My mom, dad, and I went to the Brookfield Zoo the weekend before Christmas. Boy was it cold out! But we still had a good time! I saw camels, bison, wolves, and monkeys. Mom and I rode on a little train. I loved splashing in the puddles and walking through the snow.
Christmas morning I could barely sleep I was so excited to see what Santa left me so I woke mom and dad up at 5 a.m.! They were as excited as I was to get up at that time!:) Turns out Santa got my letter and brought me lots of Elmo stuff! Mom, dad, and I played until we took short breakfast break and laid down for a very short minute. But then my Nonnie came over at 6 a.m.!! I knew I could count on my Nonnie to come play with me so early! I showed her everything I got. Then my gammy got up and I showed her the video of me getting all my Santa gifts. Auntie Kathleen took out her camera so I had a photo shoot on my new scooter toy. Don't I look so cool in my new glasses?:) Later on I found lots of Sesame characters in my stocking! I couldn't believe it! Uncle Kev and I squealed and threw them in the air because we were so happy!:) Da loved the new Alexander books I got him. We read together every night before bed. He is the best story teller! My Loughlin family came over later and I got to run around and play with everyone which was awesome! I also got to see my Nana and Papa Jim! I ate lots of good food again thanks to my Gammy. All in all a fabulous Christmas with my family!!
This year I spent Christmas Eve at my Great-Aunt Pam and Great-Uncle Terry's house with my Brown family. I had so much fun! I loved how Aunt Pam decorated her house, she had all these dancing, singing characters everywhere. I danced and sang with them, they made me laugh, especially Elvis! I ate yummy food and got to play with everyone and run around, that's my kind of a good time! Then before I went to bed we opened presents. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened my present from Aunt Pam and Uncle Terry, it was a Sesame Street shirt!! I love Sesame, especially Elmo:) Couldn't ask for a better Christmas Eve with my family!!
My Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last weekend and mom and dad went downtown and left me overnight for the first time ever! I had so much fun with my Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Joe, we went out to eat and went outside and played and read lots of books! Here we are reading one of my favorites, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Yeahhhhh! Finally snow! Mom suited me up in multiple layers of clothing and a snowsuit (Uncle Joe teased me that I looked like the little brother from The Christmas Story:) and we headed out to play in the snow. Uncle Joe taught me how to throw snowballs, especially at my mom:) We built a little snowman and went for a walk. It was slushy and wet and snowy and awesome!
We saw the first flurries of snow this week. It was very exciting! I hope there is snow for Christmas!
I spent Thanksgiving in East Lansing this year with my Noel family. Grandma, Mom, and I went to see Santa at the mall. Last year we waited 2 hours and this year we only waited 2 minutes:) As soon as Santa got there I waved hi and he hi-fived me. Grandma and I waited in line and I told her how I couldn't wait to sit on his lap and how I wouldn't be scared. But then it was my turn and I got a little nervous but Santa was nice and he showed me a stuffed Reindeer and I wasn't scared anymore. He gave me a candy cane and I tried to feed it to his real Reindeer. I had such a fun weekend!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with my Brown family a few days before we headed to Michigan. I showed Nonnie Elmo on the computer and we ate turkey. Isn't this a good picture of me with my whole family? I'm so glad we got to see everyone!
Trick-or-Treating is definitely my thing. I had the time of my life! That's me and my posse- my mom, dad, Uncle Joe, Aunt Kathleen and Jayme. I got to go up to everyone's door and knock and then throw candy...mostly into my bag:) My neighborhood was decked out! I ran into Darth Vader right away, I beat him in a duel:) Earlier in the day I went to my friend Sophia's for a halloween party, everyone there had such great costumes! I can't wait for Halloween next year, we're already thinking of costumes:)
I don't know how he did it, but my dad found the BEST pumpkin patch EVER! I rode a pony and a camel! I ate awesome doughnuts and we picked out some pumpkins to carve. I love the pumpkin patch!
