Puppy Love

After today's rugby match, Little Ted got to play with a puppy that belongs to one of the players.  He was in absolute heaven and was so sad when we had to leave.  He asked about the puppy when we returned home and when he woke up from his nap.  Before long, he will probably start pestering us to get him a puppy of his own.

Courage

One of Ted's favorite cartoons is Pocoyo, a Spanish cartoon that also has an English version.  The main character, Pocoyo ("little me"), is a toddler whose best friends are a duck ("Pato"), an elephant ("Elly"), and a dog ("Lula"). 

Typically, we watch the cartoon on YouTube.  Below is one of Ted's favorite episodes.  The "gang" decides that it wants to play on a large slide, but Pocoyo is too scared to get on the slide.  His friends don't want him to be afraid, so they ride with him, and Pocoyo learns that the slide isn't as scary as he thought.



Little Ted had a Pocoyo-like moment last month on one of our outings to the zoo.  The playground there has a large slide that comes out of a tree house.  On our last outing, Ted noticed the slide for the first time.  There were lots of kids his age at the playground, and they were enjoying the slide, so he decided that he should check it out. 

We worked our way into the tree house and looked down the slide.  The slide is high and big, and people move down it pretty fast.  Little Ted wasn't too sure that he wanted to try it out. 

We let other kids take a turn, and I tried to get him to ride with me.  He wasn't having anything to do with that.  In fact, he tried to push me down the slide without him.

Then, a little boy about a year older than Ted came into the tree house.  He was waiting for his mother to reach the bottom of the slide so he could take his turn.  In the meantime, he decided to talk to Little Ted.  He told Ted that he was going down the slide, and that his mommy would catch him.  Then, Little Ted watched him take his turn.

That was enough to convince Ted that the slide wasn't so bad.  He decided he wanted to try it out, so we called daddy over, and he caught Little Ted at the bottom of the slide.  Not surprisingly, he enjoyed himself and wanted to try it again.

I was very proud of my munchkin that day.  He had the courage to face his fears - with a little encouragement - and tried something new.

Toddler Dances

Many of you know that Little Ted's favorite movie is Up.  Really, he seems to like the music more than anything else.  Here, he's dancing to the part of the soundtrack on the DVD.  Sometimes he has to do that before he can enjoy the movie.

Artistic Works

You may have noticed from the last blog post that Little Ted is in a "creative phase." In the picture below, he had just discovered that a dry erase marker would also mark his skin. You can imagine how excited he was to figure this out.

I think it's time we look into getting him an easel - with a chalkboard. . .

Valentine Projects

Courtesy of Little Ted

More RG3

RG3 at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast.

Strange Cravings

On Thursday, Little Ted started requesting doughnuts ("no-nuts" in Little Ted speak).  I was caught off guard - that morning, he woke up extra early, I had gone to bed late the night before, and I had to shake off my semi-conscious state so I could keep office hours that morning.  I asked him to repeat himself, and, sure enough, I hadn't misunderstood him.

Little Ted knows what doughnuts are - they are part of our Saturday morning routine, along with College Game  Day and college football (in the fall, at least).  But he had never requested them before.  Since I was in a rush that morning, doughnuts just so happened to be convenient, so we all indulged.

When I returned from work later that afternoon, the first thing he said to me was, "no-nuts?"  This continued all day on Friday, and it wasn't until Friday afternoon that I figured out why he was so keen on doughnuts.  

Earlier in the week, we picked up a new Thomas the Tank Engine DVD for Little Ted at Sam's Club.  This particular DVD had a bonus episode, and one of the characters mentions his love of doughnuts in the episode.  Thank you, DVD, for putting the idea in my son's head.

*On that particular DVD, the engines also prepare for a festival, which leads to a crash involving an engine and a freight car loaded with ice cream.  That probably explains Little Ted's request last night for ice cream in place of dinner . . . I guess "food advertising" is as effective on toddlers as it is on adults.

Kissing Christmas Goodbye

Shortly after New Year's day, I took down the Christmas tree to free up space in our living room.  Little Ted was not happy to see the tree go and kissed a few of the ornaments before I took them down and put them away.  He also tried to rescue his light up snowflakes from the holiday box (these were decorations that Grandma Robles bought him and we had on display in his room).  I finally got them stashed away, but only after ensuring that Little Ted was distracted - after all, they are his, and as far as he is concerned, they belong in his room all the time.

So this post is our way of kissing Christmas goodbye.  But before we say goodbye, we wanted to share this Christmas morning video with you.  Here, Little Ted discovers what Santa left for him.

Goodbye Christmas!  Thanks for the memories!

College Football . . . One Last Time

If you follow college football, you know that our star quarterback is headed to the NFL (no surprise).  Click here to watch his press conference announcement, and click here to read a great story about him that appeared in the alumni magazine recently (really, you should read it - it shows what a great kid he is).

This is the billboard that stands on the I-35 side of the university.  Pretty impressive, huh?

Stationery Card

One Year Boy Thank You Card

Say "Thank You," with Shutterfly's personalized photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Remember the Alamo Bowl

Last night, Baylor defeated Washington in the Valero Alamo Bowl.  Defensively, it was a frustrating game, but the Bears' high powered offense, led by RG3, was able to pull out a win.

Click here to view the ESPN highlights.  And check out our Alamo Bowl ornament, which we picked up just in time for the big game.