Thanksgiving

We have SO VERY MUCH to be thankful for this year! Last year we were in the midst of a valley begging God to heal our little boy and make him healthy again. This year, we are on the mountaintop praising that same God for a beautiful home, a wonderful family AND a healthy little boy!!

Thanksgiving actually started a little early for us since LAST Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. NO LIE, there were 9 - 8' tables completely FULL of desserts that all the wonderful Baptist women cooked for the event. It took 10 women an hour to cut into all of the cakes and pumpking pies and pecan pies and organize the cookies and brownies. It was HEAVEN! (And Malachi enjoyed it too!!)

Here's Daddy and Mommy and Messy Mali!

When I say he was "stuffing" his face, I MEAN it! His FAVORITE Uncle Daniel (and, doesn't Kadi Jo look cute too??)
Whip Cream Face!

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I had been looking for some cute Thanksgiving desserts to make and found these at bakerella.com! So, I decided to try them, only as cheesecake balls instead of cake balls. Cousin Morgan and I worked at Aunt Dena's house for about 3 hours on them! We had so much fun and even though they don't COMPLETELY look like Bakerella's (a professional baker, might I add) I was pretty happy with them! Too bad they were so rich that you could only eat like 1/2 of one!!

What do you think?

Otherwise, Thanksgiving went SMASHINGLY!!! Thomas and I were in charge of the ham for the first.time.ever. But, I think it turned out pretty well! We cooked it in 3 cups of Apple Juice, 1 cup of orange juice and then 30 minutes before it was done, we smothered on a brown sugar/honey glaze!

Here's my handsome hubby carving the ham and my daddy carving the turkey! YUMMO!

We took lots of pictures...

Our family

Me and Cousin Mo-Mo

Malachi and Grandmommy

Malachi and Kadi yelling at Gracie - the Chihuahua who ran away with the hambone

Hannah, Kelly, Aunt Dena, Grandmommy, Lolli, Cousin MoMo and Me

...ate lots of yummy food, including the turkey balls...

Kadi and Karter ...and made it home to Lolli and Pops' house just in time to nap, watch the Cowboys play and admire Lolli's tree...
...from underneath... ...while it spun around! (Yes, their tree rotates...does it GET any cooler than that?)

And, finally, I leave you with a couple of pictures and a video of Malachi helping Lolli peel potatoes for her famous mashed potatoes!! (Hint - if you're reading this on facebook, please had over to http://www.tjandmallen.blogspot.com/ to see this video! It's TOO TOO CUTE!)

Halloween!

I'm a little bit late on posting this. I could go on and on about how busy I've been. I could tell you about my weekends and how crazy life has been. But, I won't. I'll just start from where I left off!!

Halloween this year was a BLAST! Malachi was sick for a few days before with Strep and the Flu, but, we got past it for Saturday's festivities and I'm SO glad that we did! We all decided to get together this year and take our kids trick-or-treating since they're all old enough (almost all of them, anyway) to have a good time!

So, we ALL met at Lolli's house before we commenced Trick-Or-Treating!! All the mommies were thinking that we needed to take pictures BEFORE we started just in case the babies gave up before the night was over!!

This is the best we could get (at least on my camera) - sorry Amanda, Austin wasn't having it! From L to R, (front) Malachi, Connor Cockrell, Austin Schoenenberger (back) Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Carson Cockrell and Tyler Schoenenberger! And, yes, my son's diaper is showing, those buttons were stubborn!

Special thanks goes to Aunt Kelly for allowing Malachi to use Karter's 1st Halloween costume! He was a HIT! I'm telling you, they just don't come ANY cuter do they? (It's okay if you think the same about your kiddos...I won't mind!) Malachi and Connor - A BOOGER to get them to BOTH look at the camera...AT THE SAME TIME!!! Yes, his face is a little shiny. It was DRY and I lathered him up and APPARENTLY didn't get it all rubbed in. Ask anyone, we're pretty good about gettin' him all greasy!! (It's our secret to his pretty complexion!) A Boy of MANY Expressions!!

Me and My Baby Boy - the only person who knows what my heart feels like from the inside!!

So, who is we ALL, you ask? I've shown you the kids, now here's behind all those little monsters and superheroes! Pops, Kurt Cockrell, Daniel, Thomas, Carl Schoenenberger, Kelly, Tyler Schoenenberger, Carson Cockrell, Keela and Deann, Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Lolli, Malachi, Amanda Schoenenberger, Austin, Melissa Cockrell and Me (behind the camera!)

