Three Poses

I like the different expressions that Simon seems to make in these shots. He is wearing a shirt mom bought him that day; I think it makes him look like a little man!

Mom also bought Simon some shoes and had his feet sized at Stride Rite. Hmm, should I feel bad that he was wearing a size 5 but is really a size 6.5 or 7 ? Simon now has a pair of brown shoes that look like his daddy's. Very similar. Maybe I'll post a side by side pix one day.

Writing of future pix...I should mention I will try and post one of Simon in his boots. When Simon receivev his new shoes, it prompted me to see what size his boots were. (They are a size 7) Simon was given a pair of cowboy boots by little Jacob when Simon was born. They were Jake's when he was a little lad.

So, I put the boots on Simon and he loved them! He seemed to realize they were special. He just giggled and tried to walk, but kept falling. He would just laugh and laugh. He fell over so many times and seemed to practically do a somersault. Ah, maybe I should see if I can post video somehow on this blog. It is hard to describe in words how utterly hilarious Simon can be!

I am blogging tonight in on my bed with our new (to us) laptop! I guess we are officially a Macintosh home as our desktop and laptop are both Apple. Matt bought a wireless router tonight and became a computer geek for a few minutes, but now we have wireless!

Ebay--Matt got an awesome deal on this laptop. We are still selling things on Ebay as the notion strikes us. We were cleaning out Simon's room today and came across two "collectibles" (loosely termed) that we think we can part with. A Mickey Mouse phone and a Will Ferrell Jack in the Box from Elf. You should search for them on Ebay and see if you can find us. Oh, Matt just told me he is going to wait until after this next weekend to list them. I think he will put a link to a movie where you can see the jack in the box in action. Ah, but this is but a tease as it won't be for sale for another week or so. Just be patient--paradise is right around the corner and Pedro will make your wildest dreams come true.

The Tails of Two Bunnies!

This morning, Simon and I went outside to water our tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers. I let Simon play with the water hose and he unwittingly discovered two baby bunnies. I have been complaining about the rabbit who we see frequently in our backyard and whom we suspect often eats our veggies before we do! Matt noticed a couple of weeks ago that the bunny had dug a burrow. I feel strangely touched that the rabbit decided to have her bunnies in our backyard--that we are hospitable to little animals. At least in this moment, I am glad we have such a home, sweet home for them in our yard; though, I do predict that I will one day complain about the same animals.

Simon just ran around while the little bunnies hopped and hopped from the 'huge' (in proportion) toddler. I don't know where the mommy bunny was today.

Hmmm ... We hung up some curtains in Simon's room today and it made a world of difference. The curtains aren't over the window, but where the closet doors should be. It was an easy 'room-makeover' as we already had the curtains which match very well and the tension rod was in the garage waiting for a use. I imagine it saying, "Use me, use me!" Sad, little rod that was so anxious to be used.

I am almost through listening to a trilogy by Michael Phillips. I think I may have forgotten to mention that two weeks ago I read no less that four of his books in a week's time. I think each book was approximately 400 pages. I go through stages where I read a lot and then not so much because I realize I love to read, but I easily get engrossed and spend more time than I think is wise reading. So, these last two weeks I weaned myself from reading by once again going audio. I did read an interesting book last week (non-fiction) titled The Unlikely Angel or maybe it was An Unlikely Angel. It was about a hostage situation in Atlanta a year or so ago; lots of dialogue about the Lord and the 40 Days of Purpose book by Rick Warren.

Soundtrack

Simon fell ill Friday evening through early Saturday morning. One bath, one shower, and one sponge-off later, he was settled into a fitful's night sleep next to me--we put a twin mattress in his room on the floor and I slept with him both Friday and Saturday night. Matt also fell ill. He had to cancel his early Saturday morning cross-country bike ride.

Last Wednesday, we went to the park and road bikes with Simon in his trailer. We went to Arbor Hills in Plano and stayed on the paved roads with Simon. Then, I took Simon to the playground while Matt explored the off-road trails. AND...he saw a mountain lion! Not a bobcat, the tail was too short. At least it was a baby one (sort of). I asked if he was scared, and he said he definitely started pedaling faster.

We've eaten squash and cucumber from our garden on several occassions. I wish I had planted zuchinni, but everytime I went to Home Depot, they were out of it, and I think it would definitely be too late now.

