Uses for a bucket

It can be worn on your head in many different ways.....

... or carried like a bag.

And if I had realized how long this would continue, I would've brought the camera with us. He wore the 'hat' in the car while we ran errands. I wasn't brave enough to let him wear it inside the stores (and was also afraid he'd start throwing it around) but every time we got back in the car, it went right back on his head. I think we need to buy him some caps to wear!

Poppy's Boy

Pretty much since the day we arrived in Guatemala in October, Rudy has been a Poppy's boy. What is amazing is how similar he is to Paul.

They both like things in lines. I don't know if Rudy has picked this up from playing with Paul over the last few months or if it's something he just does.

They both need frequent haircuts.

They both like (need) naps.

And they both like to read the paper and have a pacha in the morning (of course Paul's has coffee in it!).

Edited: How could I forget?! They both love music and playing the guitar.

Happy Birthday, Grandmom

From your favorite grandson.

The Boss

Unfortunately, the title no longer refers to me or Paul. It's Rudy. Fortunately, he hasn't (yet) tried to boss us around. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Currently Rudy is the boss of the animals and his toys. He likes to tell Mario and Lou what to do and when. This morning as we came downstairs, Mario was upstairs. Well, that wouldn't do for Rudy so he kept saying "gato downstairs" and trying to push or pull Mario down the stairs. I finally was able to convince Rudy that if he went down, Mario would follow him. For once Mario cooperated and that's what happened. However, once we got downstairs, Mario decided to go back up, so Rudy followed him again trying to bring him back down. If Mario or Lou are standing by their water bowl, Rudy thinks they should be drinking so he will point to the water and say "perro agua" and try to make them drink.

The bossing also extends to his toys. Usually after Rudy has been told no or been put in time out, he will then correct his toys for the same thing. For example, he was told "no kitchen" and kept going in so he had a time out. Later that day he was riding on his car and would take it just across the threshold of the kitchen, get off of it and say "no kitchen, car" and pull it back out. I guess his toys have a mind of their own!

Gracias

We have a very polite two-year-old in our house - at times. Gracias is a word he uses quite often. When he first came home, he would say "gracias" after we changed his diaper. Now he's moved from that and he will say "gracias" when you turn a light on in a room or on the stairs. Of course, he doesn't often say it when we want him to - like when we give him the food off of our plates or help him with something. But I guess sometimes is better than never.




This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post, I just felt like adding a picture. :)

Noisy toys and Christmas

As our family grows, there has become a truce on noisy toys. When the first child, Max, was born we all bought any cool, fun, noisy toys we could find. But as he got older we started to get subtle "threats" about paybacks for those noisy toys. Then Lucy was born, Rudy came home, and Bill & Renee got married. Now everyone has a fear of payback for toys that are too noisy so this was a relatively quiet Christmas in that respect.

However, while cleaning for Christmas Eve at our house, I earned a new appreciation for noisy toys. Since Rudy has only been home 2 months, 1 week and 6 days (no I'm not counting - see the ticker at the bottom of the page), we are still a little reluctant to leave him in certain parts of the house while we are in other parts. But I really needed to clean upstairs and he was happily playing with all his cars and trucks and buses and anything else that had wheels, so upstairs I went. One of the cars makes a noise when you shake it (thanks, Patti & Chris), so every minute or so I could hear that car and know that Rudy wasn't getting into anything since he was still moving his parade of cars. This does not mean that it is open season on noisy toys. Just that they certainly do have their place.

As for Christmas, we had three days of presents. Rudy is going to have a hard time after January when he no longer will receive presents on a regular basis.

Sunday we celebrated with my family at Chris & Patti's house. Here are Rudy and Max helping Grandpa open a present.

And here is Rudy with Lucy.

Monday we had Paul's family over our house. Here's Rudy with one of his favorite people 'loco Neil'.

And Christmas morning it was just the 3 of us - by now Rudy was a pro at what to do with presents.

Poor boy

It is such a shame that Rudy can't find anything other than a pillow to play with. Guess he needs more toys (yeah, right)

Books

Rudy loves books. He has for a while. When he first came home, he liked looking at animals books. Now he has moved on to books with cars, trains, or trucks in them. He also will now let us actually read the book - instead of just pointing out the pictures of quickly turning the pages. Rudy also enjoys reading his books to others.....

However, they are not always as interested in the book as he is!

Good to the last drop

This is a common sight when Rudy eats fruit. After finishing all the fruit, he drinks all the juice. Usually he picks the plate or bowl up and tips it like a cup but because he had other food left he didn't do that today. This is just one of those things we did not teach him, but he knows how to do very well - I've never seen him spill any juice while doing this.

Delicioso!

Adios

Getting out of the house lately has been tough. Rudy loves to say "adios" when we're leaving - usually to his toys. yesterday as we left it was "adios snowman", "adios bus". He then proceeded to walk over to his bus and give it un beso. What a kid!

A Mess

Yes, believe it or not, our boy can be a mess. Like the first time he ate yogurt by himself....

.... when he eats bread...
... mashed potatoes.....
.... and of course birthday cake!

And when we look at these pictures with him, we tell him what a mess he is. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised when we were heading home tonight from seeing Santa at the firehouse (and by 'seeing" I mean from across the room) and Rudy was finishing his cookie and said "I'm a mess!" At least he knows and accepts it!

Snow

Yes, it has actually been a few days since our first snowfall of the year but I thought I'd post some pictures. Rudy loves being outside and the cold doesn't seem to bother him.

Here is a picture of when it first started to snow - there was hardly any accumulation but I was afraid it would stop soon and we wouldn't have any "first snow" pictures so out we went.





He really enjoyed playing in the snow. As you can see here, he decided he didn't want his gloves on, even though I told him he would be "frio".

After brushing the snow off his hands he turned back to play with his lawn mower. As soon as he touched the cold plastic he asked for his gloves to get put back on. By the end of the day, most of the snow had melted. Now we wait for the next snow storm! of course the member of the family who likes the snow the most is our "Swissie", Lou.

A Trial Run

I've been thinking about starting a blog so here is my trial run - chances are no one will be reading this immediately, I want to try it out myself first! Having recently become a stay at home mom (during the day, at least), I find myself wanting to share things Rudy and I do during the day. Both Paul and I have, of course, been taking MANY, MANY pictures since Rudy came home, so I thought this would be a good way to share them.



As for the title of the blog, I had many different ideas, most of which were already taken, so I chose When Rudy Says Uh-Oh. Anyone with a 2-year-old knows that hearing "uh-oh" is never a good thing. So Paul wrote a song with his guitar entitled "When Rudy says Uh-Oh". I'll let him post the lyrics if he wants to, but essentially it is about what is happening when Rudy says uh-oh - do we have to clean something, are the cats or the dog running away, etc. Well, Rudy loves this song - and pretty much anything that includes the word Rudy or a picture of Rudy - so when he plays his "tarra" he sings "Rudy Uh-Oh". So all that to say it just seemed an appropriate title for now. And here's a picture of Rudy and Poppy playing their guitars.