Well as you can see I've been a very busy boy lately. I got to go to the Children's Museum in Glenview with my Uncle Joey then again with my Gammy! I love the museum! There are so many great things to do there. My favorite is the water activity. Here I am making friends having lunch with Gammy. 
It's starting to feel like fall so mom, Uncle Joey and I went to the zoo. We saw a few animals, I rode the carousel which is my absolute favorite, and I spent the rest of the time running away from my mom and Uncle Joe. I rode two animals on the carousel. I first got on the cheetah but then I changed my mind and wanted to ride the hyena. I screamed and clapped my hands it was so much fun! I love walking around now that I know how. I don't want to ride in a stroller and if you try to pick me up I will run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. I might have short legs but I just point my belly in the direction I want to go in and my legs start flyin'! Trust me, I'm fast!
Today I went to the Arlington Race Track with my dad and the Brown's. I had a great time! My Great-Uncle Mike explained everything to me and I cheered on the horses! My Gammy took me down to the finish line and I got to watch the horses race up close.
This is me last week at the park. Thank goodness I'd face planted in the dirt a few minutes earlier because a little girl tried to kiss me! But she went in for the kiss when she noticed the dirt around my mouth and said "ewwwww he has dirty lips!"
Today I ran my first race! Well actually I rode in my stroller while my mom and dad ran but I was really good the whole time (I only whined a little bit)! It was the WTTW fun run in Lincoln Park. There were so many kids there! Dad took me in this blowup tunnel that looked fun but...not so much. Maybe it was the wind blowing through the tunnel that scared me? In any case that's me crawling out at the end crying. So since that went so well mom decided to take me in a big bouncy obstacle course which was equally scary! Then it was race time. The next picture looks like I'm wishing that little girl in her stroller good luck but I was really telling her that my dad would beat her dad in a race any day:) Uncle Joe came to watch the race and turns out my dad really did kick butt for his first race! I gave him a big hug at the end because he did so good!
Goodbye Gymboree, summer has ended. Goodbye Teddy who screamed at the top of his lungs for no reason. Goodbye Bear, your name doesn't sound so strange anymore, and you were fun! Goodbye song time, I was over it already. Goodbye hills I conquered and tunnels I climbed through. Goodbye Gymboree I'll miss you but I'll be back this winter and if you think I am a fast crawler, just wait til you see me runnin'!
I've been in MI since Thursday visiting my family. It was fun! We had a picnic in the park and I rode on the merry-go-round for the first time. That's a picture of me and my grandpa joking around:)
I got to play with Rocky my grandparents dog. I think we are becoming better friends, he doesn't bark at me like he used to, now he just barks at whoever is holding me. And thats a picture of me with Anika, Meika, and Noa, my mom's friend Amanda's little girls. Boy did they wear me out playing! And that's my cousin Lindsay giving me my bottle before bed.
My Auntie Kathleen met me at the park today. It was gorgeous out! We played on the swings, I drove the train and I played with all the kids in the sprinkler. What fun!
It's amazing what you can accomplish by 8 a.m. when you get up at 5:30. That's why it's great when my Grandma and Grandpa George are here. My Grandpa George is the only person I know that gets up earlier than I do. My mom is usually a walking zombie but Grandpa played with me and read to me, then we drove my little car to Starbucks. I waved hi to everyone I saw. The Starbucks barista's said they wanted to get me my own little green Starbucks apron and put me on the counter to greet people. We were the first people at Southport Grocery for breakfast. We noticed that the only people insane enough to be up at this hour getting breakfast were other people with babies:)
This week at Gymboree my special guests were my Grandma and Grandpa Noel! They had never been before so I got to show them all I can do. That's me climbing into the toy bin. I love bringing people to Gymboree with me. The teachers there always laugh and say I come with my own paparazzi. There might be some truth to that. But doesn't every baby stop what they are doing, turn and smile when they see a camera?:)
At the park, as always, but this time Uncle Joey AND Kristine came with us. We played in the sprinklers, went on the swings and I tried as hard as I could to climb up the slide to no avail.
