Tubes (and a sentence)!

So, Monkey is going into surgery next Wednesday (June 30th) for ear tubes. I'm grateful that he will be getting them done and hopeful that he will not have as many ear infections as we have been dealing with over here. He has been in a great mood lately, so I don't think his ears are bothering him, but I can't imagine that a constant fluid build-up behind your ears is a good thing. After doing some thorough internet research, we decided to go ahead with it. It involves 2 weeks of no swiming, but after that, he's a free man (kid)(toddler)!

In other news, he put two words together this morning! Daddy was leaving to go golfing and Monkey said "Bye, da-da." I know, it's not like he said "see ya later" too, but in our world that was a big step!

We are also going to Sesame Street Live, Elmo and Friends on Sunday. I think I'm more excited about it than Monkey at this point. He has no clue what he's in for, and I can't wait to see how beserk he goes when he actually sees a live, walking and talking Elmo! The kid is going to flip!

Oh, and here are some pictures we took over Father's Day at the Children's museum.


See the noodle forrest behind them? Also notice Monkey's matted hair? Yeah, he spent a solid 30 minutes running through the forrest laughing hysterically. He was wiped out.

Getting ready to ride...

Also another Monkey fav. The colorful fabric goes into the clear thing-a-majigy behind Monkey and the air inside it propels them out and they fly through the sky. Entertained him on and off for another 30 min!

Then he enjoyed the "Climber." I think Daddy had more fun in there than the Monkey.

The rest are some random shots of late. I told you he loved his Elmo. Mommy got him this shirt a few weeks ago, and he loves wearing it and pointing to himself saying "E-bo." He wore it to Wet N Wild, and a little girl came up to him and wanted to touch Elmo. Monkey didn't want to share his E-bo. Made for an awkward moment.

We also enjoyed the splash pad at the zoo. It took some getting used to, but Monkey finally realized that the water was all fun.

18 Month Stats

Monkey is growing along quite nicely these days :) He's 33" long (70%) and 26lbs. (50%). Everything else looks great EXCEPT for the dreaded ears. He apparently has "chronic" fluid in his ears. We have a referral to a pediatric ENT tomorrow to discuss what that all means, and whether we are headed down the tubes route. I will keep you all posted after that appointment.

In other news, he is doing just wonderful! He is a happy go-lucky little kid and is ALL boy! He loves throwing his balls, playing in the pool, smelling flowers, chasing the dog (and cat) and all in all being a general terror :)

I have some pictures and video to post, I'll try to get around to that this week sometime!

Mine!

That would be Monkey's newest word. I'm not sure where he learned it (daycare perhaps?) but I'm not too pleased with it. He says it all.the.time. Whenever he grabs something that is decidedly NOT his and I try to take it away, I am met with "MINE." At least he's learning more words. And we have some cute ones to add to the list:

• Elmo (El-bo)
• Water (Wa-wa)
• Mama (finally!)
• Nana
• Luis (lou-lou)
• Night-Night (na-nigh)
• Shoe (shi-shi)

He is also following a whole bunch of commands. He puts things away if you ask him too. He can oink, meow, hiss, bark, quack, moo and buzz when asked what a pig, cat, snake, dog, duck, cow and bee say. He knows where his head, eyes, ears, belly, and feet are. He blows kisses. He hugs on command. He tackles me and Daddy. If you start singing "Twinkle twinkle little star," he will put his hands above his head like a star. If you start singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider," he tries to move his hands up the water spout. He has a slight addiction to TV which we are trying to curb. He is also obsessed with books and will hand you about 5 at a time to read to him. But don't try to turn the pages, that's Monkey's job. Also, you better read fast because those pages get turned quick!

It's hot here. No big surprise, I know. But we had such a great, long spring that I am not enjoying the 100's. We spent Sunday morning at the splashpad at the zoo. After a little time observing, Monkey really had some fun there! And thankfully, there's a cavern that's shaded and misty, so it was really quite cool in there. Mommy spent most of the time there!

