"On-Cation House" & What's up

We had to go up north to close my dad's estate on the 9th,so we decided to stay at the cottage for a few days. Halen was excited all week to go. He just loves it up there. The weather was beautiful. It made it nice to be outside. Carl took him down to the lake to walk on the ice, but once they got there he didn't want to do it. We took his new legos and built lots of castles and cars.

I think that he is getting a little stir crazy from being cooped up all winter. The melt-downs the past two weeks have been a lot of fun....lol he is also going through a phase where he likes to climb in bed with us in the middle of the night. Sometimes I don't even realize he does it until the next morning.

He is very into his scooter, trains, legos and cars. I set him up a play area in the basement so he could have a little more room for his toys. If I'm not tripping over them in the living room, I am constantly picking up his room. Out of sight, out of mind I say!

He weighs 30 pounds and is 35 inches tall. He just went through a growth spirt. I swear he asked me for cheese 3 or4 times a day for a week straight.

Hello 2009

Hello again everyone!

Christmas was great this year:) Halen was excited about all of the gift that Santa brought him as well as everything else he got from family, friends and Carl & I. He got the scooter he had been asking Santa for for months! He also got lots of Thomas & Cars stuff. HE LOVES CARS!!
Anyway, I will post pictures and another update soon.

What's new

Not too much is new around the Schmidt house. Halen is happy ,healthy and full of energy. I swear he only knows how to run. He is very into the movie Cars still and loves Thomas almost as much. He also has a thing for fire trucks, rescue vehicles and construction trucks. He knows where just about every fire station and construction site is in the local area. He points them out every time and wants to ride on ALL of them.
He painted his first picture yesterday. Up until now, I only let him have crayons, markers and colored pencils. I forgot that I had tucked away some toddler paints he got as a gift last year. I found them last week and thought I would let him try it. He really liked it.
Once again he is obsessed with Santa. We had to buy him a new Santa hat because we cannot find the one from last year. He is so very excited to see Santa, write him a letter, and show him the Toys R Us sale ads he has been saving up. Each time we get one he calls it his newspaper and pours over it and tells me all the things he wants. I just keep telling him to tell Santa when he sees him. I caught him ripping out a section the other day. He only wanted the one toy, so he thought he would tear out just that corner and put it in his back pack. Too funny!
We are doing the Polar Express train ride again this year. I can't wait!! What a fun time we had last year. The story, the songs and of course SANTA!!
We have watched the movie several times already.
I am so looking forward to watching Halen open gifts this year. He is gonna be a trip !

Poo-Poo Progress!

Well, Halen has successfully pooped on the toilet for four days in a row!!! I also started leaving his potty chair in his room during nap time, due to an accident over the weekend. He has been getting up to go potty like a champ. In fact, yesterday he pooped and peed in his potty all by himself. I was so proud of him.

Trick or Treat!

Halen had so much fun. He loved going to houses and getting candy. (most of which he won't get...lol) Once he realized that he could say trick or treat and people gave him candy for his spider (treat bag), he ran to and from every house!

Potty Update

Well, we are a few weeks into potty training. Halen has been doing so well. He even attempts to do it all on his own. He is very good about telling me when he has to go too.
We have eliminated any pull up or diaper at nap time. He goes potty before and after nap and doesn't have any accidents. He is still going sometimes at night, so we are still using a diaper for that. We tried pull ups at night, but when he has an accident he gets very upset and comes to my room. He does not like to pee on himself. In fact when he uses the potty, he strips off everything from the waist down so as not to pee on anything.
He still does not really like pooping on the potty. He tried to get to his potty chair during nap yesterday because I told him that if he had to go poop or pee to get up and try. I also told him to call for me if he needed help. He made it to the hallway and pooped his pants. What a mess! (no underwear)

Potty Time!

