Elijah: 3 months

Dec. 19, 2012

Today you turned three months (and one week) old!  Mama forgot to write this on time, but since I am home sick today I decided to try and write this.  You have been such a good baby all day, just mellowing out while mama sleeps and tries to feel better.  I hope so much you don't get sick, but your little smiling face has sure helped me through this rough day.

You are such a smiley baby!  When you want attention or picked up you just turn on the charm and give a big flash of your toothless gums.  This month you have really wrapped mama around your finger with your sweetness.

You did have a little cold (runny nose, cough) a few weeks ago, but are feeling great now.

Weight:  15 pounds, 9 ounces
Length:  (did not measure, first month without a doctor check-up!)
Size:  The 6-12 month winter clothes I bought you fit surprisingly well, and size 2 diapers are fitting best.
Feeding:  When mama went back to work, you started getting some bottles and have done pretty well with them.  You eat right before and after I work, but only eat twice while I'm gone, and continue to nurse several times through the night.
Sleeping:  Your starting to stretch into fewer, longer naps now.  You sleep a lot in the morning, and are normally pretty tired by 8:00 at night.  You stay in your bassinet for the first part of the night, but normally end up in bed nursing with mama.
Likes:  smiling at Mama, Dada, and brother; grabbing and holding rattles and toys
Dislikes:  when Theo bonks you accidentally

Elijah: 2 Months

Nov. 12, 2012

This month we finally cleared up your jaundice (breast milk jaundice this time) and baby acne, but now you are getting some dry skin in this cold month.  Your hiccoughs are happening less, but you do still get them.  You started the month banging your head into our shoulders a lot, but have really started holding up your head pretty well now.

You have ridden in the Moby wrap quite a few times now, and seem to like it (you always fall asleep).  You like to sleep in your swing often too.  When awake you like to hold onto toys, and have started liking being able to watch your mobile.  You have learned how to give really big smiles when you want picked up or played with.  They are so precious.

Weight:  13 pounds, 9 ounces
Length:  23.75 inches
Size:  We're into size 2 diapers, and your 3-6 month clothes. 
Feeding:  You eat every few hours now (for about 15 minutes a time).  You have experienced a bottle now and took right to it.  Some nights you will go almost 6 hours before waking to eat.  You burp really well.
Sleeping:  You are still such a good sleeper.  You end up sleeping with mama a lot after your early morning feedings, but spend the first half of the night in your bassinet.  We don't swaddle anymore, but have started the sleep sacks.
Likes:  Toys that rattle, Mobile, mama, Dada, and big brother
Dislikes:  Cori barking at the mail man

HallOween

So, for some reason, I have decided that I would really like to make my kids their Halloween costumes for as long as they will let me.  But I am not one to spend a lot of time with an elaborate costume.  I try to find ideas that are fairly simple (cheap) and quick.   Here are the ones we have come up with so far.

2012:  Football 1 month old and Football Player 2.5 Years Old

Having a newborn at Halloween kind of narrows the options, but I saw this on pinterest months ago and knew it would be perfect.  The football onesie was very easy.  Dyed it brown, and then used fabric glue to attach white bias tape that I already had in my craft supplies.  Brian gets the credit for making the stitching look as realistic as possible.  Bias tape worked much better than ribbon, which the glue kind of bled through on.  We put a green sleeper underneath for warmth, and thought it could double as a the green grass on a football field.

 For the player, we used a Colts jersey, blue socks, and white sneakers that we had at home.  For the pants, we bought some girls leggings and just adding two strips of ribbon down the side.  Theo was most excited to put on "mama's make-up" for his eye black, and was tolerant with the pads that dada made for him.  My husband spent quite a while making very, very realistic looking shoulder pads out of a plastic container and cardboard, and kitchen twine. He also made thigh pads out of cardboard and stuffing.  It was a little dangerous walking around in Eagles territory with the Colts jersey on, but he still got treats from everyone.

2011:  Johnny Appleseed:  1.5 Years Old

This year Theo had just begun saying the word "apple", so it gave us the inspiration for this costume.  Hubby again got in on the action with this one, creating the hat that Theodore would wear (a real pot was too heavy and wouldn't fit his head correctly).  He used cardboard covered in tin foil. I added a quick vest I made out of some brown cotton material I found, and made a quick pouch for his "apple seeds" (candy bag!).  Theodore carried an apple with him, and rolled up his pants to complete the look.  He could have gone barefoot to add to the look, but that wasn't practical. 

