Caught, Black Handed!

Don't be fooled by this cute face.



Exhibit A: Black hands





Exhibit B: Black scribbles



Exhibit C: Black finger prints on the weapon



We ran the fingerprints and we got a hit, definitely Cannon's. His prints were already in the system.

Here's how the crime went down. I left to go clean the church, leaving Cannon in his father's care. Ryan takes a shower, letting Cannon have free access to the house. Cannon sneaks downstairs and goes to the computer desk, knowing that mom's pens and markers are stored in the drawer. Upon my arrival home he announces that he has black hands and then starts the investigation.

Sorry Cannon, you've been caught! We were lucky this time, the damage could have been a lot worse!

Some Things You Should Know About Cannon

I could probably post something new about Cannon everyday. Whether it's him being down right annoying or being the absolute cutest thing ever. Today we'll focus on the positive.

First of all, Cannon is doing great using the potty! We are not potty training, but rather potty learning right now. There's no pressure, for him or me. He still wears a diaper and I take him potty throughout the day. I don't expect him to keep a dry diaper. We figured out that he likes to go standing up and that has made a difference.

Today Cannon did the funniest thing. We went to Walgreens and on the way out he noticed himself on the video monitor near the exit. He totally started to bust a move right there while the song, "I like to move it, move it" was playing! All the employees were laughing, as were the customers that came in. One lady started dancing with him! I wish I had my little video camera with me!

And our Mr. Man here has an imaginary friend! It took me awhile to figure it out. It's not just any friend, it's a monkey. For several weeks he kept talking about a monkey getting him (but not in a scary way). He would talk about him being in the car or upstairs, stuff like that. He does have two stuffed animal monkeys, but that's not what he was talking about. Then one day he was talking about his monkey and then he turned around and started talking to him! We don't know much about this monkey except that he must be pretty funny as he makes Cannon laugh. Yesterday we skyped Ryan's parents and Toni said that she used to have an imaginary friend monkey, with white tennis shoes!

Our First Cuban

Sandwich that is. We hit up Aguila sandwich shop today in Tampa. We saw this place on Man vs. Food before we moved here and we knew this would be the place we would try our first Cuban sandwich. It was fantastic! Even Cannon ate one too! And the price was very reasonable. You definitely find the best food in little dives like this one.

It Rains Here A Lot

We have come to realize that it rains here a lot! I love a good thunder storm and we have had plenty since moving to Florida. Sometimes we play in it!




Other times we stay inside and build tents!

Love Them!

Aren't they cute? I love them.



Cannon has been into stacking blocks this week. He almost got 13!



Cannon is also really into colors now and he knows them all: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black, white, purple, and brown (brown is hit or miss though). His favorite is orange, just like his daddy.

He has also been using words like "too," "whoops," and "now." He'll say, "Can I watch it now," or, "it's too big." He has also been talking about different feelings, mostly happy and sad. He gets very concerned when he sees someone who is sad.

One of his favorite books is Go Dog Go. There is a part that says something about the "red dog is out." That red dog looks like our dog, Blue, and Cannon was quick to notice that. He now understands the difference between Blue as a name and blue as a color. He'll say, "There's the red Blue dog."

When we moved in we were able to get cable free for two months, so we are enjoying that. After the two months, we'll have it disconnected. I love all the on demand stuff for kids. Cannon has three favorite shows: Thomas and Friends, Sesame Street, and The Fresh Beat Band.

This week we went to the beach twice. On Monday we went to Ft Desoto beach, which is the furthest South you can go on our little peninsula. Then yesterday we went to Indian Rocks again. Cannon doesn't really like the waves. He prefers it to be calm so that he can walk in the water himself rather than be carried or knocked over by waves. There were waves yesterday, but the water temp was perfect! Not too hot, not too cold.



Cannon also has a new friend, who is a girl. And he loves her! Her name is Savannah and he gets VERY excited to see her! She also has a twin brother named Micah and they are 14 months old. At church a couple Sundays ago he yelled out, "I see Nanna! Mom, I see Nanna!" Of course he did this during the prayer when it was quiet. Yesterday we went to the beach with them and when we pulled up he saw her and said, "Oh! It's Sa-na-na-nah! Oh! Oh!" And then he started gyrating around in his car seat and throwing things because he was so excited!



Rachel took this picture at the splash park last week. Savannah is usually a mama's girl, but she will let me hold her sometimes. And Cannon gets very jealous!

The other day Cannon received his first letter in the mail! It was from Clayton, or Clay Clay as Cannon says. I was so excited for him and he was so excited to open it! It's proudly hanging on our fridge now. Thanks Clay!

Some Cannon

Lately Cannon has been driving me up the wall! Toddlers are definitely my least favorite stage (I might change my mind when we have teenagers). We just butt heads all the time. I know it's good for him to learn to be independent, but I have to admit that I love to be the one in control. But he has such an awesome personality and that's what I want to talk about.