Well, it's that time. Potty training I mean. We started on Saturday (10/11) . Halen had a few accidents right away in the morning. To be expected!
He has went through every nap and most nights with a dry diaper. I had to take him to work on Monday to exchange with Carl. I put him in a diaper to be safe. He peed twice on the toilet while we were there.
He is doing very well with the whole thing I have to say. Other than Saturday, he has had only a couple of accidents.
However, he has not mastered pooping on the potty. I think he's a little afraid to be honest. When he pees, he jumps right off and announces his accomplishment. When he poops, he hides from us.
I have to devise a poop plan I suppose...lol

Fall Fun!

Well, Halen is still enjoying being outside. We have had some beautiful days to be outdoors. We got out his Thomas Bounce house and filled it with balls one day. We have been to the cider mill twice. Halen rode a pony and LOVED it! He kept telling the pony to "getty-up" Silly me forgot the camera both times. We also recently went up to the cottage for a couple of days. Halen's GG turned 89 last Monday, so we went to visit her while we were up north. When we were leaving I told him to give GG kisses and he did. He reached back and told me he wanted to hug GG too. He's only met her a couple of times, but seemed to really gravitate toward her. He wanted to push her around in her wheelchair too.

The other day, he was riding his fire truck on the patio. He pulled up to the basement window and said,"cappuccino please." Then he ordered himself some nuggies and fries. Then he took my cappuccino in the house and put it on the counter for me. So funny! I actually make cappuccino at home. I rarely order it out.

Halen is into washing his hands, especially after he eats. He always has to have a napkin during a meal because he does not like stuff on his hands. Spaghetti is an interesting meal. He thinks that once there is something on his napkin he should get a whole new one. I have to fold it so it looks clean again.

He and the dog have made a pact to drive me insane some days I think. They must secretly discuss which days to misbehave together ALL DAY LONG! The dog steals Halen's toys and Halen jumps on the dog. Funny enough though, Jager LOVES Halen. He gets very worried if Halen goes to visit a neighbor. He paces at the fence and barks & barks.

Halen's new great love......the movie Cars! I swear that I have had to watch it 30 times in the last two weeks.

I've included a new slide show of pictures. My favorite is Halen sleeping in the highchair up at the cottage. He was so warn out that he fell asleep mid dinner.

Halloween is coming!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I am hoping that Halen will love it as much as I do. He is going to be Frankenstein this year. We are also planning on taking him to Green Field Village for their Halloween festivities. Yeah!!!

Thoughts

I have to say that I love watching Halen grow! He is funny and smart and SASSY! He hits the floor running in the morning and doesn't stop until bed time. His mouth runs as fast as his feet most of the day as well.
He"drives" his firetruck to the store for the newspaper. He goes to Ninos to get mom groceries. Sometimes he says he's "just gotta drive some place." He "cooks" us food all the time. We had pizza, pie, burgers and fries on Thursday. He made us all forks out of sticks to eat with too.
He loves to read and be read to. Thomas The tank engine is one of his favorite story books. For the past two years, my mother in law has sent him Ladybug, which is a new book of stories once a month. He loves when his special book from Grandma comes. We read it together and then he likes to go off by himself and read it all alone.

Vacation ,Vacation!

Well, summer is over......
We had great fun this year. Halen loved the pool and LOVES being outside. We spent the last two week of summer on vacation. Carl & I took Halen to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City and then we came home for four days and took back of to our cottage up in Leroy. (By Cadillac) We had so much fun. Halen loved the lake and getting dirty!

We went for some nice drives up in Traverse City and took Halen to lake Michigan and to a light house. Again, he loved the lake. He is just a fish. When we were at Great Wolf, he floated on his back through the lazy river. I was surprised at how much fun I had at the water park. Maybe is was just watching Halen have fun.

What's in a name?

I think it is so funny the names Halen gives to people.


Aunt Anita= Dita
Aunt Cathy= Cup of Coffee,Coffee or cof
Our neighbor Bonnie= Bon
He climbs the fence and can just about make it over to get into her yard. He loves Bonnie.

