Enoch Training Our Dog

For anyone who wants a good laugh, you can check out this video of Enoch "training" Cora to find a toy in his bed.  (We recently went to a dog show where the dogs had to find a toy that their owner had touched and retrieve it.  I think that this training is based on that activity.)  This happens almost every morning now with about the same results, Enoch is very dedicated and determined, and Cora is... distracted and not sure why he keeps putting her toy in the bed instead of throwing it for her.

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A Little Piece of Otis in Wal-Mart

After grabbing our bananas today at the grocery store, Enoch started jabbering about Otis. Though this is not all that uncommon these days, he was also pointing behind me and saying a word I didn't recognize along with his beloved dog's name. Turning around, I was expecting to find someone who had brought their little purse puppy in, but instead, much to my surprise, I found Otis' tail, hanging on a column between the tomatoes and the bananas. ;) (He just learned about tails this past week, and I haven't completely gotten used to the way he says "tail" yet.)



Laughing to myself and astonished at his creativity, I congratulated Little Man on finding it and snapped a quick photo that I just had to share.

posted from Bloggeroid

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FFF: Up Close and Personal with the Trash Truck!

Earlier this week the trash truck stopped by our house and began honking repeatedly.  Enoch and I stopped our chore (sweeping the floor while Karis slept) and went out to see what they needed.  I was a bit concerned that we had put out too much trash or broken some other rule, especially when the driver hopped out of his truck and began approaching me.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when instead of reprimanding me, he kindly complimented my tomato plants and asked if he could have a few of the ripe tomatoes.  Haha!  Of course I replied, 'yes,' at which he plucked a few off the vine and headed back to his truck.  Enoch was elated to be so close to the trash truck (he was on my hip in our driveway with the truck out on the street), and to top it all off, the driver honked a few loud honks when he began to drive away.  Little Guy's smile couldn't have gotten much bigger, and he told them 'bye' as they drove off, waving as if they were old friends.  ;)

Later, when we got inside and processed the event together, Enoch learned how to say "honk honk."  Here's a short video of us processing our run-in with the trash truck:

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FFF: Do You Know What Day It Is?

"July 12th," some might say...

Or others might respond, "Friday."

And while both groups would technically be right, they still wouldn't be fully right...

You see, today is Cow Appreciation Day! This is our second year to celebrate, and this year the Medal family's attendance doubled!  Last year, only Enoch and I went (click here to learn more about this all important day and to see more photos of us from last year)-

***notice, by the way, that this little brown onesie fit Enoch when he was around 10 months old {he was going through his weight loss spurt then} and still fit Karis today at 2 months old (it was rather tight on E and a bit baggy on K, but her cloth diaper made up for some of the extra space).***

...but this year, the whole Medal family went, dressed as cows!

Me & Enoch (and his half eaten cookie)

Hugh & Karis 

(notice the huge cow in the background?  There were 4 of these big guys floating through the restaurant.  From a distance Enoch was real brave... when he got closer though, that bravery melted away like a piece of chocolate on a hot Mississippi day.  a few tears may have even been shed.)

And, since I'm quite unbiased, I was also able to give out a few awards today...

Award for the cutest toddling cow:

Award for the sweetest little brown cow:

And the award for most athletic cow:

You can read here and here about Enoch's weight loss trouble and failure to thrive issue last year.

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Enoch & Babies

Enoch is in the cutest phase right now with babies - he just loves them!!  Anytime he sees a carseat he points and wants to see {and touch} the baby inside.  When we go down the diaper aisle at Wal Mart, he wants to show me every single baby on every box of diapers.  ;)  And if I show him a picture of a baby (we have lots of friends having them right now!) he is mesmerized by the little tikes.

Last week a friend brought us some diapers for Karis, and they sat in the dining room for a few days before Enoch noticed them.  When he did finally see them though, he brought the package over to me pointing and grunting at the baby's picture.  I got a quick video of him giving some kisses and hugs to the baby.



Obviously we still have some work to do on being gentle for when Karis arrives, but I just had to post this because I think it is just too sweet!

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FFF: Daddy Tipping (video fixed)

Enoch just learned how to "daddy tip" (similar to cow tipping), and he l.o.v.e.s. it!!  He usually thinks it's just so much fun to pull such a big daddy to the ground.  :)  Here's a quick video of his new skill:


Thankfully, he hasn't tried mommy tipping yet because I don't think it'd be quite as easy for me to get back up off the floor!  ;)

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FFF: the bee & the phone {videos}

I just wanted to share a few videos of sounds that Enoch learned this week.  The first is mimicking what a bee says.  (There is a bee in the book, though it's hard to see on this recording.  And technically he's been able to make this sound for a month or so, but he just got confident in it yesterday all of the sudden, meaning that he doesn't act shy when he does it anymore.)


The second video is of Enoch showing how to use a phone.  Usually when he points to it I put my hand up to my cheek (like I have a fake phone) and say "ring ring."  Although he isn't mimicking the "ring ring" sounds yet, he does mimic me by putting his hand to his cheek and talking.  :)  I've also caught him doing this with random objects like keys or blocks.  haha!

