Yo Gabba Gabba Concert

I completely forgot to record the Yo Gabba Gabba concert we attended the day after Thanksgiving 2011. I must mention, last year I bought our family tickets to attend last year. Unfortunately, Ahmed couldn't make the concert because he had booked a gig on that same weekend. But this year we were fortunate to make the concert together and we had a great time. The Yo Gabba Gabba World has been a big part of our lives. It has put together social life lessons in really fun musical ways. Sitcom fashions perfect for your 2yr to understand; ie. why it's important to share, why we wash our hands, why we should not be afraid, trying new things, etc. I like to call this program part of Marley's Nickelodeon University.

We were so excited for the concert to begin. All of the children concert goers were wearing their favorite characters on their shirts, hats, scarfs, shoes,etc. Even some of the parents were rocking their favorite characters too. It was so much fun, I think we were slightly more excited to rock out to our Gabba songs than Marley was. The show began and we must have looked ridiculous to Marley because we were singing the songs really loud, smiling like crazy parents, ogling our eyes, over enunciating words to coax him to do the dance and sing a long. I so wish we could have had his visuals.....because he could have totally blackmailed us for life! All in all Marley fell for it and loved every minute. We even got a hook up through a dancer friend of mine who dances in the Brobee character costume. She invited us to the VIP Backstage experience, taking pictures with all of the characters, listening to DJ Lance Rock and Leslie reading stories to the children and beat boxing with the one and only Biz Markie. It was an amazing nite. I was so happy to experience this day as a family.

Marley's Joke!

When I think of two year old...I think of a toddler, a little mind just getting the gist of putting sentences together, a little boy running to the potty, experiencing their first taste of independence. At two years old, most would think they would be oblivious to adult conversation or humor. Terrible two's , Little Monsters, what ever you want to call your toddler, from what I can remember ...... back when I was two? We were not nearly as smart as this generation!

My Marley is a very outgoing an social little boy. When I was growing up, children were really quiet and encouraged to speak when spoken to, got sent out of the room, etc. etc. And honestly I don't remember having a problem with that, because quite honestly I was very shy. I didn't want to be in a room of adults and much rather hanging out with children my own age. Where as Marley is not bothered! He is very comfortable talking with adults just the same as he is with children. And he is starting to find his humor and understand comedic timing! He is very funny. And I am going to share an anecdote from Thanksgiving 2011:

As you all could imagine, getting a 2 year old to eat can be very challenging. Especially when the objective is to get some green veggies and protein on the plate. Well, on ThanksGiving we had a beautiful spread of food at Marley's Godparent's house. We had a buffet style system and then we brought our plates to the dining room for a sit down dinner. Marley loves juice and if I let him drink it straight up I'd be in trouble by now. But right next to his plate of food was a cup of half diluted water and juice. Across the table sat Uncle Darrel his God Father. Uncle Darrel move his juice away and said to Marley "Now Marley, you have to eat before you drink all of this juice". Marley started his slow moaning cry, while is face slowly morphed into an ugly sad face. Darrel felt so bad he quickly said "OK,OK, don't cry" I quickly had to support Darrel and reinforce the no juice before eating. I put his juice back next to Darrell's plate and said to Marley; Uncle Darrel is right you have to eat before you drink. So we all started eating and talking and having a great time. I would say about 15 minutes had passed by, Marley apparently thought this was a great opportunity to grab his drink while we were all distracted. In the midst of our laughter, from the corner of my eye I see Marley's hand reaching slowly across the table and Darrell said very slowly "M aaaaa r l e y". The dining room got really quiet, and Marley responded, "I know, I know Eat-pth! out of the side of his mouth with a smile and we all busted out laughing! It was perfect.

Comedic perfection at 2yrs old. Well done son.

Love your #1 Fan,

Mama

Travel Town!!!

Today we spent the morning at Travel Town in Griffith Park. We celebrated the Sparks twins (Dashielle and Langston's) 4th Birthday in a fantastic old train car. There were rides, rail road tracks, conductors.......... a little boys wonderland. A great party for two really great little boys. Seems like yesterday when Ahmed and I were at the hospital holding one each, 5 pound little boys. Marley had a great time and this was the first birthday party he didn't blow out the someone else's Birthday candles!!!!!! My little boy is growing up!

Best Friends

It would be totally unfair to designate a best friend to Marley. He really and truley loves all of his friends. But this past week he was reunited to one of his oldest friends (Crimson Muse) and one of his newest friends (King Cooper).

It warms my heart to see how kind and sweet these children

are with each other.We have some amazing young men in entering this world. What a wonderful place this is going to be.

Transformer Halloween!!!

Marley is a Robot in disguise! Bumble Bee! Surprisingly, he was a little resistant to put on his costume today, but as soon as I mentioned he was going to have a Halloween Party at school he dashed into that costume faster than anybodies business! He was so excited to flex his padded muscles and show them off at the preschool! Happy Halloween!!!

End of the Summer Swim

Okay, the summer has ended, but the heat has not! Last week we were experiencing unusually hot weather for October. Marley's god parents Darrel and Francine graciously allowed us to use their pool. We arrived at their house around 2 o'clock and the water was perfect! Marley was so excited and I hurriedly put Marley's arm floaters on for the first time. I was so surprised how unafraid he was to let go and float in the middle of the pool. I held him and told him I am going to let go and he giggled and said "okay". As he realized he was independent and free, he shouted with joy "I'm floating Mom"! Ahhhhhh, I am so proud of my boy.

Santa Monica Beach

Today, Marley and I ventured out to the beach to visit the sun and sand, but most importantly to visit one of our really great friends Kelly Shew. She has been out of commision due to a roller skating accident, so we wanted to show her some love and see her in person!

As long as we lived out here in sunny California, we really haven't taken full advantage of the beach community. Marley loves the beach. As soon as I say the word he says "Yay, the beach! Let's Go.".

I packed the car with drinks and snacks, arrived at Kelly's place with a bag of grapes from our backyard. We parked and quickly realized , she literally lives right across from the beach. Ahhh Heaven. We sat outside and talked ......Marley played with the dog, it was the most relaxing conversation I have had in a long time. Not to get too comfortable, Marley insisted we had to go to the beach on the sand..."Over there!" Ok , Ok we are going. First, lets go pee pee. We walk up Kelly's stairwell. Marley says "22". I look at the door, 22! I look at Kelly with my mouth opened, she of course is laughing. Marley continues 23, 24, 25! I had no idea that he could identify numbers in the 20's! Anyways, We rushed in and out to Beach it up. Marley ran in the sand, sang his favorite MJ songs and watch the sun go bye bye. Beautiful day. It was just the therapy I needed. Now we have a good reason to come out to Santa Monica. Thanks Kelly. :)