2010: Chocolate Chip Cookie 6 months old

For his first Halloween, I made T a cookie costume.  I simply made two light brown circular pillows, and then added dark brown chocolate chips to each one.  He still has these pillows on his bed.

For some more recent costume ideas, check out 2013 and 2014!

Kilby Cream

After a quick search of my blog, I realized I have never really done a post about one of our favorite local places, Kilby Cream.  Though this one is a bit away from Newark, I would still consider it close enough to call local.

A quick jog down 95 will lead you into rural Maryland (third state Eli has visited now).  It always amazes me how quickly we can get to the country here. When we lived in Phoenix it took FOREVER to get "out of the city".  Here we are not nearly as trapped in the urban sprawl as we were there.

This dairy has really great ice cream, a petting zoo (calves, goats, mini horses, etc), and a playground that Theodore just can't resist.  And in the fall it is home to a corn maze.

Last year was our first time there, and we had a fun time taking Theodore through, though we went at a busier time and some of the lesser behaved children annoyed us.

But this year, we had the whole maze to ourselves on an early Sunday evening, and Theodore really had a blast leading us through.  He wanted to "read" the map the whole time, and kept deciding "This Way" at all the intersections. He was oddly right most of the time too.  Every now and then he wanted to trick dada by telling him to go a different way, but then would get worried when he was gone.  T would literally jump in the air when dada would sneak up on him by going around a different way, and then start giggling.  It was a lot of fun, and of course was followed by some great scoops of ice cream!  Not a normal fall pairing, but one Theodore is probably going to always link-  ice cream and corn mazes.

Elijah: 1 Month

Oct. 12, 2012

Today you turned one month old!  You are still the sweetest baby ever.  I've started calling you "little goat" because you sound just like one when you mewl.  However, I much prefer that to crying and am lucky you are so calm and rarely cry or spit up.

Your umbilical cord finally fell off on the 1st of Oct.  After being grossed out by it for a month, your brother turned 360 degrees and became upset when it fell off and complained he "want cord back" for the next few days.  You seem to be interested in your big brother, and like to watch him.

Weight:  10 pounds 14 ounces
Length:  22.5 inches
Size:  We can just barely squeeze you into newborn clothes and diapers, size 1 and 0-3 months fit better.
Feeding:  Like a clock.  You eat every two hours if you have a "half order" and every three hours if you have a "full order".  At night you only eat every four hours.
Sleeping:  All the time!  You do like to get up more in the late afternoon and evening hours, which works well since that's when dada comes home.  You like to sleep on mama, but will also sleep in the bassinet and the vibrating chair.
Likes:  Being swaddled at night, rocking and being cuddled.
Dislikes:  Binky, hiccups (you get them all the time!)

First Out of State Trip

I have felt a little trapped in my own house since the baby was born.  I really can't leave with both boys, since I am not supposed to lift Theodore and there are too many instances in any trip where I would have to lift him and I haven't fully started driving yet after my surgery.  And Brian is working as much as possible, so he can't really take us many places.  But today, I made him take us for a little outing.

We couldn't really decide what to do, but I've been wanting to drive up to Lancaster for a while now, so we headed north without any real plans except to find some "orange trees" as we instructed Theo.

By the time we got there around noon, we were quite hungry so we searched for restaurants on our GPS and randomly picked the fifth one it listed - The Smoketown Diner.  Apparently, Smoketown is one of the many, many towns that cluster outside of Lancaster.  It was a small diner, loud enough that Theo wasn't too distracting to everyone else, but quiet enough that the baby stayed asleep pretty much the whole time.  It was a cheap meal, and pretty filling but not too large portions, though we had to wait a bit.  Though I normally don't order dessert, I was excited to see peanut butter pie on the menu and disappointed when they didn't have any.

We picked up a guide and a map here, and were interested by a dairy, and a pretzel shop, and headed that way.

The dairy, Oregon Dairy, turned out to be the perfect place to spend one of the last nice days of the year with both boys.  We ordered some really tasty ice cream and ate out on the ice cream deck which was perfect with the sun warming us.  Theodore then had a great time playing on the playground, and I enjoyed seeing all the white deer they kept there.

