Spring Training...Not So Relaxing This Year!

Three. Yup, that's all you get. Three measly pictures. Granted we seemed to be super busy this year, with Anthony traveling, and me planning the big birthday extravaganza, and who knows what else. Spring training seemed to be over began it even started, and I think we made it to two games all told. Vinny saw none of them, and neither did we come to think of it. If we weren't chasing him up and down the hill you see above inning after inning, we were stuffing his little face with snacks in hopes of keeping him still so we could catch our breath! He was the center of attention for all who strolled by center field, as you could hear him giggle and squeal a mile away. And how exciting it was for Vinny to finally figure out how to roll down a hill! Knowing how little he enjoys sticky hands, he must unhappy about the cotton candy we let him try for the first time in the picture above! Either that or he just scrubbed in for surgery...but somehow I doubt that.

Not Your Most Conventional Way to Celebrate St. Paddy's Day...!

Phoenix Suns Day On the Court

Anthony had the opportunity to go play basketball with his Cigna co workers in the US Airways Arena today. So off we went to watch Daddy and Uncle Tom dominate the court. There wasn't much basketball watching though...Vinny ran around the court and up and down the steps for one hour straight!

A quick pause to cheer for Daddy...

Time out for a quick snack...This by the way was Cigna's cheering section.
Daddy, Vinny, and Uncle Tom.
Mr. Brian helped Vinny shoot some free throws.
After the game, Vinny ran around the court non-stop. This was as close as I could get to a still shot.
Yeah right Ma, you want me to stand still here on center court? No way!
We tried luring him with a ball...geesh, this kid is quick!
This is how Vinny passed much of his time...running around the rows, setting all the seats down. I'm sure US Airways staff appreciated this bit of helpfulness.
Playing ball with his pals Ben and Hannah.
Finally, Anthony was able to wrangle Vinny for a super cute picture!
Not 10 minutes into our ride home...

Mommy's Little Leprechaun

Still squirrelly, I remember how much smaller Vinny was when I took his picture in this chair last year!
After a long day, it's time to put away the camera before we melt down! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring Break!

Warm Weather = Water Table!

Vinsanity (a nickname coined by a friend that is making more and more sense these days)

Springtime doesn't seem to last long out here in the desert...I suppose I take the winter for granted. So before it heats up for good, Vinny and I are enjoying some trips to the park in town. He is so brave and quick on his feet. No need to climb on the playscape with him-he knows exactly where to go and what to do all by himself, including sprinting towards the pond to say hi to the ducks. Needless to say, I get a little workout chasing after him!

While I don't have a picture, I have to share Vinny's first traumatic experience on the slide. Ant took him to the tot lot behind our house last weekend. Being the hands on dad that he is, Ant couldn't just wait idly on the ground waiting for Vinny to come down the slides...he had to run around on the playscape with him, of course. Well, before he knew it, Vinny took off down a slide...on his tummy...and the poor kid face-planted in the sand below. Sand stuck to every sweaty inch of his head and hands. Ant did his best to brush him off and quickly loaded him back on his trike and got him home. Into the tub Vinny went, and all you could hear was the crunch of sand in his teeth. A few scrapes and "sand burn" still remain a couple days later, and the incident is now just a thing of the past, no lasting emotional damage. He was right back to running, climbing, sliding, and giggling today! Oh, and the safe stable stairs to the top...no no no. Those are apparently way too boring. Why take the easy way up when you can climb the slippery ladder rungs with nothing but air underneath? Ugh, seriously, I am going to have a heart attack one of these days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Vinny helped me roll out and cut fancy heart shaped sugar cookies after nap one day, and then he decorated them all by himself. He was an intensely serious baker, not stopping to pose even once. Although he did say "CHEE" through my snapping away.

Once he discovered that the little hearts were edible, well let's just say not too many more made it to the cookies.

I loved how each cookie was dimpled with his little fingerprints, although you can't see them well here...wish I had my camera on the right setting!

Waiting for the cookies to bake and cool was not an easy feat, so we had to pass the time with a snack-a-palooza of pretzels, raisins, and yogurt. But once they were ready, so was Vinny!

These were our special Valentine's Day cupcakes-Dark Chocolate Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache Filling and Buttercream Frosting. Who needs some fancy cupcake shoppe when you have this Mommy? Vinny tested, Vinny approved.

Adventures at the Park...and more!

After reflecting about how cold and grey it is back home, how fortunate we are to live in the land of sun and warmth...I'm sure I will be singing a different tune come later this spring when we are packing boxes in triple digit temperatures. So off to the park we go these days. Vinny is so much more, dare I say, athletic, traversing the playscape. He is swift and steady on his feet, and can climb up the steps, some quite steep, all by himself.

No more baby slides for Vinny! He bypasses those and runs straight for the tallest, bumpiest slides on the playscape...and does not hesitate to zoom all the way down! It's hard to catch a shot of him in action!
And what trip to the park would be complete without feeding the ducks and geese? While reading On the Night You Were Born, I pointed out the geese on a page and said honk honk, and it's since become one of Vinny's favorite animal sounds...although it sounds more like "hawn-hawn." So off to the pond we go to talk to the water fowl in their own language and toss some bits of bread their way. Vinny must think the ducks are pretty intense birds, because his quack is half roar, and altogether hilarious!

While I am thinking of it, I should probably document all of his animal sounds to date:

• moo-moo (he loves to go for walks behind our neighborhood and visit the "moo-moos" through the fence)
• naaaaay
• rahr (lion/bear)
• quah-quah (ducks)
• hawn-hawn (geese)
• baa, just baa
• ruh-ruh, ruh-ruh (dog)
• meew (cat)
• ssssssssss (snake, duh)
• swee swee (mouse)
• twee-twee (bird)
• he does a pretty adorable elephant that I couldn't even begin to reproduce in letters...but it involves a high pitched blowing squeal with his fist curled up to his nose.

Vinny is also starting to use more and more words.

• He's known just about all his colors for a while now and loves to say their names as he colors at his easel. Our favorites are "lellow" and "bwoo." He is now starting to say "go" when we see green lights and "stah" when we get to red lights, all with hand motions!
• He points and counts, and it would appear he is already working on his one to one correspondence. Although, when he began all numbers were "one" just with different inflections. Now, everything is "twooooo" with the same inflections that we would count normally. We're working on holding up two fingers for his birthday next month!
• Recently I caught Vinny reading his Elmo bath book in the tub, turning each page one at a time and pointing to the baby saying "dady" and then on to Elmo saying "Melmo." If he skipped a page he'd say "nooo" and shake his head much like he does when he mismatches his sorting blocks.

I have been waiting for the talking stage to get here for a long time now, and you can imagine that it makes this mommy proud!

Snowed Under

Not us in Surprise, Arizona of course, but in Connecticut! My mom sent me a few pictures from home, and I couldn't help but include them here on the blog to forever document the amount of snow that has fallen this winter. We were fortunate enough to be back there for the first blizzard during the Christmas holiday, and fortunate enough to get to leave it all behind. My poor parents on the other hand became buried under an increasingly thicker blanket of snow.

Sure, a part time schedule is nice, but there is nothing like the anticipation of a snow day! Sometimes I think we teachers are worse than the kids!