Long and Busy summer

Our new house, it's so nice to have a fence, I can let S run free in the backyard. The grass is still coming up.

My dad made a child size table and chairs for my sister and I when we were little and now it's in our home, S loves it and has almost completely given up sitting in his highchair in preference for sitting at his own table. For dinner he still sits with us, but breakfast and lunch are informal enough to make good use of "his" table.

After the buzz cut, with my clogs. He actually walks pretty good in them.

The first house we built this summer, sold to a lady who seems to be a nice neighbor. Pretty much the same house as the one we built for ourselves, with the exception of some interior wall modification.

Before the buzz cut.

I haven't forgotten that I started this blog to tell you about S progress, I have just barely had time this summer to sit down at the computer at all. He has changed so much in the past 6 months and every new thing makes it that much more fun. His language surprises me all the time. We have the Chronicles of Narnia bound with a picture of Aslan the Lion on the front. When I was unpacking the books I showed it to him and roared, he loved that and I told him it was the Chronicles of Narnia, he repeated Narnia, and to this day gets the book and says 'nana'. Haha. He has also started to notice certain items at the grocery store, none of which I have ever purchased, but the marketing people sure know what they are doing...he notices all the gummi things and cereals with pictures of cars or tractors or dogs, that seem to still be at his level from the cart. So I just acknowledge what he sees and we move on :)

He still loves trucks and does everything he sees us do. The other day J said he smelt something funny and couldn't tell where it was coming from, the couch or the rug. I proceed to smell the couch and the rug back and forth to locate the odor, S gets down on all fours and I see him with a wrinkled up nose going back and forth on the rug. Too funny. I have seen him do this with everything from raking the yard, using the shovel, screwdriver, vacuum, hand saw (trimming trees), hairbrush, and toothbrush, and many other things. I guess that is how he learns, so I'm happy he's learning. His sign language vocab has grown as has his spoken language. He continues to ask to go outside, read a book, eat, sleep, play and it seems a hundred other things along with please, thank you, and help. His new thing is climbing, he gets in his highchair by himself and he gets the stool to look up on the counter, we've been training him that he can do that but feet do not get to go on the counter.

Some friends of ours have a lab who just had a litter of puppies, they are all chocolate and we are planning to get one in a couple of months, since that is one word S continually repeats "Doggy, Doggy, Doggy." As we have been landscaping the past week or so, he has thoroughly enjoyed the dirt, and I have enjoyed the Borax to get it out of his clothes :) He also likes to carry around an old cell phone that we gave him saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy (then mumbles of a toddler nature)". We are planning to take a little camping vacation next week, which is much needed after the 2 houses we built this summer, but I don't know how it will work with potty training...he has been wearing underwear mostly during the day, and still diapers at night. Being home and having a potty available at all times makes this process quite simple since he has been going on the toilet for over a year now, he knows what to do it's just the communicating that he needs to go that we are still working on :)

There is so much more but this is long enough for now.

Yippee for Friends

Well, we have had a great April so far. We have had our friends staying with us and started the house. Here is S with his raincoat he got for his birthday from our neighbor in Colorado, Marilynn. Our friends little girl turned 2 this past week, so I made her some things. This 'mock' crazy creek chair and the picnic basket in the background, they both seemed to be hits with a little girl.

This photo is from the day we poured the slab for the house. It rained but turned out great despite the anxiety we had when the rain fell.

This was a trip to the lake with our friends. It was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed throwing rocks from the jetty.

S and his 2 best friends. This cat has made a great companion for the young ones as it has the highest level of torture tolerance I have ever seen in a cat. In the midst of tail pulling, hair pulling, ear pulling and eye poking, this cat keeps purring and coming back for more affection. She frequently visits our deck but lives next door.

The March Moose

A few weeks ago I was chatting with my neighbor in the driveway when he noticed a *pile* of droppings in my driveway....moose droppings. He told me last year there was a cow and calf in the neighborhood and they must be back. A few days later he knocks on our door and tells J and I to come look, he has spotted the moose. Apparently this moose has taken up residence under another neighbor's apple tree, eating the fermenting apples from the fall, and consequently appearing intoxicated leaning up against the fence. So for the past few weeks we've been watching out the window and peeking through the fence to get a look at this funny creature who is now calling our block home. Here is the view from our yard, over the neighboring fence.

S has been clueless about the moose, but quite attentive to what mama and pop are doing. When he gets his hands on a phone, he scoots around saying "Dat, Dat, Dat" (Dad, Dad, Dad)

Since I like to know what I'm feeding my kid, and I don't know what in the world some of the ingredients really are on the cracker box I decided to start making my own. They really are pretty tasty. You can find the recipe here

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Poppy-Cheddar-Moon-Crackers-356190

He doesn't care so much to color with them, but they sure are fun to play with!

Oh, if we all could be wrapped in a snuggly blanket everyday to take our cares away! Peek-a-boo is still an all time favorite.

Our mild winter has lent itself to many great spring days in the park. We are almost ready to dig for the house if only it were a bit drier.

My little farmer with his great grandpa's hat on, he's still a fan of tractors, trucks and bikes. I bought a used bike from J's friend and hooked up the bike trailer. S LOVES to ride in it!

An Average Week

Of course our little guy changes every week, but this week was on the average side. His interest in stuffed creatures has increased, as well as the sound effects to match. This video shows his chicken boking of late.

Projects and Progress

Some projects I've been working on for my little guy and others...shoes, pants, diapers. I made these for a friend who is due in less than 3 weeks.

The first pocket diaper I've ever made...still working out the velcro details, apparently I bought the hook side that gums up your sewing machine. I changed the needle in my machine but I'm still having trouble even with a thimble and needle to push through the goo.

I made these pants out of recycled sweaters, he has long legs and a slim waist so tailor made suites him best. I also made these booties/shoes from a recycled sweater.

Look at all those teeth!

He're another pair of pants I made him out of a sweater I was given over a year ago for his very purpose...they're cashmere! He loves his tractor from Grandma and Grandpa S.

Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa H

My mom made his froggie hat, and everywhere we go, he gets comments on how cute the hat is :)

Grandpa and Grandma H

Here with my sister

Can you tell he had teeth coming in?

"Yeah! I love that Grandpa got down on the floor and played with me all day!"

My mom emailed me some photos of our visit with them in October so I wanted to put them up while I had a minute.

Big 1 and 75

I know his birthday was in November, but here are the photos. I found a frosting gun in a free box at a garage sale last summer and tried it out for the first time here....I need some practice, and maybe unlumpy frosting.

Carrot cake, of course because I thought he might actually eat it, but he did more playing with it than eating. His hair became frosted :)

He's getting the hang of this tearing paper thing.

Here is 1 and 75. A year ago when my water broke, November 16 I went out for a walk and ran into Marilyn (our dear next door neighbor). When I told her my water broke, she jokingly made a request for me to hold off a few days until November 18 so the baby would be born on her birthday. At the time I was thinking "oh, I hope it won't be that long!" Sure enough they share their birthday and I'm so glad. We miss Marilyn so much since we've moved.

Last winter we received a few barrels of scrap wood from a cabinet shop to burn in the woodstove. As we loaded the woodstove I kept thinking they would make great blocks for S in a year or so. I started stashing blocks in drawers as I found the perfect sized blocks for his set. Now he has an 'all natural' set of blocks, and the best part is....they were free....walnut, fir, birch, maple, alder, and some we haven't identified.