When is rains outside bring the playground inside

As Tim and I share one car (truck) between us I am most often without a car during the work week.  And this is normally not a problem at all, James and I get lots of fresh air walking with the stroller to parks, the market, etc.  But when it is rainy or gloomy for more than a few hours one can only imagine how stir crazy a toddler becomes.  

So out comes all the stops for entertainment that doesn't include the TV.  One of his FAVORITE activities for the past many, many months (maybe even close to the last year) has been spinning in the office chair.  Not sure if I am doing any damage to him, it does look quite creepy to see his eyes swerving back and forth after the spinning stops, but he loves it so much that on a rainy day I just can't say no.

First true jumping!

Yesterday morning James was messing around with me, getting some energy out and I said "one, two, three...Jump!" and I jumped up (which he always thinks is funny...is really that funny to see a 33 year old woman jumping up and down?) and James followed suite and JUMPED.  I mean this was the first time I'd ever seen him get clearance with both feet at the same time.  He was UBER proud of himself and we jumped for Tim that evening to show off this new level of coordination.

All boy

Yesterday it rained just enough to encourage the earthworms to crawl to the surface and take refuge on the sidewalks and walkways.

Today James collected all the poor worms that didn't make it back to their dirt abodes.

And of course he brought them to for safe keeping as he went searching for more.

Notice the small dark brown bit in his right hand?  That is half of a dried up creepy crawly.  He is holding worms in every picture in this post.  At least this time he didn't try to rehydrate them in his mouth like he did a few weeks back!

Happy Father's Day! (a very belated post)

 For father's day, way back when, I knit this sweater for Tim- and it's been sitting in my knitting basket ever since waiting to be blocked and buttons added.

 Since I still haven't purchased the buttons (I need toggles and none of my local shops carry them and it is so hard to pay more in shipping than the cost of the buttons themselves!), I decided to go ahead and at least block it so Tim could wear it in the meantime.  I blocked the sleeves a bit long, so until I wash and block it again Tim will probably be folding up the cuffs.

He really likes it and says he'll definitely wear it often.  So I think I'll bite the shipping bullet and just go ahead and order those toggles.

Tim is a wonderful father and he totally deserves a whole closet full of cozy sweaters.  I already have the pattern picked out for his next 'jumper'.

Too quite

 I was busy doing something around the house yesterday when I noticed it was a bit too quiet- that kind as a parent where you wonder 'Now what is he up to?' so I went and found James in his room- quietly concentrating on building his biggest block tower yet, 15 blocks high.  He was so engrossed he didn't see me and I quickly snuck away to get the camera. 

When I returned and took the first picture he spotted me, so even though he had some blocks in his hand to add to the tower he decided instead to push it over.  I wonder how many more he could have added before it would have toppled on its own?  

Just goes to show me that sometimes ignoring your child really gets them to figure things out for themselves- first the train track and now balancing blocks.

(And I am thankful that this 'too quiet' event didn't involve James' normal exploration of the dog's water bowl/food bowl, toilet paper, removal of remote control batteries, spilling an entire container of couscous on the kitchen flour, turning on the bathtub water and scooping out cupfuls to dump on the floor, or finding the front door not quite latched and deciding to let himself outside.)

Fun at the park with daddy

 This evening before we went and fulfilled our craving for chicken wings and nachos for dinner we stopped by the local playground to let James fulfill his craving for toys and running around.  This was his first time on a 'bike' and he was THRILLED.

 He also got to see-saw with Tim and thought it very giggle worthy.

 Lately at this park he has become very interested in the cars.  The problem is that he doesn't yet know how to use his feet to propel himself forward so he asked very nicely with many pleases to be pushed- which is problematic because he doesn't keep his feet moving/stepping and last time he actually got sucked under the car as Tim was pushing and we didn't realize his sticky rubber crocs had stayed in place while the car kept moving.  We had to pick the car up over he head to let him out the bottom that time.  Luckily today no tragic ending- he just took a very short ride before eyeing yet another cool car to try out.

 This one he did keep his feet moving and even enjoyed a bit of off-roading.  This car is also a whole lot easier on the parent- no bending over!

Morning snack

 It is chilly this morning, so James is wearing his new closed toed shoes for the very first time (and his first time wearing sweatpants this year, too.  A size 3T!  Needing to be rolled up now, but the 2T from last year were getting too short).

 I wasn't sure what size shoe to get him and started with a 7.5-8 from Zappos, but they seemed to fit perfectly- which with quickly growing toddler feet wasn't what I was aiming for.  So back they went and a size 8.5 came shortly thereafter.  They actually must fit better because with the first shoes James asked to take them off immediately, but this morning with the bigger size he looked down with a grin and then ran off with a bounce in his step.

 Snacks taste better out of a dumptruck.

James' choice

 This morning James came out of his room holding a pair of fire engine pajama pants (they had been in the pile of "too small" clothes waiting to be stored) and asked to put them on.

 Then a while later he picked up my cast off socks from last night and asked to put them on.

 So a dirty pajama top, too small fire engine pants and momma's too big socks became his outfit for the morning.

 I think the socks make him look a bit like an elf.

 And apparently the cool outfit he chose out all by himself (for the first time) gave him a lot of creativity to express via Duplo blocks.

 And James is very interested now in taking pictures and then seeing them on the viewing screen, so we had a couple of self-portraits this morning to indulge him.

Last year, this year

I tried last years' blue owl sweater on James and it still fit- barely!  I haven't yet tried on the new tan owl sweater for this year- but I know it won't look quite as cute because I reused yarn from a previous sweater and the yarn is all twisted and bumpy from that.

Last years' sweater and hat- said hat has since been lost or misplaced so I am working on a new one this week.

Favorite TV watching pose

Last night Christi went into labor so I headed over there to stay with Elsa while they went to the hospital.  This morning I was feeling like a lazy start was the way to go so James has been getting to watch way too much TV.  I captured one of his favorite TV watching positions- suspended as a bridge between couch and coffee table.  I figure he might be doing a passive activity- watching TV- but he is doing it in a less passive way- with exercise!

Crazy slide hair

 Not sure why I find this so amusing but I LOVE the way static from the slide makes James' hair stand on end.  Above, pre-slideing, normal hair.

 Post-slideing- crazy hair!

 A James' favorite park activity- finding anything and everything to poke into the holes of the equipment.

 More great hair!

And at the park today- Christi post due-date!

Bath diving

 It seems James is missing the pool.

 And very proud of his make-shift option.

First haircut

 As we haven't trimmed or cut James' hair yet it is getting quite long.

 And while I still don't want to do a true haircut his "bangs" are getting long enough that some strands keep ending up getting tangled in his lashes and poking him in the eye,  Over the past two weeks I have seen him rub his eyes countless times trying to get the annoyance out.

 Tried to capture those few stray hairs in a picture...

 So while he was captured in his highchair for afternoon snack I swept all of offending hairs into a bundle and snipped them off.  James wanted to see what I was doing with the scissors and so didn't sit very still in his attempts to look up.

 After he looked a bit dejected, like all that kerfuffle was for nothing.

Until I showed him the tuft of hair and then he said "more hair, please!" asking for more to be cut. But that will have to wait- I can't bear to cut off those curls in the back yet.