Finally

OK, so I know it has been way too long since I posted something. So here are a few new photos. Including James first day skiing! We are so proud that he LOVED his first skiing experience. Sean and I are totally excited that he got on skis before he turned two, and totally loved it. He did great. We let him play with his skis before he got on them, and he was really excited to try them out. When we put them on him, he was actually really into it, which we were pretty excited about, because he can be tentative in these types of situations. He LOVED riding the little "magic carpet" (basically a conveyor belt for taking kids up slope) and at first this was the highlight of his experience. Then he realized what fun it was to ski (slide) down the hill. He was giggling and laughing and kept saying "do it again"! Too cool. I am going to take him again this weekend. We have a skier!!! Woohoo! I see years of fun ahead of us. He was a natural.

James is WAY verbal, and is speaking in full, six or seven word sentences, can count to ten, and can sing the whole Ba Ba black sheep song. His favorite song is "Baby Beluga", by Raffi, which he sings regularly, and he loves to read stories about cowboys, horses, and trains. He is also super into airplanes at the moment. Nothing beats a garbage truck (semi's are also garbage trucks), or a school bus. When he sees a school bus, he always waves and says "hello children" with great enthusiasm. Cracks us up. He also has amazing manners and says please and thanks or thank you, and whenever you sneeze or cough, you receive a "bless you, mommy". We are so pleased with how good he is. How did we get such a great little boy. He is also much more snugly and affectionate now, and loves to give kisses. He has a little baby doll that Grandma U got him, that he carries with him everywhere and sleeps with him. He says "baby sad", then gives it a hug and kiss and says "baby is happy, now". Kills us.

He loves his tricycle, wooden puzzles, and playing outside when the weather is good. He is really into his stroller. He loves meat bones (see below). Tonight we were at dinner with Bill and Maggie (he is obsessed with Bill) and started into this pile of fatty rib bones that Bill discarded. He was doing it with purpose. We were all cracking up. He pumps his fist in the air saying "steak bone"!

His favorite toys are these little Swiss postal cars (2 of them) that Bill and Maggie brought back from Switzerland, and tractors (2) and these two (what do you know) little trucks that he calls busses. He has a thing for twos. They have to travel with us in matched sets, and he has to have at least two of the sets with us at all times while away from home, along with all four of his little blankie, animals which we call friends.

We sure do love our little Sweet Pea, and don't know how we got so lucky. He sure is a good one.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas!

Peepee in the Potty!!!!!

Yeah! Tonight James made his first pee pee in the potty!!! I scared him I got so excited. We were getting ready for bath time, and were in the bathroom. He was naked, waiting to get into the tub, and he said "pee pee" and opened his little potty, sat down, and peed! It was awesome! Even more exciting is that Oma got to be here to see it too! What a great day.

Oma and I also took James to the Museum of the Rockies for the first time today. He liked it ok, and kept calling the dinosaurs "horns". He did get a little bit tentative about some of the sounds that the animated dinos made, but overall he was diggin' it.

So excited about the pee. I have never been so excited about urine.

The End of and Era

The past week has been as especially difficult one here in the O'Callaghan household. On Friday, we had to say goodbye to our old, faithful companion Tioga. His life was becoming more and more difficult everyday, and he was increasingly disoriented. Sean and I spent the whole day with him on Friday. We took him for a walk, and just held him as much as we could. The vet came to our house at 4:45 in the afternoon, and he was peacefully and quietly put to sleep in Sean's arms. Sean is devastated, but knows that it was the right thing to do for Tioga. Our house seems so much emptier without him, and Scout is very distraught. He keeps pacing he house looking for him. James keeps asking for "Ti". I think it will be quite awhile before this family feels whole again...

But, in more positive news, James finally broke his two bottom eye-teeth, which puts an end to teething!!!

Now we all just have this darn cold to get over. Hopefully the worst is behind us.

HAPPY Thanksgiving!!!

We are very lucky this Thanksgiving to be healthy and happy. It is a stunningly beautiful day here in Bozeman and it is supposed to reach 47 degrees today. Hopefully we can enjoy a walk in the woods this afternoon before we head over to our friend's Jen and Kelsey house for a wonderful meal. I spent the morning in the kitchen preparing side dishes for the meal and just popped a beautiful pumpkin pie in the oven. The house smells awesome if I do say so myself. Sean stayed home this morning, and we enjoyed a morning of Alice's restaurant and the Grateful dead (our family traditions. A great day for the O'Callaghan family of Bozeman. Love it!

James has been talking up a storm lately! He is more and more using complete sentences, and sure knows what he wants. He loves to practice opposites and is pretty good! He knows most of the basics like up and down, and clean and dirty, and happy and sad, among others. Pretty neat. Two nights ago, I was getting him ready for bed, and he insisted on putting his socks on himself. We practiced this for about five minutes. He really came close too! He also likes to try to put his pants on himself. He has gotten really good at brushing his teeth, and always asks for his toothbrush at night after his bath. I think it may just be that he likes to suck off the toothpaste, but he actually brushes back and forth too, so that is super cool.

He has finally gotten all of his top teeth! The little points of his eye teeth have popped through but are not all the way in yet, but well on their way. He now has the four middle bottom teeth. So, in short...only two more teeth!!! Thank god.

He is really into his two little stick horses, and Jan taught him how to put the stick in between his legs and trot around the house. It is a total riot. He also loves to read, and regularly backs in to sit on your lap so you can read to him. Cute.

He is also very interested in the potty. He likes to sit on his mini potty when we go to the bathroom. We may undertake potty training shortly here. Especially since he always tells us when he goes, and demands to be changed after he poops.

Happy Thanksgiving!