Summer is Flying By!!

Wow, summer seems to be getting away from us. I feel as though it just began and here we are almost into August.
Halen loves the warm weather, being in the yard and swimming in the pool. Or, as he says "the big wimmin pool!" He also like to ride around on one of his 6,000 cars or bikes. He parks them next to his toy box outside and tells me he's putting them in the garage. Uncle Tommy got him a mini 4wheeler for his birthday. He loves driving it, but he doesn't understand how to steer it yet. He is always stuck up against something.
Our dog is getting big quick. He LOOOVVVEEESS Halen. Even though they constantly steal from one another like brothers, Halen loves Jager too. He likes to give him treats and pet him. He also likes to sit on him and try to get him to wiggle.
We have been pretty low key so far this summer. Halen has seen fireworks 4 times though. He really likes them. This past weekend we went to Yale to visit my brother. It was the Bologna Festival. We went to the parade in town. Halen sat for almost 2 hours without a peep. All of his favorites were there. Fire trucks, tractors, trucks, motorcycles, go carts, etc..... He was in car heaven!
Also last week, we saw the Budweiser Clydesdales up at Rogers Roost. He still tells me about the horsies. It was really neat to see.
Along with the joys of summer have come some not so fun stuff. Halen has been waking up a lot at night. Probably nightmares(which are normal at his age) and he thinks that he doesn't need a nap. He also has become well acquainted with Time Out. My favorite is his latest saying when things aren't going his way. He tells me to leave him alone. What a stinker huh?
We will be having a big 40th Birthday party for Carl next weekend and at the end of August we are taking Halen to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. I am looking forward to both events.

Big Boy!

Halen is such a big boy now and he will tell you so. He is very busy from sun up to sun down. He talks all day long and asks a lot of questions.

He is very into trucks. When we are in the car he tells me about all of the trucks he sees. Cement truck, garbage truck, pop truck, beer truck, gravel truck, school bus, camper,trailer,etc... he even knows the difference between specific types of cars. He knows that a Honda minivan is grandmas car and a Chrysler minivan is NayNays car.

His other new thing is that he calls his Aunt Cathy "cup of coffee." So funny!! Also, all men he doesn't know are Bob. He also randomly breaks into to song a lot. Usually a made up song but sometimes Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I will have more and some pictures soon.

Two weeks till the big 0-2!!

Hello again everyone!

Halen has been very busy lately. Last weekend we went up to my dads to get started on cleaning out his house. Halen like the ride, mainly because he loves trucks. Of course on the expressway they're everywhere. He had fun up north playing with his cousins. He really liked "driving" my dads lawn tractor and RV. He's too cute sometimes.

Thursday the 8th, we drove to Ohio to pick up Halen's very first puppy, a pure bread American Bulldog. We named him Jager. He weighs 17 pounds and is very adorable. Halen loves dogs so much that I could,'t wait any longer to get him his own.

We spent a very wet Mothers Day at Greenfield Village for "A day out with Thomas." It was unfortunate that it poured down rain because all of the activites would have been fun. The train ride was enough. We basically sat in water the whole time. We took Halen's friend Tyler too. Poor kids were soaked. We went to the gift shop and called it a day.

I was very surprised the other day when I heard Halen counting. We always count to 3 for things so I thought that was the extent of him numbers. Out of nowhere he counted to 10 totally unprompted. Now we do it together too. He takes every other number. He is talking a lot too. Questions galore. My favorite is when he hears a plane. He says, "I heard a plane." He sounds like Tattoo from Fantasy Island though. Cracks me up!!

Can you believe Halen is almost two?

Hello again everyone!

