Berik uses his head!!

January 2008

Well little does the Huntsville newspaper staff know but I do have the cutest kid ever!! See for yourself.. I entered Berik in a cute kid contest and nope he didn't get it but hey I know he's the cutest! Each year they have a contest and put the entries in the local paper. I won't do it again as his was in the crease of the paper with this big line across his face and the print/color was all smeared. Oh well, lesson learned. I hope they enjoyed my $20.00 donation.
Berik continues to use his head in many ways.. for balance..

and to carry things..







and most of all so he doesn't have to stand while playing at the refrigerator with his magnets.
Berik is learning more and more each day and continues to get better at talking, however, babbling along is still his favorite. He loves to count and make animal sounds. Occasionally, Berik will sit ever so quietly in his car seat and soak up the world around him. One day Jaimie and I were talking and made mention that someone we knew was a "cow", to which Berik responded Mooooooooo... We just cracked up laughing.Neither of us took into account that he was listening to us and when he busted out with a big ol' Moooooo it was hilarious!! From here forward we will have to watch what we say, that's for sure. He can say big words clearly like butterfly, but won't say milk or even try to say it. He is definitely on his own agenda. One day he turns to me and says, I need to go poo poo..ok , really? Well, run, run to the potty, poor thing he turns around to run and trips over a box. That kind of ruined the moment but I encouraged him to go ahead and get up and go. We did, he made it to the potty but no poo. He made the sounds effects for me but no go. Well.. that was exciting but false alarm. We continue to go each evening before bath time and tt is always successful. I guess at just under 2 I am glad that he is even interested.
He still likes to eat, 24/7. He is not fat but he is big. We haven't weighed him lately but he was at 34 last we checked, in Dec. He had his first drumstick the other day and loved it but we had to finally take it away as he was trying to eat bone and all. He went crazy over it like a dog almost, which meant he wouldn't touch anything else on his plate until we took it away.
He also helps himself to the refrigerator whenever he can get away with it, which I don't like, but I did sneak a pic of him trying to get some milk, so at least it was a healthy choice! Meal by meal the battle over the veggies increases. He will eat yellows most anytime but green is usually where he puts on the brakes. He will eat green beans if he is in the mood but he used to eat more greens. He definitely lets you know that a certain veggie is intruding upon his plate by taking it in his hand, flinging it over on to your plate while at the same time
making a very convincing choking/throw up sound and gesture, completed with body/head movements. He to date has not completed his warning but one day we are fearful that he may very well follow through. Needless to say, when we eat at a restaurant we don't usually push the issue. So I guess in a sense he is winning this one. Any one out there with some ideas? It is so good that I have tried to get it on video but haven't been able to yet. Not that you wanted to see it really anyhow but it is very believable.
Speaking of pushing it! He loves to push bedtime now. You know last month he was simply wonderful and easy and now he has discovered, in its entirety, the LIGHT SWITCH! Let the fun begin. I could move his bed but then I would have to move other furniture in his not so big room, which would cause me to have to move pictures etc.. so I will battle this one out. No fear of being thrown up on, just a little crying. The routine, same as usual, gets the elephant, his water, and heads to bed. Books and then kisses goodnight and a few minutes later... the DISCO lights begin! Click, on, click off, on, off , on, off. He hears you coming..if it is daddy, when the door opens, he makes a diving leap into the sleeping position leaving the light however it was, sometimes off, sometimes on. If it is me.. well you watch and see..

So as you can see Mommy is the.. oh well it's just mommy! Berik still likes to ride on his little tikes truck, but is he so big that the wheel just would fall off? Or did the factory ( daddy ) not put it together good enough? Daddy votes that B is just too much for the truck and would like to see it retire in someone else's house. B watches intently as daddy fixing his tire as if daddy really had time before work but he did it anyway. He loves to push around his tonka truck that he got from Santa but I really watch out for that one as it is made out of metal and hurts when he runs it into your legs. He continues to play with vehicles which seem to be the toy of choice at the moment but he also loves his blocks too! And .. last but not least by far.. you remember when I said Berik uses his head.. well on Jan 31st he used it alright, to get a potty seat stuck on. Yuck!! I know but he already had it on his head by the time we noticed and Jaimie whipped out the camera to capture the action. At first it was funny, as he wore it for a hat a bit before slipping it over his head. He continued to play as J and I were both busy we figured out that it was fairly new and I had just cleaned it so we just let him. Well when he tried to get it off he became hysterically because it wasn't coming off. I laughed (mean mommy) but it was funny , until Jaimie and I tried and it wasn't budging. He was crying hysterically and we tried pinning his ears back and forward and turning the seat and then smeared Vaseline all over his head and still nothing. We finally had to unscrew the bottom piece, and cut off all the rest with a knife and then bust the plastic piece to finally gain his freedom. Poor Berik his ears were fire engine red and then bruised and stayed that way for several days after. Way to go Berik, way to use your head!!!! My two cousins had both sent gifts cards a while back and I had used the first one for the seat and I used the second one for the replacement seat. So both cousins gave us the exact same thing, how exciting! not. But just a few minutes later he was smiling again. Stay tuned for Feb. as slowly I will get caught up. Gena