Then we traveled just a bit more and came to a nice, historic town called Lititz.  We found  "the first commercial pretzel bakery in America,"  Sturgis Pretzel Bakery.  Though it was too close to nap time for us to take the tour, it looked interesting and was only a couple bucks a person.  We picked up some bags of pretzels, and a few hot freshly baked ones as well.

On our way out, we enjoyed the rest of our scenic, winding drive, and headed home a different route through Gap.  Of course, we had to stop at our cheese shoppe there.  Theo, always the chatterbox, thanked Bill for the cheese as we left with Manchego and an Irish cheddar with porter.

Elijah only cried a little on the drive home, as he was getting a little hungry.  Overall, it was a very successful first outing as a family of four, and Elijah's first time out of his home state.

Letter at Two Weeks Old

Dear Eli,

Not much has changed in the past two weeks… your jaundice is almost gone.  You still go through a ton of diapers a day, but you have only really gotten one outfit dirty and one changing pad cover.  You’re pretty clean for a baby.

You have had two doctor’s appointments, got to go to the park last week, and to Bob Evans and church Sunday, but otherwise you’ve been pretty housebound. 

Sleeping is still your main activity.  It comes very easily to you.  You love to be swaddled but could take or leave a binky.  And you still have your umbilical cord, I think just to annoy your big brother.

Love ya,

Mama

Baby #2 has arrived!

 On Sept. 12, 2012 at precisely 8:04 am my eyes filled with tears as I heard my little one’s first cries.  As soon as I could see his little body, I fell in love all over again.  My first thoughts were of how bald he looked, but when I got closer look I found he does have a light layer of brown hair. As I was anxiously awaiting getting to see him myself, I heard the nurses score him a 9 on the apgar scale, and I was glad to hear he was a healthy 8 pounds and 9 ounces, and 21 inches.  I was worried beforehand that they had estimated him to be smaller than Theo, but he turned out to be pretty good sized and everything was healthy with him (other than a little jaundice).  He has the exact same size statistics I had when I was born.

First picture.

Two minutes later, Brian got to re-cut the cord.

It wasn't until 8:19 (15 minutes after his first cries) that I finally got to see him up close. 

It seemed like it was forever before they finally brought him close for me to see, and a really long time before I finally got to hold him when they wheeled me back to recovery.  While I was still shaking from the shock afterward this time, it wasn’t quite to the extent I remember shivering last time.  The anesthesiologist nurse did a really good job making sure I was comfortable this time. 

8:50 Finally holding baby!  One of the many cons of a c-section is waiting so long to hold baby.

After this photo they took me to recovery, where I spent a few hours.  Elijah met his big brother and his grandma, and attempted to nurse for the first time.  

We finally got to our room around lunchtime, and spent the next few hours so excited and happy getting to know our new little guy.  So much different than last time where we were exhausted and upset about the c-section and struggling to get through our first night.

The rest of the hospital stay was pretty routine, and I was up walking as soon as possible.  I had almost no feet and leg swelling this time, and knew to keep asking for pain meds to keep myself going.

Going home outfit!

 Elijah is a very sweet baby, but has such a serious little face.  He does not spit up much at all (I didn’t know such a baby existed), and he doesn’t need to eat quite as often as Theo did (but already regained his weight and is gaining fine).   He will stop crying almost as soon as you pick him up and tend to him, and it is pretty easy to figure out what he needs (not sure if that’s b/c he is a second child or just an easy child).   

 “Old Man Wrinkles” was almost immediately my nickname for this little serious face.

 First meeting!

 Theo is adjusting well.  His life hasn’t changed that much now that he’s a big brother.  He is still into playing with his blocks, trains, reading, watching Word World, and playing with his stuffed animals.  But now, he has a little brother to come check on, set beside and watch, and talk about constantly.  

One cute thing is every time he sees Eli’s umbilical cord he yells out “Look-LOOK!” and is freaked out.  Hopefully it falls off soon.  He then claims it is “My Turn” and will climb up on the changing table to change his diaper too.  The toilet is still not looking inviting to him apparently. 

Theo also uses a lot of the phrases I use-he’ll walk over to Eli and say how cute he is.  He likes to keep him near when he is playing blocks/trains/making the bed with blankets on the floor.  And he is always worried about him having a blankie/binky.  He acts like it is completely normal to have a little brother join us. 