I spent the 4th of July at my Gammy and Papa's cottage. Boy was it fun! I got so much attention! Aunt Meg and I tried to catch a duck and her ducklings but they didn't want anything to do with me. I also chased the neighbor's dog Daisy but she didn't want to play with me either. Oh well, I'll be faster next year:) We played on the beach and I snuggled with my gammy early in the morning. I started to have a meltdown but I can always count on Uncle Kev to cheer me up with a good game of "throw the toys to/at him".
My Nonnie and Gammy came over to see me last week. Nonnie let me wear her glasses- I think I look like a movie star in them:) Then we went to Gymboree and I got to show them what a good climber I am! Hip hip hurray it's a Nonnie, Gammy AND Gymboree day!
Last weekend I went to Bails cottage and we hung out with John and Kim. Bails let me drive the boat (which I'm really good at from all my practice in WI and MI). We hung out at the sandbar and I floated in my favorite floaty. That's a picture of me trying to steal Bails pizza. It was a fun weekend!
The past four days my family has been in Door County, Wisconsin just hanging out having fun. The first day we got there we went right to the pool. The pool is my absolute favorite! This is my mom and dad and I at dinner after going to the pool. We went to the pool every morning at 7:30 and had the whole pool to ourselves!
On Sunday we rented a pontoon boat and went out on Green Bay for a few hours, afterwards we grilled out.
Monday morning mom, dad and I went biking at Penninsula State Park. It was so fun, I got to ride in the bike trailer and we stopped at a park that had swings along the way and had a picnic. Then that afternoon we went golfing. Well actually mom and I just watched dad golf- but look at that view from the 9th hole!! Tuesday we had to go home- boooo, I love vacation. But we got to stop by the radio station my dad used to work for and see his friend Nick. He let me pretend to broadcast. My dad said I'm a natural:) Family vacations are the best!
Today we were going to go to Shedd Aquarium, however we weren't the only people that heard it was free today. After seeing the line of at least a thousand people we walked to Navy Pier. It was a beautiful day out. We had lunch then I got to taste ice cream which was the coldest thing I've ever tasted. So I'd scrunch up my face then smile and laugh really hard because it was so good! Mom took me on the carousel and I rode a giraffe. It was cool but next time I want to ride the horse that goes up and down. 
So mom locked me in the bathroom with her today while she showered. She only gave me a few toys and moved the trash can out of my reach. B-o-r-i-n-g...until I spotted the toilet paper. 
...the park turned on the sprinklers!!! Yeahhhhh! It didn't take me long to get warmed up to the water and I dragged Uncle Joe in with me. It felt good, it was hot today!
Today I went to Ribfest a few blocks from our house. I got to pet an alligator, I got a balloon and I tried ribs...yummy!
My friend Sophia is turning 1 and I went to her birthday party today. It was fun. I helped Sophia open her presents, ate chocolate cake and I showed all the other babies how to climb the stairs and try to escape from our moms. That's my friend Luke helping me put on my hat...that I hated! I screamed, pulled it off and chewed it up. I love parties.
I love the new park right by my dad's train stop. Mom and I wait for him there and he comes to push me on the swings when he is done with work. My dad is funny, he was even making the little boy on the swing next to me laugh. My dad is the best!
This is me and Uncle Joe at the petting zoo today. I got to swing at the park then we saw baby chickens, a pig, cows, and goats. Uncle Joe weighed me on the big animal scale and it said I weigh the same as a chicken.
I went to Gymboree today and brought my uncle Joe with me. I showed him how I can climb through tunnels and scale walls. Today when I was playing under the parachute it knocked me over, I didn't get hurt but uncle Joe said I looked like a turtle that got flipped onto it's back, mom was laughing too hard to say anything. The little girl with pigtails sitting behind me kissed me. Hip hip hurray, it's a Gymboree day!
