44 Months Old

Rocco is still such a mama's boy. If I give him a bath, he knows Jason will put him to bed. But he always asks me, "Mama you coming to bed?" If Jason gives him a bath, and I put him to bed he'll just snuggle up underneath me. One hand will be holding his bottle and the other hand will be rubbing the mole on my face. Some kids twirl their mom's hair or play with their ear. Rocco rubs my mole.

He's getting old enough now that he understands family relations. He knows that my mom is Mimi and my dad is Papaw. If you ask him who daddy's mommy is he'll quickly tell you Nana. He also understands that Granddaddy is daddy's daddy. Another neat thing that he will tell you is our real names. He understands that other people call me Heather and that I have a name other than Mommy. And of course he knows daddy's real name.

His favorite toys are still trains and cars. Right now we have two tables in our living room. One has cars, the other has a wooden train track, and in the floor there is a Thomas the Train Trackmaster track. Where will Santa leave more presents?

Rocco also likes to pretend to take pictures with his toy camera. He holds it backwards, and it's really cute. We just smile for the picture.

Max and Ruby is his new cartoon. I bought one DVD for the car. He really gets a kick out of the little rabbit, Max. He laughs so hard he can barely breathe at times. When I turn around and look at him in his car seat he'll say, "That just cracks me up!" It's really funny when Rocco imitates Max. He'll whisper, "Snow bunny!" You have to watch the DVD and then watch Rocco to really appreciate it. He also has heard Ruby exclaim, "Beautiful!" One night when we were driving down the road I told him to look at the Christmas lights. He said, "Wow! Boo-fi-ful!"

Thanks to the Disney's Cars movie, he now knows what blue flashing lights mean. If we see a police car with its lights on, Rocco will say, "There's Sheriff."

One of his latest "tricks" is saying, "Huh?" He especially does this when he doesn't want to do what we say. "It's time for bed, Rocco." "Huh?" he'll reply. This goes on and on until Jason finally has to get stern with him and say, "Rocco you heard what we said." We're currently working on getting him to say, Sir and Mam. He already does a great job with Please and Thank You.

Little man sure catches on fast. Lately I've been spelling a lot just so that he won't know what I'm talking about in regards to his Christmas presents. He'll chime right in, "O, P, Q, V, M..." I guess he thinks he can spell, too.

Big Day for My Brother

I'm so proud for my brother. He and his wife moved into their new apartment tonight. They've been living upstairs in my parents' house since they married in June. Tyler has worked so hard on updating the basement of my aunt's apartment. Circumstances changed and they ended up renting a different place. The one bedroom apartment is just right for his young family starting out. I told him I was as proud of him today getting his own place as I was when he graduated from high school.

The apartment is 5 miles from my parents, and it's in a convenient place for both he and his wife because it is near both of their jobs.

My mom was really sick tonight and couldn't go over, but nana and I helped out. We did odds and ends like make up his bed, unpack a few boxes, and wash a few dishes. Lauren was like a kid in a candy store for the first time. She reminded me of a younger me when I first moved into our trailer. The thrill of opening gifts that had been given to her at her wedding shower was like Christmas. She kept singing "I'm so excited!" Tyler and her were very sweet working together getting their apartment situated.

My dad, papaw, and Rocco were also there late that night. Rocco's job was to entertain baby Daelyn and keep her out of "trouble." Yeah, right. A 3 year old watching a 9 month old. He was very sweet with her, though. Every now and then we'd find something in the trash boxes that shouldn't have been thrown away or tupperware bowls in the bedroom. It was Rocco. He had "an important job to do." He felt so big helping his Uncle Tyler.

Fall Festival

Our church held its annual Fall Festival this afternoon. Rocco experienced his first mule drawn, covered wagon ride. He also rode a horse and rode shotgun in a very nice and large, upscale four-wheeler style vehicle called a Bobcat. This was his favorite. There were corn dogs, hot dogs, boiled corn, and other treats. Many of the kids, including Rocco, enjoyed the inflatable and sliding down the slick slide. All of the kids who attended won a prize. Rocco picked out a little blue truck.

It was just a great all around day for our church to reach out to the community. Carol Anne did a great job organizing the event. In year's past before we even had Rocco, Jason and I had church fall festivals at our house. It was an overwhelming event... planning games and hayrides for the kids, cleaning out the basement/garage/inside of the house, preparing food, the entire church at our house, and.... recovering from the mess. I loved those days and think fondly of those younger year, but this year there was no clean-up, preparation, or organization on my part. It was so nice to simply come and leave.

Baby Sydney's Birthday

Rocco has three first cousins. Daelyn is my brother and Lauren's little girl. She is 9 months old. Drew, age 10, belongs to Jason's sister, Tonya, and Ben. They also have a little girl, Sydney; today she turned one.By far she was the most entertaining one year old when it came to cake eating time. She began by smashing her hands into it and beating it as if it were a drum. Then, she proceeded to eat it. Not just with her hands. When they were too caked over, she went face first. That'a girl!

The party was at her house. Rocco enjoyed jumping on the big inflatable (even though it was a princess castle). Of course any time he gets the chance to play with Drew, Rocco gets so excited. He also liked playing with Hayes (pictured on the left), a 4 year old friend of our family.

Superman!

This morning as we woke up to our lazy Saturday morning and began preparing for breakfast, Rocco went running around the living room couch shouting something. He was holding my physical therapy exercise band in the air and pretending to lassoe. In a few moments I realized he was saying something I had never heard him say before. "Superman!" He was evidently on a rescue mission. I gave him a kitchen hand towel to add to his Thomas the Train pajamas.

Along with his newly made cape, his morning hair was flying all over the place. He kept running in circles around his train table and jumping over toy hurdles. I later joined him with my wet hair pulled up in a towel. He kept saying, "Superman!" I chimed in, too. "Supergirl!"

Rocco's First Hunt

Jason took Rocco out on his first hunt last night in our back field. They didn't see any deer, but they had a good time together. Jason said that Rocco will learn with time how to be more quiet and still. The important thing for now is that they had fun and made some memories. Nothing quite like father/son time hunting.

One Fall Afternoon

The weather was so beautiful this afternoon when I got off of work. Since Jason went hunting at the farm, I decided Rocco and I should have some fun of our own. Once I picked him up from Carolyn's we went home and played on the swingset. I pushed him in his swing and helped him slide. He still isn't a big fan of the slide and wants me to hold his hand each time. One time I just sat there at the bottom of the slide, refusing to hold his hand. As he held on to the side bars, he began to slip. Next came the usual phrase, "Help, I bout to fall!" I told him I'd catch him. As he kept on sliding his panic turned into laughter. His giggles and my persuading encouraged him down the slide. He was just fine but would NOT do that again. He insisted I hold his hand next time. I guess in some ways he is just not a daredevil. Rocco usually errs on the cautious side. He gets that from his mama.

I believe his favorite thing to do at the swingset is to blow bubbles off of his tall fort.

Mama's Little Boy

This picture was taken on my parent's front porch before church Sunday morning. Rocco and I spent Halloween night there after trick-or-treating at their house and my grandparent's house.