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!
 

Snapshot - 18 Months

What he is saying:

•  Car! Any vehicle seen or heard gets an enthusiastic "car!"
•  "Shoes go bye" Outings are such fun and the sight of his shoes in our hands mean we're "going bye."
• Showee (shower)
• Grandma!
• Caillou, his absolute favorite cartoon.  He'll turn the tv on and if Caillou isn't showing he asks me to turn it on (hurray for Sprout on demand).
• "Bai-bu" (diaper) After he's done on the potty he gets up and grabs a "bai-bu" and brings it to me to put on him!

What he loves doing:

• Stacking things on top of each other; legos, cars, cas of catfood... you name it.
• Helping mommy wash dishes (pouring water from container to container in the sink, mostly in the sink anyway).
• Helping mommy cook. He pours stuff in the mixing bowl for me and enjoys having his own little bowls of ingredients to mix and match and stir.
• Taking showers!

What I am loving about him:

• He is very affectionate, he loves snuggling (sadly, kisses are few and far between).
• He is very patient when we go out and about even when errand trips take going in and out of the car repeatedly.
• He is very expressive, I LOVE the intense little shake and laugh he does when he gets something he's been trying to communicate with us.

Some of his quirks:

• Still not eating much food, but loves kale chips.
• MUST have a car in hand to fall asleep.

What I want to remember from today:

• The sounds of boys wrestling and paying peek-a-boo when Daddy got home from work.  So much giggling and laughter and squeals of pure joy.

Well, it's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted anything (any my major difficulties typing this are telling me it's been WAY too long since I've used a real keyboard). Hopefully along with my return to the Fly Lady's fold I'll have a bit more me time to keep this up.  It's amazing to realize we've been here for a year now.

Camping!

We went on our first family camping trip a couple weeks ago I can't wait to go again! Peter had an absolute ball playing in all the dirt and just wandering around. We went up to Mt. St. Helens Moss Creek Campground, one of my favorite campgrounds ever. So Beautiful and while it was almost full, it wasn't crowded. Our site was pretty sloped and while Peter had no issue going up the hills, he'd stand at the top waving and calling for us when he wanted back down.

I was a bit concerned about how well he'd sleep but it actually went pretty well. There was no possibility of him going down for the night before dark so the last hour or so was a bit rough with tired baby who refused to sleep surrounded by that awesomeness, but I can't really blame him. Jason wasn't thrilled by the sleeping situation either. Three on a queen air mattress is tight and being the great Daddy he is, he was the one squoshed to the side and falling off periodically through the night. We'll be getting a twin mattress for next time, luckily our tent is huge.

I'm also super pleased to be able to report that we didn't lose anything to the fire! Peter was super 'helpful' while I built our first fire, chucking numerous trucks in, but once it was actually lit and hot he realized it wasn't such a good toy. That was a big worry of ours of course so I'm glad his instincts are in good working order.

The creek was beautiful but cold and our water baby preferred to play in the water bucket which he did for a lot of the weekend. He was so funny when he'd walk away from the bucket an he'd trip and get his hands all dirty. Peter hates having dirty hands (the rest of him doesn't matter, just the hands) he'd stand there mad, shaking his hands in front of him until we helped him clean them off. Jason tried to teach him to go back to the bucket to clean them himself but it didn't really seem to stick. All right, enough talking, I know you're all just here for the baby pictures anyway. :)

He tasted a few rocks of course but not too many.  That water bucket provided great entertainment.

We found a cute fishing hat at the camp store but Peter is not a fan and it took a couple tries to get any pictures.  He has figured out not only that keys open car doors, but he know which of the keys goes to daddy's car!  I love how he's been walking around with his finger in his bellybutton.  I love the picture of Peter covered in dirt, a dirt covered boy is a little boy who's been having fun!

An amazingly patient child.

No offense intended for any other babies, but I have to say, I think we have the cutest, sweetest baby ever. He's also spectacularly patient. We've had a bit of an adventurous day today. Upon arising we decided we wanted to go out for breakfast, but we hit a bit of a snag, we couldn't find Jason's keys. They have a hook by the door where they normally go but last night Peter ended up playing with them after we got home from the park. We searched and we searched and we searched. We were almost ready to go dumpster diving as we'd taken the trash out last night but luckily after 45 minutes of hunting Jason found them. I can't believe we didn't find them earlier as he's stashed stuff in that drawer before but oh well, live and learn.

