First Crush

I knew this day would come. 

ButterBean has fallen for a girl. She's cute, friendly, wears pigtails...

His first crush

Her name is Abby Cadabby and she lives on Sesame Street! Yes, ButterBean has a crush on a puppet fairy girl. 

Elmo (or Melmo if you're talking to BB) used to be his absolute fave, but he has moved on to Abby. Before Christmas, I was at Target and picked up a stuffed Abby doll for my cousin's daughter. ButterBean spent the entire trip yelling "Ahhhbeee!!" and giving her kisses. So, Santa brought ButterBean an Abby for Christmas. 
Fast forward to this week. I won tickets to Sesame Street Live a few weeks ago and we brought little ButterBean to see his favorite characters sing and dance on stage. He LOVED it and yelled "Ahhhbeee! Melmo!! KeeKee!" (*cookie monster*) over and over. 

He looks terrified, but really he was thrilled!

All went well until we were a couple blocks from home when all of a sudden there was a loud shriek and wail from the back seat. 

ButterBean burst into huge crocodile tears and continued to wail. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, but finally he sobbed "Ahhh...beeeee!" When we got home he stood by the door, pointing and crying Abby's name. Not even his stuffed Abby could console him at first. He finally snapped out of it, but he and Abby have been inseparable ever since. Every car trip, nap, journey from living room to kitchen - Abby is right there! The first words out of his mouth waking up from his nap have been "Ahhbee???" every day. 

Snuggling on the couch with Abby

Napping with Abby

Playing in his room. What do you know? Abby's close by!

ButterBean's first crush! How cute! She's going to break his heart some day...

We stood in a long line (of girls) to get a picture with the Abby cutout

What We've Been Up To: Arizona

As a present to ourselves and as a reward for surviving anesthesia school we went on a fantastic vacation to Arizona right after Christmas! We went to escape the cold, but somehow we brought the cold with us and Arizona experienced unusually cold weather throughout the entire week we stayed! The weather promptly warmed up the day after we left. Even so, we enjoyed a good 30-50 degree increase in temp by going to AZ!

I've never been to Arizona and it was amazing! We went to Scottsdale, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon and I already have a list of things I want to do when we get to go back some day!

 ButterBean was an absolute champ travelling (other than vomiting in a museum...we're still working on that) and kept us entertained at all times with his crazy dances and songs.

Checking out the cacti in the Botanical Gardens

Pure ButterBean bliss: a golf cart

My in-laws, who had also never been to AZ, came as well. ButterBean loved spending time with them! The most frequent words out of his mouth were "Papa!! Papa!! Mama!" Mama  = Grandma to him. It gets confusing.

We are back in frozen Minnesota and trying to getting back into the groove of real life. Vacations are never long enough!

What We've Been Up To: Christmas

Another fun-filled Christmas has come and gone!  

An almost-two-year-old is the best at Christmas!! Every time he sees a Santa he says "HoHoHo" in a really low voice, followed by "pum pum pum", which is Rumpapum-pum from the Little Drummer Boy song. He also loves to carry around baby Jesus and put him to bed.

Here's Christmas morning!

Putting Big Bird and Abby Cadabby "nigh nigh"

Really got into the wrapping paper ripping this year!