I was a little overwhelmed Sunday when we went to our first church service as a family of four, and I had time to just reflect on how truly blessed we are to have two wonderful, healthy boys. 

 

 First pic as a family of four!

1st Pregnancy vs. 2nd Pregnancy

I have been lucky and blessed by two fairly easy pregnancies.  Both times I had no complications, always low blood pressure and normal glucose levels.  I did not have much nausea in either pregnancy, and carried both babies well.

I definitely had more heartburn with my first pregnancy, leading me to believe the wives-tail about the more heartburn the more hair, b/c my second had very little heartburn, and very little hair. 

Both pregnancies ended in unwanted c-sections.  In the first case, I was unsuccessfully induced and stopped progressing at 7 cm.  This time, they would have let me try for a VBAC had I started labor on my own, but I did not and the alternative was a scheduled c-section at about 41 weeks.   The second c-section was a very different experience.  The first time, it was so entirely unexpected as I never, ever imagined my childbirth experience going that way.  But this time, after my due date had come and gone, and I had tried everything to get the baby coming on my own, I was resigned to the fact that I was going to have a repeat section.   While with the first I had lots of baby blues and emotional swings after he was here, I got all my emotions about the c-section taken care of before my second son was born and have really been able to enjoy almost every moment since he arrived.  It was also much easier to recover from without the induced labor beforehand, and knowing what to expect after.

40weeks + 1day Pregnant with a 9 lb baby (Age 25 1/4 years)

40weeks + 4days Pregnant with a 8 lb 9 oz baby (Age 27 5/6 years)

My weight gain was different with each, though my starting weight was similar for both pregnancies.  For the first I gained 41.5 pounds, while I only gained 32 pounds with the second.  Perhaps that had sometime to do with the ease of recovery too? 

Hopefully, for #3 I’ll be able to successfully have a VBA2C.  I really don’t want to go through surgery again, but thankfully I am almost recovered from this one.

2.5 Years, Alright

Theo recently had his 2 and a half year wellness visit.  He has been going with me to the doctor lately, so he's getting to understand how the medical world works.  He's even been asking to go to the doctor when his tummy hurt (I'm pretty sure he just bumped into something).  So, I thought he'd be excited when he finally got to go see his doctor, but I was wrong.  He was cranky and a little hesitant, but he did say "hi doctor" and got through the appointment.

Height and Weight:  He is still off the charts for his age, 39 inches and 41 pounds.  Literally off the charts.  But he is active (kicking/throwing a ball around the house as I write this), strong, and healthy.  She had no concerns about his speech or language.  He has really taken off in the last six months and became such a talker. 

Eating:  Not as well as he used to.  If it is meat, cheese, eggs, beans, pasta, potatoes, or bread we normally have no problems.  But he is in a picky stage and will pick out onions and vegetables from dishes.  He still actually will eat pureed food much better than actual veggies, and I don't seem to be able to get him past this.  Fruit has about a 50-50 chance of getting eaten, depending on his mood.  He likes to put lemon and lime juice in his water, and will drink any kind of watered down juice that he can get.  I don't really push it with most food, but I would like him to eat some green things...

Early Literacy:  He loves the shows Word World (yay) and Super Reader (boo).  WW has definitely upstaged Elmo.  For that matter, so has Grover, which they unfortunately don't play much on Sesame Street so we have just been skipping that all together lately.  Last time, when the Super Grover segment was over and they did the advertisement for Elmo coming next, he actually said "No Elmo, More Grover!" and pouted.  He really is learning his letters thanks to these two shows, and when we work on his Pre-K book together he gets very excited to point out the letters and sing "LMNOP" and "Z".  He is into a couple longer Dr. Seuss books lately, unfortunately, and amazes me at just home many books he has committed partially to memory.  When reading his favorites I always pause and let him say words at the end of the sentences.  When we are out walking he likes to stop at signs and point out letters.

 Early Numeracy:  Theo is a good little counter now.  He can't make "S" sounds well, so six and seven are rough but we know what he is trying to say.  He is getting into shapes, asking to watch "Elmo's Shapes" quite often and again pointing out the shapes of signs on our walks.  He's starting to name numbers, however, he is quite adamant that the number "8" is "number B".