We celebrated some birthdays this week - Nana's on Saturday and Daddy's on Wednesday. Yesterday afternoon we had the whole, extended Phoenix family over to Casa Leach to celebrate Nana's birthday. Monkey was LOVING the attention, but he was exhausted by the end of it all!

Next up: some Father's Day celebrations, and 4th of July in the mountains visiting Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Perry :)

Encanto Park

A buried treasure in Phoenix! Apparently this cute little park has been around for 75 years or something crazy like that, is right smack dab in the center of Phoenix, and has super fun rides for the little ones. Also nice: $5 Fridays where the kids ride from 5pm-8pm for $5! We will definitely be going back. Especially since unbeknownst to us, Monkey was suffering through the fun with a double ear infection. He still managed to have fun. See:

His first fair ride all by himself!! What a big boy!!

He wasn't so sure about the car ride, but he LOVED the airplane ride.

"Look mom, I'm flying"

"Can we please make it go up again?"

The "teacups" were fun until they started spinning. Don't let that smile fool you! And apparently Daddy is trying to shade himself from the paparazzo.

By far the favorite of the day! We rode this bad boy twice.

Whirlwind Weekend

Phew. What fun, but what a whirlwind. The Miami Grandparents got into Phoenix on Thursday night as part of their West Coast tour/vacation. We all went out to dinner, and on Friday, they took Monkey to the Children's Museum. He had a ball:

Friday night, Aunt Liana and Uncle Gene showed up, and we all met up for some yummy Mexican food. They were in awe at how big Monkey has gotten since November and how good he is :)

Saturday was a blast. We went to the pool at the Biltmore in the morning, and there were only a few families there (surprise, surprise, right?). We played around in the water, Monkey went down the slide (with Daddy, of course), and had a yummy lunch poolside. Someone then ended up falling asleep on the 2 minute car ride home. I guess the sun and water will zap 17 month olds of energy (mental note to self: remember this for the rest of the summer). The adults then went to the Dbacks game while Nana, Poppy, Uncle Lou Lou, Aunt Liana and Uncle Gene watched the Monkey for the afternoon.

Monkey with Grandma Linda My adorable twin boys. Matching shirts, flip flops and both wearing board shorts. They are ready for the pool!
Oh, I love these guys!
Headed down the slide. Monkey wasn't impressed. Daddy had fun though.
Attempt #2 didn't really go over much better.
Turns out, Monkey loves lemons.
Look at those lashes. Yes, eat your heart out, ladies. Oh, and he gets those from his Daddy, not from me.

Lest I not forget, yesterday was Mother's Day. I got to sleep in (yay!) and woke up to beautiful tulips on the counter. We went out to breakfast, and hit up the park on the way home to let Mr. Monkey expend some of that toddler energy. He had a ball and got extremely dirty in the sand. Apparently it's fun to pick it up and dump it on your head. Who knew? Last night I (and Nana and Grandma Cindy) was treated to a yummy dinner prepared by Travis and Grandpa George. The best part of the meal: DE-Licious homemade chocolate covered strawberries the size of my fist! Thank you to my boys for a great Mother's Day!!

Feliz Cinco De Mayo!

Felicidades a mis amigos Mexicanos!

Besos,

El Mono

PS - muchas gracias a mis amigas Amy y Janell por la idea

Sonoma Wedding

Mommy went off to Sonoma for Cousin Buck's wedding and was able to see the Miller family all together again. Daddy stayed home to watch the Monkey and they had a nice bonding time. Mommy seriously missed her boys, but Daddy was awesome and sent her all these wonderful photos and videos. So, while Mommy was busy here...

This is what Daddy and Monkey were doing...


Gotta love the last shot!

Daddy also sent Mommy this adorable video of Monkey going bananas. He is turning into such a NUT!