We all piled in Pops' truck and headed over a few streets to where we KNEW the trick-or-treating would be at its best! But, first, we had to stop and see Donna at Ninny's house! (We miss you Ninny and we wish you were HERE!)

Connor and Malachi Trick-or-Treating at their VERY FIRST HOUSE EVER!

Emmalie, Aunt Donna and Frank...er, Malachi! We're so glad, Aunt Donna, that you got to be part of his first Trick-Or-Treating experience! We love you!

He caught on pretty fast!

Lolli and her little monsters!

This Frankenstein danced and sang Michael Jackson songs! Malachi danced and danced!

I just thought this was a cute angle!

Our protectors! I told them they looked like bouncers! (Or a parade float!)

And, finally, here's a couple pictures of Lolli all tricked out as Witchiepoo (Malachi was napping) and visiting Pops with Kadi and Karter (Post-Nap!)

Honest Scrap Award!

Here are the rules: Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award. Share "10 Honest Things" about myself. Present the award to 7 others whose Blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. Tell those 7 people they've been awarded Honest Scrap and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Wow - a Blog Award? REALLY? Thanks to Sandy from The Hop Family for the awesome award. I'm NOTHING if not honest! So...here goes!

1. My rear end hurts from the two shots I got yesterday to treat my sinus infection.

2. I secretly LOVE days when either I'm sick or my son's sick because that means that I get more time to spend with him and MUCH more cuddle time!

3. I LOATHE cooking.

4. My favorite time of the month is payday. NO...not for the obvious reasons, but because that means we get to see our debt reduced again!

5. I'm working HARD at becoming a better wife thanks to the Lord and our awesome Ladies' Bible Study based on Psalm 14:1. LOOK IT UP!

6. I can't wait until we DO get our debt paid off so that we can continue fixing up our little house! Then...ultimately, we can sell and move into our dream home and be RICH!

7. I'm nervous about getting pregnant again. I didn't handle post-partum very well last time and with all we've gone through with Malachi (GRANTED...not NEARLY as much as some others!) I'm a little apprehensive. Oh well...I've (hopefully) got a while before I have to worry about that.

So...NOW to forward this sweet award on!

1. Magee Baby

2. Kelly Michelle - It's TIME to start blogging again!

3. Nicole

4. Elisa

5. Hood Happenings

6. It's a Smalling World

7. Life at the White House

17 months!

Malachi - you are now 17 whole months old!! How did that happen? What are you up to now?

Currently you have (wait...I have to count) a LOT of teeth! We noticed your first molar has started to come in and actually, over the course of the last couple weeks, you've had 3 teeth that have popped through! You haven't given us an OUNCE of trouble with any of them! (For that I'm VERY thankful)

Last week you were one sick little boy. You were never officially diagnosed with the flu, but I'm convinced that is what you had. Sunday the 11th you started running a fever (around 101.6) so we took you to the clinic in Canyon. No flu according to the test so we treated you for a sinus infection. Then, Monday came around and you just weren't acting right so I took you to see Dr. Young. We were able to get you into a 6:30 cancellation which made us so happy because they made an appointment for you for 10:30 that night! (We're lucky to have Dr. Young!) They also tested you for flu but that one came back negative too. So, we kept you on Augmentin until Wednesday when they called and said there was NO bacteria present so that Augmentin wouldn't do any good! You stopped running fever Tuesday only to start up again on Wednesday afternoon. So, the whole week either me or daddy stayed home with you! And, honestly, it was a GREAT week. You never acted poorly, just tired. So, it was some GOOD cuddle time! (Which I'm VERY thankful for considering you're not really into being still at the moment!!)

You hadn't run fever since Wednesday so we took you to Canadian for the Fall Foliage Festival on Saturday the 17th. You were SO MUCH FUN and were in a great mood ALL DAY LONG!! Here's a few pictures of our trip!

Here's Me, You and Daddy waiting for Lunch!!

You and Aunt Donna! You sure are getting to love her and she SURE DOES love you!

And this is you and Leroy, your favorite Monkey! You were SO sleepy after lunch!

Here's Me and You at Lake Marvin waiting for...

THIS! Your FIRST carriage ride! You stood up the WHOLE TIME watching the horses and talking up a storm!

I think you KNOW who these two people are! They love you SO MUCH!

And finally, here's you and Pop! It sure was a beautiful day!

