Backlog: Johnny's birthday gifts

Johnny got TONS of gifts for his birthday. Our friends and family were quite generous, that's for sure. During the party, we tried to entice Johnny to open a few gifts thinking he would love to rip some wrapping paper to shreds, but no dice. So I decided to just leave them wrapped for awhile for whenever he showed interest.

Five days later the presents were still wrapped. This child of mine? Not into stuff, apparently.

John and I ended up opening all of them ourselves. So anticlimactic. But here's a picture of Johnny with one of the many gifts he got:

Yes, that's a Mater pillow. With a tow cable and everything.

Old toys

Now that Hank is big enough, I have started pulling out old toys of Johnny's for him to play with. Like this exersaucer, for instance:

It's kind of weird to see Hank playing with toys that I associate with Johnny. I know that Johnny hasn't played with this exersaucer in over a year, but I still feel like Johnny should be the one playing with it. It's the same with Johnny's clothes that Hank is now fitting in; I have tons of pictures of Johnny wearing those clothes, and now Hank is in them. I know it probably doesn't sound all that weird to you, but seeing Hank in Johnny's old overalls just seems crazy to me.

O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D

Johnny has an obsession with Cars, as I may have mentioned previously. Multiple times. So when I saw Lightning McQueen and Mater toys at Target, I didn't hesitate to purchase them. Just as I thought, they have become his favorite things in the world.

He has them while drinking his morning milk.

He has them while watching the Cars movie.

He has them while going places in the car.

He takes them shopping with us.

 These little cars have gone EVERYWHERE with us. I used to be really nervous about him dropping one and consequently losing it, until he dropped one in the grocery store and lost. his. mind. "DROP! MAAAAAY!!! DROP!!!! MOM!!!!" (Maaay = Mater, the brown truck) I have to admit, it's really cute that he has an attachment to these toys. Sometimes it's a little obnoxious, like when I'm by myself trying to get both boys to bed and Johnny won't settle down until I get him Mater and Lightning McQueen, but I can't find them and run around the house repeatedly until I find them in his toy barn... true story. But most of the time, it's adorable.

More evidence as to Johnny's obsession: he has six Cars shirts. I counted. SIX. He had one that I got at Target on clearance:

Yeah, my kid's eating an Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookie... judge my parenting skills accordingly.

It was a double whammy: his favorite color, red, and it had Mater on it. But then he wanted to wear it all the time. And I mean every day and every night. After a couple of days and nights I had to put my foot down and put it in the hamper... only to have him take it out again and give it to an unknowing Daddy to put it on him. He's sneaky, that kid. There have been other instances where Daddy will tell him that he can't wear his Mater shirt because it's dirty. So Johnny will say, "Wash!" and put it in the bathtub and run water over it. Or he'll give to me and insist I wash it right then and there. So, I had to invest in a few more shirts. Oh, and a couple sets of pajamas.

Mater and Lightning McQueen making yet another appearance.

I know, you've seen this picture, but he's wearing his black Cars shirt in this one.

Thank you, Walmart.com for your uber-cheap character shirts and even cheaper shipping!

Sandbox

I had been looking for a sand box on Craigslist to put in our little enclosed patio area so that Johnny could have something to do in our backyard. I needed one that had a lid since there are some lovely feral cats that frequent our yard. However, it seemed all of San Diego was also looking for a sandbox on craigslist and I couldn't email a seller fast enough.

Luckily, our neighbors down the street have a five-year-old who had grown out of her sandbox, so they offered it to us for free! Complete with sand! Sand that they sifted through to get rid of rocks and dead bugs all by themselves. And Johnny loves it... for about five minutes at a time. But I think that's the way most toddlers roll.

Still a goofball

I'm not sure how he discovers these alternate uses for his various toys, but it sure is amusing!

P.S. Can you see the crazy amount of droolage going on? It's like he's an 8-month-old again. Come on, kid, learn to swallow your saliva!

How I know Johnny is related to my dad.

I was cleaning out the guest room a few days ago and Johnny got a hold of some dental floss. I used to keep a little basket of travel-size toiletries for guests in the guest bathroom until Johnny got old enough to open the cabinet and pull all of them out; so I stored them in the guest bedroom, which we hardly go into.