Cannon is an extrovert. This is weird to both Ryan and me because we are both introverts. Cannon LOVES meeting new people! This trait in him has really helped with our move. I was worried about him leaving his friends and family and having to meet new people. He loves his new nursery class at church and he loves making new friends. He gets so excited to see his new friends and to see Miss Angela at the library (she does story time). He will have a conversation with just about anyone and makes friends easily. Even though he is an extrovert, he gets overstimulated easily and can only handle large crowds in small doses.

You cannot rush Cannon. I know he got this one from Ryan! There's still a running joke in Ryan's family because you could never get him to go faster. I have realized this about Cannon. I should have know this when he was born. My water broke at 37 weeks and even with pitocin, it still took him 19 hours to come out! If you let him take his time about things he will do them. This is why we are not pushing the potty training thing. I know he will do it on his own when he is ready.

I love to watch him play. He does a lot of make believe with his Woody doll. He pretends to feed him and he tells him what is going on. I sometimes hear him scold his trains and tell them no. Sometimes he laughs at them for whatever reason and say, "Oh Gordon," and then chuckles. When we read his train books he likes to hold the trains that match the characters in the books. He also recites his books to Woody or to his trains. He has several books memorized. Maybe not completely, but he knows at least the last word of every sentence. His favorite books right now are, "Catch Me, Catch Me," "Fast Train, Slow Train," and "Go Dog Go," and in that order too. He likes a bunch of other books too, but those are the must reads before nap and bedtime.

Hide-and-seek is the game around our house these days. He likes to hide under the kitchen table or the tent in his room. He stays still and quiet while you "look" for him and then squeals with excitement when you find him. I love playing this game with him! It was one of my favorites growing up.

Cannon has been able to count by rote to 10 for awhile now and sometimes will go a little beyond that. Yesterday I noticed that he was counting objects, which I have never seen him do before. He counted to three and then just did random numbers after three. He likes to sing the ABC song and he can point out the letters "A" and "O." And he has finally started to take an interest in puzzles. He can do simple puzzles, but his attention span with them is still pretty short. He does like to put money in his football bank and I let him put the quarters in the washing machines here. You can tell he is concentrating because he sticks his tongue out.

He has also finally started to take an interest in drawing. Sometimes he will use markers, crayons, or colored pencils. But mostly he likes using his Magna Doodle. I like him using that too because it's not messy! He is very into drawing circles and really makes them just how he wants to. He is very deliberate with his markings.

And swimming! Oh how he loves to swim! It's very interesting and very scary to watch him swim. He wants to swim and really wants to be independent. I cannot get him to wear a life vest, arm floaters, ring floater, anything. He wants to be completely free. He also has no fear and so you have to keep your eyes on him every second. I noticed that when he is in the water he is testing himself. He is not trying to swim to get from point A to point B, but rather to see what his body can do in the water and what his limits are. One example, dead man's float. This is not for the weak! Cannon taught himself to float on his belly and just float. It's pretty freaky to watch! He just floats there. Then he'll turn over or lift his head up when he needs air and then that's when I grab him. He will also walk off the step and "walk" in the water. He's crazy! I just can't wait until he can really swim!





I tried to get a video of his dead man's float. He kind of does it here, but usually he is totally on his belly and he'll float longer.

Oh Toddlers!

Toddlers have this amazing ability to make a situation worse! This gift, or curse, happens all the time, when you least expect it. They dottle on the stairs, so what happens? They fall down the stairs. When you've had the worst morning, they will only take a 1 hour nap, or maybe none at all. When you finish hauling four loads of wet laundry up the stairs, you come in to see that all the whites are all over your dirty kitchen floor. When you are walking out to the car, they drop their Woody's hat which, of course, rolls all the way under the car requiring a broom to retrieve it. They decide that it is a good idea is to carry a cup of milk from the kitchen to the table and when you decide to offer minimal assistance, their rage ends up spilling said milk. When you are walking in the grass they, somehow, will always find the only dog poo around and then proceed to walk through it. When they are having a tantrum at the post office and you so patiently and lovingly get down to their level to talk to them, they will slap your face and pull your hair out. When you are just about to leave, they will inevitably have a poopy diaper. At the very moment you really need them to stand up because you are crossing the street, their body will turn to jello. When you are getting in the car to go to church, they will step in the only puddle of mud within 20 feet and get it all over themselves, yourself, the car and their car seat. When you are calm and chill, with no worries, they have this ability to turn you from happy to rage in less than 5 seconds. Never before has anyone been able to evoke those kinds of emotions from you.

Oh toddlers!

They also have this unique gift of totally melting your heart with a smile or gesture. And you know you have never loved anyone more.

Here's my toddler, with his curliness and all.