Monday started a whole new week, especially for you, big boy!! You are now, officially (drumroll please) a TODDLER!! You transitioned SO WELL over there that Lolli just went ahead and moved you over there permanently. You LOVE IT! Addys is one of your new friends and she LOVES to love on you! Meghan and Denise, your two new teachers think the world of you and you're getting spoiled SO MUCH! You are even EATING with the toddlers and you got caught stealing food off of Colin's plate on Tuesday so they had to give you seconds!! You've got SUCH a sweet little personality!

You LOVE LOVE LOVE ANY type of music and will dance anytime music plays! Sometimes it's clapping while rocking back and forth, sometimes it's bending up and down and up and down, sometimes it's marching in place! BUT, if there's music, you're dancing to it! You LOVE your little puppy that plays songs and talks to you and you LOVE one of your little books with lots of pictures of different animals in it! It's your baboo. Why do you call it that? Because there's a hippo on one page and you called it a baboo. So, it stuck! You love your monkey costume that has been hanging up on your closet door since last halloween and you give it a kiss EVERY MORNING before you eat!

Overall you're just an incredible son and daddy and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Thanks for being our little monkey and know that we will always be here for you!

Thanks unto thee for ever

"To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Never has my heart sunk faster, or beat stronger, or rejoiced more than it did between 5:28 and 5:30p.m. yesterday afternoon. How can all of these things happen at once? How can you be scared, and sad, and shocked and grateful and fearful all at the same time? I couldn't have answered that question until, well probably this very moment as the fog is lifting and my head is just beginning to cipher through the million emotions I went through hearing that my son, only minutes before had been given the Heimlich maneuver by the one person in this world whose love for my son can compete with mine and Thomas' love for him, his Lolli.

Yesterday morning at 8:15 when I arrived at work and unloaded my lunch into the refrigerator, put my coke down on my desk and went to get my cell phone out of my purse, I felt annoyed. I forgot my cell phone. Seriously, not usually a big deal, just an inconvenience. Little did I know that the Lord had seen the events to occur a mere 9 hours later and orchestrated that little annoyance to possibly save me from the torment of what was to come.

5:00 came like it does most days. I was leaving my office headed home, listening to Dave Ramsey, completely oblivious to the fact that my son, during those very moments, had choked on an animal cracker (a cracker whose consumption has become a ritual around 5:00 everyday for my sweet Malachi.) It's usually around 5:00p.m. that Malachi goes into Lolli's office, goes around her desk and looks for the large jar of cookies and patiently (sometimes) asks for a "kiki." And, as he stood less than a foot away from his Lolli, he took one tiny bite (unlike most times when he shoves it ALL in his mouth) and choked on the foot of what appeared to be a zebra upon further inspection. Not even the WHOLE foot...just a little tip off of the foot. He choked, right there with 4 teachers and the second most important woman in his life looking on. This is where my emotions come in. You see, it was then that Lolli saved his life by administering the Heimlich maneuver as she has been taught, and re-taught how to do at her yearly CPR/First Aid certification. The only difference is, she's never had to do it on her own flesh and blood. You see, God knew why I needed to leave my cell phone at home. I can't imagine having been in rush hour traffic knowing that my son wasn't breathing and that an ambulance was rushing to his aide while my mother saved his life. True, it couldn't have lasted more than 2 minutes, though to everyone involved it seemed like an eternity. But, for those two minutes, my world was crashing down and I didn't even know it.

I walked in completely oblivious that anything had happened to my beautiful babe. I walked in to see my mother sitting where she almost always does. In her rocking chair out in the lobby with my sweet boy in her lap. However, this day was unlike any other as when I walked in, the first words I heard were "He just choked." Initially I didn't think anything of it until I saw the faces of those around him and me telling me it wasn't just a little coughing fit. It was all I could do to keep it together long enough to scoop him up into my arms and take the 5 steps to the office so that I could lose it behind closed doors. And lose it, I did. All while my baby boy walked around Lolli's desk saying "kiki?" "kiki?" And, lost it I have a few more times since then. And, lose it a few more times, I probably will! (Wow - that's coming across really Yoda-ish isn't it? Go ahead...re-read it, you'll get it if you've even seen part of one of the Star Wars movies! Sorry, I deal with a lot of things with humor...part of God's grace I suppose!)

