just a moment in the life of graham

a week ago graham was playing with my sunglasses. he fell down and, of course, broke them. since then they have become his new favorite toy. i've tried many times to catch him on camera wearing the glasses and each time he refuses to let me get a picture. and, really, i mean he refuses. refuses! the little stinker.

so, finally, yesterday i got a few and, to me, they capture his precious little stinker of a personality.

first off, please notice graham is sitting in a dining room chair, which he can climb in to and out of all by himself. despite a couple falls, he refuses (and i mean refuses!) to keep out of those chairs. secondly, please notice all the grubby finger prints on my dining room chairs. i swear i clean them three times a day and still the finger prints magically return.

here's my sweet graham-er boy with his fun new sunglasses! it's hard to tell but there is a tiny smirk of a smile creeping onto his face. it's as if he was thinking, "i'll hold still long enough to let her have just this one...but she can't make me look at the camera".

and then he slowly, gently closed his eyes. and sat there. yes, he sat there with his eyes closed. really, he sat there! with his eyes closed!

eventually he opened his eyes but still refused to look at me.

oh, he's looking at the camera! quick, get the shot!

but, alas, he was too quick for me...and he knew it!

then he just became goofy, which is his usual state of being.

as soon as i put down the camera he started laughing! see, i told you he's a little stinker!

but he sure does make my days so much fun!!

taco twos-day

dinner at the white house is always an experience - one that usually consists of graham giggling and squealing at the sight of food, graham grabbing handfuls of food and stuffing his mouth so full that he has a hard time chewing, graham standing up in his highchair (no matter how tightly i strap him in), mommy running back and forth to serve up more food, and lots of paper towels and wet wipes to clean up the mess.

last week i made tacos (pretty much a weekly staple). flour tortilla, avocado, taco meat, black beans, and shredded cheddar cheese. graham ate not one, but two. and when i went to the kitchen to grab something (anything!) to clean him up, i turned around to find this:

oh yes he did pick up his plate and lick it!!

i have a feeling that before long we'll be calling it "taco threes-day".

i promise you i didn't rub a balloon on his head.

we've all had bad hair days...

graham's hair days aren't as bad as they are funny. he still has not had his first hair cut. i keep hoping he'll develop some curls like harrison did, but it seems as though his hair is going to be thin and straight. and with those two opposing cowlicks?? well, every day is an adventure!

you can't win 'em all...but you can win some!

last sunday i made a meal plan and shopped so we could have homemade, healthy dinners for two weeks. we/i have been out of sorts lately at the white house as we've been battling colds, migraines, wisdom teeth removal, blah, blah, blah. the boys went to meme & papa's house last weekend so i finally had an opportunity to get caught up and be proactive for a change!

all this to say that i have been cooking dinner each night this week.

monday night harrison refused to eat his chicken fajitas. i let him be excused from the table to go play while we finished dinner.

tuesday night harrison took one look at his homemade pizza, tried to tell me he doesn't like cheese, and then said, "i don't feel like eating...i'm sorry, mommy" in the most apologetic voice he could muster. i told him he didn't have to eat but he needed to stay at the table until we were done.

wednesday night he ate a few bites of meatloaf (with veggies and ground flax inside!) and a few bites of mashed potatoes (with cauliflower mashed right in!). i figured a few bites was better than none. are you seeing, now, why i am so freakishly crazy about hiding healthy goodness in our food??!!

but tonight, oh sweet tonight, i heard the words every mom longs to hear! it brought tears to my eyes when harrison said, "mmmm...this is delicious!" what was he eating? probably the healthiest meal i've served all week! a bowl of vegetarian chili - with three different kinds of beans, tomatoes, green pepper, and onion...cooked in a broth of tomato puree. basically, it was a bowl full of vitamins and nutrients!

i suppose it could be possible that he was referring to the corn bread muffin, not the chili, when he said those precious words.

little did he know, however, that the sweet muffin he was devouring was full of real, live, off the cob, corn kernel-y goodness!!

muahahahah!