Me: “Nolan, tell me about your picture.”

Nolan: “It’s a picture of my family.”

Me: “From the left tell me who everyone is.”

Nolan: “First is Daddy, then me, then you, and then my sister.”

Side note: When James got home I asked Nolan to tell him about his picture. You know. Just to make sure there was not some sort of temporary memory lapse. Nope. He repeated the line up verbatim.

These pictures are just a small depiction of what Griffin gets into on a daily basis. This means we have to stay on our toes and not leave him alone at all! No wonder I do not usually sit down for “real” until about 8:30 PM when the boys are in bed! It also means I am constantly, and I mean constantly, cleaning up at this little tornado! Sadly he zooms right past a plethora of toys to get into all of these things! Why do we even bother buying him anything??

First up… Well not really first up, because he had already been in the art cabinet. See the paint brush he is holding? He has figured out how to turn on the faucets on the bathtub. He eventually dropped the paint brush and his blankie into the tub. His shirt sleeve became wet and of course he wanted the blankie and paint brush back, of which both were sopping wet! Did not seem to bother him. He put the wet blankie back in his mouth and off he went to the next interesting “find.” Mind you, I am trying to get dressed.

My night stand! Always interesting things in there!

And don’t forget about the bottom drawer. (Side note: See all the UNREAD magazines in there? Joys of motherhood! There is no time!)

Ahh! The dog brush! He decided his hair needs a little combing.

Dresser drawers!!

Oh the toilet!!! This was a quick “save” before his hand went in there. Usually this does not happen since we try really hard to keep the lids down, but when you have a five year old, sometimes he forgets!

Quick diaper change and it is time to explore behind the couch. He did find a sheep from his Fisher Price Barn so that was good!

After lunch and nap, time to explore again. The dishwasher! At least we recently noticed we have an automatic lock feature! Score one for the parents! Don’t let that sort of guilty look on his face fool you. Trust me. He does not feel guilty about any of this! (Like his Christmas PJ bottoms? Hey. They are comfy for sleeping!)

The kitchen cabinets. A favorite of Griffin’s. Oh if only we had locks on the cabinets. HINT! HINT to James!

He was quick to move in to explore the inside of the refrigerator. I was getting something out and he was right there. Notice he is putting his CD player in the crisper. His blankie was already inside.

And about 2.2 seconds later. The drawer is empty. In his defense, he did put everything back when I asked him to do so.

And you can’t forget all the goodies in the trash!!

And sadly this glimpse does not include the pantry, pots and pans cabinet, and the master closet. Griffin must have decided to give me a break today!

But oh, I would not have it any other way! This little guy is the best!

On Saturday we took the boys with James’ sister, brother-in-law, and their precious little one, Lily, to Grapevine to ride the “North Pole Express.” This is the third year Nolan has embarked on this Christmas tradition. It is amazing to see how much more he enjoys it each year. Griffin and Lily had a great time riding on the train too. There was plenty of banging on the windows in excitement as we traveled along! Santa also made a visit and to my surprise (after Griffin’s reaction to Santa last Wednesday. That is another post), Santa was somewhat welcomed by the crew. The train is modeled after the story “The Polar Express” thus why the kids are in their pajamas!

Here is the link to the pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesprescott/sets/72157622871417057/detail/

A few nights ago, “Nolan the Elf” made his return to the Prescott household after a few weeks of speculation on when his arrival may occur. (More about who Nolan the Elf is here). Thankfully Nolan the Elf was able to find our new home. I cannot believe this is our third year that Nolan the Elf has visited up during the holiday season. Time is certainly flying by!

When Nolan discovered Nolan the Elf on our mantle this year he was excited to see him. But of course he would not our Nolan if he did not quickly point out that Nolan the Elf “may be fake. He is just frozen all the time and won’t move” he said. After that comment I think our days of Nolan the Elf may be numbered.

Until then Nolan looks forward to finding our little elf friend each morning. Today Nolan expressed his concern for Elf’s safety when he found him in the middle of our lighted snow village. “I am thinking he may burn up” he said.

On a side note, James and I have not been very good on remembering to move elf each night. It is always a mad dash in the morning (or even in the middle of the night) when I remember! There is no room for error with this Christmas bribery system. One slip up and the gig really is up!

This was a full water bowl for the dogs!

Pictures and video hopefully sooner rather than later!

Griffin usually starts stirring about 6:15 or so in the morning. We typically do not go into his room until the initial talking and babbling turns into frustration, whining, and whimpering. This usually buys James and I and hour or so. This morning was no different. When the sweet sounds of Griffin turned into “I am ready to get up. Someone come get me,” I got out of bed and headed into the kitchen. While in the kitchen I listened to Griffin’s voice. I noticed the whiny tone changed back into babbling. Since it was a school day, I decided to head upstairs anyway. As I went up the stairs I heard a door stop being played with. Instantly I thought it was strange that Nolan was playing with a doorstop since this is something usually Griffin loves to do. I decided to peek in Nolan’s room first and saw him lying in his bed stirring. I greeted Nolan quickly and proceeded to Griffin’s room. I instantly had a strange feeling in my stomach. I opened Griffin’s door to see him sitting on the floor reading books. To say I was shocked, overwhelmed, horrified, scared, confused, and concerned was an understatement. Griffin looked at me, smiled, and went back to ready books like nothing was wrong!!!

After the initial shock wore off we had some time to reflect on what happened. Basically each morning Griffin throws his blankies out of his crib. Even though his crib mattress has been dropped as low as it will go, he is tall and towers over the front of the crib. We assume he leaned so far over he just fell out. The ironic part is that he NEVER cried. I was listening to him the entire time through the monitor. We have always known he has a high threshold for pain, but this really raises the bar.

He seemed so happy when I walked in on him. I would love to know what he was thinking when he realized he was out of the crib. Based on the evidence as I looked around the room and what I heard, I know he opened his dresser drawers, read books, and played with a doorstop. The rest we will never know.

Griffin only turns 15 months tomorrow. This is really early for these kinds of tricks. I think we are going to have our hands full!

If only we had been a fly on the wall.

A reenactment of him in the crib. See how tall he is!

This is how I found him. Does not look like a child that just fell out of his crib does it?

And this is our temporary solution until we get him a new crib!