someone that doesn't really like cake, but when she does eat cake it needs to be the good stuff. So, I drove myself through baseball traffic. I drove myself through Sailabration traffic. Just to pick up the tastiest cake available in our fine city- Sugarbaker's raspberry amaretto cake with buttercream icing. Look, if you're going to have a milestone, you might as well celebrate in style.

This special someone came over on her birthday and had the cake presented to her here. She was kind enough to share some with a lil guy.

Billy has not had cake in a long time. Either early winter or late fall. Sometime in that range, which, given his age, is a very long time ago to him. So, I doubt that he really remembers what cake is like. He's had cupcakes at school. Not the same.

Well, the cake was so tall that one of the icing flowers was crushed against the inside of the box lid. This gave him the perfect opportunity to try some purple icing. At first he was unsure. Here's this blob of periwinkle goo sitting on cardboard and the adults are saying... "Try it!"

I put some on my finger and showed him that Mommy thought it was yum. (OMG yum!) So, he timidly stuck a finger into the goo. Then he examined it and took a small sample. You know what he did next? He stuck it in his ear! Just kidding. (see the post Going Strawberry Blonde). No. He tried to stick his whole hand into the top of the cake for more. I had to grab him quick before he ruined the cake. It was all I could do to keep him from attacking the actual cake as he devoured every last morsel of purple sugar on the lid.

Well, this special someone doesn't want to acknowledge the passage of time. So I won't talk about that. I'll just post some pictures of Billy and the cake!

Purple icing mayhem!

Getting that last morsel from the lid.

Birthday hijinks!

After dinner Billy got a slice of cake. He smushed all of it into his face. And when he was done? Well, in the great words of Great Aunt Peggy, "That tastes like some more!"

How could we turn him down? He actually said, "More, please?" Manners like that need rewarding, right? ;)

Drawn In Thursdays: Things Kids Do #8

Click to Enlarge

Fad du jour: The Dinner Hug

June 12, 2012 ~ Happy Birthday!

This is a personal message, going out to an awesome lady from one awesome little kiddo (and me!). Here's wishing you a wonderful birthday, a wonderful year and many happy more to come.

(Just a hint, I mention her sometimes here on the blog!)

Have an awesome birthday!

June 11, 2012 ~ Inundated With Helicopters

It has been the day of helicopters. No joke. I'm inundated, and frankly, tired of hearing them. It started just after lunch. Three helicopters buzzing overhead for hours. It's hard to concentrate in those conditions. Here's what was up:

That would be the massive 5 alarm fire burning right by my work. As I write they are still trying to put the fire out, and we're talking about lunchtime today that it started. I walked down toward the end of the day to have a look.

So just before bedtime I took Billy outside to look at the fireflies. They were out early in the shadow of our tree, which was lucky for him to get to see them. As we were pointing them out to each other (he's an excellent firefly spotter) a police helicopter flew by. Then it started circling right by our house.

I have no idea why they are circling. But they've been out there for about 45 minutes now. Billy got to see a real one in person, which was super cool for him. He loves his toy helicopters, but the real mccoy is always better.

I'm pretty sure it followed me home like a lost puppy from the fire. Dude, there's no room at the inn. Go on home and stop buzzing me!

____________________________________
Oh yeah. Billy has changed the lyrics to his Pie-Duh song.

"Pie-duh itsy pie-duh pie-duh pie-duh sun pie-duh."

June 11, 2012 ~ Pie-Duh! Pie-Duh!

Last night we packed up the whole family and went for dinner to our friends' house. Billy was waiting with baited breath (read: whining all day long) to go see his friend, slightly older, that he admires greatly. The two of them have excellent adventures together.

Well, anyway, Billy was very chatty on his way over to see our friends. But Daddy and I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say. Strings of identical words in rapid succession. Then, when I looked back at him in his carseat, I saw his hand motions and suspected he might be singing.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense, right? Yeah, that's what we thought at first, too. But then I saw him twisting his hands together.

"Oh! Pie-duh!" You know. Pie-duh. Like the big black one that scared me poopless while I was gardening today. Pie-duh. Aka spi-duh. Yes, spider!

He was singing (in my clearly genetic out-of-tune fingernails on chalkboard way) Itsy Bitsy Spider. It was the hand motions that gave it away. But I got it!

So Daddy and I joined in, in unison-very Brady Bunch, singing along in the car to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the..."

"NO!" Billy shouted.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

"Pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh, pie-duh!" Take a breath.

He wanted to serenade us with his very own rendition and didn't want any help. Just remember- pie-duh, pie-duh!

The Sunday Post ~ Fear of the Water

I used to think that I didn't want my son to be afraid to the water. That was a month ago. But after watching him run headlong towards deep water with no fear of jumping in, despite an inability to swim, I've completely changed my mind.