We just finished eating and Simon said this sentence for the first time : "Bye-bye eat." You'll have to read another post to really get the gist of that.

Simon and Alex are cousins!

The top pix is of Simon in Alex' baby carrier/seat. I guess Simon recognized it and wanted to reflect upon the past or something.

Simon and Alex on the couch -- just waiting for Alex to tip over! The other shots following this pose are humorous -- in one pix, it looks like Simon is attacking Alex' eye, in other pix, Alex just tips over, the next pix has Alex crying with Simon looking befuddled, and then the next pix has Alex being picked up by an adult and Simon is now crying.

Aunt Amy. Hmmm, sometimes it just dawns on me that I am an aunt. Hmmm, I think Auntie Amy or Auntie Ames. Not too much you can do with the name Amy. I guess we'll see what little Alex comes up with. We wanted Kelly to be Aunt KayKay, but Simon calls her Kiki.

Alex looks so cute in these pictures!

Bye Bye Fun

To help Simon transition from activities, especially the 'fun' ones, we began a 'good-bye dialogue.' For example, when it's time to leave the park, we pick him or up take his hand and say "Bye bye park." Then Simon says, "Bye, bye, park." Then we in turn say "Bye, bye slide" and "Bye, bye, sun," "Bye, bye, swing," with Simon echoing each goodbye sentiment. Simon now will initiate some of the good bye sentences.

The other day, he ended with "Bye-bye fun....." as we left the park -- (sweet and a little sad)

I was in our backyard with Simon this morning, and I could tell when he was ready to go inside. It wasn't hard to figure out. He stood by the backdoor and started saying "Bye-bye, water. Bye-bye, sun." If that wasn't a big enough clue, he had also taken off one of his shoes and put it up in the outside shoe basket.

The pix of Matt 'sleeping' on the slide makes me smile.

Also, the true boyness of Simon's scuffed up face in the one pix. He is truly 100% boy. His little legs are spotted with small bruises from playing so hard.

Mom and Dad brought Simon back a sailor hat from St.Louis. I'll have to take a pix of that and post it soon. He wanted to wear it to bed last night. When I sat down to read a book to him and give him his nightly sippy cup, Snoopy was in our chair with Simon's hat on. So, Simon put it on himself and was quite content to leave it at that. Once he was practically asleep, I managed to slip it off his head without too much of a struggle. I guess I could have let him sleep with it on, but I wasn't thinking, I was just being ruled by tradition, I guess!

Matt and I had a trip down memory lane last night when we watched The Flight of the Navigator from 1986. I didn't remember Sarah Jessica Parker being in the movie, but she was. Ah, the 80s--WHAT we were we thinking? It's like a stain on our nation's heritage -- the hair, the clothes, the make-up, the music. Granted, it has reminiscent value.

A Friend for Simon!

Last Thursday, Simon had so much fun playing with Cameron. Cameron is only 3 months older than Simon, and the two boys played like the best of friends and were quite brotherly (in a nice way) to each other! Cameron is the son of a good friend of mine from Texas A&M with whom we were just recently reacquainted, only to find out that they are moving soon!

This was one of Simon's first meals to not sit in his booster/high chair. We're not ready to make that transition just yet, but Cameron's little brother Asa (born last September) needed the high chair more! Simon and Cameron would take turns jumping up and running from the table -- so you can see how it would be hard to get simon to eat under these circumstances! Someone did suggest using a belt to 'belt' him in, but I"ll just keep using his high chair until he can't fit in it or until he goes off to college!

It was adorable to Simon and Cameron running around, playing with each other; without shirts, they seem like little boys from the 1950's. I don't know why, but I associate the 1950s with shirtless little boys.

They played outside in the yard, ran around the house, played in the living room, played in Simon's room, tinkered on the piano, and shared a calming 30 minute video together.

Water Fun

Pix taken May 21st.

Simon loved the sprinkler. Now, everytime we go outside he picks up the sprinkler and says (somewhere between a statement and a question) "Water.?"

Matt and I went to the State Park at Lake Ray Roberts today. Bike trails. (I didn't do the off-roading ones, but Matt had fun on them.) I wish I had brought towels for getting in the lake--the lake and 'beach' actually seemed clean. I think Simon would have fun playing in the water and in the playgrounds that are nearby. So, we'll have to go another weekend when we have Simon!