Last week I (Andrew) did a father-son trip to Atlanta with Steven… no girls allowed :). We were REAL lucky with the weather, downtown ATL topping out in the low 80's and overcast both days… very nice!

On Thursday we flew up, played around the ATL airport for a bit (daddy still had English pounds go change to US dollars & refused to pay the bank's $15 service charge) and then headed to check into our hotel. Steven loved Marta and the fact we had to take an open elevator up to the 42nd floor (daddy was a bit disoriented by the rapid climb in the open). Then we headed over the Georgia Aquarium which was incredible… highly recommended. They have the largest oceanic habitat (6M gallons) you can walk completely around and also through a tunnel in the middle. The viewing wall is 60' long, about 20' tall and is made of 2.5' (FEET) thick acrylic… great viewing of the many grouper, various types of sharks (hammer head, saw, black tips) and four 30' whale sharks. We then headed to Centennial Park and Steven had a blast on the playground with the other kids. After sucking down some waters, we headed back to the hotel where we got cleaned up. Steven was wiped out so instead of "fighting" a cranky 4yr-old, we did room service while we watched pay-per-view ($15 for Monsters vs. Aliens on a old-skool tube never so good :P).

Next morning we slept in, watched cartoons and did more room service. Then we headed to the Children's Museum where there were a ton of hands-on things to do. I wanted to take him to the dinosaur museum (Fernbank), but he wanted to go back to the playground again. After lunch in the CNN Center food court (where he thought it was so cool where you could see the room we were in on the live CNN broadcast), we headed to the World of Coke (his choice… hey, it was a trip for him :P). Unfortunately it wasn't worth the $25 in tickets we paid and the 4D movie scared the crap out of him (due to a really stupid special effect).

We then headed to the hotel, got our bags and headed to the airport. Dinner and ice cream in the airport, flew home (he saved me from talking to the weirdo next to me… I was happy to read Golden Books over and over for an hour) and he passed out during the drive ½ way home.

A very successful trip! If you're interested, here are our pictures:
http://cid-bdded38f29ae68b5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Father-Son%20Atlanta%20July%202009%20Trip

 

So my last post was February 2007. Oops. So much for keeping up with this blog.  It was a great way to keep track of Steven's milestones and keep our family up to date on his activities and i guess as he got older, we got busier and lost track.

There is no way i can recap the last 2.5 years that we missed here so i'll just highlight where he is right now. Steven is 4 1/2 years old and he just became a new big brother to his baby sister kathryn, whom he professes to love dearly and want to keep around. We'll see how long that lasts.

He is totally into transformers, star wars, racing, video games and all things B-O-Y.  no question about it.  He has quite the sense of humor and has a growing vocabulary that sometimes blows us away. he especially loves music, not kids music but music that andrew and i enjoy. He can sing songs from artists like Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cowboy Mouth and Zack Brown Band, just to name a few.  We have to be careful to choose songs with clean lyrics as he is amazing at listening to a song just a few times and being able to sing the words - some words you don't want your four year old singing.

He is both a mommy and a dadd's boy, depending on his mood, our moods and the activity.  He tells us we're the best mommy and daddy in the whole world and we can't hear that too much as soon he'll be a teenager telling us how much he hates us.  maybe we should record him now!

He and Andrew went to the store so i could have some much needed quiet time and they are likely to be back any minute so i'm going to sign off and enjoy the peace. I promise i'm going to do better at keeping this updated with his activities, as well as Kathryn's (www.kathrynconnell.com).

 

At his two year check-up, Steven weighed in at 35.5 pounds.  He's 36 inches tall.  95th percentile for height, 100+ percentile for weight.  When the doctor asked if we had starting thinking about potty training, Steven began chanting "potty...potty...potty."  She got the answer!

I know I say it all the time, but it's so true...time is flying by!  Steven turned two on January 26 and we celebrated with a party on Saturday, January 27. We rented a train and had a little party in the park by Gramma Iddy and Grampa Boogie's house.  The weather cooperated, a little chilly at first but it warmed up to be perfect.  All the kids loved the train, especially Jack, Steven and Lindsey.  Click here for the pictures. 

Steven is, by all accounts, a normal two year old...running non-stop, adding new words and talents every day, and finding new ways to test our patience.  His vocabulary has probably doubled in the last couple of weeks...his latest favorite word is "nose."  Andrew is proud he's learned the Gator chomp.  We go to the doctor tomorrow for his two-year check up, so i'll post the stats after that. 

His favorite toys continue to be trains, cars, planes and books about the same things.  We bought a potty and will be tackling the fun challenge of potty training this year.  Steven is excited about sitting on the potty...we'll see how long that lasts. :)

We've been busy lately...between Mom and Dad pulling long hours at the office and getting ready for Christmas, there hasn't been much room for downtime. 

I put new pictures up on Flickr.  Some are from the weekend we spent in Tampa with Leann and Vanessa.  The primary purpose was to make more candy than we could ever give away, but Steven also enjoyed time at a local playground and most especially running after the dogs and watching the horses.  He has no fear of them (unlike his mom).

