Berry Pickin

Poppa, the babies, H, A (aka Super Nanny), and I went to a local berry farm this week. We picked lots of berries and sampled a few too. (Delicious, although H's expression may not reveal as much). The babies tolerated the trip well, and I survived the spiders that were crawling over all the berry plants. I know I should think animal friendly thoughts like "Thanks to those spiders, I don't have nasty worms in my strawberries." Yech, I'm just happy that I left them all at the farm and didn't bring any home with me... that I know of.

Hey Good Lookin'

E is enamored of people. He particularly enjoys smiling at his brothers. When he has the chance to admire his cute self, he lets loose infectious gaping grins. He's quite a content, happy fellow. Presently, he's playing in his exersaucer. He's quite adept at rolling over and scooching around on the floor, a bit like a prehistoric crab.

Spring in my step

H loves getting attention, and a sandal boat just makes the day that much more exciting. The weather down here has been wonderful. We had a fun filled weekend attempting to dig out the wooded area of our backyard. We plan to put in a swing set in that area-- once it has been de-ticked, de-snaked, and de-spidered... or at least with a significant decrease in the census of those populations.

Chow

The babies have recently been introduced to delectable rice cereal. They aren't big fans-- well, I should amend that to say that B is not impressed. He would much prefer to chew on his tongue thank you than choke down that stuff. E doesn't mind as much and happily smiles as most of it dribbles down his front.

Otherwise, the babies continue to do well. They sleep through the night except for the occasional conundrum of waking up to find you've rolled over and away from your blanket-- and you need to scream until mom or dad stumbles in to flip you back and tucks you in again... but they seem to take turns doing that.

Happy Birthday

H turned TWO last week. As with many contradictions of parenting, it feels like the time has gone so quickly in some aspects and yet, it's hard to remember life without H. His grandparents came down to celebrate his birthday (and Grandma's). We had fun opening presents. H is still a bit clueless about presents but he enjoyed of the attention immensely.

H received many wonderful trucks for his birthday. "Beep Beep" he reports and alternately, "Uck! Uck!" Better than how his dad used to pronounce truck; apparently, according to Grandma and Grandpa, he would crow out, "Fuck" at each passing vehicle that resembled a beloved truck. Ah, classic.

Yo Bro

The babies have recently started interacting with one another. They spend time smiling at each other, trying to chew on the other's arm. H also interacts well with them- calling them 'babies' and chortling with delight as he pats them on the head- or sits on them.

This past weekend we went to the beach. It was a little cold- a little rainy- but it was nevertheless lots of fun.

We went to the aquarium where H had lots of fun examining the sharks and fish in the huge tank. He also loved the beach where it was hard to convince him that the 50 degree water was freezing.

Language Explosion

As of yesterday, H has taken a decided interest in words and learning to speak. He worked on mastering all the animal sounds. When questioned, H reports that a duck says a throat clearing "akak" and horse says "aehh aehhh" He also says truck--"uck" and green-- "een" (all learned yesterday). While these are barely intelligible words, it really is amazing to us. He knows some sign language (see picture above where H is demonstrating 'cookie' as he watches a birthday cake go by). As for vocabulary, H has maintained the same arsenal of 10 ubiquitous words (e.g. "uh oh" which has uses from everything including 'oops' to 'I can't remember where my ears are' to 'where the hell did it go' to 'gee, that seems out of place'). Really, why bother learning anything new when most everything can be expressed with these words... But I guess that's why these past few days have been exciting. The reason H has suddenly taken an interest in expanding his vocabulary is a mystery. Though it may be related to the visitors that we had this past weekend.

Friends of ours came down to visit from their new home just three hours north of us. They recently moved across country, so it had been a few years since we had seen them. Their little boy is a year and half older than H-- a wonderful, talkative fellow with a very active imagination. Perhaps H was impressed with his ability to communicate with adults. Who knows? But I'm excited it's starting to click for him.