Sooooooooooooooooo, what does this mean to you?

If you read me in Google Reader, you need to subscribe to my RSS instead.

If you read in Blogger Dashboard, you could sign up to follow us on BlogLovin or via e-mail and get our updates sent to your e-mail inbox instead.

You could also use an old fashioned bookmark right in your browser. Does anyone still use those?!

I'm also infrequently on Pinterest and Facebook, but you won't see many blog updates there.

For the last week, I've been converting the 260+ blogs I read in Google Reader from GFC follows to RSS follows because I'm pretty sure that Google will be pulling GFC support from Blogger blogs in the next six months as well. Can never hurt to be too prepared, right?

Either way, I hope to see you guys again after March 1st, so subscribe subscribe subscribe!

And then we found Smiles in Motion - a pediatric dentist that JUST sees infants, toddlers, and children.  We were pretty impressed with their website and the information they sent us in the mail and the trip did not disappoint.

A view of the kid's lobby area right when youw walk in. Mason played in here and I read him books (including "Teeth" by Dr. Seuss) while we waited for a few minutes.

We started off with a complete tour of the clinic, from the x-ray room to the exam room and then started off with an x-ray. We didn't think Mason would sit patiently enough for the two second x-ray while wearing the x-ray "bib" so he got to sit in my lap instead.

After that, we went into the doctor's office. Had Mason been a bit older, we could have went to an exam chair where he would have had his choice of over 20 movies to watch (Including Cars 2, Tangled, and Rio!) on his very own video screen. Instead, he had a room with his very own slide to play on while we talked to the dental assistant.

She was very happy to hear that Mason's teeth get brushed 3 times a day (Thank you daycare!), that he doesn't drink chocolate milk, and that he has less than one cup of juice a day. She also gave us their blessing to not be concerned about him still sleeping with a Nuk and as long as we get rid of it by his 3rd birthday, we're good. I've been waiting until he was a old enough to understand the concept of "the binky fairy" or making a trade, but had always heard the rule of thumb was age 2, so this made me feel a bit better.

Dr. Spitz came in next and we got started on his exam. He sat on my lap facing me and then the doctor and I sat knee to knee and he laid back into her lap. From that vantage point, she cleaned his teeth, checked his gums, took a look at his tonsils, and applied a fluoride treatment. He held his daddy's hand through the whole thing and was a trooper and Dr. Spitz said everything looked great! She figures his final four teeth (those evil back molars) should come through in the next 2-3 months, which I'm not too excited about, but what can ya do!?

He got to pick out a toy afterward and was pretty proud.

All in all, the appointment was a great success. Despite some of the older folks we know telling us that taking a kid his age to the dentist was a waste of time and money, I'm very glad we went and it's always good to hear that the things we're doing are the right things and that everything is looking good!

He played in the play area while SuperDad and I took turns using the restroom before the drive home.

We'll be seeing Dr. Spitz again in 6 months. We asked Mason if he liked the dentist and he shouted "Yeah!!!" so I think it was a success!

This time last year - 11 months / Tantrums Before Two?

This post was not sponsored or prompted by Smiles in Motion in any way. We just had a great experience there and totally recommend them if you're in the Chippewa Valley!

Here's what Mason is up to at 23 months old!

• Wearing size 4 diapers and size 18 month shirts and pants, with still some 12 month pants in the mix
• Sleeps from 8 pm to 8 am every night and takes one 2-3 hour nap.
• Insists on wearing shoes at all times and loves wearing his rain boots too. Size 5.5 shoes are too small, but size 6's are still a tad too big.
• Went to the Children's Museum
• Fell down and carpet burned his nose and then scratched that while sleeping. It was not pretty.
• Loves watching "Real Trains for Kids" and Yo Gabba Gabba on TV and nothing else, other than the occassional cooking show.
• Gets very concerned when a phone rings and expects us to answer it immediately.
• Has a friend from daycare he asks about at home all the time.
• Repeats everything he says, especially the last word. Strongly in the "will always pick the last word you say" phase if given multiple choices.
• Wants to know what Grandma and Papa are doing all the time.
• Got sick of just playing inside.
• Has started having epic meltdowns over just about everything. Doesn't get something fast enough? Sobbing on the floor. No more choo choos on the TV? Crying and screaming. Having to put his pajamas on? Kicking and thrashing. It's been... interesting.
• Watched his Mommy get her dream job
• Loves pushing the toy bus and his big toy trucks in laps around the house.
• Learned to use his sit and spin.
• Got a new friend to play with in a year or so with the long anticipated birth of Baby Bean
• Is getting better about petting the cat nice, but also wants to pick him up and hug him, which doesn't go very well.
• Finally got to play outside.
• Likes watching squirresl and "tweet tweets" out the window.
• Likes to boss around Katze and Joe. "No kitty!! No Joe Joe!!"
• Likes to tell us "SIT!" and point to the floor.
• Started round three of Swim Lessons
• Professed his love of trains and went to a model train show.
• Asked to sit on the poty at daycare.
• Is bringing us books to read him more often and will sit in our laps for them instead of going and reading his own book... usually.
• Ate a lot of mashed potatoes, oranges, and bananas.
• Likes to Facetime with his Uncle Greg and show him how he bounces on Rhody Horse.

