Cookies and "Camping"

For Stephen's last week of school this semester, we decided to make some cookies using Grandma Deb's "special" cookie recipe, and Stephen shook the sprinkles onto them. With his Grandaddy's help, he sprinkled the cookies, and half of the kitchen floor. His teachers LOVED the cookies.


We also took Stephen's Plasma Car over to OCU for a spin last week He really loves that toy!!
And Stephen has spent some time "camping" in his gift from his grandparents. He loves to sit in his tent and look at books, but he especially loves to read his birthday cards in there. Silly boy!

Four!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Stephen's FOURTH birthday! On Wednesday, he started running a fever from what we THOUGHT was a mild reaction to the 3 shots he'd had the day before. On Thursday, he woke up from a very short nap with a fever again, and a stuffy nose. On Friday, I had to reschedule the Tumble Bus for his party, which was being rescheduled for January, since Stephen was now sick with a full-blown cold. Disappointing, to be sure, but Stephen was a VERY happy four year old earlier in the week!

He is already on the mend (and today is taking his first REAL nap in almost a WEEK!), so he should be feeling better to try to visit with a jolly, rotund man in a red suit later this week.

Fist Bump!

Stephen has decided that the "fist bump" is far cooler than giving high fives. All you have to do is ask him to give a fist bump, and he'll do it! Sometimes he'll just keep doing it and doing it, though... obviously, he likes this "big boy" greeting quite a bit!

It only took a few times demonstrating this for him to get it. Erik and I have both noticed that it doesn't take Stephen QUITE as long to figure out how to imitate motor skills as it used to. Hopefully this means that he is getting better at his motor planning!

It's almost December?!?!?! Already?

Grandpa Rick was here for about a week right before Turkey Day... actually, he flew back home on Thanksgiving so he could get all of the Christmas lights put up before heading back to work. Unfortunately, we were so busy that I didn't get too many pictures. BUT, Grandpa DID give Stephen an early birthday gift - a remote control train! Stephen LOVES it!!

Many hours have been spent with the train already. Stephen came down with a nasty cold on the day of our feast, but managed to enjoy some delicious food anyways. Since then, however, its all been downhill. Hopefully he'll get to go back to school this week...

I'm also including a picture of most of our feast (the green beans were still cooking). Erik is a fantastic cook, and I am very fortunate that he ENJOYS it so much. He looks forward to cooking for Thanksgiving for months...


See you in December!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey!

Public Service Announcement

I'm taking some time away from Stephen updates to post a link to an extraordinarily informative blog post regarding winter carseat safety. If you are a parent or grandparent, please, PLEASE read and watch the video. Carseats are ONLY safe if they are being used properly.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/109699/6_tips_for_winter_car

In other news, Stephen still loves his new bed, and is sleeping much better. Hopefully this is the solution, and we'll all be better rested.

Big Boy Bed update!

Well, Stephen has been sleeping in his new bed all week, and so far, it's been going well! We thought that moving him to a larger bed would help reduce his night wakings, and it seems to be working. We suspected that Stephen was moving around at night, and waking himself up when he hit the sides of his small bed. Hopefully this new change will mean better sleep for ALL of us!

In other news, we have been busy planning Stephen's birthday party. We are hoping that his friends from school will be joining us to celebrate, and play. I think he'll have a really good time.