Show that Porter Smile!

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

We ended up staying home for Thanksgiving.  No one was in town so it was our first "official" Thanksgiving dinner together as a family.  We bought a smoked turkey from the butcher by the white barn on Fairview and it was amazing.  I made stuffing again, and it was good...or so Jordan says; sweet potatoes (aka brown sugar with potatoes mixed in).  Jordan was in charge of mashed potatoes--wonderful--and the turkey.  Cedrik didn't care for the turkey.  He preferred pickles, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pickles, olives and pickles.  We stuffed ourselves all weekend.  A tip for your next Thanksgiving meal: buy more than one gravy packet because sometimes it doesn't thicken.  We had water gravy.  Also, instead of a pumpkin pie I made a chocolate truffle pie, Paula Deen recipe.  It was amazing and we ate more than half of it on Thanksgiving.

  

Beatrice stayed with us for the week and got a bath and had her ears trimmed.

On Friday we decorated the house. 

On Saturday, Jordan hung Christmas lights.  I'll have to get a picture of them lit.

Cedrik and I played outside while he hung the lights.

Adios High-Chair

A few weeks ago, maybe a month now, Cedrik showed an interest in using a regular chair.  Yes, our chairs are high.  He only sits in them when we are on either side of him and he has to wait for us to help him down.  Anyway, he loves eating at the table.  He loves using a fork or spoon and I have to be certain of which one will be more useful for each meal because I have him get his own silverware--and sometimes it's hard to know which is better for a 17month old.  We have one lower cupboard that I put some bowls in for him and some silverware.  The next step is letting him use glass (or Correll, because I believe that stuff is pretty indestructable) plates and bowls, but we're still working on not sliding the bowl around.  He is drinking out of a glass at dinner time and if we'd let him pour the water he would; for now, I set the pouring boudaries in the bath. 

It IS messier with him at the table, but he is learning.  It makes my heart swell (literally, I think it does) everytime he accomplishes something new on his own.  He's learning how to pull his pants off and put them on and is trying VERY hard to take his shirts off.  I've read that children tend to learn how to use buttons before zippers.  Cedrik skipped the button step and zips up his pajamas at night.  He almost always is happy to help me put everything away that he gets out to play with and usually I only have to tell him something once.  I love this stage and I love how quickly he learns.  He still has a language that only Jordan and I can understand but he says the prayer when he feels like it (which seems to be very often at dinner) and says "amen amen" after the prayer is done.  (Which we think is because he hears it twice--just like in church.)  We were watching a Praise to The Man music video with the MoTab and he loved watching the conductor and decided to lead the music himself. Sometimes he'll sing and read to himself, but it only lasts a few seconds.  He is adorable and all over the place every second of the day.

Oh Bother.

Just about the only show we let Cedrik watch is the old Winnie the Pooh.  He loves "Pah Ba."  He even has Jordan's old Pooh bear from when he was a little boy.  Cedrik has him on his bed at all times and kisses and hugs him a lot.  It was only natural that we let Cedrik dress up as Pooh for Halloween.  He is the cutest Pooh we've ever seen.  He loved to look at himself in the mirror and knew exactly who he was. "Pah Ba"

We went to three houses by Dad and Donna's house and Cedrik caught on quick.  This was also the first time anyone has ever confused him for a girl.  I guess the hiking boots didn't register. :)