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FFF: Mimicking Mama & Daddy

Just this week Enoch has started mimicking little things that Hugh and I do.  It's so cute and hilarious to see him imitate us (and also very sobering because I know that soon he'll also be mimicking what we say as well!!).  Here are some examples-

• If I drop a cheerio on the ground, pick it up, blow it off, and then eat it, Enoch will blow on every piece of food he touches before eating it.  
• This morning I covered my mouth while coughing a few times, and Enoch preceded to cover his mouth and fake cough over and over (and then laugh at how funny he was).
• When I grab the broom to sweep, he tries taking it out of my hands because he wants to sweep too.
• This morning I used a measuring tape to see how big our side door is (we're replacing it soon), and when I sat the tape down, Enoch grabbed it and started trying to measure the door, just like I had done.  

 

measuring the door (sorry it's hard to see the tape measure)

And since the tape measure was the "toy" of choice this morning, I went ahead and got a video of Enoch using the measuring tape in the closet.  I hope you enjoy watching him play with it.  :)

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Our Free Backyard Entertainment

Do you see him in the picture below... Look to the left... That's right, we have roughly 5 of these bad boys living in our backyard, and they just love to crack their acorns on our deck. Leaves a bit of a mess, but Enoch loves watching them (his playpen is set up in the family room with that big sliding glass door looking out onto the deck where all of the action happens)!! In fact, he has already learned the word "squirrel", and when I say it, he automatically looks out to the back deck to see them.  ;)

I probably need to be careful though about how much I encourage him with these frisky little fellers because one of my friend's little boys actually ended up grabbing hold of one when he wasn't much older than Enoch is now (you can read about it here)... And those hairy little critters certainly do have some big ole teeth on them that this mama doesn't even want to mess with...

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FFF (early): Belly Button

Well hello again!  Sorry all of you blog readers have been slightly famished for the past few weeks!!  We've been busy with life, and I haven't had many spare moments to sit and write.  :(   But, I did snag a few cute naked-baby pics last week that I've been dying to share, so here's a quick post just for their cuteness...

I should also note that, as the title of this post indicates, one certain belly button is the focus of the photos.  You see, although Enoch has been able to identify his belly for months now, I think he just realized a few weeks ago that he has this unusual hole in the center of it.  ;)  ... maybe this is because his tummy is so round that he can't really see the bottom side of it unless he searches (see below)... 

Anyway, now that he has found his belly button, he is slightly obsessed with it (this could be an understatement).  He is always pulling up his shirt to find it (just to be sure it's still there), and once it's found, he just loves sticking his finger in it... 

Sometimes two fingers even find their way inside that cute little button..

It's pretty adorable/hilarious.  ;)  As you can imagine (with this happening all day), his shirt is never pulled down anymore!   (And as a side note, we were already having enough issues as it is with keeping his shirt pulled down because his tummy is just so round these days... so before his shirt was down maybe 30-50% of the time... Now it's more like 10-15% of the time.  haha!  But at least it's warm down here all year, so it's really not that bad if he shows off his tummy all day, everyday.)  ;)

Back to you guys being famished, I do have a few videos to upload and more updates on little guy, so check back later (hopefully it'll only take me a few days, not weeks to get them on here!!), and thanks for all the patience!!   And here's just one more cute one for all of those grandparents who are missing their chubby big boy love.

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Enoch Live: pajamas all morning

point proven  ;)

Why my baby gets to stay in his pajamas all morning...

• he's snuggly;
• he's warm and comfortable for his first nap;
• if he's rowdy while eating breakfast, he doesn't get applesauce on his good clothes;
• and lastly, there's just not much cuter than a little boy in footie pajamas!

... although a naked little boy with a cloth diaper on is definitely a close runner-up... but in the winter time it's probably not wise to leave your babies naked for too long, no matter how cute they are.  ;)

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FFF: Keeping a Clean House

Keeping a clean house is a tough job!  It's super challenging for me, and in fact, it's probably a challenge for most people.  So I thought I'd post my #1 tip for keeping our house clean: enlist help!

Now husbands are certainly enlist-able, and in my experience they are also pretty reliable, BUT the one disadvantage to enlisting husbands to help with cleaning is that they're never free Mon-Fri 8-5... maybe because they're busy with their real jobs, bringing home the bread.  ;)

So, that's where moms have to get creative.  Here's my creative solution to cleaning house: let the little ones help!  You see, I have a certain little boy following me around everywhere all day, and it never fails that he's almost always cleaning something {unless he's busy playing with his "true" toys}.  I've had a few older, wiser moms advise me to harness that cleaning want-to by continuing to let him help.. even if "helping" isn't incredibly helpful at first.

So that's what we've been doing.  Enoch loves being with me and helping, and I hope that as he gets older he'll enjoy getting to be more involved.  For now though, there are some simple ways that I let him help me clean everyday.  I thought I'd try to capture a few on camera since some of them are pretty cute and hilarious.

Cleaning the floor

Enoch is always finding anything that is left on the floor. Big chunks, microscopic crumbs, dehydrated food, etc.  In fact, I'd say his floor cleaning skills are better than that of any dog I've seen.  

Organizing Cabinets

This is one of Little Man's specialties!  He's been honing his technique for months now, and I'll say that he is quite an accomplished organizer!

Cleaning the Refrigerator

I know, I know... most people clean the inside of their fridge, but Enoch makes sure that the outside of ours stays nice and shiny too!  

Washing the Cabinets

This is also one of his specialties.  He is sure to get the surface nice and wet before polishing it dry... just like he does the fridge.  ;)

Cleaning the Hangers

Enoch is sure to clean the hangers each and every time we fold laundry.  He is so disciplined at this that I never have to worry about dusting them off myself.  

 And, when all of the hard work of cleaning is done, Enoch always has just enough energy for some reading.  

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