Chocolate fu manchu

I've been pretty good about sweets throughout my pregnancy in that I only indulge a little bit after dinner. I'm like that normally, so I haven't been using that "eating for two" excuse, which is good. Every now and then, though, I get this overwhelming craving in the afternoon for a little chocolate and I usually don't keep much on hand. Except in the form of chocolate chips because, as my sister-in-law Leslie said in her blog, you should always have all the ingredients necessary for chocolate chip cookies just in case. And I take her advice very seriously.

Anyway, so I was nomming on some chocolate chips and Johnny decides that he wants some too. Normally he isn't interested in what I'm eating, but this day he was. So I gave him one. And then another. And then another. And then a few more... until he developed this cute little mustache:

Well, it's not so much a mustache-shape as a chocolate-dribbling-out-of-the-mouth shape, but I'm not picky about what qualifies as a mustache.

Chicks dig the 'stache, Mom.

This face

melts my heart and makes me laugh hysterically at the same time. I got him this used Fisher Price kitchen set from a mom I know and it has a little "radio" that plays three or four different songs. There's a spicy Latin beat that I will always shake my shoulders to so I can make him laugh, so he will skip all of the other songs and go directly to the Latin beat to watch me dance. It's nice that my kid thinks I'm funny... even if the neighbors think I'm strange.

So I lied

We're not back in action. Our Internet has been on and off for the last week or so, hence the lack of blog posts. Sometimes we'll have access for a few hours and sometimes for only a few minutes. Supposedly it's been fixed, but I don't think I'm the only one lying... anyway.

On to the reason you visit: Johnny. And this video is of him spraying himself in the face with water from a spray bottle.

I was making dinner and needed about ten minutes to get things finished up, so I handed him the spray bottle, an item he had coveted from afar and had never been allowed to touch. As you can see, the results were awesome.

Well, I guess you can't see all of the droplets of water that have formed on his face, but whatever. It's an excellent picture to show off how good his hair looks since I fixed it. No more chop-cut for this guy!

Back in action

Sorry everyone! Our Internet has been on the fritz lately and thus, I have been unable to access the blog for enough time to write a quick update.

The biggest news is that we finally met my nephew, Jack! John, Johnny and I went up to Los Angeles last weekend and stayed with Leslie and Sim and hung out with Lisa, John and Jack. The reports all proved true: he's adorable. Johnny was not particularly interested in Jack, though I expect that will change as Jack gets older... or maybe Johnny will remain as independent and anti-social toward other children as he is now. It remains to be seen. Anyway! Cute pictures were taken and will now be shared:

Listening skillz

Johnny's listening and comprehension have increased about 20-fold from this time last month. Last month he could follow the occasional command (like "bring the book over here"), which I thought was mind boggling. Whoa! A child that can understand what I'm saying?! Awesome!
Now, he can follow complex directions and I'm pretty sure he understands everything that comes out of my mouth. Today he picked up my sunglasses and I said, "Those are sunglasses and they go over your eyes. Can you put them over your eyes? Open them and put them on like Mommy." Lo and behold, he did it. Having never done it before, he just listened to what I said and then followed my directions. We're working on putting things away and he's developed a desire to put all of his stuffed animals away, but it definitely does not apply to the things he pulls out of the kitchen drawers and leaves on the floor. If I'm adamant about him putting away a spatula, he will pull open the correct drawer, put the spatula in it and then pull something else out. So I guess he's still listening to directions, he's just being a little smart ass.

Normally I put up some kind of video or picture, but this is a little hard to document... okay, actually, we keep the camera downstairs and whenever I think to videotape Johnny following my directions, we are upstairs and I decide it's not worth it. It's a hassle to get my pregnant butt up and down the stairs these days so I just avoid it when possible. [Insert know-it-all reader comment here, like, "Just wait until you have TWO babies! Then see how easy it is to go up and down stairs."]