BAM!

Is anyone out there a fan of Emeril Lagasse? If you are, then you understand the reference in the title of this blog. If you are not, it is simply the exclamation that he says when he adds a little kick to whatever he is cooking (usually in the form of garlic). Well, it appears that we have a mini Emeril living in our house in the form of CJ Woglom. That's right, if there's something brewing in the kitchen, Christopher wants to be there! Over the holidays, Chris enjoyed watching all the moms and grandmas cooking in their respective kitchens. When we returned to Kansas, that fact did not change but our little man took it to a whole new level. One day, I dropped him off at his friend Emily's house for a little playdate. When I returned to pick him up, Emily's mother informed me that Christopher had been playing with Emily's mini kitchen for the past hour! If you know Chris, you know he doesn't stay in one spot very long so this was truly phenomenal. Long story short, we now have the same mini kitchen in our house and it is a huge hit. Here is our boy cooking up some yummy grub for us.

The cutest thing is that Christopher is now doing a bit of pretending when he plays. In the mornings, I heat up my coffee a little extra in the microwave. His kitchen set came with two little coffee mugs and Chris puts them in his own "microwave," presses the buttons, and heats it up himself. Then he takes the cup to his books and feeds the characters their nice hot coffee. He follows this up by saying "Ahhh" after they drink. So cute! Here he is with Grandma in the kitchen when she came to visit last week. He was watching her every move... Do we have a future top chef on our hands? Perhaps he will open a gourmet restaurant in the city called "Christophe." You better get on the reservation list now!

Not to be outdone by little buds, Kasey also received a new toy. Brian got her a little deer with a squeaker in it and she loves her little deer, dearly. So far it is in one piece but give it a week and we'll see what happens.

So much has been happening in our little man's life since the holidays so let me fill you in on a few of them... Christopher had his 18 month doctor's appointment and he is now 33.5 inches tall and nearly 29 solid pounds (just ask my biceps)... He is saying many new words including cheese, fish, green, and blue as well as the old standards like Mama and Daddy (and Kasey of course)... He's also saying animal sounds like moo, meow, and ssssss for snake. Chris runs everywhere--oh wait, that's not new! Mommy has been looking at Children's Day Out programs and I think I've found the one we are going to send him to in the fall. CDO is kind of like preschool but you only go once a week. When I was looking at this one school, it was weird for me to be on the parent end of the spectrum rather than the teacher end. I can already sense my "teacher-ness" coming through when I look at these classrooms. I just hope I don't turn into that annoying-parent-who-used-to-be-a-teacher (any teacher out there knows what I'm talking about!). I will leave you now with one last smiley face from our happy little boy.