Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Yum

We had a good weekend camping and hiking with Jana, Alli, Isaac, Alan, and Jimmy - pictures to come as soon as I can steal some from Jana, I hope! In the meantime.... I distract you with this...

This isn't Eamon's first cone. You'll see those, as soon as I figure out how to deal with Hawaii - only 232 photos left to edit! Then... only at least 8 posts to edit. However. This is one MESSY cone. Raspberry lemon gelato. We walked (well, he strolled) to my favorite ice cream store, which just opened a branch by our house - but a couple miles away by bike path. E wasn't as excited about the walk until he got the ice cream...he ate the whole way home...
Messy, happy, child. Oddly clean stroller. Works for me.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

17 months

Somehow, we have a little human. He's eating meat all of a sudden. After months of him spitting out anything resembling animal product, we're overly enthused about this, his first cheeseburger. He ate half of it. He sat there, like a person, at the table, and ate, occasionally requesting more fries. Not saying McDonald's is going to be a key menu item, and no, we didn't give him any Coke. But he'd like it. He'll try most anything, although what he'll eat depends on his mood- you know, just like.. a human.

The words are flying fast and furious all of a sudden. "Ball" is now a request, an identification, and occasionally a conversation starter . "Bubble" is a request. Now, please. He has words for other things - socks (sah!), shoes (shoo), Donut (Do), and has said a few other things - possibly in mimicry, but at the right times (Bye! to Ray on the phone, All done! when he was done with his riding toy, Yeah! sort of at random, Out! while handing Ray a shoe). What he doesn't say, he can still communicate- pointing up, down, out the door, at the high chair. Signing "more", "eat", "water"... and maybe "bird" and "airplane".

Suddenly, he has an imagination - pretending to feed me food or steal food from me - while holding actual food in his other hand, but not involving it. He has comprehension - he'll fetch the correct pair of Ray's shoes when asked, but not mine yet (perhaps the limited choices helps?) - and he does it in expectation of being taken outside once everyone puts on their shoes.

He's still all boy - balls, climbing (onto most furniture now), running and landing facefirst. Balls. And more balls. He spent the entire weekend at the campground with AT LEAST one ball in his hands. Preferably two. He does like books, so we can buy some quiet time by pointing him towards his rocking chair and a book, which he will read out loud to himself. But he'd rather crawl up on a lap and share.

It's pretty sweet. All of it.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Popper, part 2 million

For your Friday cute, I offer you:

A young boy "mowing" the concrete.


All the family just looooooves the idea that we have the corn popper. Of course I had to take it down for my parents to enjoy, right?

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Well, it's not brussels sprouts..

... but I'm trying new things. Thanks to Heather's comment on the butterfly pavilion post, I realized you all were locked out of the Picasa album. So... go check out that post again if you want to see the pictures- I added a slideshow and a direct link to the album at the bottom of the post. Let me know if you like it!

Wheels

Eamon got his first ride in the grocery store cart/car.
He loved it, and did not want to get out.

Which means he promptly followed with his first temper tantrum in a grocery store parking lot.

ps- not sure why both boys are wearing their glasses inside...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

New Generation

There are pictures of my brothers playing on my grandparents' pool table when they could barely see over the curb. My cousin Sallie and I, who were much younger, were told we could play when we could touch the center dot. Obviously, some of those who came before us did some damage to the table (which they could barely see).

Regardless, I can pretty much promise that my siblings never got to do this at our grandparents', and neither will Eamon's (much older) cousins.

Yes, E is trying to figure out how to hold three balls at once. And failing.
Yeah, the kid REALLY likes balls. We had to take the pool balls away because a pool ball thrown overhand? Pretty dangerous.

And grandpa? Is wrapped around his tiny fingers. But look how happy the kid is...

Monday, June 21, 2010

In the land of the Butterfly

Edited to add: Thanks to Heather for the comments. If you click through to the full entry, there is now a link to the Picasa album near the bottom of the page, and a slideshow on the blog page if you just want to sit and watch the pictures fly by (hee!). Let me know if these work for you!

I won free tickets to the Butterfly Pavillion through a Yellowscene magazine giveaway (awesome magazine AND great giveaways!), and fortunately they were dated a year out so we could wait until Eamon could enjoy them as well. Now if we'd just thought to go when it was cold out and the tropical butterfly room would have felt good....

But otherwise, it was awesome. The pictures are amazing, so click through any of these to get to the full (edited) album on Picasa. Warning: there are tarantulas in the full album. Arachnophobes, beware.

In the meantime, here's a sampler (click for more):
Kudos to Ray: It's really hard to get a picture of a toddler AND a butterfly. Even when there are a million butterflies...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day 2010!

Happy Father's Day to our parents and to all the fathers out there!

And to my own partner in parenting crime. Thank you for being a great Dad.


Ohh, FIRE!



You've really earned your wings.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Good Turns

For my 255th post, a rare sight- a photo of myself and E that I looove. So I'm forcing you all to love it too (what, you clicked onto my blog!).

That's my iphone case E is holding. My phone suffered an unfortunate submergence a few days ago, and I was left phoneless while I left it in tupperware in the sun with rice (and swapped out the tupperware every 30 minutes). Thanks to the glorious Colorado dryness, it only took about 6 hours to get it fully dry and functional again, but while I was imagining how badly I had messed up, I was also fantasizing about having a phone with a camera on the screen side. I figured this picture (taken with my laptop, which has that exact arrangement) might make Ray less annoyed with me and show him what I could do with that pretty phone. Fortunately, I didn't need the bribery, but I am still coveting that phone just a wee bit.

And now I have a picture I actually want to share. So... hope you all have equally fortunate weekends!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

GOOOOOOOAL!


Ray and Eamon have found some TV they can both appreciate. It has balls, brightly colored uniforms, what more could a ball-obsessed toddler ask for?

I love how intent they both are. Eamon has expanded his vocabulary by leaps and bounds lately, including surprising us with "BUBBLE" this last weekend. He's signing lots of things he isn't saying (food, drink/water in particular, and "more", although he says it as he signs). I'm a bit concerned his next word will be GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL.

And a little scared for the next football season. Okay, a lot scared. Viking horns in stereo? Eek.

(Oh, and the Steamboat crowd- he really appreciates the seat. Thank you.)

Monday, June 14, 2010

In case anyone was wondering what to get Eamon.....here's a suggestion. He's still got the love for the drums.

(okay, kidding on the present suggestion, particularly since I'd rather we stick with the neighbors', actually...)


Isaac did try to help with the fact that Eamon wanted to do the kick pedal (watch his feet, he is trying).
Thanks to Alli (I think?) for filming this!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Everything is okay!

I've been waiting for the call from one of our parents asking if we were still alive since the blog has been quiet this week. It has been a week, to say the least. But I finally spent a couple of hours photo editing this morning (just Kaya's graduation and Ray's iphone shots from Hawaii to go.... still.)  So posts are coming this week. So many photos.

This? My favorite. A preview. More to come.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Pile O' Cute

I'm still digging my way out of the pile o' pics, so I bring you a collection of random cuteness for Friday.
Eamon likes wind. Okay. Eamon loves wind. The upper decks of very large boat are WINDY. Eamon is happy.
Leaving Kauai.
The murphy bed tent that kept Eamon in his required darkness. And the way that we were greeted after naps.