August 2011 - Act Two

Before I wrap up our August happenings, I realized I did have a couple of pictures from our trip to Lubbock with Clay and the pictures are of a pretty much milestone - Clay got to meet Lana!!!  Lana is Jim's bestie's mom (I love calling Blake Jim's bestie because: 1.  It's true - BFFs since the first week of Kindergarten & 2.  I think I hear their man cards cringe each time I do that).


Clay fell in love with Lana and her dogs.  With Lana, the feeling was absolutely mutual, with the dogs... not so much (with the exception of Blake and Lindsey's dogs, all of the dogs wanted to keep their distance).

"Aunt" Lindsey opening the shutters so that Clay could see the sweet doggies

Taking his zebra on a tour of Lana's house

Hanging out in "Uncle" Blake's boots and thinking it's the best thing EVER!

Coyly receiving a goodbye kiss from Lana

We spent one morning at a great find with playgroup (which has since closed - booooo) called Pump It Up Jr. It's an in door bounce house for toddlers with dual slides, an obstacle course, and another structure.  On this visit, Clay only wanted to do the slide - it was quite a workout for this Mama.  I held Clay in one arm and used my other to hold onto strapping grips to hike to the top of the inflatable slide - it was well worth the effort!  After our Pump It Up trip we went with our playgroup pals to lunch.

About to head down the slide

A common (and much loved) view for me; Clay at my waist asking demanding to be picked up.  (I LOVE my cuddle bug!)

He was not a fan of this thing (can you tell?) and only wanted to carried through it.

Clay, true to his diplomatic nature, is an equal opportunist.  He has many duplicate toys:  his two Elmos were each toted around as cuddle friends / phones (he turns EVERYTHING into a phone and tends to "call" his Yaya on said object), he also got an heir and a spare taggie blanket and spent one day taking turns rocking them in his swing, bouncing them in the bouncers, putting them on his head, and draping them on his ride-on dinosaur toy.  He's a sweetie!

Clay LOVED getting his nap mat for CCDC (Christian Childhood Development Center)

Yup, he loved his nap mat soooo much that after I successfully put away his nap mat (it took 3 tries), he immediately grabbed this blanket and pillow and wanted to "play" nap mat.  I love the wondrous way his mind works!

Clay also got a big boy chair this fall.  He thought Daddy needed help putting it together.

Hanging out in his new chair for the first time!  Please note that he loves this chair and Jim loves this chair too.  Admittedly it is very comfy but Jim loves it so much that in all sincerity he asked for one for his birthday - he wanted his to say "Daddy".  While amused, I had to explain that he has a Daddy chair and we don't have room in this 52 year old house for another massive chair (unless it's specifically for a child).  I know, I am a totally kill joy.

Our little business man... in his chair... on his phone.

A standard from Jim's childhood:  Popsicles in the bathtub.

Such a sweet boy, sharing with Daddy!

This is just impressive; he can "carry" both of his monkeys without any hands and run his little track from the living room to the den to the kitchen.

After feeding himself yogurt little man shows off his funny face

Ahhh, and the world changed with this discovery... Clay normally chills in the pack and play with toys and a tv show each morning while I take a shower.  I came out of the bathroom and thought he looked quite a bit taller and this is why... The emergence of "Giant Baby Gracefully balances on Car" meant I had to start taking faster showers and take toys with any height out of the pack and play.  

Clay colored with marker - you can kind of see that he also color his tongue in the process....

... and his hand

 We ended August with a BAD encounter with our kitty.  Hershey or TMB as he was absolutely known as that day (the Mississippi Bastard), just grabbed Clay's whole head with his claws and got dangerously close to Clay's eye, hence the band-aid below.  I will say Clay was talking and playing around Hershey about 5 minutes before this happened but he wasn't aggressive or anything.  Clay was playing about 2 feet away from Hershey when this happened so Hershey was to blame.  Clay still loves Hershey and Hershey still loves to stay away from Clay

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I had to add the last pictures so because Clay looks an awful lot like his Daddy did about the same age (and with band-aid and paci as company)