And, as I laid beside him last night, and patted his little bottom after putting him in his crib, and laid on the floor just listening to the glorious sound of a deep breathing, beautiful 16 month old angel, I could only think one thing. God, he's Yours. He's ALL Yours. I am nothing but a caretaker of this precious soul with which you have entrusted me. Me! A fallen, sinful, prideful woman. A woman who could not be more thankful for that role. Lord...I will no longer purport to be anything more than a blessed woman with whom God has given much. And I know that to whom much is given, much is required. I pray that I can fulfill all that is required of me as a mother to this incredible boy. I pray for humility to know that without you, I can do NOTHING. I can BE nothing. Lord - you haven't given me much. You have given me everything. Therefore, the best I can do is give you everything and HOPE that my everything can be enough to thank you for the blessings you given me. I know it never will.

I thank you for my son. I thank you for your son. I thank you for my mother, my son's angel. Who knew that Lolli would one day save my son's life? Only You - the ONLY other that can save my son's life. I thank you for her saving grace and, more importantly, I thank you for YOUR saving grace.

I will TRULY give thanks unto you forever, O My God.

I've lost it...

...my creativity, that is. I have nothing creative to offer anymore. No fun words for my blog. It's almost like it has become a CHORE that I have to do. Does anyone else go through this? I miss the excitement and fun I used to have sculpting cute stories and mixing in fun pictures of my beautiful little boy! Oh well...I'm sure the fun part will come back. In the mean time, I do it because I want to chronicle these times for Malachi!! I love you sweet baby!

So, at 16 months (well I'm only 11 days late for that one) what is Malachi up to? A LOT! He's learning new words EVERY DAY! He has added Doggy, Quack Quack (we recently started taking him to feed the ducks), Juice, Cookie and Thank You. He had his first McDonald's hamburger on Thursday the 16th and LOVED.IT. He's running ALL OVER THE PLACE and plays peek-a-boo around ANY and EVERY corner he finds! The pacifier is now officially gone! (YEA and it wasn't even that hard! He lost it the night he got tubes put in and it remained lost until last Saturday when I opened up the top drawer to our desk and found it. But, according to him, it's lost forevermore!) He climbs up in his high chair when it's time to eat and says num-num! (Cutest thing EVER) He can now identify mommy, daddy, Uncle Logan, Lolli and Pops in any picture and point to them! He's been visiting the toddler's room at daycare more and more, and, even though it's not going too well due to the complete and total devotion he has to Traca, Delores and Brenda (his nursery teachers), he'll get there and learn to love Ms. Denise just as much! (On a side note, could I BE more thankful for the wonderful women that love my little boy like their own? God has truly blessed him!) He's sleeping on a cot at daycare for naptime and no longer takes morning naps, just afternoon naps. Bedtime is about 7:30 p.m. usually and he usually sleeps until about 6:45 or 7:00. However, if it's not closer to 6:45 when he wakes up, he doesn't get to finish breakfast! (He gets distracted WAY too easily and it takes him FOREVER to eat breakfast if the TV is on or anything else is around him to distract him!) On a side note, he's currently loving French Toast Sticks and Oranges/Peaches for breakfast! Yesterday, the little toot got his first office time-out when he wouldn't quit pulling hair. I don't think he knew that it was wrong, but, he's got to learn. (And, let's face it, it's Lolli's office, how bad could it really be? The worst is Lolli's disappointment! Hope it ALWAYS stays that way!) He's learned to sing E-I-E-I-O though most times it comes out YAYAYO. It's still SUPER DUPER CUTE!

A year ago I posted this post in which I talked about Malachi having Croup...YUCK. Little did I know what the next 2 months would hold after that post. UGH - I don't even want to think about how horrible last year was. How sick Malachi was. How helpless we, as his parents, felt. How much we coveted the prayers and encouragement of our families and friends. I could not be more thankful that he is SO MUCH BETTER OFF this year than he was last year. (Lord willing that will continue, of course!) He's currently on Poly-Vi-Sol for vitamin supplementation, Allegra and a nasal spray for allergies and Bio-Gaia Acidophilus for his tummy. We're hoping this will keep him healthier throughout this winter season. He did, actually, get Chicken Pox FROM the vaccine a couple weeks ago, but no fever, just a few spots, nothing major. Other than that, his tubes are doing their job and he's been relatively healthy for going on 4 or 5 weeks now. He got thrush from the two HUGE shots of Rocephin he got right before he got his tubes put in and we've been fighting that for about 6 weeks. Finally, I went and got some Gentian Violet, and, though it stains EVERYTHING it touches, including his mouth when he spits it out, his lips, his cheeks when the Q-Tip goes right up the side of his cheek while you've got the Q-Tip in his mouth and he decides he wants to sit down, his sheet from drooling at night and the one pair of pajamas we've been washing and letting him sleep in every night so it doesn't ruin EVERYTHING he has...But, it's finally gone for good now!