The next set is a variety from one night of Andrew and Steven goofing around, one night of babysitting Ashley Butler (despite her runny nose, she was all smiles).  Steven enjoyed sharing his trains with her. Also some shots of steven at the new kitchen table. He has outgrown his high chair and loves sitting at the table like a big boy.  I guess getting rid of the crib is next (and that darn pacifier...I just can't seem to get my nerve up to take it away).

Finally photos from Christmas.  Steven got spoiled with WAY too many toys...Andrew and I are thinking seriously about moving now as we are quickly running out of storage space.  Steven may be claiming our room next. :)  He loved every minute of Christmas and quickly got the hang of ripping open the presents.  He was such a good boy, despite the long days, late bedtimes and refusal to take a nap on Christmas Day.

Now it's on to his second birthday. I really can't believe it's here already.  Who knew two years could go so quickly.  He'll be having a train themed birthday, of course...

Steven is, as most all little boys are, obsessed with trucks and trains and especially fire trucks.  Andrew's best friend Lee is a fire fighter in Jacksonville so we went to visit him at the station this weekend.  Steven was altogther overwhelmed.  He wasn't too sure about sitting in the truck or standing in Lee's boots, but had no trouble gawking at the sheer size of the engine. :)  You can see photos here.  I think we know what we're doing for his second birthday!

Steven is 18 months old and still growing like a weed.  At his well baby check up last week, he weighed in at 31.5 pounds and 34 inches tall.  Still in the top of his range for both, but slowing down a bit which is normal.

He's walking...no, check that...RUNNING everywhere these days and Andrew and I are having fun keeping up with him.  His favorite toys are his trucks, trains and books.  Many mornings we will find him in his room flipping through books or playing with his trains on his train table, oblivious to the rest of the world.  Can you say introvert? :)

He's hitting all his milestones...talking (well...babbling), teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom, 4 molars), identifying body parts, etc.

We went to the beach a few weeks ago with my family and he ran into the water with no fear. Didn't even want us to hold his hands (although we insisted).  For some reason, salt water in the face didn't bother him nearly as much as bath water in the face does.  You can see pictures of our great adventures at the beach here.  We also finally arranged for some professional photos to be taken of the Goodrum family.  You can check those out here.  The password is "jgoodrum"

 

Steven had his 15 month check up today with Dr. Black...here are the numbers:

-34 inches tall (100+ percentile)

-29 pounds (90th percentile)

-4 teeth fully in, 5 or 6 pushing through as we speak

-2 words (da da and doh, aka “dog”)

He's been a busy boy lately...learning to walk, learning to talk, visiting the zoo, fighting a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth disease, visiting Grampa Connell in the hospital, traveling to Tampa to see Cool Aunt Vee, Aunt Leann and Mama Goody for Easter weekend, eating everything in sight, dancing to everything from Jack Johnson to Green Day to Mick Jagger, and being just a generally fabulous baby.

Check out new pictures here.

We're overdue for an update as well as photos, so I'm going to try to get that done this morning while Steven is resisting his morning nap.  He's in that awkward phase where he thinks he only needs one nap a day, but really he's a lot more pleasant if he takes two. 

His stats at his one year checkup were:

Height: 33 1/4 inches (100%)

Weight: 27lbs 10 1/2 oz (96%)

And an update on his activities:

He's not walking yet.  He walks with assistance or with the help of a push toy, but the minute that support goes away, down he crumples to crawl.  He'll walk in his own time and all veteran moms tell me not to be to anxious because it opens up a whole new world of challenges.

He has a whopping 3 1/2 teeth.  Two on the bottom and 1 1/2 on the top.  Hasn't kept him from eating anything he wants to.  He isn't a fan of things like mashed potatoes or custard. I think the texture throws him off. But other than that, he eats mostly anything, and lots of it. He's given up his bottles and is learning how to drink out of a straw. He's off formula, but not too big a fan of milk so we just try to make sure he gets other stuff like cottage cheese (loves it!), yogurt and cheese.

He is not a big talker yet.  Again, veteran moms tell me to enjoy it while it lasts. 

He does really well responding to commands and knows how to put things in a box and take them out, push a car on its wheels, etc.  He's getting into books now too, which is nice.  His uncle Russell built a swing set in the backyard for his birthday and he's a fan of swinging outside and looking for planes in the sky.  His new most favorite past time is riding in the car with the windows down listening to his Dad's Linkin Park or Green Day CDs.  He kicks his feet like crazy and Andrew taught him how to head bang.  It is a riot!

Andrew and I are staying supremely busy with our new jobs.  There continues to be nothing better than coming home to Steven to make it all worthwhile though.  He is the BEST baby in the world...no contest...but maybe i'm biased. ;)

New pictures are up on Flickr...they aren't in any particular order, at least they are up!  Enjoy...

 

Steven was beginning to look like a little hippie baby, so we decided it was time for the much-anticipated first hair cut. Despite the horror stories I have heard, Steven was remarkably calm through the whole event...hmmm...do you think it was the Dimatapp that we gave him for his faucet of a nose? :-)  At the very end he started crying, but nothing too horrible and the minute he got out of the chair he had recovered. 

Great Clips was great (no pun intended)...they gave him a little certificate with a clump of hair taped to it to commemorate the big day. 

The consensus of all who have seen him is that he is too cute with his big boy hair.  All cleaned up for the big “one” this week!

You can see pictures here.