Thursday, May 31, 2007

Memorial Day Weekend - Part 2

On Sunday, we got coffees and took a morning walk on the beach. Houston swam. We came home for lunch and a nap. Trey painted the garage. After waking from his nap, we put back on Holden's bathing suit and let him play and splash around. He also ate his first popsicle. He liked to dip in the water bucket and then lick it. I had to take it away before he finished the whole thing because he was about to smear Trey's truck with it. Nice save seeing that Trey just took one whole day to detail the truck last week. It was a good day but the bucket of water didn't have the same fun effect as it did at the beach the day before.



Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Memorial Day ' 07

This Memorial Day weekend we spent a day at the beach. Holden loves the ocean, the sand, and running free. He wasn't too thrilled about his hat though - good thing I slathered sunscreen all over him. My camera ran out of batteries so I wasn't able to capture all the fun he had playing with Fletcher and Stephanie Fuller. They had a big hole dug out that they all played in. Kelli, Fletcher and Stephanie's mom, brought out a big bucket of water and the kids splashed and played and filled it with sand. Holden sat still filling sand into the bucket for the longest period of time I've ever seen him sit - maybe 30 to 40 minutes (no joke!). Then he and Fletcher took turns (another wow! moment - they actually took turns!) standing in the sand and water-filled bucket to jump-jump-jump. Houston went along too, and was a pleasure to have with us. Trey and I kept asking each other - Is this our dog? He was so mellow and well behaved. We had a great day!









Yeah!

Holden has a new favorite word - yeah. We love it because now we can ask him questions and he'll either shake his head no, or answer yeah. It's the best thing ever! It goes a little something like this:

Do you want a banana?
head shakes no (and kind of hums mmmm at the same time)

Do you want to play?
yeah!

Do you want to put on your shoes?
yeah!

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Fifteen Months- UPDATED

This week Holden turned 15 months old. The big changes for the month are that he is talking, and we can understand him, so much more. His favorite things to talk about are his shoes, the motorcycle, plants/flowers, and opposites (up/down, on/off, open/shut). This week he began acting like a monkey. He puts his hands under his armpits and says Ooooo, Ewww, Oooo. He is still climbing like crazy. Daycare even told me that he likes to climb up the chain link fence on their playground. Great! I am completely amazed that such a little person can have so much energy. Parenting him is incredibly physically demanding. While holding him, he'll push off me, walk up until his feet are on my chest and then stand up. My arms are barely long enough to support him in that position. He's getting so tall. He runs, not walks, most places now, and can make ground pretty quickly. While his physical development is progressing quickly, he still enjoys pulling stuff out of cupboards, getting into drawers he is now able to reach, and putting things into his mouth that we wish he wouldn't. He takes off his shoes and hides them. We have only glimpses of him sitting to play with toys. Some friends have told me this is the most challenging stage, and although I'm trying to enjoy this moment of his toddlerhood, I secretly can't wait for him to slow down a bit.

He weighs around 25 pounds and has 12 teeth. He has his first four molars in, and his front four teeth on the top and bottom. He has a gap in between his front teeth and his molars. I think those teeth are on their way in; he's been drooling like crazy. His 12-18 month clothes are getting snug, and he's wearing 18-24 month clothes most of the time now.

My most favorite thing in the whole world is that Holden has become cuddly at bedtime. I absolutely love putting him to bed. He cuddles in to my chest and looks up at me with sleepy eyes while I rock him. There is really nothing that compares to this baby love!

UPDATES!
On May 30th, we went to Holden's 15 month appointment. He met his developmental milestones and is a healthy boy. He weighed 24 lbs. 9 oz. (50%); his height is 32.5" (85%); and his head circumference is 46 cm (35%). He received four more immunizations, which means he's almost completely immunized. He has one more shot at 18 months, and two more at 2 years old. After that he just has a couple of boosters. We're happy to be almost done with them; it's obviously our least favorite part of the doctor visits. Dr. Rubenstein gave me lots of helpful advice on getting our picky eater to eat more.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Helping with Yard Work

We continue to make small improvements to house, especially since it's on the market. This Saturday Trey installed a temporary fence so that potential buyers can come to the house without Houston barking them out of the yard. We also planted some more flowers in the planter. Holden enjoyed "helping" out. Once again, he was drawn to the cleaning tools.


Are we really going to Home Depot again?

So much to identify....he's telling me about the plants in this picture.

Going to water the flowers (well pretending to).



It just so happens that the handle on this broom broke which makes it a perfect Holden broom.

Doing his part!

When boredom set in, he pushed his airplane toy around.





Sunday, May 20, 2007

Mother's Day

I know I'm a little late on the blog updates, but better late than never, right? On Mother's Day we went to brunch with Nancy, Tabi & Mike, George & Nina and all the kids. The spread at the Morgan's Run Country Club was delightful; I didn't have enough room for all the yummy food. Holden loved running on the golf course with his cousins. After, we came home and Holden took a nap. Later in the afternoon, we took Houston to the beach. Holden loved playing in the ocean just as much as Houston did. Trey and I learned that we are going to get quite a workout at the beach this summer as Holden bee-lines straight for the ocean. No stopping, no fear. Luckily, Trey gave me a break and took care of him the whole time we were at the beach. I got to be the proud mama taking pictures of my boys.









Look Who Loves to Clean

Would you expect any less from the son of "Clean Gene" (Trey's nickname from high school)? Holden enjoys sweeping, wiping down surfaces, and pretend vacuuming, with sound effects and all. This morning we actually put a Swiffer cloth on the sweeper and let him go to town cleaning the floors.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Our First Conversation

"Good morning, Boo-Boo. Do you want to go to school today? Who do you want to see?"

"Na."

"Oh, you want to see Aine (pronounced on-ya)."

Chuckle.

"Who else do you want to see?"

"Bay-bee."

"Oh, you want to see the baby, Nevada."

Chuckle.

(A fourth month old baby girl, Nevada, just started going to his daycare this week. So he has learned a new word this week- baby.)

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Cutie Boy!

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Kissy Kissy Thank You

The other day, Holden went around the living room to kiss all of his toys. One by one, he bend down, and gave each one a big smackaroo! Adorable. He also blows me a kiss when I tell him I love him. He cracks up everytime after he blows a kiss. I don't know if he could get much cuter!

Last weekend, the wonderful Betts family came to the rescue again! They took Holden to the mall with them while Trey and I ran a few errands. (Such an awesome treat!) On their drive home, we were talking on the phone to each other. Liz pointed out how cute Holden sounded when he said cracker (car-car). Then she told me he said thank you after they handed him each cracker. I was shocked - he says thank you?!?? When I went to pick him up at their house, kate handed Holden a teddy bear, and he replied tatu. Liz said, " See, he said thank you." I realized I had heard him say it before, I just never knew what he was saying.