Saturday, August 18 ... First Haircut!!!

Today Rowan had his first haircut!!! According to some people (like the hairdresser and my mother) LONG OVERDUE.
I love the idea of him having long hair, but I promised I would cut it when it became a mullet.

The other morning I tried to style it into a cute mohock ... and it promptly fell over. Then I tried to do a One Direction sweep thing.


(That's Harry. He's my favorite.)

But it sort of looking more like a Donald Trump.


(shudder ...)

Also, this child does not stay still long enough to get a decent picture.





Overall, this wouldn't bother me. Except that it's really short on the sides. That equals a mullet.


(this was from June, so imagine it WAY longer on the front and back, and just as short on the sides)

So I found a great kids' barber shop nearby, and we made the two-bus trek over to Middle Village to Frankie's Play Playce, a great little shop with barber seats like rocket ships and taxicabs.





The Hairdresser asked "Which show? Elmo, Dora, Wiggles?" They actually did have Blue's Clues (Blue's Big Music Show). At first, baby was not impressed.



Note: remember those old VHS movies that had several minutes of commercials and previews that the beginning? It's a good idea to have the tape cued up to the actual movie when using it to distract a toddler. Once we got the movie actually going, he was fine.



The hairdresser said, "I've never seen a TV show work so quickly on a kid!" That's just how we roll at our house.

And within about 30 seconds ...





The best part was the little playroom in the back, full of other people's toys (which are, of course, way better than his own).






And there's just something about a man wearing your baby.




Then we all went out for ice cream!

Saturday, August 11 ... 16 months

16 months!!!

The other day I said, "What if he just stayed this age forever? He learns a new word every day, but some day he's going to know all the words. And it won't be cute anymore. Let's just keep him like this."

"Like the ghost baby in American Horror Story?" said Chris.

Sigh. No, dear. Not like the dead baby.

Anyway ...

Words:

Momma

Dadda

Daugh (dog)

Buh (bus)

Bubbah (bubbles)

Anana (banana ... sometimes boobies)

Moe (more)

Ah dah (all done)

Nuh nuh (n'night)

No (that one's a little obvious)

Jss (juice)

Shzz (shoes)

Huh (hug)

Bah (ball)

Ma (mine? me?)

I've heard rumors that he's said "milk" and "Mariana" (the teacher), but I'll believe it when I hear it.

Signs:

More

All done

Milk

Juice

Food

Cracker

Boobie (looks a lot like juice)

Dadda

... so it's a lot of food ... and Dadda. awesome.

New skills:

He can push the rocking chair up to the side of couch and use it to climb up.

He can put the shoes away in the shoe bin.

He can take off momma and dadda's shoes and socks.

He can turn on and off the TV with the remote, change the settings on the AC with its remote, and pause Blue's Clues, forcing me out the shower so I can fix it.

He "walks the dog" by grabbing onto the leash and walking around.

Sits down and reads books. Sometimes books that are way too old for him.




He still likes to clean. But he gets in way more now.




He still loves his girlfriends. He kisses Isabella when we arrive at school (and Jarod too, now that you mention it).


He LOVES being upside down. I regularly walk around the house with him flung around my shoulders like a mink.


He's still a fantastic eater. He eats everything that we eat. Sometimes not a gracefully as we eat, but he seems to love it.

Other fun things ...

He met his great-grandparents for the first time!

Four generations of Chamberland men!

He rode Grampy's tractor

We've been watching A LOT of Olympics!


That's also meant a lot of snuggle time on the couch for both baby and puppy!


We made a kiddy pool in the front courtyard.


And I still haven't cut his hair. We will soon, I promise. It's getting a little out of hand.



Oh, and we bought a lock for the toilet. We realized that saying "Don't put TOYS in the TOIlet was sort of confusing. Also I don't want to have to shell out for another iPhone.