New Foods Galore!

Over the last week, John has made great strides on eating new foods! He now enjoys real sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, and pasta with turkey and peas (that mom stuffed), but of course it had to have Parmesan cheese on it! However, it is our hope that we can slowly start taking the pasta away and just give him the little chunks of food once he gets acclimated to the taste. He also enjoys coconut cream pudding and cinnamon and honey goldfish! He LOVES making the fish swim across his tray and sometimes, he even makes them kiss!
I'm not sure where he learned that....

John is extremely mobile these days too and every time there is music on, he will dance! On Saturday, John went to the dance team clinic I had for my girls because Phil was sick with the crud. As soon as we arrived and John heard music, his feet started bouncing in his stroller. Once I let him out, he immediately ran to the center of the circle the girls were stretching in and started to dance for them. Such a performer!! He has a great sense of rhythm!! I see performing in his future.... or maybe football, soccer or baseball!

Last weekend, John "helped" us start to clear off his bookshelf so we could put his books in a basket to make them more accessible to him. He loves going to pull a book out and bring it to us to read it, but he makes us nervous now as he sometimes pulls up on the bookshelf to help him stand. He was completely enthralled with the brochure he was looking at with a baby on the front!

Our backyard has been taken over since Sept. 14 for a new road, retaining wall, and fence to go in on Hwy 284 behind our house. The parking spot for the big backhoe has been right outside our window, so John is mesmerized every time they are working. On Saturday morning, he sat for about 15 - 20 minutes and watched them dig and dump the dirt. It was priceless!!

Notice he's up on tippy toes trying to see better....

Once he had enough of watching them dig, he went off to his toys and had a mini dance party!

Last night, John was in giggle mode. Anything and everything made him giggle! Phil had put his hat on and he would giggle as he pulled it off. Of course, it then became a game! We quickly realized this was picture-worthy, so Phil grabbed the camera. I was in charge of placing the hat on John's head before he would pull it off, giggle and squeal with delight, turn around, run back to give it to me, and then turn and run away again as I tried to put the hat back on. It was great, but meant for an earlier bedtime! After 15 minutes of this new game, John was exhausted!

We hope you are enjoying your November so far! The warmer weather has been great, as we have been able to be outside and enjoy it, but the holiday season will soon be upon us! Phil and I are finishing our Graduate program and only have 6 weeks left! We can't wait for graduation on Dec. 18, but have to complete three projects in the next few weeks first. Knowing the end is near is certainly helping us "keep our eyes on the prize" as there are many things we would rather be doing than writing papers and completing projects! I realized this weekend that if we want our house to be decorated for the holidays, I may have to start now with the chaos December is going to bring as dance team gets into full swing, along with work, grad school and graduation. However, as I see it, who doesn't love the holidays and don't they always go by too quickly? Maybe the Singewald's will stretch out the fun this year. We'll see!!

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year, John was a monkey and he LOVED his costume! We weren't sure what he would think about the hat, so we practiced wearing it around the house, but when it came down to wearing his costume, he couldn't get enough of it! We celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating at Uncle Steve and Aunt Katie's house and then went to see Grandma and Grandpa Gunville too. John lit up as soon as they came to the door! We were sad we weren't able to be at our house for trick-or-treaters, but it was so much fun to see how animated John was this year. What a delight!


John with Uncle Steve

John loved the baskets at Uncle Steve and Aunt Katie's house!


Lots of smiles with Mommy....

and Daddy....
and of course, Grandpa!
Look what Grandma and Grandpa gave me in my pumpkin bucket!
(John has been obsessed with carrying it around ever since!)

He is so pleased!!!

Dancing to the music!

On Sunday, we had a much-needed lazy day around the house. I was cooking and prepping some of the meals for our week, since dinners are somewhat on-the-go for us now that dance team has started. John only napped a short time, so we decided he should help me make cornbread muffins. We pulled out his new Elmo floor mat for cooking and eating so we could make them on the floor. He was so excited the moment he saw it!



John's turn to stir!
Watch, mom! I can stir outside of the bowl too!


John thought it was quite funny when he had cornbread batter all over his hands!
John was a great helper! He even put the muffin papers in the pan! I loved having him be more interactive in the baking, even though it made for a bit more of a mess. I can only imagine how excited he's going to be for Christmas cookies this year!

John is ONE and other fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN!!

On Septemeber 3, John turned one! We celebrated with a family party on Thursday, Auguest 27, while everyone was in town for Steve and Katie's wedding! It was an Elmo-filled party and John loved it!!

John was thrilled with his new toys and cute outfits,

especially his Mickey airplane, farm, books, and firetruck car!

John was pretty tired after all the partying and presents, but he did muster up enough energy to eat his Elmo cake I made him!
John had to get a taste in during the quick family picture....
John wasn't so sure about the cake, since he hadn't had any before, but once he tried it, he couldn't get enough!
Yeah!!! Cake is yummy!
Over Labor Day weekend, Matt was in town and able to come and play with John and his new toys!
John loves tubbie time!


I LOVE my new Elmo sippy without handles!
Look, Mom! I can sort blocks like you do!
John loves to read his books!
I can sort diapers too, Mom! Aren't I a good helper?
John is such a big boy now! He's walking with his Mickey airplane and loving his independence!
So tired....
Ahhhh...kisses!
Lovin' tubbie time again! John giggles when we make a mohawk!

Over MEA, we were able to head up north for a few days. Because Phil's whole family was able to be up north at that time, John went trick-or-treating for them one of the nights. However, we had to get him used to wearing his monkey ears, since he's not always thrilled with something on his head. He giggled when he saw himself in the mirror though and never had a problem wearing them after that!
For John's birthday, Tim and Crystal gave him this "Papa Pete" hat as we lovingly refer to it. Papa Pete, Phil's grandpa, always wore a hat just like this whenever he left the house.
What a cutie!

Who said a diet Pepsi box can't be a great toy?
Papa Bob gives great rides on Mickey!
What a cute little monkey!
Mr. Amazing (as his shirt says) was happily telling stories and dancing in his crib! He has quite the moves these days!
One of John's favorite books these days is Clifford. However, he is head-over-heels in love with Daisy, our dog, so every dog he sees, he calls Daisy. He looks for and calls for Daisy about 200 times a day. It is so cute!
John has accomplished many things over the last two months! He is walking, and at times, running around the house. His favorite foods are pasta with parmesan cheese, yogurt melts, sweet potatoes, squash, graham crackers, cinnamon toast, and toast with jelly. We're working on eating vegetables and fruits off his tray, rather than grinding them up and feeding them to him. All in due time! He continues to love to read books and now dances any time music is on. We can't wait for him to say more words and learn other new things! He is a joy!!