Finally, he went to Donut Stop about 6 weeks ago with Lolli and Pop (and me and daddy were there just for fun) for his first Cherry Donut! Pop said that they were gonna go for Cherry donuts as soon as he got old enough. So, I've been holding off on giving him donuts and chocolate milk until Pop could take him. And, it finally happened!

I'm telling you, right here and right now! Little boys don't get ANY MORE LOVED than this one! (And, on another side note...that shirt is already too small for him...YUCK - he's growing up TO FAST!)

Our Little Boy!

Lately our baby boy seems to be turning into so much more of a *gasp* little boy insteady of a baby boy. Since my last post, so much has happened. Now, that could be because he is such a genious little boy and he's picking up on SO MUCH SO FAST, or, it could be because I haven't posted for almost a month...haha! Either way, Malachi is doing SO MANY new things!

The August 12th ENT appointment turned into an August 21st appointment for tubes and it went swimmingly! We showed up at 7:00a.m. with Mali still in his pajamas (which were adorable and everyone loved, if I do say so myself!) We registered and then sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before they called us back. He played with the bead path they had on the wall (that's right, they had it stuck to the wall - genious if you ask me), walked around, and then came over to daddy. Daddy was playing with this REALLY cool sand toy. It's basically a table with a LITTLE bit of sand on it, some toys on top of the sand with a plexiglass cover so you can't actually get to the sand. Daddy had found that the toys would move with magnets from underneath. So, Mali laughed for a few minutes watching the toys move without being able to touch them. Then, all of a sudden, he bent down and picked up one of the magnets they had hanging from the bottom and started moving a little tugboat from underneath. I'm tellin' ya, he picked up on it FAST! When it was time to go back we dressed him in his adorable little hospital gown with some sweet little booties they provided. Almost immediately they gave me a syringe of some sort of medicine used to calm him down, and calm him down it did! 5 minutes later he was jelly in my arms, laughing at EVERYTHING, giving us kisses and blowing us drunk kisses. It was THE.CUTEST.THING.YOU'VE.EVER.SEEN!! I swear, he was the cuddliest thing and I CHERISHED that time because I was able to get some REALLY sweet kisses from him! When it came time for them to come get him, he went to them without hesitation (not at ALL like MY kid - normally it's WWIII for him to go to someone he doesn't know). The sweet nurses then took us around to where he would come out of recovery and we talked for a couple minutes. Before we knew it, the doctor was coming out and giving us post-op instructions. I'm telling you, I thought he was fixing to go INTO surgery it was so fast, I didn't think he had even started when he came out and told us he was finished. It literally took less than 10 minutes from the time we handed him over to when the Dr. came out. However, we soon heard his screaming coming from down the hall. One nurse came out and got his pacifier. Then, another nurse came and got his sippy cup. Then, 3 nurses brought him to us and let US try to console him...NO.SUCH.LUCK! After we signed the release papers we were out the door, got breakfast, and were back home (30 minutes away) by 9:15a.m. He and I slept most of the day Friday together and by Friday afternoon he was as good as new!

Funny story, though, I had gotten up and started the dishwasher when he was asleep and when he woke up, I was feeding him some Cheerios and playing in the floor since he was still a little wobbly. All of a sudden, the dishwasher kicked into the rinse cycle and Malachi stopped dead in his tracks, carefully walked into the kitchen and looked around the refrigerator - then he walked up to the dishwasher and started screaming and banging on it. I guess he had never heard it before - it was HYSTERICAL!

So, post-tubes, things have been pretty laid-back. We now have him on a twice a day regimen of Allegra and Nasonex for his allergies. He hasn't REALLY gotten sick EXCEPT for the fact that he had a reaction to his Chicken Pox vaccine and we had to quarantine him for a couple of days. Other than that...he's been pretty healthy! As long as his immune system continues to do as well as it's been doing lately I'll be happy - BUT, if he starts having a hard time and not being able to fight anything off again, I WILL push for immune system testing to make sure his levels are all where they need to be!

On the development front he's doing FABULOUSLY!! He used to be behind compared to his buddies in the nursery at daycare. He didn't roll or sit up or crawl as fast as they did, but he's kicking baby butt in the walking department! (And no - I don't REALLY compare him like that nor do I think it's bad that the other babies DIDN'T walk as fast as he did, it's just that HE has always been the one that's been behind, so I'm thrilled that he's not when it comes to walking!) We now have him back in shoes and he's doing great! During the time we were letting him learn to walk WITHOUT shoes, though, his feet went from a size 3 to a size 5! And those adorable Nike Shocks that Lolli bought were a size 4 - maybe if we have another little boy HE will be able to wear them, but for now, they're stuck in a SpaceBag with the rest of Malachi's clothing he's already outgrown! (I guess when Daddy wears a 13 and Uncle wears a 15...there's not a lot that can be done to prevent big feet!) He loves to run from us when we say we're going to get him and we LOVE to chase after him...it's SO FUN!

