Oh, Baby, Baby!

Dad thought it would be funny to teach Bubeaner an early 90s rap song.  Bubeaner immediately picked up a line from the song repeating it over and over and over.  He kept repeating "Oh, baby, baby... oh baby, baby."  He looks quite adorable singing and dancing to it specially since he clearly enunciates the words.  This morning we woke up to hear him singing it.  And we were able to watch him dancing to it on the monitor.  This boy is hilarious.

"Not Safe"

Bubeaner insisted on trying to buckle up 

Today Bubeaner picked out his outfit completely on his own.  He did not like any of the choices aunt Pau selected.  Instead he went to the closet and picked a top and bottom.  Bubeaner did an amazing job!  We are so proud of him.  And it's amazing to us how much he enjoys making all these little decisions.  He gets a sense of control over his life and we do not lose any control as parents either.  This is what we call a win-win situation.

Today we ran some long put-off errands that required a visit to the local home improvement store.  We have been avoiding going there;  we have plenty of projects to finish and don't need any ideas for more projects around the home.

"Man, who knew there was a Time Out wall here too!"

It was also the first time we had to seriously discipline Bubeaner in a public place.  We have been working on time outs at home: sitting quietly for 1.5 minutes.  We understand he is still young and having too many rules can be counterproductive at his age... and with his personality.  But rules and limits are necessary and important if we are to raise a respectful and upstanding young man.  The two main rules are not screaming indoors and not throwing things.  Lately he has really been challenging us with the screaming.  He knows he's not supposed to do that and will deliberately make eye contact and scream again.  Bubeaner tried his hand at it at the store.  He did not realize there are time out places EVERYWHERE.  He actually did a pretty good job staying put and quietly during his time out.  Hopefully, we won't have to do this often.  But we'd rather do this as often as necessary now and just be able to have an easier time with him when he's older.

 Bubeaner getting Dad love before bedtime

We also visited some housing developments close to where Dad works.  We are not looking to move yet.  But we are just looking for an ideal fit in neighborhood for the future.  It was also a good excuse to relax and enjoy some time out together as a family.

 "He's my friend and I love him"

We also finally got around to registering for Bubita.  We struggled on whether to register or not at all.  We struggled with the whole idea of registering in the first place.  It somehow feels wrong to tell people what to buy us as gifts.  Culturally, registering is not something Momma is used to doing.  A gift is a gift.  And greatly appreciated because of the thought and intent of the gift giver.  That said, we also know how useful we have found registries when buying presents for others.  We struggled with this when registering with Bubeaner too.  And to add to it, Bubita is after all the second child. We are blessed to already have most of the big items already such as crib, bassinet, car seat, etc.  In the end, we just decided to do it and use it as a reminder list for us of what we may need.

Elmo needed lots of hugs too

While there we bought Bubeaner a much needed bath towel.  The big boy towels he received when he was born are a little thread-bare.  Momma pushed for a Cookie Monster towel, but Bubeaner would not have any of that.  He knew what he wanted.  He only wanted the Elmo towel Dad picked.  Bubeaner hugged and kissed on that towel all during our time at the store.  He would not let go of it.  We may need to reconsider the theme for his birthday.  The boy really likes Elmo.