Well, Johnny found the dental floss, figured out how to open it and started stringing it out by the foot in a matter of seconds. I guess I should have been impressed by his problem-solving skills, but I mostly just panicked about him strangling himself with it or eating it (as I have seen a friend's cat do inadvertently... but I guess we put a treat at the end of the floss... whatever). However, once this fun was discovered, taking it away was not an option I was willing to explore. So, I took a good ten minutes to just sit in a chair and watch him waste dental floss. I'm thinking this interest in floss may be an indication he will have good dental hygiene, which will make his oral surgeon grandpa proud. :)

Play time

As I mentioned in my last post, Johnny has been pretty great about playing independently for a few minutes every day. I mean, I still have to be in the room because he gets upset if I leave (not like separation anxiety, which is another post for another day), but that means I can just sit down, lie down, or do some pelvic rocks to ease that pesky back and rib pain. He's gotten really into trucks and cars, so that's mostly what he plays with by himself. It's pretty darn adorable if I may say so myself.

Food as toys

Lately, Johnny has needed a lot of attention and has wanted me to hold him for most of the late afternoon. This really makes getting dinner ready difficult [insert know-it-all reader comment here: "Wait until you have TWO babies!" I know, I've used this before, but I've been getting that comment a lot lately.]. Of course, while he's being so needy his usual toys can't hold his interest. So, I have to improvise to distract Johnny from my legs for a few minutes while I get dinner ready. You've already seen the spray bottle and the apple below worked well, too.

The problem with food as toys, however, is it often generates a lot of work for later. See, every time Johnny took a bite of the apple, instead of swallowing it, as most children or adults would do, he would spit that piece out.

Blech, apples.

Notice the apple pieces stuck in the collar of his shirt.

Apple bits strewn about the floor where they were stepped on and tracked through the kitchen.

Messy? Yes. Effective time filler? Yes. Worth the ordeal of picking up the pieces and mopping the floor? Perhaps, depending on how desperate I am to finish the task at hand.

Toys

Since Johnny's birthday is so close to Christmas, he got an awful lot of toys all at once. So, I took a few of those toys and put them in the closet so that I could dole them out as he tired of his other toys. Last week, I brought out this one from Grandpa and Grams Mitchell and he LOVES it. It plays little songs about nutrients and vegetables and he dances to it, which is adorable. I tried to catch him dancing on this video and he does at the beginning and at the very end.

Sorry, I guess that was a little long... I need to work on video length.

Please...

... don't send toys, only household appliances.

Johnny has a fascination with a few household appliances. The vacuum, of course, being one of them.

Others he has an affinity for are the dishwasher (no idea why), the hand-held Dirt Devil, his humidifier and the microwave. Of course he plays with plenty of his toys, but I find the most photo opportunities arising from his play with such mundane objects as vacuum cleaners. But I guess that while I find them mundane, he finds them magical. Look! You turn it on, point it at the dead bug and the floor and whoosh! It's gone! Magic!!! Perhaps I can find a way to turn his fascination to my advantage... nah, Johnny doesn't do things that he knows I think are productive.

For Aunt Julie

We're looking forward to seeing you this weekend Aunt Julie!

Fun new toys!

Grandma Durso was kind enough to get Johnny some new "bigger boy" toys, since all of the ones we have right now are baby toys and Johnny isn't as interested in those any more. So, Grandma Durso took us out to Babies 'R Us for a little spree and we picked out all kinds of fun things for Johnny to play with. One of the biggest hits is this little number:

The little blue part that he's playing with is a small "laptop computer" that makes noise when you open or close it... he figured that out pretty quickly. Now that he's pulling himself up on things, I attached the legs that it came with and he can cruise around the toy to look at all the fun things it has to do.

Looks like he's having a good time, right? He really likes that little phone. After we're done playing, he'll carry it with him around the house.

New Remote Control

Johnny is still in love with remote controls. The VCR remote has definitely not lost it's luster in the last couple of weeks. However, Grandma Durso found a nice, safe child's remote for Johnny to play with since it's probably not the best idea to set a precedent of him playing with "adult" objects. The remote Grandma got for Johnny is ADORABLE and it makes lots of cute noises that aren't too loud or obnoxious. Yay!

Can you see the eyes on it? They blink when you press a button. So cute, right?

Yeah, I think he likes it.

Pre-Walking

Grandma Durso recently got Johnny a walker and, boy, does he love it! He loves to stand up (he can't do it on his own yet) so he really likes being in the walker. He's not doing much walking yet, but he LOVES banging on the toy that is on the walker; it's a little "DJ" station that has piano keys and a drum button and other effects. I'm sure it would make great music given a more musically inclined child, but he is my kid and thus, loves to bang on it and just make noise. It's pretty cute.

A boy and his giraffe

Everyone, meet Sophie. 

Sophie is a giraffe toy made by some French company out of organic something-or-other and must taste delicious because Johnny is constantly nomming on her. She is, by far, one of Johnny's favorite toys for obvious reasons: she squeaks, has fun coloring, a cute face, can be held easily by small hands and has a nice texture for gumming on.