Just a few weeks until this adorable little man turns two. I can't believe it!! Happy Last Official MonthDay Mason!!

Unfortunately, we had to wake Mason up from a nap in order to make it to the mall before they started to shut things down for the afternoon and he was a bit overwhelmed by the huge crowds. I think he still had a great time though.

Checking out a tiny town

Who doesn't like itty bitty tractors? The cows that were really moo-ing were a big hit too!

Half the time we'd be pointing out different scenery and and realize he wasn't looking at the things we were pointing at at all. Instead, he was staring at the railroad crossing light. When we were right next to it, the guy running the display sounded off the "warning sound" that also plays with the light and Mason about lost his mind.

Checking out more choo-choos

A large scale train hauling tractors?? By far Mason's favorite display!!

Of COURSE Mason wore a train shirt to the train show!

I wish more of the displays were at a kid friendly height, but then I suppose they would be harder for the adults to see and there definitely was a lot of childless train admirers there as well. Either way, we all had a great time and are already considering traveling to another model train show in April that will be about 40 miles from us!

This time last year - Reading Time Tuesday #2 / Real Toys are Pointless

Well, between the whole insanity of "trying to photograph a busy nearly 2 year old" combined with my crappy photography skills, things didn't pan out the way I had planned.

First, we've got the "Busy playing with my tractor" picture

And then the "What do you mean, don't dig in the cupboard??" picture

And then the "So blurry let's put it in black and white and hope that helps" picture

And lastly the "toddler is done with this nonsense" picture.

Throw in a well meaning post at 9 pm instead of 9 am and we've got a total bloggy fail. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? Much love and Happy Valentine Day to all of our bloggy friends.

This time last year - Five Fingers of Thanks / The Last "First" Holiday

He will sit with his Daddy and watch train videos on YouTube for hours if we let him. He cries "Choo choo!!" when he sees trains, train tracks, or railroad crossing signs. He begs all day for us to put on his train DVDs (which came along after his obsession)

This weekend, we are taking him to a large model train show at a local mall. I fully expect it to blow his mind.

Image from South Tampa News

How about your kids? Are they obsessed with something that you never imagined they would be?

This time last year - First Urgent Care Visit / Missing Cracker

On my way to the hospital, I thought to myself "While I have zero desire to have a second kid and that is no where in the plan, hopefully this isn't going to be one of those things where I hold this baby and suddenly, my ovaries begin to sing and I feel that maternal cry, that endless tugging in my heart of "Must have wee baby RIGHT NOW"" I'd never had such a thing happen to me before, but hey, I also swore for 27 years that I would never ever have children. It seems to be a pretty common phenomenon - people get around other people's precious newborns and they can't help but want to have another one themselves.

So, I'm happy to report that as adorable and perfect as Baby Bean is and how happy I am for his parents...

this right here...

is the only thing I think of when I hold a tiny baby.

Ovaries... safely untugged. Whew.

Congrats anyway, Molly and Mr. A. :oD

This time last year - The 1st Reading Time Tuesday!

His favorite books right now are his Frosty the Snowman book from Auntie Sarah (It's a great mix of music and him being able to point and say 'No Man!" at every page) and his Stop Train Stop book. I've brought home other Thomas books for him (since it's the choo choos that seem to catch his eye) but he always goes back to Stop Train Stop

This week we focused on birthday books since it was SuperDad's birthday - How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday Little Pookie being the favorites. We also checked out the Usborn book Birthday that just shows a bunch of pictures of different birthday items (cake, candle, hat, etc) but he's not too interested in that. Maybe because there are no lamps?

Our theme next week will be Valentine's Day. I love having a theme because it helps us mix things up and not read the same books again and again.

As for me, I haven't been reading nearly enough lately. I challenged myself to read 104 books in 2012 (I BARELY eeked by my 100 book goal last year) and I'm currently 3 books behind. But that's because I'm in the middle of 8 books right now, which is ridiculous as it sounds. I need to stop reading books that only mildly keep my interest. Water for Elephants and Snowflower and the Secret Fan were the best two books I've read recently. I'm about to finish What Came First by Carol Snow and am excited to delve more into Husband and Wife by Leah Stewart. As always, you can check out my book lists on Goodreads.

So, what are you guys reading? What books are your little ones loving?

This time last year - First Shopping Cart Ride