So we finally made it out to breakfast. Peter entertained himself with a glass of ice and the lids off our coffees while they took a rediculously long time to make our breakfast. Once the food arrived he proceeded to demonstrate with his little plate of scrambled eggs that he has mastered the proper use of a fork. He repeatedly speared a bit and maneuvered it into his mouth! I've gotta say I'm pretty proud of that. Of course he ate a good bit with his hands too but still, he's got it figured out. We stopped at a garage sale and the storeafter breakfast, by this point we're well past when he normally takes a short morning nap but he wasn't complaining. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. Apparently that cat nap was enough for him as he was running the rest of the afternoon.

We had our first adventure with crayons today. He scribbled a bit but had a blast just playing with the crayons. He'd pick up a handful and offer some to me (I was coloring) and pick up some more and put them in the box. Then he'd dump the box out. Then he started chewing on them. He broke the tips off several of them and had orange teeth. It was pretty cute but he wouldn't oblige me and open his mouth so I could get a picture, oh well.

Still running on only the short nap late this morning when it was time to leave to meet a coworker of Jason's for dinner. I was a little concerned that he might end up cutting the trip short but he seemed to enjoy himself. He entertained himself with his whisk, matchbox car and another cup of ice. He ate a respectable bit of parts of our dinners and seemed quite content while we chatted and ate. At the very end he started making his tired talk but when Daddy picked him up he was content to continue hanging out. He stayed awake in the car for the ride home but while I was getting some water and getting ready to settle he passed out in Jason's arms (for the record, he hasn't fallen asleep for Jason since he was probably 3 months old).

Pretty precious huh? I love my boys!

A squirrel at the park! The squirrel apparently really wanted some of our lunch as Peter kept going after him and he never actually ran away, just stayed out of reach.

Fun toys, ride em cowboy!

A budding engineer? He loves turning the gears.

I love the dirt on his forhead. The poor tomato plant is still trying so hard to grow but he's making it tough!

Rice is delicious, but also quite a lot of fun dontcha know?

Kookoolan Farms

We had a fun adventure out to Kookoolan Farms today.  They raise happy chickens, cows, pigs, sheep and veggies.  Yum!  But what really brought me there in particular was the fact that they sell raw milk.  I've been doing a lot of reading and I've decided that that is the best way to go assuming we can get our hands on a safe supply which I believe I have found here.  The lengths they go to to ensure the milk is safe is awesome and the respect they show all of their animals makes me feel pretty incredibly lucky to live so close to them.   The raw milk is gonna take some getting used to, it's really nothing like the stuff you get at the grocery store.  It's not even white!  Apparently cows that actually eat grass make milk that's a creamy off white (huh, guess that's where the color descriptor 'creamy' comes from, duh).

The other exciting thing is they sell everything you could need to make cheese out of that fresh milk.  I can't wait to begin those experiments, I just can't decide where to start.  Tomorrow is the day we pick up our CSA share so we'll see what we get in the basket this week but I'm gonna have a ball making dinner tomorrow with all my new goodies.

Peter had fun at the farm store, lotsa stuff to look at and they had a fun wood farmhouse in a corner that kept him occupied for quite a while.  While I'm thinking about Peter, I forgot to share that he got his first molar last week!  He was laughing and I saw white.  At first I thought he had something in his mouth as we hadn't had any teething fussiness but nope, he cut a molar.  He's got such a mouthfull of teeth now!

Jason growls a lot.   It's not loud or anything but when he first wakes up or when something isn't right he growls (I suppose there isn't much right about getting up in the morning when you're a night owl huh?).  It's completely unconcious and I often don't even hear it unless I'm thinking about it I'm so used to it.  Well, Peter apparently has been listening.  When he woke Jason up from a nap after work he started growling too!  I just busted up laughing it was so cute and he did it a few more times before he went to sleep.  I hope he keeps it up.

What a boring post with no pictures but I've got Petey sleepin in my lap and I forgot to bring the camera over before we settled so too bad!

musings on a baby boy

Before I had Peter I think I kinda wanted a little girl.  Of course I always knew I would love and adore my child no matter their sex but part of me thought little girly stuff might be just a little more fun for me.  Well, now that I have a little boy I had to say I really do find the dirt eating munchkin moments to be fantastic fun.

He has absolutely zero interest in stuffed animals or books.  But if it has moving parts, lights, or buttons, he's ALL over it.  He studies things and likes to figure out how to make it do everything it can do.  He'll keep turning and pulling and poking until he's satisfied that no other parts open up or activate anything else.  He pulls the batteries out of the remote and then tries to put them back again. 

I really don't know much of anything about little boys, but boy, I'm having fun learning!

 This was just after he came in from playing in the rain (and my tomato planter... again).  The water and the mud made for a very happy boy.  And then bathtime was a blast as usual!

Helping Daddy clean the lint out of the dryer.