Summer Is Here!

Phil and I have been enjoying our summer at home with John, although time is flying by much too quickly! Phil is working for his dad again this summer as a roofing inspector, but with all the rain in June, all three of us enjoyed some rainy days at home. I have loved every moment of being a stay-at-home-mom this summer, but did continue my teaching on five Tuesday mornings with a CSI themed class that I created to challenge students in their reading, math and science skills during the summer months. Many kids participated and seemed to have a great time completing fingerprint analysis, casting molds of shoe tracks, soil testing, ink identification and even creating and analyzing teeth impressions. It was a fun learning experience for all of us!

John has continued to challenge us daily with his growing vocabulary and increasing energy! He is now very verbal and starting to put a few words together to complete his thought. He still loves to help me cook and clean and he can't wait to help shake the rugs when it's time to vacuum! He even moves the garbage can and chairs around the dining room table as he vacuums, just like mom does! John is extremely observant and has a very good memory, as we've learned the last few days! When things are mentioned, he will not forget (much to our chagrin at times!).

We are realizing that a bonus of not selling our house this winter is that we now have an incredible view daily of dump trucks, skid loaders, and every so often a backhoe. John could not be more thrilled than to sit at our sliding door, or even go out on the deck, and watch the trucks complete our highway project. Many times he will grab his trucks and make them "scoop" and "dump" the way the big trucks do! He is also very enthralled with the "man" that drives the trucks and will even point out if the "man" is on his phone! (Which a few have been from time to time!!)


John was enjoying a muffin at the big boy table that he helped make!

John continues to love noodles in any form and normally, for ease of eating them, we eat penne pasta. However, this night, we ate spaghetti, and John was thrilled when he figured out he could slurp them up! Where do they learn these things??

Mmmmm...delicious!

One of John's favorite new hobbies is wearing mom and dad's shoes around the house. He's actually gotten to be quite good at walking in them without falling over! He does tend to favor Phil's camouflage crocs though, but I'm sure that doesn't mean anything....

John loved eating breakfast at the big table up north at Grandma Joan and Papa Bob's house. He was so proud of himself!

Precious!

John definitely loves to kick any type of ball around, and when you can mix that with being outside and watching ants, he's in heaven! He loved peeking around the trees up north, as well as stomping on the ants and even using some of Papa Bob's wood pieces from the deck as a walking stick!

The end of June, Phil and I headed to Las Vegas with his family to celebrate his mom and dad's 40th Anniversary. It was a great trip and a place Phil and I would love to revisit in the coming years! We enjoyed the food, casino fun (even though we're not much for gambling and honestly don't have the stroke of luck that some do!), KA, a Cirque du Soleil show, and even a little fun in the sun at the Mirage pool, where we stayed. The trip was only partially hindered by my being sick for a day with food poisoning and knowing John was unlucky enough right before we left to be diagnosed with his first ear infection, strep throat and another bout of croup! I certainly had the "guilty mommy syndrome" for leaving him, but he did incredibly well with grandma and grandpa, just like we knew he would! Upon our return, the meds had kicked in and he was almost back to his normal self!

One night after his bath, John found a second nuk in the edge of the changing table. So, what's better than one nuk? Two, of course!

In the last month, John has wanted to do things more and more like mom and dad, so we knew it was time to get him his own big boy toothbrush and toothpaste. Thankfully, we were able to combine two of our favorite people, Elmo and Thomas the Train, and have an incredible teeth-brushing experience every night!

John was showing me his clean teeth and tongue and wanted to see my tongue...and then came at me and giggled!

Mmm Mmmm Mmmm!! Clean teeth!

Throughout the summer, we have enjoyed bringing John's love of coloring to the outdoors with sidewalk chalk! John couldn't believe that it covered his hands and legs as he was coloring the driveway and better yet, mom didn't care!

John has been intrigued over the last few weeks with the bobby pins that he sees me use in my hair. He would try to put them in his hair too, so one day I asked if we should put a clip in his hair. He said yes, so this is what we did! He thought he was so funny when he saw his reflection in the mirror and was all too willing to pose for the camera. He's such a ham! However, the moment the picture was taken and he had looked at it, he reached up to his and said "out!"

All ready for swimming in our pool....

Last week a fly was bothering us during lunch and John kept waving at it to keep it away from him. I didn't think anything of it and was picking up after lunch when I realized that when we shut the cheese container, the fly was in the cheese! Well, little did I know that it was going to contain HOURS of excitement and entertainment!

Here are a few pictures of the tornado that came within a few miles of our house last weekend. Thankfully it turned and we were safe!

Gorgeous sky after the rain....

John sharing a drink with Elmo
Wearing dad's shoes!

Over the last week, John has been very intrigued with the potty and wanting to sit on the potty. Phil and I took this as him telling us it was time to purchase his own! We certainly aren't pushing the potty training, but wanted him to get used to having it around. John's big boy potty arrived today and he has not wanted to get off it! We keep reminding him that it's not a chair and it has to stay in the bathroom by the other toilet, but he was thrilled to have his own potty! He kept running by it and pointing and saying "potty! potty! sit! sit!" Let's hope he still loves it as much when he realizes what he's supposed to do on it!!Our little man a year ago in his bed (7/10/09)...
and today in the beginning stage of changing from his crib to toddler bed!
He was so proud of his new "dump" sheets (trucks, helicopters, trains, etc) and that he didn't have his bumper pad on anymore either! A few nights ago, Phil and I were trying to come up with a way to get John to sleep through the night again. Since he was sick while we were in Las Vegas and then wanted extra snuggles when we returned, he has been waking up at night to double check that we're still there, but to also have snuggles, which sometimes turned into an hour-long battle to get him back to sleep when I wouldn't rock with him, since I didn't want to get back into that pattern that we'd broken so long ago! We told John that because he was getting to be such a big boy now, he could get some new big boy sheets and we would change his bed into a big boy bed if he would go to sleep nicely for naps and if he'd sleep all night in his bed. If he did it for two days, we would get him new sheets (and work our way into the whole set). The next morning, he slept well and we were praising him for it and he pointed to his bed and said "vroom, vroom, dump!" He remembered!! I went yesterday and purchased his new sheets and told him that if he had another good night and slept all night, we would put the sheet on his bed today. He again slept all night and this morning, pointed to his bed, and said "vroom!" After washing the sheet, he pulled it out of the dryer and ran with it to his room! And so it begins!!

"Dump! Dump!" He's pointing out the trucks...notice the one leg in the air!

Peek!

Ahh... nigh nigh!

As the end of August is approaching and workshop is getting closer, I am realizing how difficult it is going to be for me to return to my classroom after enjoying my at-home gig with John. I thoroughly enjoy teaching, but there is nothing greater to me than being a mom! However, before we continue thoughts like those, we are going to first revel in the greatness life has to offer us each and every day!