The Gift of Gab

Ok, I know I talk...a  lot... I have talked a lot since, according to my mom, before 1. I don't think it has ever bothered me that I'm chatty except maybe once on a date in college when my date was extremely quiet. I kept trying to start conversation only to be met with silence. After what seemed like an eternity of this game he looks at me and says 'oh, i was just seeing how long you'd go before you started talking again' OUCH! Needless to say, that was the end of that.  I *think* Mike finds my talkativeness charming and one of my finer points- he better not comment to the contrary especially since this gift seems to have been passed down to one little dude.


E has sucked up vocabulary like it's his job. Lately there isn't a word that he's heard he doesn't repeat back and with pretty accurate pronunciation. On the way to the beach this summer we made a list of  all the words he could say. At that time, it was well over 100. Fast forward a few months and there isn't a way we could capture it all- unless someone wants a full time job. I'm just totally amazed by this. Seeing him physically develop and turn into a little man is one thing, but seeing his brain at work is just mesmerizing. And what I love most is that he's learned to say please, thank you, you're welcome and just the other day 'excuse me mama'. Having a polite child tops the list for me. I melt!

We went to TN last weekend where we saw the horses that live behind my parents' house. E picked up what Marmee taught him about one of the breeds. And a few days later we talked about it where we talk about everything- in the tub

In addition to an ever budding English vocabulary E has added quite a few French words to his repertoire! His recent favorite is 'mais si' 'mais non' which means 'why, yes' and 'why no'. If you say 'mais si' he will say 'mais non' back to you. I'm excited since he might be the one to finally teach his mama French! Bonne Nuit (that's good night)

BDDs...One More Time

We have a little nightly ritual in the Gokey household. First it's a bath  then it's a selection of 'bdds' which is what all movies are known as. Of course, when I say 'movie' it means you tube video. It's truly the only time E sits still and even that is fleeting.

His current faves involve anything with a train or this extremely annoying wheels on the bus rendition. It's amazing how many bad videos there are and really inappropriate ads before the videos. I'm pretty sure the toddler set is not intrigued by Call of Duty.

 E likes to talk back to his bdds these days. Below is a little interaction with fruit.  Sorry for the intial bad production quality...

Any great toddler videos I need to know about?

"Squeek"ing By on Halloween

Happy Halloween (or How-ween) from the Gokeys

Let me start by saying, I'm a huge consignment sale shopper. I've been able to score most of E's wardrobe and toys for super cheap over the last year or so. The only downside is consignment sale season is twice a year- once in the winter for spring/summer and once in the summer for fall/winter.

So, last spring I started the quest for this year's Halloween costume. When it was all said & done we had 3. The elephant- which would never work because of the trunk that went across the face, The monkey and the mouse. The mouse won for three reasons 1) because E loves mice 2) because we had a family take up residence in our basement recently and 3) because I knew I wouldn't see 45,657 other kid mice posted on facebook. I would like to say I chose the mouse because of reason #1, but who am I kidding...

E for the most part liked his costume and was willing to wear the ears for brief periods throughout the night. Espcially when posing with H&E, two of his best buds

And when taking over their treat bucket

Dyer Circle has grown up so much since we moved in 9+ years ago. Circa 2002 there were no kids and only a handful of people were even married. Circa 2011 there are now 7 kids on the street + one more on the way- all boys too except for H. Here are all our cuties in their Halloween finest

The best part of the night? When E was presented with the choice between candy & apple and happily ate all the apple. Healthier for him, more candy for us!

Now the quest begins for next year's costume!

Corn A-maze-ing

 

 

E and I took a trip home to TN a few weekends ago to spend some QT with Marmee & Pop Pop & Uncle Pat. It was the first time we'd been home since Easter. Luckily, we had seen the family since then- otherwise they might have left us in the corn maze we visited Friday night.

Speaking of, we didn't make it past the entrance. Something about the thought of having to call 911 while trapped inside did not sound like fun. So, we skirted the stalks just long enough to pretend.



Going in



Coming Out


After completing  the maze we took in some of the other fun Windrock Farms had to offer. Quite a bit for the low $10 entry fee price

Small zoo

A 2 ton corn crib

A huge inflatable slide complete with jiffy feet socks

Duck Racing

Fun with cutouts!

And even a family portrait

Our weekend didn't stop there. Saturday, I got to cheer on the Vols while E spent some time with the Pyatts and their trampoline- more on that in the next post. Happy fall!

It only took 2 years!

Ok. so here goes..  OMG was started back in 2009 so we could keep friends & family up to date on Baby G's impending arrival + our adventures as new parents. Then along came E:

and it took us 20 months to get back on the blogging horse! He's changed just a little bit since then

And taken just this morning- his own self portrait!

Now that we have 'settled' in to our lives as Gokey: party of 3, the goal is to start posting all the time  more often to keep those that love E up to date on all his goings-on.