I don't wanna work, I wanna Bang on my Drum All Day!

Good lord what have we done...


I plead temporary insanity!


We bought Jimmy a drum.

But not just a drum, a whole FUN in a Drum KIT!

There are maracas, a tambourine, a harmonica and a drum with flames on it. Also the drum sticks. Ooooohhhh the drum sticks! Very useful for drumming the drum, but also drumming on the floor, drumming on the walls, drumming on the couch, and maybe drumming on the cat, but we're not too sure about that one; she runs too fast! Jimmy does carry the drum sticks around with him drumming as he goes, and has only poked himself in the eye once (I'm still cringing at the thought!)
The maracas are great fun as well, and portable enough to go in the car.
The harmonica still confounds him. Jeff has learned "I've Been Working On The Railroad" - Jeff and the new train obession is a whole other story- but Jimmy has only gotten one surprise note out of it. Not for the lack of trying, mind you... A kazoo might be more Jimmy's speed just yet.

And now the pics. Note the joy on Jimmy and Jeff's faces, and the look of disdain (or is it disgust) on the cat's...
And Jimmy does like to run around with his sticks!

A Breakthrough!!

Yesterday was a great day in the advancement of Jimmy's skills!
He has always been a boy to take toys down and dump them out of any container that the toy is stored in. Dump dump dump! Toys out on the floor, everywhere!!!!
Yesterday, I saw a glimmer of hope...
He sat quietly playing with his sorting blocks and after dumping them and spreading them out, he actually put a few back in the container! Deliberately! Yeah!!!

Other than that I am starting to let Jimmy be in control of the spoon during his mealtimes... It's messy, but has to be done eventually...
Note in the picture how clean and neat the side with the spoon is (almost like it wasn't used at all!)

Pebbles and sticks and leaves, Oh my!

There are many pretty things to see at the Wahiawa Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, there are also mounds and mounds of leaf litter, sticks, berries and rocks for small fingers to pick up and put in a small mouth.
Needless to say, we didn't stay long. But after a nice breakfast, Jimmy was ready for a nap anyway!

While he still can not (or will not because he thinks we're crazy) identify his own nose, Jimmy can almost pronounce "nose". He also has mastered the squat. It seems like just the other day I was telling Jeff that Jimmy would learn to do that soon. Come to think of it, it was just the other day. Last Wednesday, I believe... So no more having to sit down to pick something up off the floor! No!! Now we can pick up toys by just squatting and continue along our merry way!
Hopefully I will be able to capture this on film soon.
Until then, here is Jeff celebrating Father's Day with his boy and also a picture of what I think is the true reason that overalls are such a popular wardrobe pick for young boys...

All the better to bite you with!

A good-ish picture of the newest tooth! Seven total now!
The next one should be up in the next few days or so... we hope!

Today was the latest attack in the flea war, so Jimmy and I had to clear out for the day... We ended up walking around Waikiki, where we walked through the tube. Jimmy did not enjoy it as much as I thought he would... oh well. Tomorrow we will go to the botanical gardens where he can run around and find lots and lots of stuff for mommy and daddy to pick out of his mouth!

It's a slow day

Slow day, slow day in the neighborhood.

O.K., I admit it, Raffi has changed the way I relate to the world. Seriously, the man has a song about everything! Going to the zoo, the corner grocery store, counting, brushing your teeth, riding in an airplane, bowling, eating and nearly everything else I do in the daily life with Jimmy...

Oh except changing diapers and laundry, but we don't really need to memorialize those topics in song, do we? There are enough duck songs to cover in the spaces.

So yes, we all sing while we are walking down the street, something in our shoe or not, and we roll our eyes and bug them out when the biscuits are rising... We sing while we eat our apples and bananas, sing while we get dressed, and if we see a robin in the rain...
It is a completely different version of reality... It is fairly nice, I hope we get to stay here for a while.

On the "To Do" list this weekend - in a fancy bulleted list!

• An outing to the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens
• Dinner out for Father's day
• Laundry
  
• Maybe a beach trip
• A final attack on the fleas (we have almost completely eradicated them, YEA!!!) and
  
• Teaching Jimmy where his nose is...

Happy Father's Day to Jeff and the Grandpas!

Oh yeah, he'll be real one day!

Everybody, meet Takoyaki. He is Jimmy's new
best friend. Yes, he's a blue stuffed octopus, and Takoyaki is a fried octopus ball, but Jimmy's too young to understand that and we thought it was funny. Besides, it's fun to say... Try it..
Tako YAH ki...see? Fun!

Who would have guessed that with all of his teddy bears, chickens, ducks and such that Jimmy's favorite toy would be a blue stuffed octopus. The chickens are still a close second, but Takoyaki is by far more fun. I mean he's got 8 legs to grab and chew on and two tags on his belly.

Takoyaki started out at the aquarium in Waikiki.
We were hanging out in the lobby waiting for Daddy to come back from parking the car when Jimmy decided to check out the gift shop. To my surprise, he cruised right past all the squeaky toys and jelly toys right to the back corner where this little octopus was perched on a basket of other stuffed sea life.
Jimmy snatched Takoyaki and proceeded to waltz right out... Mommy waltzed right back in with him and the toy to pay for it and then Jimmy was released.

Jimmy likes to walk around with Takoyaki and will snuggle him in his sleep. He even knows Takoyaki's name, and will go looking for him if we ask.

I predict that Takoyaki will eventually have different (read replaced a few times) eyes and some of his fuzz loved off...Yup, he'll be real one day...

What are they thinking?!?

OK, this is a non-Jimmy related post, but I had to spread the word about this...

I saw this on Mir's blog Want not and had to share... Her words are most appropriate... "No. Just, NO!"

Click here to see "it"

they want HOW MUCH for a TSHIRT? And they put What on the butt? And apparantly the accent over the "e" makes it all better...
Whose crackpipe dream is this?



I mean, I love and can't wait to get back to the land of Target, but not if this is how they are going to rule the empire...

Things that make you go hmmmm....

O.K. I'm done now, and as an added bonus for listening to my rant here's an extra picture of Jimmy being cute! Yea!