It has been a while since I have truly updated Halen's comings and goings. He is growing so quickly and in so many ways lately. His speech is amazing to me. We have conversations all the time. He tells me what he wants and thinks ALL the time now. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I do not. Today we were at the store picking out a birthday gift for his future wife Julia. If he didn't like something that I was picking out he would tell me, "I don't like it." At first I didn't think I heard him correctly. When I picked out something that he DID like, he said, "I like it." What a stinker huh? These new phrases continued at JoAnns when we went there. I went to get a keepsake box for my fathers flag. He told me he liked it when I put it in the cart. Funny!
His last four teeth are coming in. Actually they started a couple of weeks ago. He had a high fever and Croup on top of it. The night before my fathers funeral, we were at the hospital until one in the morning. Halen was a big fat mess that whole week. All he wanted was me! I was so overwhelmed with him and all that was going on. Anyway, he is back to himself and not a minute to soon.

He is VERY into Thomas the train. We went to visit his cousins last week and they still have their old Thomas stuff. He was in HEAVEN. He played with the trains and tracks for quite a while. I think I will have a Thomas themed Birthday party for him this year.

His new favorite thing is OUTSIDE!!! Ever since we got this break in the weather he wants to be outside. He loves playing with the neighbor dogs and talking to the neighbors. He knows all the dogs names and he knows Charlie who lives behind us. We went for a nice walk last night and Halen did not want to go home. He cried when I got him out of the stroller.

Most notably however, Halen has been in a toddler bed for several weeks. He kept trying to climb out of his crib so I had to go to a bed. The first night was rough. After that it was smooth sailing. He loves his bed!

Happy Spring....Finally:)~

I thought that the snow would never end! Halen really enjoyed it However!

It's been a while.

Hello again everyone~

The past month has been hectic to say the least. I keep meaning to update the blog, but things keep happening. I have been bogged down with school work and our computer was out of commission for two weeks to name a few. Most notably however, my father passed away on March 17th. I feel sad for myself and my family, but more so for Halen. He will never remember meeting his grandpa. I was always comforted by the fact that Halen would know my dad even though he never met my mom. It breaks my heart. My mom and dad were great grandparents. Fortunately for Halen he has two other wonderful grandparents who love him very much. He loves spending time with Grandma & Papa!

Lets catch up!

Wow, have we been busy! What a great vacation we had while our friends were here from Florida. Halen and their daughter Bailey went sledding for the first time ever. As a matter of fact, they landed the day we had that huge storm. (2/6) It took them several hours to get to our house. When they finally did, the kids wanted to go sledding right away. So, at 10 pm we ventured out to the hill down the street. The gate was closed, so we parked at the road and walked. It was so much fun! Just us and about four other people. When I put Halen on Carl's lap to go down the hill, he said "Weee" The next day was a different story though. We tried to go back and there was about 200 people out there. (no school that day) We also went downtown for the WinterBlast on Friday. That was fun too. The kids tent and marshmallow roasting was neat. By far, My favorite was the Kahlua & Hot Chocolate trailer. lol......

Well, Halen gives knuckles now. sometimes not so willingly though. He says "knuckles" and gives them to himself more often then he gives them to others. He also looovveess Thomas the train. He calls him choo choo. He now says chug-a chug-a choo choo when he plays with his Thomas toy train I bought him.

He has also discovered a love for basketball. I bought him a net to go along with the 10,000 balls he has. He really likes dunking the ball.

Halen likes to walk around the house in mine and Carl's shoes. He also like to dig into the winter accessories basket for dress up. He will put on hats and gloves along with the shoes and while he's on his way to show me, stop and grab a spatula or spoon. He will check himself out in the mirror and laugh.

My favorite new thing is how he really enjoys throwing his diapers away. He grabs it away from me and runs to the garbage can. He steps on the foot pedal and holds it open while he throws the diaper in. Then, he claps for himself and says "yeah" I love it!!!

I have new words to share.

89.ouch
90. Happy
91. No
92. cracker
93. crayon
94. color
95. team
96. paper
97. milk
98. monkey
99. bunny
100. nuggle (snuggle)
101. mote (remote)
102. shopping
103. knuckles
104. chuga-a choo choo!
105. basketball