Potty Training:  We have not kicked this in full gear yet.  He has went on the potty precisely Three times, and each time was a bit of a fluke and was not to be repeated.  He takes off his diaper lately though, when it needs changed, which is somewhat helpful but makes more of a mess sometimes.  I think this is starting to point toward him being more ready to start training though.

Sibling Training:  Theo does seem very excited about the baby coming.  He will "knock" on my belly and tell the baby to wake up, and always blesses him in his nightly prayers (Mama, Dada, then little brother).

Behavior:  I think he is typical in his occasional defiance (for a two year old).  He will be naughty on occasion, and sit through his resulting time out.  Recently, he cracked us up with his reluctance to comply with a request (to eat something, or go to a time out), when he said "ALRIGHT" and started doing what had been asked.  It was so unexpected.  I'm not sure where/when he learned that phrase, but now he has been saying it all the time.  It is too cute.

New Book Favorites: Little Critter Books, Fox in Socks, One Fish, Two Fish

Favorite Toys:  Toy cars and ramps, Duplos, Barn and animal set, Firetruck.  He also loves his stuffed animals.  I was always confused why my mother kept giving him random stuffed animals, (a lion at Christmas, a random Iguana) but now I'm thankfully.  He loves to play with his animals, and they get to partake in a lot of the activities that we do.  He will set them up all over the house.  Often times they are fighting and eating each other, but it is still fun to play with him with them.

I haven't done a great job documenting his growth with his blue bear, but I think this tells the story pretty well:

Newborn!

 6 Months!

12 Months

 30 months                          



Easy Baby Blanket

I'm worried about this second child not having anything of his own, but it doesn't make sense to re-buy things that are still perfectly usable after Theodore.  So, I have picked up just a few select things, and decided to make him a blanket.  I was thinking maybe an elephant print, but we found an owl print at Joann's and decided to go with that.  Theo approved it.

I used a fleece for the background, rather than a minky fabric, just to give it some variety.

I followed the steps on this tutorial:  http://quiltingintherain.blogspot.com/2011/07/easy-baby-blankets.html.

Considering I found out that my rotary cutter is rusted over when I began the project (during nap time) and I had to cut all the edges by hand, it turned out pretty well.  I am the worst straight cutter in the world. 

Theodore has already test run the blanket.  Hopefully he is okay giving it to baby and not stealing it all the time like he does his blankets when they are on us.

Blast from the Past

We're having computer issues, so I decided to back up my photos and documents today.  That takes me a lot of time, because I like to go through and purge and reorganize stuff before it gets moved to another hard drive.  I found this, and had to post it. 

This was over ten years ago! 

I could have recreated this picture many times this summer.  I have wanted corn on a daily basis this pregnancy!

Toddler Momments

I haven't posted in a while, so I just wanted to record some moments that have made me smile.

#1  Theo is pretty good about naps.  We go in, read a few stories, and he settles right down.  A few days ago though, he wasn't settling, but I left him in his room to get to sleep on his own.  He started jamming out to some of his CDs (I should NOT have shown him the volume knob) and I kept checking on him.  I heard him yelling after a while, and didn't know what was going on.  I go in, and he's reading "Duckling has a Cookie" to himself.  In this story, pigeon is very upset that duckling got a cookie just by asking.  It is a lot of fun to play/act out, and we normally do so with mama and dada taking a roll.  Hearing Theodore read/yell through the book was adorable.  He just looked up at me and kept reading, like it was totally normal that he should be yelling in his room during nap time.
#1b  He also really likes the "Meatball Book" right now, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  He is way too silly reading it.  It combines some heavy machinery (they have to "clean-up" the food) with all sorts of food, so he likes it.  Similarly, he liked the silly story "Sheep in a Jeep" that we found at the library recently.  We must have read it at least three times and I'm glad we did not check it out b/c I'm really not a big fan of repeating the same story over and over, though Theo loves it. 

#2  I'm afraid he is going to have a hard time with the baby having his own things.  Theo loves his little sleeper that has trucks on it, and carries it around all the time.  He even put it on his baby doll and practices with that.  We picked out some fabric the other day for a blanket.  A red print with gold owls, and a gold fleece for the back layer.  Since Theo helped pick it out, he things its for him.  He keeps stealing the fabric and using it like a blanket. 

#3  Lately when he gets hurt, he asks for a kiss every time.  This was started by day care I believe.  Recently, he has started asking for an ice pack.  I have no idea where he got that idea. 

