Again, long time no blog. It's finally the middle of summer and the fun rolls on. Since the last post, we camped, we've been to Hawaii for a week, done some berry picking and currently have Cousin Cole over with Aunty Leslie for a month. First a list of new skills:
- Running...sort of. I classify running as moving fast enough to have both feet off the ground at the same time. I think that happens now. If not, Hadden's really close.
- More words. They are coming at a faster rate now. Hadden tends to use only one syllable and drop the last consenant sound, which is pretty typical. Favorite newer words: BA-ba (flapjacks...meaning pancakes), boat (with the "t" sound, meaning boat most of the time), Go (goat), DAW-di (doggie), DUH-tuh (dumptruck), vaca (Spanish for cow), awa (agua), pa-ta (pasta), pi-ta (pizza).
- Understanding. He knows lots of words and phrases. Things like "put it back" and "bring the dumptruck over here" and stuff like that. Also, he points to the sky every time he hears or sees an airplane and totally grooves on the garbage truck on Wednesday mornings.
- Babble. Nonstop. Wish I knew what it meant.
- Jumping? No way. Auntie Michelle introduced him to jumping in Hawaii by going "ribbit" and then leaping like a frog. He swings his arms and tries to get the upward momentum going but I don't even think Hadden's heels leave the ground let alone his feet. Give him time.
Camping
We went camping (just the 3 of us) in the middle of June at a far-away place called Federal Way (if you're familiar with the Seattle area you recognize the humor - it's in the middle of urban Puget Sound just south of the Seatac airport). A little state park called Dash Point. Actually, it was great. Surrounded by trees it felt like the middle of the forest. During the day we visited the beach there (not at all like a Hawaii beach) and then went to Tacoma's Point Definance Park where we visited the combo Zoo-Aquarium. Lots of fun for all. Camping was great as Hadden walked all over the campsite and tore down the road between campsites as well. The blow-up mattress in our 4-person mansion tent (no roughing it now that we have a kid) was more like a moonwalk experience for Hadden so it was hard to get him to settle down in the tent at night. He also had a number of favorite sticks...which is really what makes camping worth while.
Hawaii Trip
Went to Hawaii for 17-24 June. I flew with Hadden on the 17th and Yvonne came 2 days later (no reast for the weary at Microsoft). We stayed at the Michelle/Andrews/Kash/Haze rental house near Kailua Beach and went over to my parents' every day. Pools at both houses and lots of fun with cousins, aunties, grandparents, uncles and great-grandmothers. At first Hadden was afraid of the shorebreak but after about 15 minutes he was used to it. Now we work to keep him from diving head first into the pool/ocean when we are not looking. No fear. Hadden became a hugging monster as he really got into trying to hug his cousin Haze. He would follow her around and repeatedly bear hug her (in a nice way). Nice work "baby cheese" (see prior posts for the reasoning behind that nickname).
Other general fun
Went raspberry picking last weekend with the extended clan (Hadden, Steve, Yvonne, Leslie, Cole, Sara, Nels, Gabe, Joanna, Karen, Chris/Bug). Despite the net-negative berry presence of Cole and Hadden the Steve-Leslie-Yvonne team got about 40 lbs. Hadden made a complete mess of himself by sitting in the dirt and getting raspberry juice on his hat, legs, pants, and shirt (combined with the dirt). Apart from preventing him from stepping in the box of freshly picked raspberries Hadden was easy to care for there. Also had to keep him from grabbing/eating the berries that had been on the ground for a week already. A bit overripe.
The extended family on a 5th of July picnic at the Woodland Park Zoo
Days at the park are fun too. Our favorites now are Greenlake (they have a terrific wading pool that is apparently heated by pee given the number of kids in there), Greenwood (close to the house), and Ballard Commons (they have a water feature there). Hadden loves to steal other kid's balls or anything else they're not actively defending.
Hadden also got his first haircut last month just before Hawaii. It was a bit traumatic and it cost more than my haircut. Probably not paying $25 for a 1-year old haircut again. However, he looks more boy-like now with the shorter hair. I guess that's good but he's stil the same guy - just looks less like a balding 50-year-old with long hair.
There was a stint of about 3 weeks where Hadden enjoyed crapping in the shower but thankfully that's over (no pictures this section). Nobody at the rental house needs to know about that. We bought a trainer poddy and put it in our shower on the advice of Sandy, our neighbor and mother of 2 toddler twins, thinking that if he tried to crap again in the shower we'd just sit him on the crapper. Perhaps he'll learn to crap on the throne that way. Later on we'll teach him that most houses don't have a tidy-bowl in the shower. "Hadden, what did you do? Oh, crap (literally). DON'T TOUCH IT!"
Leslie/Cole here
Auntie Leslie and Cousin Cole are here for about a month. This is great because Hadden gets to meet C-diddy. Coleman is 4 months old and he and Hadden are fascinated by each other. We are constantly reminding Hadden "gentle" when touching Cole but sometimes he manages to throw collanders, lotion bottles, etc. at him when we are not on our game. Cole is unhurt...so far. Luckily Hadden's aim really sucks - can't hit a 4-month-old from 6 inches. Probably a good thing.
Auntie Leslie and Cousin Cole enjoying a fountain
That's all for now,
steve
1 comment:
On behalf of your extensive fan base, thank you for updating. Good post.
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