I Helpin’

Carter has become quite the little helper around the house…

daddy is always so appreciative.

Shake It Baby!

One of Carter’s favorite things to do is dance. He will stop and shake it if he’s feeling the music. He regularly feels it at the mall. It provides great entertainment to all nearby. Just a bit after my phone cut off this recording, he put his hands down on the ledge and really started shaking it with his head and hips. The mall is one of our favorite rainy day outings, now you see why…

Tiptoeing (Throwing Rocks) Through the Tulips

How lucky were we? Mimi and Poppop made it to town to care for Carter while I had my first overnight trip without the booger (more on that later). He had a ball with them – they went to the Museum of Flight, the farmers market, and of course, to the beach to throw rocks. Watch your rocks, folks, this kid has an obsession. I fear for my windows’ future.

I was fortunate enough to get one day with them before they headed to back to hot Texas, so we drove up to the tulip fields in Skagit Valley, about an hour north of Seattle. Last year, my booger was the charmer of the century. I put him in gathering bins (mom of the year, talk about sharp, rusty edges) and people gathered to take pictures of the cute “little girl” (???? has CJ ever really looked like a girl?).

cj, kim and poppop in the gardens

This year was a little different. That’s right folks, we have a full fledged toddler on our hands! One who isn’t thrilled about his picture being taken.

i’m so happy to be with you mommy!

But he’ll occasionally pretend and drop a smile.

i’ll sit for .2 seconds, hope you have a fast shutter speed!

And then take off on a dead run for the hills…

see y’all later!

As far away from you as he can get – dodging if it is necessary.

haha, you can’t catch me!

The tulips don’t mind being photographed though.

2012 tulips

Sometimes, we could sneak in a picture as he was running through the rows (oops, not allowed).

already breaking the rules by running through the rows

Apparently, it was funny when they would brush his arms.

tulips as tall as me

If any drought ridden Texans need help locating water, this kid is your friend. He’s a pro at finding agua.

agua? agua? agua?

And subsequently, the rocks that belong in them.

this rock does not belong amongst these beautiful aflahs (flowers)

We had to take a break for a snack, because this mama was still on relaxing Mexico time and paid little mind to crazy pants’ schedule. Guess what he had for a snack? No, not a tulip as it appears, but a (free, thank you Roozengaarde staff) hot dog bun, because I’m THAT awesome.

foraging

After snack time he was so much more willing to pose for pictures.

no more pictures please, i see agua! and rocks!?

I mean, so excited about it!

like he’s never met the woman

So we let him run and I snapped some pictures of my lovely parents.

my beautiful mama

and my handsome dad

such a sweet, happy couple

Then I looked over and found boy and agua. Seriously, he can find a puddle ANYWHERE.

more. agua? (this is how he speaks sentences)

And then he’ll dig for rocks to throw in said puddle. He was complete.

surely there’s something in this row i can throw

We had a great day at the tulip fields followed by a wonderful lunch at Seeds Bistro in La Conner. Carter played peek-a-boo with the booth behind us (much to their dismay, I’m sure) while we enjoyed good sandwiches and I told stories about my trip to Mexico.

sweet boy living the life

Thanks to Mimi & PopPop for giving this mom a much needed break. I hope you enjoyed your time with CJ as much as he did with you! He still asks for one of you every morning when he wakes up.

A Bear Goes to the Zoo

We’re fortunate that the Seattle zoo is so close to home. It means CJ gets to go as often as he likes. He decided to go on Tuesday for a visit to the bears. He heard they were waking up with all this delicious warm weather we were having.

the cutest bear

He got to get up close and personal with one bear in particular.

hey bear! hey bear.

They were doing a little dance together.

who was copying who?

And the claws didn’t startle him a bit (but watch out for a sneeze, that gets a lip curling cry).

low five

Mimi and Poppop say he must be a Baylor Bear. Scott and I better start saving more!

Carter’s Dictionary

We have new words all the time around these parts. Sometimes, he’ll say a word for days on end before we figure out what he means. In fact, for an entire 90 minutes on the way home from Whistler, he said “awa” which is not “agua” (water), “ama” (airplane), or “applah” (applesauce). Over. And over again. For 90 minutes. We still haven’t figured out what it means, but I guess he didn’t need it that bad.

pultzopp???? (said with sincere urgency): yogurt covered pretzel. child goes to bed and wakes talking about these darn things. i think he’s eaten maybe 10 in his whole life, but in his mind he could subsist on them and them alone.

kaydubaba: tortilla. yeah. maybe he calls tortillas quesidallas? who knows?

bees?: beans. he’s got a mom from san antonio. the boy knows beans.

hup may: help me. said while signing his version of “help.” meant for “help me get on this chair. help me open this pouch. help me get a pultzopp! help me destroy your house in 2 seconds!”

maymay?: mimi

potop?: pop pop

boid: bird

copzah: helicopter. he can differentiate the sound between the helicopter and airplane before he sees them. i love that.

rock???: rock. OBSESSED WITH ROCKS (boy rock sale, jessica??).

Y’all have probably stopped reading. But I need a place to store my little CJ dictionary. It’s so fun to hear his new words. He grows up too fast.

5th Annual Whistler Trip

Every year, we go on a trip to Whistler, BC with a huge group of our friends. We discovered this year was our 5th year. It’s a teeeeensey bit different than our first few trips. Our first few trips were filled with 3 full days of skiing, 3 full evenings of going out in the village for dinner and cocktails, waking at the crack of dawn to beat the gondola line, and a fridge full of beer. The last couple of years it has been more like: 1-2 days of skiing (not full, because I’m soooooooooo out of shape), a sneak into the village to shop while the kids are napping, 1 night of going out to dinner in the village (home by 11), waking before the crack of dawn because your toddler is less than 3 feet from your head and is SCREAMING AT YOU TO GO OUSHIDE, and a fridge full of whole milk, 2% milk, and skim milk (we had to keep the beer in the snow outside on the patio).

I did a horrible job of documenting the trip. I commit to taking a picture of the whole group (8 couples and 6 kids under 3) next year. We’re blessed in that a couple of the “kids” parents come along and babysit the munchkins during the day so we can ski & shop. They are truly amazingly brave people!

The trip included a lot of sledding (for everyone but CJ – he is NOT a fan of the snow but has been incessantly talking about it since our return)

heading home from a long adventure of sledding

little snow bunnies

My favorite part of every day was meal time. Those kids would belly up to the big table and just chow down. I think Carter at whole broccoli. In fact, I think he ate most of everyone’s food that they didn’t want after each meal. He certainly ate well on that vacation.

miss m slurping her soup

toddler happy hour

Maybe next year I’ll capture it all. But who knows, the little people could nearly double by next year and dominate the adults.

Doing the Daddy Dance

When I come home from work, I come in through the garage and walk up the stairs. I hear “dada! dada!” He tends to at least be excited to see me, but nothing like this…

This was even a bit of a tempered reaction from him because he knew the camera was on. The best time of every night is when dada gets home.