He also loves to CLIMB EVERYWHERE! A couple of weeks ago he climbed up onto the toddler sized couch my mom has at the daycare and tried to stand up. Well, he succeeded in standing up, but not for long...he fell right off into the edge of the train table she has and got a HUGE red mark on the side of his face. It bruised, but not terribly. Then, he got right back up and did it again...Oh what I'm NOT looking forward to when he learns to ride a bike/plays football/or does anything else that little boys just DO to hurt themselves...haha! Last night, in fact, we had taken the tray off of his high chair because it was dirty from dinner and he kept trying to climb up in his high chair seat. He succeeded a few times, but couldn't figure out how to get back OUT of it. SO, daddy kept rescuing him. Finally, I encouraged daddy to let him figure it out...after a few minutes of SCREAMING at the top of his lungs and looking at us WAITING for us to come get him (inevitably for him to get back up there...I'm sure) he figured it out and was SO proud of himself. We clapped, he danced, and the cycle continued for the next 30 minutes...haha!

He's pointing at EVERYTHING now! We have a series of picture books for him that are VERY heavy duty and he especially LOVES the animal book. I try to make noises of all the animals (except for, you know, the Panda, or the Giraffe...we have to glaze over those pages) and he laughs so hard on some of them. He's especially fond of the Dino, the Dog and the Sheep! He even tries to make the Elephant sound...it's SO sweet!

He loves his xylophone, his train (push and ride toy) and he still loves to dance! He rocks back and forth and bounces up and down anytime there's music on ANYWHERE!! His daddy also bought him his first matchbox car and he's learning to make vroom vroom noises and push it around! (Everything's a car these days, and, frankly, EVERYTHING gets pushed around with vroom vroom noises!) He loves his big yellow ball that Pops' bought him, and during the evening when I'm fixing dinner, his activity of choice is sitting in the floor with my metal colander, a long plastic ladle and goldfish! He hits the colander, turns it over, puts his goldfish in there, dumps them out and stays content for usually 30-45 minutes this way! (On a side note, he turns EVERYTHING over, his toys, our cell phones, anything gets flipped end over end if it's in his hands! Even his goldfish get flipped around a few times...I guess he feels the need to inspect everything!)

He's not horribly talkative, but knows how to get his point across. He says Lolli, DaDa, MaMa, Pop-Pop and Bye-Bye a lot. (The last two sound interestingly similar) He's started saying something akin to "Cal-Chi" which, I interpreted as Malachi since he hears his name so much, but, one of his daycare teachers thought he was saying outside...so we're still not sure about that one! ALL food is num-num and we're working on please and thank you. There was a little girl the other day at the doctor's office who was saying a LOT more, but I've come to learn that little girls just talk more than little boys...I think it's instinct...haha!

He's also learning the difficulties of discipline! The other night he got his first time-out in his room after a spanking. He threw a wall-eyed FIT at me and screamed AT me when he was finished eating. So, a swat on the leg and to his bed it was. After a few minutes of screaming I went in to see if he was ready to calm down and as soon as I went in his room, the screaming went UP a few octaves so back out I came for some more cool-down time. Then, after another few minutes (like maybe 5 at the most) I went BACK in and picked him up because he had calmed down. As soon as I picked him up, it started all over again. Finally, after about 3 or 4 cycles of this he had completely quieted down and I went in expecting to see him asleep. BUT, he was looking at the ceiling and when he saw me, his hands went up and he didn't make another peep. He finally got it! It was SO hard on me and daddy, BUT, he will learn and I'd rather deal with it NOW than 20 years from now! He has learned that he can't scream when he's getting dressed in the morning and get away with it and he's learning that when we SAY NO, we MEAN NO! It's hard, but it's part of our job as his parents to teach him right from wrong!

I know this has been a book, but I want to make sure I record everything I can so that when he comes back and looks at everything when he's older, he'll be able to see as many details as we can remember!

Oh, and by the way, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post pictures from him eating his first cherry donut with Lolli and Pop at the Donut Stop! A new tradition has begun!