And the whole time I've been typing this, Theodore has been walking in circles around the "boat" (laundry basket) which I think is a signal he's ready for nap time.  Despite throwing him self on the ground when he doesn't want to leave places, the biting, and using his chair/stool to get anything he wants at anytime, this is really a cute age.  He is still circling...

ABC Book: Words

This book was a lot of fun to put together.  I basically just tried to use photos we already had, and gave each page one picture with one noun standing for each letter.  I did use a couple of verbs, so I could be sure to include all of Theo's cousins in a picture (and a few aunts and uncles).  Theo is able to "read" the entire book on his own.

Click here to view this photo book larger

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"Nursery"

We still live in a two bedroom apartment.  Both bedrooms are full.  This is a problem, as we prepare for the new little boy who needs to live here too.  Since we're not sure how much longer we'll be working in DE, we don't want to move, so we're going to just make due until the end of the fall semester squeezed into this little place with two boys in diapers. 

I feel mother guilt in that this baby won't have a nursery all put together just for him like Theo did.  But, we've found a way to make this work for now.

Since the baby will be sleeping bed side in a bassinet for at least the first few months, we've decided to just move the "changing table" into our room, with all of the baby gear.  We figured we would not want to be going into T's room to change the baby in the middle of the night.  So, we cleared off Brian's dresser and got a new shelving system.  Once we are done using it in here, we plan to turn it sideways and use it in the boys room.  I will probably get some nice baskets to help hide all the clutter that will be in there eventually, but for now, I just put in a couple baskets we already had and left the rest open.  I'm very excited to see it all coming together.

Theodore's Reading List: Great Books for Two Year Olds

"Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel"  This was a favorite of Brian's, and now a favorite of Theo's.  He asks for "Mike" very often.  He was very excited recently when he found Mary Anne (the steam shovel)  in another Virgina Lee Burton book, "The Little House", which is quickly becoming another favorite as well.

"If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"  I ordered a mini version of this book, with a play-along CD from Theo's class's book order.  It was a major hit with him!  For a few weeks, he wouldn't go to bed without playing "mouse cookie" which had readings of the stories, author and illustrator info, and a few songs.  We also like "If you give a Dog a Donut"... we're not as big a fan of "If you Give a Cat a Cupcake."

Theodore's first Jerry Pallotta book, "The Jet Alphabet" has become a quick favorite as Theodore is enamored with planes and helicopters right now.  This is our first foray into non-fiction.  I'd rather stay in fantasy a while longer, but it is super cute when he says "Jumbo Jet" or "Bell XS-1".
"The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" and all of the other pigeon books have kept us entertained this last year as well.  We even get to act them out with a little chick and pigeon stuffed animal we have.  We're anxiously awaiting the pigeon activity book that is coming out this fall.

A few days before Theo's cousins visited, Theodore found this book in our "older" books bookcase.  "Go Dog Go" has taught Theodore a lot!  He got to read this with his cousin who just finished kindergarten.  "In/Out, Up/Down, On/Under"  and colors, blue, red, yellow, black, white all get called out by Theo as we are reading.  This was one of the first books he asked for an immediately repeated reading of. 

Liam's mama introduced us to Piggie and Harold, and they have become a fast favorite.  "I Broke My Trunk" was the first of this series that we enjoyed, and we've added "My Friend is Sad" as well.

"Theodore and the Whale"  is getting read at least once a day right now.  Theodore in his red hat, Emily and the other tug boats, and of course Walter the whale are big favorites in our house right now.  When we found we have a Theodore looking boat, and a blue whale bath toy I was hoping it would make bath time a little more enticing for Theo.  He still screams over getting his hair washed though.

Leo Lionni books are always a little weird, but "A Color of His Own" is fun and Theo likes to watch the chameleon change colors (even though some of the yellows look green...).

"Oh No"... "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" is a fun, repetitive book that Theo can help read.  It's starting to become popular with him.

Past Winners:  T. still likes a lot of the same books from his one-year reading list as well.  He still loves his Corduroy books.  He enjoys reading parts of "Click Clack Moo"  (Theodore is the "moo-er") and "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (he reads some of the letters, and the "boom boom").

Honorary Mention:  After this picture, Theo added "Elmo's Ducky Day" and "What I See at Easter".  I think he wanted to complete the circle above, but they are books he loves as well.