Eamon's Christmas Request

E found this at Costco. He would like one. If you send one we may send it back to your house with toddler attached, but he would like one.

In other news, it's very hard to get a baby out of a drumset quietly without fuss.

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!

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...

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.)

Magic Mushroom

I thought about putting together a post on all the thing we have acquired to fulfill Eamon's need to go "outsiy?" (trike, bike trailer, a bike for Ray (finally), seems like everything BUT a yard). However, this sums it up and is far better:

Our blue mushroom. Gives one some Mario-Brothers based urges.
Not quite ready for that 50cc, aunt Missy, but I'm working on it!

But-tay

For my mom, some Sunday cute:


Eamon like his bunny (and loves his chair). Even cuddles the bunny some of the time. At some point maybe he'll learn to say "bunny" (and "kitty") correctly.



(This happened while I was posting, and is an add-on for Aunt Missy. He still loves the book, although sometime it goes "to sleep" for a while when he's not looking and his parents are nearby. Huh.)

Godot?

I know, buddy, we're all still waiting on me to get all those pictures edited.


Oh, never mind, you were waiting for something else entirely.

(Mom, here's another form of your revenge. He does this to me, too..)

(And I'm posting this from the Mazda, parked outside the farmer's market while kiddo naps. Enjoy.)