Snapshot - Alex 7 months

What he is saying:

• Dadadadadada.  It has nothing to do with Dada, but Jason is optimistic that since it's his first sound that it'll be his first word too.
• Blowing raspberries galore. Often when playing with cars/ trucks!

What he loves doing: 

• Playing with and watching his big brother.
• Playing peek-a-boo!  He started doing this at about 4 months old: he pulls a blanket over his face and when we ask "where did Alex go?" he kicks and flails until he kicks the blanket away and we say "peek-a-boo!" 
• Eating EVERYTHING.  Alex will pick up every little crumb or whatever off the floor and pop it in his mouth.  Unlike Peter at this age, he's not just tasting, things are getting swallowed whenever he can.  
• "Petting" Daisy.  It is more like grabbing fistfulls of kitty fur and ears but she tolerates it so well I'm hopeful that he'll gentle up the grabbing before she changes her mind about him.

What I am loving about him:

• I love his independence.  When he's awake he wants to be down exploring or playing with Peter.  Hanging out in my arms is okay for a while but I'd better be doing something INTERESTING or he's ready to go pretty quick.
• I love how well this boy sleeps!  He sleeps more soundly at 7 months than Peter does now at 4 years!
• I love how different he is from Peter.  From the very beginning these boys have shown me they are two very distinct people with different personalities and I'm just loving the dynamics that is introducing to the house.

Some of his quirks:

• When he gets really excited about something (like an awesome new toy or Peter is being particularly fun to watch) he makes a sound kind of like a cross between a cough and a bark.

What I want to remember from today:

• The feeling of his fuzzy soft head tucked under my chin while he sleeps on my chest.
• He's working really hard on walking.  He's pulling himself up and stepping side to side as well as he can walk around while holding our hands.
• The beautiful bright grin that is pretty much reserved for his big brother.

We're back!

Pictures are going to be sporadic while I figure out some sort of routine I can use to remember to regularly get the pictures off the camera and onto the computer but that's no surprise to anyone who knows me.

Jason and I were wondering what Peter's first word was and we were sad we couldn't remember and hadn't written it down anywhere when I remembered this blog and realized that maybe I had after all.  Sure enough I had and I had so much fun reading through these posts and admiring my cute little boy that I realized I really wanted to get more memories up here.

Yamhill County Fair!

A couple pictures of the boys painting a little wooden birdhouse together.  I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the result! I'll have to remember to do that.

 

Some Peter cuteness.  These big planters are right next to our farmers market so he plays on them every week.  I didn't catch it in either of these pictures but in one of the planters there's a little tree that is perfect for munchkin climbing, and many of them do.  So far Peter just watches the other kids do it, but I don't think it'll be too much longer before he's trying it himself. 

 

We had a blast yesterday at the fair despite the heat (made it to 101 here). We felt very sorry for all the poor critters but it seemed like they were doing okay, saw lots of big blocks of ice in cages which was probably pretty helpful. The absolutely best part of the fair in Peter's eyes was a little old riding car that an autobody vendor had out for display.  That was a sturdy old thing, no plastic here, all metal. the steering wheel also made a very satisfying little squeak as it was turned which helped it too.  :) 

 

Next best was all of the tractors.  He wanted to try them all out. 

Ooo! This one has a switch! 

Look at all the levers! 

We took a break and went home during the heat of the day but came back in the evening for the demolition derby.  It was led off by a pair of motorcyclists doing some jumps, Peter was enthralled and Jason and I were rather impressed. I didn't catch any of the cool tricks on camera, oh well.

 

Then came the actual derby.  There were two rounds, one for small cars with 6 entrants and the second round for larger cars with 14! It was crazy and Peter went back and forth a bit between thinking it was awesome and being scared for the cars.  It didn't take too long before he settled on it was awesome though.

 

 

I recorded a little of the derby anhd right at the tail end one of the cars caught fire, not sure if I caught it or not as the cameras battery died right then. I have to admit I had more fun than I expected to.  It looked kinda like bumper cars out there, just without the bumpers and as Jason said afterwards it was rather incredible to see just how much of a beating a car can take and keep on running.

We're in for a busy weekend here as today is our CSA farmer's first potluck and work party of the year.  Maybe there will even be another post soon! But I'd better get to fixing our food to bring.

March to July

Here's some pictures!

Peter had a blast playing with everyone at Pwapa & Mwama's for Father's Day.  He even played with his cousin! It was pretty funny watching them exchange toys.  The new sandbox was a huge hit, even thogh it still needs a bit more sand.

 

 

 

 

My boys in the park.  <3


I just adore sleeping baby peacefullness.  It's improved by the fact the Peter frequently talks in his sleep, usually along the lines of "tractor, tractor.... BULLDOZER!" So stinkin cute. 

A favorite pastime: lining up all the cars in sight and driving his monster trucks over them! We occasionally see monster trains and monster tractors as well. :) 

At our first monster truck show.  We took PEter for his birthday and he had a BLAST! He was completely unfazed by the noise and was so funny to watch as he watched the trucks "crush cars" as he says repeatedly.  Sadly, I didn't even think to take pictures of any of the trucks, oops. 

 

 

Helping me bake! This is a rather frequent sight here unfortunately.

On top of the 7' high cat tree.  He climbs it frequently, but he usually stops on the second or at most third tier, so far, this is still the only time he's gone all the way up. 

 

Peter took these himself in the car, I didn't know he'd done it until I was going through the pictured today.

 

 

Helping Mwama figure out her new camera. He is fascinated by cameras and he loves to take pictures of things and see them in the camera afterwards.

 

 

More baking help.  I told you it happens a lot. 

We're doing well. It's a lot of fun hearing his language explode with multiple new words used every day.  He still calls Ethel "buh-hole" and Thomas "Toe-see" but trucks are now trucks rather than "bowies" and its now "bulldoser" instead of "bull-DOH-ser."

He enjoys pulling buckets out of my craft closet and sorting through them (I tried to keep all the totally off limits stuff in just a few high up containers and so far that's worked well). That does result in a huge disaster as all my feathers fly across the room or he manages to actually open one of the bead containers, but he adores it and he usually helps pick up some of it (before dumping it again a few more times) so it's all fun.  :)

Some Cuteness fron December to March

So we've learned by now that consistency is not my strong point. But we're doing well and here are some pictures!


 

 

 

He had So much fun clearnig the snow of everything!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever so helpful with my gardening too.

 

Homemade fingerpaints painted in the shower. He's using silicon basting brushes as paintbrushes cause he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. The rest of him is a totally different matter, he painted all over his belly before he was done (sadly it was with the orange so it didn't show up in the pictures).

 

 

Eating breakfast, love that "Why is Daddy taking my picture?" look!