Happiness is...

...a walk to the park.






A slow walk, with a ball. The days are getting shorter. E is reminding us to spend as much of them as we can outside.

Thanks, Aunt Laura

I'm organizing E's closet a little, trying to store the way-too-small stuff somewhere else now that we have a lot of hand-me-downs from a friend and a lot of my sale finds that are still "to grow into". The pile of still-too-big yielded a find for Eamon (who immediately latches on to anything "Shoh?") - his birthday present from his Aunt Laura. Eamon says "Thank you." He loves them. They will fit a little bit better in a couple of months - they're still big now.

Of course, at that time, we will send him to you, Laura Rose. I'm sure your dogs will appreciate it.

Goings On in the Life of a One-Year Old

Sorry for the slow posting this week. Lots going on, which we'll hopefully discuss more soon in this very spot.

In the meantime: Eamon has had a lot going on as well. He has developed a whole social life, with friends at daycare that he ASKS FOR in the morning. Forget the muffin, lady, where's OLLI? He goes out the door 10 minutes faster if I point out that leaving means seeing Olli.
The young boy's club? This scene also brings to mind several hot tub jokes....  Before I snapped this picture, Eamon had just pushed his friend Brianna out (not literally, but any movement in a ball pit has a strong reaction - although she may also have been reacting to the stink from his Keens). The little boy to his left is E's new favorite human and co-troublemaker, Olli.
As I said, any movement... Seems like, if you go with the hot tub joke, there's some sort of Mad Men-style over imbibing joke to be made here. But really, he's just a somewhat uncoordinated goofball who rolls out of ball pits, giggling. (Yes, you keen observers of toddler clothing, this is a different day. E LOVES the ball pit. And the other pair of plaid shorts in the second pic is Olli yet again - perhaps they bonded over their mutual torture via their mothers' love of plaid shorts.)
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This is one of E's other favorite activities. He loves the apron, and then begs for the "Haht?". This pic is actually one that one of his teachers took on her phone and sent to me. The little arm next to him is probably the third boy in that first ball pit pic, Ryan. Makes me think this room is run by the young boys club...
Here's the whole outfit: one morning he insisted on showing me the apron. Given his dad's skills, perhaps it should say "Chef in Training", but his love of carbs may mean that I will get to teach him to bake, too.

Baby Slides

Sometime last week E decided he liked slides. Three days ago it still looked like this.
Now, he's fearless. He figured out how to stay upright going down, and he's all over the playground!
Two days ago, the little slides.
Now, the wooooooorld!

It's just sort of crazy when he takes these sudden steps. Months of being not-quite-sure evaporate in a sudden explosion of confidence.

And anyone who was wondering: the pics yesterday of him climbing up the ladder? Yes, he does do it all by himself. A spotter is needed, but he can do it.

No one warned me about this growing up thing.

Pregame

The cheering squad is back together again. Today they did a little pregame warmup.





Cheering practice included.
Yes, I am wearing purple too. Go Vikings!

Friday Cute: On the Trail

It seems like I should say something here, but he's got a lot to say for himself.
So we'll go with "Have a good weekend!"

Looking Back

A couple of conversations have made me think how far we've come. 19 months. The nurse who gave E his first shots didn't even recognize him this week.

I have had this pile of pictures in the file of "potential blog fodder" for a long time. They are also a fun reminder...

My Weekend Off

I took the weekend off. Left both boys in charge of the house and ran away to kayak the Colorado River with Colorado Whitewater. It was a great weekend, particularly Sunday's float down the ever-spectacular Blue River below Green Mountain Reservoir. It was also a bit chilly at night - about 26 degrees. Hence I abandoned the boys. But I did take the Mazda:
It makes a great camping haven. All of my gear still in the car, plus my super-warm bed.

It's also a pretty impressive shuttle vehicle. Now it's holding all my gear, plus five boats, five people, and all the extra gear those other four people need. And STILL accelerating up the hills. Pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, back at home, Eamon dragged Ray to a garage sale and went shopping.


I'm pretty impressed with his bargain hunting. Now, if we can just convince the HOA to let us leave that out in the grass...

Fantasy

I'm going to admit a fantasy, because I can't figure out how I could ever work out the logistics, so maybe if I put it out there... I dream of getting Jen and her camera in the same place as my entire family (and in my dream, that place is Steamboat, because Steve and Missy chose a beautiful place to live).

That's still a dream. But I did get my little family near Jen's camera again a while ago, and, well, you can see why I never like any of the pictures I take after she gets going. So awesome. Go see the rest on Jen's blog (click here or on the pic below). And if you live anywhere near her,  take your family/pets/wedding party/seniors to Jen for some gorgeous pics!

Go Vikes!

The cheering squad is separated- yet the minute I pulled the jersey out, E said "Dada"?

Go vikes!

A Promise

After days of smoke and firebombers overhead (although we are far enough from the Four Mile Canyon fire), a rainstorm was welcome fun for all of us. Here's hoping it provides respite all the way around.

*Labor* Day

I took E to the Louisville Labor Day parade yesterday. He enjoyed the bands and the cheerleaders, wasn't quite sure about the clowns and the horses, and the cars, eh. There's one part he really liked, though. It took him a bit, but once he figured it out he was all over the swag. And then... he realized he could go out there.... and collect it... himself! (Until then he was largely benefitting from the (slightly misplaced) generosity of the little boys on either side of us).

For a little boy who increasingly wants to do everything himself, this was pretty sweet:

Note his very full hands. He wouldn't let me take anything until he was completely incapable of grabbing another thing, and then he would give me the full load.

In case that doesn't seem American enough, I offer this (obviously originally recorded to be sent to Ray. And yes, I did let him eat (a tiny corner off of) a piece of his stash. Yes, Mom, I watched him the whole time.)

Maine (part 2)

Come, join us for a peaceful interlude on Upper Narrows Pond.

Maine (part 1?)

We had some amazing trips this month. I'm still sorting, editing, even downloading and, well, it's bedtime. So... Maine. It was amazing. When your friends buy a house on a lake in Maine, go. Particularly if your friends are fun, great cooks, and have good taste in beer. Ah, just go visit Heather and Pete.

Some highlights:

Pemaquid Lobster Coop- Eamon ate crabcakes, not so much for the lobster. We got an amusing conversation amongst the other tables about how much fun they have driving their porsches, particularly at 120 mph across east Texas (near their second/third homes). Heather and I didn't tell them that the buicks that we had when we were 16 could do 120, nor did we tell them that Texas... stinks.

Ray just enjoyed the lobster. Eamon liked the crabcakes.

But really, he liked the playground, and even better: the rocks under our table.