Yesterday, he fell in the baby pool. I was Right there when he tripped and his head went under just long enough to scare him. Suddenly, the fearlessness was gone and he didn't want to be in the pool anymore. Since then, he's garnered a healthy respect, if not blatant fear, of the water. I'm ok with this.

No fear of the water is a bad thing. Running headlong into deep water drop is a bad thing. I read a book last year, a true story, in which the one and a half year old (that's Billy's age!) wandered off to investigate a duck pond and drowned. Yes, a fear of the water is good.

Don't get me wrong, I want him to love the water- later- when he learns how to swim. And, you know, doesn't try to dive into the deep end because he knows it's over his head.

But now? I'm ok if the deepest he wants to get is on the first step and no further. Yep, I'm ok with this.

(Sorry for rambling or being incoherent- it's hard to write with a one-year-old attempting to rewrite your post while you're writing it!)

Every blog needs a Meme

That's Meme, not MeMe... not to be confused.

June 7, 2012 ~ The Toy Catalog

This morning Billy found a toy catalog in the trash. It's one of those Sunday circulars from a big toy store... you know, that big toy store. Ok, ok I'll just come out and say it was from Toys'R'Us. Sheesh.

He found it just on the way out the door for school and insisted on bringing it along for the car ride. Poor ChooChoo. Banished to the back seat. And poor Red BeepBeep, relegated to hanging out with outcast ChooChoo. Tigger? Well, Tigger got to sit in the carseat. Under Billy's feet. Feet pillow. Poor Tigger.

Nope. No other toys. He read that toy catalog cover to cover on the way to school. Then he walked into his classroom and triumphantly announced, "Bicockle!" Yes, this particular issue is filled with bicycles, affectionately known as bicockles to Billy.

Then this evening we had storytime. What book did he want? That damn toy catalog. We read all about his very own Green Piece of Awesome, now on sale. And let's not forget the terrifying tale of inflatable pools and plastic slides! Then there was the scary story about swings. The fearsome fable of water tables. The parable of the play house. And the legend of Power Wheels, the Ultimate BeepBeep.

And I bet you thought it was just a piece of junk mail.

Drawn In Thursdays: Hygiene Enforcer #8

Click to Enlarge

Dirt. It's a love/hate relationship.

June 5, 2012 ~ One in the Hand

When I picked Billy up from daycare today there was nobody left in his room. (No worries, he was in another room with kids and teachers). But we had to go in his room to gather his things.

"Mommy, oush-shide." He points to the window. Normally, outside means "I want to go outside", but today he meant "I want to look out the window."

These windows are up high, so I have to pick him up for him to be able to see out. He loves to look out this window and his teachers often pick him up so he can look at a dog (either it lives there or it's owner works in the building behind the daycare- not sure) and to look at the yellow truck often parked in the lot behind the daycare. Dogs and trucks...what more could a boy want?

Well, just as I picked him up a bird flew right at the window. Wait! This is not a tragic bird crashing into a window story. No birds were harmed in the making of this post. But Billy did want a closer look at the dive-bombing birds that was now happily eating on the ground beneath the window.

Unfortunately, the bird was just visible, but not really where it was in relation to the window. This irked the lil man, who really wanted a look at that bird. That's when I looked up. And sitting on the lowest branch of the tree right outside the window was a goldfinch.

"Oooh!" Billy said. "Birdie!"

It wasn't just a pretty bird. It was a pimping bird. He had two goldfinch gals hanging out eating dinner with him.

What an opportunity, I thought to myself. A colorful birds- to work on colors. AND, the male and females are right next to each other, which is an awesome science lesson (albeit for someone maybe a little older).

"Billy, what color is that bird?"

"Yay-yow!"

Here's where I explained about the boy bird being bright yellow and the girl birds being brown and trying to point out the difference and relate it back to toddler boys and girls in general (like that girls wear skirts, etc.).

His response?

"Mommy, isha birdie! Yay-yow!"

"That's right. It is a yellow bird."

(I would be proud at this moment, but he loves to say "yellow" and calls everything yellow regardless of color, even if he knows the difference.)

June 4, 2012 ~ (dramatic pause) No!

I can't help it. During some of his latest tantrums I just want to laugh. I should be serious, but really, it's pretty funny. For instance (an except of a tantrum from today):

My MeMe. Give!

Say please.

(dramatic pause) No! (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!) Give!

Billy, just say please and I will give it to you.

(dramatic pause) No!

Do you want your MeMe?

(dramatic pause) No! (reaches and grabs for MeMe in a desperate attempt to get it back)


And it's when we get to this point in the tantrum that I want to break out my Inigo Montoya "I do not think it means what you think it means".

"Do you want a cracker?"

(dramatic pause) No! (shovels crackers in his mouth like a hamster)

He loves his dramatic pause. But honestly, he needs to fill that void or I'm going to end up filling it with laughter.